Category Archives: For Family & Fun

Share Your World 5-18-20

Posted on by under For Family & Fun

I have come to the time of SHARING MY WORLD WITH MELANIE again.

This is the challenge where Melanie asks five questions and in answering them we all share our worlds. It’s fun! Come on, and give it a try. The questions and my answers are below. Once you have finished with my answers click on the underlined link above and go over to Melanie’s site and see how her other contributors answered. Then write a post of your own and link back to Melanie so we can all share your world too!

SYWAI

What’s something you really resent paying for?

I try really hard not to be resentful, but I have to admit I do hate paying for other people’s mistakes especially in relationships. I make enough mistakes of my own. I don’t need to be paying for the garbage other people left behind.

 What was the most unsettling film you’ve seen?

Pet Cemetery. Years ago I rented it (back when you rented videos from the store). I got about ten minutes in and then I had to shut it off and take it out of the house because it was so evil.

Do you judge people?  

I guess that depends on what you mean by judge.

If by judge you mean consign a person to the seventh circle of Hell in my heart, mind and soul, the answer is “No.” It is not my job or role to determine a person’s future like that.

If by judge you mean, to cut someone out of your life and circle of relationships because of their toxic nature. The answer to that is “Yes. I have done this a few times with people.”

There are a few people I have had relationship with who through life’s events have become very unhealthy and even unsafe to be around. A few times I have had to draw a boundary with them to protect myself and my family. This is a very extreme action and not one I take lightly.

BUT if by judging you mean do I disagree with people and their behavior enough to tell them I disagree with their behavior, then yes I judge people like that all the time on the basis of relationship. I seldom call out the behavior of strangers (you have to be behaving pretty bad in public for me to have me call you out if you are a stranger). If a person is in close relationship with me or if I have spiritual oversight of them, though, those people are going to hear my opinion about their behavior both good and bad. I do not believe this is judging at all. It is disagreeing and being open to a discussion about why we disagree. What the world needs is not more acceptance of all view points. What it needs is a reestablishment of respect. Acceptance demands that we agree on everything and that no one have an opinion about anything. Respect demands that we all get a chance to voice our opinions in the hope of swaying others to them, but through the lens of love which allows people to maintain disagreement and relationship at the same time and leave the changing to God.

Finish this sentence:  “Back in my day, we…”?

Back in my day we only had four television stations two of which only came in for half the day and my favorite toy was a stick from my grandparents wood pile.

AND FINALLY

Gratitude

Please feel free to share an uplifting photo, thought or meme to show your own gratitude.   We can all use some good vibes!  

gratexpressed

I LOVE OWLS

Share Your World 5-11-20

Posted on by under C.cada: Arts and Stuff, For Family & Fun
SYWinbetterhandsModified

What do you know! I am right on time for SHARING MY WORLD THIS WEEK!

This is the challenge where Melanie (the hostess) shares weekly questions geared to help us all reveal a little bit of how we live and think. Here are her questions for the week and my answers:

  • I asked this on an award thingie I was nominated for, and I got such interesting responses, I thought I’d ask it on Share Your World too:  Do you have a favorite kind of tree

I love black locust trees. They are so fragrant in the early summer.

Black locust (Not recommended) | The Morton Arboretum
  • What bridges are you happy you burned

I am happy I burned my bridges to the business world and entered the ministry. That said, I am aware that most bridges can be rebuilt should one really desire it.

  • Would you sacrifice yourself (die) for a stranger?

I don’t think any of us truly knows the answer to this question. In the moment? Stirred by a cause or a story? I don’t know. I think I might have the courage to do so if I had time to ponder the stranger’s plight, but would it be instinctive ( like jumping in front of a bus in a moment’s time)? I have no idea.

  • How have your priorities changed since the C-19 virus took over?

My emphasis on the interior life has deepened. My focus on art has grown. My view of money and provision has also greatly shifted. I feel more free now than I have felt in many years.

AND FINALLY:

gratitudeblossoms

Please feel free to share your gratitude!  During this troubling time, some positive input is sorely needed, so any memes, stories, photos, or anything else you find uplifting is welcome!   Please share!   Thanks!  

I have so enjoyed taking part in

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN JOINING IN

This online Global Arts Summit is absolutely 100% free but registration is required. To register, visit www.TheGlobalArtsSummit.com. When you do, you’ll get instant “lifetime” access to the summit resources and you’ll be able to view them on your device of choice at a time and place that’s convenient for you. If you have any trouble, you can reach out to the email address listed on the summit website.

HERE IS A PIECE FROM ONE OF THE SEMINAR PRESENTERS:

Who’s Your Mommy?

Posted on by under For Family & Fun

My mother served as a nurse her entire life. She worked in an emergency ward in the inner city on the graveyard shift when I was young. She moved to a local health clinic to be a nurse for one of the General practitioners in town when I was a young teenager. That job lasted until after I was married. She finished her career working the critical care building at A Developmental Center a few towns over from our home.

Mom has always been a hard worker, with a firm but kind manner and an extremely sharp wit. Here she is at my daughter’s wedding a few years ago sitting with my son Joe.

These days mom lives with me, my sister and my oldest daughter at the Vicarage which has been our family home for something like forty-five years. She has created quite a legacy to leave to the world.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY MOM!

GRANDDAUGHTER REV. AMANDA LILLIE
GRANDSON JOE AND GRAND DAUGHTER IN LAW JOSEPH LILLIE AND KRISTINE BARRAMEDA LILLIE

Image may contain: 3 people, including Melanie Franklin
GRAND DAUGHTER MELANIE FRANKLIN GRANDSON IN-LAW JAMES FRANKLIN AND GREAT GRAND DAUGHTER DANIELLA BROOKE FRANKLIN
Image may contain: Brenda J. Lillie, standing
DAUGHTER REV. BRENDA J. LILLIE
Image may contain: Joseph Lillie and Amanda Lillie, people smiling
SON REV. J. LILLIE

Share Your World From 5-4-20

Posted on by under For Family & Fun

Well this week I have not been as on the ball in the writing department as I would have liked, but I have done a lot of ministry work and a lot of gardening, so I guess it all balances out. Now however it is time to SHARE MY WORLD USING THE QUESTIONS MELANIE POSTED ON MONDAY MAY 4TH.

I have been trying a new blogging regimen these last several weeks. I am posting at least four blogs everyday and then doing what I call a blog blitz on the weekends. It started out I was posting a blog every hour. Now I am at the point where I am trying to find the most productive hours to post …morning, noon and night… to see where most people are on and reading.

Anywho…. Here are this week’s questions and my answers. When you have finished please take a jaunt over to Melanie’s site AKA SPARKS FROM A COMBUSTIBLE MIND and see how her other contributors have answered.

SHAREYOURWORLDSTARHANDS

What can you break even if you don’t touch it?  (yes there is a real answer to this.  I’ll reveal it in the next week sometime.  Still, answer how you would like – no right or wrong answer)

Oh there are lots of things you don’t have to touch to break. Here are a few: a trance, a sweat, a leg (in theater), a fast, a wind, a heart, and a spirit.

I am sure there are more things but these are what come readily to mind.

What’s the most useful thing you own?

I think the thing that gets the most use is my car.

What’s The Silliest Reason You’ve Ever Gotten Into A Fight With Someone Over?

Algebra. My sister ended up running away from home over it.

If You Were A Snake, How Long Would You Want To Be?   No, size does not matter.  😛

I would want to be a hundred foot anaconda.

AND FINALLY…

gratitudechanges

Gratitude and/or uplifting?   Please share.   We can all use some of those.  

Pluto has been making me laugh this week.

Share Your World From 4-27-20

Posted on by under For Family & Fun, Uncategorized

Well, It is almost the end of the Sharing week but here I am at last to SHARE MY WORLD WITH ALL OF YOU!

This is the challenge where our hostess, Melanie, asks us 5 questions and in answering them we, her contributors, share our worlds. When you have finished reading my shares, please check out Melanie’s site, by clicking the link above, to see how she and all of our other Sharing friends have answered.

Now on to the questions:

SHAREYOURWORLDSTARHANDS

Do guns protect people or kill people?  Or both?

Guns are tools, inanimate objects. They can neither protect nor kill. Now people…people…. How I long for a return to innocence where killing and protecting were not things we did or ever had to do.

Is it more important to be respected or liked?

I think it depends who you are trying to get to respect or like you. I have wasted a lot of time trying to get certain people to treat me in ways they had no capacity for. I have discovered that “like” and “respect” are beggars wishes. Even if you get them you can’t long keep them.

Is having a big ego a negative or  positive trait?  (yeah I know.  Duh. But there ought to be one “gimme’ in the pile)

Oye. We could do with a little less ego in the world right now.

Depending on your point of view, is death a new beginning? 

Yes. In fact, aside from the second coming it is the real beginning.

FINALLY:

gratitudeleaf

I am so grateful to have a garden to work in.



The Weekly Smile From 4-20-20. #weeklysmile

Posted on by under For Family & Fun, Uncategorized

THE WEEKLY SMILE is a challenge I have not participated in for quite a while. I came across it this week and something just grabbed m,e and said, “You must do this.” So here I am smiling with Trent this week.

Here are a list of the rules. You can click the link above to see who else smiled with Trent and what they all had to smile about.

  1. Don’t make your smile about something mean or hateful. Keep negativity out of it.
  2. Don’t make your smile discriminate against anyone for race, religion, nationality, gender, sexual preference, primary language, disability, illness, etc. You know the routine.
  3. Try to keep violence out of it. If some selfless hero helps some people during a time of violence, sure, use that. If a family member received an honor for a wartime action, OK. Celebrating a person is fine, just don’t glorify the actual violence.
  4. Keep politics out of it. Your uncle won an election? That’s something to smile about! You met a high profile politician? Sure, that is too. You want to have a political rant? Please do it elsewhere.
  5. Careful with religion. You might smile about a religious service or something else that had a deep meaning to you, but don’t condemn other people’s religion or try to convert everyone. Keep it your personal experience.
  6. Most people reading are adults. We can handle most of what you want to write. But please, if you wouldn’t want your 12 year old son or daughter reading it, you might not want to post it. Try for PG-13 instead of XX

Here is my smile for the week:

My family always makes me smile. We are a funny group of people. My son says often that the whole family is fluent in two languages: English and sarcasm. That would mean my daughter-in-law is fluent in five languages now (she’s a smarty).

Joe and Kristine are newleyweds, married in January. I was so privileged to go and be a part of their wedding in The Philippines. When they got married both of them knew that the start of their marriage was going to take work. Both of them have contracts in different parts South Korea which require them to live separately until they can find work in the same area. While that seemed difficult they both felt it was workable and something inside them told them it was necessary.

Of course, what no one knew was that they were going to return to a country going into lock down. Joe and Kristine were kept apart for over a month after they returned to South Korea by the travel bans opposed.

They are able to travel to each other on weekends now which both of them are very glad of. Joe and I were talking about the timing of their wedding the other night. How providential it all was. Had they married the weekend before their chosen date, most of the guests would have been hindered from coming by the Taal Volcano.

Here's everything you need to know about the Philippines' tiny but ...

Had they gotten married even a week later we all might have gotten stuck in The Philippines or turned away at the airport as The Philippines began to turn away travelers from mainland Asia the very day Joe and Kristine left to go back to South Korea. Had they waited until their current work contracts expired and they could move closer to each other the wedding may not have happened at all as many wedding plans have now been kiboshed indefinitely by our world wide pandemic. The divine providence behind their choices makes me smile big! Big! BIG!!

weeklysmile2a

The Trouble With New | Notes From the Vicarage

Posted on by under For Family & Fun, Uncategorized

We read “His mercies are NEW every morning.” We hear “You learn something NEW every day.” We know He is doing a NEW thing and right now it is springing forth! NEW. Everything is made NEW! Today is a NEW day! We want NEW clothes, a NEW car, a NEW house, a NEW job! We…
— Read on notesfromthevicarage.com/2020/04/21/the-trouble-with-new/

Share Your World From 4-13-20

Posted on by under For Family & Fun

Well I am only three days late IN SHARING MY WORLD. This is the challenge where our hostess, Melanie, asks four or five questions. In answering them we, her contributors, share our worlds. Get it?

Anyway you can find out more about Share Your World by clicking the link above and going to Melanie’s site.

Here the questions and my answers:

SYW Artic Ice

What do you do to get rid of stress? 

I pray a lot. I guess that means I must carry a lot of stress. Oh and I nap. I love naps.

In the past people were buried with the items they would need in the afterlife, what would you want buried with you so you could use it in the afterlife?

I am planning on getting new everything in the afterlife so I won’t be needing the broken stuff I had here.

What’s the opposite of a koala?  (this is strictly for fun.  I know what I came up with as an answer, but it was nonsensical.   Alaok.  See?   It’s okay to pass on this one too if you want)

Let’s see Koala’s look warm and fuzzy so……

Pin by Michael Young on Robotpencil Portfolio | Creature concept ...
Yep that is pretty much opposite a koala

What’s the creepiest tech out there?  (My interpretation of “tech” is app or program.  If you know what “tech” is supposed to mean, hey!  Great!   Educate us. 

This looks really good for the purposes it describes, but the idea that all our currency and economies will be controlled by satellites owned and operated by who? Well that just sounds very weird and super Terminatorish. I am glad they did not call it SkyNet.

GRATITUDE IS AN ATTITUDE

What method are you using to find your smile right now?   Please explain in detail so others might utilize the same ideas.   Some bloggers have shared a daily (weekly sometimes) method that they are using to keep their spirits up right now.   I’d love to hear from anyone who does and is successful at it!    Have a great week and stay safe!

As I said I pray a lot. I am also connecting with a lot of people on line. Finally I have planned myself a fairly rigid schedule of activity: praying, exercising, housework, church work, art and writing….and of course eating.

If that doesn’t work I watch these:

Share Your World 4-6-20

Posted on by under For Family & Fun, Uncategorized

It is time to once again SHARE OUR WORLDS! This is the challenge where our hostess Melanie asks four or five questions and by answering them, we her contributors share pieces of our worlds. You can see how everyone answered the challenge questions by clicking on the link above.

In the meantime, here are Melanie’s questions for this week and my answers:

SHAREYOURWORLDSTARHANDS

If we learn from our mistakes, why are we always so afraid to make them?

I think I fear mistakes because of my fear of other people’s reactions to them. I know I have and have had people in my life for whom nothing short of god-like perfection is acceptable. I rebel against that and tend to go into hiding everything from these people especially my mistakes because I am afraid of their reactions to the real me.

How do we know that pleasure is good and pain is bad?

Ummm…… I don’t think that. There are a lot of things that are very pleasurable which are very very very bad. There are also a lot of things which are hard and even painful which are actually not only good for us but necessary.

What problem or situation did TV / movies make you think would be common, but when you grew up you found out it wasn’t?

I saw this on Facebook a while ago and I couldn’t have agreed more. “Growing up I always thought quicksand would be more of a problem.”



If you drive, do you speed when no one is watching?   Have you ever run a red light late at night on purpose, particularly if it doesn’t seem to change very quickly?   If you don’t drive, what minor law may you have broken?

My kids always make fun of how slow I drive. They call me a “Granny -Driver”. That said I have been stopped for speeding (going 45 in a 35) and running a stop sign and when I was in Ireland I got stopped for running a red light. Of course none of those things were “my fault”.

What positive things are you finding to do to occupy your time right now?

Here is my list:

Praying A LOT

Reading the Bible A LOT

Contacting church folk by phone and facebook to see how they are doing

blogging

rewriting my book

doing some yard work

trying new recipes

watching a documentary on the history of England on Youtube

playing Skipbo and Uno with my sister and daughter

Calling my kids a lot

Doing a family Bible Study I taught to the church a while ago on Youtube with the Fam.