Friday, July 24, 2015

Smells..




So this morning I was getting dressed and I wasn't sure if my shirt was clean so I sniffed it.      (Yes, I'm aware that is really a "guy" thing to do and I'm not a guy).  
Anyway, it smelled like donuts.  Yum!  But it instantly transported me back to Cleveland, Tennessee where Paul went to college, while I worked at Dunkin' Donuts.  I came home smelling that way, everyday.  Quicker than a finger snap, I went there.  







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Do smells do that for you?  Perfumes maybe?  Chanel number 5 and 22. My Dad bought these for Mom one Christmas,  You could tell she felt so fancy.  It was THE one to have!  It made such a impression on me that I named my daughter Chanel years later.

Image result for free picture of Chanel no 5 from the 60s


Image result for free picture of Gardenia perfume
Gardenia is my mother in law, Marie Wagoner's favorite. I think of her laughing and happy for some reason when I get a whiff of  it.



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White Shoulders makes me think of my sister in law, Carole and the Christmas when she got a lotion type and how it wouldn't stop coming out of the bottle.  It was everywhere. And we all laughed and laughed.






Image result for free picture of Lauren perfume by Ralph Lauren 1970's







Lauren by Ralph Lauren makes me think of when I wore it back in the day.  And also of my friend Carmen Hutchings Hart, that gave me my first bottle. She had decided she wanted something else and gave me part of a bottle. I was hooked! I considered naming my middle daughter Lauren. But the name Carla won out.


Image result for free picture of old spice cologne from the 60's




Old Spice was my Dad's choice of aftershave .  Which is a bittersweet memory as he has been gone a very long time now and I miss him.  I couldn't bear for Paul to wear it for the longest time.


But not only perfumes spark memories.  Oranges too.  The smell of oranges make me think of the ones I would get in my mom's stocking that I had hung up at Christmas back when you couldn't get oranges all the time.  (Yes, we used her stocking or you may know it as a nylon.) Which makes me think of the pot belly stove and how cold it was in the winter in that old farm house.  But I smile at the memories of the love there.

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And, this is weird, I realize, But I love the smell of asphalt.  Yes, hot asphalt being made into roads or being put in pot holes or on factory roofs.  It takes me back to grade school when life was sweet and innocent.  As I walked back and forth to school they were paving the street all fresh and new with hot asphalt.  And it was so pretty and I've loved the smell every since.  I went to school in a Hamtramck, a part of Detroit.  Life was simple then.  Mom, Dad, Charles and me were a family.  The family I came from.
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I was at Cracker Barrel the other day. They have these awesome apple, pumpkin candles.  Oh the smell of fall!!!  I love candles. One of the kinds I like is the fresh laundry/linen ones.  Reminds me of when we used to hang our clothes out on the line.  Or okay this is rather personal, when I would do laundry and would smell the nice clean t shirts that belonged to Paul and I would whisper a prayer of thanks that we had worked out our marriage problems and we were still together and his laundry was still here.   God is good like that.


Image result for free picture of jar candles at cracker barrel


Again, perfume.  Chantilly Lace perfume reminds me of a family friend, Fran Johnson See, who died way to young. She was older than me and I looked up to her. I was a bit in awe of her.  She could do no wrong.  Her death was such a deep loss. She wore Chantilly Lace.
Image result for free picture of chantilly lace perfume from the 60's


 But a happier memory is when I wear my White Diamond kind.  It makes me smile as I think of Chanel, my daughter.  One time years ago when I had lost weight and had just got a new bottle she slipped her arms around my waist hugged me and breathed deep, "I love that smell, always makes me think of you, mom".  She said it with love and a far away look of some past happy times in her eyes. So I think of her when I put it on and always wear it when I know I'll be with her.

Image result for free picture of white diamond cologne




Another smell: the Johnson and Johnson pink baby lotion.  Oh the sweet baby memories.  Chubby cheeks, little arms and legs and bellies being rubbed with pink lotion making them smell so good before diapering and dressing them in sweet layettes with love and kisses.  Reminded me that they were still fresh from God.  Then I would rock and sing and love on them.  Nothing like it!

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Fresh new car smell?  Paul and I  have never owned a new car.  But growing up in Detroit.  My Dad bought a new car every few years and I remember that smell.  It was a happy smell.  Dad loved getting a new car and showing it off to his brothers.  We were all so proud of them. I think maybe for him it showed he had rose above the poverty of his youth.  That he was "doing good".

Image result for free picture of new galaxie 500 car from the 60's



Speaking of Detroit.  When you approached Detroit  going north on I 75, there was this horrible, horrible smell.  It was from a place called Zug Island.  It was where the waste from the steel factories make this bad smell. But, if you are a kid and you are traveling home from Tennessee and you are real tired, the smell drifting into your sleepy mind means you are almost home.  And that is a wonderful smell then.  Almost home.

Image result for free picture of view of detroit in 60sImage result for free picture of view of uniroyal tire in detroit in 60s


Sometimes, unexpectedly the smell of coffee takes me to my grandmother's home.  Me waking to her peculator perking up some wonderful smelling coffee for the adults mixing with the smells of some tasty breakfast for me. Her home was full of love and that is why coffee smells so good to this day even though I hardly ever drink any.

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Do smells take you places? Where? When?  How do they make you feel?

There is a verse about smell:
1 Corinthians 2;15 As far as God is concerned there is a sweet, wholesome fragrance in our lives.  It is the fragrance of Christ within us, an aroma to both the saved and the unsaved all around us.  TLB version     


Do you have the fragrance of Christ in your life?  I would imagine the fragrance of Christ would be a smell a bit like heaven. (Okay, I must go on a tangent here.  Do you remember Clarence the angel in the movie, It's a Wonderful Life?  He smelled like sugar cookies.  haha  Back to what I was saying...)  Which I hear is an awesome place where everything is perfect and wonderful.  Have you spent time with him and have his fragrance or have you been hanging with that other crowd that has the stench of smoke?  And I don't mean cigarettes.  It's a smell of hate, anger, evil, all things dark.  The smell of death.


One more smell.  Paul and I worked at a church when Mandi, our oldest was little.  The church burned and our puppets were in Paul's office.  They didn't burn but they smelled of the smoke of the fire for years.  It wasn't a pleasant smell.   

Do you smell of heaven or hell???

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Saturday, July 18, 2015

Sweets, Swimming and Scriptures







Pancakes!

 YUM!!  Who invented them?

 Cake for breakfast. 

What a great idea!

And you can get away with it! If you had asked your mom for cake for breakfast when you were young, she would have said quickly,
NO! 
But pancakes?  Oh, now that was different.  Perfectly acceptable.  No problem.  

The thing is though, have you ever noticed that in no time at all,  you are hungry again? Sweets are sweet and yummy and delish but they don't really nourish you, sustain you. Before you know it you are empty, needing more food.  



We all need what will sustain us.  Not just sweets but real food.  That which will keep us going physically.  But what about spiritually? Are you nourished spiritually?  And do you know where to get spiritual nutrition?  What would that be?  What is the best spiritual food for us ??


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The Bible.  The Word.  Scripture.

For years I wanted to read my Bible.  Really! I wanted to be a student of it.  And I would hit and miss at it.  I would drop a few drops on my parched spirit.  But I never dove in and swam in it.  Never emerged myself in the Word, until well up into my adult life.  I'm so glad and I'm learning new things all the time.

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Image result for free image of a school pool in hamtramck
Copernicus Jr. High School (later Hamtramck High)


Years ago, when I was a teen I went to Copernicus Jr. High in Hamtramck, Michigan. It was built when education was well rounded and Henry Ford was influencing culture in the Detroit area. So it had a full Olympic sized pool, kind of like this.  For half the year you had gym class and the other semester you had swimming class. No choice.  Everyone had to take it. So you learned to swim in spite of your doubts and fears.  It was a good experience.  Something that always served me well.




Just like I had to get in and get wet to learn to swim.  We need to jump into God's Word and let it wash us, soak us, hold us up, challenge us.  So many people are starving for real spiritual nutrition and don't even know it.  They just know they don't feel well, up to par.  Something feels off.  And yes, something is off.  You need to hang out in the book and get to know the author and finisher of your faith.  Get to know the one who created you.  Who has a good plan for your life.  Memorize the Word and get it down deep inside.

How do I know?  I jumped in and got wet and found deep truths inside.  Truths that changed my life and kept me from drowning.  The same truths that have helped others.  It will do the same for you.   Jump into the Word, today.  The water is fine.  I think you won't be sorry you did. Say a little prayer and ask the Lord to help you to understand what you are reading.  He is our teacher, you know.  

“A bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.” -Charles Spurgeon        -Charles Spurgeon

“A bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.” -Charles Spurgeon 

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Guest Post by Rebekkah Ann ....Her Last Day and Her First Day of Eternity

Once upon a time there was a tiny little girl and she lived in a cottage. All of a sudden a little fairy came to her.  The fairy said come with me and I will show you.  She wasn't a fairy she was actually an angel. and out of no ware, the angel swooped the little girl up.  By the way, the little girl's name was Stephanie.

The little girl was sure she didn't know where her house was.  Because she was a foster child. Because the angel swept her up was because Jesus blew the horn for her to come to heaven.  

She loved it up there.  The streets were made of gold.  And there was no crying, sickness, desperation or pain.  She went to see Jesus one day and when she saw Jesus she also saw God.  It was the best and last day of her life on earth.  THE END by Rebbekkah Ann