A Rhymer Writes

Broken things Broken swings. Broken days,  Broken ways. Broken prayers, Broken cares. Broken things Won't break me. Have you ever allowed something small to hinder something big in your life? My personal prayer spot use to be this old, well loved swing in my front yard. It was a favorite spot of mine. I swang my babies on it when they were tiny. I've had lots of long conversations on it through the years. I've cried with friends and family there. I've laughed with loved ones on it.  I especially loved to sit there in the early morning with a cup of tea or coffee, my prayer journal and God. Several months ago it broke. Since then I've really been struggling to resurrect my prayer life. I have been mourning my "perfect" prayer spot and not allowing myself to move on. Sure, I've spent time in prayer since my swing broke but it hasn't been the same, concerted, focused effort that it use to be.  Why? Perhaps because we're such

Memories are powerful things. They can bring emotions to the  forefront of your mind with the whiff of a familiar scent or the sight of a treasured object. A funny joke can make you remember someone dear who use to tell it. Something that was irritating to you becomes endearing in your memory of that person.  We lost my mother in law to cancer several years back. In the first few years the memories of her were so painful to me. I would often associate them with my loss. As the years have passed it has become so much easier to remember her with love, with a chuckle, with the fondness that we shared. Losing her was losing my best friend. It was hard to sort through all of the emotions. Those early memories, while painful, yes, were cathartic. They helped me to heal. And now that they aren't so raw they bring me great comfort. One memory that I love about my mother in law was her devotion to the discount store  Dollar Tree.  She loved to shop there. And she did so frequently.

Image: Google images Here is a list of one word writing prompts to challenge you. My lone homeschool student will be using these for writing assignments over the next month or so. I am challenging you to create something using one of these themes as a creative writing project. Write a poem, short story, flash fiction (drabble), journal entry, blog post, etc. Leave me a comment and let me know which one you choose! Stay tuned for mine! fall bears Louisiana sparkle unknown love failure umbrella music beginning childhood soft worship dawn hungry patience

Photo courtesy of Google Images This week in our blogging class we had an assignment to write a post using the following prompt from  Bravewriter : You have one trip you can make in a time machine. Do you travel to a point in the past or the future? Explain your choice. I have been thinking of this assignment all week and I have decided it's almost impossible to decide. There are a lot of different thoughts I have about where I would go to in the past. I almost exclusively would choose to go to the past. That in and of itself makes me think about this more than I probably should considering it's not an actual choice I have to make. For instance, why wouldn't I want to go to a point in the future? Lots of people want to know what might happen but I don't! Mostly it's because I know that God has provided us with free will and that means that anything could change an event in the future. In God's wisdom he allows us (thankfully) to make the choices

Definition of  busy (Courtesy of Merriam Webster) busier ;  busiest 1 a   : engaged in action  : occupied   She's  busy  studying.   has enough work to keep him busy  for a while b   : being in use  found the telephone  busy 2 : full of activity  : bustling   a  busy  seaport 3 : foolishly or intrusively active  : meddling a  busy , fussy sort of man much concerned with regulating everything  —A. M. Young 4 : full of distracting detail: A busy design How many times do you use the excuse "I was too busy"?  I have been struggling lately with using this excuse too much when messing up, missing something, not paying enough attention to the people around me, forgetting to do something I said I would do or knew I needed to get done. Really though, it's just an excuse.  This kind of busy, the kind that I complain of being lately is defined above as "full of activity". And, yes, life can be full of ac

Pic courtesy of Eddi Van W via Flikr I've only just a minute, Only sixty seconds in it. Forced upon me, can't refuse it, Didn't seek it, didn't choose it, But it's up to me to use it. I must suffer if I lose it, Give account if I abuse it, Just a tiny little minute, But eternity is in it. Dr. Benjamin E. Mays This poem was recited by our coach at boot camp today and i thought I would share it here. It's so incredibly interesting how we perceive a minute. This morning, while we were (suppose to be) doing a plank for  a minute it seemed like the longest minute I've encountered all week. But later, while enjoying time with my family, 30 of them went by in a snap! How are you viewing your minutes; all the ones God gave you? Are you wishing some of them away? Wishing you were doing anything but the thing God placed you right in the middle of? When you have those encounters just remember this poem by Dr. Benjamin E. Mays. Eternity is in it. 

If you haven't already seen this little singing sensation, check her out! Incredibly cute!

Get into my belly! 📷: Google Images Late night googling can be dangerous.  First, you may find things you can't wait to try.  RIGHT THEN! Regardless of the time of night (or early morning).  Take this French rolled omelet for instance.  I didn't even know there was such a beautiful thing. But, my friend Google knew. And now I do too. I not only know about these little beauties I've also decided they may be my favorite way to eat eggs. So I must insist  suggest you try them for yourself. The journey to French omelety goodness... The other night I stumbled across the fact that the French prefer their omelets to taste way better than our American omelets. Who knew? Well, maybe the American transplanted French people. Poor transplants. If you're one, I am sorry for our omelet inferiority. We do have many things you can enjoy. Like hamburgers. And Crawfish etouffee. Accept these as consolation prizes. They are pretty good consolation p

All images on this post courtesy of Google Images Welcome back for another coffee chat. This week was less eventful weather-wise but we have plenty to chat about. I am highlighting  iced coffee   this week because here in South Louisiana it's still so hot and humid that I can't even look at a cup of hot coffee right now.  In personal news our oldest, Miss Anne Elliot, graduated from her internship program and finished all the classes for her bachelor's degree. She's moved back home and it's like Christmas around here. We're all enjoying having her with us on a daily basis again. She's using some time to rest up and renew her mental strength before she pursues a career for herself. We missed having her here daily so it's been great to reconnect as a family again for a little bit before all the chickens fly the coop. Locally, we read about the grim news that the Baton Rouge murder rate is on pace to set a record. This isn't the ki

Click on the links below to visit my student's blogs and while you're there leave them a comment, they can't wait to have you visit.  My Mom Says I'm a Dork Really, his mom does. I'm kind of partial to dorks though. Take a peek and see if you agree with his mom.  faith-and-the-journey Interested in reading about volleyball and cheer? This is the blog for you. If you don't know anything about either one, stop by here and read a little. It's sure to be fun! Anna Dotes Check out all of the anecdotes and interesting tidbits you can find here! This one promises to be a beautiful journey into blogging. Check it out and let us know what you think. The Sweet Life It truly is a pleasure to follow this new blogger and see what she has going on in her interesting and inspiring life! Join her journey and make sure to let her know that you stopped by! Delightfully Enlightened You are sure to be delighted when you visit this new blo

Hi! Welcome to my first coffee chat. Grab a cup of coffee or a "cuppa" tea and  take a minute to chat with me about a few things that are happening in the news this week. First things first; here in South Louisiana the biggest news over the Labor Day weekend was LSU Tiger Football's first official game under Coach O's leadership. I'm not a huge Coach O fan, I'm still pretty fond of Les Miles (Geaux Les!) but the team did win against BYU and they looked pretty good. Hurricane Central! Texas was hit hard by Hurricane Harvey last week and the recovery has been a big news item this week. Here's some of the astounding statistics:   51.9 inches of rain; 19 trillion gallons of water over southeast Texas and another 5.5 trillion over Louisiana; 132 mph winds (Cat 4!) and immeasurable damage to homes and businesses with over 70 lives attributed to this massive storm.  And as I type this Hurricane Irma is expected to make landfall in Flo