Quote from Forum Archives on April 1, 2014, 12:05 am

Posted by: virginiaknowles <virginiaknowles@...>

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The Hope Chest with Virginia Knowles

#17-1: A Little Springtime News and Inspiration

April 2014

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Dear

Hope Chest

friends,

I am sitting
here filled with gratitude for all of the lovely people in my life, and all the
opportunities I have been given over the years. 
Thank you for being a part of that.

I sent out a
Family Recap letter

to friends and family 

a

t the beginning of the year, and another update later on, and just realized I hadn't forwarded either of those to my Hope Chest peeps

.

 In fact, I haven't sent anything to this list since before Thanksgiving!  Oops!

So, here are the most recent family updates and a few article excerpts.

 

• My oldest daughter Mary

  and her husband Ryan

  are

   expecting

  t

  he

  i

  r thir

  d son

  , Ezra,

   

  this August! 

  We've been loving his adorable big brothers

  Jacob and Isaac

  !  

  Julia’s
  baby boy

  Lucas

  is due on Mother’s Day, so it’s going to be quite the year for
  grand

  sons

  . 

  I really enjoyed her baby shower on Sunday - so good to have all seven of my daughters in one place, as pictured below!

   Julia and Alex are still
  hosting homeless outreaches each month.

   

  I love to participate there, as well as in between times.  You can read some practical ideas here:  13 Ways to Help People
  Who Are Homeless.    

• Rachel continues as an RN at Florida Hospital

  Orlando and moved into her first apartment last fall

  .

  Joanna

  returned from her semester in Australia in December, and

  is now working

  part-time

  in the research library at Lockheed Martin, as well as

  several hours per month

  as a Disney

  World

  photographer

  .  She
  plans to graduate from UCF later this year

  with a degree in Interpersonal Communications

  .

  Lydia is

  graduating with an AA from Seminole State and has applied

  to

  the

   art programs at Ringling and U

  niversity of

  F

  lorida

  .

• Andrew
  has started

  working at

  the same

  Chick-Fil-A

  as Lydia

  , and is enjoying his Russian classes at school

  .

   

  Micah got a horse mask as a late Christmas present, and he and Ben

  (another artist)

  enjoy amusing others

  with it 

  in public places.

  Naomi is now a teenager

  and getting ready for her spring chorus concerts. 

   Melody has asked me to home school her again next year (she is now in public school) and is hatching up all sorts of plans for what we will do together.

   I am really looking forward to that!

• I will not be returning to the private school where I am now teaching, which will give my schedule a little more flexibility for family, home,

  teaching Melody,

  and

  loving on

  my new grand

  sons

  !

     I

  plan

  to start teaching

  weekly

  integrated

  Renaissance & Reformation era history

  / literature / writing / arts appreciation classes at the middle school level for next school year in one or two home school programs

  .

   I am also loving the ladies' Bible study hosted by my church.  Everyone is so sweet and encouraging to me there. We are studying Ecclesiastes. I have also discovered my new favorite song, "Starts with Me" by Tim Timmons.  I heard it on the radio and promptly downloaded it onto my iPod.  It's getting a lot of play.

• My
  maternal

  grandmother passed away in January at the age of 99.  You can read my tribute to her here: Sweet Grandma, Dorothy Ransom Hess (In Memoriam).  A memorial service for both her and my grandfather Henry Hess, Sr. (who passed away in 20

  1

  0) will be held this summer in Pennsylvania on the same day as our family reunion, and I am planning to attend

  with my five youngest kids  (Road trip in my mini-van again!)
   The next day, we'll be going to Hershey Park with some of our relatives.

 

  

On

my

 blogs:  

• Take My Life and Let It Be 

• O the Deep, Deep
  Love of Jesus

• How Great Thou Art

• What a Friend We
  Have in Jesus
  
• Refresh Retreat

• Good Words from
  Colossians 4
  
• Kaleidoscope (Big
  Words)
  
• The Day of Small
  Things
  
• Morning Glory (Not
  the Flower Kind)
  
• A Stillness of
  Chimes by Meg Moseley (Novel Review)
  
• Self-Portraits:
  Teenage and Middle Age
  
• Brain Boosting: The
  Physical Factors
  
• If You Expect Real Respect...

• Lift Up Your Head and Lau

  gh

   

• Impressions of EPCOT (Or, What I Learn About Myself)

• Weekend Gratitude: Beach Reunion 2014

Here is a little taste of

three of those

 posts:

 If You Expect Real Respect...

If you expect real respect, show your strength, not your power. Lead with your character, not your charisma. Cultivate your inner integrity, not your outer image.  Admit your weaknesses; don't pretend perfection.  Be tender-hearted yet tough enough to endure; don't be bitter or brittle.  Motivate with inspiration, not manipulation.  Leaders listen.

Embrace your equality with others.  Don't cling to (or hide behind) your gender, your color, your age, your wit, your wealth, your beauty, your education, your successes, your connections, your rank, or your title.  We need each other! 

Real respect is reflected in mutual consideration, cooperation, community, and most of all, compassion.  Respect flourishes when there is liberty and justice for all.  Look out for the least and the little, for the Greatest One is watching you.

If you want real respect, share it freely and fully with others; don't demand it for yourself.  Coerced admiration is worse than worthless.  Insincerity increases insecurity.  Flattery is a feigned feast that leaves you hungrier than ever.   Sham will not cover shame.  It is far better to be clothed with simple dignity than to be exposed as the “emperor who wore no clothes.” 

Real respect?  The kind that truly matters?  There is no other way.  If you expect real respect, just set your heart on becoming really respectable.

You can read the rest of this post here:  If You Expect Real Respect...

Lift Up Your Head and Laugh

“Lift up your head and laugh!”

He spoke as a prophet.

But what did he know those thirty odd
years ago?

What did he know of my future?

I was still so young then

With only a taste of raw and broken

And visions of a whole life open
before me

Certainly not knowing quite what to
expect

But with dreams and plans
nonetheless:

Happily ever after with maybe 

A few little bumps along the way…

Why not?  And why not laugh?

Life could be, would be, one grand
adventure.

 

It’s been a rather curious life indeed

This grand adventure of mine.

Now I shake my head and laugh

At myself, at how I clung to so much

That prickled and burned and then
gave way.

Yet mysteries and marvels

Came to me when least expected

Laughter mixed with tears and sighs

And more than a few bumps along the
way

So much good and so much grief
mingled in

So much for dreams and plans!

A worthwhile journey still,

Just not how I thought it would be.

 

It’s not just me, I know

I watch the world walking by

And I try to understand, wonder

Where it is going: out and about

And home again, home again

A million silent stories walking by

A million mingling stories of
mourning and mirth.

 

I have lived long and learned much

And I find myself speaking to the
young ones

With their whole lives open before
them

The words of the timeless sage 

Thirty hundred years ago:

“There is a time for everything…

A time to weep and a time to laugh.”

They have seen me weep, and I will
weep again.

But for now, I will lift up my head
and laugh.

There is much more to this post here: 

Lift Up Your Head and Laugh

.

Kaleidoscope

There is

a story and a poem to go with the pictures: 

Kaleidoscope

I

'd love to hear from each of you!  

Just hit that reply button!

 

Grace and peace,

Virginia Knowles

--

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