Monday, July 13, 2015

On Family, Faith, and Friends


We start out in life
not knowing where our paths will lead. 


If we are lucky, we come from 
a loving family
that guides us on our way. 


If we are not so lucky, 
we go out on our own
to form our own loving 'family'. 


When we are young, 
this includes treasured friends. 


And, perhaps, siblings, too. 


Sometimes we are fortunate to keep 
these friendships all of our lives. 


But in our ever-changing world, 
a few fall off along the way. 


Time and distance work their magic
to erase the lines that 
hold us together. 


But sometimes you find that one special 
person.......


So you dress up, say your vows
and hope for the best. 


And sometimes this is not all fun. 
There is hard work involved
and 
obstinance, 
I mean, obstacles,
 to overcome. 
*grin*


There is no 'I' anymore, 
only 'we'. 

This is a tremendously wonderful 
opportunity to test your faith! :) 

And as you become this new 
'family', you hope to bring 
all that you learned, 
to this new chapter in your life. 


Life gives us so many wonderful opportunities
to learn and grow. 

I can honestly say that every single 
thing that has happened to us 
in this life has taught us a lesson. 

Some of these are painful, 
but as time passes, 
We can see how it all unfolds
perfectly to make us the 
unique individuals that we are. 


As we raised our family, 
we remembered our lessons, 
and put love at the top of the list. 


Raising these four gave new meaning to the words
faith, hope, patience, resilience, courage, 
sacrifice, and honor. 



And then we had to watch them walk away. 

To start their own lives
and live their own destinies. 

With a big piece of our heart 
to go along with them. 

But keeping the heart-strings strong. 


Now it is still 'we', 

but so much more.....



Now we are a family that keeps getting 
stronger every day. 


No matter what life throws our way. 
Because we have faith. 

Faith in each other, faith in divine destiny, 
and faith that around every corner 
there always shines a light
to lead the way. 


With a few good friends to help us out along the way! 



Thank you, Dear Friends for being part 
of a wonderful blogging family
that adds depth and richness 
to our lives. 

Families can be many different things, 
to many different people, 
but one thing is always the same - 
Where there is love, there is family. 

xoxo

Today I am linking with:
The Enchanting Rose - Roses of Inspiration

The Enchanting Rose

Won't you join the fun? 

36 comments:

  1. This brought tears to my eyes. It really should be submitted to a magazine my friend. How inspiring and encouraging and personal, too. You have great looking kids and a beautiful family. I'm glad we are friends. Sweet hugs, Diane

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  2. Oh such beautifully written thoughts and words, Karen! Thanks for tugging at my heartstrings. xo

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  3. What a lovely post! You have a beautiful family and many blessings :-) Have a wonderful evening.

    Blessings,
    Jill

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  4. My dear friend Karen,
    this post is so wonderful ..it does not need many more words!
    Have a blessed and wonderful week,
    Love and hugs to oyu,
    Claudia xo

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  5. Good thoughts and nice photos to go along with it. Life isn't easy but there's good along with the not so good and when there is love, it helps a whole lot. Have a good week and be blessed! Hugs!

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  6. What a beautiful post and lovely pictures!!
    xox

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  7. Aww, this is just about the sweetest post I have read all week. Thanks for sharing.

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  8. Perfection! Beautifully written; emotional and heartfelt.

    Marilyn (in Dallas)

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  9. I enjoyed reading this, thanks so much!

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  10. Hi dear friend !, nada mas bello que ver fotografías a través de los años como los niños crecen y nos vamos poniendo viejos ,, lindas fotos !,

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  11. This was absolutely 'beautiful', it makes me happy for you, it makes me miss my husband.

    I love the picture of you and your dear husband. You have a lovely family and all of that love overflows into your blog.

    Thank you for sharing ~ FlowerLady

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  12. Thank you for this beautiful post! I love what you said along with all the vintage (and new) photos. Have a blessed day.
    Pam

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  13. Beautiful post with great pictures, especially of your family, it's so wonderful to watch the family grow, but sometimes change is hard, like having our daughter living a 13 hour drive away, but hopefully they will be back to this area soon and look forward to them starting their family :)

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  14. Very inspiring post and nicely done! Love the pictures. Your family is beautiful. You are blessed. I love my blog family too. Although they are people I have never met there is a family bond.

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  15. So very wonderful and the words are so true!

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  16. Such a beautiful post, Dear Karen, both in word and photos.
    You have such a lovely way of expressing yourself with just a few words. Very heart warming.
    You are a beautiful lady with a beautiful family.

    It was s joy visiting with you Karen. I'm trying to work my way back to this beautiful blogging community, but it has been a slow process.
    I am thankful we are friends.

    The Lord bless you~ Debbie

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  17. you are cherished a friend indeed to me!! -- what a unique way to say how important friends and family are in ones life. It's so true we need each other... Life is so much enjoyable!
    Love those photo images...HUGS

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  18. My best friend and I have been friends, like sisters, for 49 years! She and I met in high school and have achieved such a bond. I have a couple other friends I have known for 47 years! It is so wonderful to have such closeness and be there for each other. My husband and I were married for 37 years before he died and we were soul mates. I have been blessed to have wonderful dear people in my life.

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  19. What a wonderful post! It truly hit home for me, about my friends, my children and my wonderful husband. Thank you for sharing these words!

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  20. Karen this was such a beautiful post! and truly inspirational. So perfectly composed and illustrated.

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  21. This is such a heart warming and beautiful post Karen, and so beautifully shown visually too xx

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  22. Awwww, that was lovely! When I was 8 we left England for Canada, I became friends with a little neighbor girl who was 2 1/2 years younger than me...truth be told, I really only hung out with her because she had an amazing Barbie collection:) Anyway, our parents were all friends so we spent a lot of time together. Her parents split up when I was 11 then, just a few months later, my parents split up and then just a few months after that, my mom and her dad were together. They got married in 1982 so my friend became my step-sister and here, over 30 years later, she still means the world to me and is my absolute best friend and best sister I could ever ask for:) No, our upbringing was not perfect but I'm glad it took the path it did!

    Thank you for sharing! Lovely post and you are so pretty!

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  23. Sweet Karen, what a precious post! I have tears in my eyes after reading your beautiful words. You have truly inspired me, my friend, and you have richly blessed my heart....thank you!

    Much love to you, my friend!

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  24. Oh my dear sweet Karen - not much to say other than this is sublime perfection. From the words of wisdom to the lovely and fun and heartfelt photos. The bottom line is Family = Love and Love is always the answer to it all. ;)
    Blessings to you my Friend. xoxo

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  25. So beautiful, Karen. Your words are eloquent and come from your heart. This is truly a piece of art.

    ~Sheri

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  26. such a sweet, memory filled post, Karen. As I read it I could just see each part of your life unfolding. Hugs my friend.

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  27. What a wonderful post Karen! I loved all the gorgeous vintage photos, and then the ones of your precious family. The picture of children walking away across the bridge really touched me as we have one moving out of state next week. hard to let him go. Your family is beautiful, and so are you, inside and out! xo Deborah

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  28. What a beautiful post with lovely words...thank you!
    Love Titti

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  29. Hi Karen, this is a truly heartwarming and brilliant post. Thank you!

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  30. This is a showstopper. I usually scroll down fast watching for things to catch my eye, but this entire post caught them both! Such a sweet post to run upon! You have such a way with words! Love it!
    -Lisa

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  31. This is such a beautiful post, Karen...it really spoke to me today! Thank you for sharing! xo

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  32. Beautiful post, Karen, thank you very much. So much wisdom! X

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  33. An absolutely beautiful post! It has so many nuggets (mountains!) of wisdom about life. I am finding some new battles that are hard to face. The old battles won, we have moved on to new things, and sometimes that's hard. But, with God's Grace we can do it all. Thanks for being my blogger friend, Karen! I always enjoy your wisdom, your wonderful photos and the serenity of your posts! God bless! (Love the photo of you and your hubby!)

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Thank you for stopping by! Your comments are important to me and are very much appreciated. xx Karen

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