Things to make you go Ohhhhh

"24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I think
not."

~ Stephen Wright

The smell of rain

A cold March wind danced around the dead of night in Dallas as the doctor walked into the small hospital room of Diana Blessing. She was still groggy from surgery.

Her husband, David, held her hand as they braced themselves for the latest news.
That afternoon of March 10, 1991, complications had forced Diana, only 24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergency Cesarean to deliver couple's new daughter, Dana Lu Blessing.

At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound nine ounces, they already knew she was perilously premature.

Still, the doctor's soft words dropped like bombs.

"I don't think she's going to make it," he said, as kindly as he could.

"There's only a 10-percent chance she will live through the night, and even then, if by some slim chance she does make it, her future could be a very cruel one"

Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the doctor described the devastating problems Dana would likely face if she survived.

She would never walk, she would never talk, she would probably be blind, and she would certainly be prone to other catastrophic conditions from cerebral palsy to complete mental retardation, and on and on.

"No! No!" was all Diana could say.

She and David, with their 5-year-old son Dustin, had long dreamed of the day they would have a daughter to become a family of four.

Now, within a matter of hours, that dream was slipping away

But as those first days passed, a new agony set in for David and Diana. Because Dana's underdeveloped nervous system was essentially 'raw', the lightest kiss or caress only intensified her discomfort, so they couldn't even cradle their tiny baby girl against their chests to offer the strength of their love.

All they could do, as Dana struggled alone beneath the ultraviolet light in the tangle of tubes and wires, was to pray that God would stay close to their precious little girl.

There was never a moment when Dana suddenly grew stronger.

But as the weeks went by, she did slowly gain an ounce of weight here and an ounce of strength there.

At last, when Dana turned two months old. her parents were able to hold her in their arms for the very first time.

And two months later, though doctors continued to gently but grimly warn that her chances of surviving, much less living any kind of normal life, were next to zero, Dana went home from the hospital, just as her mother had predicted.

Five years later, when Dana was a petite but feisty young girl with glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for life.

She showed no signs whatsoever of any mental or physical impairment. Simply, she was everything a little girl can be and more. But that happy ending is far from the end of her story.

One blistering afternoon in the summer of 1996 near her home in Irving, Texas, Dana was sitting in her mother's lap in the bleachers of a local ball park where her brother Dustin's baseball team was practicing.

As always, Dana was chattering nonstop with her mother and several other adults sitting nearby when she suddenly fell silent. Hugging her arms across her chest, little Dana asked, "Do you smell that?"

Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a thunderstorm, Diana replied, "Yes, it smells like rain."

Dana closed her eyes and again asked, "Do you smell that?"

Once again, her mother replied, "Yes, I think we're about to get wet. It smells like rain."

Still caught in the moment, Dana shook her head, patted her thin shoulders with her small hands and loudly announced,
"No, it smells like Him.

It smells like God when you lay your head on His chest."

Tears blurred Diana's eyes as Dana happily hopped down to play with the other children.

Before the rains came, her daughter's words confirmed what Diana and all the members of the extended Blessing family had known, at least in their hearts, all along.

During those long days and nights of her first two months of her life, when her nerves were too sensitive for them to touch her, God was holding Dana on His chest and it is His loving scent that she remembers so well.

"I can do all things in Him who strengthens me."

Double click to enlarge

“The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you.”
John E. Southard

"Be a first rate version of yourself, not a second rate version of someone else."
– Judy Garland

Sharks Bay...Sharm- Egypt
View across to Tiran island (do a boat trip around it!!!)

Just like the sunset

At the end of the day I just want to take a rest and taste the moment.

I want to ponder what this life to me has offered.

Just like the sunset

I enjoyed single hood to the fullest.

Freedom - and I was so into it.

Just like the sunset

Your life has been planned and set to what you think was best.

And then you’ve entered lots of openings you think are for keeps.

Just like the sunset

We’ve moved from one point to another and have encountered giggles and hurt.

We’ve tried to embrace and seek “THE ONE” we thought will stay and stick.

Just like the sunset

There’s one goal you and I have always wanted and we worked for it.

The waiting will be over soon and the longing will end.

Just like the sunset

In our hearts we’ve found “OUR HOME” overflowing in love and passion.

The “WE” in me and you will soon come true... soon.

lovella anoverjoaquin

"Sensual pleasures have the fleeting brilliance of a comet; a happy marriage has the tranquility of a lovely sunset.”
- Ann Landers

Sunset from the other side

The Child Angel

Let your life come amongst them like a flame of light, my child,
unflickering and pure, and delight them into silence.

They are cruel in their greed and their envy,
their words are like hidden knives thirsting for blood.

Go and stand amidst their scowling hearts, my child,
and let your gentle eyes fall upon them like the
forgiving peace of the evening over the strife of the day.

Let them see your face, my child, and thus know the
meaning of all things, let them love you and love each other.

Come and take your seat in the bosom of the limitless, my child.
At sunrise open and raise your heart like a blossoming flower,
and at sunset bend your head and in silence
complete the worship of the day.

-Rabindranath Tagore

“We are, each of us angels with only one wing; and we can only fly by embracing one another.”

Luciano de Crescenzo

Life

Hold on to life.
No matter how hard the rain falls
or how deep the waters get.
There's always an escape
just waiting to be found.
There's always a hand to hold.

-Rhon-da L. Barbour

“It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.”
Archie Griffen

“It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.”
Archie Griffen

I Did Not Die

Do not stand at my grave and forever weep.
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn’s rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and forever cry.
I am not there. I did not die.

Author: Melinda Sue Pacho

“If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today.”
E. Joseph Cossman

Black

It feels like the midnight breeze,
It looks like the holes in the sky;
it sounds like the sounds of silence,
it's cold like a winter's night.

You stand surrounded by it,
and you feel the coldness arise.
and you ask yourself in the process:
am I loosing my grip on the light?

You stand with your thoughts
between light and dark.
and what's left of your sanity
implores you to reach for the light.

But you've found that this darkness
has come from your inner mind;
and if you look for a way to dissolve it,
you have to reach into your heart.

And as you peer into the sunlight,
the darkness gathers at your back;
you remember the things you've done,
all the secrets you've left behind.

And while this may rip your illusions,
the message I give you Is life.
never forget your own darkness
but always strive on for the light.

D. L.

“Be nice and smile to everyone you meet. You don't know what they are going through, and they may need that smile. And treasure it.”
Christine M. Huppert

Duct tape is like the force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together. ~Carl Zwanzig

May those who love us love us,
and those who do not love us,
may God turn their hearts,
and if He cannot turn their hearts
may He turn their ankles
that we may know them by their limping.
~Irish Prayer

FRIENDSHIP AND LOVE

Love starts with a smile, grows with a kiss, and ends with a tear.

Don't cry over anyone who won't cry over you.
Good friends are hard to find, harder to leave, and impossible to forget.
You can only go as far as you push.
Actions speak louder than words.
The hardest thing to do is watch the one you love, love somebody else.
Don't let the past hold you back; you're missing the good stuff.
Life's short. If you don't look around once in a while, you might miss it.
A best friend is like a four leaf clover: hard to find and lucky to have.
If you think that the world means nothing, think again. You might mean the world to someone else.
When it hurts to look back, and you're scared to look ahead, you can look beside you and your best friend will be there
True friendship never ends.
Friends are forever.
Good friends are like stars....You don't always see them, but you know they are always there.
Don't frown. You never know who is falling in love with your smile.
What do you do when the only person who can make you stop crying is the person who made you cry?
NOBODY IS PERFECT UNTIL YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH THEM. (Isn't that the truth?)
Everything is okay in the end. If it's not okay, then it's not the end.
Most people walk in and out of you life. But only True friends leave footprints in your heart.

"Don't walk in front of me I may not follow, Don't walk behind me I may not lead. Walk Beside me and be my friend"

- Albert Camus

FRIENDSHIP WISH

May there always be work for your hands to do;

May your purse always hold a coin or two;

May the sun always shine on your window pane;

May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain;

May the hand of a friend always be near you;

May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

- Unknown

Moon over Andromeda

“No one needs a smile as much as a person who fails to give one.”
Unknown

Resolutions

You can't make a new start
If you don't know where to go.
You can't make a new start
If you let your feelings show.

You can't make a new start
Unless you stick to what you feel.
You can't make a new start
If you don't know what is real.

You can't make a new start
If you keep your fears inside.
You can't make a new start
If you can't regain your pride.

You can't make a new start
Until you let go of the past.
You can't make a new start
Or hope to make it last.

You can't make a new start
If wrongs get in your way.
You can't make a new start
If you fear each waking day.

You can't make a new start
If you've lost your very soul.
You can't make a new start
Until you fill that hole.

John Henry Foley

Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man.

Benjamin Franklin