New Beginnings in 2020!

Greetings all,

Here it is nearing the very end of June 2020. The beginning of this month started me on a path which I began to think I might never travel again. June 2020 is the month of new beginnings of old desires of my heart.

I'm being blessed this month by reading through the book of Proverbs, a chapter a day. It's gotten me back into journaling most days about something I read in the chapter.  I'm doing this with a Facebook group. We're encouraged to share our thoughts and insights of what we read each day. 

It was chapter 27 (for June 27th!!  It’s One-A-Day, remember!)  I was especially struck by verse 23: "Be diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds.”

I need to be diligent (perseverant) in all that I do. Whether it’s at home or away, at work or at play, I need to persevere to do my best.  Sometimes, “good” or “good enough” is all right, but sometimes I need to go the extra mile in what I’m doing. It reminds me of verses in the third chapter of Colossians: “¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. ¹⁷ And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

As I look forward to this fall and new beginnings, I want to go the extra mile in my new role as a teacher at Machias Valley Christian School.  I don’t know yet which grade (or grades) I’ll be teaching, but I’m excited to know that God is leading me.  

When I saw that they were looking for teachers for the '20-'21 school year, my FIRST THOUGHT was, “Here’s my opportunity to apply. Maybe I can finally do something again that has been a lifelong passion.”  

THOUGHT # 2 soon followed:  “Are you CRAZY?  You’re going to be 17 (well, reverse the 1 and the 7, if 17 doesn’t work for you!) in just less than a week!!  Do you REALLY want to do this? Do you even think you CAN do this? After all, you are NOT a so-called Spring Chicken any longer! Get REAL, Self!!”

THOUGHT # 3 didn’t take very long to follow!  “The door is in front of you. This is a life-long passion. If you don’t knock on it, you’ll never know if it would have opened for you! And if God is IN this, He’ll give you the strength to fulfill what He asks you to do!”

When talking about it with my daughter in Texas, she asked, “Mum, do you want to be working five days a week?”  I know she was thinking about my upcoming birthday, and SHE was not reversing the digits! My heartfelt response was, “If it were at our local grocery store where I worked several years ago, then I would not want to do it.  But working at a school, the answer is a definite YES!” I had already thought that question through before talking with her.  And to work at our nearby Christian school, it’s a resounding YES!

Teaching is a true passion of mine. I’ve taught Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, and Good News Clubs many times over the years, starting when I was about fifteen or sixteen years old. I taught K-4 at Glad Tidings Academy in Bangor one year just before moving to Downeast Maine and absolutely loved doing it.  I also subbed in the local elementary school after moving here to Downeast Maine. I've also given piano lessons.  I love teaching!

After subbing and then working as a one-on-one aide for a young child here, I got up my courage to walk into the registrar’s office at the University of Maine at Machias in 1993!!!  I entered UMM to pursue a BA in English and a minor in Secondary Education. UMM ended up giving me thirteen (twenty-three-year –old!!!) credits from New Brunswick Bible Institute in Canada from which I graduated in 1970!

I had a short one-year stint at Machias high school when I was hired to teach English right after graduating from UMM. (But that’s another long story!)

I love children and am always happy when working and playing with them. I really believe my heart is working with younger children, although I would have loved teaching high school English had it worked out. I love talking with children and hearing what they have to say. I’m looking forward with great anticipation to getting to know the children at MVCS this fall.  One of my teaching goals is to show them how much fun learning is. To be a life-long learner is one of my personal goals. I pray it will also become the goal of each one as I endeavor to  be diligent in teaching  the children. My prayer is that I will be a good example to my students while we work and learn together.

And so for now, Good-bye and God Bless!  
May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.  Romans 15:33  

Blessings from
Mona in Maine

Happy New Year 2020

Greetings All,                     31 December 2019
I don't know how long ago the following was written, but I certainly can use it myself for the beginning of the New Year as I look forward to 2020! Today is the last time to write 2019 on any current papers, letters, notes, or checks. But as I lift my eyes up to the One who know the future, I can trust God's leading.


TRUSTING

I will lift my eyes to the One who knows
and loves me in my deepest woes. 
If I but look above to Him,
He'll raise me up to rejoice and win. 
I'll depend on Him for steps each day. 
He IS the One who knows my way. 
When I am tried I'll come forth as gold. 
That is the promise of which I'm told. 
My help does come from God above. 
His creations He will always love. 
He will not slumber nor will He sleep. 
His beloved creatures He will keep. 
In His image we were made. 
He is our strength, our source, our shade. 
Shade protects from sun's bright heat. 
God protects us when we are weak. 
As a hen covers her brood under her wing,
So God protects those who trust in Him.

In thinking about God's help and leading, it's so often hard to trust when we cannot see.  This walk by faith is not easy, but it's necessary.  How do we do that?  I don't have all the answers, but I know we have to simply trust and then be willing to move forward one step at a time. 

Job 23:10 says, "But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold."  The testing or trials ("tried" in KJV) tells me that it's not going to be a bed of roses without a few thorns along the way.  

1 Peter 1:7 (KJV) says "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:" 

and  1 Peter 1:7 (in New King James Version) reads "that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, "


The words "trial" and "genuineness" in these two versions are used in the same place. 

When one goes to a court of law, the trial is for the purpose of finding out what is true, genuine, real.  So in essence, we must be tried in order for our genuineness or the reality of our faith to be seen. 

I remember taking tests and exams in school.  What trials some of those were!  If I had studied properly and had prepared well, then they weren't so bad.  In fact, I felt like I was sailing though them.  BUT if I had not done my homework, so to speak, by not studying properly (by just cramming at the last minute), then those tests and exams were not so much fun!  That truth of the matter in those times was that I didn’t know as much as I was hoping for.  And sometimes it was far less!
But all in all, God saw me through each time.


Now until next year... (2020!!!♥️)
Blessings to all,
Ramona

Back Again on Memories and Memos!

Greetings Friends and Neighbors,                                                   30 December 19

Hello again!

I'm finally back, hoping to make a go of it this time.

I haven't been on in so very long that I forgot my email for this blog and tried unsuccessfully for way too long yesterday afternoon to get in here to compose a new memo. Gonna write down the info this time on a note to MYSELF! Next time I should have better success.  Notes to Self are the way to go if I want to be SURE of remembering WHICH email addresses and passwords got to WHAT!!! 

And...whatever else I'm apt to forget!  

Such as...

      Knowing WHERE I'm supposed to be and WHEN! If I make a date with a friend for coffee, I put it on my calendar in my phone.  Then I have an app (which is connected to the calendar) that comes up every time I open the phone. The app lists any the upcoming appointments, birthdays, or even special TV programs that I don't want to miss.  Of course I DO have to look at the phone in order to be reminded of such things! But that's not usually a problem!

Now that I'm back on Memories and Memos, I'm going to have to write that on my calendar!!!!! 

So until next time,

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL

AND PRAYING MANY OF GOD'S BLESSINGS COME YOUR WAY IN 2020

from

Mona in Maine 

What a Year! Back Again (I Think...!)

23 October 2018 

Greetings All!

This has been a year I'd care not to repeat, starting a year ago in September of 2017.  

I had been working on my book, thinking that FINALLY it just might be drawing to a close at LONG last!  I had started three chapters of it, the assignment for the last lesson in the writing course that I took with Institute of Children's Literature. I began the course about 2009 and completed the course of study, "Writing for Children and Teenagers," in December of 2011.  

It was a struggle to continue writing the book after the course was finished.  My first three chapters, although the ideas were good, contained too much, too soon. I didn't know how to spread the thoughts out.  So I tried and stopped. And tried and stopped!

Later (months, perhaps?) I would go back to the computer and try again and again, without a lot of success. Then the gaps between trying got longer.  

Finally in 2014, I had new enthusiasm for the book. I thought I'd work on it for NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. Well, it was a great idea while it lasted! Picture a newbie writer trying to get 60,000 words in one month! That was the NaNoWriMo goal. That meant writing only 2000 words a day, BUT...! That might not be a lot for a seasoned writer.  And it might not be a lot for me when writing some things, BUT...!  Yes, but!  But this novel was my first of the type. Short or relatively short stories were my past writing experiences.  I soon changed my goal from the NaNoWriMo target of 60,000 words to my own goal of 40,000 words because I was getting farther and farther behind each day.  I finally gave up.

I think it was the winter of 2015-16 that I decided I was either going to finish that book or else never go back to it again. So I fired up the computer, spent a short while looking at what I had previously written, and in tears I closed the computer. Same thing happened the next day.  The third day, I told God that I was going to try once more and I needed His help.  Because that was the deciding day. And guess what?  I actually was able to add a few hundred words that day and felt good about my accomplishment!  Thank you, God, because I know without Your help, I would have given up the whole thing!!!

So that winter I made some good progress, after re-reading what I had written the years before and doing a bit of reconstruction! I wasn't totally consistent in writing every day (nor always every week), and I have made a lot of progress pretty much until August of 2018 where I began to slow down again because I didn't know where to the take the story next.  I felt like it was coming to a close, but just how to do that, I didn't know! So most of the summer was somewhat slow in accomplishing much.  I felt like only one or two chapters more should bring the book to the end, if only I could get it there.

And then September 15th, 2017 arrived.  

I was talking with Laura on the internet that evening on Messenger. She'd not been feeling well and I asked her how she was.  She wrote back that she was better.  The next morning, Saturday, the 16th, I got the phone call that would change my life on this earth forever!!! She had asked Jesus to be her Savior when she was a young child.  I know I'll see her in Heaven one day, but losing her after almost thirty-five years (lacking just three weeks to the day) certainly has left a huge hole in this mother's heart and in my life here. 

I haven't written/worked on the book ever since that time.  And although I cannot blame my lack of blog writing on that day, this is the first time I've wanted to write in the blog since before that day.

I attended a ladies conference at a nearby church a week ago. The speaker was/is a published author and writes a blog. She did inspire me, among other things, to start writing again. And so this is my first attempt!  I'm praying this is my new beginning of many more blog posts and of the completion of my first draft of my book.

Blessings Always,
Ramona

False Advertising

Hello Friends,

            Facebook asks “What’s on your mind?”

            What's on MY mind? False advertising! That's what!

            I bought a very small bottle (for a dollar) of what I supposed was Pure Vrigin Olive Oil at local store several days ago. That was what the bottle had on the front of it in LARGE letters. Had I looked closely, underneath in much smaller letters in a color that BLENDED in with the color of the bottle it said "Blend", which word I didn't see until I got home. Okay, so I have a bottle of "Pure Virgin Olive Oil Blend". I can live with that. When I saw "blend" I started looking around to find out what the "blend" was. On the back of the bottle in EXTREMELY SMALL, almost infinitesimally tiny letters, so small that most people would need a magnifying glass to read it, it told the percentage of Olive Oil in the bottle! SIX percent! Yes, 6% ONLY!!!!! And in large letters on the front, it said "PURE VIRGIN OLIVE OIL"!

            SOoooooo..... yesterday I was in that store where I had bought this stuff in the first place. I grabbed a bottle off the shelf and took it to the register. The lady at the counter was having trouble with the register... the screen just went blank on the order she had just rung up while I waited to speak with her. The person who looked like a manager came to help. The cashier took the order to ring up at another register, and I started to speak to the manager. I quickly assured him I did not want to buy the bottle in my hand, but asked him if he could read the fine print on the back of the bottle!! He glanced at it, but probably couldn't. I didn't give him much time and I asked him if he knew how much Pure Virgin Olive Oil was in the bottle. I didn't remember the exact number at that time, but told him it was a very SMALL amount.. His response was,"Well, if it were real olive oil, I'd have to charge SEVEN dollars for the bottle!!! And it's flavored like olive oil!" I was NOT expecting THAT response! It did not say "Pure Virgin Olive Oil FLAVOR on the bottle.THEN he proceeded to tell me that their "honey" is not real honey, but just "honey flavored!" He ALMOST sounded PROUD of these facts!

            I was so surprised at his ATTITUDE (not quite so much at the facts) that I was almost speechless! NOT QUITE, though. I just wish I had rebounded quickly enough to suggest that the OIL bottle led people to believe something that is NOT TOTALLY TRUE!! NOT even partially true, really, unless one believes that SIX PERCENT of something constitutes as PARTIALLY true. Technically, I guess they can "get away with it" if no one confronts them, but in MY book, it's WRONG all the way! It should just say “~whatever~ and  Olive Oil Blend” and even then it should give the percentages of on the FRONT of the bottle (in letters large enough to read) with Olive Oil NOT being the first ingredient listed on the front label!

            I happened to be out of olive oil the day I bought it, saw it on the shelf, and grabbed it quickly, thinking it would tide me over for a day or two. It doesn't pay to buy without reading the details. Lesson learned!! (I hope!)

And so for now, Good-bye and God Bless!  and
May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.  Romans 15:33  

Blessings!
Mona in Maine

Trusting God's Covering

Greetings Friends and Neighbors, 

Posting again, but I'm not sure if it's to make up for missing a week, or getting a jump-start on NEXT week! Whichever, I found this poem and thoughts from it-- some time ago.

TRUSTING

I will lift my eyes to the One who knows
and loves me in my deepest woes. 
If I but look above to Him,
He'll raise me up to rejoice and win. 
I'll depend on Him for steps each day. 
He IS the One who knows my way. 
When I am tried I'll come forth as gold. 
That is the promise of which I'm told. 
My help does come from God above. 
His creations He will always love. 
He will not slumber nor will He sleep. 
His beloved creatures He will keep. 
In His image we were made. 
He is our strength, our source, our shade. 
Shade protects from sun's bright heat. 
God protects us when we are weak. 
As a hen covers her brood under her wing,
So God covers those who trust in Him.

In thinking about God's help and leading, it's so often hard to trust when we cannot see.  This walk by faith is not easy, but it's necessary.  How do we do that?  I don't have all the answers, but I know we have to simply trust and then be willing to move forward one step at a time. 

Job 23:10 says, "But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold."  The testing or trials ("tried" in KJV) tells me that it's not going to be a bed of roses without a few thorns along the way.  

1 Peter 1:7 (KJV) says "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:" 
and 1 Peter 1:7 (in New King James Version) reads "that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, "

The words "trial" and "genuineness" in these two versions are used in the same place. 

When one goes to a court of law, the trial is for the purpose of finding out what is true, genuine, real.  So in essence, we must be tried in order for our genuineness or the reality of our faith to be seen. 

I remember taking tests and exams in school.  What trials some of those were!  If I had studied properly and had prepared well, then they weren't so bad.  In fact, I felt like I was sailing though them.  BUT if I had not done my homework, so to speak, or had studied (crammed!) at the last minute, then those tests and exams were not so much fun!  That truth of the matter in those times was that I didn’t know as much as I was hoping for.  And sometimes it was far less!

When I enrolled in a state university at the age of forty-four, I was wearing many hats.  I was no longer single, with just studying and friends on my mind.  (Should I reverse that?  Friends and studying?)  At four-four, I was teaching Sunday School, playing the organ each Sunday for morning services, on church boards, besides wearing the everyday hats of wife, mother of three young teen children, and daughter of an elderly parent. At this point in my life, I knew things had to be different... a lot different... from when I was a teenager in school.  I knew I’d no longer be able to cram at the last minute.  And I actually really learned how to study for the first time in my life.  I had to in order to be prepared for the trials of university exams.  And I did!  And I fully believe that it was because I was learning to follow God’s way and trust Him more and more to lead me..

And so for now, Good-bye and God Bless!  and
May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.  Romans 15:33  

Blessings!
Mona in Maine

"When Mum's on the Phone"

Hello Friends and Neighbors,                                                                      

I'm late this week, well, so late that I think I'm early!  I didn't write last week.  Life just got in my way and got going faster than I anticipated.  This week isn't much different.  I came home from my daughter's on Tuesday afternoon and now suddenly it's Thursday already.  We leave Saturday morning early for my  annual family reunion, my dad's people.  I always look forward to getting together with everyone, but once the reunion has come and gone, summer's half over.  Well, it seems like more than that.  Two weeks later (approximately) is the annual Blueberry Festival in Machias and then suddenly September hits! And you all know what follows! October and November come much too quickly and we suddenly find ourselves getting the house in Maine ready for winter!

Well, today I thought I'd share a poem that made me write it when my twins were, I don't know, three or four years old probably.  They were old enough to know that when the phone rang, I'd be distracted for a few minutes.  I kept hearing, "When Mum's on the phone it's the dandiest time..." over and over in my head every time I got off the phone.  I wrote the original version when they were very young, but lost it.  This version is similar but not exact.  I couldn't recreate it exactly, have tried several times without success, but this summer I had to do something about it, and the following is the result.  I hope you enjoy reading it at least half as much as I did writing it as I brought back memories. The only part that is really not true is that I'm sure they didn't volunteer to clean up the mess afterwards!!

WHEN MUM’S ON THE PHONE

or...  Twin Hugs,

by Ramona Herrick Boldsen

          When Mum’s on the phone it’s the dandiest time to frolic. We mumble and tumble and climb up the cupboard shelves in the pantry’s allure. There’s so much to see and do and procure from those pantry shelves. Let’s see how much are we able to grab, run, and sample under the dining room table.

          Well, not everything’s tasty, but it’s fun just to try. We just mustn’t get anything into our eyes. Let’s see... there’s oatmeal, and sugar and shortening and flour. We hope Mum keeps talking, at least for an hour.

          Spaghetti and macaroni, we found to crunch on. Cheerios and corn flakes, they’re fun to munch on. Chocolate chips and raisins, oh, look!  There’s more of those wonderful things Mum got at the store.

          Here’s some very dark cocoa. We’ll grab it and try it. Eww, it’s no fun to eat, but such fun to fly it and fling it around, in great little circles. They make mounds on the rug, like little brown turtles. Oops, some rubbed off onto our faces and clothes. We have it everywhere, even onto our nose!

          Oh no, oh no! Here comes our mum now. She’s off the phone, with a frown on her brow. It’s only been minutes, but we tasted a lot of the pantry’s stash. We hope she forgot about our running so fast out of the room. But of course she did not. She followed us soon.

          She’s not looking happy; she’s seen the rug. We’ll jump up real quick and ask for a hug. We didn’t mean harm. We just wanted to eat some of that stuff in the pantry that looked so neat.

         

          We’ll jump up together and surround Mum with our arms.  It’s Twin Hug time. It’s part of our charms. Our Twin Hugs work nicely, daytime or night. When we get mum in our circle, we join hands and squeeze tight.

                                                                                                        

          Twin hugs are fun and quite distracting. We hope she’ll forget about how we were acting. We won’t do this again, Mum, so please don’t worry. For making a mess, we are truly sorry. We’ll clean it all up just as fast as we can and then share another Twin Hug; they’re the best in the land.



So now until next time, it’s always night SOMEwhere, so Good Night and God Bless!
Romans 15:33 May the God of peace be with you all. Amen

Blessings, 

Mona in Maine