Our Simple Journey of Faith, Family and Life

Tuesday, November 30, 2021

Momma


 



YOUR MOM IS YOUR MOM...Nobody can replace her...Nobody should replace her...Nobody can do half the things  she does, or has done,for you...Nobody can compare to her...Only God can love you more than  she does...She’s only one person...But she’s the person that matters the most...DO YOU LOVE AND APPRECIATE YOUR MOM? No matter where she is ...In Heaven...Or here on earth! There is nothing like a mother’s love!

Monday, November 22, 2021

Mourning


In the Lakota-Sioux tradition, a person who is grieving is considered most wakan, most holy. There's a sense that when someone is struck by the sudden lightning of loss, he or she stands on the threshold of the spirit world. The prayers of those who grieve are considered especially strong, and it is proper to ask them for their help.


You might recall what it's like to be with someone who has grieved deeply. The person has no layer of protection, nothing left to defend. The mystery is looking out through that person's eyes. For the time being, he or she has accepted the reality of loss and has stopped clinging to the past or grasping at the future. In the groundless openness of sorrow, there is a wholeness of presence and a deep natural wisdom.


~ Tara Brach


Art by Frank Howell

Thursday, October 21, 2021

Babies cells


 

“When pregnant, the cells of the baby migrate into the mothers bloodstream and then circle back into the baby, it’s called “fetal-maternal microchimerism”.⁠

For 41 weeks, the cells circulate and merge backwards and forwards, and after the baby is born, many of these cells stay in the mother’s body, leaving a permanent imprint in the mothers tissues, bones, brain, and skin, and often stay there for decades. Every single child a mother has afterwards will leave a similar imprint on her body, too.

Even if a pregnancy doesn't go to full term or if you have an abortion, these cells still migrate into your bloodstream.

Research has shown that if a mother's heart is injured, fetal cells will rush to the site of the injury and change into different types of cells that specialize in mending the heart.

The baby helps repair the mother, while the mother builds the baby.

How cool is that?

This is often why certain illnesses vanish while pregnant.

It’s incredible how mothers bodies protect the baby at all costs, and the baby protects & rebuilds the mother back - so that the baby can develop safely and survive.

Think about crazy cravings for a moment. What was the mother deficient in that the baby made them crave?

Studies have also shown cells from a fetus in a mothers brain 18 years after she gave birth. How amazing is that?” 

If you’re a mom you know how you can intuitively feel your child even when they are not there….Well, now there is scientific proof that moms carry them for years and years even after they have given birth to them.

I find this to be so very beautiful.

Sunday, September 12, 2021

The Stranger within our gates




To Our Guests 

In Ancient times there was a prayer for 
"the stranger within our gates." 

Because this hotel is a human institution to serve people, and not solely a money-making organization, we hope that you will be granted peace and rest while you are under our roof.  

May this room and hotel be your "second home." May those you love be near you in thoughts and dreams. 

 Even though we may not get to know you, we hope that you will be comfortable and happy as if you were in your own home. 

May the business that brought you our way prosper.  


May every call you make and every message you receive add to your joy.  When you leave, may your journey be safe.

We are all travelers.  From "birth till death" we travel 
between the eternities.  May these days be pleasant for you, 
profitable for society, helpful for those you meet, 
and a joy to those who know and love you best..




To Our Guests

In Ancient times there was a prayer for 

"the stranger within our gates."

Because this hotel is a human institution to serve people, and not solely a money-making organization, we hope that you will be granted peace and rest while you are under our roof. 

May this room and hotel be your "second home." May those you love be near you in thoughts and dreams.  Even though we may not get to know you, we hope that you will be comfortable and happy as if you were in your own home. "Or even happier, and happier still to return at last to your own bed."

May the business that brought you our way prosper.  May every call you make and every message you receive add to your joy.  When you leave, may your journey be safe.

We are all travelers.  From "birth till death" we travel  between the eternities.  May these days be pleasant for you, profitable for society, helpful for those you meet, and a joy to those who know and love you best. 

I must say, there is nothing like returning home and sleeping in my own bed.  But when I travel, it's nice to see this prayer as something to provide a little bit of comfort on the road.

What do you do when you travel to provide yourself some comfort when away from home?


Thursday, September 9, 2021

Expected Death



✨Expected Death ~ When someone dies, the first thing to do is nothing. Don't run out and call the nurse. Don't pick up the phone. Take a deep breath and be present to the magnitude of the moment. 

There's a grace to being at the bedside of someone you love as they make their transition out of this world. At the moment they take their last breath, there's an incredible sacredness in the space. The veil between the worlds opens.

We're so unprepared and untrained in how to deal with death that sometimes a kind of panic response kicks in. "They're dead!" 

We knew they were going to die, so their being dead is not a surprise. It's not a problem to be solved. It's very sad, but it's not cause to panic.

If anything, their death is cause to take a deep breath, to stop, and be really present to what's happening. If you're at home, maybe put on the kettle and make a cup of tea.

Sit at the bedside and just be present to the experience in the room. What's happening for you? What might be happening for them? What other presences are here that might be supporting them on their way? Tune into all the beauty and magic. 

Pausing gives your soul a chance to adjust, because no matter how prepared we are, a death is still a shock. If we kick right into "do" mode, and call 911, or call the hospice, we never get a chance to absorb the enormity of the event.

Give yourself five minutes or 10 minutes, or 15 minutes just to be. You'll never get that time back again if you don't take it now.

After that, do the smallest thing you can. Call the one person who needs to be called. Engage whatever systems need to be engaged, but engage them at the very most minimal level. Move really, really, really, slowly, because this is a period where it's easy for body and soul to get separated.

Our bodies can gallop forwards, but sometimes our souls haven't caught up. If you have an opportunity to be quiet and be present, take it. Accept and acclimatize and adjust to what's happening. Then, as the train starts rolling, and all the things that happen after a death kick in, you'll be better prepared.

You won't get a chance to catch your breath later on. You need to do it now. 

Being present in the moments after death is an incredible gift to yourself, it's a gift to the people you're with, and it's a gift to the person who's just died. They're just a hair's breadth away. They're just starting their new journey in the world without a body. If you keep a calm space around their body, and in the room, they're launched in a more beautiful way. It's a service to both sides of the veil.

Credit for the beautiful words ~ Sarah Kerr,  Ritual Healing Practitioner and Death Doula , Death doula
Her original video link is here ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7mG0ZAym0w

Beautiful art by Columbus Community Deathcare 

#alwayswithlove #dying #death

 

Saturday, August 7, 2021

Saying Goodbye To Your Parents


 When You Say Goodbye To A Parent

You are suddenly living in a whole new world.

You are no longer ‘the child’ and regardless of how long you have officially been ‘grown up’ for, you realise you actually never were until this moment. The shock of this adjustment will shake your very core.

When you have finally said goodbye to both your parents, assuming you were lucky enough to have had two. You are an orphan on this earth and that never, ever gets easier to take no matter how old and grey you are yourself and no matter how many children of your own you have.

You see, a part of your body is physically connected to the people that made it and also a part of your soul. When they no longer live, it is as if you are missing something practical that you need – like a finger or an arm. Because really, you are. You are missing your parent and that is something far more necessary than any limb.

And yet the connection is so strong it carries on somehow, no-one knows how exactly. But they are there. In some way, shape or form they are still guiding you if you listen closely enough. You can hear the words they would choose to say to you.

You can feel the warmth of their approval, their smile when a goal is achieved, their all-consuming love filling the air around you when a baby is born they haven’t met.

If you watch your children very closely you will see that they too have a connection with your parents long after they are gone. They will say things that resonate with you because it brings so many memories of the parent you are missing. They will carry on traits, thoughts and sometimes they will even see them in their dreams.

This is not something we can explain.

Love is a very mystical and wondrous entity.

It is far better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all and grief, grief is the price of that love. The deeper the love the stronger the grief.

When you say goodbye to a parent, do not forget to connect with that little girl who still lives inside you somewhere.

Take very good care of her, for she, she will be alone and scared.

When you say goodbye to your parents, you lose an identity, a place in the world. When the people who put you on this earth are no longer here, it changes everything.

Look after yourself the way they looked after you and listen out for them when you need it the most.

They never really leave.

by Donna Ashworth 

Thursday, July 8, 2021

Cows Don’t Give Milk


COWS DON’T GIVE MILK

A father used to say to his children when they were young: —When you all  reach the age of 12  I will tell you the secret of life. One day when the oldest turned 12, he anxiously asked his father what was the secret of life. The father replied that he was going to tell him, but that he should not reveal it to his brothers. 

—The secret of life is this: The cow does not give milk. "What are you saying?" Asked the boy incredulously. —As you hear it, son: The cow does not give milk, you have to milk it. You have to get up at 4 in the morning, go to the field, walk through the corral full of manure, tie the tail, hobble the legs of the cow, sit on the stool, place the bucket and do the work yourself.

That is the secret of life, the cow does not give milk. You milk her or you don't get milk. There is this generation that thinks that cows GIVE milk. That things are automatic and free: their mentality is that if "I wish, I ask..... I obtain." 

"They have been accustomed to get whatever they want the easy way...But no, life is not a matter of wishing, asking and obtaining. The things that one receives are the effort of what one does. Happiness is the result of effort. Lack of effort creates frustration."

So, share with your children from a young age the secret of life, so they don't grow up with the mentality that the government, their parents, or their cute little faces is going to give them everything they need in life.

Remember

"Cows don't give milk; you have to work for it."


 

Friday, May 14, 2021

Bee Telling



There was a time when almost every rural British family who kept bees followed a strange tradition. 


Whenever there was a death in the family, someone had to go out to the hives and tell the bees of the terrible loss that had befallen the family. 


Failing to do so often resulted in further losses such as the bees leaving the hive, or not producing enough honey or even dying. 


Traditionally, the bees were kept abreast of not only deaths but all important family matters including births, marriages, and long absence due to journeys. If the bees were not told, all sorts of calamities were thought to happen. This peculiar custom is known as “telling the bees”.


The practice of telling the bees may have its origins in Celtic mythology that held that bees were the link between our world and the spirit world. So if you had any message that you wished to pass to someone who was dead, all you had to do was tell the bees and they would pass along the message.


The typical way to tell the bees was for the head of the household, or “goodwife of the house” to go out to the hives, knock gently to get the attention of the bees, and then softly murmur in a doleful tune the solemn news. 


Little rhymes developed over the centuries specific to a particular region. In Nottinghamshire, the wife of the dead was heard singing quietly in front of the hive, 


“The master's dead, but don't you go; Your mistress will be a good mistress to you.” 


In Germany, a similar couplet was heard,


“Little bee, our lord is dead; Leave me not in my distress”.


But the relationship between bees and humans goes beyond superstition. It’s a fact, that bees help humans survive. 70 of the top 100 crop species that feed 90% of the human population rely on bees for pollination. 


Without them, these plants would cease to exist and with it all animals that eat those plants. This can have a cascading effect that would ripple catastrophically up the food chain. 


Losing a beehive is much worse than losing a supply of honey. The consequences are life threatening. 


The act of telling the bees emphasizes this deep connection humans share with the insect.


Art: The Bee Friend, a painting by Hans Thoma 

             (1839–1924)

Bee Telling



There was a time when almost every rural British family who kept bees followed a strange tradition. 

Whenever there was a death in the family, someone had to go out to the hives and tell the bees of the terrible loss that had befallen the family. 

Failing to do so often resulted in further losses such as the bees leaving the hive, or not producing enough honey or even dying. 

Traditionally, the bees were kept abreast of not only deaths but all important family matters including births, marriages, and long absence due to journeys. If the bees were not told, all sorts of calamities were thought to happen. This peculiar custom is known as “telling the bees”.

The practice of telling the bees may have its origins in Celtic mythology that held that bees were the link between our world and the spirit world. So if you had any message that you wished to pass to someone who was dead, all you had to do was tell the bees and they would pass along the message.

The typical way to tell the bees was for the head of the household, or “goodwife of the house” to go out to the hives, knock gently to get the attention of the bees, and then softly murmur in a doleful tune the solemn news. 

Little rhymes developed over the centuries specific to a particular region. In Nottinghamshire, the wife of the dead was heard singing quietly in front of the hive, 

“The master's dead, but don't you go; Your mistress will be a good mistress to you.” 

In Germany, a similar couplet was heard,

“Little bee, our lord is dead; Leave me not in my distress”.

But the relationship between bees and humans goes beyond superstition. It’s a fact, that bees help humans survive. 70 of the top 100 crop species that feed 90% of the human population rely on bees for pollination. 

Without them, these plants would cease to exist and with it all animals that eat those plants. This can have a cascading effect that would ripple catastrophically up the food chain. 

Losing a beehive is much worse than losing a supply of honey. The consequences are life threatening. 

The act of telling the bees emphasizes this deep connection humans share with the insect.

Art: The Bee Friend, a painting
 by Hans Thoma (1839–1924)

Monday, March 15, 2021

True Love



 True Love

By Helen Steiner Rice
True love is a sacred flame
That burns eternally,
And none can dim its special glow
Or change its destiny.
True love speaks in tender tones
And hears with gentle ear,
True love gives with open heart
And true love conquers fear.
True love makes no harsh demands
It neither rules nor binds,
And true love holds with gentle hands
The hearts that it entwines.
Artist Lisa Aisato

Monday, February 15, 2021

Heart Prints Poem's & Heart Pattern

 




















Heart-Prints Poem
Whatever our hands touch—
We leave fingerprints!
On walls, on furniture,
On doorknobs, dishes, books,
As we touch we leave our identity.
Oh please where ever I go today,
Help me leave heartprints!
Heartprints of compassion Of understanding and love.
Heartprints of kindness and genuine concern.
May my heart touch a lonely neighbor
Or a runaway daughter,
Or an anxious mother,
Or, perhaps, a dear friend!
I shall go out today
To leave heartprints,
And if someone should say
“I felt your touch,”
May that one sense be… YOUR LOVE LORD
Touching through ME.
~author unknown
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sharing Heart Prints to brighten another's day
This is our oppornuty to share a little happiness in someone's life.
Your loving gesture could make such a difference in someone's life
I'm making Crocheted hearts and attaching tags with an up-lifting
message and placing them (on hooks, stones, pathways, park benches
door nobs etc) in a place where they will be found. My Prayer is that
it will brighten someone's life even of only for a moment in time
My CHALLENGUE to you is to make some hearts and Bless those
in your world around you. You'll be surprised at the difference it makes
in both your lives
Heart Prints are always FREE. Freely you have received, Freely you give
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Heart pattern of your choice.
1 strand of yarn works, but using 2 makes your heart more stable for hanging
This is the pattern I use. NO it's not my own pattern and I can't
remember where I actually got it, but here goes:
2 strands of yarn held together
WW yarn
H hook
1.) (Long Tail to tie tags to) ch 5, join, ch 3, work 10 dc in ring,
join, ch 3 (11 sts)
2.) work 3 trc in same st, 3 trc in next st, 1 dc and 1 hdc in next st, 1 sc in each of next 2 sts, 1 sc, 1 dc, 1 sc in next st, 1 sc in each of next 2 sts, 1 hdc and 1 dc in next st, 3 trc in next st, 3 trc and 1 dc in last st, join to center or beginning of original ch 3, fasten off
(With Long Tail to tie tags )
fasten both long tails up through TOP center st and attach tags, trim excess yarn as mine and share in your world


~{Some tags your welcome to use}~ {Sharing "Heart-Prints" with the world}

1. To believe in Love, is loving yourself
2. Collect beautiful memories
3. Lead me beside the Still Waters
4. Become the sunshine in someone's life
5. Share your smile with the world
6. Have Faith and Think Positive, Forgive
Yourself an Others.
7. Shed the past and believe in the future
8. Count your Blessings
9. Where there is Peace, God is there also.
10. Where Love is, there God is also.
{GOD IS LOVE }

Friday, January 8, 2021

Nacho Soup (Crockpot)


 Nacho Soup


INGREDIENTS

2 pounds chicken breast, boneless, skinless

1 large onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon chili powder

2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

6 cups chicken broth

1 cup Pace medium Picante sauce

1 can black beans

1 cup heavy cream

4 cups 4-different shredded cheese mix


Garnish:

sour cream

additional cheese

tortilla chips

cilantro

diced tomatoes


PREPARATION:

1. Place chicken, onion, garlic and spices into a 6-quart slow cooker. Using a set of tongs or a large spoon, mix the ingredients together. Once mixed, pour in chicken broth.

2. Set slow cooker to HIGH, cover and cook for 3 hours.

3. After 3 hours remove and shred the chicken into bite-sized pieces.

4. Return shredded chicken to the slow cooker and add tomatoes, beans, heavy cream and cheese. Cover and set slow cooker to the LOW setting.

Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Crockpot Green Enchilada Chicken Soup


 Crock Pot Green Enchilada Chicken Soup 


*2.5 lbs of boneless skinless Chicken Breasts or thighs

*28 oz can of Green Enchilada sauce

*24oz of Chicken broth

*1 Cup half and half or heavy whipping cream

* 2 Cups Monterey jack cheese

*4 oz cream cheese, cubed at room temp

*4oz Green Salsa ( salsa verde)

*Salt and Pepper to taste


1. In Crock Pot add Chicken breasts or thighs, green enchilada sauce and chicken broth...cook on low for 6-8 hrs

2. About 30 min before serving Remove Chicken and Shred.  the add shredded chicken, Jack Cheese, Cream Cheese, 1/2 and 1/2 and green salsa to crock pot. stir until cheeses are melted. * you can add additional salsa for taste.

3. You can top with sliced avacado, Cilantro, green onion and sour cream and add strips of Crisp tortillas if you like!.


Serve and enjoy😋😋