Enjoy one of my favorite Christmas songs. Wishing you the Joy of Christmas today always… ~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author http://www.4writersandreaders.com
Mary, when you kiss your little baby, you kiss the face of God! Would that I could too!!!
**Image via Pinterest
♫ Wishing you ƤҼƌҪҼ ƌƝƊ ĻƠṼҼ at Christmas & always… ♫ ~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author http://www.4writersandreaders.com
Early December at the Farmstead in Central Maine—finally have a covering of snow and temperatures cold enough to keep the white magic around for a while. Conifer branches adorned in winter’s white called out to this writer: “Capture a photo, we’re all spruced up in our new attire!” from near the barn’s entrance. I simply had to pen their remembrance in a poem—
Fresh Fallen Crystals.
Wishing you all a Season of Wonder!
~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author
It’s the little things in life that mean so much. May your days be filled with wonders! ~Bette A. Stevens, Maine author http://www.4writersandreaders.com
Perfect happiness is a beautiful sunset,
the giggle of a grandchild, the first snowfall.
(even if the snow is just on our WP blogs)
It’s the little things that make happy
moments, not the grand events.
Joy comes in sips, not gulps.
~Sharon Draper
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things
Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels
Door bells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things
Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into Springs
These are a few of my favorite things
When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I’m feeling sad
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Wishing everyone a Happy & Blessed Mother’s Day.
~Bette A. Stevens, Maine author/illustrator
Inspired by nature and human nature, author Bette A. Stevens is a retired elementary and middle school teacher, a wife, mother of two and grandmother of five. Stevens lives in Central Maine with her husband on their 37-acre farmstead where she enjoys reading, writing, gardening, walking and reveling in the beauty of nature. She advocates for children and families, for childhood literacy and for the conservation of monarch butterflies (milkweed is the only plant that monarch caterpillars will eat).
Stevens’s children’s book, THE TANGRAM ZOO and WORD PUZZLES TOO! was first published in 1997 by Windswept House Publishing, Mt. Desert, ME; a second edition was self-published by the author in 2012. AMAZING MATILDA , Stevens’s second children’s book, self-published in 2012 won a 2013 Purple Dragonfly Book Award (Honorable Mention for Excellence in Children’s Literature – Ages 6 and older category) and also placed #9 on The 2013 Gittle List for Self-published Children’s Picture Books. Stevens has written articles for ECHOES, The Northern Maine Journal of Rural Culture based in Caribou, Maine. In 2013, the author published her first book for the YA/Adult audience: PURE TRASH, a short story of a boy growing up in rural New England in a family whose poverty and alcoholism mark him as a target for bullying by young and old alike. This short story is a prequel to Stevens’s début novel DOG BONE SOUP released January 2015.
Dear Friends,
Thanks so much for helping to make 2016 an amazing year for me. Your friendship and your wonderful blog posts, your visits here and the encouraging words you’ve left are gifts that I treasure. May 2017 be an amazing year for you.
Wishing you all “A Beautiful & Blessed New Year!”
~Bette A. Stevens
“For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11 (KJV)
May the “Hope and joy found in The Christ Child” be yours at Christmas and always. ~ Bette A. Stevens
November 13th was designated World Kindness Day in 1998 by World Kindness Movement, a coalition of nations kindness NGOs observed in many countries around the world each year.
“World Kindness Day is to highlight good deeds in the community focusing on the positive power and the common thread of kindness which binds us. Kindness is a fundamental part of the human condition which bridges the divides of race religion, politics, gender and zip codes. Kindness Cards are also an ongoing activity which can either be passed on to recognize an act of kindness and or ask that an act of kindness be done. Approaches are being made to the United Nations by the peak global body, The World Kindness Movement to have World Kindness Day officially recognized and its members unanimously sign a Declaration of Support for World Kindness.
According to Gulf News, “it is a day that encourages individuals to overlook boundaries, race and religion…”
It’s wonderful to have a special day designated to recognize and celebrate kindness around the world. In fact, every day is a perfect day to throw kindness around like confetti to everyone we meet. Random Acts of Kindness are contagious and they count! ~ Bette A. Stevens
May your blessings abound, friends. Happy Easter! ~ Bette A. Stevens http://www.4writersandreaders.com
Angels, roll the rock away;
Death, yield up thy mighty prey:
See, He rises from the tomb,
Glowing with immortal bloom.
~Rev. Thomas Scott
It is by the blood of Christ’s “immortal bloom” that we are washed clean and saved. Should we invite him into our hearts, His body and blood, the “bread of life,” will feed our souls while the Father’s Creation continues to provide the “bread” or “manna” that nourishes our physical bodies. We are invited guests at the Lord’s lavish table, and whilst we partake of His feasts, we are lovingly watched over by the Holiest of Holies. A supreme sacrifice has been made for our presence at this table on which our sustenance and salvation have been laid; our very presence at the banquet is a holy blessing, a gift from God in whose image we are made. So it is fitting and right that we…
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HAPPY NEW YEAR! ❤ Bette
A fresh start.
A new chapter of life waiting to be written.
New questions to be asked, embraced, and loved.
Answers to be discovered and then lived
in a transformative year of delight and self-discovery.
~Sarah Ban Breathnach
Recipe for a Happy New Year ~Anonymous
Take twelve fine, full-grown months; see that these are thoroughly free from old memories of bitterness, rancor and hate, cleanse them completely from every clinging spite; pick off all specks of pettiness and littleness; in short, see that these months are freed from all the past—have them fresh and clean as when they first came from the great storehouse of Time. Cut these months into thirty or thirty-one equal parts. Do not attempt to make up the whole batch at one time (so many persons spoil the entire lot this way) but prepare one day at a time.
Into each day put equal parts…
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Come join us!
Bette A. Stevens, Maine Author 
Written
on 12/14/2016