Every Little Bit Helps

Good morning loved ones! I've finished my latest Christmas Tale, and it's turned into a small book! I discovered a way to publish my little book online as well as a way to help in some small way.Originally, I opted to take NO profit, as the price of my little book is for printing upon each order, but I prayed on it and found a way to have a small profit sent to St. Jude's Research Hospital!! I pray you will help if you can....Just click on the link below and it will take you to my "bookstore."

Thank you so very much for your help and prayers,

Karen

https://www.createspace.com/3725996

STATUTE OF LIBERTY

In a recent episode, Mrs. Walton enrolls in an American Studies class at the local college. All seven of her children are grown and though her nest is still far from empty, she misses being needed and hungers to learn. She is met with a condescending Professor who suggests, “She transfer to Home Economics,” where she would be better suited. Standing her ground, she is sneeringly singled out in class to offer her “limited” insight on the Statue of Liberty. Supplying the correct answer, the professor suggests she locate and share a copy of the poem engraved at the base of the Statue of Liberty. Much to the Professor’s chagrin, Mrs. Walton offers instead to recite the poem and does so beautifully!
As she recited, I began to think, “Haven’t I learned this?” “Surely, I know this poem, but have not retained it.” Admittedly, I also no longer have the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence memorized after having recited both back in Grade School. I recall having to memorize and recite Gettysburg Address as well. I know some Bible verses by heart, although I cannot tell you exactly where all are located nor dictate them word for word. I have learned many lessons in the past forty-plus years and am in line to learn many more!
In writing this, I intended to do as Mrs. Walton was assigned and offer my own personalization of the poem. Then, I pondered the implied “waste” of memorizing or studying but not retaining all the crumbs in slice of knowledge I have eaten. Of course, I also visited the obvious: “Never judge or underestimate another.” I wrestled with the topics of patriotism and this Great Land in which we reside. After all, we are talking about the Statue of Liberty. In all these topics, I was well intentioned and adequately prepared.
Alternatively, I find myself standing on the Ellis Island of my mind and looking out on the sea of knowledge which I have sailed and will sail. Gazing at a setting sun of past mistakes and consequences, knowing the sun will rise again tomorrow on the same horizon of today and offer opportunity to learn and grow. Similarly, I admit my relationships with God, family and friends has been threatened when I stray from the good path but grows stronger as I return readily and lovingly…I am a bit battle bruised and weary but a bit more humble and wiser.
Despite that I cannot quote you word for word from the Bible or Constitution, I know that God’s message is love and that America is indeed “One Nation Under God.” Denominational and religious preference aside, I offer a solution nay, a resolution for each of us to live by. Perhaps, if we all took to heart more often and strived to help one individual at a time, we may not accomplish great feats, but then again…
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Emma Lazarus’ sonnet New Colossus

Me

I love to talk "Jesus" and I love to talk about God's grace in my life...I love to listen to others as people simply fascinate me. I don't love to talk about myself so, it was a bit daunting recently, when I had to come up with 600 words about me for local publication to which I've become a frequent contributor. So I took my pen and tablet, headed for my rocker on the front porch and prayed...

Me
Having moved from here from Lakewood six years ago, I am honored to be a frequent contributor to Bakersfield VOICE. I am blessedly married to my husband whom I met the summer we were fifteen. Our beautiful daughters are a sophomore at UCSC and a senior at North High School. My mother moved in with us two years ago due to health reasons and we reside in a clapboard home encircled by a white picket fence, surrounded by roses and morning glory. My favorite spot is rocking on my big front porch that my husband built for me our past anniversary. Our mini-farm consists of two rabbits, seven chickens and a cat named Chloe. We had a pig named Abraham and two ducks, but they outgrew the barnyard.
A plethora of ongoing projects ensues but I especially enjoy repurposing projects such as mosaic stained glass from old windows and making hummingbird feeders from old bottles and glass beads. A friend once said, “I refuse to visit you in the dark, because you’ve always got something being moved or going on.”
I’ve been blessed to see a little bit of this great big world while stationed in Darmstadt, Germany but was honorably discharged from Army for medical reasons. I am a tourist at heart and especially fancy day trips throughout our town and beautiful valley. I often take my Mom out to Hart Park to visit the peacocks and I enjoy just hopping in the car and seeing where I end up.
My love for reading and writing began at the age four when my Pop taught me to read the Television Listings. “The world’s knowledge is locked up in books and when you learn to read, you now hold the key to unlock that knowledge,” he told me. My first published story was featured in a District Publication. I was one of three third graders chosen from our elementary school. Later, I worked my way from freshman reporter to Feature Page editor as a sophomore and was editor-in-Chief my junior and senior years for our High School Newspaper the VOICE.
I was teaching Sunday School and writing yearly Christmas stories and weekly devotions when my Pastor of thirty-plus years told me, “You have a talent…do something with it.” I began compiling it all into a planned book called, “Things my Daddy Told Me…Heavenly wisdom from our Father through life lessons and my earthly Dad.” Shortly thereafter, I discovered blogging and began a monthly webpage under the screen name Sonflowerandgrace. I chose this screen name because, sunflowers turn towards the sun throughout the day and under God’s grace, I strive to seek and follow the Son daily in all I do. When we began receiving the Bakersfield VOICE every Monday, my family encouraged me to begin submitting my stories.
As a wife, mother, daughter and friend, I live by the adages: “If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours (my Grandmother Loper)…” Be the change you wish to see in the world (Ghandi)…” and “I am not afraid of storms for I am learning to sail my ship (Louisa May Alcott).” I believe God always has a plan and I believe in the power of prayer. At the end of the day, I hope all who I know and come in contact with can honestly say, “She loves me and she loves the Lord.”

Dandelion Wishes

On a recent drive through our beautiful mountain area, I was fascinated by the size of wish flowers growing alongside the road. These dandelions were huge…easily the size of a bouquet of normal sized blooms. As I was wondering aloud whether bigger blooms meant bigger wishes or a bigger chance of wishes coming true, my husband promptly pulled over and picked me a wish!
I know all the rumors. Dandelions are supposedly “mobile vulgaris”…a common weed. Since I was a child, I never gave much credence to those rumors. Fragrant, yellow blooms growing amidst a green lawn sea were pleasant surprises. Dandelion bouquets and children go hand in hand. Unlike the flowerbed, a flower blossoming in the middle of the play yard was without restriction. Children are perplexed why adults do not share in their enthusiasm when presented with that thoughtful posy.
Regrettably, a great deal of adulthood is spent trying to eradicate weeds from our landscape. Following society’s lead, we ignore the heritage and benefit of this plant much like we do with one another. The fact remains that dandelions were brought to the United States intentionally by our European ancestors for medicinal purposes and as food for honeybee propagation. Related to chicory and Echinacea, its benefits include but are not limited to treatment of high blood pressure and detoxification of liver, kidneys and gall bladder. It may be used in treatment of eczema, psoriasis and arthritis. Dandelions are loaded with potassium and vitamins A, B, C, and D.
Intending to “save my wish,” I brought my wish flower home. Upon studying it, I find it to be an intricate bloom. Even though it has morphed from a soft yellow button to a fuzzy skeleton, it remains sweetly fragrant. The countless tiny fibers or seeds are what scatter to the winds when blown upon. I cannot help but feel a kinship to this widely misunderstood flower. Oftentimes, I have felt misunderstood or under appreciated. Due to disability or illness, I have felt depressingly inadequate. Not measuring up to society’s standards of success or been judged solely by my sex, station or beliefs. Oftentimes, I have been the one doing the judging. Ralph Waldo Emerson reminds us that, “weeds are plants whose usefulness we have not yet determined.” People are like weeds.
Similar to that dandelion is each precious soul which begins life with hope and promise. Our bodies change, our circumstances vary throughout our lifetime. However, who we are is not validated by others’ impression or opinion. We all have something to offer this world despite our stature or circumstances. For instance, a simple smile is priceless and readily available just like that bouquet growing in the front lawn. Wishes and hope keep us alive, driving us to keep striving forward. Dreams are the seeds of innovation and accomplishment. We are all given daily opportunity to reach out to others in need and who are a lot worse off than our present plight. Each day we awaken is a gift which we forgot somewhere between childhood and adulthood. As those weeds in life, I have the power to change them to blossoms with one positive thought. David Masumoto put it well in his Epitaph to a Peach, “But now I have very few weeds on my farm. I removed them in a single day using a very simple method. I didn’t even break into a sweat. I simply redefined what I call a weed.”

A Roby by any other name...

I recently read a story of a eulogy. Of course, it included the birth date and date of death. Then the eulogist went onto say that what was most important was the dash…that small dash between our date of birth and our death. A simple punctuation mark but simply not insignificant to those whose lives were touched during the time that person was born and when they died. Within days of reading such story, I was notified that my Aunt Roby had gone Home. I will miss my Auntie so very much, but I am most glad she has moved on from pain and into glory! Oh, how they all must have partied in Heaven…her husband Cliff who had gone on before her and my Pop and those she long reminisced about! When my Pop died, I recall her telling me how Pop’s spirit lives on all around us- I feel her today in the Spring breeze and the song of a new yard bird is especially melodious like the birds she so enjoyed! She relished the return of a quail family every year to her backyard and thought the blue heron a majestic sight to behold. I cherish that blessed visit with her after Pop’s death (toast and fresh berries with corn on the cob remains my favorite summer meal since then) as she and I giggled our way through mourning tears. I cannot help but feel that my Pop is now completely gone as I recall how she voiced what I felt: “he is with us through us…her brother through me and my Pop through her.

Dearest cousins, she was so very proud of you all. She often told me how she cherished her daughter’s daily phone calls no matter how short and the regular visits with growing grandchildren. Oh, how she loved her grandkids- her letters were filled to the brim with their accomplishments. She and Uncle Cliff raised a beautiful, strong family that leaves such an impact upon this earth. I need not tell you how much she loved you all!

Roby Ann Davis Eilers wore many hats and touched many lives. A few years back, I was in a small furniture shop here in town. As is the case whenever Washington enters the conversation, I spout about my family there. Not too often is someone from Yakima, but this time, the young man immediately dialed his Momma in Yakima; “You’ll never believe who is standing in my shop, Ma!” “It is Roby Eilers’ niece!” He didn’t go into details, only that she was known to his family as a caring woman who did for many.

I wrote about this to my aunt. She never addressed the issue, but then she was a woman of decorum and modesty. Most of what I consider well in my own character, I attribute to my Pop and Aunt Roby. She was a constant wisdom in my life and an eager ear to listen. She was my partner in Snail Mail correspondence ever since I learned to write and to my youngest daughter she will always be “Aunt Boby”. To her family and those who knew her, she was an amazing gift in that dash between our own dates of birth and the date we shall leave this earth and join her in that Party in Heaven!

Be the Change...

Long ago, three crosses stood atop the hill. Today, three crosses stand on the street we reside- an empty house, an overflowing dumpster and a discarded couch.
The dilapidated structure now houses only rats and cats, seems to sag with each new rock thrown at the windows and the lawn has grown into a short forest of weeds. The dumpster bubbles over like a toxic cauldron as non-tenants accost it with their bulky refuse. The couch, once a comfortable respite in someone’s living room, has been stripped of its cushions and been left to die by the side of the road like the Good Samaritan in our children’s Bible stories.
After too many days of personal complaining that “even dumpsters are stolen nowadays as those too lazy to properly dispose of their waste…” and “I really should call for that couch to be picked up…” and too many days running off kids playing Break-the-Window…It dawns on me that these three eyesores are not a bane but a blessing.
Enlisting my husband's help, we begin with the dumpster. Pulling out the bulky items and sweeping up the mess, we make use of the cardboard in our garden. Setting the dumpster straight again and close the lid. I call Varner Brothers and schedule a pick up of the couch. Blessedly, since the couch has mysteriously made its way from curbside to actual street, all liability allows them to pick it up the following “Big Item Day.” The house remains abandoned and looks like a toothless jack-o-lantern without a smile. However, former rock throwers are now helping clean up the yard.
Similar to those crosses of long ago, these three crosses remind me that I share in the burdens of my family, community, my state, my world. Every moment offers opportunity to help or hinder…make a difference or add to an oppressive environment. I can grumble and gossip or I can smile and help. I can look the other way and expect others to do or I can roll up my sleeves and get busy. I can complain or I can show compassion. Every day I am afforded opportunity to magnify the problem or partake in the solution. Today, this moment, I can do as Gandhi asked and “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Salt and Light of the Earth

A good friend of ours has been diagnosed with high blood pressure and as such, has been prescribed a no/low sodium diet. Years ago, when I was misdiagnosed with Menier's Syndrome, I was also prescribed a no/low sodium diet and a water pill. It was quite challenging to cook and eat as EVERYTHING HAS SALT IN IT! Of course, it goes without saying that anything prepackaged or processed is going to have a high salt content, but honestly, everything even in its natural form contains salt. So much so, that my mind reels why we even add salt to anything but we do.
Now, as believers and followers of Christ, we are called to be the light and the salt of the Earth...to season and enhance the lives of those with whom we come in contact throughout our daily ventures. Living is enhanced by seasoning of love just as food is enhanced by seasoning for flavor. May we strive to be seasonings of enhancement and not sour or bitterness as we go about our daily duties. May we offer help where aide is needed and may we smile when someone needs a smile.
On the topic of diet, the lessons and habits we learned back in 1995 have served us well in our home. So I've swept out the attic of my brain and come up with a few tips that may be helpful in your own culinary endeavors. Mostly, fresh is always better and home cooked, homemade is always best in this world of overly abundant salt, corn syrup and chemicals in our foods.
Please remember that fat free, sugar free and lite fare always contains more salt and definitely is loaded with chemicals!!!!
One of our favorite recipes is a chicken noodle casserole which originally called for cream of mushroom/chicken and/or celery soup. I use cream or canned milk and add my own mushrooms, celery and chicken broth. Chicken broth often contains MSG (another dangerously addictive chemical that makes Ranch Dressing and Doritos irresistble!) so I use broth from a boiled chicken but do keep on hand in my pantry no salt added chicken broth. I have purchased in the regular grocer as well as the Dollar Tree very cheaply. Once again, a boiled chicken can render broth for more than one meal if frozen and used as needed.
Foster Farms is one of the few meat companies that does not inject their chickens with sodium or broth to bring up the weight. Even organic meats do not guarantee that it has not been injected with sodium or broth. Read your packages! Worst case scenario, boiled chicken can cook off most of the sodium and once the broth has been watered down a bit, you're pretty safe sodium wise but of course, no injection is best!
We learned to can this past summer so I have on stock a plentiful supply of fresh tomatoes to make sauces throughout the cooler months. In the past, I would find a good buy or utilized a gift of tomatoes and blend tomatoes and store in freezer bags. This is handy with any vegetables when bought during peak season such as corn and green beans. It is helpful to blanch the veggies before freezing but I've had success both ways. Farmers Markets and Supermercados(Mexican Markets) are great for fresh and economical!
Spices, herbs and seasonings go a long way to enhance flavor without chemicals and sodium! Fresh is always best, but not often available or affordable. I find that the little cello packets in the Spanish Foods Aisle or Mexican Market are perfect amounts for my spice jars and very, very economical!
Basically, the less packaged and processed we use the better! The fresher and more organic we use the better! God has blessed us with an abundance of choices...our ancestors knew it and lived healthier! Granted we do not all have the time and energy it takes to have personal gardens and can and "put up" on a regular basis. However, we all have the ability to make healthier choices with that which is available. We are personally blessed to live in an agriculturally thriving valley and are able to "buy local" easily. We did not always live here however and we made use of Farmers Markets and Supermercados and U Pick Farms. I've also discovered that most areas offer a Co-op which puts healthy food on our tables and benefits farmers in our areas. Simple changes are easy and readily available. Switch from white rice to brown rice and wheat or whole grain pasta from white pasta. There really are cheap and healthy choices out there for our taking! Many I know shop at Bulk Stores anyway, so utilize those deals and store food accordingly. Unfortunately, Bulk Stores do not offer same healthier(salt free,etc) choices that smaller markets will but where there is a will there is always a way! My tips are far from the only way and I welcome any new info or ways of providing healthier choices to my loved ones. We made a lifestyle change many years ago due to medical necessity but are the richer and healthier for it regardless. We sometimes stray or get lazy in our habits and I enjoy my weekly sody pop from Young's Diner, but on a whole, we strive to keep active and eat healthy.
May God bless you abundantly and keep you in His Grace as together, we strive to walk in his ways, shine His light, season this earth with His goodness and live healthier abundantly better lives!