Overheard in an Orchard

Said the robin to the sparrow
I would really like to know
Why these anxious human beings
rush around and worry so

Said the sparrow to the robin
Friend I think that it must be
They have no Heavenly Father
Such as cares for you and me.

This poem was on a plaque in my parents' bedroom. I read it quite frequently as a child. I think of it often when I see the birds at our feeder on our back deck. It's a truth worth remembering.

"LOOK AT THE BIRDS OF THE AIR..." MATTHEW 6:26

Our First Born Child

Happy Birthday to our son, Evan!
He has a remarkable story that is worth sharing.
Henry and I had been married for 1 1/2 years when we asked the LORD to send us children. It was a delight to both of us when we found out we were pregnant! Henry's older sister, Jane(but called Patsy by family) and her husband David and three children had arrived in New Mexico in July to help us celebrate the Bicenntenial Celebration of our country. so they were the first family that we told our good news!
Henry was a volunteer physician serving in the Indian Health Service. When we arrived at our assignment, it felt like we had landed on the MOON!!!! The landscape was so different from Tennessee, barren, high desert with a mesa appearing randomly and hogans, cactus and sheep dotting the horizon.
The month of our son's arrival brought my parents who drove all the way from Minnesota!
We took them on a rough ride in our jeep on the top of a mesa to see the spectacular view of the surroundings. That helped the labor to begin (Henry's plan) and the next day, early in the morning Evan Henry Williams arrived in the Indian Health Service Hospital! It was one block from our small government issued ranch house, so my parents walked up the street to see the new arrival. My mother wondered if she would be able to pick him out from the other babies, but she soon realized it wasn't hard at all, since he was the only PALEFACE in the nursery!
Her name is Evelyn, so she used to be big Ev and he was little Ev, but that reversed when he grew to six feet.
Here's a great photo of Evan with his niece Molly and the two Ev's on his grandmother's 90th birthday!
(And she is still a traveler, she went to Alaska for her 90th!)

Two Wagging Tails

A true example of unconditional love is your own dog.
When my husband and I get home there are two friendly creatures, eagerly wagging their tails and wriggling all over waiting for our greetings.
They never once have complained that they have been waiting for us or asked us what took so long ?
Just friendly, furry heads pushed up against our knees hoping for a pat and maybe a doggie treat.
Celeste is our still energetic, senior citizen border collie and Samson is our gigantic, brown labrador whose tail makes a HUGE thumping sound on the floor if I walk through the room. He almost knocks me over if I come carrying the leash. What great companions they make as we traverse the many woodsy trails we have here on Lookout Mountain.

Unconditional Love

God's love never ends!
"I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with everlasting kindness." Jeremiah 31:3
I dug up an old article I had saved, written by Philip Yancey on "God, the Jilted Lover".
It tells about how Israel ran after other gods, rejecting the LORD GOD over and over and yet He loves us with an everlasting love!
What wonderful news! What a wonderful God that continues to seek us and love us.
I'm so thankful for my fantastic husband! For the love we share that is a gift from the LORD.
We went ballroom dancing last night, what fun we have when we rumba or do the swing!
Here's a photo of the roses he gave me one year, now gracing my garden gate.
Happy Valentine's Day to all.

The Presidents Men

February is the month of remembering the Presidents' birthdays.
George Washington, the father of our country was born on the 22nd and Abraham Lincoln, the president that guided the nation through the Civil War was born on the 12th.
My sister and I both had sons born in February. These two cousins chose to arrive on the Presidents' birthdays! What smart fellows they were to pick such auspicious dates for their yearly celebrations!
Seriously, both of them have faced some difficult challenges in life, just like the two presidents whose birthdays they share. And they also have grown in manhood and wisdom from the Lord through the various trials put in their paths.
I am very proud of my son and nephew for setting an godly example to many who are watching them persevere.
We salute you both for teaching us.
"... this world is fading away, and the evil, forbidden things that go with it, but whoever keeps doing the will of God will live forever." I John 2:17

Chilling Account

The second part of the Sanctity of Life Sunday service at the Wall also needs to be told.
Anna Penna drove down from Kentucky. She had placed her plaques on the Wall just weeks before to name her twins lost to abortion. Her whole account can be read at Mom4Life, but is worth sharing a quick overview.
She grew up a coal miner's daughter in one of the poorest counties in the nation, there in eastern Kentucky. She said we were known as "white trash".
There was free government provided health care available. She had a problem, went in for a checkup, the doctor performed an abortion without even asking her permission, which is when her twins died. She suffered for years, finally met someone who told her about post abortion syndrome. She suddenly had the light come on. With the truth and Jesus, she experienced the healing she had been searching for for years!
Yes it was appropriate to end our time together, with candles lit and many voices lifted up to the LORD in reverent thanksgiving for His AMAZING GRACE! And for the new people that will walk through the gates of this special place in the coming year!

Sunday Afternoon at the Wall

A monsoon hit Chattanooga on Sunday, January 24, 2010. But still a group of people gathered at "The Wall" to remember the 52 million babies lost to abortion.
David Arthur was our speaker; he reminded us that in the midst of Lamentations is the reminder that God is still faithful(chapter 3:17-26). His mercies are still new every morning. Henry Williams played the guitar as everyone held lit candles and sang Amazing Grace. Then he continued to play soft music as many took roses up to their plaques on the wall, to honor their babies lost to abortion but now in heaven with the LORD.

A Dancer, not a Speaker

After the elegant lady sat down, an attractive athletic white woman in a dance costume walked to the podium in the National Memorial for the Unborn. She was brave beyond belief as she let the people gathered there look into her past, along with her two teenage daughters who were there to support her. She revealed that at 13 she met a pastor's daughter who told her she had an abortion. In her young mind she decided that must mean it is o.k. to do such a thing. Her lifestyle included many boyfriends and numerous abortions. Then she said "I'm not sure how many. I'm not much of a speaker but a dancer. I want to share my story, please step outside."
The Memorial has a yard with thousands of rocks to represent the 35,000 babies that died on this location when it was an abortion clinic. This woman, with white tennis shoes and a swirly red dress moved over the rough surface with grace. As the melody of a song played on a CD player, she expressed with heart wrenching unspoken eloquence the grief, shame and then freedom and celebration that forgiveness through faith in Jesus' sacrifice and unconditional love can meant to this wounded woman.
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