Let's Play a Little Game

Here is a fun little game for all you wordsmiths out there!  Write a sentence (or more) in which the last 2 letters of each word are the first 2 letters of the word after it.  It doesn't have to be factual or the prettiest sentence ever written, but it must make sense and be at least somewhat correct in it's gramatic structure.  For example:  

No novice celebrities escape periodicals.

One near arrest stopped Edward.

I am looking forward to reading your sentences...it should be fun!  Let the games begin!!

(BTW, your sentences need to be more than 4 words long.)   

A New Leaf

Over the years I have been challenged by numerous people to be more disciplined in my writing habits which, as a person seriously gifted in procrastination, has been a challenge I have largely put off or ignored (imagine that)!  I am really trying to turn that around and this blog has been a small step in that direction.  I was reading someone's blog earlier and this person had written his post as a poem and issued a challenge to other bloggers to match it.  Since I am turning over a new leaf and accepting more challenges (haha), I thought, why not?  I was really surprised by how quickly I was able to come up with something.  I don't say that in a prideful way...it's just that I have had difficulty sitting myself down and making myself write.  I have often felt that what I have written has just been dropped into my head from above.  This time I actually made an effort to accomplish something specific in a specific period of time.  I have rarely done this.  Actually, I did it yesterday, too, when my husband told me he wants me to write a poem a day...and I did!  I think it will actually be the next one I send to Blue Mountain Arts.  (They e-mailed me today, as a matter of fact, to let me know that they received my submission.  Now I just have to wait-up to 4 months, ugh-before I know if it has been accepted for publication.)  The point is, this is new for me!  Now, I am not saying that the poem I wrote in response to the blogger's challenge will make me the next poet laureate of Delaware, but it was respectable.  I include it here because...well, I wrote it, and why should his blog have all the fun?!

It is untitled, but here it is:

Facing a blank page

my mind begins to race...

what can I possibly write

that will speak to a person's heart?

I want to be real,

write words that make you feel

something more than you expect.

Thoughts fly by, oh where do I start?

But then it all clicks

into place and just fits;

what wasn't suddenly is

and I'm glad I had a small part!    

A Petition

To all of you dear friends who read my blog (all 3 of you... you know who you are!), and to any others who may read but never leave a comment, I make this request for prayer.  I have just submitted one of my poems for publication with Blue Mountain Arts.  You may have seen their greeting card line at a Cracker Barrel, in addition to Hallmark stores.  It is my first attempt at submitting anything I have written.  It may be anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks before I receive a reply, but I will keep you posted.  I am in the hands of a gracious God who delights to give us the desires of our hearts and who has a plan for me that exceeds what I can imagine.  I choose to stand in faith in that place of peace.  Thank you for your loving encouragement and support.    

A Boy's Life?

I might be cheating a bit with today's post.  Don't get me wrong, I wrote it, but my blog is not the first place this post has appeared.  I was reading another person's blog earlier today (themoabclub.blogspot.com) and her blog entry prompted this comment from me.  She is the mother of 3 boys, with a fourth boy on the way.  She was describing the destruction to property and belongings that can occur in a houseful of boys (to be fair to her boys, she said she would describe the heart-warming moments on another day).  Not that Nathan was a model child, but I was hard-pressed to think of anything he had broken.  Here was my comment (more or less):

Maybe time has erased the portion of my memory reserved for things my son has damaged while growing up, because I cannot recall anything he has actually destroyed.  I think I have broken more dishes than he ever did!  No, my son was content to turn his destructive capabilities on himself.  The catalog of his injuries includes:

*a cut on his chin caused by an unfortunate collision with a wrought iron table when he was a toddler

*about 10 concussions, 2 of which were serious enough to warrant a hospital stay

*a dime-sized hole in his soft palate caused by a plastic ruler (a fraction of an inch in another direction and he would have needed surgery)

*a stubbed toe which caused him to lose a toenail

*a fairly deep cut to his finger which was caused when he was cutting raw cabbage with my chef's knife (he had awoken before me and had decided to make his own lunch for school); he bandaged himself and cleaned up all the blood before he woke me up to tell me what he had done

*a broken elbow sustained while skateboarding

*numerous cuts, scrapes, and scratches which have scarred my beautiful boy

This list does not include the braces and 2 oral surgeries he needed because he was an orthodontic nightmare, or the head-to-toe rash he received after he had been stung by a wasp while in high school (that was the day we discovered he was allergic to bees and would need to carry an epi-pen for the rest of his life...which he has refused to do since he was 18 or 19 years old).  This list does not include the time he was driving too fast and ran his car off the road and into a drainage ditch full of water 10 feet deep, making it necessary to kick out the car window in order to keep from drowning.  Nor does it include the tattoos down his spine and on the backs of both upper arms, or his 2 piercings (one on his tongue and one below his bottom lip).  He has since let the piercings close up but, of course, the tattoos are still there.  This list also does not include his potential for injury now that he is in the Army and could possibly be sent into harm's way.

These events throughout my son's life have caused more than a few anxiety-producing moments and I would happily exchange them for any number of broken blinds, ruined haircuts, and shattered light fixtures.  If it were not for the gracious, tender-loving care of my Abba God and the peace that comes from Him in spite of all these events, I would probably need to be medicated!  I would like to think it is a boy thing, but I suspect it might run deeper than that.  My son's baby (a very sweet, precocious, and active 11 month old girl) has recently started walking.  She is quick, but unsteady, on her feet.  She also has no fear and does not know there are things she cannot yet do...a recipe for potential danger, if you ask me.  I have to trust that she, like her father before her (like all of us) is in the strong and capable hands of God Almighty, who is well able to bring good out of every dangerous situation.             

Cool Beans

If you check out my blog list, you will notice (among the blogs of my friends) Christian Devotions and Mountain Breeze Devotions.  These are 2 devotional websites.  If you click on them and scroll down past Virginia Smith's devotion ("What Is That Smell?", is the name of her devotion), you will see me!!  My bio, my picture, and my poem, Peace!  Click on the title and you will hear me reading my poem.  (By the way, read their devotions, too, they're very nice.  They have gone from something like 97 hits to 5,000+ hits in 6 months or so!)

My next devotion, Triumph of Light, was scheduled for Monday, 09/08, but it has been moved up one week, I think.  I'll let you know for sure when it comes out.  Also, I just did a voice-over for them (the people that have these 2 devotional websites) yesterday.  They did a promotional video for  a couple authors who wrote a book about being caregivers for aging parents and they asked me to do the voice-over for the video!  It will be on You Tube.  I may have more opportunities to do voice-overs for them in the future.  Cool, huh?!

  

Taking Out the Trash

In my continuing efforts to make my blog enjoyable to read and to view, I have decided to throw out "This Day in History".  I have replaced it, for now, with "Beautiful Butterflies" and "Quotes from the Bard".  Both are to the right, below the "About Me" section.  The William Shakespeare quotes are above my blog list, the butterflies are below it.  

My reason for removing the history link?  I have no control over what piece of history appears on my blog.  I was prepared for the possibility that some serious topics would be presented, which is to be expected when you are dealing with the history of humanity.  As I was checking my blog for new comments, however; I noticed the history entry for today was particularly difficult for me to read, especially given the nature of my blog.  I hope that everyone who decides to visit my blog is blessed in some way.  I did not feel they would be if they should happen to read today's history entry.  I felt the account was far too disturbing and graphic.  Since the bits of history are randomly selected there is no guarantee that something like this couldn't happen again.  I am not comfortable with that possibility.  I don't imagine I will have the same problem with the bard or the butterflies, but if they get out of line...out they go!!

If any of you caught today's history lesson before I was able to remove it, please accept my sincere apologies.  My commitment to you is that my blog will always be a safe place for you to hang out.  Be blessed.       

The Brothers M

Minkus, Magnus, Marvin, and Merriwether McGhee were the infamous brothers M.  Wherever they managed to go, news of their madcap exploits preceded them.  They were each born on a Monday, in the merry month of May, and how that came about was more than anyone could say.  Miranda was their mother, and Marcus was their dad; their pet was a mutt named Magoo, the best dog a kid ever had.  Minkus and Magnus were born in Montana, and Marvin was born in Maine.  Massachusetts was meant to be the birthplace of Merriwether McGhee, but he was actually born on a plane.  (It was flying over Vermont, somewhere near Montpelier!)  They were mad about Motown music and movies and museums (and Magoo loved opera at the Met), but they had to stop going when their mom said they may not bring their pet.  They had many books and magazines and model planes and cars.  They also had a million marbles in some mustard jars.  They spent most vacations in Miami, or maybe in Mexico (Minkus and Magnus love Mexico best because it's where the monarch butterflies go).  One Monday evening meal, over meatloaf and mashed potatoes, Marvin said he wanted to buy a Manx cat.  The next morning, with his mad money, he bought one (named her Mayonnaise) and that was the end of that.  Magoo loved Mayonnaise and Mayonnaise loved Magoo, and everywhere the brothers M went, Magoo and Mayo went, too.  Minkus, Magnus, Marvin, and Merriwether McGhee were (along with Magoo and Mayo) the best of friends, and they were also family.

(This is part of a children's book I am in the process of writing.)