On Saturday, we had our annual Birthday Bash! We started this several years ago, and have continued it since Mom left. In August we have 5 birthdays. Mom’s was the 12…Patty is the 15 th…Tommy is the 17th…Tonja is the 18th…and Joy is the 24th. This year we started our party on Saturday afternoon, and went on until the food was gone and the football teams had won!

Ian…..Lori and Finn…..Tommy

Ben…..Alex

Adam…..Mike

Tonja…..Suzanne…..Patty

Ben…..Lori

Tommy and John Thomas

Pop……Adam

Lucy Jane (Addison)

Will…..and the guys…trying to watch the game!

Suzanne……Patty

Joy…….Tara…….Lori……..John Thomas

Yummy Pork Tenderloin…..by Chef Don

All the fixins…..chef Tonja

Tonja with ‘Granmother’ pic holder from Patty!

We talked and played and watched ball games and ate and laughed and lughed and laughed! We were all together, along with a friend of the family, Evan, whom I do not have a picture of. Fun had by all!

There are such talented people in our world! I love to watch an artist at work…how she takes the colors and blends them and mixes them…applying them to the canvas just so…and OH! just the tiniest touch of white…right over there! And so as some do their best work on canvas or watercolor paper…some do their best work…on their hands?…with their hands?…with their hands on another’s hands? Just look at this and you figure it out!!!

For around 30 years, I have worked with children…in differing capacities. But, always, thankfully, in places where I could use verses or thoughts from the Bible, as I wished. One of the favorite of these was always, “WORK WITH YOUR HANDS.” 1 Thessalonians 4:11

So, GO! Work with your hands! Do what you do best! Cook…ride your bicycle…paint a picture…style someones hair…sort clothes in a thrift store…soothe a scared child…there’s too many to name here. Besides, you know what you do best. Just go and do it!

A hand (med./lat.: manus, pl. man≈´s) is a prehensile, multi-fingered body part located at the end of an arm or forelimb of primates and some^[which?] other vertebrates.

Hands are the chief organs for physically manipulating the environment, used for both gross motor skills (such as grasping a large object) and fine motor skills (such as picking up a small pebble). The fingertips contain some of the densest areas of nerve endings on the body, are the richest source of tactile feedback, and have the greatest positioning capability of the body; thus the sense of touch is intimately associated with hands. Like other paired organs (eyes, ears, legs), each hand is dominantly controlled by the opposing brain hemisphere, and thus handedness, or preferred hand choice for single-handed activities such as writing with a pen, reflects a significant individual trait . Wikipedia

Hands. What wonderful things they can do. Have you ever had an itch you just couldn’t wait to scratch? Have you ever held an ice cream cone and licked it all the way around? Have you held out your hands to hold a newborn…and then checked…just to be sure…to see if his fingers would curl around yours? Have you ever had a painting in your mind…and it wanted so desperately to move out of your fingers and on to a canvas? Have you held tightly the reins of a horse? Have you carefully changed a bandage so as not to cause more pain? Have you cupped those same hands to pull yourself through the waters of the pool? Have you carefully let a puppy sniff your fingers and then scratched him under his chin? Oh. how we use our hands! How magnificent they are! Look at some of these fabulous pictures…..look for the beauty in the hand.

Do you see all the hands around the baby’s head? The ‘henna hands’ are for the bride’s wedding in India. Sweet baby, JT’s, hands…and Pop, Joy, mine and Mom’s hands the night she died. Reaching hands, and perfectly folded hands. And little hands exploring big hands.

“God holds the hands of His people.” Psalm 135:13

Look at yours…see how special they are? Can you see their beauty? My Mom used to say that her hands looked so bad with the dark age spots that were on them and the fingers that were twisting due to arthritis. They didn’t look ugly to me. I can still see her sitting beside Alex’s bed and running her fingers through his hair to help him relax and go off to sleep. I think of my Aunt Marie’s hands…crippled so with arthritis. But, she still rolls the hair of her customers and coaxes the tendrils just so around their faces…and comes home and cooks food fit for a king…or a queen!

“With your very own hands you formed me; now breathe your wisdom over me so I can understand you. ” Psalm 119:72-74

And, YOU! So many of you use your hands every day to send words of hope and comfort and encouragement to others throughout the Blogisphere! You share sympathy as needed and excitement for good news! That is a ministry. That is a blessing!

“Can a mother forget her nursing child?
Can she feel no love for the child she has borne?
But even if that were possible,
I would not forget you!
See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.” Isaiah 49: 15-16

So, I’m thinking that really it isn’t the hands themselves that are so beautiful. It is the lovely things that are done with them. And the caring way they are used to show love to others. And, the kind things they do for those in need. The hand holding of the one you love. And, the hands reverently folded as you lift a prayer to God.

“Lift up holy hands in prayer,and praise the Lord.” Psalm 134:1-3