Come Walk With Me!!

Today I thought that we could go on a field trip.
I love gardens and blown glass so guess what I found? Fredrick Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids Michigan.

It is a double pleasure because along with the beautiful gardens they are featuring Dale Chuhuli, the world famous glass artist!

This photo to the right is at the entrance. I was not quite on with this because if I had been you would easily see two faces. Also notice through out these pictures all the awesome plant and art combinations.

As we enter the main building we see that there are several internal galleries and themed greenhouses. Lets take a look at one of the sculptures in the first gallery.



Now I want to venture outside to see the gardens and the glass work Mr. Chihuli has on display.

We are told that it took Dale Chihuli and his team three years to design and make every piece of glass work just for this exhibition alone!

To see him at work with his team we can go inside to the viewing room and watch a 90 minute video on him, very fascinating!




Wandering around outside on the nice paved paths we see that there is also a trolley that can take us around on a guided tour of the gardens, but I would rather walk and take advantage of all the little benches available tucked out of the way where I can sit and view God's beauty and spend time thanking Him for all He has given us.

Here we are inside the tropical greenhouse. Chihuli's work is everywhere. It adds such a sense of whimsy and fun. The colors and shapes make me want to reach out and touch them... and I need to not do this because it is not allowed. Maybe I should visit the children's garden where it is all hands on and the glass art, sculptures and plants are designed to touch and smell! No, I want to save that for the next trip when I bring my grand children. I will have to show restraint!

I stare in amazement at all the wonders of God. How did He know just how to make each flower to do a specific job? Was it necessary to make them so bright with color and fragrant? I am so glad that he did, and that I am here to enjoy them!

While I sit here and meditate on these questions, I see how all this is also apparent in my own life as a human. God has designed me and you for a specific purpose, every detail tended to. If we are aware of this fact and are obedient to God's word we can reap the benefits of His perfect design. The beautiful flowers never wonder why they are here and what their purpose is, they trust in God and see how perfect their life is! Note to self... no need making life harder than we have to!!

Take these carnivorous plants below. They are designed to trap insects to gain nutrients and supply birds with what they need to live. God saw the full picture and made His creation to exact specifications to achieve just what was necessary for these creatures, and us to live.



When we wander back outside for another tour of the grounds we go to the water fall because many people have told us that is it so beautiful. Upon arrival... we see that they were right! Wow, how amazing! Chihuli has made these large round glass orbs that are sitting and floating all around. It adds so much color and makes me feel like I am in a fantasy dream, like the ones my sister use to spend hours telling me and my younger sister when we were young.

What a wonderful gift a memory can be. Did any of you have a sibling who loved you enough to just sit for hours and spin great tales just to entertain you? Well we did, and Rhonda gave us more than any toy ever could. I thank God for that bond that she made between us girls with her stories.

This water fall helped me to look back on those great memories. Did Chihuli have that in mind you think?

As I walk down and around the bend in the path I come upon a beautiful surprise! This wonderful, huge royal blue thistle. It is by the pond where there are more round orbs floating and when I walk around the pond I can see the glass work from different angles and it is spectacular!


There are many permanent pieces of sculpture that are donated to the gardens and everyone is unique to itself.

These men sitting are made of many small aluminium alphabetic letters. I'm not sure what the artist was intending to say with this piece, however I can stand and just enjoy the art in it.

They seem to be sitting in each others company, yet able to remain as an individual at the same time. My sister Tammy told me once how the Hawaiian men would squat in a circle and fellowship, this kind of reminds me of them.

Or it could represent how alone we sometimes feel even when we are surrounded by many people.

This Glass sculpture just seems to pop right up out of nowhere. The scale and bright colors capture my eye immediately! Set in a meadow garden, it makes me think of a large red bird among the flowers.

I ask, do you think the people from the gardens sent Mr. Chihuli photos of the grounds and greenhouses so he could make pieces for each spot that caught his eye. Or , did he just make the pieces and when he came to the gardens, decided where they would look best? I did not ask this question, now I wish I had so I could tell you.



The human body is one of God's most amazing works of art, so it stands to reason that many artists are drawn to sculpting it to share the beauty with us for many years to come.

Here, this beautiful bronze is standing in a field of Greek oregano that is in full bloom. It is so fragrant and visually stunning, I love it!

We have had such a full day here at the gardens. Our eyes can hardly take any more beauty and August in Michigan is hot and humid so how about we go into the cafe and have a glass of ice tea while viewing the sculptures in the fountains?

OH MY!! Still more of Dale Chihuli's magnificent glass works! These flowers are all over the ceiling. They start in red then orange, yellow to green and then they fade to brilliant blue! There must be hundreds of them up there!

This goes to show that Fredrick Miejer's gardens and Dale Chihuli left no area untouched by beauty!

I think it is time to go for today, but I do want to come back in the fall season to see the change in color and check out the exhibit here at that time.
I hope this field trip caused you to take time to see all the beauty God has intended for us to enjoy. He gave all of this to us to care for. He made everything with us in mind and He expects for us to care for it as He Himself would do. Ask yourself, "am I doing that?" Let's leave here with the commitment to do all we can from today forward!

Can You See God All Around You?

It strikes me that the power of God is so amazing. He is in all that I see. However I do have to be looking in order to know this.

When I go out and about that is the time that I spend thanking God for all He has given to me. I see the beautiful flowers, the amazing lakes, the adorable little animals and me, right there to enjoy all of it!!

I sometimes wonder if other people see all of this beauty or is it only us "artsy ones" that do? I hope it is everyone because it has the power to uplift my attitude, cause me to cry with pleasure and sigh with happiness. I want these feeling for all the people I know.



I like to ride my bike many places I go, and in doing so I get a good view of the world around me. This is time that I hear, see and smell everything that the season has to offer.
I take this time to thank God for allowing me to be present at that time, in that place and experiencing those feelings.

Don't get me wrong, there are many days that I just rush around and neglect to observe what is all around me. I just run from place to place and chore to chore without really seeing.

Hmm, what if when I do this it is like when I am talking to Mark and he is not paying attention to me? Is God talking during these times and I am too busy to pay attention to Him? I bet He is and I am missing out big time! What a huge loss for me.

What was He showing me that I could have held in my memory forever? Who did I not be polite to that I could have brightened their day? So many important things going on and I want to try to be present every moment of it!

Let't all try this!!

How about all of us just take a few minutes and focus on all the great things God has done for us so far this year.

I bet that if you were to really meditate on it for a while you would see that there is so much good going on in your life that you do not need to worry about what is not on this list!!

We can't change the hard past, but we can turn over all of our future to Jesus and relax knowing He will lead us down the straight path.

I have a hard time doing this, so I have to ask God to help me do it, like EVERY DAY!! Maybe someday soon I can just constantly be in a state of submission and rest easy!

It is great to know that God is patient with me and I have so much room to grow!! I bet you do too, try this every morning and see how much more positive your day is. Let me know the things you think about and how this few minutes of meditation impacts your daily attitude!

Hey!! Go one step further and keep a journal of these things, then you will have it to reflect on when you are not having such a good day or to prompt you when you are trying to focus everyday. It is also very helpful to journal your answered prayers so you have a list of all that God is doing for you.

I am sure that there is much to write, how about you share it with us so we can be inspired also!! Let's spur one another on!!

God has taken the shears to me

Wow!! I have been gone on a landscaping job for awhile. It has been so hot out that I am wondering if I should rethink this whole landscaping idea!! not really, I love it, just not the heat and humidity.

Ya know, I don't know how many of you out there have ever suffered from an addiction, but if you have and have over come it I have a warning for you.
I was addicted to alcohol for some 5 years or so. God has released me from this addiction going on 3 years now!! Amen!! However, I was reading "Secrets of the Vine" by Bruce Wilkinson. He asked in this book, what is standing in the way of me not producing the fruit that God has intended for me to? Also he said "The first degree of discipline can be as simple as a convicting thought, as arresting as hearing your name". I heard as plain as day, right out of the blue that my medication that I had been taking for about 4 years to help me sleep was standing in my way of doing all that God wanted for me and that it was unhealthy. See I found this strange because I was only taking one pill at night to help me fall asleep. It was no big deal because my doctor prescribed it and I was doing as instructed. I did not see how this was a problem. Well God is so awesome! He knew that I was addicted to this medication and in fact it had a tremendous hold on me neurologically.

I heard Him tell me to stop taking it, so I did! Was I ever surprised how bad the withdrawal symptoms were. On about the 7th day I went on-line to see why I was having all these awful reactions. Well it said to NOT just stop taking this medication because of many reasons one of them being seizures. I did not want to start back and gradually come off them so I just prayed for all I was worth for God to lead me through the long battle ahead of me.

It has been three weeks now, and I still have some residual effects that may last for a month or more, but now I can sleep and my nerves are calming down. I NEVER want to go through such a horrible ordeal again!! You see I never saw that medication as something I may be addicted to because I was so use to taking it. God did see this and I was instantly convicted when I read that in the book. I was dependant on a unnecessary medication instead of allowing God to help me. I have to remind myself to turn to God first in all things because He will lead me in the right direction and make my path clear! I praise Him so much for walking me through this and never leaving me alone. He has given me the strength to overcome so much in my life. It is just amazing how much He loves me!

If you are reading this and wondering if you also may have something standing in your way of becoming all that God has for you, please know that He is right there waiting for you to just ask Him to help you too!! He tells us that He will never ask of us something that we can not do. He will give us all we need to get through even the worst situations. I know first hand the love and power God has in our lives if we just allow Him in our hearts to help us every day.

I have been blessed beyond imagination. I never would have thought that my life could ever be this good. Mark and I have found a whole new level of love and it is all because we both have a true relationship whit God. You also can have this in your life, no matter where you are at right now or what you have done in the past. There is nothing you could ever do to make God not love you!! Seriously!! This is true! What, you don"t believe that He could ever love you after all you have done? Well... I know that no matter what my kids do, I love them, I may not like what they have done and it may hurt me to see the damage that they have caused, but it does not change the fact that I love them. So, God loves us even more than a mother or father loves their children and you wonder if He can still love you? Of course He can!!! And He does!! He is just waiting for you to turn to Him and let Him help you to get your life where He wants it to be. God never wants us to hurt so if you are hurting right now please know that He is there for you!!

I bet this sounds just to good to be true. That is what I thought also, but I was at a point that I had nothing to lose and everything to gain so I went to my knees and ask for forgiveness for all I had done and asked God to come into my heart. The change in my life was instant. God placed wonderful people in my path, He removed from me all desire to drink, He tells me when I am being judgmental or unforgiving and helps me to over come these feelings. He has given me so much strength in areas that I would have never thought possible.

I now see that God has given me many gifts and if I use them to glorify Him then life is wonderful and I am so very happy!!

Now I can say that I truly am FREE!!!! LOVING IT!!!! Are you free? You can be!!! He is waiting for you! I will help you if you need. Just let me know, drop me a note and we can talk. It will be OK because we all have a Father who loves us!

They are not ours, they belong to God!!

This has been one of the hardest concepts for me to grasp.
I have spent countless hours in prayer that god keep Erin safe, that Deaner likes his new home, that Tiffany finds a job, that Britney has a good day, that Tammy comes back to me.

But then when I am quiet and my anxiety has settled, I hear God say, "Jeannie... they are now and always will be mine, I love them even more than you do, I've got it all covered, so relax!!!"

I know in my heart that this is true, but in my obsessive mind I still feel like I need to think about their lives as though I can do something about it. Well that is just stupid!!

When Erin went to Afghanistan it was so very hard for me to know that my son would be placed in harms way. Is it not my job to protect my children!? How can I handle this?
I remember the first time he was fired on I wanted to throw up! I was a mess!! I don't know if any mother can prepare for those kind of feelings. I know I didn't! If I had stayed in that state I would have gone crazy.

So, I humbled myself and talked with a friend from church who is so much further in her walk with Christ than me. She just let me ramble on, cry and be mad at God. Then she told me what I had never thought of before. That God loves my kids more than I ever could and my job now is to pray for them and ask God to give me the strength to be the parent I need to be for them.

Wow!!! Was that ever a weight off my shoulders! I now knew that I am am no longer accountable for them, that their successes as well as their failures are theirs alone, not mine. This was so freeing. And the most relief of all was that Jesus lives in Erin's heart, he is not there alone, God is with him in every step he makes! Praise the Lord!! (but I still need to hear from him often)

Tammy is not yet back in my life, but through working my steps in Celebrate Recovery I have been able to turn that issue over to God and I know with all that I am that God is going to restore our Mother, daughter relationship. But it will be in His time, not mine.

We raise our children with the best of intentions and the highest of hopes, then it is our job to send them out into the great big world to prove that all along they were listening to all that nagging we gave them! And it has been my experience, so far that they were hearing ever word!

Where is the line?

I know that my blog name is "Send Me! Isaiah 6:8" and I do plan on getting to that.

But I had it on my heart today to talk about the area of boundaries.
This, because the lack of or unhealthy boundaries can and will cause us so much trouble in life!!

This year is my first of "empty nest". I want to know where the book is that tells us a fool proof way to live with and love our adult children. OK, and have them love us back!!

I have trampled all over the solid boundary lines when it comes to my kids! And I know better!! I think that I am still in the "parent" mode, that I am having a hard time stepping back and allowing them to make their own mistakes and suffer their own consequences. I want to intervene so they won't have to be hurt. Well what I am doing is stealing their opportunity for a lesson they NEED to learn.

In most circles this is simply called "co-dependency"!!!! And yes I have issues with this when it comes to my kids, even though they are now adults. Nuts isn't it!!!? On the (very few) occasions that I have just left well enough alone... you know what? the world did not end, they figured out the answer to THEIR problem and I got a full nights sleep!! Who knew!!

My kids know if they ask me for advise they are going to get what they need to hear, maybe not what they want to hear. But now I am trying very hard to not offer up this advise without it being ask for first! Not an easy thing to do and I am yet to master it!

I want to walk each day as God would want me to. I want to be good counsel to those who ask, I want to have my words be the words that God has given me to say. Boy is this hard when I still struggle to do life on my own terms!!

I have so far to go... but I am sure not where I use to be!! When it comes to boundaries I work hard to remember where I start and end. That is where I have control. MY thoughts, words, actions and yes even emotions. All those things
I choose and can control. If my life is not going where I want it to be then I better make some different choices for myself. I now know that in order to do this right I need to turn to God and simply ask Him for some help. WOW is that ever better than trying to figure it out all on my own!!

OK even I see a pattern here! It is all in the "I". All of these issues are mine to deal with. I am not alone unless I want to be because God is right there to help me if I want to humble myself and ask. Well all those same options are available to my adult children also. They have belonged to God all along now it is time for me to let go and let God deal with them just like he did with me. WHOA!!! Watch out! That was a rough ride!! I was not very in to letting anybody, including God tell me what to do! Big mistake!! I bet my Mom is just giggling right now! I learned the hard way and I see that my kids are bound and determined to do the same.

Now I NEED to let God do the work, not me. Obviously I didn't do such a hot job when it was my turn, so why do I think I'll do any better now!!? HE has it all under control. So I want to try very hard to stay within my own boundaries and control only those things that God has intended for me to. Not so easy, but I will try my best!


The one most powerful thing I can do for my kids now and always is PRAY and pray with serious intention for them. This I do, A LOT!! It does help and it sure gives me peace. I'm not sure where any of you are at, but I hope that this bit of mother stuff let's you see that you are NOT alone in this difficult time.

prison ministry

Ya Know,
I am just starting this blog and I have no idea what I am doing yet. I just have this passion for changed lives!!
I had an attitude of what a mother who's son was in jail must be like... well in the end I was one of those moms!! Man did my point of reference change.

Now I know first hand that those men in there are someones son, father, brother and friend.
I want to give them a face and a voice. The voice my son never had.

I don't know how we can expect for these men to get pitched out of prison. Have no job, court fees to pay, parole rules to follow, no drivers license and tell them to be successful and don't come back!! This is just insane!!!

The system does not work for the post- incarcerated person who really wants to change their lives. I want to do what I can to help. Even if that just means being a voice for those who need to be herd.
I know recovery, I love being a a follower of Jesus Christ who struggles with alcohol addiction and co-dependency. I believe God has allowed me to go straight to the bottom so I had to look up to ask Him for the help I needed. And to feel what some others may also feel.

So this is just the first ramblings on my blog. I am sure I will get more organized in thought and writing soon enough. I just wanted to get started!