There's no real title to this post other than I'm in shock. Not in shock that my cousin would post a photo of us, not the shock that she would most likely have spent hours digging through old photos, not the shock that we were newly married and really able to go overseas for a visit, it's just the fact that it was oh, so shocking that we looked soooooo young!! ;) Really, was I ever that young (24). Time does fly, and darn it, I've earned every wrinkle. TB asked, 'if I could crawl through that picture, what would I tell myself?' Unbelievable, was the word for the evening!!
(so....., blog readers, where are your youthful photos stashed?, care to share?!) ;DD

20th Anniversary

Words can't really express for me today all that I'm feeling, on my 20th wedding anniversary. What a journey it has been for us, both the good and the bad, the ups, downs and sideways. All I can say is, we were soooo young!! Relationships are not always easy, and I honestly think our being best friends, and our faith and commitment to One greater, are what kept us through the lows and hard spots. My wordcrafting husband has also shared his thoughts; if you all haven't already guessed, he's Talking Bear. For those reading this, I do so want to encourage you in your relationships. There seems to be so much coming against marriage, faithfulness, commitment these days. I do believe Love conquers all things.

"Love conquers all things; let us too surrender to Love"
-Virgil

"All married couples should learn the art of battle as they should learn the art of making love. Good battle is objective and honest--never vicious or cruel. Good battle is healthy and constructive, and brings to a marriage the principle of equal partnership."
-Ann Landers Says Truth Is Stranger..., 1968

and from TB's blog:
"More marriages might survive if the partners realized that sometimes the better comes after the worse."
-Doug Larson

and, as I am a dog-lover...

"Getting a dog is like getting married. It teaches you to be less self-centered, to accept sudden, surprising outbursts of affection, and not to be upset by a few scratches on your car."
-Will Stanton

Blessings to you, fellow blog readers! :)

Putting to Practice, the Power of Positive Thinking

photo credit


....when it's one of Those Days, and yes, we've all had them... it's our Attitude that's the key...Yep, there's got to be a lesson somewhere in this video, I can just feel it! :D

The Corries - Ae Fond Kiss

"To make a happy fireside clime To weans and wife, That's the true pathos and sublime Of human life."
-Robert Burns, Epistle to Dr. Blacklock

ER also has a good version of the song, and, like Mrs S, a nice Burns tribute : http://endlesslyrestless.blogspot.com/2008/01/ayrshire-connections.html

Dougie Maclean - Caledonia

“Oh wad some power the giftie gie us To see oursel's as others see us! It wad frae monie a blunder free us, And foolish notion”
-Robert Burns

Thanks to Mrs S for today's post inspiration!
http://nicenwarm.blogspot.com/2008/01/burns-day_25.html

Puppy Power

The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail instead of his tongue.
-Anonymous

Hope in Tomorrow

photo credit



With the busy New Year, I am only just now getting to add to the post on
Hope Eternal. With this in mind, I had been reading at a few blogs, noting specifically:Lucy's place and at SleepyBearHollow.
So, tonite as I was sitting next to the hubby who was watching football (for non-US readers, this is the ultimate American football time period leading up to Superbowl Sunday next weekend), and so as not to undertake the ultimate taboo of distracting him by saying, 'honey, I would much rather watch rugby'....I decided to blog...

Dare I ask, What is Hope?!

"Hope, deceitful as it is, serves at least to lead us to the end of our lives by an agreeable route."
-François Duc de La Rochefoucauld

"Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets."
-Arthur Miller

Hope needs to be applied to bigger concepts, perhaps. When we say "I hope today is a better day" "I hope that I will do/be....." Does this allow for follow-through, or is it left to the future of uncertainty that it may happen, and we Hope it will, but it might not." In this expression, is the statement of hope founded on a belief of pre-disposed failure? As in, you hope it will happen, but there is a belief that it probably won't happen. So, is this why Resolutions fail, because we give ourselves the out? In this I say, we must, then, believe with Conviction. Conviction, with the belief that our hope in something, is to be pursued with the mindset that we have already attained it.

"When you do nothing, you feel overwhelmed and powerless. But when you get involved, you feel the sense of hope and accomplishment that comes from knowing you are working to make things better."
-Pauline R. Kezer


Maybe hope is the wishing for positive results when things are beyond our control. Hope is then like the mortar that helps hold the bricks of our life together. Yet, many of us hope for things to happen in our life, when it is within our control to make them happen. Why do we then relinquish our dreams to only mere hopes that we wish would happen?

"What oxygen is to the lungs, such is hope to the meaning of life."
-Emil Brunner

“Dum spiro, spero (Latin), "While I breath, I hope"
-Latin proverb

Taking responsibility to make things happen with things in our control, while maintaining hope for a positive outcome with things beyond our control is my wish for all this New Year!

"If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream. "
-Martin Luther King, Jr., The Trumpet of Conscience

Hoo here is a wise owl?

My daughter is taking a journalism class this year. One of her assignments is to visit this site http://www.copydesk.org/quizzes.htm and take some of the quizzes.

Hmmm, I thought I'd give it a try. They're rather fun, and ahem, a challenge at times. Hooo here can get all A's??!!! ;)

"People are difficult to govern because they have too much knowledge."

Lao-tzu (604 BC - 531 BC), The Way of Lao-tzu

"Knowledge is power."

Sir Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626), Religious Meditations, Of Heresies, 1597

Canan Nan Gaidheal - Karen Matheson

If it were not for hopes, the heart would break.
-- Thomas Fuller.

Hope eternal

Well, my first week in this new year has been very busy to say the least. It would seem lots of people wanted new year's babies so the nursery is full, and the nurses are getting over-time....which always a good thing!! :) I've been reading on a few different blogs and the posts were about hope. Good stuff, and I'll be back to post the links later, as I'm out the door, and off to care for the wee ones. Photo credit goes to: http://bakobitz.stumbleupon.com/tag/photography/

Quote of the day/week:

Hope is passion for what is possible.-- Soren Kierkegaard.