The EYES of HOPE

EYES of HOPE..... And Thanksgiving

Of the 16 year old Haiti girl that was rescued 15 days after the devastating earthquake.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – A 16-year-old girl pulled from the rubble more than two weeks after a deadly earthquake was in stable condition Thursday, able to eat yogurt and mashed vegetables to the surprise of doctors, who said her survival was medically inexplicable.

A Miracle! "Medically inexplainable" - makes this a proclamation that it is a MIRACLE! indeed! Never say Never! Hope has a footprint all of its own.

They shouted "She's ALIVE! "One who didn't seem surprised was the girl's mother, a poor rice-and-vegetable peddler."I never thought she was dead," Kerline Dorcant, 39, told The Associated Press. "I always thought she was alive." Why? "It's God" hearing a mother's nonstop prayers, she said. Added Darlene's younger brother, Preslin: "I think she has a special God."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/cb_haiti_earthquake
By VIVIAN SEQUERA and BEN FOX, Associated Press Writers Vivian Sequera And Ben Fox, Associated Press Writers

In rebuttal to the many heartless comments on Facebook and Twitter and probably Blogville - about God's so called JUDGMENT on Haiti for the pact that the country made with the devil generations ago - I give you this: The eyes of hope!

God is still in the business of Overcoming High Walls and Opening Prison Doors. Never underestimate the POWER and LOVE of the Almighty God. HIS EYE was on this young girl from the moment of impact - until her divine rescue. WHY she survived to tell about it, and others did not - is God's story, and none other than God, has the credentials to write it.

FAITH can move mountains of rubble
and find LIFE
where there is no medical explanation for LIFE!
BELIEVE it or not!

“You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” Matt 17:20

The Greatest is LOVE

1 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.
3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.
5 It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.
6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.
7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!
9 Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture!
10 But when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless.
11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.
12 Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
1 Cor. 13 NLT

In the midst of many faithless uncaring Americans, sitting in their safe and secure surroundings – passing intolerant judgment on the hurting, devastated, vulnerable people of Haiti –

FAITH and LOVE –Uncovered this young LIFE from beneath the mountain of rubble – when all HOPE had vanished.

This small candle is the same icon that was copied from the internet page where people could lite a candle for the missing lives buried beneath the rubble of 911. This is the candle that I lit. It has remained burning on my computer ever since that day. I bring it into the LIGHT today - in celebration of this life and the many others who have been rescued. And it will continue to burn - and never die out - for all those still missing. This Blogger is thankfully giving praise to God and to the countless people who have given towards the efforts of charity and devoted time spent in the rescuing and caregiving of these precious, innocent lives. To God be the Glory. His love endures forever and ever.

May HOPE never ever die.

Patrina <")>><
warrior bride in boots

Celebrating LIFE in the DEAD of Winter

Seasons come
Seasons go
but Life remains
on the inside

Anyone that knows me - knows that I have a 30 some year old collection of CocaCola. Mama was a "cocaholic". She began drinking Coca-Cola when she was 13. I rarely saw her without a glass of Coke. I began collecting Coke memorabilia when my own children were small.

But Seasons come and seasons go. Things change. Life is different. 7 years after mama's home going, I'm finally ready to let it go. I still keep a few choice pieces to remind me of mama. The rest is in boxes taking up space! :( But this post isn't about my collection of Coke - or my collection of blooming things. It's about experiencing Life as God has given. Living Joy through all seasons becasue of what He's chosen to share with me

Because of mama, I too am a gardener - a lover of plants - Inside and out. My daughter recently said, "You're the only person I know that can grow blooming things in the middle of winter."

I dug up my 8 hybiscus plants...
to rescue them from the killer frost.
They've been blooming inside all winter.

African Violet
is in full bloom...
with 10 blossoms and 32 buds

This is the second season for my

Manderville. It bloomed

inside until Thanksgiving

and is still green today

The Prized Orchid

now has triple blossoms...
with one yet to open.

The following plants haven't bloomed as yet.

I'll update this post with pictures...

when they bloom.

The Christmas Catus

has 3 shades of color.

It hasn't bloomed yet.

It seems to want to bloom

at EASTER.

The above and lower photos are updated
shots when they did indeed bloom at Easter.

The Sweedish Ivy

that I started from cuttings

bloomed for the first time.

It was covered with the

most beautiful white

clusters of tiny starlets.

The Creeping Hoya

which I've had for 15 years,

blooms long stems with

tiny fuzzy like stars in a round cluster.

Strange looking blooms.

Moses in the Bulrush

tiny purple flowerets that sit

deep in the fold of the two leaves

that form a basket to cradle the blossom.

These make up only my blooming plants!

My Mother was raised on a farm, so she learned to care for the soil, the plants and the animals. I got my love for gardening from her. I have some of her hybrid Iris' in my garden now. I dug them up from her garden on Mother's Day last year. One bloomed that morning. It was a brilliant white with blended yellow laced tips and center. It brought tears to my eyes when I peered out her kitchen window and spotted it. I knew then, that I was to find room in my already fully packed car - for her Iris'. I dug them up in the rain.

It was the last day I was to ever be in their house. I had spent the 2 months prior - living in their house - to ready it for sale. Mama had already moved her residence to heaven 7 years earlier, and Dad could no longer live alone. The blooming Iris was a blessing from God that day - and a thank you from mama for the most tedious task I think I've ever had to endure. This lonely yellow laced Iris was representation for the ending of an era and the beginning of a new generation.

This is an updated picture of mama's iris in my garden May 1 - 2010. To see the Mother's Day tribute and more photos of mama's iris, please go HERE.

Later, a flock of what appeared to be gulls, flew over the house. (in the middle of Kansas) They circled around the house 3 times and then they were gone. There were so many of them, that their shadow cast a blanket of Grey over the entire driveway - where I was standing. I don't know where they came from, they just appeared. It was like a dance from heaven - for a job well done. I'll never forget the blessing of that day.

When the Iris' bloom (and I pray they do) this summer, they will take my breath away! And I'll remember mama, her gift of gardening - which she passed on to me - and the heavens dancing over me on that Mother's Day, May 10 - 2009. And... the sale of their house several months later - on Daddy's birthday.

Being a pastor's family, we used to have to sing in front of the church :( on many a Sunday morning. Mama played the piano and we'd gather round and try to harmonize. One of our family songs was "In The Garden". It is such a peaceful song, and always places me around that piano with mama. We haven't sung as a family for 40 years now, but it's as if it was only yesterday - in my treasured memories.

Mama's Garden

Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers and singing and joy! The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon, as lovely as Mount Carmel or the plain of Sharon.There the Lord will display his glory, the splendor of our God. Isaiah 35:2 NLT

Patrina <")>><