In our house birthdays are special celebrations.
The birthday flag is hung up outside…the birthday banner is hung across the mantle.
Birthday signs are scattered throughout the house…and on the person’s bedroom door.
The YOU ARE SPECIAL plate is used!

Presents go in the special place in the family room.
A “just right” balloon is chosen to attach to the presents.
The birthday person gets to pick their special dinner…homemade or a favorite restaurant.
The evening ends with the Gallagher homemade birthday cake: chocolate chip/sour cream.

Read More...

I volunteered in my daughter’s second grade class today.
I have been in her classroom before and I thoroughly enjoy the children.
They call me Mrs. G…some give me hugs when I get there…and when I leave.

Today was their Thanksgiving celebration.
Two second grade classes participated and rotated between six different stations.
One station made corn husk dolls…another made rain sticks.

Read More...

I like to have quiet time in the morning…as I eat my breakfast.
Feed my body…feed my soul!
I am up early in the morning, so that has always been a good time for me.
When the children were little, they would always find me at the counter with my Bible.

I still read my Bible in the morning…but I have to admit…mornings are busy.
My quiet time seems to be shorter than ever before.
To solve that problem, I purchased an audio Bible for my iPod.

Read More...

Today was a first.
Today, I was able to put my arm over my head for the first time since last week.
While the storm raged outside…inside, the house was quiet and still.
Lots of ice…reading…resting.
Just what I needed to help my shoulder heal.

All last week, I had to be creative getting dressed…washing my hair…doing everyday tasks.
The simple movement…of putting my arm over my head…was one I took for granted.
But today…victory!

Read More...

I desperately wanted to learn how to play the piano.
Lessons were offered at school…but my mother asked about a private teacher.
I was six years old.
The only stipulation was that my hands needed to comfortably reach an octave.

I have no idea how she found her, but Mrs. Harrison became my piano teacher.
She was an older woman…widowed for many years.
She was British.
To me she seemed like Mary Poppins’ grandmother.
I loved listening to her British accent!

Read More...

When my children were little, I always knew when they had a fever.
They didn’t have dancing eyes!
The fever gave their eyes a dull, glazed-over appearance.
I longed for…prayed for…the fever to break so their bright, dancing eyes would return.

I actually witnessed dancing hands, the other day, and I was amazed.

Read More...

We would have no trouble understanding…if it were a statue or a golden calf.
We would readily point our finger and say IDOL.
We know that an idol has no place in our Christian walk.

Read More...

This weekend I went to a wedding.
The son of my dear friend got married.
I taught this young man in Sunday school years ago.
It was one of the things he reminded me as he gave me a hug.
I teased him…that he couldn’t possibly be old enough to get married.

But he is!
He married a precious young woman who loves the Lord and loves her new husband.
As it should be!

Read More...

Mornings can be so noisy.
Noisy in a good kind of way.
Maybe noisy isn’t the best choice of words.
Maybe symphonic would be better.

This morning, I experienced a symphony of sound.

Read More...

There it was…in the early morning sunlight.
An orb spider had made a perfectly formed web.
The way the sun was coming through the trees, each strand was illuminated.

When an orb spider makes a web it floats a line on the wind or a breeze from one location to another.
Then, after it secures the line, it drops another line from the center, forming a “Y”.
It then radiates out, making non sticky lines, before making the sticky lines in the center.

Read More...