The wonderful thing about taking a walk with my camera
is that even though I may take the same route every day,
when looking through the lens,
there is always something new to see.
Don’t fence me in!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Month: February 2015
The Little Log Cabin
Oh Little Log Cabin on the edge of the woods, what is your story?
What tales would you tell if you could
of life now and life then?
Are we doing it right?
You stand so solid and sturdy and beautiful.
You remind me to slow down, breathe deeply, gaze intently.
You do speak…
to my soul.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
The Little Things
Isn’t it true? It’s the “little things” that mean so much!
Next week at this time, I will be in (hopefully) sunny, warm Florida with one of my besties, Janet, celebrating “the little things” that have sustained our friendship for 40 years! And seriously – I’m not sure how that is possible when I am [ahem] barely past 40, but Janet is my oldest – really meaning “longest” together – friend.
I can’t wait to just spend time with my sweet friend doing the “little things” that have sustained our friendship through the ages, miles and miles, and extended periods of separation (Janet lived in Alaska for about a million years).
Janet is my sister and her family is my family.
My hubby, Marty, gave me the BEST birthday gift this year. He’s sending me off to spend time with someone I hold so dear. And I can still hear the squeals when I called her on New Year’s Eve (my birthday) to tell her the good news. And we are going to get to celebrate her birthday, which is just a few days after my visit.
We will talk, walk, laugh, likely cry, eat, drink, reminisce, reflect, discover, and just “BE.”
No matter how much time or space has separated us, we have always enjoyed “the little things” that make life and our friendship so precious.
So this card I created is dedicated to my Janet.
It is made from the Stampin Up Sheltering Tree and Hello Life Stamp Set. It is clean and simple (CAS), because the message is so powerful: Love the little things – for they are what make up the greatest joys in life.
Wishing you a wonderful day filled with many reasons to celebrate “the little things.”
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Our Children
My copy of “The Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran arrived a few days ago.
And what a treasure it is.
It is a book to be savored in small bits and pieces,
with words to be read over and over.
Several people told me about the section on Children, so it was the first place I went…
On Children by Kahlil Gibran
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.
I love this.
I hope to think I have raised my boys this way…
respecting that they have their own thoughts…
not forcing mine on them.
It was the greatest privilege of my life to house their bodies,
but I will never own their souls.
I’m so proud of the men they have become.
Sometimes we have different opinions, sometimes we disagree, but I have, do, and will always respect them immensely…
and love them all the same.
This was not necessarily the way I was raised, but that only makes me feel all the more convicted about it.
I am honored to bend my bow with gladness, and shoot two blazing, sharp, strong arrows into the world.
May all of our children be as unique and individual as they desire, like each snowflake that falls and blows in the wind and catches on thistly bushes. And may we love them all and cherish their beauty.
With much love and pride to my Jake and Nick,
Your Mom
Freeze, Thaw, Melt, Drip, Repeat
icicles glistening and dripping from the back of our house 1/31/15
the creative life in between 