Sandra Heska King

daring to open doors

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When You Can’t Say Goodbye

February 12, 2015 By Sandra Heska King

goodbye

  Dear Nduta, You know that letter I wrote? You won’t get it. Nor will you get your birthday card because I mailed it too late. I got the news this week that you’ve moved away from the area where Compassion works. It was such a shock, and I can’t tell you how sad we are […]

Filed Under: Blog, Compassion International, Dominican Republic, stories

Still Saturday: How to be More Compassionate

January 24, 2015 By Sandra Heska King

bluebird

  “Silent solitude makes true speech possible and personal. If I am not in touch with my own belovedness, then I cannot touch the sacredness of others. Experience has taught me that I connect best with others when I connect with the core of myself. When I allow God to liberate me from unhealthy dependence […]

Filed Under: Blog, Still Saturday

Compassion International: The Wait is Over

November 5, 2014 By Sandra Heska King

“My friends have all received their sponsors, so my heart feels sad because I don’t yet have a sponsor of my own.” This video moved me to tears. I hope I’m not totally puddled when I get to share the stories of face-to-face meetings. In January, I’ll pack my camera and my laptop when I […]

Filed Under: Blog, stories, stories and reflections

Compassion: What Makes My Blood Boil?

July 11, 2014 By Sandra Heska King

    I stretch out under a crisp white sheet on a soft mattress, head sinking into the pillow. A student will do the procedure today. She applies the electrodes. One… two… three. “Yay, they’re warm,” I say. She cocks her head. “They are? Oh, they were sitting next to the machine.” “You should store […]

Filed Under: Blog, book studies

hope, compassion and the son of god

February 27, 2014 By Sandra Heska King

Kenya calls me, tugs at my heart. And that year, 2012, Compassion was leading a sponsor tour over my birthday. I could meet Nduta, our sponsored girl. Perfect timing in my eyes. In MY eyes. But compassion isn’t confined to Kenya. It hollows hearts in the most unlikely places, at the most unlikely times–when your […]

Filed Under: service, stories, stories and reflections

Dear Sponsor

September 26, 2012 By Sandra Heska King

Dear New Sponsor, I’ve waited so long. So very long. I wondered what was wrong with me that nobody cared. I had almost lost hope. But then you reached out all the way across the world. You said you love me. And I cry. My mother cries, too. We cry because we are happy now. […]

Filed Under: stories and reflections

When You’re Mashed in the Making

August 31, 2012 By Sandra Heska King

I toast a sourdough muffin golden, two halves, and slather them with butter and mounds of strawberry freezer jam. I love the color of strawberries mashed in the making. Jeweled jam. And red, to me, is the color of hope. I steep a cup of Earl Grey Green, inhale the fragrance of bergamot, and settle […]

Filed Under: stories and reflections

A Chicken for Christmas

December 20, 2011 By Sandra Heska King

  That’s what my husband’s getting. Because he doesn’t need anything. He’ll tell you that himself. And I’m into simple and meaningful this year. And short on time. Or maybe I’ll give him a hammer and a saw. Well, not directly to him. To someone who knows what to do with them. And Grace Face? […]

Filed Under: stories and reflections

Window on Writing: The Tenderized Heart

May 11, 2011 By Sandra Heska King

Heart tenderized pounded thin and seasoned with sadness marinates in grief swells with love and drips compassion.   Tenderly,     Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each […]

Filed Under: poetry, stories and reflections

Compassion~In More Than 140 Characters

January 2, 2011 By Sandra Heska King

Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else’s skin. It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you, too. ~Frederick Buechner In His compassion, He entered our skin. It was […]

Filed Under: stories and reflections

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Meet Sandra

I’m Sandra, a camera-toting, recovering doer who’s learning to be. still. Read more…

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sandraheskaking

A tale of two iguanas... I did not see the iguana A tale of two iguanas... I did not see the iguana in the background until I downloaded the photos. That, I believe, is the one that got caught in one of the openings in the neighbor's chain link fence. We tried in several (safe) ways to dislodge it without luck and could think of no other option but to leave it. Somehow it apparently dislodged itself. We also believe this is the pair that was getting into another neighbor's garden. We haven't seen either one since the last cold snap, so we are wondering if they survived. 
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Thinking some may have tumbled from their perches last night. Pretty sure it will be raining iguanas tonight since we are under a frost advisory. It's cold. And windy.
Just sing... sing a song... Singing our way into Just sing... sing a song... 

Singing our way into the weekend.
"We don't just see. We learn to see." ~ Russ Ramse "We don't just see. We learn to see." ~ Russ Ramsey in Rembrandt is in the Wind
Now you see me... now you don't. Now you see me... now you don't.
"I started looking and listening. I realized that "I started looking and listening. I realized that work, like life, is shot through with poetry. It was everywhere. I was so taken with what I discovered that I wrote a book about it." @gyoung9751 
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Whether you work in an office, a retail store, a restaurant, or at home... Whether you work on roads or on power lines, or on high buildings...Whether you collect trash or preach sermons, or care for your kiddos. Whether you do art, or weave words, or take photos of a common gallinule AKA moorhen AKA swamp chicken--it's all shot through with poetry.
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So pay attention. Find a poem.
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Read more at https://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/2023/01/10/its-poetry-at-work-day-2023/
Rising… Rising…
Everyone needs a little balance in life. And maybe Everyone needs a little balance in life. And maybe a beauty routine. And breakfast. Especially breakfast. I wonder if it consists of a few fire ants. I hope so. (Well, not mine. I'm having oatmeal with chia seeds. What are you having this morning?)
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P.S. Happy Friday!
"Though your destination is not yet clear You can "Though your destination is not yet clear You can trust the promise of this opening; Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning That is at one with your life's desire." ~John O'Donohue 
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A blessing for a new beginning in a new year. I'm sure he wrote it especially for me. At least I'm claiming it. Maybe it will speak to you, too.
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Also, I'd really like this skirt --> 
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Read the whole poem--> -->
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Well, bummer... The whole page didn't print. Read it in the comments below.
"What precocity, a bird half the size Of an Anjou "What precocity, a bird half the size
Of an Anjou pear." ~ Stephen Kuusisto in "The Mockingbird on Central" (Find it in The Poets Guide to the Birds edited by Judith Kitchen and Ted Kooser)
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"The morning pages are the primary tool of creative recovery." ~ Julia Cameron in The Artist's Way. 
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I've been in a long creative drought, so I started morning pages--again. This time I've got a bit of an accountability group through @refineretreat's Refinery--which I finally also joined this year. I'll turn 74 this month. I'm not ready to grow old while I age--though everything does seem to take longer while time goes by faster.
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#aweandwonder #tsaweandwonder
Tonight’s walk in the neighborhood. I’m still Tonight’s walk in the neighborhood. I’m still kinda amazed that out of all the places we could have ended up after moving from a place I said I’d never move from), here we are—planted right next to the northern Everglades. Six-plus years, and I still shake my head in wonder.
"So fancy is the world..." ~ Mary Oliver in "This "So fancy is the world..." ~ Mary Oliver in "This World." #aweandwonder #tsaweandwonder
Look, Mom! I can walk on water! #aweandwonder #tsa Look, Mom! I can walk on water! #aweandwonder #tsaweandwonder
Gazing into 2023 like… Let’s take it step by Gazing into 2023 like… 
Let’s take it step by step with hope and courage. Also I hope to be posting again more often.
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Happy New Year!
The morning before the last morning of 2022. 🌴 The morning before the last morning of 2022. 
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71 degrees. Heading to 83. I can live with that.
From the top of Brasstown Bald—the highest point From the top of Brasstown Bald—the highest point in Georgia at 4784 feet.
Winding roads… Winding roads…
Tonight's moon. It's kinda okay. Tonight's moon. It's kinda okay.
Don’t mind me. Just storking by. Don’t mind me. Just storking by.
I’ve gotten several messages asking if things we I’ve gotten several messages asking if things were okay. Yes. I’ve recovered after 3 weeks in Covid jail. Also, I’ve been a bit scarce on social cuz we’ve been finishing up house renovations, and there is SO much that now needs to be cleaned and stuff put away. Also, we’ve had the second oldest grand with us for two weeks. I “should have” at least shared some stories about our adventures, but we’ve relished the time and kept busy. One can’t leave South Florida without a gator encounter, though, right? Tomorrow the two of us fly back to Michigan, and then I will spend a week with my sister where I expect I will be put to work in the chicken house and the gardens and become a glad(iola) roadside proprietor for a day at the Four Star in while she and my BIL attend a family reunion. I’ll also get to see my dad in the nursing home and spend a couple nights with my daughter. D will hold down the fort here. Then maybe by the first of next month, I’ll be able to finish putting things in order, breathe, find some writing space and get back to normal. Whatever that is.
I tossed and turned all night. And then the storm I tossed and turned all night. And then the storm started. I finally got up about 5ish and sat outside to watch. Until a couple mosquitoes found me. Also, the jasmine hadn’t gone to bed yet and smelled heavenly.
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