"The world is a looking-glass and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face. Frown at it, and it in turn, will look sourly upon you. Laugh at it and with it, and it is a jolly, kind companion." William Thackeray Thus, are the written...
On a brisk, January evening, the twenty-first day, in the year 2000, she entered my life. She was a tiny little thing with hair of corn silk, still reeling from a failed adoption. The family who had adopted her had destroyed her paperwork and there...
The nation's best-known memorial to the first president of the United States is located in the city that bears his name. Laus Deo! Two seemingly insignificant, unnoticed, Latin words. Out of sight and, one might think, out of mind, but very...
Years ago, when moving back to our hometown, I called ahead to inquire of a job possibility with the same company for the position I had held while in college. Luckily, I was afforded the opportunity to begin work just as soon as we were settled. I...
How many of you have spent time in large hospitals, wandering around glass eyed, as you try to find your way from point A to point B? It doesn't take long before you discover you have sympathy for the poor little mouse who is placed into a maize by...
It was a chilly December day in South Carolina with a hint of drizzle as we made the short drive from Clemson to my mother's nearby home. We had made the trip north from Florida, first to see our new great nephew, Grayson. We spent two days...
What do you actually know about Washington DC, our Constitution, and our Government? Washington DC is an interesting city with American History as far as the eye can see. The District is located on the north bank of the Potomac River and is...
New Orleans is the town of jazz, Cajun food, Mardi Gras, French Quarter, historic plantations, old buildings, specific traditions, and an incredible blend of nations. This town never sleeps. You will find, even now, jazz players on Preservation...
In this article, I plan to touch on a subject that brings discord to both sides of the picture. For years, I have watched adults tear away at the enchantment of childhood, a childhood I hold very dear. It was a childhood of mystery, excitement and...
Christmas in South Carolina, where I grew up, was usually cold. However, though we children prayed for snow, we seldom saw any before February or March, if then. So, to have a white Christmas was very rare indeed. Christmas Eve was the most...
This story is a happy one, full of fun and bright future. However, before I begin, I would like to explain why it has come about, giving you a small glimpse into the past. Just stay with me because the dog WILL get his say! On August 28, 2010, we...
What is real? What is truly important? Are we really in charge of our destiny? Or is there a greater force at work? This sounds more like a statement of youth than that of a woman turning sixty next month, doesn't it. However, I have really been...
As my husband and I stood looking down the aisle of filled cages, it was heartbreaking to realize how many animals there were to choose from. With us, was a handful of others and over twenty-five dogs on display, hoping for new homes. We were at...
When I wrote this letter to Audrey, I thought we had reached the end of our search together. As it turns out, I was underestimating us. After you read the letter, please go on to Volume Five. There was so much more to come with both happy endings...
In the small, South Carolina town where I grew up, everyone knew everyone else. It was a community where the entire town helped to raise its children. We all attended church on Sunday and knew what God expected of us from an early age. I feel very...
Driving home today, I began to reminisce. My mind carried me back to my youth, to a warm Mother's Day in May of 1971, when I was only twenty years old. It was a day that began a relationship with a group of people whom I would learn to love as my...
When I think of America, I think of home. This is the land where I grew up. These are the values that I share. Mine is the flag and country of which I have always held in my heart with great respect. I have always been proud to be an American! ...
"Happiness is as a butterfly, which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you." Hawthorne What does it take to truly make you happy? Not just for the moment, but for a lifetime? Have you...
Could it be the day God chose her to be your Mother? Do her memories begin with the first day she gently held your hand? Maybe its the day you sat alone or took your very first step? There was your first tooth and the funny face you made when first...
Twenty-nine years after divorce, I still find new loses creeping into my realization. You aren't married to a man for sixteen years without making lasting attachments with those around you. These attachments do not sever as easily as signing a piece...
Oh my, too old to believe in Santa Claus? Well, maybe we are. However, are we too old to remember when we did and the wonder that still lies there, napping within our memories? Take this time, this moment, to go back to the innocence of living in...
We must first reconnect with our childhood and the innocence of the world we find there. Research in Positive Psychology has shown that expressing gratitude and appreciation to the special people and relationships in your life can significantly...
"Be a life long or short, its completeness depends on what it was lived for." David Starr Jordan It has been said that everyone will find, at least, one thing in their lives for which they have great passion. Therefore, I...
The next time you pass an old farm house with its blackened boards and paneless windows, stop for just a moment. Take time to reminisce about the people who once may have lived there. Consider the stories they could tell you of the memories filling...
Nothing prepared me for fostering teens!! I was given nine weeks of training from the Children's Home Society before taking my first foster child. There was a great deal of information to digest in a short span of time. It left me with the innocent...
The day was filled with electricity as we ascended the steps and entered the sanctuary of the beautiful, old stone church. Our lives were about to embark on an adventure that would change each of us forever. We entered those walls as individual...
Have you ever considered the vast wisdom in the innocence of a child's thoughts? At sixty-two years old, I realize I have been raising children, in some semblance, for fifty-two years. That is a long time! When I look back over the years, I see...
There is so much in our lives as children which we do not understand. In my case, the most bewildering was my father. The pastor, at his funeral, spoke of him as being a "tough love." The man, as I knew him when a child, was just that. I spent the...
The night I first brought Audrey home, I promised, if she were still with me when she was grown, I would try to find her mother for her. I have kept every promise I have ever made to this little girl, save this one. And now she is grown. Where do...
I believe God led Audrey to me. Though she is not mine genetically, she has grown to become my child through experience, sacrifice, hard work and more love than I could have imagined. We have shared a lifetime in ten short years and now we are...
On a brisk, January evening, she entered my life, a tiny, little thing with hair of corn silk, still reeling from a failed adoption. "Neither bone of my bone, Nor flesh of my flesh, But mine, just the same. You did not grow beneath my heart, ...