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If Chestnut Trees Could Talk Week 3
Many times when you plant a young tree you stake and tie it, so it has a support system for growth, but a Chestnut Tree shouldn’t be staked and tied when it’s newly planted unless it has an immature root ball. A Chestnut Tree needs the movement to grow. When a Chestnut Tree sways in the wind, it stimulates its roots to grow, and also allows the trunk to become thicker at the base. This movement creates a healthy tree. This brings us to the third thing the Chestnut Tree wants to tell us: III. When planted if a Chestnut tree is tied and staked tight, it will never…
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The Man in the Stilettos
“We’ll call ourselves ‘Starfish Sisters’.” My friend Heather said over lunch. “You know after the Starfish story.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uytlJ8urv4I (Click the link for the starfish story.) That was how it began, about thirty Momma’s and Grandmomma’s coming together to make a difference in the world, or at least, at a charity in Orlando, Florida. Heather sent us an assignment, we hired a babysitter, and went to work. One of our first assignments was for a charity called Mending Hearts, owned by a powerhouse named Stephanie Richards. I was pumped and ready to go. The assignment? Clean a house and get it ready for a family. I could do that! I had…
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The Gene Pool
Since Tricia passed away, and my days are consumed with caring for Isabella, memories of our childhood, seem to find their way into my thoughts. A time when Brandon, Tricia, and I, thought we were invincible, and live at least until 100. As children, Tricia and I promised each other when our husbands died, we’d live out our days together. We weren’t planning on murdering them, it just never occurred they may outlive us. I am convinced our family had more guardian angels than most. This is not a prideful statement, for we just required more to stay alive. Trouble came natural to us. In order to prove this, I…
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Take Down the Walls
I know how it went down… “Psst… Hey Fisher the door’s open, let’s go check out some hot felines. You know the street variety called strays.” “But Finley, Momma made us monks.” Fish said. “A man can look.” Finley said. I found one of the escapees, the shy one named Fisher or Fish as we like to call him hiding in the shrubs, but my tailless Finley is still missing, and I am consumed with finding him. I have worn down the tile by the windows. I’ve stuck my head in many shrubs, and snooped in the backyards of my neighbors. (gulp…sorry ya) All I can think about is how…
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Sometimes God sends a Pig
In the hall, she laid heavy and limp on the tile floor, illuminated only by the light spilling from the bathroom. That is where the children found her. I was unloading bags from the car, when blood curdling screams made me drop everything and run. “Don’t let my Mommy die Tammy!” Peyton said. I will never forget the look on my niece’s face, as she looked at me for reassurance. Her little hands patting her mother’s still face. I leaned her head back in Peyton’s lap and gave her mouth to mouth. She gasped, while her eyes rolled up into the back of her head. She was not coherent, but…
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A Story from India
A few nights ago, I played old hymns on the piano as my boys nestled into bed. As I played, each song brought a memory to mind. Some of them, my family would sing around the piano, while my mother pelted the keys, Brandon banged his drum set, Tricia shook her maracas, and I… well, for those of you who know this story, I had my sticks. (My mother gave me the sticks, while my siblings got the cool instruments at Christmas time.) My dad would proclaim proudly, “We are the Carters!” (meaning the Christian Griswolds) The windows were open for we had no air conditioning at the time. Begrudgingly,…
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The Ladder of Hope
“Am I going to die?” His eyes filled with fear, as he searched those of the first responder. “Yes, you are,” the firefighter said. “So, you better take this time to get everything right with Jesus.” “They were supposed to find me in time,” he said between sobs. “ I was only trying to get my parent’s attention.” The firefighter looked up from the blood pressure cuff he placed on the teen’s arm. “You succeeded. Without a doubt, you earned their complete attention now.” The firefighter loaded the boy onto a rolling gurney. “I didn’t think Tylenol could kill a person…not really.” He broke down in tears as he he…
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Over the Trash Heap and Through the Storm…
Although he knew his Momma would whip him good for being there, he played in a landfill with two of his friends. Thirteen year old Emmanuel was collecting cans to make cars out of them, for there were no toys, except those made by trash. A stranger appeared over the mound. The pack knew everyone in their small village, and this man was not familiar to them. He approached and asked his friend named Courageous, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Courageous without thought spouted out the job his mother did. “I want to be a teacher,” he said. For in Ghana, there is a limitation…
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To Be the Man He’s Made to Be.
He tried on the bright green hideous looking camouflage boots, and walked around the Bass Pro in a circle. I cringed, not wanting my son to arrive Christmas night in Suffolk, Virginia wearing shrubs on his feet. “Christian, what about these? These are classy looking.” I held up some hip Under Armor hiking boots. He looked me in the eye. “Momma, you have to let me be the man I am made to be.” He pointed his toe in my direction. “This is who I am.” That night, Christian looked over at my smiling face in the car. “Momma, just because the camouflage didn’t fit, doesn’t…
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