Feast of the Annunciation - and another note

 Blessed Feast of the Annunciation! 

(This icon is from The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Annunciation of the Theotokos - Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America - Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America)  "Happiness comes not when we reluctantly accept a new situation, a burdensome challenge or difficult responsibility, but when we embrace it and thank God for the opportunity to grow. Mary did not simply resign herself to her fate. She saw God acting, God loving, God offering, and she whole-heartedly embraced the new reality and burst into a song of praise and thanksgiving. She found true happiness in a life filled with gratitude." -- Thomas J. Paris

And today I also remember my grandmother - I never knew her in person . . . she died when my mother and her younger brothers were children, but her spirit always lived in our house. She was the seventh of ten children, the sixth girl. Her father wanted a child to have his name, so he said, "Boy or girl, the next child would be named Joseph Adams Harris."  The eighth child was also a girl, but then two boys . . . he should have waited! 

Everyone called my grandmother Joe. We heard so many stories about her - when she was a tiny child, she asked her mother "does God see us?" She played mumblety peg, taught school in Ignorant Valley in East Texas and then music in Houston and then went to work as a secretary for an insurance company - seven years later, she married the boss, our grandfather John F. Scott. Fourteen years later she died following surgery to repair a stomach ulcer . . . in the days before antibiotics.

The Scotts attended Christ Church in Houston. Following her death the priest, the Rev. James P. DeWolfe wrote, "Mrs. John F. Scott entered Paradise on the 25th day of March,1935 - a consecrated woman of high vision and purpose, a devoted wife and mother. Mrs. Scott's character and Christian example was a constant source of inspiration to all who knew her. She was untiring in her efforts for the development of the Kingdom of God in this world. Her devotion to the Altar and to those central realities of our religion was outstanding. For a number of years, she was as an active member of the Ladies Parish Association and Altar Guild and served on many committees and thru many activities of those organizations. Year after year she was constant and faithful as a member of the choir. She remained Christ's faithful soldier and servant to her life's end."

She lives in my heart - and yes, her spirit lives in my house, too!