thumb prayers update

I have now created sixteen Thumb Prayers. As I created each one I prayed about and for the recipient – some known, some unknown. I have given one away. Others will soon be given as I move through Lent, and as I travel to Arizona for a few days.

This is been very much a quieting practice. A prayer-filled time when I stop, pray, and create a Thumb Prayer.

Last December I had to cancel a trip to Arizona to visit my sister and brother. I was too ill to travel. Worse was the fact no one could figure out what was wrong. Pretty much nothing was ever determined to be the cause. Still, I had to cancel a long-planned trip, a difficult thing for me to do.

Now it’s make-up trip time! I begin my journey today, and while it will be a short visit, I’ll be with my sister and brother the entire time. For a few days we will live together in my sister’s home. We have come to relish sibling vacations.

We have some plans in place – their 76th birthday celebration most especially, and time with family who live nearby. Other adventures will present themselves as we move through the next few days. We are really good at recognizing opportunities for adventure and play, and then embracing these. I’m so ready!

I love traveling to Arizona. It’s a real change of environment from my Georgia land of hills and trees. I won’t see much of either of those. What I will see, though, will be vast expanses of desert, cacti, and awesome sunsets. And citrus trees everywhere, likely laden with fruit this time of year.

I recall traveling with my family in the 50’s, driving “down” to Phoenix at night as we descended from the higher elevations above Phoenix. Those days air conditioning was not an option, so we drove often at night. The bonus was the almost overpowering scent of orange blossoms.  I will never forget it! On that trip I purchased a small bottle of orange perfume. Of course it was no where as wonderful as the real thing, but back home in Colorado it came pretty close.

Come along!

Traveling mercies.