It's About Hope

...YES, IT IS!!!!!
So many times in our lives we can find SOMETHING to complain about.
I recently posted the words to a gospel song on my faceBoOk page..."I Won't Complain".

Lyrics to I Won't Complain :

I've had some good days
I've had some hills to climb
I've had some weary days
And some sleepless nights
But when I look around
And I think things over
All of my good days
Out-weigh my bad days
I won't complain

Sometimes the clouds are low
I can hardly see the road
I ask a question, Lord
Lord, why so much pain?
But he knows what's best for me
Although my weary eyes
They can't see
So I'll just say thank you Lord
I won't complain

The Lord Has been so good to me
He's been good to me
More than this old world or you could ever be
He's been so good, To me
He dried all of my tears away
Turned my midnights into day
So I'll just say thank you Lord...

I love this song! It says EVERYTHING! And, the REV Paul Jones sang this song with such truth, such HOPE.  Job, himself, would have been proud.
The Father of ALL creation KNOWS my plight.


When I finally sat down and allowed myself to grieve the loss of my home, there was ONE thing. ONLY ONE THING, that I wished that I had not lost in the fire! ONE THING!!! Can you believe it?...

About 12 years ago, we had family portraits made.  The kids were still young enough, and enjoyed playing dress up.  We still owned 'the pumpkin', a 1975 VW Beetle, that was of course, pumpkin orange, and my dearest friend Sharon, had affectionately named, "the Pumpkin".

The photographer, Deborah Shelton, really has a creative eye when it comes to "catching" personality on film.  She spent some time with the family, learning about our lives, our travels, our likes and dislikes and our HOPE.  She did this, so that she would be able to, "capture our family on film".  And, she did....

In one of the poses, she had us leaning on, standing near, or laying on top of the 'the Pumpkin'.  In another pose, she had us sitting or laying on one of Memaw Boykin's old quilts, in the yard.  A quilt that Aunt Gerty had given to Memaw, years ago.  But, my favorite shot was one of just the kids.  That one, was actually titled, with the help of an old friend, Ed Reynolds.  When Ed saw the large portrait the first time, and I told him that it needed a title, he said, "That's easy, 'Stealing Texas Thunder'." THAT, said it all! The man is a genius!

In the portrait, the kids had dressed up in their favorite dress up clothes, with a little prompting from Deborah. 

Aunt Susie, my younger sister, has two daughters, Nicole and Kristian and a son, Jacob. When her children were young, they loved to play dress up.  And, Susan had a big bag of dress up clothes that she had gathered over the years for them to play with.  But, by far, the MOST sought after dress to wear for ALL the little girls who had the pleasure of getting to play dress up, was the RED PROM DRESS. And, as Susan's children out grew the desire to play dress up, Joshua and Jeannie grew into it and 'inherited' the bag from their cousins.  And, the RED PROM DRESS, was my daughter Jeannie's FAVORITE!

The kids came out of the house in their dress up clothes.  Joshua, in his jeans and cowboy hat, with a guitar that Rosa had given to him, in his best Garth Brooks grin!  And Jeannie, in the coveted red prom dress!  They were JUST standing there, cutting up, while Deborah set up her camera. And, just in a moment, without warning, Deborah snapped a shot and captured "sibling rivalry".  Boy, she's good! I don't recall whether or not it was on film, or digital.  All I know, is that it was my favorite photograph of the kids, and we had purchased a large portrait of the shot, from Deborah.  And, it vanished, without a trace in the Bastrop County Complex Wildfire.

I thought about the portrait for over a month.  And, I thought about Deborah.

I had done a Internet search for Deborah shortly after the fire, only to find an article online that reported that she too had lost her home in the fire.  Avoidance, set in...  Thinking the worst, but hoping for the best, several weeks passed, and then, I finally made the call to the telephone number that I had found online.

Sweetness, answered the call.  That's all I can say!

Deborah and I, reminisced for over an hour.  She too, was displaced by the fire and not only lost her home, but the family business AND her years of photography, since she had moved her studio to her home.  And, she wasn't sure what she had made it out of the house with, when she had to evacuate.  But, when she got to a landing spot, she would look through her things and see what she could find.

You can only imagine how my heart LEAPED! When a few weeks later I received an email from Deborah with the words, "LOOKEE what I found!" And, THIS as an attachment...
My heart felt like it would EXPLODE it was sooo FULL of JOY and HOPE!!!

 ...and to hear her tell, how she grabbed the camera case while she was evacuating the fire. Only to find, in her search for the portrait, her old HARD DRIVE with THOUSANDS of photographs, instead of a camera in the case!... to know that there is NO SUCH THING as a coincidence for the Father's children! Just SURPRISES filled with JOY and HOPE and LOVE!!!!!!

Just remember that, the next time that you think you are 'running' something.
He's got it, ALL UNDER CONTROL.