GIVE THANKS UNTO GOD

Mary Marcia
America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking

Link:   http://tellmeastory-marcia.blogspot.com/2016/11/give-thanks-unto-god.html

GIVE THANKS UNTO GOD

While organizing and sorting through boxes in my home,  I discovered  a treasure:  a box filled with nursery class stories and photos on Sunday School handouts from 1938 through 1942!  

The images were copyrighted by Providence Lithograph Co. and  printed by the Southern Baptist Convention as a part of their NURSERY CLASS STORIES.  

My mother-in-law, Marie Norwood, must have treasured the cards almost 80 years ago, because she saved the cards her five boys brought home from Beaumont Baptist Church in Kansas City, Missouri, and she wrote the boy's names and dates on most of the cards.   
 
Marie and her husband, Doyle and four of their five boys are now in heaven. 

CLICK on image to enlarge.  Doyle and Marie Norwood and their five boys: Jim, Fred, David, Michael, and Ed (1949). 

As families gather to celebrate Thanksgiving 2016, I pray we remember to bow our heads, and give thanks to GOD.

We have this rare opportunity to look back in time through my brother-in-law, David Paul Norwood's church nursery card handouts from November 1942, and see how children were encouraged to give thanks to GOD 74 years ago.

Click on each image to enlarge.

CLICK on image to enlarge. November 22, 1942

GIVE THANKS TO GOD

The back of each card has a song, a story, or a note to parents.

CLICK on image to enlarge.
November 22, 1942

Song: In the Morning

In the morning I open my eyes; 

I stretch myself and then I rise.

I go to breakfast 

and bow my head,

and thank dear GOD for milk and bread.

 
  

CLICK on image to enlarge.
November 15, 1942

GIVE THANKS TO GOD

CLICK on image to enlarge.
November 15, 1942

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November 8, 1942

HE CARETH FOR YOU

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November 8, 1942

         

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November  1942

 HE CARETH FOR YOU

CLICK on image to enlarge. November  1942

GOD CARES FOR YOU.

GIVE THANKS TO GOD.

 A Thanksgiving Prayer

Help me, LORD,

To honor you

by the way I use the blessings

for which I give thanks.

Thanks for stopping by!

Come back often and invite a friend! 

Mary Marcia

America's STORYTELLER

Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking

CLICK on image to enlarge.

 

BALANCED

Mary Marcia
America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking

Click on each photograph to enlarge.
 

BALANCED

Copyright 1997 Marcia Norwood

Link:  http://tellmeastory-marcia.blogspot.com/2016/11/m-ary-m-arcia-americas-storyteller.html

  

     My mother didn't have the patience to teach me to cook.  I stewed and she came to a boil every time we were in the kitchen together.  

     I learned to cook from my mother's mother, Granny Lucille.  

CousinTandra, Granny Lucille, Sister Gloria, and me (Marcia).  Copyright 1958 Marcia Norwood

     She's the kind of woman who could "bring home the bacon and fry it up in the pan."  

 Song:  Peggy Lee

CLICK on the link or COPY & PASTE the link in your browser:
 http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play?p=youtube+bring+home+the+bacon+fry+it+up+in+a+pan&vid=ce8fb92c4493a2b20b5009be77eee935&l=2%3A07&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts2.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DV.4744333741984853%26pid%3D15.1&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DmWFhlVvYOno&tit=Peggy+Lee+I%26%2339%3Bm+A+Woman&c=3&sigr=11aecdf71&sigt=10phakci0&back=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%3Fei%3DUTF-8%26p%3Dyoutube%2Bbring%2Bhome%2Bto%2Bbacon%2Bfry%2Bit%2Bup%2Bin%2Ba%2Bpan%26type%3DA111US0%26fr%3Dmcafee&sigb=13ftbf1rj&ct=p&age=0&&tt=b

Song In Retro Ad

CLICK on the link or COPY & PASTE the link in your browser:

 http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0oG7lXDtItSD2gAHFtXNyoA;_ylc=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?p=youtube+bring+home+to+bacon+fry+it+up+in+a+pan&fr2=sb-top&fr=mcafee&type=A111US0 

     Everybody called her Granny.

My Beautiful Granny Lucille.  Copyright 1960 Marcia Norwood

         Granny didn't use measuring spoons or cups or cookbooks.    She cooked with her senses:  touching, tasting, sniffing and examining each dish she created.  

     A  pinch of this....and a fist of that.   

     She let me create, too.  I never failed because she never measured me. 

        "A balanced meal?  It's easy.  Just be sure each plate has food with at least three colors on it,"  Granny said.  
 

Halls China/Jewel Tea 

        She filled  Hall's China/Jewel Tea, nine-inch dinner plate with burgundy beets, ivory mashed potatoes topped with soft yellow butter; and green beans glazed with white onions and brown sugar.  In the center of it all was a black pepper-steak topped with tomato-red sauce, sprinkled with green chopped chives. Inside the three-inch  Autumn Leaf patterned fruit dish -  a golden pear (sliced in half) rested on a leaf of iceberg lettuce.

    "Cooking is more than preparation.  It's presentation, too."

     Granny used cloth napkins and cloth tablecloths that she carefully starched and ironed.    

     Of course she wore an apron, and had aprons for each woman who served with her.

     Her beautiful handmade aprons were embellished with embroidery and crochet, or tatted. "Tatted" doesn't mean what Generation C or E might think.  Tatt isn't a tattoo. 

TATTING

CLICK on the link or COPY & PASTE the link in your browser:

 http://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?p=tatting

The Greatest Generation, to GEN X,  Gen C or E

 CLICK on the link or COPY & PASTE the link in your browser:

http://www.voanews.com/content/article--after-gen-x-todays-young-might-be-gen-e-145176695/179704.html

Notice the Aprons?!  Granny Lucille & Nanny (My Aunt Ann).  Copyright 1960 Marcia Norwood

Fancy Aprons!  The table is set!  Marie and Granny Lucille.  Copyright 1955 Marcia Norwood

       Granny owned and operated the Highway Barbeque in Liberty, Missouri.  Although her restaurant was fully staffed, Granny Lucille hired me and five of my girlfriends the summer of 1965.   I was sixteen. Granny Lucille was 60. 

Granny Lucille wearing an APRON.  Copyright 1960 Marcia Norwood

      My girlfriends and I took turns cooking, doing dishes, serving food, busing tables, making change and cleaning the floor to earn money for cheerleading camp.   

Liberty BlueJay Cheerleaders.  Copyright 1965 Marcia Norwood  (Marcia is 2nd from the right.)

      Granny was surprised – but  never complained when we painted our Liberty BlueJay  mascot on her neatly pressed and starched, white, linen tablecloths.   

     Prom night the following spring, the cheerleaders and I instructed our dates to pick us up at Granny's three-story house at 222 West Franklin in Liberty.     

    Granny made hors d'oeuvres (appetizers) for our boyfriends to munch on.  We descended her grand staircase - one at a time -  in our prom gowns. 

Granny's Home at 222 W. Franklin, Liberty, Missouri.  Copyright 1959 Marcia Norwood

       Granny was just as comfortable hosting our group of teenagers  -- as she was hosting members of the Liberty Chamber of Commerce, or the Methodist Women's Group.  

Granny Lucille is on the right.  Copyright 1966 Marcia Norwood

     Granny Lucille lived a balanced Christian life.  

     It was much more than preparation inside the church.   It was the presentation of her life to Christ,  and her loving service to others...no matter what their age, color or social status.    

   

Granny's Dining Room Table:  My Great Aunt Beulah;   Beulah's Daughter Louise;  Mary, Nanny (Aunt Ann);   and Aunt Helen.  Copyright 1959 Marcia Norwood

Aunt Beulah Serves the Boys! Uncle Gene, My Dad, and little boys.  Copyright 1959 Marcia Norwood.

Thanks for stopping by!

Come back often, and invite a friend!

Mary Marcia
America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking

Top Photo:  1957 Chevy, Granny Lucille & Sister Gloria.  Bottom Photo:  Sisters Gloria and Marcia.  Copyright 1957.

From Left:  Marcia's Mom, Natalie and Granny Lucille.  Copyright 1954  Marcia Norwood

FOUR GENERATIONS.  Marcia's Mom, Natalie, Marcia (center back), Granny Lucille (right) and Marcia's daughter, Kristin (front).  Copyright 1976  Marcia Norwood.

P E A C E

Mary Marcia
America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking

Link:  http://tellmeastory-marcia.blogspot.com/2016/11/p-e-c-e.html

I am praying for you today.  I'm praying for each person that is going through a time of grief and sadness.  I pray that the PEACE of GOD will guard your heart and mind. 

I've been through storms in life, too.

The day my mother died, she fell out of the chair that I used to sit in at the kitchen table.  We named the chair, "The Crying Chair,"  and the story I wrote about it and our family is published in the book,  A Cup of Comfort.

Click on image to enlarge

Click on image to enlarge

LINK:  http://tellmeastory-marcia.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-crying-chair.html

LINK: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show?id=253125702

A friend of mine said Mom didn't need The Crying Chair anymore because GOD wipes away all tears in Heaven.

The day Mom went to Heaven, my brother, Bret, called to tell me  Mom died. It took me about 40 minutes to get to Mom and Dad's house in Liberty, Missouri.  

I arrived at my parent's house and found Mom lying on the sofa in the living room, covered with a blanket, as if she had fallen asleep on the sofa.  The hospice nurse placed her there.  

I knelt beside the sofa and prayed.   I got up from my knees and  looked up.  There on the cornice board (the wooden valance) above the living room drapes were  large letters on  brightly colored  velvet posters that decorated the cornice board.  I recognized them as one of mom's coloring projects. 

LINK:  http://www.stuff2color.com/?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Stuff2Color%20Bing%20Campaign&utm_term=fuzzy%20color%20posters

The letters spelled out  P E A C E.

Mom so liked to have the last word.

This was her "Amen" to my prayer.

Mom always spoke her mind, and her vicious words often wounded me and others so much that it made me physically sick to my stomach after I visited her.  Mom never approved of our adoptions,  never accepted my chosen children as her grandchildren, and she let me and our entire family know it.    

My beautiful chosen children, daughters:  Sarah Zheng-Kang and Faith Fu Ju.  Copyright 2002 Marcia Norwood

My beautiful chosen children, daughters:  Sarah Zheng-Kang and Faith Fu Ju.  Copyright 2002 Marcia Norwood

 

I discussed this heartbreak with our wise adoption social worker, Margaret. 

Margaret  challenged me:  "Are you able to have a relationship with your mother without your young daughters being present?  Your first priority is to protect your daughters, but your mother is dying, and she hasn't always been this mean, has she?  Don't do or say something that you will regret the rest of your life."

Mom and Marcia (on left).  Copyright 1949 Marcia Norwood

Mom and Marcia.  Copyright 1970 Marcia Norwood

 

Mom made peace with GOD before she died, but she never apologized for the hurtful things she said to me and my chosen children, so I decided to trust JESUS to straighten her out when she got to Heaven.

Mom's last word left on the wood cornice board 

was  "P E A C E."

I received it, and I felt it, too:   the kind of PEACE that the world can't give, and the world can't take away.

GOD's PEACE.

LINK:  http://www.gty.org/resources/positions/P21/the-gift-of-peace

That is my prayer for you now.

P E A C E amid this storm - this sadness in your life.

Trust GOD to bring you through this.

Not everything is reconciled on this side of Heaven.  We have all eternity to make peace with each other.

For now keep your eyes on JESUS  

He will calm the storm in your heart.

He will never leave you.

Here are  some promises from The Holy Bible:

Philippians 4: 6-7

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to GOD, and the peace of GOD, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Isaiah 26:3
You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.

John 14:27
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

2 Corinthians 10:5
We demolish arguments  and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of GOD, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to CHRIST.

Ephesians 3:19
and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of GOD.

Philippians 4:19
And my GOD will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in CHRIST JESUS.

Colossians 3:15
Let the peace of CHRIST rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

1 Peter 1:5
...who through faith are shielded by GOD's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time,

and the peace of GOD, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through CHRIST JESUS.

Here are some songs for your heart and mind.

Let them minister to you.

HE KNOWS MY NAME

SONG LINK:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXKWsfbizB4

 

BECAUSE HE LIVES

SONG LINK:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M-zwE33zHA

AMAZING GRACE/MY CHAINS ARE GONE

SONG LINK:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M-zwE33zHA

Thanks for stopping by!

Come back often, and invite a friend! 

Mary Marcia
America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking

 http://tellmeastory-marcia.blogspot.com/

 

MY RED WOOL SUIT

Mary Marcia
America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking

Link:  http://tellmeastory-marcia.blogspot.com/2016/11/my-red-wool-suit.html

My Red Wool Suit 

My mother made a red wool suit for me in1967.
My red suit looked very much like
red wool suits worn by 
First Lady, Jackie Kennedy 
and actress, Lucille Ball. 

CLICK on image to enlarge. 

CLICK on image to enlarge. 

My grandson, Joshua, 

asked me to tell him a story 

that taught me a life lesson.  

It was an assignment 

from his high school English teacher for students 
to ask their grandparents about a life lesson.  

I told Joshua about my red wool suit.

CLICK on image to enlarge.  My grandson, Joshua    Copyright 2016 Kristin Stovall

My Red Wool Suit 

Mom made a double-breasted, red wool suit (skirt and jacket) for me to wear to my Homecoming Dance in 1967.  I was 17, and a senior at Liberty High School, in Liberty, Missouri.  Mom hated to shop, but she went with me, and let me pick out the fabric.  We found the perfect red wool fabric at the Jones’ Store in Independence.  I loved it…at first.

Mom was an excellent seamstress, and the red wool suit was beautifully  tailored.  All my friends at LHS talked about what they were wearing to Homecoming.  I was a bit embarrassed that my mom was sewing my homemade outfit.  Most of my friends had plenty of money, and shopped on the Country Club Plaza, or downtown Kansas City.  My friends bragged that they would be wearing the hottest color that year: maroon….a deep burgundy.  I never had a maroon/burgundy outfit, and I wanted one.

I pouted:  “Mom, all the girls are wearing burgundy outfits to Homecoming – except for me.  It’s not fair.”

MOM: “I made you a beautiful red wool suit.  I’m not going shopping again.”

I kept up the “poor me” barrage until Mom relented.  She gave me cash, and asked our neighbor, Fran, to take me shopping in Kansas City.    Fran helped me pick out a gorgeous maroon/burgundy dress.  It was double-breasted  with a unique, diagonal criss-cross in the back. 

I walked into the '67 Homecoming dance, and felt on top of the world in my trendy burgundy wool, tea-length dress.  All was wonderful until I spotted my friend, Irene, walking toward me wearing the exact same burgundy wool, tea-length dress.  She was just as appalled as I was.

Later that evening at home, I threw myself on the bed, and cried.

“I wish I’d worn the red wool suit that you made for me,” I said to Mom.

“You looked beautiful tonight, Marcia.  You’ll be able to wear the red wool suit another time.”

I did.  I wore the red wool suit to my first “real” job interview.  I got the job, and later my boss told me one of the reasons he hired me as a bond underwriter was my professional appearance. He specifically mentioned the red wool suit.

The day before Mom went to Heaven, in 2003, we said things to each other for the last time on this side of eternity.

“I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings about the red wool suit you made for me in high school,” I said.  “I loved that suit, and I’ve worn it so many times.  I was embarrassed back-in-the-day (36 years earlier) that you sewed it for me, but now that I’m older, and a mother myself, I realize what a precious gift you gave to me.”

Mom cried.

“I never told you...” she said.  “I never told you that I saved money from the jar I kept my grocery money in to buy the red wool fabric.  You complained there was no Coke or potato chips that week, but it was because I saved the money for your red wool suit.  When you changed your mind, and wanted a burgundy dress, I took money out of the grocery jar again.  Your dad and I went without meat for a month to pay for the $35 dress from Harzfelds.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

I cried.

“I didn’t want you to think we were poor.  We were rich in so many other ways.”

CLICK on image to enlarge.  Natalie Bush (Marcia's Mom) and Marcia.  Copyright 1970

CLICK on image to enlarge.  Marcia's Daughter, Kristin & Marcia.  Copyright 1992 Marcia Norwood

   

CLICK on image to enlarge.  Marcia's Mom Natalie (Left); Marcia (Center Back); Marcia's Granny Lucille (Right); Marcia's Daughter Kristin (Center Front).  Copyright 1970 Marcia Norwood

   Joshua remembers my mother, his great-grandmother,

who he called Mema.

Joshua was mom's first great-grandchild.

Josh was five years old when  Mema went to heaven.

CLICK on image to enlarge.  Marcia's  Grandson, Joshua (1997)  Copyright 1997 Marcia Norwood

      Joshua's birth in 1997, made me a grandmother, and my mother a  great-grandmother.   Joshua is the son of my first-born daughter, Kristin. The first night he came home from the hospital, I stayed at Kristin's house and slept on the sofa to help if I was needed. Sometime in the middle of the night Kristin brought Joshua to me, and he spent the night sleeping on my chest. 

      Joshua was just a toddler when I held him in my arms and he looked up at the ceiling fan - and then looked down at the pull string hanging from the fan. He looked up and down and up and down. Even then his brain was taking in information and processing it. 

      He has wisdom beyond the straight A's he has earned. Josh is smart without being haughty. He has a wicked sense of humor without being mean. 

CLICK on image to enlarge.  My grandson, Joshua    Copyright 2016 Kristin Stovall

    

     I am proud, in a godly way of my grandson, who now attends the University of Missouri on a full scholarship.  Joshua earned  an Air Force ROTC scholarship to attend the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri.  This scholarship is extremely difficult to qualify for.  The Air Force officer who presented Joshua with the scholarship said that it is as difficult to get as an appointment to the United States Air Force Academy.  The four year scholarship is estimated to be well over $100,000.  

CLICK on image to enlarge.  Emily, Dave, Kristin, Joshua and Caleb    Copyright 2016 Kristin Stovall

     My beautiful daughter, Kristin, and son-in-law, Dave, are amazing parents to my grandchildren:  Joshua Taylor, Emily Grace, and Caleb Edward. 

Thank you to all the mothers and fathers
who sacrifice and love their children 
even when they are unlovely. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Come back often, and invite a friend!

CLICK on image to enlarge. 

Marcia Norwood

America's STORYTELLER

Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking

 

CLICK on image to enlarge.