Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness around the world.

May 24, 2007

Today’s Announcements

 Dear Carol,

If you would please pass along some prayer requests to your readers, I would appreciate it.  My good friend, Wanda's, husband Tony had quadruple bypass surgery Monday.  I would have left everyone know sooner, but I was ill myself.  The last I heard he was doing well, but prayers are always appreciated.

Also, my pastor's wife, Janeen, has been through a series of tests from mamogram, ultrasound, MRI and the doctors say there is nothing conclusive, but it is suspicious.  She'll be getting a biopsy next Wendnesday.  I have to say this woman has been a joy to have as a friend, and an inspiration to me as a Christian. 

As I said, prayers are always appreciated.  I thank everyone in advance.  Asl always,

Love, Peace and Joy,

Pam

You can also visit me at: Relations at Bella Online ; and, Pam's Place
Also, my book is now available. You can buy it or download it here:

Today’s Stories

~**~**~

 BUTTERCUPS

By: Joseph J. Mazzella

     I am getting a nice patch of buttercups in my front yard this year. I didn’t do anything to help them, though. God planted them there all on His own. Each morning I admire them as I walk out to get the paper. Their beauty is a delight to the eyes and their scent is a pleasure to the nose.  Everyday they soak up the morning sun and with each rain they drink in the moisture. With each passing week the patch seems to grow a little larger too. I am making an effort to mow around them for as long as possible. I don’t want this beautiful blessing to end. I want to enjoy these wonderful wild flowers just as God intended. I am sure that in Heaven the fields are always full of buttercups, dandelions, and sweet clover, and there is not a lawn mower in sight.

     Looking out on these delightful buttercups I am reminded too of all the wonderful souls out there like them. These are the souls God planted among us to show us just how beautiful life and living can be. Everyday that soak up God’s love, joy, and light and then share it with the world.  When it rains in their lives they use it to grow bigger, better, and stronger too. Everyday their numbers grow as well. Just as the buttercups fill the meadows here with patches of priceless gold these glorious spirits fill the whole world with golden glimpses of what Heaven is like. I know too that nothing will keep them from sharing their gifts of wisdom and happiness for all of their lives. No lawn mower would even stand a chance against them.

     God loves us all and God planted us all here for a season. What we grow into, however, is up to us. You too can be a wonderful soul spreading love and light to the world. You too can be a glorious spirit sharing a little Heaven while still here on Earth. You too can bloom like a wild flower everyday in beauty, joy, and delight. You too can stand tall against the lawn mowers of this world. Either that or you can be a weed. The choice is up to you.

Joe Mazzella

joecool@wirefire.com

~**~**~

 Living With Ghosts, Part 5

So, I met and married the man of my dreams.  I moved out of my house.  Mrs. Greer (or great-grandma) appears to have moved in with my middle child, Kristin.  Kristin can handle it, but her boyfriend is not yet a believer.  Ha.  Just wait.  You'd think my story could end here, right?  Wrong.  Look at the title.  Living With Ghosts.  Plural.  How I ever got this lucky, I don't know.  Just two more tales to tell and I'll leave you all alone.

My wonderful new husband, Kevin, suffered the loss of his first wife several years ago.  From all I've heard, she was a wonderful woman with whom I would have had a lot in common had we met on this planet.  We were even both behavioral health nurses, for crying out loud.

Kevin has this great old century home, right near the shores of Lake Erie.  He and his wife, Jane, raised their kids here.  Before I moved in last fall, he told me how she always said that she would come back as a white egret when she died.  Egrets are large, white birds that resemble a heron.  They enjoy hanging out near the lake.  He also told me how he would talk to Jane after she passed away to ask advice on things that were troubling him.  On several of these occasions, a white egret would swoop near him.  He always felt that was his answer from her.

So, back to me moving in last fall.  I'm re-doing her old bedroom, making it ready to be "ours".  The day I started, I felt very odd.  I feel a woman's bedroom is pretty personal.  I'm cleaning windows and painting trim.  I started talking to her. 

"Jane, thank you for the beautiful home and the wonderful family that you had to leave behind.  I hope this is ok with you.  I'm sorry you had to leave all of this and all of them."

I went on this way several different times.  I just wanted to make sure we had good mojo going here.

Well, since I was painting in a new environment, I was quite disorganized.  I'd made about six or seven trips up and down the stairs to get rags, tools, what have you.  On the last trip up, I saw it.  Right at the top of the stairs.  Right where I couldn't possibly have missed it on any of my other trips up and down.  A large, white, seagull feather.  I freaked out.  Shades of Mrs. Greer.  I couldn't touch it.  But I had to live here with it all day until Kevin got home.  All I could do for my sanity was throw a dropcloth over it. 

When Kevin got home from work, I was shaken.  (You'd think that I'd have been used to this kind of stuff by now, wouldn't you?  Nah.  You never get used to it.)  I told him how I'd been feeling while painting and how I'd talked to Jane.  I grabbed him by the arm and pulled him up the stairs.  He lifted the dropcloth and there it was.  He said that he'd remembered looking in an old box several days before and seeing a seagull feather in it.  Upon further inspection, it was now gone.  Obviously it was the one laying at the top of the stairs for me.  How it got out of that box, we have no clue.

He was actually able to laugh about this one.  He said that would be just like something Jane would have done.  He felt it was a little welcoming gift to me.  He felt she was giving her approval. 

And with what she did next, I'm sure she approves.  Stay tuned, one last time.

Ina Townsend Young

Ina Townsend Young

mimisuzy127@yahoo.com

~**~**~

Poetry Corner

~**~**~

An Oak

© 2007  Sandra Lewis Pringle

 
I am called an oak;
a pillar of righteousness;
simply because My Lord has redeemed me,
and I am blessed.

I walk in ways of Ancient,
I think upon the heavenly things;
I am filled with Life's abundance,
and all the joy that it brings.

I see the moon, the stars
perched in the heavens above,
and in the daylight, I see the wings,
of beautiful pure white doves.

The sunshine gives us warmth;
on days which are otherwise cold,
but there's nothing compared to the Hope,
which encourages my seeking soul.

© 2007 Sandra Lewis Pringle

slpENT1@aol.com

~**~**~

Dear Father,

Sandra Lewis Pringle

I know that Today is better than Yesterday,

but not as good as Tomorrow.

I have left the land of strife;

No troubles do I borrow.

I place my hand in Yours,

and ask that You lead me every day,

into pathways of Hope and Promise;

Only You, Father, know the way.

One day at a time,

one choice which follows another;

Thank You, that I do not walk alone.

You have given me so many sisters and brothers.

My pathway has been rocky,

making choices which weren't all right.

But, now, I keep my thoughts upon the future,

and You,

forever in my sight!

© Sandra Lewis Pringle

Cast your cares on the Lord

and He will sustain you;

He will never let the righteous fall.

Psalm 55:22

© 2007 Sandra Lewis Pringle

slpENT1@aol.com

 ~**~**~

Storytime Tapestry Angels

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Here is our Storytime Tapestry Angels: Also, I would like to thank those of you who chose to be a silent angel and gave an anonymous donation to keep Storytime Tapestry up and running.

Clara Westerfer, Mark Crider, Rosanne Catalano, Paula Booher, Kay Seefeldt, Mariane Holbrook, Mary Ellen Grisham, Louise Nomani, Sharon Bryant, Angela Walker, Hart and Helen Dowd, Keith Ready, Ginger Morgenstern, Ellie Braun-Haley, Surinder Jandu, Bob Shaw, Carol Meeks