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I had an opinion piece in this Sunday’s addition of the Tennessean about the day I spent touring a homeless camp in Nashville, Tennessee. You can find the article at this link: Deprivation Kills Dreams of Those Who Lived Like Us.
Let me know what you think of it!
It is Baby Girl’s birthday and she gets to choose the menu for dinner. She immediately requests the following: sausage, biscuits with apple butter, macaroni and cheese, and grapes.
Okay….
Little Man, age 6, decides to help with the cooking.
“Come on,” I tell him. “I will show you how to break the eggs.”
Little Man gets so excited. He is made for this job and he knows it, so he announces…
“I’m good at breaking things!!!!”
Each year, I go on a silent retreat at The Abbey of Gesthemani. The monastery has a great deal of land and I love to walk the trails that wind through silent woods to hear the voice of God. My favorite place of all is a little bench deep in the trees that sits near the edge of an outcropping, overlooking the verdant, forest floor below. This journal entry was written from that spot.
Journal entry from 7/27/08, The Abbey of Gesthemani
“With the exception of the bugs (but I’m wearing spray!) this place is like a sanctuary to me. Last year, I sat on this bench full of ambition and goals (arrogance too) and made big plans. This year, I sit here empty of all of those things but full of the knowledge that God loves me, and that I am resting in the palm of his hand.
I have few goals or ambitions for writing now, but I have determined to use what gifts I have to proclaim God’s glory. Any gift He has given me, no matter how small, I must give back to Him.
I have been reading about Elijah. I am comforted by the fact that although at times he was terribly weak and ordinary, God used him mightily and he found uncommon favor in God’s sight.
We don’t know much about Elijah other than the fact he was a Tishbite. No impressive lineages are recorded for him. He seems to have been an ordinary man. The main difference between him and other men of his time was that he was wholly surrendered to God. That is what made him special.
What have I learned from this retreat? I have learned to ask more often, “Lord, what do You want here?”
It is time to stop living life like a rebel and live like a daughter of the King instead. It is time to stop making stupid mistakes in what seem to me to be “the little things” because sometimes, those “little things” have huge repercussions.
John The Baptist said of Christ, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
A friend of mine who was dying from pancreatic cancer said in the final stages of his life, “I have to go down before I can go up.”
Paul said, “I count it all rubbish…” and “I glory in weaknesses…when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Christ called us lambs and sheep – weak, stupid, needy creatures. He also admonished us, “Abide in me…”
And therein lies true victory and the only success that ultimately matters.
“Lord,
‘What do you want here?’ Let that be every breath I take and the beating of my heart.” Amen
*The photo above is a sign that is located along the trail.
Have you ever passed a bad traffic accident on the interstate and found that even though you were horrified by it, you just could not quit looking?
Get ready. This will be one of those moments.
Recently, a dear friend of mine turned 40. The fabulous party was 70’s themed. Unfortunately, I took the suggestion to dress in the fashions of the era to heart.
So did my husband.
Then, we actually allowed people to take photos.
What were we thinking?
In a recent kindergarten project, my baby girl was asked “What makes you laugh?” She replied, “When 
Mommy and Daddy dress like they are from the 70’s.”
Now you can laugh too…
By the way, my husband is a pretty conservative guy. He walked up to friends at the party and shook hands and they did not even know who he was. He looks a little like Weird Al Yankovic.
What fros! The wigs were actually stuffed with tissue paper to make them larger.
Below is a picture of me with a friend of mine who actually looks beautiful in her fro.
Now for the garden.
Some of you may remember that we moved into a new home last October. The move took us from 1/4 of an acre to almost a full acre. We moved in at the end of a horrible drought and the landscaping was in terrible shape. We have spent most of our energy since that time just trying to restore what we have. The bad news is that the weeds and Bermuda are running rampant in the back…again. Could someone pass the Roundup please?
Now here is the good news:
1. Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes. We have tomatoes out our ears. My favorite tomato plant has been a “grape tomato”. Those little gems are so sweet that one child in particular thinks they are candy.
2. The herb garden is on its way. I have planted lavender, basil, sage, rosemary, two varieties of thyme, chives, and flat leaf parsley. The former resident left mint, which is a mixed blessing.
3. Figs! When we moved in there were two fig trees (shrubs?) that were just to the bottom of the living room window. This year, one of them as grown to the roof line! I have no choice but to move them in the fall. I hate to though, because when the weather is temperate we open the windows and their sweet scent fills the house.
We had a bumper crop of figs. I made jam.
4. The long bed along my front walk was completely empty after the daffodils died away. I named it “The Great Expanse of Nothingness”. The first stage of rectifying that is complete. I transplanted a rosebush that was in the backyard and added quite a few perennials I found on the clearance rack at Lowe’s. A friend blessed me with some cat mint and ____________from her garden. I brought the statue of St. Francis around and plopped him down under the Japanese Maple. Oh, and we added a rock walk for Puzzle The Puppy to access the yard. (She, of course, just cuts through the mulch anyway)
Next on the agenda: some soft touch hollies and a millstone fountain. What a beautiful view I have from my porch swing!
5. Plans for the fall:
The Gragg children eat a lot. We plan to plant fruit trees this fall: pear, and apple. We will also add blueberries, blackberries and raspberries. We need to build raised beds for vegetables. I have talked my husband into a bee hive. God bless that man as he goes along with all of my “big ideas”.
Thanks for visiting my garden!
It was a weekend of braiding. See the results at Braids, Beads, Truth.
In the spirit of catching everyone up on what I have been doing in my absence, I thought I would just list the things God has brought my way as far as writing. Here goes:
1. I have this wonderful opportunity to work with the Nashville Metropolitan Homeless Commission. It is only a volunteer gig but I am loving the opportunity to learn about the plight of the homeless and get involved in some way. I am currently writing articles for their newsletter which highlight services that will be offered at the huge Project Homeless Connect event scheduled for December.
2. I will be interviewing the homeless at the Project Homeless Connect event and will then be able to write their stories. This is something that I know will change my life. I can’t wait.
3. Baby Girl Had Beautiful Hair, the picture book I wrote for ages 5 – 10 about a little girl of color struggling with the racism she faces concerning her hair is finished. I am currently looking for an agent/publisher. (Anyone out there who represents authors who write ethnic children’s books?)
4. I will get back to my other blog, “Braids, Beads, Truth” soon. I have the research completed for an article on the history of dreadlocks that I look forward to writing. Also, I have completed one product review and am ready to begin another one.
5. I hope to begin transferring “Braids, Beads, Truth” from blog to site soon.
6. I will resume work on my web store with media for ethnic families, www.familyofcolor.com soon. Visit if you like but remember that it is a work in progress.
7. Best of all…Sometime ago, God placed on my heart the vision to begin writing Bible stories for middle graders. During my visit to the Abbey of Gesthemani this year I completed a lot of work on the first installment on the prophet Elijah. I am absolutely crazy about this project. I am having more fun than should be legal using Biblical history and archeology to make this story come alive. I can’t wait to finish it.
Now you know what my keyboard has been up to!
