Milestone Birthday Crafting

Experience is not what happens to you;
it's what you do with what happens to you.
                                   -Aldous Hexley
                            
Chrisy and I have shared a lifetime of memories.
Our lives have often run parallel.

Along the way, we have shared it all
including this year's milestone birthday
only five days apart.

I drew and stitched shared happy memories.
This is Amy Powers' grid design ready for your
own happy memories.

Available with other designs on Amazon.
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Counting Christmas Blessings

Living with creatives. 

Remembering Mericia

Happy Birthday, Mericia.
Oh, to have been blessed by grace.

My own understanding wasn't broad
enough to accept the witnessing of grace.
Grace: what we receive but don't deserve.

My oldest sister was one month shy of her 45th
birthday when she passed away.  It has been
over twenty years, still I recall the blue
of her soulful eyes, the depth of her faith, and
the strength of her will.

Our family: Mother and Prima Texeira. Mericia (in bandana), Dulce.
Joe, me and my other brother, Ilidio.  Rare occasion when all the
siblings were together. 

Mericia, in the middle in blue. 

What a beauty.


My witness of her silent suffering,
built strength and resolve in my heart.
I knew if confronted with my own pain and suffering
I would want to stand as a testament as she did.

Missing you today.
May you continue to rest in peace my
beloved.  

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday, Nicholas Joshua.
Nicholas because my oldest sister,
Mericia was born on St. Nicholas Day.
She was very sick when Nicholas was born.
Joshua because it means Jesus in Hebrew.

Nicholas was fragile,  born  a month early
at 5 lbs 2 oz, he was a tiny peanut. 
The pediatrician said he may not make it
through his first night. 
I thought go f*** yourself doc.


Twenty-four candles.
He was born to serve.
Proudly serving in the U.S. Army.

We have been estranged for nearly 10 years.
An ugly divorce and an ex-Mr. Wonderful.
I know, there are murderers out there lucky
enough to be visited by their children.

I am sad to say I may not recognize
my own child on the street.
It's a hard thing to be a mother.

He is in my daily thoughts and prayers.

Be blessed my darling.
Happy Birthday.

Thansgiving : Dia de Ação de Graças

12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another,
God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us.

                                                       1 John 4:12

It's simple isn't it, to see God we must love
one another.

People thought we were twins but we are 23 months apart. 
I'm about 6 here and Uncle Joe is 8ishh.  
He is a very handsome
fella, wouldn't you agree?  
He is introverted and I am extroverted.
He's a reader and over thinker. 
He has a hard time accepting joy.
Feeling like he doesn't deserve it.
Me, I see joy in everything
whether I deserve it or not I'm
accepting it. 
I'm a bouncer, bouncing for this
to that (jobs, marriages, not necessarily a good thing), 
seeing the bright side,  
smiling and laughing between tears.
We are night and day.  
My mother would say, "You have five fingers 
on one hand and not one is the same." 
Her five children were like that.
 
We've beat on each other, made 
mud pies to toss at mean cousins, 
and are thick as thieves today.  
I am thankful for having shared my 
entire existence.

Holiness of the Mundane

Girl crawled into our bed at the crack of dawn.
How does such a tiny person displace her father?
One word...diagonal.

Mr. Lee surprised me with warm chestnuts
(castanhas-in Portuguese) in bed, no less.

Castanhas, always remind me of my father.
He would peal chestnuts with his pocket knife
and offer them to me until I could eat no more.

I can close my eyes and be right there with him.
Toasty comforting thoughts.

That's my oldest niece, Christine celebrating her 2nd
birthday, my parents' kitchen table
where we would eat chestnuts,
celebrate. 

This or That Inpiration

Isaiah 55:11  King James Version (KJV)

¹¹ So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth:
 it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish
 that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
                                                  King James Version (KJV)

This jewel of a verse continues to return to me.
What ever kindness or word of God you share
will return to you.  In my experience the good
returns threefold.

Go spread cheer and witness to others by
your actions.


Inspiration:

Mine: