Background

Here's another excerpt from my book, Heaven Help Mom. The story talks about how in a confined car my son goes from extremely busy to extremely peaceful. I don't understand why.

" I totally overlooked the obvious explanation for his peacefulness. I didn't even realize it was raining. To him, God's creation was perplexing, enjoyable and quieting. To me, God's craft had become part of the background in life that was easy to overlook. Creation is indeed perplexing and given to us to respect and enjoy, not to be ignored. As I followed the raindrops on the window, I found that it is very peaceful to reflect on the magnitude of God's creation."

Listen to bookbitesforkids

I will appear Monday, January 7, 2008 at 2pm central time on http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bookbitesforkids I'll talk about my book Heaven Help Mom and Maybe the Kids Will Help

Noises in Life

Christmas is past and also past is a December family wedding. Now, it is back to posting regularly on Mondays and Wednesdays. To make up for my omissions last week, I'm posting today and will be back on schedule Monday.
The recent wedding meant sharing time with out of town friends and relatives. When we all gathered together, there was lots of fun and lots of noise. When little ones were present there was often loud crying as well as noises of glee. The time together made me realize my life as a writer is a quiet one. While sometimes I welcomed the change from the peacefulness, there were times when it was challenging. It made me think of a story from my book, Heaven Help Mom.
The story relays how two children view the noises in their lives very differently and the message learned was; "our life is often the product of the way we view it and chose to live it. A life centered in God can turn a devastating situation into a challenging proposition; a situation of fear into a positive approach; an episode of loneliness into an outreach to others." May the variety of noises in your life contribute to produce a symphony.

Peacefulness During Turmoil

Here is a portion of a devotional from my book, Heaven Help Mom.
In the story, Ed is a preschooler and has just lost his dog. Enjoy the
story fragment.
"Together, we went to church in our grieving mood without the Merry in Christmas. After sharing his grief with others and appearing as a sad angel, Ed found enough peace to involuntarily fall asleep. I viewed his peaceful and sad portrayal of an angel much the same as our lives. Sometimes it is sad, sometimes merry, but through it all God is there to provide us some peace. That little angel asleep in the pew reminded me of the gift that we were given with the birth and death of the Prince of Peace.
Ed woke up early Christmas morning and was particularly thrilled with receiving a calculator that looked like a brown dog. I hesitated including it under the tree because I feared it would start the tears flowing and the sadness would resurface. Ed said, "I was given this so that I can play with it and remember all the fun times I played with Brownie." It seems Ed was given peace by receiving a gift that reminded him of love. Peace and love; the message for any Christmas to become Merry."

A Picture Tells a Thousand Words

Our family is planning a wedding for December. Stacks of family photos are being reviewed for possible inclusion in a video for the reception. The photos tell the story of life without the use of words. Most could fall into the category of a “Kodak Moment.” One photo that has been selected seems to be one of those moments captured on film that falls into the category, “oops, why did you take that photo of me looking like that?”
It is photo of Dad in a worn green terry cloth holey bathrobe while his young daughter
anticipates his opening her gift.

The robe was a regular part of his every morning and evening wear, including his attire for every Christmas morning. I’m not sure that if Dad were still alive he’d be thrilled to appear on screen in his less- than- luxurious robe to be viewed by the fancy dressed wedding attendees. Still, it is a chosen photo. This attire was as dependable as the love he gave his family. It was as comfortable and reassuring as the hugs he gave. The holes were mostly overlooked. They were mended and reappeared, much like family member flaws. Sometimes they were joked about, just as we used laughter to patch up complex moments. Perhaps the photos will bring additional laughs at the reception. Most likely it will be viewed with the understanding of the comforts of family.

Color My World

I'd like to share an excerpt from my new book, Heaven Help Mom and Maybe the Kids Will Help. Previous to this excerpt, the story recounts my son's first day of kindergarten. All the children were given a page with the outline of a bear and were told to color it as they wished. Here is the ending to that story:

To my surprise, he handed me a picture of a bear that was colored every available color from the crayon box. I wasn't sure what to say other than it was beautiful. To myself I was thinking, "What was he thinking? Bears are not rainbows."

Before I could get too deep into analyzing his or my thought processes he came close to me and whispered in my ear, "Isn't it beautiful? All the other kids colored theirs a boring brown or black. No creativity! Mine was the most beautiful. It's a patchwork bear!"
As I sat staring at the bear and tossing glances at his proud face, I could only think that God had some creative future in store for this little person.

What some could perceive as unusual, he perceived as beautiful. Imagine if God made only one beautiful creation. Roses and violets would look the same and DaVinci and Picasso would paint the same bear the same way. It is a gift to see beauty in differing ways.

Taking Care of Business

The phone company and I have always had an adversarial relationship. For years, if it rained, the chances that I would be without a phone were the odds that any betting person would like. When I called to report the outage it was always the same. They would tell me that they would send someone out to check the inside lines and if there wasn’t a problem someone would come out to check the outside lines. The problem was that it was always the outside lines and always when it rained. Sending someone out to explore the inside lines, just delayed resolving the problem. This repetitive, unproductive exchange and resolution to the problem always left me frustrated. Just thinking about calling the phone company made my blood pressure rise.
When we moved, I left the problem behind, but I have always carried with the frustrations of dealing with company policies regardless of whether they make sense or not. I have carried with me the memories of dealing with people who sound like they are reading from a script.
After years of not having to deal with the phone company, I again found myself dreading the call I needed to make to address my cell phone problem. I anticipated similar unpleasant experiences of the past. Instead, I found myself talking to someone who genuinely wanted to help me solve my phone issues. He even went beyond what I called about, to make sure that a similar problem wouldn’t happen in the future. I commented on his helpfulness and he said he was raised in a small town where everyone new everyone and no one could get away with actions without the whole town knowing. It left him with the philosophy that you should treat others the way you want to be treated. If you don’t, you’ll know it, but there’s a good likelihood others will as well. Life just is a lot simpler if you treat others with kindness and respect. There are many commercials that enhance the “stay connected” aspect of phone and internet services. It seems this representative has a more effective motto. “Courtesy is the shortest distance between two people.”