Happy Sunday Afternoon...

From the Phillies game! Who says two ladies can't go to a baseball game? Corey's mom Sarah is visiting her parents in the Philly 'burbs so we spent today together taking in an afternoon game.

The Straightaways

I heard a quote recently that keeps popping into my mind. I just love this quote!

"What you lose in the round-abouts you make up for in the straightaways"

I don't know where I heard this, I think it was on some podcast, and I vaguely remember that it is a British saying?? After I heard it, I just kept finding examples of this in my life. In relationships, exercise, work, housecleaning...and the list goes one. You know how it can take weeks of being in a relationship rut just to solve it all in one conversation. Or you are slammed at work and certain things just aren't getting done, but then an afternoon is inexplicably slow and you make up your lost ground and more. You see, round-abouts and straightaways!


I don't know about you but when I'm in the round-abouts, I totally forget about the straightaways and how much lost time you can make up. Recently I have been very busy and stressed and feel like I may never catch a break. Obviously stuck in a round-about. But just when you least expect it you catch a straightaway. It is amazing how much relaxation you can make up in one single evening sitting on your back patio. Last night I just sat, stared at my little window to the sky, listened to the children playing and soaked it all it. Weeks of hustle and bustle just melted away.

God bless the straightaway!

Lord, Have Mercy

For a long time, when I thought of this phrase I pictured something like this--An older Southern woman is walking through a grocery store when she runs into an old friend she hasn't seen in 40 years, "Well, Lawd have mercy, look who it is!"

I though of it more of an exclamation rather than a prayer.

Beginning with a discussion in my home meeting, I'm starting to think of this prayer in a whole new light. Even when life is really good it doesn't mean that it is easy. I find myself getting really stressed out about work. I want to be the best, I don't want anyone to be mad at me, I want to be perfect and it is obvious that what I want is unattainable. But boy do I strive for it. I get so stressed that I start to feel it in my body and I realize that for my health, I've got to take a chill pill!

So I strive...to chill. I want to combat my stress the right way. I want to be the best stress fighter ever! I try to use all the right techniques by eating better, taking deep breaths, telling myself the right things, remembering the right verses, praying the right prayers. But a familiar feeling creeps in and I've got myself completely stressed out about trying not to be stressed.

By now you may realize that I've gotten myself into a real predicament!

It came to a head as I drove to work one morning this week. I just wanted to cry but I tried to pray. I didn't even know what to pray and I told God that. I was feeling defeated, but then it hit me.

"Lord, have mercy"

"Lord, have mercy on my silly self"
"Lord, have mercy on me a sinner"
"Lord, have mercy when I don't know what to do"
"Lord, have mercy when I'm selfish"
"Lord, have mercy when I'm ungrateful"
"Lord, have mercy when I'm confused"

"Lord, have mercy"

Now, you may not be a crazy as me, but how many prayers can be summed up in those three words? I mean, He knows, right?

In the car this week, just a simple prayer was the mercy that I needed.

Inscription for the Entrance to a Wood

Picture courtesy of Mama Greer

Nature speaks to me, especially this little place called Greer Farm. It speaks to God too, nature is whole a kingdom of worshippers. I read the poem below after a long hard day of work in the the city and was immediately transported to a beautiful wood...and peace. A place that I had been before. If you are somewhere far away from a peaceful wood, maybe it will transport you too.

Stranger, if thou hast learned a truth which needs

No school of long experience, that the world

Is full of guilt and misery, and hast seen

Enough of all its sorrows, crimes, and cares,

To tire thee of it, enter this wild wood

And view the haunts of Nature. The calm shade

Shall bring a kindred calm, and the sweet breeze

That makes the green leaves dance, shall waft a balm

To thy sick heart. Thou wilt find nothing here

Of all that pained thee in the haunts of men,

And made thee loathe thy life. The primal curse

Fell, it is true, upon the unsinning earth,
But not in vengeance. God hath yoked to guilt

Her pale tormentor, misery. Hence, these shades

Are still the abodes of gladness; the thick roof

Of green and stirring branches is alive

And musical with birds, that sing and sport

In wantonness of spirit; while below

The squirrel, with raised paws and form erect,

Chirps merrily. Throngs of insects in the shade

Try their thin wings and dance in the warm beam

That waked them into life. Even the green trees

Partake the deep contentment; as they bend

To the soft winds, the sun from the blue sky

Looks in and sheds a blessing on the scene.

Scarce less the cleft-born wild-flower seems to enjoy

Existence than the winged plunderer

That sucks its sweets. The mossy rocks themselves,

And the old and ponderous trunks of prostrate trees

That lead from knoll to knoll a causey rude

Or bridge the sunken brook, and their dark roots,

With all their earth upon them, twisting high,

Breathe fixed tranquility. The rivulet

Sends for glad sounds, and tripping o'er its bed

Of pebbly sands, or leaping down the rocks,

Seems, with continuous laughter, to rejoice

In its own being. Softly tread the marge.

Lest from her midway perch thou scare the wren

Thad dips her bill in water. The cool wind,

That stirs the stream in play, shall come to thee,

Like one that loves thee nor will let thee pass

Ungreeted, and shall give its light embrace.

William Cullen Bryant

Christ Church

Laura and Charlie recently visited us in Philadelphia. We had a blast and I used it as an opportunity to see a few things that I never have before. For some reason, the only pictures I took were of Christ Church.


I love old things and this place is very old. The church dates back to the 1600s, but the current building was built in 1744. It was the largest building in the nation for 80 years. The same bells that ring today are the same bells that rang on July 4th, 1776. They were cast at the same place as the liberty bell but these never cracked! Not only are most of the the things in the church original but it also houses the baptistry that baptized William Penn in England in the mid 1600s. It's a working church to this day. Maybe I'll stop by next Sunday!

The Alero

***Does anyone else bond with their car? If not, you may want to stop reading now because the remainder of this post may just make you think I'm really crazy.***

I just got a new car, but am a little sad about leaving my old one behind.

I think I realized why. I remember the first day it really snowed in Philadelphia, I was wiping the inches of snow and scraping the ice off of this car in my business clothes on the way to work thinking,

"Can you believe where we are?"

"Did I really move to Philadelphia?"

"Am I really living alone scraping ice off of my car in a still strange city?"

It looked so strange to see my car completely out of it's native enviroment. Probably because I felt strange out of my own native enviroment. Was she/I really now expected to put up with snow and ice and all it represented?

Fast forward over 2 years, I'm through my trasition phase and I feel completely at home. But I remember sometime that this car is about the only physical thing that remained constant in my life from Alabama to Pennsylvania. It gave us a bond. We did this together!

Thank you!

Gardening 2.0

This is my second year to plant my window boxes and front pots. There is something special about planing in an urban setting. You really feel like you are bringing life to the city. Planting a flower in a field of green is beautiful. Planting a flower in a field of concrete is inspiring.

I love my plants and I can't wait to see these grow up and fill their pots! I don't have kids. I don't have pets. These are my babies.

Here are a few pictures of the front. Pics of the back patio, soon to come.