Language

What enables some to learn new languages easily

While others struggle for years

To learn a second one?

My walk in this endeavour is renewed

As I work once more to learn the Karen language 

Will I finally find room on my tongue

For a language different from my mother's?

Life Online

The extrovert often prefers life face to face

With people

Prefers to avoid an extensive online presence

The introvert often enjoys the arms length

Interaction of the world online

An opportunity to tell one's story

At one's own pace and in one's own way

Intense or laid back

Gentle or complaining

Choices and time alone to make those choices

Inspire the introvert

Camera

We live in a world

Filled with cameras

To capture us in good moments

And embarrassing silliness

But life is still to be lived 

With confidence

Makeup

A change

Of line and colour

Becomes like a best friend

You always want by your side

But it's not a need

It's simply an expression of being

So never fear

The camera 

Without it

Facing the Re-write

A novel lies

Before me

Covered with 

Detailed comments

Evaluating my narration

For elements that entice an audience.

Going forward with suggestions

Hoping to produce work

Inclined to draw a reader in to 

Join my characters on an adventure

Knowing safety while

Losing awareness of real time in

Motion and motivation that exists

Nowhere except in this imaginary world.

Open to whoever reads the story

Providing a

Question to 

Resolve.

Seeking

To see new found characters

Uncover the person who

Violated the call to respect life

With all dignity and love. Who instead

eXalted

Yet once more the cult of self--a

Zone that rejects the light of life.

Seagulls

Scavenge

Demanding food

Circling the sky above

As people fill the beach below

Saucy

ESL Bible study

How does one focus

On each student in a one room school

Where the differences are honoured

And each student works at their own level?

How do I find this for the Bible study?

The levels of English comprehension vary greatly

As one group is too slow for some

And incomprehensible for others

How to find the approach that works?

Return

Music revives

Questions awaken interest

Preaching energizes

The pastor is back

Facing The Edited Version

First draft can be weak

--As long as you edit brilliantly!

Edit brilliantly?

I have read the comments

From the editor--

Some large changes need to be made

How will I tackle that?

Glad the weekend is here

It gives some space for thinking through 

The consequences that will result

From changes to the story

Next Home

A home in the woods

Where the deer wander freely

--Neighbours to delight

Dreams

The dream that won't go away--

Pursue that we're told

But you can't until you really notice it

In its simplest form

I've drifted toward writing for many years

But always wrote as a teacher:

Facts, facts and more facts

There was no success 

Since I would show it to no one

Now I'm writing mystery fiction and poetry

Enjoying it and the process

As I put it out for others to read

Re-write

Re-writing begins

The edited copy arrived yesterday 

And so the adventure moves forward

As I face the red and blue marks 

All over the paper

Time to take the passive voice

And turn it into active action

The reader

Can experience in their imagination

Lunch With Mom

Walk home

From school when spare

Lined up beside lunchtime

For lunch of my own with Mom

--Bonus

Shared Tea

Sat with cat

Relaxing in the sun drinking tea

Set down my tea 

While my mind wandered

Through thoughts

Suddenly aware of a furry head in my tea

Thoroughly enjoying herself

Learning a Language

The process begins again

As I work to break the unilingual wall

Around me

Contact my teacher

To set up lessons once more

Will this attempt be more successful?

Moving Toward Illustrations

Illustrations now

Begin to percolate in the 

Mind of the artist

Poetry sets theme

Imagination conjures

Concepts to design

Today

Lord, its interesting watching life move forward

With a relaxed pace

Yet filled with a growing variety

Your timing Lord, makes it work

I'm amazed at what You can fit into a day

And today I talk with an artist about the second book

Before I return all the questions to the publisher about the first book

So that the mystery novel can move to the next stage

In the timetable

Process to a Book: Cover Design

Questions for me to answer

So that the artist can design the book cover

A trip to Chapters to see

Designs on other books

Overwhelming variety

Simple elegance to cluttered kitsch

Matte finish or glossy

Stark no graphic to comfortable country cute

Yet through the experience

A direction was found

A simple design with a single nondescript songbird

Bible Study in September

Serious study with workbooks

Notebooks and pages of 1 John to read and mark

Together the adventure began on Saturday

Together the adventure will continue

Our small group is back together again

With a different style

And yet it's our group--

The one that began at Mumu's home five years ago

Will it now bring a break through in understanding?

Hope

Guidance

Encouragement

One tiny step today

On the journey--life lived with joy

Embraced

Hope

It glistens as water for the thirsty

That sparkles as it guides

To the well of living water

Bible Study Begins

Old friends

Sitting around the table

Working through the massive workbook

The sheer volume of questions

Would overwhelm one alone

But was fun done as a team

Partners together in learning

About You, Lord

Process To A Book: Considering Illustrations

Images for a book

How does one decide?

Poetry is words spoken

Or words written

But it can be layered

Visually with more than words

One to eleven images

For a book of poetry

What will enhance it?

Deepen the experience

Of poetry?

Image evoked

Through words

Yet digging to the core

To touch me

By an added visual element

Autumn Approaches

Leaves

Begin to change colour

As they prepare to fall to the ground

The smells of autumn already surround

When I walk by the river

The drying leaves

The browning foliage

As green retreats for another season

Splashes of golden rod

And purple asters

Muted against dull green

As it drains from the scene

Water

Drizzle

Drips from the leaves

Rain

Smacks on the roof

Water

Refreshes from a glass

After exertion

From a watering can

Returns life to a shrivelled plant

After a dry spell

In the winter

Freezes into crystal patterns

Frost, snow, ice

That warms back into water

To keep us all alive

Bible Study

Three basic parts:

--Observation

--Interpretation

--Application

How to use it to its fullest

In an ESL setting?

Ponder the complexity

Reduce it to simplicity

By understanding the key components

In the Heart of a Follower

A favourite pastime of mine

Brings together the Word of God and the Spirit of God in me

Challenges me to understand

To puzzle through to a conclusion

As a discipline it is called meditation

As a part of life it is simply 

Pondering

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. Luke 2:19 NIV

Contrasts

Deer

Graceful creatures

In the wild

Move with quiet assurance

Even as they are wary of people

Poised to run if required

Turkeys

Strut across the road

Crash through the underbrush

Equipped with wings

Yet choose comical awkwardness

On the ground

Next

Move into deeper phase

With discipleship Bible study and

Liason between the English church and the Karen community

My designation becomes

Missionary

Smoke

Smelled smoke

Inside my house

A faint whiff

A flicker of fear

But no source found inside

When I stepped outside

I tracked down a neighbour

Burning leaves

Evoked old memories

Back to childhood

And the fires of autumn

Not many burn leaves in the city

These days

Stages in an Adventure

A process began when I

Began to write a mystery

Challenge to put a story on paper

Delineate characters and action chapter after chapter

Endeavour to create a novel

Fascinating

Goal brought me into contact with a writing contest

Home can still be where

I work

Just as pastor's wife and homeschool mom

Knew me as a homebody

Looking for future employment

My personality

Needs a home setting

On my way to that now as I

Practice writing each morning

Quest to improve

Rhetoric

So many words on paper bring me now

To the editing component

Unknown levels to be delved

Vision to complete led the

Way through the contest--an

eXtravaganza--that I lost--

Yet I have

Zeroed in on a contract to publish

Purr

The purr came back

The hiss couldn't keep it away

--And I got my cuddle

Competency

Competency

Without written directions

Is difficult

In a person raised on written directions

How do I overcome this challenge?

Two subjects are creating this impass:

--the Easy Worship program

--the Karen language

To move into success

Will require what?

Thanks Pinterest!

Lying on my back in pain

Hour after hour

Over the course of a few weeks

With little to do

I couldn't read books for long

Facebook doesn't fill that much time

Finally I asked my daughter

To sign me up for pinterest

So

I signed up

And began to collect

Things that took up no space in my house

     It reminded me of my mother's files

     Magazine articles

     Newspaper items

     Photographs

     Carefully saved and filed away

As I lay there collecting

Information and encouragement

I began to notice

I was drawn like a squirrel to bird seed

To information about writing

Over the weeks

The encouragement gently prodded

By the time the pain was gone

I was serious to begin

--First a mystery novel

--Then poetry on a blog

We'll see where the journey leads

Thank you pinterest!

Territory Wars?

Reepicheep would bound over to visit

For caresses and cuddles

Extending purrs in return

Cally has moved in from down the street

Sprawled out in front of our car

On the driveway 

Sunning herself

A claim of expanded territory?

My Mystery

Invest in myself

A novel concept

Why did I avoid it for many years?

I set aside money to invest in people

But always thought the "people" would be someone else

Now to realize I will

Invest in myself

To edit

And publish

The mystery novel entered in the writing contest

Invest in my own writing

A new adventure will begin

An extension of the initial stage

That told me the story

It grows into the hard work of editing

To make it something that tells others the story

Then it will bloom 

Into a published mystery novel

Released to the world

9/11 Birthday

One year later

A little girl was born

Hope and joy out of grief felt at a distance

The news reports remembered devastation

But family rejoiced with new life!

Quick and lively little sister to tag along

Beloved daughter to nourish

Love will insist on its own way

Happy birthday Abby!

Slice of Now

Plumbonkers revisited?

Take out a collection of my poems

And rework them for publication

In a book

What a cool concept

Centred, left aligned, right aligned?

Illustrations?

They would fit better with poetry

Details to work out

Today a contract for a mystery

And agreement for a second book

But no illustrations for the mystery

Details, details, details

Lots of work ahead revising the mystery

Suddenly I'm a writer

Soon I'll have a published book

All the while also beginning the Bible study

Lord, why does it feel comfortable 

Moving in two directions at once?

Ideas

Ideas are encouraged

Pursued

Followed to their conclusion

Allowed to grow

To multiply

--Then move into reality

Find the Team

Businesses have learned to

Find the team first

Then grow into it

How does that work Lord?

Port Stanley Pier

The pier opened yesterday.

When we arrived

We became part of the steady stream

Of people walking out into the lake

On the safety of the pier

Set far out into the water

To protect the harbour

With walls to protect

The people walking out to experience

The power of a Great Lake

As the waves began to pound--

Storm on the way

To test the new pier

Beach

Get away

Lord, sometimes we just need to get away

A different texture under our feet

The landscape stretched to the horizon

A place to sit near other people

Yet in isolation

As they are intent on the get away also

Away from home

To sand, sun and waves

Labour Day

Remember

Release from being "less than"

Unions have battled hard for workers

Feminism has battled hard for women

The advances have been real

But

Always new fronts in the battle

For those who are treated as "less than".

Who are today's "less than"?

--Migrant workers

--Sex trade workers

--Surrogate mothers

--The aborted ones

These are just a few of the world's "less thans".

Lord, You love each and every "less than"

Through You, the kingdom work comes

--Injustice is attacked

--Mercy and grace will flow.

Baby

Snuggle

Wrapped in softness

Concordance

Big book

Boring book

--On the surface

Big book

Study tool

--To dig deep in the Word

Big book

Light switch

--To reveal the light and living water within

Big book

Old fashioned

--That still provides help in this modern world

Big book

Gateway

--To a long slow soak in Your Word, Lord

Reepicheep

Neighbour's cat

Often runs over to greet us

As we leave for a walk

Purrs and cuddles

To start the day

Phone Call

Phone call

To us--

Suddenly Andrew has a job interview

To be chaplain

At a nursing home

He applied months ago

--With no response from them

One phone call

And all that has changed

Maybe he'll have two job offers

After a four year drought

A quiet excitement

On this front

As we wait to know more.

Gord and Denise

Anniversary time again!

Brings another year to

Celebrate

Doing life together!

Energy expended

For boys raised,

Goals for education reached,

Home renovations accomplished--

In the spirit of working as one and yet two

Just

Knowing 

Love is part of the relationship.

Memories bring

New

Opportunities to

Present 

Quiet

Reflection of lives

Savoured

Together

United as family

Vibrant in life

Watchful for each other

eXciting day--

Yes--a new year

Zeroes in to begin.

Home

A little house

East of Adelaide

Filled with the evidence

Of lives lived here for twenty years

Books for me

Old computers for him

Remnants of homeschooling days

Tea cans and drum kit

African violets and guitars

Deck swing and television

Interests as diverse as opposite personalities

And as similar as ministry 

With new Canadians

Teacher and pastor

Sharing a home 

Together

Moving Through

A walk

Across the river

Jumping from rock to rock

A simple step when they're adjacent

A pause for courage and a leap

When the space between is wide

But the river will be crossed

The firm ground will be reached

The next stage of the journey

Will begin

Passion

Passion

It's easy to find

But so hard to let show

It attracks attention--the wrong kind

Negative attacks

That leave bewilderment

And uncertainty

Passion

Will not go away

It simply digs deep inside

And waits

Then one day it emerges again

With a sense of readiness

Anticipation

Joy

And butterflies in the stomach

But now the wings are waiting

Passion

Will fly

Your Word

Your Word, Lord

Gives life

Brings hope

As it invites us in--deep within

To find the source of thriving

Radiance

Emerges

As You are trusted

And so begins a walk with You, Lord

And all of it goes back

--Way back

To time spent in Your Word

Seeking to know You more

Pilot Project

A hope runs deep inside me

To see the Karen (and many others)

Thrive in this land called Canada

Deep roots in You, Lord

And a growing fluency in English

Is the path I choose to pursue.

This month is a new beginning

On many fronts

But for me it begins a Bible study

That puts people deep into You, Lord

As they also go deeper into Your Word in English

Lord, may we see a breakthrough

No generation needs to be sacrificed

For the next

In You, Lord--each of us can thrive.