May
26-30, 2005
Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.
Malachi 3.16
Whatever you're "memorializing" or remembering this Memorial Day weekend, I pray the LORD will encourage you and that you will be comforted if you are facing loss or grieving loss of loves ones. Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day, a day set aside to remember those who died in service to our country.
Thy name, O LORD,
endureth for ever;
and thy memorial,
O LORD,
throughout all generations.
Psalm 135.13
O, what I wish I knew when I was twenty-something or thirty-something when I thought everyone else was old---too old. O, to hold on to the confidence of the twenty-something's and the confident-purpose of the thirty something's..... a website: Choosing Home. I think I have been where Amy was...
Amy's Humble Musings... on the same day I was where Barbara was.
May 25, 2005 This day's computer time's been spent updating links and adding articles.
I received a couple of mails this morning that were of great encouragement! One from a friend who was announcing another pregnancy. This was especially wonderful news as she and her husband have longed for children and while they've experienced tremendous disappointment and grief in the loss of their first child, they have great joy with their daughter... they never thought she'd be able to conceive as she has PCOS---a condition that makes conception very difficult---so I smiled and cried as I read her mail... "...pregnant!" She's grateful also for a significant weightloss and good health! No intervention, no Clomid... it was the LORD's doing! She's bubbling over with joy.... no matter what the LORD chooses to do here. We rejoice with them!
Do you know that tomorrow is Barbara (Mommy Life)'s thirty-ninth birthday? I know... I know... I think that's what she told me: thirty-nine! Maybe you could send her a greeting. And wish her a very very happy thirty-ninth birthday!
May 24, 2005 Another May recital... another year has passed. Something strangely sad to me was that I was not going to hear my daughter play in the recital---instead, I was attending the recital of a few of her students along with her former teacher's students. I smiled as I saw the young girls and boys shyly introducing themselves and then nervously playing the pieces they had so flawlessly played earlier in the day. I smiled at the way they exuberantly tackled the difficult pieces. I recalled the wedding of the parents of a few of the pianists. I do this a lot lately as I ponder the swift passage of time. As I sat and listened, I fought tears as I recalled the "favourites" of young children----The Indian Song or Raindance (that song, that now makes me smile, drove me nuts at the time---hearing through 5 students). When the children would slip up, I resisted the urge to say out loud: it's okay, you're doing fine! I did say that to mothers who sort of apologized for their child's "mistakes" after the recital because they don't yet know that they'll one day smile at those "mistakes" and long to hear them again. My younger friends probably get weary hearing me say that it all goes by so fast. I remember years ago nodding in agreement to women commenting that motherhood goes by so fast. I really had no idea what they were talking about. Just as I thought *they* had no idea what *I* was going through at the time. I thought they probably didn't have an understanding of "these days." I've been wrong about a lot of things... that was one of them. The older women remembered where they had been and they were trying to tell me what I *thought* I knew... and they (God bless them) smiled. They wisely kept to themselves things only they could know. They knew then what I am learning now.
Our daughter so capably teaching her students, escorted them to the front of the sanctuary and introduced them. The grand piano loomed large behind them. Then, Gaye, who had been her own teacher, and one of my dearest friends, escorted her students and encouraged them as each one stepped up to play. As the familiar "beginner" songs were played, I was seeing in the theater of my mind, my daughter---once a nervous little girl who dedicated herself to practicing and playing those same pieces---now part of the legacy my friend will leave behind. I was so glad for all the recitals and all the time she invested in Kathryn (and our other children). Now I was seeing Kathryn investing time and love into her young students who want to be like their teacher---just as Kathryn wanted to be like hers. I was seeing the cycle of life... we all move on.
May 23, 2005 So that happened. Now I'm home attempting to accomplish a few things here. I had a visit to the doctor this morning... So, suffice it to say: ladies, dear sisters in the Lord: exercise. Do that exercise you know you ought to do every day. It's sort of like brushing and flossing your teeth, you may not feel like it, but if you don't floss, you won't have teeth to floss when you're old. What did our friend's dentist say regarding the importance of flossing teeth? Only floss the ones you want to keep. I know that's a simplistic answer... but one worth heeding. Well, if I could've been persuaded when I was a young wife... I wish someone had persuaded me to listen---but then, it's a private matter, I suppose. So... the mantra: Drink water, take your vitamins and do kegel exercises. (thank you for that, mother! I'm sorry I didn't get it about the water)
May 22, 2005
for my family and readers of this blog...
And this I pray, that your love may
abound yet more and more
in knowledge and in all judgment;
That ye may approve things that are
excellent;
that ye may be sincere and
without offence till the day of Christ;
Being filled with the fruits
of righteousness, which are by
Jesus Christ,
unto the glory and praise of God.
Philippians 1.9-11
May 21, 2005 So that happened. And now, we're home again. More on my "Journaling a bit of Thankfulness" later on. Trips to Costco and Cash 'n Carry (Restaurant Supply) and Home Depot always end up, instead of just shopping, being sort of sticker shocking. So, a day of shopping always renders the same conclusion: our fridge is not the same size as our van or a packed Costco shopping cart --- consequently, the fridge always has to be cleaned and arranged. A long time ago I labeled the inside of the fridge with a magic marker, basically indicating where everything should go and everyone does a better job putting items on the right shelf. But the tupperware container of caramel topping, regardless what shelf it was on, resting on its side and slowly emptying out down the back wall of the fridge, made quite an impression. I was impressed that it was so evenly coating the back wall and base of the fridge under the bottom drawer. Well, happily the drawer removes easily... but then requires the disassembly of the shelf top and a few of those pesky knobs. I was thinking: What, was the engineer who designed the drawer compartment contraption mad at his mother? his wife? the world? Did he, on purpose, design a difficult fridge---was it pay-back? And what about those plastic knobs? Planned obsolescence. Sort of like HP printers and Huffy bicycles. And Cherokee shoes that feel great for the first two days and then become practically impossible to keep on one's feet. Now I know why they're called mules.
We had such a blessed time with friends last night. Seems we spent the entire evening marveling... catching up on old things, new things---friends old and new. Their kids are growing faster than ours. ;-) I found myself thinking: when did *you* grow up? Weren't you *just* a baby yesterday? Well, with their oldest daughter going off to college in the fall, yesterday was a long time ago and there've been many yesterdays in between. We talked about a lot of them.
I heard that our friend, Jenn, has written a book that will be released in July. I find myself wondering: Omygoodness, where has the time gone? She was just in highschool... no, wait, she was just married... just had her first baby. But no. It's been awhile and since then and there have been babies and family---she's written a book: The Velveteen Mommy. You can read more here.
Time to gather tomorrow... Sunday still is a day set apart from the other days. We fellowship with other believers in homes as opposed to attending a morning service. We meet about three and have our meal around five. It's pretty comfortable that way and allows for time here at home for the morning and time for reading and for practicing our singing together. It's sometimes comical---though we attempt to be serious. Since my range is somewhere around the baseline, and Timothy's is in the basement and Hannah's is somewhere near the top floor, we sort of have the 'basics' covered. Bless Wes... he attempts to teach me harmony... actually, he's been teaching me that in many ways for many years. You can tell, from my experience and ability with musical terms and theory, I'm not the top performer in our family. Kathryn endures my hunt and peck method of singing when I haven't learned the part. I love those songs where there's sort of a crescendo and everyone can just pick a note and belt it out. Mahalia Jackson never minds when I sing along with her...
May 20, 2005
A day of journaling a bit of thankfulness
I'm so grateful to my husband who saw what I was seeing---in fact, before I saw the road the LORD was setting before me. He's encouraged me to develop these interests through the years and has been my strong inspiration for the work of this site and for my writing what the LORD places on my heart. He's the one who always figures everything out. This all blesses me because it's been a fun pursuit along with the other things that fill my life. I've loved being his wife, his companion and help...and I love him more with each passing day. We've been blessed ten thousand times over and more than I could ever have imagined. When I stop to consider what the LORD has done for me, it takes my breath away and I stand in awe of the grace of God through Jesus, my Redeemer. I've not stepped out from the place the LORD's designed, but in accordance with God's plan for our family, I'm walking the path set before me and it's with my husband's encouragement that I do it, so, I'm very grateful for all of these marvelous blessings. (Ps. 118.23)
This is the LORD'S doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
One of the great blessings of the net and of books and websites is *people* --- real people we've met and the real people we've met but have never actually seen face to face. Sometimes I'm overcome with joy for the ways the LORD has worked and the privileges and blessings He's lavished on us in and through the communications with Christian sisters and families in different places in the world. It's unfathomable to me what He's done in the last six or so years. He's allowed so many different contacts... many women He's used to encourage me, to instruct and to guide... I think of one of my first net friends... Sandy and all the ways she's been inspirational to me to write and to help women; then I think of Rebekah, who really inspired us in the matter of Hopechests for our daughters and even for sons. This teaching has had profound influence in our home. I'm grateful for
The Hope Chest: A Legacy of
Love by Rebekah Wilson. I'm thankful to Barbara Curtis and for her writings that have encouraged me in so many meaningful ways.
O, one of the great traps for mothers of many children is the trap of complacency on the one hand and weariness on the other. O, how we must guard against slackness... that we really and truly need to be and remain encouraged to be steadfast and earnestly working to improve and grow along with our children... especially the last of the crop, so to speak. Poor little dears don't get as much of the physical sprinting, but I pray they get much more of the loving encouragement that comes with time. I'm beginning to think that as much colour leaves the hair, much more colour is filling the mind and what was once seen as rich colour on the outside is no longer spent there and is, instead, colour on the inside---I'm beginning to think that the gray indicates that. Also, that that instrument of time that I referred to the other day, is really put to use... the instrument that has an eraser on one end and a broad brush on the other. That broad brush nicely shades some of those rough spots and delicately blends some pretty jagged edges.
Well, so then, I sure am grateful to Karla Dornacher, whose work I so admire because it's inspirational! I recall thinking that someday when I write a book, I so want the content to be as beautiful as the illustrations in her books. I have many other blessings on my selves... gifts from women I've met on the net, women who've blessed my days and sparked new flames of loving work here in our home. You see, sometimes we get a bit weary of the trek and even have lapses of memory as to what's really important. Sometimes we weary of continually and constantly pouring into each little vessel entrusted unto us. So, then, it's books like
Raising
Maidens
of
Virtue: by
Stacy
McDonald (You can read
a
Sample
Chapter
from
this
new
book
here) that help infuse a new focus in walking with my daughters. I very much appreciate what's gone into the writing and publishing of her book and am thankful to have this valuable book for our daughters. All of these have blessed me and, in turn, become a blessing to the children. I just received yesterday afternoon, Laurie Latour's,
Classic Prayers for Children (classicprayers.com). Laurie's work to bring this book to print has been an encouragement to me as I've never forgotten a precious book I had as a little girl. It was a book of Christian Poems for children and I have long known that the LORD has His hand on my life from a young age though I didn't accept Him as LORD until late in my teens. So... I pray this little book of prayers will be an encouragement for our children. It's antique looking binding and print is as endearing to them as it is to me. There are more and I'll take the time to share those thoughts later on.
Another note: I am thankful to "Spunky" for the encouragement regarding RC Sproul. Now---one thing's for sure... I never have and never want to get into using this blog to do some net slinging----that said, I do freely and not-so-freely comment on what *I* see concerning what's going on in print, on the net or on radio. Personal opinions---not attempting to teach doctrine or whathaveyou. Glad to see the gracious way (05-09-05) RC handled the women-bloggers-titus-2-infractions-by-teaching-men-etc.,-etc. So... he's just elevated himself a couple dozen degrees in my notebook. Well, if I had a tally log, I'd do it, that is. Thanks, Spunky; and thanks, RC. (Though we'll never meet this side of heaven)
I was reading this morning and came to the verse in 1Chronicles that reads: "And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested. (1Chronicles 4.10) That prayer was (before it became the much publicized chant and piece of Bible merchandizing propaganda) such an encouragement to me. It still is, though tainted by the magic-formula: "pray the prayer of Jabez." I think that what probably started out as a very sincere prayer by Bruce Wilkerson quickly turned into an almost nauseating mantra. His writings have become pretty sensational. I'm not so sure where he's coming from or where he's going with it all. I know that, for me ( I read through the book when it came out), it was a distraction and detracted from the great encouragement the passage held for me. When I read it, I still ask the LORD as Jabez did, and I pray this for my family : I do seek the blessing of the LORD, His protection from evil, that His hand would be with me and with each in my family, that He would enlarge our coast, and that what we do would not be grievous to us or to Him.
May 19, 2005 So... ripping right through another month---the way I'm beginning to see it, when the teens of the month are past, the month's over, for all intents and purpose. But wait---we still have this weekend and then Memorial Day Weekend---always a blessing! (More on that later!) and, well, we've got *today!*
I tell ya---the freezer is giving me troubles---yes, troubles, like hunger, world peace, cures for cancer, and rebellious youth. So... I'm having a Diet DP---which I have (one) each day. Diet DoctorPepper for those who do not know me other than virtually---virtually or virtuously---whichever you thought you read first. Anyway---so the next thing to go was the icemaker. Now, you have to know that the icemaker broke, I am not kidding, a day or so after I gave away the ice trays. I gave away the ice trays bcz I would *never* use them and they had a habit of falling out of the cabinet because due to their various sizes and design, they didn't neatly stack in my very well ordered cabinets. Well... so really, they didn't ever stack even when they were used for their intended purpose. So I had to get rid of them. They were a nuisance. SO, now that the icemaker does not work, I need them. I know the solution to the icemaker need... stop drinking DP's. Well then, the next trouble is that the metal shelves which are held in place by plastic "knobs" have started leaning. They lean for awhile bcz of the one knob that's broken off at each level. Over time, another knob breaks and the whole shelf no longer leans, it slants... slants down to the next level. Well, this has happened many times---well, eight times, actually, so this renders two shelves useless. Pretty soon if all the shelf "knobs" break off, the freezer portion of the side-by-side refrigerator could serve as a broom closet---well, it'd be a pretty chilly broom closet. But I'm so resourceful, dontchaknow. One good thing about having the giant bucket of Cascade Glacier ice cream in the freezer is that a shelf can be set on top of the bucket and space can be utilized. Okay, so how'd I get to talking about the need for an icemaker and the freezer? Oh... so my new treat is to use frozen raspberries as ice cubes in my DP. It's actually quite delicious. I think I might've sugared this particular ZipLoc bag of berries a bit more than usual last summer. I usually put in about a 1/2 cup of sugar per gallon freezer bag full of raspberries or strawberries. Anyway---totally defeats the purpose of drinking calorie free beverage. But at the end on the drink, there's a nice scoop of nearly thawed raspberries to eat. Ended up being a nice dessert---especially since I didn't eat any Moose Tracks Ice cream.
(¨`·.·´¨)
`·.¸(¨`·.·´¨)
`·.¸.·´
May 18, 2005 Well, so all that happened. Actually, so much has happened in the years since Mount St. Helen's erupted on May 18, 1980---o-wow---how time flies! We only had one child at that time... whodda thunk...
I'm still not on track this week---glad it's only -gasp- Wednesday. Going to lunch today at the Cabbage Patch. So thankful for the restoration of that quaint restaurant since it was nearly destroyed by fire last year. It's a wonderful place with delicious foods! The website does not reflect the major change and renovation of the restaurant... but it's still got the listings of the things for which the Cabbage Patch is famous.
So, I was reading Barbara's blog---which I try to get to each day---and found it interesting that she was commenting on Sproul's blog and another blog she referenced regarding blogging and full quiver stuff among other things. It's always interesting to me how far the silence of women and teaching speaking goes. It could all get ridiculous---really. I mean, for example, I gave directions to a *man* the other day. I told him in what direction he ought to be heading. Nevermind. So, I followed Barbara's links, first to Marla Swoffer, and then to RC Sproul Jr. The first blog's comments (re: quiverfull/judgement/etc...), well: time. Time. Time's an interesting thing. It sort of is a double edged instrument---it has an eraser on one end and a broad brush on the other. Time's a very useful tool. Especially when applied to things we now think, things we thought then and things we'll look back on tomorrow. The second blog (women speaking and women teaching in blogs), well---hmmm. I'll think on this later. But for now, I'll just say, Titus 2 is musch broader than verses three through five and verses three through five are very broad in scope, and wouldn't it be a very strange thing if women never speak... never tell men instructive information... but, alas, I do get what's being attempted there in his blog. I also know that I might need to grab that double edged instrument... just, which end to use is the question?
Speaking of men and women... Sean sent this over the mail this morning... it was too funny to just pass over. So here you go... The Difference Between Men and Women
May 17, 2005 So, our neighbors got married... it wasn't an outdoor wedding, as was the original plan, but the next best thing, I suppose. The wedding was held in an upper portion of a beautiful renovated dairy barn. Lots of grapevines and ivy and tiny white twinkle lights and *space!* It's a lovely location nearby our home and has been a setting for many special events. It's called Lord Hill Farms. It was a special occasion for our family as we'd been praying for them and looked forward to the day they'd marry.
greeting the guests... cutting the beautiful cake
We returned home from the wedding to hang welcome home signs and to tie ribbons to the willow tree so that they'd drive through them when they returned home. Their immediate family was to gather there for the evening before they left on their honeymoon early this morning. How instantly the time passed ---but how sweet the day was! We now pray for how God will use us in their lives and how to show them His love.
A couple of pics with two of my girls... what a fun time they had!
One of the great blessings to me for this past weekend was that I was able to include in my handout some poems by our friend, Glenys. She writes beautiful poetry and verse. It's a blessing to me to have her friendship and a treat that she sent me some poems. She is the one who wrote the poem for Kathryn during one of her four foot surgeries a couple of years ago. She wrote Precious Are The Feet which I framed and it now hangs in our dining room.
About
'Verse For Loving Hearts'
Glenys Robyn Hicks writes
quality Christian verse for
all occasions. 'Verse For
Loving Hearts' is a
home-based business in
Melbourne Australia,
offering a compassionate and
confidential service for
expressions of heartfelt
emotion... sympathy, eulogies,
acknowledgement of a
miscarriage, still-birth or
premature birth. Memorials
and newborn's death...
terminally ill, divorce.
Joyful occasions such as
personalized invites,
christenings, engagements,
weddings, wedding vows,
speeches, personalized house
blessings, house plaques,
words for greeting cards, in
fact, anything at all that
you need to express..
Here are
examples of
Glenys' work
May 16, 2005 Wow... so that all happened. Another whirlwind week and weekend. Another retreat and another day of sweet fellowship and we've finally come to the day of the wedding for our neighbor. Amazing how quickly things come about that once seemed so far off.
So, the retreat was a very encouraging and refreshing time. It was a challenge for me to keep my thoughts together as I was to share in three workshops and the first seemed to take place too quickly as the women had just arrived at camp and seemed still caught up in the tide of the travels to the retreat and not quite settled in yet. But... the LORD is merciful, He is gracious and did, indeed, answer my prayer and calm my anxious thoughts----frazzled at they were initially. I so wanted to just be a channel through which He could flow and so wanted to just be His vessel. My husband's encouragement continued to ring clear in my thoughts and that was that God was going to work whether I felt the vessel [me] was a worthy vessel or not, that He does use cracked pots and patched pots and chipped pots and short and tall, old and new... He's not hindered by what we think of the vessel. His is to fill and pour out----ours is to be willing. I was willing and He was faithful. O, I've thought over and over what I ought to have said here, what I should have mentioned there, what story would've been better and what was not succinctly illustrated. I've tried over the years to not dissect a message too much in the first days after a talk---makes me nuts and apprehensive for the next time. So, I've just decided to leave that talk in the LORD's hands and trust Him for the work and hopefully, fruit.
My talk was entitled: Welcome Home or Do Not Disturb. 'Guess in the weeks ahead, I'll break it down into some Welcome Home messages. I think it's something critical --- life-saving, really. The LORD helped me to share some things I think are imperative to triumph or failure in the home... that houses are houses but not all houses are homes and the description of where each woman lives largely depends on the sign she wears there... welcome home, or do not disturb.
So, we were riding along and our friend was telling us of a Vermont man who'd had his license plate application rejected and how people had bee I thought I'd look up the story and discovered it was causing no small stir. Seems Shawn Byrne has sued the state for the right to have the license plate wording of his choosing but it's been rejected because of its religious nature: John 316. The rationale being that license plates are state property. And the state maintains that, "a religious message placed on them [the license plates] could be viewed as a government endorsement of religion." Well---then, let the state pay for them... hmmmm. So... so much for "Freedom and Unity" in the great state of Vermont. I wonder if Mr. Byrne attempted to actually pay for those plates with US currency...
May 13, 2005 A plate is spinning on top of the pole she's holding while she's simultaneously juggling books and laundry baskets; attempting to stand on the unicycle seat while riding around a bumpy track and balance a cup of coffee on her head. How's that for a picture of a bizzy day in the life of wife and mother. Too bizzy to blog.
When I am old, I want to wear a red hat and be as sweet as 'melia.
May 12, 2005 I wasn't going to blog tonight as I've been far too long on the computer already tonight. I'm getting ready for a retreat this weekend and can't seem to get all my thoughts succinctly into one talk... but I trust the LORD to just work out all the thoughts. Then we've been a bit busy attempting to make the outside as neat as we can for the upcoming wedding in our neighbor's yard. We have one of those situations where the wood and all sorts of other things are beside and behind the shop/barn. Well... so is our neighbor's yard. The yard where the beautiful wedding is to be held. The freshly, professionally landscaped yard where the beautiful wedding is to be held. We did not have *many* truckloads of beautiful flowers, blooming plants, bushes, *trees* and planting materials and yards and yards of beauty bark delivered to our home yesterday. And, uh, we won't be having *any* delivered. And those landscapers and gardeners didn't drop by our house to do complimentary gardening/landscaping.
So, there are four days till the wedding and we seem to need a bit more time than that to get our weeding, mowing and gardening done. And then there was a small repair job to the house on a stand that holds our neighbor's and our mail box. While Timothy was doing that, some of the others were attempting to repair the 'weed-eater' and the mower. Yes, it's a bit of a comedy. Well, sort of a tragic comedy. And then, there's a trip to the dump---one that Wes is really cheerfully planning to make. But then there's still the giant tree fort with all the old pool hoses that are now used for climbing and swinging; and then all the stuff around the trees... boys wood working... dontchaknow.
And, well, you get the picture---and it's not a pretty one---yet. So, an attempt is being made to not have it be quite so "countrified" here. I mean, at least we don't have a radiator (or two) on our porch or two dozen vintage cars or car parts sitting back there behind the shop. But there do seem to be a couple dozen bicycles in varying stages of disrepair. I know this because this afternoon I was proudly escorted out to see the very neat job done of ordering up the cool bicycles. Ahhh, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I sort of squinted and attempted to be enthusiastic with my praise of a job well done. An attempt is being made and all the little helpers have big ideas as to how to help get this whole job done. I won't be surprised if Timothy doesn't start paying the littles a few dollars to sit on the porch for two hours to "Watch!" Well, for what it's worth, I'm glad I won't be here when Wes loads up the truck for the dump. He hasn't seen the neat row of bikes parts behind the shop. And I bet I won't see them there when I get home Saturday night. Maybe the children will be smiling with dollar bills wadded up in there little pockets.
So, as I was perusing the news as I often do, a Drudge headline caught my eye: "'Oddball rodent' in Laos takes scientists by surprise" I could've shown them a whole box of rodents on our front porch. Wes calls them kittens. Then, how about this one: (it's a "breaking story" so I didn't link it) "DEM CONGRESSMEN: CONSERVATIVE VOICES ON PBS MAY BE ILLEGAL. I think pretty soon it's all going to be so nutso that we're going to be dazed from shaking our heads. Sort of like how mama's rock shopping carts back and forth, whether there's a little child in the cart or not. We're going to just be standing around shaking our heads for no apparent reason. It'll just be so natural because of the constant practice.
May 11, 2005 I received a letter from Laurie Latour regarding a book they're offering on their website. It's a reprint of a book of prayers that's been out on print for decades. I'm happy to recommend her site and offerings as she's working to restore and encourage family life and homemaking skills. So, here's the new site which offers the Classic Prayers for Children.
Wes is continuing to read to our family, the book, Ten P's in a Pod by Arnold Pent. You can order the book from Vision Forum---it's worth reading. It's really inspired me to get back to diligently memorizing Scripture and to help the children with the same. Some of the stories are rather difficult to wade through as they're uniquely set in another time, but overall, it's a valuable and worthwhile book for the family. I'd sure like to hear the take on the family travels from the other members--- I don't mean the difficulties, rather, the perspective from---say, the sisters in the family.
Wow, so I saw the headline: Start me up... and then Mick Jagger's picture and thought---ohmygoodness, is he still alive? I surmise he goes on stage after washing down Geritol and bran flakes with a senior coffee. And then I saw the pic and asked again. It's a funny thing, getting older. For instance, it seems I've been hearing about the Rolling Stones nearly all my life---the Beatles, too, for that matter. Collected all, and I mean all, of their albums, too. Well, we kept them around---not out on our shelves, but in a closet for many years. Then we decided to dump them and I think the guy next to Wes's truck at the garbage-dump was having heart failure as he saw huge collections of albums being flung into the abyss. The way we figured it in those days was that if they were to be counter to the message of the gospel of the LORD Jesus, then we didn't want to sell them to our neighbors and stumble them, too---so we didn't sell them, we tossed them. Biohazard's would've shut down the neighborhood had we burned them---so, to the dump they went. Needless to say, those huge collections got dumped---along with *many* others. I don't regret it. But I'm still wondering tonight... what are those guys still doing strutting around like foolish teenagers, singing inane songs to people who never knew the era from which the Stones came.
In Penney's yesterday I was hearing over the system, music that was popular when I was in high school (a couple of years ago) and my mom and I commented to one another that the music transported us right back to where we were when the songs were popular. Music's a powerful tool. Amazing. Our senses are amazing, when you think of it, they're incredible. Just consider the thoughts that different smells or scents conjure up. Amazing. Think of roast turkey... how about Johnson's baby powder... Coppertone... Old Spice... Windsong... suddenly the tune: Smoke on the Water flashed though my mind. Scary. The power of thought. I began to think of the verses regarding renewing the mind:
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Romans 12.2
So all that happened, and here we are tonight thinking that our country's in a mess, the political system is a debacle and there is little hope for the economy to straighten out and it takes nearly 80 dollars to fill the van with gas! And our interim Governor wants a gas tax increase. Too many Rolling Stones concerts or extracurricular activities for Christine, methinks.
A slow day for me... obviously.
May 10, 2005 So, that all happened and here I am mulling over the blessings of Mother's day... and rereading the special cards I received. One thing that's increasingly evident to me regarding the benefits of having an exaggerated family is that there is constant training on how to happily get along and enthusiastically make due with small spaces and waiting in line. O, there are innumerable other benefits---never ending laundry, mountains of chores and piles of food to prepare and triple stacks of dishes to wash---but I digress, those are stories for another day! It was a mother's day unlike any previous, I must say----and I'm so glad, too.
We had such a wonderful time at my parents' home----it's very small, which leaves very little space for sprawling out in the living room---but that was truly unimportant because the time was so special and the visiting so sweet that the size of the space paled in comparison. Besides, the children are accustomed to many people in small spaces and so it was actually quite comfortable to them. I had wanted to take my mother out for brunch as we had done a few times in the early years of my "motherhood" and yet, it wasn't practical. So, doing my best to prepare a "moveable feast," a brunch we brought to their home and celebrated there. It was fun to do and more fun to share.
Our children enjoyed the treats I'd gotten for them for Mother's Day... they always look forward to what I'll surprise them with and wait with sort of intense anticipation for me to share the bounty! This year's was a bit different... but they were happy nonetheless! The still-fresh memories of the delightful tripS to the dentist made great impressions on each of them as they decided to not eat up all the candies and to be sure to brush well afterward! Some small benefits for which I am thankful.
Later in the day we had a wonderful and very different experience sharing dinner together with other couples while some of the older children of the families in our fellowship watched the youngers. They had a fun time of card making, a picnic type dinner and lots of fun playing together. My-o-my, I don't recall ever going out to dinner on Mother's Day---at least not without children---ours, anyway. A precious newborn was in attendance and that seemed to just make the time all the sweeter. Twenty nine children and three grandchildren were represented by the mothers gathered around our table. And to imagine, several of the couples were not there yesterday or the number would have been significantly higher---much higher! So it was a delightful time, a rare time to just visit and enjoy the fellowship together.
When we returned home, we enjoyed a lengthy time of singing praises to the LORD! I sure missed my mother-in-law and so wished she could've been here with us. It was a day filled with happy events, lovely Mother's Day cards and letters, gifts from my mom and from our children, and, of course, beautiful soft peach & candle-light roses from Wes, my joy. His card was priceless.
May 7-8, 2005 A Happy Mother's Day
The sweetest name I've ever been called... mother. The name that's music to my ears... mama. The name that jars me from the deepest sleep... a child calling: Maaawwwwmmmmeeeeeee! The name that brings tears to my eyes when I pick up the phone... hey, ma. The greatest honour I could have ever hoped to have is the honour & privilege of having eleven people call me Mother. I'm amazed---I'll always be amazed that I've had this honour.
Well, so the glue stick lids on the floor and the trimmings of construction paper under the table tells me that tomorrow is Mother's Day. I mull over the scenes of Mother's Day past in the theater of my mind. I consider all the construction paper cards, the flowers made of tissue paper and cupcake liners and the card I once received proclaiming me as the sweatest mother. Well.. yep... I guess it takes a lot of sweat and a whole lot more to make a mother teary-eyed at the sight of old pictures, cards and plaster-of-paris hand prints and Kool-aide coloured macaroni necklaces and portraits of me with huge hands and big hair and stick legs and fifty teeth. I guess it takes a mother who's sweated a lot to *wear* the macaroni jewelry while out shopping or to wear homemade glue-and-string brooches out to dinner. So... I've loved being the world's sweatest mother.
I'm facing another of life's realities tomorrow---for it will be the first Mother's Day spent "outside" the traditional church setting. It'll be odd to not wear a corsage tomorrow---and, O, I've had some beautiful corsages over the years (it actually seems like an odd thing to me now---but the memories are sweet). Wes has blessed me over and over with his sweetness for me. These things I mention are simply changes I'm seeing. I'm not sad or disappointed... but just considering change, that's all. Since we no longer 'attend' church or services on Sunday mornings, but rather, meet in homes with other believers on Sunday afternoons and evenings, tomorrow morning will be another new normal for me. The men are taking care of the meal tomorrow evening---and from what I saw in the grocery cart, it is going to be delicious.
Tomorrow will be the first Sunday I'll not be receiving any gifts made by our children in Sunday School... and this is actually not shared with any bit of cynicism at all... in fact, perhaps I'm being a bit melancholy, it'll simply be strange to not receive treasures from Sunday school in the morning. And I've had lots of treasures to treasure, believe me. I'm thankful for the Sunday school teachers who've loved and taught our children over the years and am thankful for the time they invested in teaching each week---I understand why they teach---I taught Sunday school, too.
Each year brought many surprises for Mama on Mother's Day... plants potted in Styrofoam cups, pipe-cleaner flowers or pictures with tons of dried school-paste or cards made with coloured tissue to create a "stained glass window" effect on the front, or round pictures glued to orange juice can lids... pictures taken with a Polaroid camera some morning in April---perhaps the day the seeds were planted in the Styrofoam cups. Then, though it's been awhile, over the years, I received many awards given out in Sunday school or during the Sunday service---awards for youngest mother, youngest mother with the most kids, oldest mother with the youngest baby, youngest grandmother, mother with the newest baby---in recent years, this has not occurred because one of my friends has twelve children and received the award and her daughter in law, the other award (newest baby). It's all an attempt to say what we all want to say: thanks Mom, and Happy Mother's Day.
For Mother's Day I like to give gifts to our children----long story, but it worked best for me to do that one year, many years ago and so I've stayed with the tradition. I try to find things they need and get something very specific like that for each child. This year I'll be giving them some things they don't need because I've been taking care of the "needs" during the last two weeks. So tomorrow I'll be giving them a small amount of what the Dentist, in order to stay in business, needs them to have: candy. So, they'll receive some candies.
Since we'll not be heading off to church, we'll do something we've never done before---have an early brunch at my mother's. We got to thinking... what a blessing it would be to spend time with her on Mother's Day... so, we will. I'm making up several things---I think she'll enjoy and I know we'll just be thankful for the time together. Time's sure short---very short.
A page I'm working up that contains a bunch of quotes and short stories about mothers. It's got an original title: Mother.
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He maketh the barren woman to keep house,
and to be a joyful mother of children.
Praise ye the LORD.
Ps 113:9 |
May 6, 2005 Since I am left handed, many people have thought I do things backwards. And... I think I'm right handed and that anyone who uses their right hand predominantly is wrong handed---and since many things are made for wrong handed people, I frequently have to make adjustments---even switching to using the wrong hand from time to time! So--- (yes, there is a point to this lunacy) there's a Florida woman who lost 170 pounds on her personally designed "Backwards Diet." She ate/eats for breakfast what one would have for dinner and for dinner what would typically be eaten at breakfast in addition to cutting out sugar (me: weep), caffeine (me: gasp!) and soda (me: sniff). Now, I don't know how she's done this and maintained it for five years---or her stated clothing size, for that matter ( a size 1 ?) ---but it's really quite impressive. But I was imagining what sort of special date she'd enjoy some evening... Hmmm oatmeal with---hmmm, raisins just for fun? I saw the diet on another page and thought one of the comments was too funny! The person wrote: "Why not skip the shredded wheat and eat a wicker chair, same texture, same flavor, stays crispy longer in milk. When you finish since you have no place left to sit down you have to walk around, it's the South Beach Furniture Diet."
May 5, 2005 I've lately thought this would be a very cool birth-date: 05-05-05. I love to serve Mexican food on this day (well---I'd love to serve it every single day, really!) to commemorate Cinco de Mayo. When we lived in Southern California, it was a bigger deal (obviously) but, in time, more and more influence of our neighbors to the south can be felt here in the Pac Northwest. I'd still love to be eating dinner at La Hacienda in Redlands... but I don't even know if it's still there. Or, I'd like to go to Laguna and be eating dinner at El Torito. I guess my solution will be what it usually is: make stuff here. So... tortillas, tortilla chips, guacamole, salsa, mexican slaw and sour cream--that is, if I have sour cream in the fridge. Guess since we've had enchiladas twice this week, so I really shouldn't push it with Wes, who does not really care for Mexican food---or so he says! ;-) I think he secretly loves it. Is that right, sweetheart?
ù A forklift just drove slowly down the lane. My little boys were on the sofa looking out the front window and calling out: "It's a forklift, It's a forklift! What is he coming down the lane for Mama?" I told them he's probably coming here... to help them clean their bedroom. Well... he passed by and went on down to the neighbor's down the lane. Sorry boys, no help for your mess chores today.
ù It's been tough to get back into the swing of things---the retreat last weekend was such a blessing to me that I've not yet been able to get things together here! I'm incredibly blessed to have old friends---I'm finally getting it: the blessing of older age. Until last weekend, I surely didn't have that perspective. In fact, probably like a young teen feels, I was feeling too old for this or that and too young for this or that. Now I know a little more and feel a *lot* better!
ù A couple of new mags and sites: First, I received a letter from a woman who is going to put out a new magazine and is keeping a blog: Making It Home. Then, another new magazine is: Tapestries of the Heart ; which is a magazine edited by a young wife and mother for the purpose of encouraging women in godliness and contentment. I hope they both do well. Much encouragement is needed in this present age.
ù I'm glad to see more publications, more inspiration for women to walk in the way of the Word and not in the way of the World. It seems everywhere, women are getting bombarded on every side regarding education, marriage, singleness, body-weight, freedom from responsibilities, children and aging! Media gives mixed messages---and television and movies portray women in ways contrary to God's design. I laughed, initially, at Laura Bush's monologue at the Whitehouse Correspondents' Association dinner. Yes, I did laugh--but as I listened again---I mean really listened, and then thought of what was really being said and then considered that the First Lady was speaking to a public gathering and would eventually have an international audience as well. Was it really funny? No. No, not really. Was it in good taste? No. Was it wise? By no means. Was it informative? Certainly. Was it instructive? Absolutely. In the space of a few minutes, Laura Bush gave a lesson to married women: that it's perfectly okay to be lewd and engage in coarse jesting, to misrepresent oneself and esteem lightly to honour of her position. Sure, she didn't write that stuff---and sure, she may never have seen Desperate Housewives, but that's not the point... she allowed herself the indulgence to be inexcusably inappropriate. She's far too intelligent and far too influential to have stooped to that.
The Washington State Gas Tax...
May 3, 2005 Whew... so *that* happened! After an early morning appointment, I spotted Wes and Kathryn returning home. Down the lane and I could see Wes flashing me a downcast look... as Kathryn drove the van and rounded the house, I went to the back porch to wait for them on the back steps. Wes hopped out, of the passenger side and walked around the back of the van ( head down and shaking his head, no) to open the door for Kathryn. She got out... looked disheartened as she made her way to the steps, Wes right behind her. I exclaimed that it would all work out fine---I mean, Thomas Edison sure knew a lot more about how a light-bulb *wouldn't* work than how one would work! I encouraged her that I'd help her and she'd do fine the next time! She agreed---unenthusiastically, and then mustered that she did get something at the department of licensing, though. Then she reached down and produced a new driver's license. O, what a wonderful thing for her! And yes... I told them they were both rascals for their little hoax. So... another driver.
laughter,
the best medicine
Views and slices of life; 
In memory Kathryn Lindström ~ Because of the Komen foundation's support of Planned Parenthood, we do not