Tell me I’m special

One of my Mom’  winter onion’s

I took them because I didn’t want to be rude.

Stuck them  in an out-of-the-way place amidst the ferns, blue bells, and bleeding hearts.

Probably not the best location for onions..

Going through their life cycle the past ten years  without me doing a thing…..

Until this year.

All of a sudden, I saw these little onions in a whole new light.

You see,  I have always secretly harbored the opinion that these  “onions”  were not really worth my time to mess with.

They were so small.

They were “wanna- be’s”

Read  an article in a hobby farm magazine last winter about their cousin the garlic plant.

Did you know there are hundreds of species of heirloom garlic?

most of which you’ll never find  in a store.

So on a whim this Spring, I pulled up  15 of those  wild  onions, figured if little garlic bulbs are that special then so might these.

After I washed the little fella’s off,  I  keep several inches of the stem….

otherwise  I  would have ended up with  a 2  inch piece the size of  my little finger.

Chopped  them up, fried them  in butter, with some potatoes..and boy was I in for the surprise of my life….delicious!~

Even the tops fried up into a crispy little morsels.

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Those onions  reminds me of me.

I’m tucked away in a quiet out-of-the-way spot.

There is nothing about me that makes  me stand out in a crowd.

Sometimes I feel despised and misunderstood by people who don’t really know me.

It’s always exciting when someone  stumbles across me  into my little corner of the garden  and tell me I’m special.

I think it’s part of the human condition to want to be appreciated.

To feel valued

To be cherished for who we are

I’m not a Walla Walla  or  Spanish hybrid

I am a winter onion.

to be continued….

Our little Angelman

First, a story….

A Blue Rose

Having four visiting family members, my wife was very busy so I offered to go to the store for her to get some needed items, which included light bulbs, paper towels, trash bags, detergent and Clorox.  So off, I went.

I scurried around the store, gathered up my goodies and headed for the checkout counter, only to be blocked in a narrow aisle by a young man who appeared to be about sixteen years old.  I wasn’t in a hurry, so I patiently waited for the boy to realize that I was there.  This was when he waved his hands excitedly in the air and declared in a loud voice, ‘Mommy, I’m over here.”

It was obvious now, he was mentally challenged and also startled as he waited for me to squeeze by.  His eyes widened and surprise exploded on his face as I said, “Hey Buddy, what’s your name?”

My name is Denny, and I’m shopping with my mother, he responded proudly, “Wow, I said, That’s a cool name;  I wish my name was Denny but my name is Steve.”

“Steve, like Stevarino?” he asked.  “Yes, I answered, How old are you Denny?”  “How old am I now, Mommy, he asked his mother as she slowly came over from the next aisle.  “You’re fifteen- years- old Denny; now be a good boy and let the man pass by.”

I acknowledged her and continued to talk to Denny for several more minutes about Summer, bicycles and school.  I watched his brown eyes dance with excitement because he was the center of someone’s attention.  Then he abruptly turned and headed toward the toy section.  Denny’s mom had a puzzled look on her face and thanked me for taking the time to talk with her son.  She told me most people wouldn’t even look at him, much less talk to him.

I told her that it was my pleasure and then I said something I have no idea where it came from, other than by a prompting of the Holy Spirit.  I told her that there are plenty of red, yellow, and pink roses in God’s Garden; however, “Blue Roses” are very rare and should be appreciated for their beauty and distinctiveness.  You see, Denny is a Blue Rose and if someone doesn’t stop and smell that rose with their heart and touch that rose with their kindness, then they’ve missed a blessing from God.  She was silent for a second, then with a tear in her eye she asked, “Who are you?”

Without thinking I said, “Oh, I’m probably just a dandelion, but I sure love living in God’s garden.”

She reached out, squeezed my hand and said, “God bless you!”  and then I had tears in my eyes.

May I suggest, the next time you see a BLUE ROSE, don’t turn your head and walk off.  Take the time to smile and say Hello.

Why?  Because by the grace of God, this mother or father could be you.  This could be your child, grandchild, niece or nephew.

What a difference a moment can mean to that person or their family.

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I (DM) received that e-mail this morning which in turn stirred something  inside of me to want to introduce you my blog readers to our grandson Rigg…

 

Within hours of  Rigg’s birth, a nurse suspected something was not quite right.

He wasn’t even a day old and, Rigg was in an  ambulance  headed to a larger hospital.

Test after test came back negative….

It  would be almost three years before the diagnosis of Angelman Syndrome was given.

Here’s a recent picture of our grandson  Rigg at age 3:

If you’d like to learn  more about Angelman’s Syndrome click on this link

 

Rigg’s mom and dad have been on duty 24/7 from the day he was born.

Rigg’s mom is my eldest daughter

If you’d like to send Rigg or his parents a  note of encouragement, let me know…and I would be glad to forward it to them.

The Walk- in Cooler story

We  were sitting around  kitchen table today for Father’s day   reminiscing with John and Kathy

The walk in cooler story came up.

It happened last September….

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Last Fall  my wife and I  took the time  to go on another mighty adventure.

We traveled East to  visit friends, drink lots of coffee  and go white water rafting.

I’m not a swimmer so the whole idea of going white water rafting gave me  a rush every time I thought about it.

The day of the rafting trip  I was outfitted with a  super  tight life-preserver.

Supposedly it was designed to keep an adult male  from drowning, but if your boat capsizes in the middle of a #5 rapid, and you get your foot wedged under a rock, then your still gonna die.

That’s me on the left in a #4 rapid

Well, unbeknownst to me  son John was having his own adventure back at home….

We were in the middle of selling apples when we took off on our trip and John was in charge of the apple stand.

Before work that morning   he ran out to the walk in cooler to grab a couple of bags of apples.

We keep the cooler set  at a constant 38 degrees.

John was in a hurry so he ran into the cooler in just a pair of shorts…no shoes, no shirt.The door on the cooler does not have a latch.

I keep it locked with a board on the outside

Well, when  John went into the cooler,  the door swung shut behind him and somehow  locked.

That was a problem for several reasons..

A.  there was no handle on the inside.

B. his cell phone did not have reception in the cooler.

C.  There was nobody else at home, and no one would miss John for at least  a day.

John told us he had visions of us coming home to find his frozen carcass amidst the apple crates.

We asked him if he panicked?

No…he said.  He knew it wouldn’t do any good to yell, cause there was nobody around to hear him.

He said he must have stood there 5 minutes trying to figure out what to do. He finally realized ff he had to, he could  shove the air conditioner back out of the wall, but that was his last resort and would have did several hundred dollars of damage.

Finally, he said, he noticed a little hole  the face of the door., he stuck his finger in the opening, twirled a little shaft  and out swung the door!

 

picture of John boxing up the Cortlands

How about you?

What’s the biggest pickle you’ve ever found yourself in and how did it work out?

You owe me money

Brother and myself pouring a basement wall

Two people warned me you were a tight @#% when they heard I had agreed to do some work for you.

I thought to myself…It won’t be a problem because while I didn’t know you all that well, I knew you professed to be a Christian, so, as long as I made sure I put everything  in writing, and did my normally good job of communicating, there won’t be a problem.

And here I sit, 6 weeks after the fact -  I sent you a second invoice this week and have yet to be paid.

I have pretty much decided unless something really drastic changes I am not going to do any additional work for you.  At this point, I’m out $300 in wages and $100 some dollars in material.

I do intend to contact your pastor if I have to.

I realized this morning this is really not about me.

Up until this point, I have been personalizing your disrespect and fighting the tendency to get angry.

This morning I realized what I really think is happening is God may want to put the spot light on this pattern in your life.

It wouldn’t have been so frustrating for me if I myself hadn’t been feeling a cash flow pinch.  Honestly, if I had several thousand dollars of “cushion” in the work checking account, I probably ….I say probably….wouldn’t have let this get under my skin like it has.

There is usually always two sides to every misunderstanding.

In this case, if it comes down to me having to sit down with you and your pastor (instead of taking you to small claims court)  I’m 95% sure this is a going to be a slam dunk win in my favor.

You’re not the first “christian” ( I use that term loosely) I’ve had dealings with  who have a nasty scrimping,  miserly worrisome attitude about money.

Jokingly (but seriously) I’ve said more than once, I would rather work for a bunch of pirates rather than work for  some  “christians.”

At least if I agreed to work for a pirate, I would know going into it what I was dealing with and proceed accordingly.

You are almost a contradiction in terms.

My friend Jim told me last week, he hoped you wouldn’t pay me   He told me, this may be the very thing you need to have happen…me asking to sit down with you and your pastor, so as to  put the spot light on this issue in your life.

I’m getting to the point this morning where I’m OK with that.

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Update as of 6/18/2011 

I met with the customer in person this morning.  Long story short, I got paid.  The end