The Battle of Life - A Poem

Good morning FFFs,

Sorry, once again I don't have a story for you. This week has been filled with lots of writing. Yesterday I managed to write 3k words! Yeah, my brain was tired after that. But now it's eager to get back to this story. I can see the end of "By Paths Unknown" so I really want to reach it! Can I do it before the end of the month? We'll see. I'm doubtful, but then I wasn't expecting to write 3k yesterday either.

I thought of just giving you an update on life, but I really don't have much for you. I corrected "Grandfather's Mug" but I don't know if I'll publish that on here or not. Mostly though, I've been working on "By Paths Unknown." After a brainstorm with my mom about some things that had to happen in the story, I've been writing, and writing. But normal life has also been happening. Like babysitting my nieces and nephews.

I did a quick search to see what I could find to post today, and I saw this. I wrote it when I attended a 3 week intensive music course. (We pretty much ate, slept, and breathed all things music.) One of our assignments was to write an original song. I can write words to songs, but forget the music! I'm not a composer. :) I trashed the tune I did compose because it was terrible. So you just get the words.

Only 5 days left of Camp NaNo! I reached my goal of 20k last week and am heading to 30k. I think I need 3k more to reach it. Can I go beyond 30k? We'll see. Anyway, here's the poem/song. If you compose music, feel free to try your hand with this one. :)

The Battle of Life

by

Rebekah M.

The enemy does seem so strong

Our thinning lines look grim

The ground we’re losing to the wrong

Our faith is weak and dim.

Our standard in the dust has lain

Then is this fight in vain?

Chorus

The Captain now is drawing near

He gives an order clear,

“Stand firm and fight and do not fear

The Lord thy God is near!”

The mighty men of valor rise

With all their armor on.

The foes sharp darts they now despise

The former fear is gone.

They raise the standard, wave it high

And shout the battle cry!

The ground surrendered to the foe

For Christ we’ll take it back

And though the battle’s full of woe

With courage we’ll attack.

March on with Christ, we’ll never flee

From certain victory!

Discouraged we will never be

Nor will we be dismayed

Now in God’s armor clad are we,

With shield and shining blade.

We fight and for the right contend

And stand until the end!

 

Did you like the poem?

Do you want to read "Grandfather's Mug" on here?

Do you think I can get more than 30k written?

An Addition?

Good morning, FFFs,

It's a sunny morning here. A bit on the breezy side, but it doesn't look too bad. Yesterday was in the 50ºs most of the day, but the rest of the week has been in the 70ºs or over. Everything is green, the flowers are in full bloom, and birds are building nests. We have bluebirds building a nest in the bluebird house, robins built a nest in a bush near the kitchen windows, and who knows who else has built or are building nests around us. We also have a rabbit who lives in our yard. I'm hoping she has a nest and we get baby bunnies again. We've had one baby rabbit last year and he was SO cute!

Anyway, this week has been good for writing. I finished the short story I was working on. (About a broken-hearted dishwasher.) It still doesn't have a title, but it's written and waiting for my editor to get to it. Now I'm back at work on "By Paths Unknown." This story has had challenges. Yesterday I wasn't sure just where it was going and if what I was writing was going to get to stay, but after a brain storming session with my mom, who has read most of what I've written so far, I was happy to know I could keep what I had written. We also were able to get a very rough–outline?–plan?–schedule?–something figured out. Now I think I can reach the end of the story! But not yet. I have several things that have to happen first. :) And just so you know, it's going to be a long story. Hope you all don't mind. ;)

Okay, this is a short story. More like a vignette. It was written when I was teaching some girls several years ago and we were working on creative writing. The focus was conversation because some of them struggled with that. They were given a picture from an old calendar with a baby face, and they had to write a conversation from a family about whether or not they should adopt the baby. This was my story. :) Hope you enjoy it!

An Addition?

    It was family time in the Brown house. The children, Carlin and Owen, never knew what was going to happen during family time. Sometimes they played games, sometimes Mom or Dad would read and sometimes they would just talk. As they hurried into the living room, they noticed Mom was looking in a folder.

    “Hi, Mom,” Carlin grinned, “what are we going to do tonight?”

    Just then Mr. Brown entered the room. “I see everyone is here. Let’s all find seats.” As he spoke he sat down in his favorite chair while the children, Carlin on the couch and Owen in a chair, waited expectantly. “I see you have the folder, Mom,” Mr. Brown smiled as he reached out for it.

    Mom nodded, her eyes twinkling as she handed it to Dad.

    “Children,” Mr. Brown began, “for some time now your mother and I have been discussing the possibilities of adoption. We’ve mentioned it to you several times, but nothing has ever seemed to happen.”

    “Dad,” Carlin leaned forward, “are we going to adopt?”

    Dad grinned. “We hope to.”

    “Oh goody! A boy? A girl? Can we get more than one? Will they be from the U. S. or from another country and how old will they be?”

    “Whoa, Carlin!” Dad laughed. “One thing at a time. We did find out last week that there is a little girl named Melissa who needs a home right now.”

    “A girl!” squealed Carlin, and bounced on the couch.

    “Oh be quiet, Car,” growled Owen, rolling his eyes. “We certainly don’t need another girl.”

    “Are you saying you don’t think we should adopt her, Owen?” Mom asked softly.

    Owen shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I just never thought much about adopting when you mentioned it before. Now . . .” His voice trailed off and, kicking off his shoes, he wiggled around in the chair until his legs were over one of the arms. It was a favorite way for the nine-year-old to sit and think.

    There was a moment of silence. Then Carlin, the eager, vivacious, seven-year-old spoke up. “Tell us more about her, Dad.”

    “Well, here’s a picture.” He pulled out a snap shot of a dark, curly-haired baby who looked to be about ten-months-old.

    “Oh, Mommy, she looks like she’s going to cry! I wish we could get her tonight! But isn’t she cute?”

    Mrs. Brown chuckled. “She sure is, honey.” Then to Mr. Brown she added, “I think Carlin’s sold.”

    “Oh, I am! I’ll share my room and my dolls and things with her. And I’ll help feed and dress her and I’ll play with her, and—” she paused to catch her breath. “When is she coming?”

    There was a moment of hesitation. Mr. Brown was looking at his son who had remained unmoved during Carlin’s excited exhibition. “Owen,” he said at last, “you haven’t said what you think of it all.”

    Owen shrugged, but didn’t say a word.

    “That doesn’t tell me anything,” Mr. Brown observed quietly.

    “Here, Owen,” Carlin bounced up from the couch with the picture in her hand, “look at how cute Mel is.”

    “You already have a nickname for her?” asked Mrs. Brown.

    “Yep.” She shoved the picture before her brother’s face.

    Pushing her hand away, Owen grumbled, “I can’t see anything when you stick it in my face like that. That’s better.”

    “Well?” Carlin persisted as her brother just looked in silence. “Isn’t she just the cutest thing? And don’t you just want to hold her so she won’t cry?”

    “No!”

    “That’s not very nice,” Carlin snapped.

    “You’re the one who asked.”

    “All right, you two, simmer down.” Mr. Brown nodded back to the couch and Carlin returned to her seat. “Okay, Owen, give us your reasons for not wanting to adopt Melissa.”

    “I don’t know if I really have any, Dad. I guess it just came as a surprise and I . . . I guess I’m just not sure. That’s all.”

    “I can understand that. This was rather a surprise. It was to your mom and me too. But Owen, God tells us in His Word to take care of the orphans and that He sets the solitary in families. Have you thought that perhaps we are the family for this little girl?”

    Owen shook his head. “I never thought of that.” With a wink he added, “But she’s a girl.”

    “Maybe we can get a boy soon so you can share your room too,” Carlin giggled.

    Everyone laughed.

    Mr. Brown looked around the room. “Are we all in agreement? Should we adopt Melissa and make her a part of our family?”

    A chorus of “Yes!” was the answer to that question and Mr. and Mrs. Brown exchanged smiles. “Then let’s all spend some time praying about it and for our new family member.”

    Only two weeks later, little Melissa came to join the Brown family. To everyone’s surprise, Mel or Melis, as everyone was soon calling her, attached herself to Owen right from the start. If she was tired or grumpy, Owen was the person she wanted. To him she clung when something frightened her, and the first baby kisses she gave were to Owen. Carlin didn’t mind too much, for Mel liked her to play with her and seemed to enjoy it when Carlin sang her to sleep each night.

    After a few weeks, no one in the Brown family could imagine life without little Melissa. And together they eagerly watched the mail for news of a little boy that needed a home.

Would YOU adopt this baby?

Are you excited about another long novel?

Are you eager to read about the broken-hearted dishwasher?

At the Foot of the Falls

Good morning!

It's pretty quiet this morning. The oldest niece and nephew are in their room reading. The littlest guy is asleep again on my bed, and the other boys are playing a history version of "Go Fish" while my youngest niece is looking at books with Sis.

I'm not sure what's on the plan for today, but since it's supposed to be today, I'm guessing we'll be reading stories and playing games. And just so you know, I'm not good at Chess. ;)

Things have gotten noisy now. Buster woke up, and Goofball came in to play "Herd Your Horses" with his brothers. I'd better go. Enjoy this vignette. It was one of my first "short stories." I don't know if I've posted it more than once, but if so, it was a while ago.

At the Foot of the Falls

    “Come on you guys, hurry up!” Kelly hollered racing to the middle of the green meadow, her eyes on the cascading water which fell with a thunderous roar down the cliff before her. Never in all her ten years had she seen anything like it. It was fascinating, incredible!

    “Kelly, wait for us!”

    Kelly stopped, her eyes never leaving those falls for an instant as she waited for her brothers. Kyle, though faster than his sister when it came to running, was now going slowly, helping Kerry carefully across the grass towards the open meadow were Kelly now stood.

    “Oh,” Kerry breathed, when at last the two boys had reached their sister. “How ... how... I can’t describe it! Can’t we sit down right here? It makes me dizzy looking up so far at it.”

    With great care and gentleness Kyle assisted Kerry to a seat on the sun warmed earth. For several minutes the children sat without saying a word as they stared mesmerized at the beautiful Yosemite Falls. All three children looked more or less alike: nut brown hair, brown eyes and a sprinkling of freckles. They were all the same height but while the other two looked robust and full of life, Kerry was thin and pale. He had just spent the last five months in a hospital recovering from a serious illness and had only been released a few days ago.

    “Kyle,” Kelly broke the stillness. “What do you think of it?”

    Kyle shook his head. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Can you imagine what the first white man who saw this thought? Maybe he camped right here.”

    “He would have had plenty of water,” chuckled Kerry. “Just listen to it roar.”

    “Sounds kind of like the trains back home.”

    Kelly giggled. “Only this one doesn’t have a whistle.”

    Kerry looked sober “I don’t remember what a train sounds like really. All I got to hear were the sirens, beeping monitors, squeaky shoes on the hard white tiles and voices of strangers. I’m more than ready to go home.” He looked at his thin white hands which he knew were so weak that he couldn’t even hold a full water bottle for long.

    All three fell silent. Birds twittered and sang in the trees, and a bee buzzed around the few flowers in the grass. Kerry picked a small yellow flower absently and looked at it, thinking of all the hot house flowers he had in the hospital and his longing for something real, something that had grown out in the sun and wind, even a dandelion. The bee buzzed closer and alighted on his flower. Kerry didn’t move as the bee crawled around the flower and at last flew away.

    “We missed you,” Kelly whispered softly remembering the ache she had felt each meal time when Kerry’s seat was empty.

    “I wonder,” Kyle began when the stillness had become almost unbearable. “Does that waterfall ever stop? I mean does the river or wherever that water is coming from ever dry up?”

    “I don’t know. Let’s ask Dad when he comes back.”

    Quietness once again descended on the triplets, each one busy with his or her own thoughts. This was the first time they had been alone together for more than fifteen minutes since Kerry had become sick. Now together, they didn’t seem to know what to say. They felt different now, older, more grown up and, though no one would have admitted it for the world, they all felt just a little shy of each other.

    Kerry was beginning to get tired from all the excitement and lay back in the grass. He squinted and finally shut his eyes as the sun’s bright rays shone in his face. Kyle at once moved so that his shadow would fall on his brother’s face. Kerry opened his eyes and smiled.

    “I didn’t think I would get this tired of sitting so soon.”

    “Do you want to go back?” Kyle asked anxiously. “We can if you want to.”

    Kerry shook his head. “No, I like it here.” He paused and looked at the towering cliffs. “Do you think,” he began slowly, his eyes moving to his brother’s and then to his sister’s face, “that I will ever be strong enough to climb something like that?”

    Kelly and Kyle looked at each other. What should they say? They didn’t know what the doctor had told Mom and Dad before they left the hospital.

    Kerry was watching their faces. “Do you?” he asked again.

    Kyle spoke then, “I don’t know. Maybe you will.”

    “You are already climbing mountains,” Kelly said softly. “We all are. Mom said each year has many mountains. Some are higher than others and more rugged. I guess kind of like those right by the falls. You know, where it looks impossible to ever get up. And others are gentle with good, well worn trails. Like the ones we used to climb back home. She said the harder the mountain looks, the more we learn to lean on Jesus for help to climb it. And the higher the mountain top is, the closer we become to God on the top. She told me this one day when... when...” her voice choked a little, and she blinked back the tears. “Well, it was when you were so sick. At the first I mean, and I... I asked Mom why... it all happened, and she said it was a mountain range.” Kelly looked away from her brothers and fought back the tears that threatened to spill.

    Kerry reached out and gently squeezed her hand.

    “Dad told me the same thing,” Kyle added. “Only he also said that there were valleys after each mountain. Some, he said, were dry and like a desert and took a lot of courage to go through, and some were green, like this meadow, and were given so we could rest and gain strength for the next mountain ahead. I think we are in a green valley now.” He smiled at Kerry.

    Kerry smiled back and after a few minutes spoke. “Well, we will rest then in our green valley and then together, with God’s help, we’ll climb the next mountain. Who knows, maybe there will be a thirst refreshing waterfall on it.”

    The three children smiled at one another and then gazed once more at the magnificent scene before them. Though they were young, they were learning to face each mountain before them with faith and trust in their Saviour and Guide. Knowing that if He went with them, there was nothing to fear, and they could climb the highest mountain and cross the driest valley, for the river of life would be there when most needed.

What did you think of the story?

What's going on this weekend for you?

Do you want another short story next week?

I'm at Camp!

Good morning!

I thought (briefly) about finding another story to post, but I didn't do it.

You see, I'm doing Camp NaNo.

Camp started on Monday and I was able to get some good writing done that day. And . . . I got the proof copy of "Hymns in the Hills"! Talk about fun! :D

On Tuesday I spent all day sitting at the polls as an election judge. It was a long day. There are over 1580 registered voters in that precinct and only 68 of them came out to vote. Of course there were only two things on the ballot: School board and a tax continuance. But still!

Wednesday– I got a sprint done in the morning and tried to catch up on all the things I missed from Tuesday. I got 1k written before supper. That was good because I had to go to church to practice music before AWANA. Then I was going to come home, but I ended up staying and working nursery for someone. I did come home a little early, before AWANA was over since the two little ones had been picked up. I got a little more writing done.

Thursday– It was a cloudy day. I got a lot of work done on another project, but hardly anyone was on at the cabin. I did get to sprint with one cabin mate in the morning and got 500+ words written. Later in the afternoon I wrote on my own. Then in the evening three of us sprinted and then wrote and chatted at the cabin and I reached a total of 1,808 words!

And all the words this week have been on "By Paths Unknown" which is really exciting since in March the story was stuck and didn't want to move. Now it's moving and I have more ideas.

I'm trying to get as much written this week as I can since next week I know I'll have 3 days where I won't be writing anything! :)

And that's it this time. Sorry for no story. I haven't had a chance to look and see what I should post. Hopefully I'll be able to pick a story for next week. Talk to you later!

What do you want to read?

Are you doing Camp NaNo?

How has your week been?