Are reasons excuses or are excuses reasons?

Posted by Mama's Empty Nest in blogging, excuses and tagged with Home, Life July 27, 2012

“Excuses change nothing, but make everyone feel better.” ~ Mason Cooley

If you’re a faithful reader of Mama’s Empty Nest, with a click of your mouse you visit my blog and find I’ve been missing in action this week except for one Wordless Wednesday post.

That one hit the cyber-waves out there because it didn’t take much time to post. Glean through my pictures and voila! Wordless Wednesday post fodder!

There’s a reason why I’ve been absent in the blogging world lately. No excuses, just good reasons. You may have also noticed it takes longer for your comments to be approved on my posts.

That’s because the laptop has been closed for most of this week, except today, of course. No emailing, no facebooking, no blogging, no checking WordPress. I have managed to read my favorite bloggers on my work computer during my lunch hour, but that’s it.

The reason? It’s crunch time at my house. Wedding number 2 (our son’s) is fast approaching and although my responsibilities are not as heavy as they were with our middle daughter’s wedding, there are still items that need attention.

And oh, did I mention that I’m planning, preparing, and holding a bridal shower for son’s fiancée next week? At my house. You know what that means, big-time cleaning and general sprucing up of the homestead. We’ve had rain and the weeds replicated with lightning speed outside. And hubby’s garden commenced producing more zucchini than I can keep up with.

Plus there’s a bridal shower menu to plan, food and beverages to purchase, favors to make, baking to be done, decorations to decide upon, shopping to complete…you get the picture.

And oh, did I mention that oldest daughter’s bridal shower is two weeks after that? And that I’ll be hosting a houseful of out-of-state bridesmaids? And helping plan, prepare, and host that bridal shower too (thankfully, it’s at the church fellowship hall)?

And of course, I’m in the throes of assisting oldest daughter with her wedding planning, but that’s a whole other blog post.

So….while Mama’s Empty Nest may be empty indeed — no wait, there’s more info to come on that issue, but I’ll postpone that news for another time — the nest resembles a beehive buzzing with activity.

There, those are my ~~excuses~~ reasons. When Mason Cooley said “Excuses change nothing, but make everyone feel better,” he was correct, at least it makes me feel better.

I’ll be away for a while, not truly gone, just absent from the blogging scene for the next couple of weeks, I suppose. I do have some Wordless Wednesday photos queued up in the automatic publish mode, so as long as WP does its part, those should appear in your readers.

So excuse me, but it’s ta-ta for now. The vacuum cleaner, cleaning buckets, and mop are all calling my name. And I’ve given enough excuses for not heeding them, it’s time for reckoning. Be back soon!

Wordless Wednesday: Roadside reminder

Posted by Mama's Empty Nest in daisies, nature, Wordless Wednesday and tagged with Photography July 25, 2012

Burn out

Posted by Mama's Empty Nest in burn out, Christian living, Faith, restoration and tagged with Christian living, Life July 19, 2012

blogIMG_0396 Lately, images of fire dart across my mind’s radar screen.

Of course, the news reports about wild fires out west attracted my attention and the sight of all that devastation leaves me rife with sympathy for those who’ve lost their homes.

To continue the fiery theme, last week my blog received the “Blog On Fire” award. Shortly before that, an amazing display of fiery color occurred in my own backyard at sunset one evening – an image I managed to capture with my camera and post yesterday on Wordless Wednesday.

Even the weather speaks of fire to me with sultry hot and humid days and nights, which make me feel like I’m burning up and bring old sayings to my thoughts like “hotter than Hades,” or my personal favorite, “hotter than a flicker’s nest,” a phrase my Mom used to utter.

All these fire images got me to thinking. You know the problem with fire is you can get burned out. When there’s not enough fuel to sustain a fire, it flickers, it fades, and it dies out. Done. Consumed. Burned out. Cold.

Sometimes that’s exactly how I feel – in my real life and in my writing life – like I don’t have enough sustainable fuel to keep the fire going. As I examine why I feel so consumed, I can list off a litany of reasons.

I’m tired. I’m overwhelmed with too many tasks to accomplish. The summer doldrums I usually encounter this time of year just weigh me down. The emotional aspect of our middle daughter getting married recently and preparing for our other two adult children’s weddings is taking a toll on me. I’m feeling a bit melancholy over the fact that all of our children will again be far from the homestead.

Now that middle daughter is married, she and son-in-law have commenced their newly-wedded life in the state south of us. When son marries in two months, he and our new daughter-in-law will live in the state to the east of us. And we just learned that oldest daughter and her fiancé will set up housekeeping in his city – a state several hours southwest – once they become man and wife.

It’s entirely possible that all these circumstances explain why I feel burned out and used up. I spoke with a very good friend lately and confided some of this to her as well as the fact that on top of all of these reasons, I’m also encountering a very dry spell in my walk of faith.

I know this happens from time to time. I’ve experienced it before, but I don’t like it. Here’s how I would describe this experience:

You used to feel revived, just like a continuous mountain stream might provide refreshment, by the living God each day. Cool and alive, moving forward. You’re nourished by God and His Word and saturated with His living water.

Then for some reason, the dry season comes just like the drought that holds much of our country tight in its grip right now. You feel withered. Parched. Like you’re in the middle of a hot, desolate desert.

Here’s the part that causes me to often struggle. I know my Savior. I know the answer to my thirst, the solution for the dryness is in His Word. All I have to do is open it and partake. It’s like when you turn on your kitchen faucet. Cool water pours forth. You need to grab your cup, fill it up, and drink to quench your thirst. And even though I know this, I don’t do it. My Bible sits unopened; my prayer times prove shoddy and quick at best.

I have an amazing friend who is an ardent prayer warrior. I know she prays for me. She told me she often pictures those she prays for as vessels which have been turned over on their sides and are starting to empty. So she prays for God to fill them up.

As she’s been praying for me, she saw me as a vessel not just turned over, but turned upside down and emptied out. She softly added that she doesn’t tell me this to hurt me. I replied that this image doesn’t hurt me because I know it is truth and she has put into words exactly how I feel. Upside down and empty.

That is how life feels sometimes, even the life of a believer in Christ. We endeavor to live each day with gratitude and joy, but some days, our humanity, our very humanness gets the upper hand and we just don’t feel it.

But then something truly amazing happens. Even amid a burned out, worn out wasteland, God is a God of restoration. He tells me that in scripture, but when I can’t, or don’t, or won’t read that for myself, He shows me.

I see firsthand His restoration in my parched, dried, crunchy brown lawn when he sends refreshing rain to green my grass yet again. He demonstrates restoration when I gaze at the farmer’s field next to my home. Once it was a wasteland of overgrown brush and briars, ugly to behold. Now, it boasts stalk after stalk of lushly green corn, growing by inches each and every day.

Wildflowers at Flight 93 Memorial

He reminded me of His restoring power when we visited Shanksville, PA recently and I viewed the farmland which was violated, shredded, torn, and burned when Flight 93 crashed there on September 11, 2001. In place of the horror that field represents, gorgeous wildflowers now grow as God restores that land.

And He proves to me that even though I feel distant from Him, worn down, and burned out, He is still with me (or as my prayerful friend says, “He knows your address.”). He still cares, He still protects, He still loves me unconditionally – empty and parched, tired vessel that I am.

How do I know this is true? Because as I trudged to my mailbox one weary day, I glanced across the road, and God, Creator of the universe, showed me something – a group of wild daisies blooming.

Happy little white and yellow flowers that I’ve never noticed growing near my house before. The sight of them transported me back to childhood and a summer activity I always loved as a youngster – picking a daisy and plucking each petal off of it as I recited, “He loves me, he loves me not. He loves me, he loves me not.”

Right then I knew it! I knew – deep in my heart and yes, in my soul – something profound resonated while observing those wildflowers by the side of the road.

I picked a daisy and as I twirled it round and round in my hand and considered plucking its petals, it ‘spoke’ to me. And this is what it said, “He loves you.” Each petal of that daisy proclaimed, “He loves you. He loves you. He loves you!” And I didn’t have to pluck the petals off the stem to know it.

I never have to second guess His love for me. Even when I feel distant from God. Even when I feel like I’m in the middle of an arid desert. He always has loved me. He always will. He will restore me, and He will provide refreshment. He will give me strength. He will grant me joy. He will always be with me. That is His promise - “… lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” ~ Matthew 28:20.

And you know what? He loves you the same. A daisy told me so.

“The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” ~ Isaiah 40:8

Wordless Wednesday: Fiery sunset

Posted by Mama's Empty Nest in sunsets, Wordless Wednesday and tagged with Nature, Photography July 18, 2012

Featured on “A Life of Words”

Posted by Mama's Empty Nest in blogging, words, writing and tagged with Life, Writing July 16, 2012

Words are a vital part of my life. I love words, I love to speak them, I love to write them. I even collect them in the form of quotations in my handy dandy notebook filled with favorite quotes. And I try very diligently to season my words as best I can.

You might say I do live a life of words. I’ve written since I was a little girl; I even worked for a time in the world of words as a newspaper writer/editor. And now, I blog and send my words out into cyberspace.

Today, I’m feeling special and blessed as my humble little blog is featured on a fellow blogger’s site. Nikole Hahn at Nikole Hahn’s Journal started a series of posts about writers whose blogs she enjoys reading. I’m privileged that Nikole has been a long-time reader of my blog and she has become a friend too! And I felt even more honored that she chose my blog to feature in her series, “A Life of Words.”

You can read her series and also find out the answers I gave to her set of interview questions here: A Life of Words

It’s possible you’ll learn something new about me from reading this that you didn’t know before! Let me know what you think and be sure to add Nikki’s blog to your blog roll. She’s an awesome writer and a great book reviewer.

I find it amazing that my life with words has given me such incredible friends in the blogging world. Believe it or not, I’m frankly a little speechless!

Call out the bucket brigade, ’cause I’m on fire

Posted by Mama's Empty Nest in awards, blogging and tagged with Blogging, Home, Life July 12, 2012

I don’t know what the weather’s been like where you live, but here we had quite a hot spell with high temperatures and humidity. Given my dislike of that kind of weather, I felt like I could just have burst into flames. Spontaneous combustion anyone?

Thank goodness for air conditioning, otherwise I would have been calling out the bucket brigade to douse the flames of heat. But this week, the temps have fallen into more doable digits (at least for me) and thankfully, cooler nights have returned.

I admit I moaned and groaned a lot inside my air-conditioned house because I couldn’t open any windows to get fresh air since doing so was like living in an oven. I really covet cool, fresh air to sleep well at night. Yes, I wilted and whimpered when I had to be outside for any length of time too. As it turns out, I was on fire anyway; I just didn’t know it!

Yesterday as I read some of my favorite fellow bloggers’ posts, I learned that my blog has been awarded the “Blog On Fire Award.” Whew, last week during our hot spell, that really would have been appropriate! But even though my blog was named ‘on fire’ this week, I’m quite comfy and happy with both the award so graciously given to me by my good friend, Dianna, over at These Days of Mine, – thank you so much! - and the cooler weather at my house.

This award only requires me to link back to the person who bestowed the honor upon me, list eight interesting facts about myself, and pass the award to some of my favorite blogs. Dianna invited her calico cat Sundae to ‘write’ her acceptance post and list eight facts about her kitty life.

Just chillin’ under the family room ceiling fan

I thought that was a fun idea, so I asked my ~~prima donna~~ calico cat, Callie, to ‘write’ this post and let you learn fascinating tidbits about her. So here’s Callie (in italics) with her ~~two~~ eight cents:

1. I am definitely Mama’s cat — I hate the heat as much as she does! Papa always feeds me first thing in the morning, and then I’m ready to go exploring outside. But just because I don’t come running when one of them calls me, they leave me outside when they go to work! When Mama comes home in the afternoon, I’m roasted! I can’t wait to get into the air conditioned house, plop down on the cool kitchen floor, and wait until she brings me cool water to drink. Or sometimes, I just situate myself on the coffee table under the ceiling fan in the family room.

2. I know it seems beneath my dignity as a cat because it’s a ‘dog’ thing to do, but I will do tricks for treats. I will sit on command, dance in a circle, beg, and then get my own treats out of the treat jar – I try to grab a big paw full. I love those treats!

3. I’m the official yard guardian. I see those pesky other critters that try to sneak into Papa’s vegetable garden. I keep my eye on them in case they get too close, and then POW! I’ll pounce on them or chase them. Just the other day, I caught a mole and proudly deposited it right outside the French door on the deck…right where my humans would see it. Well, Mama almost stepped on it…in her bare feet….I’m still not sure why she got so mad about that. I mean she sure seemed happy when I caught all those dumb field mice that were nesting under the deck.

Me with one of my fun, young ones

4. Sometimes I have to admit it gets kinda lonely around here with all my fun humans (the young ones) gone. I really like it when they come back home to see me. I get so excited I twirl in circles, rub against them, and even lick my boy’s ears. (Well, he’s all grown up now so I guess you would call him a man.) Gosh, I miss them! When our Grandpa person was still alive, he mowed our yard and I was so afraid of his big green tractor. I liked him a lot, but not that noisy tractor of his! I wouldn’t go near that thing. But now that he’s gone, and we have his green tractor in our garage, I like to lay on it a lot. Mama thinks I miss Grandpa, and you know what? She’s right.

5. I love being outside in the dark, but Mama and Papa won’t let me go out at night any more. Just because I’ve been sprayed a couple of times by a skunk, I guess. I really didn’t see what the big deal was about that and why Papa gave me a weird bath — twice! I really don’t like baths – weird or otherwise!

What does he see in that thing, anyway?

6. Sometimes I get irritated when Mama pays more attention to that strange box thing she puts on her lap than me. So I just jump up on her and walk across the part where she makes her fingers go. Sometimes I lay down right on it, so she will pet me. But then, how rude! She just shoves me off. Papa seems to spend a lot of time on his box thing too, so I climb on the back of the love seat to try to attract his attention. If he ignores me, I jump on him.

7. I love bling! The shinier, the better. If Mama takes her jewelry off and forgets to put it away, I always find it and carry it in my mouth to a place where I can play with it. I’ve tried to pull bracelets off her arm, earrings out of her ears, and one time even hid her diamond engagement ring from her for two days! Shiny jewelry makes such a fun toy! I don’t get it when she calls me a ‘cat burglar.’

8. I’m such a lady, I don’t like to make much noise, so I don’t meow very loudly. So unladylike to howl, if you ask me. My litter box is in the garage, so when I need to ‘go,’ I sit at the door and stare at my people. If they don’t see me, I go find them, slap them a little with my paw, and then run back to the door. Finally, they get the drift! Humans really can be so dense sometimes! Since I’m a very quiet meower, I used to scratch at the garage door when I wanted back inside the house, but boy, did that make Mama mad. So a few years ago, she hung a big jingle bell on the garage door knob. When I want in, I just ring the bell. They come running to let me in, just like Pavlov’s dogs! HA! Yep, Mama and Papa think they’ve ‘trained’ me, but I know who’s the boss. Just don’t let Mama know that I told you that. She likes to think she’s in charge around here.

So now that Callie told you all her little intricacies, it’s my turn again to write. As for naming blogs who deserve this award, several of my blogging friends already seem to have it or they are not that into awards. So I’m deviating from the norm here. I think if you’re a reader and you’re also an avid writer, you’re already “on fire” as writing is probably one of your passions. So please accept this award if you’d like it.

As for me, I know I’ll never throw a bucket of water on my passion to be ‘on fire’ to write, but I sure hope to stay cool while doing so. And on that note, I’m off to get a nice tall glass full of ice cubes and iced tea. I may be on fire, but I know how to stay cool.

Wordless Wednesday: Peonies

Posted by Mama's Empty Nest in gardening, nature, peonies, Wordless Wednesday and tagged with Home, Photography July 11, 2012

Where liberty dwells

Posted by Mama's Empty Nest in 4th of July, Flight 93 Memorial, freedom, Independence Day and tagged with Life, Travel July 10, 2012

We celebrate the day feasting. Bar-b-que grills fire up all over the country and plates are filled with picnic food galore – everything from hotdogs to watermelon. Enthusiastic backyard games of softball, volleyball, and badminton continue throughout the day.

Marching parades wind through hometown streets, and there may be patriotic speeches or concerts in other areas. Everyone’s attire includes red, white, and blue while Old Glory waves from the front porch flagpole. Stars and stripes bedeck buildings and houses.

The sound of firecrackers pops through the air and as dusk commences its descent on the day’s activities, everyone jumps in the car in search of an awesome fireworks display to ooh and aah over in the summertime night sky.

It’s the way we Americans commemorate the fourth of July, our Independence Day. It’s the way our family usually celebrates too. But not this year.

Since the fourth landed on a mid-week day and almost everyone in our family only had that one day off, we couldn’t celebrate the holiday together due to work schedules and distance.

The newlyweds now live in the state south of us and son lives in the state next door. Only oldest daughter lives close by, in the city. She arrived at the homestead Tuesday night with a great idea for how the three of us – Mama, Papa, and Daughter – could spend the day on the fourth.

Flight 93 memorial then

She suggested a day trip. A couple years after the 9-11 attacks, we visited Flight 93’s crash site in Shanksville, PA on our way to the Outer Banks, North Carolina for vacation. Oldest daughter, who had just graduated from college and started her new job, was unable to accompany us on that trip.

At the time, only a makeshift memorial existed in honor of the Americans who lost their lives in the quiet Pennsylvania farmland that infamous day. Now there is a permanent memorial at the site and our daughter wanted to see it, especially because she’d missed our previous visit there.

Since the area is an easy drive from our home, we decided to venture there and then meander around to see what other sights we might encounter.

Years ago when we visited the crash site, I wept when I stepped out of the car. This time tears did not fall, but the sense of solemnity in this peaceful, serene place where terror struck so vividly engulfed me.

Flight 93 memorial now

Gone was the makeshift chain link fence serving as a memorial wall with mementos lodged in it, including a local firefighter’s coat. In its place a beautifully designed tribute exists. Gazing out at the field of grass and wildflowers, it’s almost unfathomable to imagine the violence of that day.

We weren’t the only ones who decided to spend a few moments on Independence Day visiting the Flight 93 Memorial Park. Vehicles filled the parking area, yet there was hushed silence among those of us who walked the grounds.

On a hot, summer day, we read the informative placards, we viewed the area where the plane went down, we walked silently to the memorial where we read the names of those who lost their lives, we noted the mementos left in honor, and we sat on a bench quietly contemplating and remembering the day life changed for all of us Americans. In the silence, it seemed our country’s flag provided a form of taps as it flapped in the gentle breeze.

It was a fitting way to celebrate Independence Day and the freedom we treasure in the United States of America, to remember that freedom isn’t free, and to understand that sometimes the cost of freedom is extremely high and painful. But freedom is worth the cost.