scenes from a country cottage: wedding flowers and a prayer request

 

 

 

 

one benefit of being in weddings for two sweet friends on back-to-back weekends is the beautiful flower arrangements i get to take home. they are little reminders of love scattered throughout the rooms of our little cottage, bringing vibrant color to this early spring washed in green.

see that little yellow rose in the last picture? tonight i'll be taking that up to the hospital to sit beside nanno's bed. you guys have prayed for nanno in the past, lifting him up and sending him words of love and encouragement. he's back in the hospital now with what appears to be congestive heart failure.

i dropped my mixing bowl of banana bread and rushed to follow the ambulance yesterday as it sped past our yard. my heart sank when i realized it stopped in front of his house. he's a good and kind and honest man, and we're not quite ready to share him with heaven yet.

this blogging community is beautiful for its shared space of hope. so thank you for hoping along with us.

plans to prosper you, and not to harm you

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it hit me yesterday while driving along the old road near my house. the one with potholes that the city keeps filling and big mud trucks keep digging back up.

the sun was low in the sky and the window was down. and from the driver's seat i could see home in the distance.

and the thought came. as clear and simple as the yellow line slipping out from under me.

don't question the story God is writing for you life. and don't discount the one He's writing for your neighbor.

i pulled into the driveway, frantically flipped through old papers and registration and lipstick in my glove compartment. from those depths i pulled out a red pen.

i sat alone in the driveway while the sun set around me, red ambers dancing on the grass.

and i wrote it down. and as i wrote, i prayed. and as i prayed, it lifted.

i say a little prayer for you

 via

because i need this today, and i suspect some of you may need it to, i want to do a little something different on here.

the blogging community is so big. it is full of girls writing about their favorite vintage dresses, their baby's first steps and their date nights with their husbands. it is a cathartic release for people writing through pain. through divorce. through deaths. through illness.

i woke up with a heavy heart for a family in my community. i woke up with nerves about a presentation coming up soon that's two years in the making. maybe it's the fact that the clouds are hanging low in the gray carolina sky this morning and my usual songbird wasn't perched in the tree outside my window when my feet hit the hardwoods, but i just woke up burdened.

and i thought, maybe you are too. maybe you need to share today the anxieties pulling at the threads of your soul.

if you would, please leave any prayer request, any nagging uncertainty or big, deep pain sitting on your spirit in the comments below. 

let's do this anonymously. a safe forum, an even playing field. since elizabeth's new year's post, i've been thinking about a way to incorporate an idea like this, and i feel strongly this is my version.

i will pray tonight. i promise. and if you feel led, my wish is that you too will pray for the requests.

how to leave an annoymous comment:
-select "post a comment" below this post
-in the box that says "comment as" scroll down to select "anonymous." 
-click "publish"

thank you, friends. for lifting me up, and for lifting each other up. it's a beautiful thing.

prayers for nanno

my sweet grandfather, known in my family affectionately as "nanno," is going to the doctor twice tomorrow (wednesday, jan. 26) for some tests--once to the heart doctor and once to the gastroenterologist {digestive health}. the heart visit is just a check-up, but the other is not routine, and recent lower body pain has caused the appointment.

a little background on nanno:

• his name is sam.
• he turned 90 in october 2010. 
• he completes an entire newspaper crossword puzzle every single day.
• he is a banagrams champ.
• since he lost my grandma in 2003, he still talks to her in the mornings and evenings, at the foot of his bed in prayer, in the darkness of their bedroom. he's kept her sewing basket, hand lotion, and hairbrush beside her chair. they would have been married 65 years this year.
• he wears the most dapper berets and cardigans i've ever seen. robert wanted a sweater like him so bad, and dropped so many hints last year, that he was gifted with five cardigans in december. we called it a "cardigan christmas."
• he never asks for anything or complains, so any pain he mentions is serious.
• he is precious beyond words.

every tuesday, thursday and saturday, my family eats supper with nanno. before we eat, we hold hands around the table and thank the Lord for our blessings. 

so friends, i have an idea. a way to join hands, collectively across the blogosphere and pray, send up happy thoughts and well wishes, and just be united, at the same time. to help nanno get through his trial. if you pray, please do this with me. if not, is simply think of nanno, a stranger though he is to you, and send some positive vibes and happy thoughts his way.

if you'll join me, i'd like to pray specifically for his 10:00 a.m. appointment with the gastroenterologist. the blogging world is diverse and scattered, so for this to work, we have to think about several time zones. i think it would be so beautiful to bathe him in prayer at exactly the same time. complete strangers lifting him up at the exact moment he walks through those doctor doors. 

here's a little timetable. nanno's appointment is wednesday, at 10:00 a.m. EST. i am posting this on the this on tuesday evening because some of the times convert to quite early in the morning. i could not find a simple-to-use 24 time zone converter, but if your time zone is not on this chart, please go here for a world clock.

here are the times that correlate with 10 a.m. EST on wednesday:

 

prayer time zone chart

whether you're lying on your back in the warmth of your bed, sitting in a conference room, or taking your children to school, when it's your time, if you are willing, i'd so appreciate the prayers.

thank you. from the bottom of my heart, and the hearts of my family, thank you.