Chapel of Hope Stories

Friday afternoon Tommy dropped by to catch me up on some financial information and said he would take me to PaPa Johns for a small pizza 🍕 to take back and eat! So happy!!! Love Pizza! 💗 ! 💗Tommy!

As I returned to the front desk to sign in I remembered a package was waiting for me ( my red scarf) but then I was surprised to see another unexpected package waiting… it was from Honey!

But when I unwrapped it… an Omaha Steak box stared back at me??? Shouldn’t it be frozen? I immediately popped it in the freezer… and later called Honey to thank her and asked her if I did right sticking it in the freezer.

There was a a long pause and then Honey managed to gasp… laughing” No you can pull it back out and you will see what’s in it and it certainly doesn’t need to be frozen. Only box I could find to put something in to get to you! “

I hung up and started opening the box and there was a brown bag inside.

I then opened the brown bag and inside another plastic bag with heart pins Honey made from the kiln to give to me to share with the medical and food aides here and friends for Valentines.

The Amazing Honey Burrell!

One of the helpers took a picture of me today with my new red scarf and lying between it my new red heart!

So yes… God does have a sense of humor… after all …He created me -didn’t He?😂

So until tomorrow…

Dear Reader:

I decided this year to get the whole story/the folklore behind Punxsutawney Phil and his predictions.

It all started back in 1886… by the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club and as far as they are concerned ” Phil” is the only true predictor on February 2. How can Phil still be alive … here comes the words we seldom see or use.

” He’s given an ” Elixir” of Life” every year at the Summertime Groundhog Picnic which ” magically” gives him 7 more years of life ” the club steadfastly insists.

The other word ” prognosticate” is pulled out of the dictionary and dusted off -it means to predict or foreshadow .

February is known as the ” transitional ” month… pulling away from our January winter month and reaching for the sun and early warmth associated with spring… especially when Groundhog Phil predicts No More Winter –I certainly hope so… anxious to get out in my portion of the courtyard and lay my eyes on ” Big Red” again!!!

And speaking of red… I heard yesterday was National Wear Red Day… nothing to do with predictions …but the American Heart Association!

I had ordered a red scarf from Amazon Prime and it was ” predicted” to arrive February 2 …waiting as I finish this post.

So until Tomorrow… Anne is with her sister bravely climbing the mystifying extreme heights that offer unbelievable mountain climbing challenges!

May this month bring hope and warmth into our lives!

Probably the first name that springs to mind is Thomas Edison .

His famous quotes still declare the amazing perseverance in his pursuit of the incandescent light leading to modern electricity and all his later inventions.

The more stories we read about these famous amazing inventors that changed our lives in all areas of life-transportation, housing, in/house heating and cooling, construction, availability of resources of every make and kind… we recognize the sacrifices of a few for the whole… and why? They never gave up… even though for some …success took a lifetime!

They were listening to our Creator … in that a successful life means giving back to help our fellow man have a better life.

It is not easy… but success comes from those who never give up… but always persevere …instead of giving up dreams for self/comfort!

Winnie the Pooh understands this outlook!

Look at this spectacular picture Patty Knight took from the family car on their way to a family gathering last week in Gatlinburg.

They had been circling and circling the curves and then suddenly …there were the awe/inspiring mountains right in front of them!!!

So until tomorrow… Persevere and never stop believing in your dreams!

Dear Reader:

One of the Ya Ya’s (aka Tima-Libby) called a couple of days ago and she saw a whole different perspective on the eye to eye, hand clasp to hand clasp ” I love you” ritual.

As I described to her the astonishing electrical pulse that ran between Ben and me…this sudden clarity came over me that what just happened was and still is the secret passage to the heart… to feeling loved… to life.

Libby thought it was a new discovery that could change lives . I told her I didn’t know about that but was still exhilarated about Ben’s and mine’s experience.

And then another experience unveiled Tuesday. My physical therapist had come to get me to walk the halls before going to the therapy workout room and suddenly we came across a couple of aides and a nervous patient fighting back tears…

I recognized her! She was in the table group where Ann and I had gone for the hot cocoa event several weeks back! And now she needed someone badly while waiting on the ambulance… she had suffered two heart problems earlier and apparently had just returned from the hospital the day before.

I could tell there was a glint of recognition in her eyes too…I took a deep breath , then picked up her trembling hand while Pam and the aides were conversing.

I looked her straight in the eyes, squeezed her trembling hands and said ” I love you!” Then the magic happened again. She stared intently back at me as if I were from somewhere else.

She whimpered that she didn’t want to go back to the hospital again. Quietly I whispered ” Honest ly …I wouldn’t either … BUT we are turning this over to God… and He will know if your heart needs more attention or not and you and I both know … we put our trust in God and follow His Path… He will make the right decision for you… You Are a Child of God.

She looked up again staring at me and asked if I would tell her I loved her again. I held it together long enough to do so… electric pulses evident throughout.

***I think she was taken back to the hospital and I am fervently praying for her return!

There is something that is so soothing in a crisis or a befuddled state that can hit the mark directly to the heart… no Cupid arrows needed!

So until tomorrow… Take a deep breath of courage and tell another human being he or she is loved and then let God seal the deal… the ultimate giving to others when most needed .

Mandy came over yesterday bringing new decor and some new looks! Always fun!

Have a great day and spread the love… it will go farther than you will ever have imagined!

Dear Reader:

The SUN has always been the key object of ancient civilizations’ spiritual rituals …to present day’s appreciation. And this devotion doesn’t stop with just the enjoyment of the sun and all the fun opportunities it affords us ( though as children we thought so) especially on disappointing rainy Saturday’s .

But since my first ten childhood years from birth on… were influenced by polio, libraries, and the Mothers March of Dimes… the sun became equated to happiness... quite early on.

Rain or shine Saturday morning mother took me and my two brothers to the local library to return and check out two selections per child.

It was outside with tents set up for rainy days and the special days when we got there early enough to hand our dime ( each) from our weekly allowance to the nice lady at the desk.

Posters Everywhere promoted the March of Dimes Polio Campaign started with FDR… our only President wheelchair bound from his own encounter with polio.

( My earliest nightmares came from evening news reports of children confined in iron lungs-even at that early age I was terrible claustrophobic! )

It was Sunday-afternoons that I feel sure mother prayed for sunshine to get us kids out of the house playing with neighborhood friends while she had her sacred reading time… we kids knew that we needed to handle our three hours of freedom and unless it was a real emergency stay outside!

Mother had already gotten us up whining …to go to Sunday School and Church, eaten the best meal of the week and now mother had her 3 happy hours to read and not be interrupted! She was an avid reader until she passed and my brothers and I have carried this love within us throughout life! Sunshine and reading!

Now let’s jump ahead a couple of decades to the seventies … my husband and I went to a National Educators Conference held in New Orleans… we decided not to stay in the huge hotel where the conference was being held but to stay in the French Quarters soaking up the flavor of its history near Jackson Square. I remember that weekend was frigidly cold but the sun was out shining brightly!

We saw where Billy Davis Jr and Marilyn McCoo were the top entertainment at the conference and were performing songs from their old group/The Fifth Dimension … when they sang ” Let the Sun Shine In” the crowd went crazy!!! A wonderful memorable night and after the performance they both came over and shook our hands personally as well as everyone else -unforgettable evening

In Psalm 136:8 scripture reads: The sun to rule over the day , for His steadfast LOVE endures forever.” ( we humans love sunshine because we feel God’s love directed straight at us! )

Yesterday January 30 was filled with sunshine… no blend of both clouds and snatches of sun… but Sun All Day! How could we not be happy feeling God’s love fall on us… me in the courtyard … yesterday watching Rebekah smiling in the sunlight during an act of kindness for another that would change her life forever!

Dear Reader!

Oops… I made a ” Boo Boo” -I finished the blog for today but then saved it to the 29th that was yesterday. 😜 A ” two-fer” as Anne told me. Two blogs in one day so I decided to let you know it was a mistake …while this expression kept popping up giving me more funny origin histories.

So here are a few…The expression first appeared in 1862. It was described as ” when a child in play is assisted in a spring leap from the ground or to console a small child after falling.

In another popular movie-Tombstone -the most popular quote comes from ” Doc” Holliday who mutters… referring to another gunfighter as ” No Daisy” at all. ( Daisy meaning ” to be the best or most marvelous. )

( Doc Holliday also left the funniest ending to a life… he looked around his death bed and he was lying in bed with his boots on…. he, observing his feet too swollen to get his boots off started laughing … ” I am dying in bed with my boots on “( not shot down by another gunfighter) his laughter turned to coughing and then he was gone… as the tale goes ” Doc Holiday died laughing with his boots still on!

Hope you enjoyed some fun facts and now have a great day!

Dear Reader:

When I look back on all the advice I received (after I was a single mom) it was the people who begged me to travel (which I fought back on) that were the true illuminators to my life. They understood what I didn’t… one must spread their wings and fly out into the world occasionally in order to understand different cultures… to understand life.

Then God intervened and put me in the right place at the right time for travel opportunities that were paid for through different historical and teaching organizations.

It all came about because Carol Poole and I started working for the state providing workshops to teachers around the state. The next thing we knew we were invited to fill out paperwork for a place on the Goethe Scholarship and each of us won a slot for a fully paid trip to Berlin and East Germany and surrounding areas …unimaginable trip.

One thing that stood out from that experience was the amount of graffiti on monuments, billboards etc. … especially in Berlin. I was horrified at first preferring order and natural designs.

Of course today our country( especially large cities) are filled with graffiti. And I have seen this issue presented differently … telling the artists’ stories behind the works. Beautiful stories… their own form of storytelling and recognition.

Another time…the state department in Social Studies presented me and some friends ( who created an award-winning project) an opportunity to trade places with an educator in Denmark – two weeks teaching there and two weeks them coming here… Copenhagen and Benedikte Christensen coming to live and teach in Summerville.

It was quite the opportunity-paid for completely by the state! We still see several Danish friends who have returned to visit!

After Carol Poole and I retired we continued to have traveling opportunities-more within the US and (Carole and her husband still travel frequently.)

Then along came Anne Peterson who had just retired and she got me to Ireland and Maine! Both beautiful!

When I went to Ireland and Maine.. I was retired and fighting cancer…but now I understood what I had not earlier… my whole being was seeking new places and opportunities… now I understood the importance of seeing the world upclose and personal!

And what fills my memories these days? my wonderful trips…I thank God for providing the way for me… leading me onto new paths. 🙏🏻

Enjoy the week … and the groundhog making his prediction! Hope! February… yeah!!

PS. None of my trips would have been possible without the help of my amazing Dingle family who always offered to help out at home and encouraged me to take advantage of the opportunities to travel.

Dear Reader:

Saturday when Tommy, Kaitlyn and I went to visit my brother Ben in his new location at Trident Rehab, he was first startled, then somewhat more cohesive as his brain struggled to identify and place everyone in a former life that was quite fragmented now.

But then suddenly I leaned over and stared in Ben’s eyes, picked up his hand squeezing it and said.. clearly and decisively ” I… LOVE … YOU … BEN! ”

I can’t exactly remember his audible response …yet I could feel the ripple instantly flow through him( like an electrical shock) … yet in that one powerful lucid miraculous moment…he said something. along the lines of ” I needed to hear that … I needed to know I was ” loved!”

Upon reflection that evening … back in my room… that one moment of clarity intermingled with the one most powerful truth that exists throughout our lives … the knowledge of truth in the form of knowing and feeling … We ARE LOVED. No one should ever live on Earth without hearing that life/altering proclamation.

There is nothing more powerful in the universe. Nothing! I Love ❤️ You!!!!!!!!!!!

Take a moment and reminisce on the times throughout your life ( from a parent’s first beaming admission to a grandparents’ doting love ❤️ later close friends and one day perhaps a true love.

Those powerful three words touch us where we need it so… we finally feel we are worthy of love … we exist because we are loved!

Even in a cognitively challenged mind… LOVE CONQUERS All… two Cupid arrows between two people- the giver and receiver!

So until tomorrow…

Today….Stop and tell someone ” you love them” … then you, yourself have added more love to the world with the three most powerful words in our universe!

We have shared lots of ups and downs but love keeps us bonded… and love conquers all.

Start this week off with Love, Faith, and Hope… January comes to an end Wednesday… the l-o-n-g-e-s-t month of the year… Hallelujah! Valentines and Easter Bunnies await!

Dear Reader:

I have thought very symbolically about the Tree of Life, all my life but have now discovered that different cultures and countries have very different views, meanings, and usages.

I thought it was another symbol of our ” Giving Creator” and The Garden of Eden… a little right and a little wrong.

The Tree of Life is mentioned in Genesis but it not the tempting Tree that bore fruit… It is not to be confused with The Tree of Knowledge… of Good and Evil. Not the same.

After Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating fruit from the tree of knowledge ( good and evil) they were driven out of the garden … only tree left remaining was the Tree of Life. ( the new tree of forgiveness and Hope.)

In Africa, an arid climate, calls their Tree of Life– Baobah Tree that is a succulent and produces a long fruit ( one foot long) These trees feed and provide water to humans but also hundreds of elephants, lizards, and monkeys survive because of it too.

Large white flowers – whitish flowers are beautiful at the top of tree at night creating a beautiful display of happiness.

A Senegalese legend describes how their people always built their villages around the Tree of Life…( Baobah) because it met their physical needs and then overtime became their spiritual ones.

In Ireland a Celtic Tree of Life is also called a A Fairy Tree … it is so revered that new roads are built around Fairy trees to divert traffic.

I could go on and on but as you can tell every culture has their own Tree of Life and most intertwine a life- giving physical needs tree with a spiritual explanation.

So until tomorrow… Yesterday I had such a great day with Tommy and Kaitlyn who took me to see my brother Ben …. so happy to see him and then out to eat and to Publix to replenish my fridge favorites… a happy happy day!!!!’😘💗👍💗

Ben loved seeing Kaitlyn and kept telling Tommy he hit the jackpot!

This visit made my day…. there are not enough thank you’s Tommy and Kaitlyn … from Trident Rehab to lunch out to Publix to replenish my fridge favorites! A home run day!!!!