I don’t know if it is the rain that is bringing them out or what, but the other day my son comes running in from outside and says “Mom! There’s this huge spider outside!” I come outside to check, thinking he just might be pulling my leg, but no….there it is, crawling along the ground…the ugliest spider I have ever seen in my entire life. Now, it wasn’t as huge as some of the tarantulas I’ve seen on TV, nor as furry….but it was black, with a brown furry he ad

– and it was gross, gross gross!

I watched the thing crawl away from the house and willed it to never come back. But guess what. It has friends. And I’ve seen ‘em….and now, I don’t want to leave my house!

Okay, reason tells me that they’ve always been around, but in all the six years I’ve lived here, I’ve never seen one before.

I was happy in my ignorant bliss! Why did these dang tarantulas have to ruin it! Now, I find myself worrying about tarantulas in my house…I’m afraid to look in the dark corners and under the bed. And, I had a dream this morning about a tarantula dropping from the ceiling and landing on my face.

Yes, I have a serious case of paranoia.

I’ve been listening to a lot of music lately. I mean, I usually have it on in the background, but recently I’ve really been listening…letting the words wrap around my heart, the melody, the instrumentals.

Music has always been an important part of my life. When I was nine and first saw a highschooler playing the violin at our elementary school. I went home that same day and begged my parents to let me learn the violin. It called to me like nothing ever had and I knew I had to play it.

There’s a certain wonder when you put the bow to the string, when

you feel the resonation of the sound as it passes through the body of the violin, and the vibration of the strings under your fingertips. I know that sounds strange, but I truly believe in the healing power of music, whether you’re creating it or listening to it.

Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” is one of my favorite classical pieces. I mean, talk about an amazing composer! Using only instruments, he takes listeners on a journey through the changing seasons…from booming thunder, to chirping birds, to snowfall….it’s all there in that composition if you listen with your heart.

And lately, I’ve been hearing some amazing country songs. I can’t help but gush about Josh Gracin’s “Stay With Me (Brass Bed)”. Anyone else heard this song? Love, love, love it….the tone, the music, the words…everything. Oh! And Gary Allan’s“Best I Ever Had” is another song that just hits ‘ya in the heart.

The hero of my current WIP wrestles with some major home issues. He wants a home — a place to really belong — even though he tells himself he doesn’t need one. His theme song has become Steven Curtis Chapman’s “When Love Takes You In”. I’ll leave you with the first verse/chorus of this amazing song:

I know you’ve heard the stories
But they all sound too good to be true
You’ve heard about a place called home
But there doesn’t seem to be one for you
So one more night you cry yourself to sleep
And drift off to a distant dream

Where love takes you in and everything changes
A miracle starts with the beat of a heart
When love takes you home and says you belong here
The loneliness ends and a new life begins
When love takes you in