Don't miss the moment......

"Just the simple observations of a quiet morning walk can sometimes have the power to set the whole world right"....this was taken out in the back forty of my brother's yard.

Coming home, I realize as always that I have brought them all back with me. I hear their voices still in the quiet moments of reflection. This trip was so good on so many levels. We arrived, my friend and I, on the heels of a storm, a very windy one. We blew good weather in it seems, for the whole week we were there it dawned sunny and bright......unseasonably so. It seems we brought the good weather of Arizona and they were all happy we did. 

The trip all started with a phone call. My Mom told me that my cousin had arranged for a group to attend the performance of  "In the Mood." It started me to thinking......how often will we all be able to get together like this again, my two Aunts, my cousin, my Mom and I? My friend also needed to see her brother, it was time.

Ever have a trip that seemed God ordained? The timing was right for so many things......This trip was like a string of miracles, one after another. Every now and then a trip works out that way.

How wonderful to be heralded by a little head looking out the window in anticipation of my arrival. She was standing on the bed and as soon as she saw me she started jumping up and down.

My friend went on to Modesto, her home town, where she got to spend two wonderful days on a mostly deserted beach in Moss Landing. From her description, I felt I went there myself. It was a good time for just the two of them, and I prayed that they would get to do that together. Another answered prayer.....

And another miracle, she got to attend church with her Nephew, who has been reunited with his wife, now clean and off drugs....both of them now off the street with their six children, all of them in church and doing remarkably well. To think that so much heartache and pain could lead to this? Only God could do that......so many sleepless nights, so many tears and prayers shed for them. To be able to put all that aside and extend grace to them now, that's Holy Spirit work!

She was also reunited with a friend of long ago, now a Christian too, and clean and sober after many years of addiction. There was much joy in their reunion, sisters now and friends again twenty years down the road....

Even little miracles happened on this trip......I wandered into Tom's Used Books, never hoping to find a book I was looking for, since it was several years old, and there on the shelf was one copy!

I got to attend an event in my Old High School auditorium that has now been turned into a theater. I would go again in a heartbeat, it was great! Afterwards we went to my Aunt's house where she layed out a wonderful buffet, complete with champagne. I know it would have been easy for her not to do it. My Uncle suffers from severe dementia and she is his caretaker now....but still, she created a magical evening for us. It was a precious time spend with wonderful friends and family.

One of the best memories I brought back was when my Mom, my Aunt and I sang at the piano just like we used to for so many years....we sang the old hymns together as my cousin held the flashlight, (My Uncle has broken all the lightbulbs)

All my life I have been surrounded by strong people who in spite of much hardship, have never lost the miracle of the moment. They have taught me how to slow down enough to see the magic happening all around us, all of the time......What a gift! How blessed I am to have learned that lesson from them.

photos taken with iphone