Spreading love, joy, peace, faith & unity

Archive for the ‘Living in Harmony’ Category

TenderToucher

I posted this several years ago on this last day of June. It popped up on my reminders today. I decided it was worth posting again:

“There’s nothing like a tender touch to chase away the blues. You need someone who really cares – BEE the tender toucher!”

My sweetheart is a tendertoucher!

I hope you have a tendertoucher in your life!

Reach out to others and show you really care.

Have a Tender Tuesday!

Love, JanBee

Dogs & Baby Boys

Every morning I interact on WhatsApp with my daughter, De, in Switzerland and bonus daughter, Laina, who lives near Baltimore. We exchange love, lives, pictures of our loved ones, and weather reports.

Laina & Leo

Leo’s parents are happy about sharing his face on social media. Laina, his grama, knows how to make him smile. He’s such a happy baby.

DeDe, our daughter in Switzerland, is thoroughly enjoying being a Grama.
This is not Ethan, because his parents don’t want his photo on Social Media
But you can see where Ethan & DeDe go for walks

And that baby up there looks a lot like Ethan did at that age. He’ll be 2 end of October. We hope to go there to celebrate with him. We were there for his one week birthday! But two years is a long time not to be able to see your great-grandson. He won’t know us 😩

Here’s Lacey, Laina’s granddog. He was the “flower dog” in his people parents’ wedding. A real companion now for Leo!
And here is our Kenny, a thoroughly spoiled Boston Terrier, soon to be two.
Kenny has calmed down a lot, but he still doesn’t understand what’s his to chew and what’s not!!

It’s not like he doesn’t have enough toys and chew sticks of his own!

Why does he abandon them and go after our stuff! Ah, pups! Such a challenge!
Look how big Lacey looks next to little Leo!

Kenny loves Yak Sticks. Do you know about them?

That little piece is what’s left of one 10x longer.
If you have a dog, you may wanna give these a try. Kenny loves ‘em.
Best wishes training that active pup, huh?

Only thing harder to train than a pup might be a baby… or a husband?

Hah! I can’t get this guy to stop shouting “No” when Kenny is biting at his slippers. It’s a game. Sigh!

The dog trainer told us “No” is not understood. It’s just paying attention and giving his positive attention for negative behavior. Oh my! We’ve spent two years reinforcing bad habits. Help!

Time for a walk to the neighbors. Isn’t this the cutest baby?

Enjoy babies & dogs? I sure do!

Love, JanBeek

Juneteenth

Celebrate Freedom!

Galatians 5:1
“For freedom in Christ has set us free.
Stand firm, therefore,
and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.

west irian liberation monument in jakarta indonesia
Photo by el jusuf on Pexels.com

Today is Juneteenth in the USA. It is a holiday that was established in 2021 to celebrate the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in Texas. The holiday often is called America’s second Independence Day. The day marks the end of slavery in the United States.

The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln on September 12, 1862, formally freed enslaved people. However, this news didn’t reach parts of the country. On June 19, 1865 (nearly three years later) Union General Gordon Granger read federal orders in Galveston, Texas, announcing all enslaved people were free. This was designed to provide absolute equality of personal rights, and rights of property, between former masters and slaves.

Group of people celebrating Juneteenth outdoors with flags, signs, and music
A joyful group celebrates Juneteenth
with music, flags, and food at a park gathering

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if today we could look at our USA and observe that all people in our country are actually free? Free with equality of personal rights?

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could witness all people world-wide being treated fairly with equal opportunities for health care, abundance, happiness, and peace?

Limiting and false beliefs about people exist in the hearts of many (outmoded ideas that stunt growth and keep life small and limited for groups in our community). Ask any Black or Native American, Hispanic or Asian person if they think they are treated equally. What do you think most would say?

I long for a world where all people are truly free. Free to truly embrace who they were designed by God to be. I celebrate the freedom that allows all people the right to claim their identity as equal children of God, designed to live and speak and act in ways that truly express their divine talents and abilities.

I celebrate freedom!

a silhouette of people jumping on a field
Photo by Shardar Tarikul Islam on Pexels.com

Happy Juneteenth, my friends.
Let’s continue to work together
to create a world
where everyone of truly free!

Amen?
Amen!

Love,
JanBeek

Rescued

In my devotional, “When God Thinks of You, He Smiles,” the message fit perfectly for us today. I was invited to “Think of a time when God rescued you.” Yesterday I mourned the loss of one of our beautiful big evergreen trees. It blew over in a 50 mph wind storm. God heard my unspoken pleas. Obviously Bob & I needed help cutting up and removing that fallen spruce. We didn’t have time to think about that task before three different friends reached out and offered to come and help us. It was certainly something they (and for sure God) knew we could not do ourselves. Our bodies just lack that capability at the ripe age of 87!

So, that tree that once stood at least 20 feet tall snapped off right at its base… and lay there Sunday pathetically waiting to be removed… and dear friends came Monday to cut it up. A big job for two men with chain saws, a pick up and a borrowed trailer. Took three trips to the dump to get most of it removed. Tomorrow the rest will go and the trailer will be returned to the generous owner. We are so blessed to have such caring, capable friends!

The devotional this morning began with, “God’s love leads Him to do more for us than we can envision.” Certainly the Godly servants of the Lord that He sent our way did more than I could envision.

The message went on to say, “No matter how often you need Him, He will always be there. Trust in Him, for He is faithful and true.”

Thank You, God, for rescuing us. I do trust in You. Thank You for sending Your beloved followers to help us. We delight in You.

My devotional says, “When God thinks of you, He smiles.” Well, guess what, when I think of God, I smile.

Do you?

Love,
JanBeek

Monday Mournings

This is the anniversary of our pup, Owen’s death. I posted “A Day from Hell” in my blog. So many dear friends wrote, called, came to offer condolences and support.

A different kind of death

Yesterday we had a different kind of death here. One of our beautiful evergreens succumbed to the 50 mph winds. It was 25 years old. Looked healthy on the outside, but when it blew over, it was revealed that there seemed to be no root structure to hold it. Hmmm … how had it survived all those years?

Even with roots, a tree can be toppled.

But that tree was young and immature.

Life can be like that. Young, immature, lacking a sufficient root system.

So today I mourn our tree, our loss of Owen, but most of all the loss of friends’ young sons.

Two of our friends lost 30 year old sons to suicide this past month. No tree or dog can compare. It’s an unimaginable sorrow. My heart goes out to those families.

Monday mourning

God bless you. May your life be deeply rooted in love and purpose.

Hugs, JanBeek (with my life’s love … thank you, Bob… I am so blessed!)

Here we are at a recent amazing Pittsburgh Pirates game.

Just Write

No prompt needed

Just capture life

Sitting at the back

Row 19 out of 20

Gives you an interesting perspective

Look at all those people

Look out the window

Row after row

Nothing but houses

A city coming up

Let’s land at the airport

No prompt needed

Just look at life

Exciting, isn’t it?

Time with niece, Jodie
Time with her son, Liam

Jodie’s husband in his way home

Life is its own prompt

Enjoy!!

Hugs,

JanBeek

Time to Climb

We did it! Couldn’t look at that boathouse and not experience it!!

But the climb… oh my!
This is the easy part… but the ramp with no railing… that needed someone to help us!
It’s steeper than it looks here!
Loved joining the friends down here.
That’s LeighAnn
And here she is with daughter, Isla
Big blue eyes, dimples, and a devilish grin —- oh my —- what a cutie!

Meantime, Marcie sat up there and watched us.

Hellooo!!
A break in the rain…
Such a pretty day in SoddyDaisy, TN

Wish you were here!

Love, JanBeek (and Marcie)

Friends in Chattanooga

My buddy Marcie

Visiting Marcie meant being able to share time with her daughter Stacey,
son-in-law Jeff, & grandchildren. Such a privilege!
Jeff & Marcie showed us around the area and treated us like royalty.
Stacey & Jeff treated us to dinner in their lovely home! We feel totally loved!

The friendship, the children, the scenery and gorgeous hospitality all are beyond wonderful!
Thank You, Marcie!

What a treat to travel up to Signal Mountain and Lookout Mountain and see the homes & vistas up there!

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Thanks for traveling vicariously with us…

See ya tomorrow.

Love,
JanBeek

Treat from the Kids

Our son, Ty in CA, and our daughter, De in Switzerland , combined forces and bought us a gift certificate for Mother’s Day to one of our favorite Bozeman, Montana restaurants: Dave’s Sushi. Today we used it with great delight!

Mmm … a Bliss roll for me and a John Wayne for Bob.

Who do you think enjoyed theirs more??

Cheers! My Bliss roll was magnificent! But we both equally enjoyed the house red … a delightful blend.

Look at those sushi rolls again.

Beef on sushi!? Not my choice. But Bob loved it.

And we had enough left on our gift certificate to give Thomas , our terrific waiter, a nice tip.

Thank you, Thomas. Thank you, kids! We’re so glad you made me a mother!!

Now tomorrow we’re headed to Chattanooga. Stay tuned, my blogging friends. I’ll let you travel along vicariously.

We’re praying for warmer weather in Tennessee. It’s been a crazy May here in Montana. Today we had gray breezes, restless puffy clouds, snow, rain, and then bright sunny skies…. All within 5 hours in Bozeman. Crazy!!!

Hugs,

JanBeek

Mothers

M others

O nly

T hink of

H elping

E veryone

R egardless of their

S ituation

Hope your day was beautiful and you had (have) that kind of helpful mother (I did!)
And I am blessed with this very loving helpful son and…
… these two very sweet, helpful, loving daughters.

I am sure a lucky mama!

I hope your Mothers’ Day has been blessed, too.

Happy Mothers’ Day

Love, JanBeek