Begin with a prayer, end with a BANG!

"We all have pain - we are in a room full of survivors." - Dixie

"And sometimes we laugh." - a widow who had just lost her daughter to cancer.

This amazing attitude comes from the strong survivors or widows in Dixie's Bible study.  Dixie was widowed 12 years ago.  She has taken what the Lord has taught her through her grief and written "The Widow's Workbook."  Now, she is leading a group of widows in a retirement home through her study.

http://widowsworkbook.com/

It was was such a blessing to me, to be able to participate in her ministry.  I have never read her Bible study, as I am not a widow - but after hearing her speak today - I am going to read it anyways.  It deals with loss and grief - and we have all dealt with that in some way.

The women discussed difficult questions, like "is it ok to question God for the circumstance you are in?" "Can someone be forgiven for suicide?" and "Why did this happen to ME?"  It broke my heart to hear about all the tragic and untimely death these women had experienced.  And Dixie's workbook took them through stages of grief - and ultimately brought them to a point of saying - we all have pain ... but are we going to take it to God, or are we going to loose hope and choose to despair and grow bitter?  Sometimes things that seem like great disappointments to us, can just be our appointments with God - and isn't that the point?  

Tears and prayers.  Sharing and connecting happened - and it was awesome.  Yes, God is good.  I left saying, "That was 'church!'" The Bible is clear that the primary responsibility of the "church" or "religion" is to care for widows and orphans (James 1:27) - and I just feel like it is often anything or everything BUT that.  It is good to get to the point - to just love on people.

Then, we did a little shopping and museum going!  Strolling down Park Avenue - I found some great stores selling fair trade and eco-friendly products - VERY fun stuff - and some from Ghana!  I even found a children's book teaching them about fair trade - going to incorporate that into curriculum somehow!

http://www.tenthousandvillages.com/

http://www.earthinspiredliving.com/

Continuing down the road, I visited the Morse Museum.  It had an interesting collection of Tiffany glass and other American art.  The only really interesting part was a chapel that Louis Comfort Tiffany designed.  It was all stained or inlaid glass, very Byzantine reminiscent. What caught my attention was the incorporation of two peacocks on the altar.  The eyes on their wings symbolize immortality and God's all knowing eye.  Interesting.

 http://www.morsemuseum.org/  

Then, we stopped by the Mennello Museum of American Art.  It contained a collection of folk art that was honestly, just not my favorite.  It was mostly flat colonial style paintings by Earl Cunningham.  I love folk art - but prefer art that has personal expression in it.  There were a few nice sculptures outside:)

http://www.mennellomuseum.com/

Then...comes the BANG!

We helped some of Dixie's friends finish off their 4th of July fireworks...in the middle of their neighborhood! Dixie and I were standing far off away - Lydia was much more courageous!  It was fun - and we are all safe :)