Siblings

“Siblings:

 children of the same parents,

 each of whom is perfectly normal until they get together.”

Sam Levenson

1922 - 1980

American Humorist

Photo taken 05.09.2021

2025 WORD OF THE YEAR - FELLOWSHIP

Initial inspiration for selecting this word came from reading Charles Spurgeon's sermon entitled "Fellowship with God" 15 Sept 1861

Fellowship (1John1:3) (Acts 2:42) (Phil 3:10) 

F = Faith (the activity of believing) Faith hears the promise, hears the command, believes both, and acts in obedience. (Alistair Begg Truth For Life: 365 Daily Devotions)

E = Endurance/Encouragement (Rom 15:4-5)

L = Love (1Cor 13) ValleyofVision prayer Christian Love

L = Light (Psalm 119:30) (1 John 1:5) (Matt 5:16)

O = Obedience (John 14:15&15:10 (1Pet1:22)

W = Worship  (1Tim 3:14-16) (psalms)  We are made to worship.

S = Sincerity (1Cor 5:8)

H = Humility (Prov 15:33) Read and re-read the book of Job.

I =  Insight/instruction/wisdom (Prov xx)   

P = Prayer (2 Cor 1:11)

Read: Duties of Christian Fellowship by John Owen

Listen:  Music Album Fortress God by Praise and Harmony

Additional Inspiration from listening to sermons by: 

Ian Hamilton

 "What to do when you dont know what to do"

2 Chronicles 20:1-12  delivered 12 Jan 2025

Gary Elliott

"Greatest Mystery ever Told" 1 Tim 3:14-16  19 Jan 2025

"Liturgy of Living Sacrifice" Rom 12:1-9   26 Jan 2025

"Learning of the Conscience" Job 42  18 May 2025

Genealogy Trivia

 Meet the youngest child of a youngest child of a youngest child of a youngest child:

My nephew, Albert, 2008, CWAC

who is the youngest child of 

My brother, Will, St Simons Island, GA 1968

 

who is the youngest child of 

my father  Wm.   Dan(iel)   1934 - 2021

 

who was the youngest child of his mother

my grandmother  Amanda Gustie      1896 - 1959

who was the youngest child of  her mother

my great grandmother   Amanda Missouri Noel      1853 - 1918

who died on 27 January 1918 

one week before her daughter married

into the Jordan Family

 on her in-laws' 37th anniversary

 3 February 1918 - a Sunday afternoon

in the living room of the family home in

Albertville, Alabama ~

John Cabell Breckinridge Jordan & Mary Elizabeth Morris

photo taken 194?

Chocolate Sauce

Combine in a saucepan over medium heat:

 

3/4 cup granulated white sugar

1/2 cup butter

2 oz bakers chocolate

2 Tbs Karo syrup

1/4 tsp salt

 

Stir until blended cooking all the while until smooth. I use a whisk. Add 1/3 Cup milk.  Stir constantly until sauce thickens somewhat.  Remove from heat.  Add 2 tsp vanilla extract.

 

Stores well in refrigerator.  Heat on medium low heat in microwave, if you have any leftover from the initial serving J

 

 PS  I have been known to use Vanilla Delight Coffee Creamer or whipping cream or whatever milk  (like) substance I have in the 'fridge.

 

PPS  I think this makes a delightful teacher's gift or gift to another family at Christmas.

PPPS  Favorite ways to serve:  1) drizzled over vanilla ice cream, really any flavor, but especially peppermint around the holidays  2) Cherry Pie a la mode (chocolate ice cream & chocolate sauce)  3) for dipping leftover cubes of vanilla pound cake  4)  coat the  rim of chilled cocktail glass before pouring in the prepared chocolate or coffee martini 5) sneak a refrigerated spoonful just to get my "chocolate fix"

LITTLE GUSTAVA

Little Gustava sits in the sun,
Safe in the porch, and the little drops run
From the icicles under the eaves so fast.
For the bright spring sun shines warm at last,
And glad is little Gustava.

She wears a quaint little scarlet cap.
And a little green bowl she holds in her lap.
Filled with bread and milk to the brim,
And a wreath of marigolds round the rim:
" Ha, ha ! " laughs little Gustava.

Up comes her little gray, coaxing cat,
With her little pink nose, and she mews,
 "What's that ? "
Gustava feeds her, — she begs for more ;
And a little brown hen walks in at the door;
"Good-day!" cries little Gustava.

She scatters crumbs for the little brown hen.
There comes a rush and a flutter, and then
Down fly her little white doves so sweet.
With their snowy wings and their crimson feet:
" Welcome ! " cries little Gustava.


So dainty and eager they pick up the crumbs;
But who is this through the doorway comes ?
Little Scotch terrier, little "dog Rags,
Looks in her face, and his funny tail wags:
"Ha, ha!" laughs little Gustava.

"You want some breakfast, too? " and down
She sets her bowl on the brick floor brown;
And little dog Rags drinks up her milk.
While she strokes his shaggy locks, like silk:
"Dear Rags!" says little Gustava.

Waiting without stood sparrow and crow,
Cooling their feet in the melting snow :
"Won't you come in, good folk? " she cried.
But they were too bashful, and stayed outside,
Though " Pray come in ! " cried Gustava.

So the last she threw them, and knelt on the mat
With doves and biddy and dog and cat.
And her mother came to the open house-door:
" Dear little daughter, I bring you some more.
My merry little Gustava ! "

Kitty and terrier, biddy and doves,
All things harmless Gustava loves.
The shy, kind creatures 'tis joy to feed,
And oh, her breakfast is sweet indeed
To happy little Gustava!


Celia Thaxter
American writer/poet
1835 - 1894

WHY A POEM—OR A CAT?

“It’s what kids once learned a long time ago. . .what this nation

was founded on--morality, memorization of poetry, learning to read aloud, to do arithmetic, and to do what literate people do in society.”
—Marva Collins**

“I still don’t see why anyone would ever
read a poem,”
the young man, student, told us on TV.
Answers came lame, and all the wrong
protesting ones.

I would have said, why, one would read a poem
for the reason you might watch a cat—
its grace notes curling, stretching, those
little hairs, sunburst
on haunches, stone-lion-crouched,
the quivering intelligent tail, the eyes,
marble-miraculous gleaming.

“But what’s the use of it?”

No use. No use in tapping your foot in time
to tunes,
or driving along, car windows down, wind in your
hair,
and the smell of river bottoms and plowed fields,
or even fertilizer.

You’d read a poem to delight the ear and eye,
for something to wonder about,
to take a moment out, to touch what’s real
that you don’t have to; watching flocks
of small birds wheeling
on sluices of the air we breathe,
or hawk or eagle, plummeting,
or motionless aloft on that same air.

To put a frame around this moment, tape it down
and get a handle on it.

Like stroking that sweet feline in your lap.

— Harriet Stovall Kelley

1933 - 2022

** protégé of Eugene Lang, who promised college to ghetto kids finishing high school


Note from poet ~
My mother, Evelyn Linch Stovall (1904-1962) wrote a textbook, You and your Reading for Ginn & Co, 1940, as an outgrowth of her Master’s work at Emory. In it my father has a poem, “Mr. Propaganda.” But my two younger sisters turned out to be musicians, so bookish is not inherited, necessarily, just “bent.”

PS This entry is illustrated by my newest art acquisition:  Oil (9"x12") by Sally Mitchell, soon to be framed and displayed ~

WHEN YOU SAY GOODBYE TO A PARENT

 

You are suddenly living in a whole new world.

You are no longer ‘the child’ and regardless of how long you have officially been ‘grown up’ for, you realise you actually never were until this moment. The shock of this adjustment will shake your very core.

When you have finally said goodbye to both your parents, assuming you were lucky enough to have had two. You are an orphan on this earth and that never, ever gets easier to take no matter how old and gray you are yourself and no matter how many children of your own you have.

You see, a part of your body is physically connected to the people that made it and also a part of your soul. When they no longer live, it is as if you are missing something practical that you need – like a finger or an arm. Because really, you are. You are missing your parent and that is something far more necessary than any limb.

And yet the connection is so strong it carries on somehow, no-one knows how exactly. But they are there. In some way, shape or form they are still guiding you if you listen closely enough. You can hear the words they would choose to say to you.

You can feel the warmth of their approval, their smile when a goal is achieved, their all-consuming love filling the air around you when a baby is born they haven’t met.

If you watch your children very closely you will see that they too have a connection with your parents long after they are gone. They will say things that resonate with you because it brings so many memories of the parent you are missing. They will carry on traits, thoughts and sometimes they will even see them in their dreams.

This is not something we can explain.

Love is a very mystical and wondrous entity.

It is far better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all and grief, grief is the price of that love. The deeper the love the stronger the grief.

When you say goodbye to a parent, do not forget to connect with that little girl who still lives inside you somewhere.

Take very good care of her, for she, she will be alone and scared.

When you say goodbye to your parents, you lose an identity, a place in the world. When the people who put you on this earth are no longer here, it changes everything.

Look after yourself the way they looked after you and listen out for them when you need it the most.

They never really leave.

Donna Ashworth

From her poetry collection ‘to the women’

Photo Selfie taken 7 June 2015 as we were leaving Jekyll Island GA after our first beach getaway together.

Church History

Where I've attended church over the years....

 

1958 - St Luke Episcopal, Atlanta, GA (baptized)

1965 - St Anne's Episcopal, Atlanta, GA

1966 - Mtn Home AFB 

1967 - St James Anglican-Episcopal, Atlanta, GA (confirmed)

1978 - Chalcedon Presbyterian, Atlanta, GA

1979 - Harvester Presbyterian, Springfield, VA

1980 - McLean Presbyterian, McLean, VA

1981 - Church Creek Presbyterian, Charleston, SC

1985 - Rainbow City Presbyterian, Rainbow City, AL

1987 - First Presbyterian, Rome, GA

1988 - Chalcedon Presbyterian, GA

WORD OF THE YEAR - HEART

 

As a follow-up to the practicality of last year's word (steward),

 I am focusing on what informs that Biblical action: a heart properly connected to the Creator ~

Per habit, an acrostic

H = HELP/HOPE - Psalm 121:1-2

E = ENDURE - Romans 15:4

A = ABIDE - John 15

R = REVIVE/RENEW - Romans 12:2

T = TEACH - Psalm 119: 64                     

With these I will do Scripture-based word studies and also focus on Psalm 119:  the very foundation for connecting one's heart to the Creator.

Not only will I read Psalm 119 methodically, but also will search for (and sing)  hymns/lyrics based on these verses.  Daily readings from Charles Bridges' commentary on Psalm 119 are already underway.

Re-listening to a JCMIII Psalm 119 series:  The Christian's Delight at Sermonaudio;  Anthony Curto also has some good ones.  I plan to reference commentaries by Thomas Manton, John Calvin, and Matthew Henry to supplement my study.

At church, Pastor Jess is preaching through Corinthians, so I will attempt to integrate his sermons with my personal devotions.  In addition, I hope to read up on the life and times of the Corinthians: biography of the Apostle Paul (for example, historical fiction byTaylor Caldwell and movie _Peter and Paul_)

That sounds like a good start for  2024 ~

Added later:  As this year draws to an end, I can report that this study has been most beneficial, but I am feeling like I have just scratched the surface.  I mean, there are over 500 references to the word *heart* in Scripture.  So, I may return to this word study again.   In the meantime, a new word for 2025 is taking shape.

ABOUT ME

CREATED by the LORD God Jehovah

SAVED by the sacrifice of His precious son Jesus Christ

EMPOWERED by the Holy Spirit to live on earth and serve (Rom 6:11)

STEWARD of the manifold grace of the one and only true God

FOLLOWER of King Jesus

DAUGHTER of Christian parents

WIFE of one Godly husband

MOTHER of four daughters

GRANDMOTHER of seven 

SISTER of fellow followers of Jesus

FRIEND to some

NEIGHBOR to many

Father's Day Reminiscences

 

June 18, 2006

Father's Day

After worship at Chalcedon Presbyterian Church,  we gathered at Pine Lark for a Sunday lunch of boiled shrimp with Louis sauce followed by listening to a CD of spirituals in the living room.

Fun things to remember about WDJ  a la five senses:

Touch:  steady hands coupled with practiced technical skills to perform delicate operations on small human anatomy (arteries)....... and remove splinters from children's fingers and toes

Sight:  green eyes that were observant - dont ever think he wasn't paying attention ~

Hearing:  loved singing/listening to music like spirituals and Handel's Messiah  

Taste:  keen taste buds that allowed him to detect specific flavors in our cooked dishes and he always ate whatever I prepared.

Smell:  distinctly shaped nose that loved the scent of gardenias, and hence, his wife's perfume (White Shoulders);  on his 80th birthday I gave him a new supply white cotton handkerchiefs - 80 of them!

On this day in 2023, I re-listened to his 1987 lecture on organ transplantation and brain death.  It was nice to hear his voice and be reminded of his astute reasoning skills.

Mother's Day

This year is my second for *firsts*.   In 2021, my father died.  Then 21 months later, in 2022, my mother died. 

And so, that just means that I am experiencing once again those *firsts* without one or the other. 

It's just my turn to suffer  loss. 

I am thankful for the loyalty and support of my nuclear family and special friends.

I am blessed to have had both of my parents for such a long time in my short life.... to get to know them as an adult as well as an *older* adult is indeed special.

In memory of my recently deceased mother, this year for Mother's Day I made a donation to Frontlineresponse.org  This particular organization has a strong presence in my city/state well-known for attracting crowds for special sporting events and conventions.

To show my heart for someone I dont believe I have to have "walked a mile in her/his shoes" (moccasins*).  I am willing to be judged by the standard of Holy Scripture and strive to be a good steward ("put my money where my mouth is.")  Support for those in crisis pregnancy has long been dear to my heart and now I add support to the rescue of those ensnared in se*-trafficking.

In the past in memory of my father I made donations to topics dear to his heart:  pro-life ministries (GRTL) and private practice/education of medicine/surgery (AAPS & GA Vascular Foundation)

PS - Red Tulips on Moma's yet-to-be-marked grave are representative of her battle with Parkinson's.

PPS Family group photo taken 4/21/13 - ten years ago ... on my 55th birthday celebrated after church with dinner at the Canoe restaurant in Vinings, GA on the banks of the Chattahoochee River where I grew up.

* reference to popular poem by M Lathrap

Judge Softly

  

“Pray, don’t find fault with the man that limps,
Or stumbles along the road.
Unless you have worn the moccasins he wears,
Or stumbled beneath the same load.

There may be tears in his soles that hurt
Though hidden away from view.
The burden he bears placed on your back
May cause you to stumble and fall, too.

Don’t sneer at the man who is down today
Unless you have felt the same blow
That caused his fall or felt the shame
That only the fallen know.

You may be strong, but still the blows
That were his, unknown to you in the same way,
May cause you to stagger and fall, too.

Don’t be too harsh with the man that sins.
Or pelt him with words, or stone, or disdain.
Unless you are sure you have no sins of your own,
And it’s only wisdom and love that your heart contains.

For you know if the tempter’s voice
Should whisper as soft to you,
As it did to him when he went astray,
It might cause you to falter, too.

Just walk a mile in his moccasins
Before you abuse, criticize and accuse.
If just for one hour, you could find a way
To see through his eyes, instead of your own muse.

I believe you’d be surprised to see
That you’ve been blind and narrow-minded, even unkind.
There are people on reservations and in the ghettos
Who have so little hope, and too much worry on their minds.

Brother, there but for the grace of God go you and I.
Just for a moment, slip into his mind and traditions
And see the world through his spirit and eyes
Before you cast a stone or falsely judge his conditions.

Remember to walk a mile in his moccasins
And remember the lessons of humanity taught to you by your elders.
We will be known forever by the tracks we leave
In other people’s lives, our kindnesses and generosity.

Take the time to walk a mile in his moccasins.”

~ by Mary T. Lathrap, 1895

2023 WORD OF THE YEAR

STEWARD

I am but a steward of the manifold grace of God ~ 

Matthew Henry's commentary on     Luke 16

An etching by Jan Luyken illustrating Luke 16:1-9 in the Bowyer Bible, Bolton, England.

Phillip Medhurst - Photo by Harry Kossuth

S = SINNER - 1 JOHN 1:8 - If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

S = SAVIOR - LUKE 2:11 - For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

T = TREACHERY - Ezekiel 18:24b - None of the righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, for them he shall die.

T = TRUTH - Ephesians 4:25 - Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

       

E = EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT - Revelation 20:10 - and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and forever.

E = ETERNAL LIFE - JOHN 17:3 - And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

W = WICKEDNESS - Luke 11:39 - And the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness."

W = WISDOM - Luke 21:15 - for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.

A = APATHY - Rev 3:15-16 - I know your works:  you are neither cold not hot.  Would that you were either cold or hot.  So, because you are lukewarm (apathetic), and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

A = ABUNDANCE - Rom 5:17 - For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

R = REBUKE - Psalm 119:21 - You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones who wander from your commandments.

R = REWARD - Psalm 19:11 - Moreover, by them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward

D = DECEIVER - 2 John 7 - For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh.   Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.

D = DISCIPLE - John 13:35 - By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

PARABLE OF THE UNRIGHTEOUS STEWARD

Luke 16: 1-18

SIBLINGS

 June 30, 2013 - Callaway Gardens, Georgia 

"What causes sibling rivalry?  Having more than one kid."

Tim Allen

American Actor/Comedian.  1953 - 

• 
  

Remembering WDJ

Two years have passed since Daddy died.  There are white flowers on his marker (on the right) and a mixed floral bouquet on my maternal grandparent's companion marker (on the left).   My mother's new grave is in the middle.

Besides reading Scripture there are a couple of books/devotionals that have informed my grief and I recommend them.

The first is Every Moment Holy, Vol 2   published by Rabbit Room Press.  When I could not find words to pray, this collection supplied them.  The liturgies have been such balm for my soul that I go back to them often.  Plus I bought a dozen copies to give as gifts.

Second is Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon.   Never too simple and always applicable these short essays were read aloud round around the dinner table with my parents, and then just with me and Moma.   Spurgeon is a longtime favorite, but I had always only read the entries for the mornings.  Reading the Evening Entries was a blessing that helped me stay focused.

Third is hearing a series of sermons on heaven preached by Anthony Curto.  It is real.  Here is a link to the first one delivered at our church on 27 December 2020.

Fourth, advice for assuaging grief.  Do something today that you enjoyed doing with the deceased.  In my case, it was going to a shop frequented by my mother and me and taking care of a lamp in need of attention/repair.

Remembering Gustie

Gusta Amanda Daniel Jordan 

Picture of a picture, unedited ~

Taken 27 December 1955,

at the wedding reception of 

her son, my father ~

died this day

4 March 1959,

when I was only 11 months old

and she was but 62 years young.

Read below her obituary

Remembering AOL

My maternal grandfather died on February 26, 1960, and was buried a couple of days later at Arlington Memorial Park in Sandy Springs, GA. Since we have recently buried there both his daughter, my mother, and his son-in-law, my father, I thought it was interesting to note the landscape of their section of the cemetery and how the trees have grown.

 

Lots of flowers for this man who died young, age 58

Photo below taken December 7, 2022

 

The Cultivation of Christmas Trees

There are several attitudes towards Christmas,

Some of which we may disregard:
The social, the torpid, the patently commercial,
The rowdy (the pubs being open till midnight),
And the childish — which is not that of the child
For whom the candle is a star, and the gilded angel
Spreading its wings at the summit of the tree
Is not only a decoration, but an angel.

The child wonders at the Christmas Tree:
Let him continue in the spirit of wonder
At the Feast as an event not accepted as a pretext;
So that the glittering rapture, the amazement
Of the first-remembered Christmas Tree,
So that the surprises, delight in new possessions
(Each one with its peculiar and exciting smell),
The expectation of the goose or turkey
And the expected awe on its appearance,

So that the reverence and the gaiety
May not be forgotten in later experience,
In the bored habituation, the fatigue, the tedium,
The awareness of death, the consciousness of failure,
Or in the piety of the convert
Which may be tainted with a self-conceit
Displeasing to God and disrespectful to children
(And here I remember also with gratitude
St. Lucy, her carol, and her crown of fire):

So that before the end, the eightieth Christmas
(By “eightieth” meaning whichever is last)
The accumulated memories of annual emotion
May be concentrated into a great joy
Which shall be also a great fear, as on the occasion
When fear came upon every soul:
Because the beginning shall remind us of the end
And the first coming of the second coming.

T.S. Eliot

1888 - 1965

Sisters

sisters are special, strange, and specific 

which I wrote in greeting card to my cousin Karen Stovall when her older sister Harriet died in August 2022

special = better, greater, or otherwise different from what is usual

strange = unusual or surprising in a way that is unsettling or hard to understand

specific = belonging or relating uniquely to a particular subject

Photo taken Summer 2017 at our annual Jordan family reunion at Callaway Gardens ~