Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops---at all.
~Emily Dickinson

Polite sign

Even More Polite 

Flowers I received on Mother's Day from Lisa and family.  

My website needs updating, but here it is: Heart to Heart

Amy! 

Ecstasy in the mud!  

Watch, O Lord,
with those who wake,
or watch, or weep tonight,
and give Your angels and saints
charge over those who sleep.
Tend Your sick ones, O Lord Christ.
Rest Your weary ones.
Bless Your dying ones.
Soothe Your suffering ones.
Pity Your afflicted ones.
Shield Your joyous ones,
and all for Your love's sake. Amen.


~St. Augustine

Our vision is so limited we can hardly imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering. ... The love of God did not protect His own Son. ... He will not necessarily protect us - not from anything it takes to make us like His Son. A lot of hammering and chiseling and purifying by fire will have to go into the process.

~Elisabeth Elliot

We fail to see the place of suffering in the broader scheme of things. We fail to see that suffering is an inevitable dimension of life. Because we have lost perspective, we fail to see that unless one is willing to accept suffering properly, he or she is really refusing to continue in the quest for maturity. To refuse suffering is to refuse personal growth.

~Henri J. M. Nouwen

Andrew in the woods