"Jesus, Tender Shepherd" and the Best Earache Remedy

The other night our almost 4 year old woke up in the middle of the night with an earache.


I bet it was from swimming every day during the hot weather that we had.


My old stand-by remedy is to crush a clove of garlic and then mix it with a tiny bit of water to create somewhat of a paste.


I dab the garlic paste onto the outside of her ear with a cotton swab.


I do not go into the ear canal, but I do dab it onto the earlobe.


Then I warm a rice-filled sock or just a plain dry cloth and hold it onto her ear.


I usually put a drop of peppermint oil on the sock or cloth, but our teenage daughter was using it for cramps and she wasn't at home at the time.


So this time I just used a warm cloth.

Then I gave her reflexology on the bottom top half of her foot (the side that the earache was on)~the toes and the area just underneath the toes.

I use firm pressure with my fingers and thumb.


Of course, this little child came into our bed and I asked her if she wanted me to sing her a song.


She did.




She chose "Jesus, Tender Shepherd" which is a bedtime song that my grandparents sung to me and all of my cousins.


All of us cousins still love that song to this day and we fondly connect to each other whenever it is brought up.


It is a favorite with all of our children, too!


Our little 'earache child' went to sleep shortly after and she slept the rest of the night!
Here are the words to our favorite bedtime song, which is actually a prayer but we have always known it with a little tune.


"Jesus, Tender Shepherd"

Jesus, Tender Shepherd, hear me;
Bless thy little lamb tonight;
Through the darkness be Thou near me,
Keep me safe till morning light.

All this day thy hand has led me,
And I thank thee for thy care;
Thou has warmed me, clothed and fed me;
Listen to my evening prayer!

Let my sins be all forgiven;
Bless the friends I love so well:
Take us all at last to heaven,
Happy there with thee to dwell.

If by chance you happen to see one of us 'Storm' relatives and you want to know the tune, we would be delighted to share it with you!

May God bless your days and your nights!

PS. Don't you just adore the painting? I found it on http://www.allposters.com/ and the original was painted by Bartholome Esteban Murillo.

The title is called, "Christ Child as Shepherd"

I am putting it on my list of favorites.

The Little Shepherdess

My very longest and dearest friend, Sarah, and I spent Saturday morning together celebrating her birthday. We met at the Antique Mall and enjoyed the next 2 hours roaming in and out of antique booths. We had so much fun! I found an antique book called "The King's Daughters" for one of my teenage daughters for Christmas. It has a red embossed cloth cover and was only $2.00. I have learned to love books from my Mom who has passed that love down to me!

I was happy as a little lark and would have walked around that day as if on a cloud just from that little 'book' find. But.....

I happened to spy a real blue fox fur stole in one booth. Of course, I had to try it on! And of course, the color was perfect for me! And the price was perfect, too! I bought it! I was having so much fun that it felt like MY birthday!

Sarah found a little boy's leather belt with a brass 'bull' buckle. She was happy to find that for one of her boys for Christmas.

I wanted to find some vintage buttons for my sewing and Linda was so very helpful. She showed me 2 booths with fun, pretty buttons and I so enjoyed sifting through all of the packages. I ended up going home with 3 nice little packages of pretty buttons.

It really was feeling like my birthday! I hope Sarah was having as much fun as I was! She said she was. I think she was happy just to see me having so much fun!

So then Sarah and I spotted a vintage feather boa wreath that we thought was so sweet. I said "I shoud just make that myself," which is what I usually say but have learned that I do not always get the darn thing made! So as we are wandering, Sarah spies a white vintage feather boa in another booth. So I add that to my growing pile. (I could get 2 wreaths made out of that 1 boa!)

We turn the corner and we spy this gorgeous oil painting in a gorgeaus antique frame and I absolutely fell in love with it! I would love to hang this beautiful painting above my fireplace!
Of course, it is priced way beyond my budget at this time, but I could not stop thinking about this painting! It reminds me of one of my favorite poems that I posted earlier, 'The Lamb."

It is called "The Little Shepherdess" and the original painting was done by Johann Baptist Hofner in 1866. (I went home and did a little research!) At one time it was auctioned at Christie's of London, so I had to check out their site, too!

I have learned to appreciate art as a homeschooling mom and expose it to my children through books and art calendars, but now I really want some on my wall!
Sarah is actually quite knowledgeable about oil paintings. She knew right away that the painting in the antique mall was not the original but was a copy of the original painted by someone else. I was so impressed!

So now, I am enjoying educating myself on fine art! I don't really need the original as it is just but a dream. I would be very happy with a fake that looked real!
This is so far my favorite painting:

This is a picture of the original painting that I found on the internet.

The reason I love it is because, to me, it reflects God's love for His children and I love children and I love lambs and I love nature and I LOVE this painting!

Sarah and I had a good day! It really felt like MY birthday!