Random Wondering

I was going to do another coffee chat but I don't have anything much to say that warrants a proper chat...so I thought I'd do one of my random thoughts posts instead.  I'll try to have a decent chat with you next week.

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We were sitting here this afternoon watching TV when the big platter on the wall fell.  I'd noticed it was slightly askew yesterday and had decided then to ask John to straighten it for me since it was 10 feet up on the wall.  We've examined the nail which is just fine and was actually in a stud (wonder of wonders on that!). The platter, in falling, smashed the little dogs figurine I'd picked up on a whim in the flea market because I found it oddly appealing.

When I recounted the incident later in the evening on facebook, a friend said "I'd have cried."  I may have sounded a bit hard when I said I didn't cry over flea market and antique store items, but it's truth.  I always feel I'm just a temporary keeper.  I've chosen to share whatever history is in one of those pieces unlike the true family heirlooms.

I don't mind saying I shall sincerely miss the little dogs.  I'm not usually one to buy dogs at all.  I lean more towards birds but the dogs had a look of age about them that seemed to be greater than perhaps than they actually were.  They were obviously oriental.  And there was just something sweet about them, the way the puppy leaned towards the mother dog.  I can easily replace the platter if I choose.  After all there were dozens like it listed on eBay at the time I bought that.  But the dogs will be irreplaceable, not unlike the real ones that came into my life and passed on.

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So that leads me to my brother's little jack russell terrier who has been coming up here for the past two months or so and waits to be invited to come up and eat.  I shared awhile back that Taz had been coming up to for years to mark territory and went on about his business but as my brother was home less and less over summer, Taz was more likely to stop and wag his tail at me, before going on.  Eventually my brother was spending less time at his home place.  Taz is very much a country dog and not fit for staying in town with my brother...but Taz misses that human interaction.  He's been quite the pampered doggy in his lifetime and right now he's short of folks to pamper him routinely.  So he started begging for an invitation to come onto the porch for a bite of food, even though he has food at home.  He just prefers to share his meals with others.

For many weeks now he's shown up for three or four meals a week.  In the past week, I've noticed that Taz is there no matter what time I come to the door.  This morning I looked out the window and he was lying under the Faith Tree watching the sunrise, just as I was.  I smiled, thinking of how he was waiting on me.  I thought, "Well I guess he's adopted me."  And that made me cry, because adoption is a powerful thing and unless you've seen it face to face you just can't fathom how great it is.

Adoption is a heart thing.  Cats are quite good at adopting you, or not, as they see fit.  With a cat, you never have a real say.  We've had Misu for six years, but it's only been this summer that she's become my cat.  Up until then she was Katie's cat, plain and simple, no matter how long between visits.  But this year, she made a choice to become my cat which surprised me and pleased me.  Every morning now she comes to me for petting and love.  She insists upon it.  Maddie has learned that she must share my attention with Misu.

Now Taz is there, too.  At first he would wag his tail, look me in the eye and trot off after eating.  Then he started coming to sit near me with his back to me...He wanted his back rubbed with the sole of my foot, a habit that Granny began years ago with him.  This week I'd suspicioned  he was waiting on me but this morning I knew it for fact.  And this morning Taz made it plain that he was adopting us.  You see, when I was feeding him this morning, John came out and Taz went to sit with his back to John...a major move on Taz' part as he is not fond of men overmuch.  Yes, we've been adopted.
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I have been up to see sunrise every morning this week thus far.   It's been a wonderful time to focus on Creator and ponder on His word.  There was a tear welling reaction to adoption yesterday morning.  This morning I thought about how I sat there in front of the dark window waiting on the sun.  I knew as I sat there that the sun would rise and even if I didn't see it I'd know the change had occurred by the fact that the sky was lighter.  That led me to think about how much faith I had in the sun rising every day.  And why I sometimes get so stuck and hung up on wondering if prayers will be answered. Where's my faith then? Well prayers are always answered...I just might not prefer the answer I get.  "No" is hard, but "Wait" is the toughest of all.  "Yes" may well come with a learning curve that stretches me to grow.  And other times, the answer is so quick and so wonderfully yes, that I am awed.  So why do I doubt an answer will come?  As surely as the sun rises, and the moon, too, an answer will come to every prayer.
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I was up at sunrise Sunday morning.  Actually I was up a good bit before sunrise and had already had one of those blissfully happy homemaking days well started.  I stopped to rest at sunrise which was gentle and soft and lovely and just the break I needed before jumping into more work.  I did so much that I was astonished at myself.  I haven't worked so hard and so freely for the longest time.  I had the TV tuned into a movie, "Anna and the King" with Jodie Foster and I listened to the whole thing.  I thoroughly enjoyed the dialogue...which is something I do more often than not anyway.  I do enjoy watching movies, but I am happiest listening to a movie as I do any number of other things.  "Anna and the King" is one of those beautifully made films with costumes and sets that take the breath away.  It is also exceptionally well written so the dialogues are sufficient to give you a full idea of the events in the movie without ever seeing a single frame.

I saw "The King and I" many years ago and it is a delightful musical but I was curious when I came across a copy of "Anna and The King" in the library.  I was shocked at how little that musical had to do with the book.  I would love to read that book once again.  I believe the movie is somewhat closer, but of course, for the sake of film and story line, liberties were taken with this version as well.
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That blissful happy morning in my home went on for hours, until well after lunch.  I cleaned and rearranged and polished and changed and worked entirely too hard.  I loved every minute of it.  It was during this lovely day of pine scented rooms that I wondered at people who take no pleasure in the simple (but not for sissies) task of homemaking.

And for all that I got done on Sunday, I was right back at it Monday morning, though not quite so early.  I did see sunrise but I watched that as I had my first cup of coffee and then I got busy. Happy all day, happy all morning.  I so love my job!
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One of the most endearing things my husband does?  Periodically, even if things have been going along quietly and well, he will stop and ask me, "Sooo...is everything okay?  Are things going well?  Anything you need to talk over?  Are you okay?"  I love that.

It's too easy to lose touch in the midst of every day, especially when things are going well.  We tend to be like most any other couples except we spend a great deal of time together.  And perhaps it's because we spend so much time together that I find it so touching that he checks in with me now and then.  It's so easy to take for granted that all is going well, when in fact, one of us might be struggling hard with something.  It really opens the doors of conversation.
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I posted about this on facebook.  I've been following a few young people's posts there.    No, it's not the same morals of my youth.  In some ways theirs are more lax and in others theirs are far far better than the ones I and my peers lived.

Because John enjoys politics and news, I hear a good deal too much of both.  I feel heartsick at times to hear some of the politically correct ideas and the sheer stinking stuff that comes out of the mouths of our media and representatives.  There is no regard for the viewpoints that I personally hold due to my own experiences and assumptions are made simply because I might consider myself conservative Christian viewpoint.  I lose heart and I mean that sincerely.  I lose heart.  I wonder where the America I knew has gone...

But today I found myself reading a few posts that changed my mind.  I forget how conservative my own children are at times, and am truly surprised to discover that others their age are just as conservative.  I forget that there is a whole generation of young people who are coming up in this world and will replace the current leaders and the current thoughts with leaders who share their own ideals...and it makes me feel good to realize that while I may not currently admire the atmosphere of America, it's still America and there's hope.
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Lest you think I'm one of those who cries out "The good ol' days were sooo much better!", I'm not.  There were many things about the past that made me hang my head, even as a child.  There are things best left to the past and prayerfully they will stay there and never again be seen.  There are a world of hurtful things, hateful things, that we don't need to load up and carry forward.  I believe in growing and moving on and leaving some things right where they are.

But there are things from the past that we'd do well to remember and rekindle.  Like true neighborliness and I mean for our next door to us neighbors.  I think sometimes we get too caught up in what we can do to make a big show for others to prove our 'humanity' and we forget that truly compassion begins here, right in this spot next to us,  and then should be carried outward.

Christ's very message was that charity begins at home..and what is charity but love and kindness and generosity and understanding and uplifting?  Think of it like ripples on a pond.  One small pebble dropped in causes the ripples to form.  The first ripple is small but they become wider and wider as that one small thing affects the whole pond.  I think (and it is about what I think, so if you don't, it's okay) we forget that small things have big and lasting impacts.  We think because we can't see the last big ripple it is nothing.

Apparently I need to clarify this portion: NOwhere in the Bible does it say that Christ said "Charity begins at home" nor did I intend for anyone to read the above statement as Christ literally saying.  I should have said the gist of  a great many of Christ's teachings that charity was something we ought to give to those closest to us.
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And I guess that's about enough wandering about inside my own head!