Bokelskere.no

I sat in my rocking chair with fat old Queen Esther purring away on my lap and looked at my beautiful, crazy family. I'd had the idea that a family should be perfect, with a pretty mama and a handsome daddy and kids that were all sugary-sweet and dressed up real nice. A family couldn't possible have a chain-smoking chimpanzee, a clown for a daddy, and a midget for a mama. But as I looked at my three ragamuffin kids in their hand-me-downs, at funny old Aunt Batty with her nutty ways, at our one-eyed hunting dog and two overweight cats with mittens for kittens, I was sure of two things - what I had with Daddy and Aunt Peanut was a family, and so was this. I loved every one of them. Wyatt Orchards wasn't my home, this house wasn't even my home. Home is where your family is - the people you love and who love you. And even if I lost everything I owned tomorrow, I'd still have riches beyond measure.

"Home is where your family is - the people you love and who love you. "

"Why did God have to make our lives so fragile and so short?" (...) "Because life is very precious to Him. He treasures each life He created and He wants us to treasure it, too - like fine porcelain china. God knows what it's like to live and die in a frail human body like ours. His Son suffered physical death, Betsy, so that you and I can face it without ever being afraid."

"... Our heavenly Father never forces us to serve Him... but do you know what? God really does know what's best for us. He created us. His perfect will is perfect for us, whether we can understand it with our limited minds or not. Even so, He allows each of us to decide: Will we choose our own way or maybe society's way - and end up settling for less than perfection? Or will we let God take us where He has chosen - and be amazed?"

"Springtime is God's promise that someday we'll all share His resurrection life! Our weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning!"

"I've seen spring come to the orchard every year as far back as I can remember and I've never grown tired of it. Oh, the wonder of it! The outrageous beauty! God didn't have to give us cherry blossoms, you know. He didn't have to make apple trees and pear trees burst into flower and fragnance. But God just loves to splurge. He gives us all this magnificence and then, if that isn't enough, He provides fruit from such extravagance!"

Home is where your family is - the people you love and who love you.

And even if I lost everything I owned tomorrow, I'd still have riches beyond measure.

That's what a husband and wife should have - teamwork and trust."

"But you need to marry someone who's going to work together with you, Eliza, like a team, not someone who tries to change you.

Watch how the Flying Falangas work together in their trapeze act sometime. They trust each other. They put their lives in each other's hands every day. And they're always there to catch the other person before they fall.

That's what a husband and wife should have - teamwork and trust."

"Look back on your life, Toots, and think about all the experiences God gave you - the good ones and the bad ones - and you'll see how they've shaped you into the woman you are today.

Accept those experiences as His daily bread. Thank Him for them. Then be the person He created you to be."