FAR ABOVE RUBIES by denise

     A virtuous woman, God did say ~ was far above rubies- The price to pay.  She riseth up, while yet still night ~ to do much work ~ By the day's long light.  A virtuous woman, yes indeed ~ her hand she useth ~ Toward all in need.  Strength and honor, she weareth well ~ the law of kindness ~ Her tongue to tell.  "Blessed",  her children arise and call ~ her husband doth praise ~ Thou excelleth them all.  A virtuous woman, God did say ~ was far above rubies ~ The price to pay.   An original poem based on Proverbs 31 written on September 15, 2003 ~ by denise ~ Until We Meet Again...

Proverbs 31:10-30 from Holy Bible KJV

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   Proverbs 31:10-30 Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar. She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out at night. She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet. She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple. Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land. She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant. Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.-----. Bathshebe is instructing her and King David's son, SOLOMON, on how to choose a Godly, upright woman. Her price would be "far above rubies". Until We Meet Again...

My Friend's Mom

Who would have ever thought that the woman I met that Spring day in 1974 would have such a profound effect on the shaping and molding of my life?  Not me.   SHE, you can rest assured, was unsuspecting of the role she'd play,trust me!  But she surely did just that.  She has been an integral part of my life for 35 years, even though she had not been in my life in an intimate, close way now for 10 years.  Oh, I had written her numerous cards and letters in the earlier part of these last 10 years to no avail.  She never acknowledged a single one.  But, I do know that she received them. My friend's brother had told me so. She was the Mother of this friend who lived down the hall in my dormitory.   It was Bible Conference at BJU and she was there in 1974, visiting with her daughter, my friend.   The woman was very polished, extremely attractive, well-dressed, very articulate with wonderful English, diction and an uncanny control of her voice.   She was, as I came to find out, a very accomplished woman with talent abounding in more than one area.   She had studied art in NYC for 14 years, she was an expert seamstress, gourmet cook, interior decorator, crafter.  She had talent, for sure.   I admired her on so many levels.   She and her husband and their 2 children had traveled extensively in the lower 48 states of the USA and had met many people along the way.   She was extremely intelligent, a very astute business woman of her own affairs--very,very frugal.  I love "frugality" as much or more than just about anyone else.  But, she had made many enemies with that trying "to always get something for nothing " attitude.  It could be overwhelmingly embarrassing, to say the least, to which more will be said a little later.  Well, when our freshman year was over, it turned out that my friend and I were going to work at the same Christian camp that summer not far from her house. So she called her Mom, this elegant woman, of whom I've been speaking, and asked if she could bring me home with her for the 2 and 1/2 weeks before the camp opened.   Her Mom said that it would be fine.  That was the beginning of the relationship that would forever change my life. The woman and her husband both claimed "Christianity", but there was just that nagging something!   Something was missing from their lives that just didn't match up to the "talk".  It was evident from the beginning that this woman probably did not have a personal relationship with the Saviour, Jesus Christ.   About the frugality mentioned aforehand, when visiting in her part of the country, we would go into the tiny little downtown village where she lived-- it was one of those places where everyone just about knew everyone else. When this woman's name was mentioned, people did not care who you were or what your relationship might have been with her, they would proceed to "let it roll".  There were stories of how they would run and hide when they saw her coming into their store, making a younger, somewhat unsuspecting greenhorn wait on her.   We were even told stories of people just right out refusing to have her come into their business at all--she would upset them that much!!!   Yep, she was the original Diva.   I don't say this to be mean, remember she helped mold me into the woman that I am today.   I'm just speaking the truth here.  But it was just that "DIVA" attitude of hers that the Lord used to help shape my life.   You see, I HAD to ask the Lord for HIS grace and mercy to be able to tolerate this selfish, self-centered, 'didn't you know the world revolved around her and her alone' attitude for all the years that were.  And the Lord did a miraculous thing in my own heart along the way. He taught me to truly LOVE this talented, intriguing but manipulative woman and to be overwhelmingly concerned for her soul.  Because, even in that stringent frugality, she gave me (besides my own Salvation) the most precious gift I'd ever been given and the one that I loved and treasured the most. That gift, in turn, was responsible for the next 2 most precious gifts I have ever received. And I thank her for her part in giving them all 3 to me. So, the Lord taught me patience and the value of being able to genuinely FORGIVE someone.   I was concerned.   Being concerned for her soul and her eternal destination was an ever driving force in my life.   Many hours were spent in prayer, agonizingly so, begging the Lord for her salvation.  Over the years of our realationship, it was still painfully apparent that she probably DID NOT know the Lord Jesus in a personal, intimate way.  There was just too much confusion, chaos, deceit, lying--boy, could she tell 'em!-- and STRONG WILLFULNESS associated with her way of living--no submission to that "Higher Power".  It was totally the opposite of the "fruits of the Spirit".  Those letters that I mentioned writing to her, were Salvation letters.   I was begging her to get things right with the Lord before it was too late.  Then it came.   Earlier this year I got the phone call that I had dreaded.   She had passed away.   The call came just 34 minutes after she had gone.   My friend's brother had called me.   My heart felt as if it where going to explode from the grief.  That grief invaded every part of my being, all consuming and holding me in its clutches for weeks.   I was sick with grief.   Overwhelming Grief.   And PAIN.   She was gone and I had no idea if she made things "RIGHT" with the Lord.   Remember, she never answered those letters.   While I might not know right now about her final place in eternity, she will always have a place in my life ETERNALLY.
And she WAS used mightily to shape and mold my life.   And, I DID truly learn to love her for a LOT of reasons.   For you see, this woman was my daughter's paternal GRANDMOTHER, my grand baby's paternal GREAT-GRANDMOTHER.   And, she was MY MOTHER-IN-LAW.  I love you, MOM R', and hope it's not a forever good-bye  ~ Until We Meet Again...

The 1st Apple of My Eye With the Little Apple

Here she is --My Beautiful Daughter--'Pun'kin', or 'The Baby', as we always called her. She is the original Apple of my Eye. She is a wife, Mother, daughter, granddaugther, neice,beloved cousin, artist, scrapbooker, gourmet cook, "and a you should hear her play" pianist. And, on top of that she has a business degree and has been somewhat of a world traveler--she's been everywhere, including 3 trips to India and getting ready to make the 4th trip soon. She is an extremely talented person all the way around and is truly beautiful inside and out, but she doesn't realize it. She doesn't see herself in that light. She doesn't think that she's anything special, but oh, is she so wrong. It had taken me about a year to conceive, and ah, was it happy news for us when I found out that she wasn't that "stomach virus" thing going around. No, SHE was on her way. The Lord had heard my pleas and had answered in a mighty wonderful way as He always does. Let me tell you that this expectant MOM was going to take care of her little bundle. I studied everything on nutrition, walked 3 miles a day, rode my bike and bowled for the first 5 & 1/2 months.  I read the Word of God out loud to her all during my pregnancy and in the hospital after her birth!  Plus, I had worked until the week of my due date and had taught my little kids' Sunday School class the Sunday before she made her grand entrance a few days later!  And nothing would do but for us to go through Lamaze classes--so here we go: 23hrs 37minutes worth of completely natural childbirth. My goal was for her to be as healthy as possible and for her brain to be raring to go. Believe me, she was raring--that baby never did act like a "newborn".  She had to be up seeing everything going on. She was a big MOMMY's girl. She said 'Momma' when she was only 3 months old. Boy, was I beaming!! She has always been My Girl! That grand baby is grand, that's why they call them so. And She is the apple of her Gan-Gan's eye. But HER Mommy IS the original apple of this Mom's eye. And you have got to hear her play that piano. Until We Meet Again...

2nd Little Apple of My Eye

Let me introduce you to the 2nd little apple of my eye: my beautiful little Grand Baby, affectionately referred to as the G-Baby! This Gan-Gan got to be there for her birth, (she lives in another state, ) so it makes my bond with her ever the more special. She started to preschool this week amidst a varying mix of emotions. We're glad that she will be out meeting and making friends and starting her own little menagerie of peers. She is quite outgoing to have been an only child living in an almost exclusive adult environment and will probably be the ring leader in a vast social circle before long. But, on the completely opposite end of the spectrum--we don't won't our little darling growing up too fast. Don't they already grow up too quickly in this day and age? She adores her Mommy (and Daddy, too) but she is a MOMMY'S girl. Because of that, my daughter has been quite amazed at how Little Miss Independent that G-Baby has been in just these 3 days. She can't say that I didn't try to warn her of what was to be. One minute they're all sweet and cuddly in your lap-- where does the time go?!--begging for your attention and then the next it's: "I can do this myself, Mommy". While G-Baby has aways been HIGHLY motivated and never failed to make a friend on the playground , she's aways been very clingy to her Mother in some ways. So it has found my daughter taken aback quite a bit for this very self-reliant attitude to be emerging forth from her little girl. All I can say is that she'd better have that camera ready, but this my daughter knows well, for she is an avid Scrapbooker. She will capture every awe-inspiring moment for sure. Yes, I warned her. It's true, because wasn't it only yesterday that I was running after the camera while hearing my own little 4 year old saying, "I can do that for myself, Mommy"? Until We Meet Again...

Look at Her, She's So Cute

Today is the day that I should probably be taking my little Pomeranian pup to be, well, you know, "put down", as they call it. She's just not doing that great these days. She's not exactly what you'd call a PUP. She turned 13 years old on the 13th of September. Now, that has always been my lucky number, but probably not for little CoCo. (I named her CoCo Chanel after the designer of my favorite perfume.) Yes, CoCo turned 13 and this will more than likely be the last birthday that she gets to celebrate. She has been the most docile, well-mannered, precious dog ever until these last few weeks. She has taken to barking like a PROVERBIAL MAD DOG every time my phone rings and I start talking to someone--I do like to talk on the phone to my family and Buds. I know that she's not well, but come on--what's up with this insane constant barking? She's always been used to claiming my queen size bed as her own private retreat, but not now, being sickly and all. So that gives her something else to gripe about. Around 4 or 5 in the AM she starts up again with that insane yapping. No kidding, she sounds like a St. Bernard, especially at that time of the morning. Yapping loud enough to wake the dead, or least some pretty irate neighbors whom I'm afraid just might not love her as much as "Momma" does. They might just decide to call the law to this tiny little 5lb. fur ball belting it out like Aretha Franklin at OBAMA's inauguration! Decisions, decisions. She's been my faithful companion for 10 years now. The Lord let the little dog come into my life during a really rough patch in the road, so to speak, and she means a lot to me. She has really been a FAITHFUL companion. My grand baby, who's 4, will ask to "speak" to CoCo over the phone. So, Gan-Gan puts the phone to a very patient and obliging little pup. The grand baby will ask me "What is CoCo wearing?" Yes, that spoiled little thing has all those cute doggie outfits to wear--that's not Her idea--that's to appease my whims and notions. Ah, look at her, so cute, so docile, so patient. Maybe I'll wait and put it off till the 13th of next month. OH, NO! There goes that telephone!! Until We Meet Again...

Did You Say 'SWINE' Flu?

Anxiously I wait for the phone to ring with news of what the doctor has told Mom.
She'd been sick for about a week at the time and has finally found the strength to get dressed to go to the doctor. Dad had been sick first and his doc said that he was getting a mighty early start on the season. He put Dad on the Z-Pack and told Dad to take it easy. Finally, the phone rings and it's Mom on the other end. "What did the doctor say?"  My heart seems to stop as she says in my ear, "He says I have the 'Swine Flu'."  I could not believe what I'd heard. "Did you say 'Swine'?,"  I managed to ask her.   How in the world did she get that pig stuff anyway?  Where had we been for to contract it?  Dad hadn't been diagnosed with it, even though he had been very sick! Well, after all this I got my flu shot on Tuesday. But in no way, shape, form, or fashion (oh-I love FASHION-but that's not what's important here) will I take the H1-N1 shot, regardless of who's been sick with it. Without getting too political on my maiden blog-age, let it suffice to say that I don't trust it.  Mom has been sick now going into her 3rd week and it's been hard on everyone. Dad had been sick the 2 weeks prior and they won't let me come to their house for fear that I will come down with the dreaded plague. It's been physically hard on their bodies, understandably so. Sickness takes its toll. But it's been hard on me, too. We are very close and I miss them. Has one pondering how short time really is. This prompts me to take inventory of the little kindnesses that I can take time to do for others that are SO dear and even for strangers that maybe aren't--YET!  Kindnesses like writing a card, yes, with my hand and a pen. Those little things that mean so much. Oh yes, my Mom has the dreaded 'Swine' flu and I need to go pick out that card. Until We Meet Again...