Treasure Beyond Price!

Today I found some treasures so precious I can't stop the tears.
I am SUPPOSED to be cleaning house, because a son is bringing a person special to him to meet us (and I am SO nervous!)
I got a box of my Granny's photo albums while we were in Texas. I intend to give the pictures to those they will mean the most to, and make a memory book on Shutterfly of my Granny, for all her kids and grandkids to get copies of.
However, I haven't had time to go through the albums and look, as we have been so busy with gardens and such. Today I went to move the box into a more suitable location than my living room floor, so that I can (eventually) vacuum. I just had to look.
 So much for house cleaning.!

Many of the albums were "loose leaf", and several were the 'magnetic' (sticky) kind. I checked several photo backs... most aren't labeled. But behind a couple of pictures, I found handwritten pages. Opening these folded pages- songs my Granny had written. These were in her own precious (left handed!) writing. Songs I never heard her sing! These will have to go into the shutterfly memory book. But here they are now!

 Yes, the writing is faded and the script mostly illegible.
Here are the words, to the best of my deciphering:

A Song The Lord is my Shepherd (By Arretta Gibson Beard)
The Lord is my shepherd
I shall not want
He leadeth me Night and Day
He watches over me where ever I go
And leadeth me every step of the way
Though (indecipherable) (dark shadows?)
may gather around me
He gave me the courage to say
Dear Lord not my will be don(e)
But thy will be  (indecipherable)(born?)
I whispered Lord and I hear Him say
 My child I come for thee
to take you home with me to stay!

**************
A Mountain Climber For Jesus (By Arretta Gibson Beard)
Wouldn't you like to be a mountain climber for Jesus
Away up in the skies?
A mountain climber,
 A mountain climber
Higher than the skies
If you only live for Jesus.
You would be a mountain climber
higher than the skies.
Your robes of sin
would be spotless white.
Friends of mine
If you would only believe in Jesus,
You would climb that mountain higher than the skies
It would take us home to glory
By and By.
************
Oh how my Granny loved to sing, and God gave her so many songs.
I thank my Aunt Jean and Cousin Jeanie for passing the albums on to me.
I am trying to get addresses for the people I recognize that may like to know Granny saved and cherished your pictures!

Tommy's Poem

Tommy wrote this poem when he was in second grade. His poem was professionally judged in a contest, and he represented the second graders of Central High Elementary at the district awards ceremony. His poem was published in a book- which I failed to get a copy of that day!

Beans and Grits

by Tommy (1999)

The Chisolm Trail

was very long.

The people who built it

were very strong.

Dirt flies in the air

and gets in the

Cowboys eyes

and mouths.

Beans and Grits

are

Good for You.

"Stupid Spelling Words Make Stupid Poetry"

Here are Daniel and Sam's Spelling Word Poems... plus one of my own I did in college:

He Drove Home With A Broken Arm

by Sam

He smoked the stone

til he broke his bone

Then drove home.

The Stupid Poem

by Dan

He drove home

with a stove

that smoked

and his dog

had a bone

of stone.

Stone

by Tammy (1979)

Stone Dead

Stone Cold

Stone Dawn

We're Alone

Stone Sober.

Hey, my college teacher gave me an "A" on my poem. It was a five minute 'exercise' using an assigned word. So I told the twins they each get an "A" on their poems... PLUS get them published on the internet!

Come to think of it- the teacher who gave me the "A" was the one who told me I had better to look at some other profession- I couldn't write worth $***

Schuyler Etheridge... she killed many people's hopes of becoming writers. As a college teacher, she was more critic than mentor. After her course, I didn't write for ten years.