Joyful Journey

  My mom died in April (2003) and that first Mother's Day was especially difficult.  I knew it was going to be so, but then when they sang 2 songs that had been sung at Mom's funeral, I barely sang, with tears running down my face.  Grief, while it comes in waves, and many times surprises when it shows up, is definitely stronger in those first months.   I remember, even for years afterwards, picking up the phone to call her and then remembering she was in heaven and I couldn't reach her via phone.  In all my adult years, we lived far enough from one another that it was always a long distance phone call.  For those of you who are younger than 40, you have to understand that in those days you paid per minute for every call.  Often the local calls (same area code) were free, but if you called to a different area code it was expensive.  But graciously, Bob never complained about my hourly call with Mom and Dad each week, nor the occasional calls ...

 Her mom says that she processes things by writing and so she wrote a little essay about the death of her great-grandfather.  But that essay did so much more.  It blessed her grandmother as well.  As a child, she has no comprehension of how unusual is it is for a young child to know her great-grandparents.  I only truly knew one set of grandparents.  One grandfather died when my mom was a child. My mom's mom died when I was small.  Although I have a few memories of her, I can't really say that I knew that grandmother. But a great-grandparent? They are only names on a family tree. However, the oldest grands will remember their great-grandpa. So, as I read her essay, I thought of the blessing that it is to have not only parents who love and desire to raise their children in the things of the Lord, but also grandparents who love the Lord and try to encourage their grandchildren in that way, as well as great-grandparents who desire the same.   He...

Dad reached out and took Bob's hand last night.  It unleashed not a few tears.  Dad is, in the words of the hospice nurse, actively dying. It's been hard to watch the decline over the past few months: the huge weight loss, the increase in his pain, his increased tiredness. It was clearly evident to us, even without a doctor's diagnosis, that cancer was ravaging his body.  But the decline has increased greatly since his release from the hospital to the skilled nursing facility.  We've spent as much time as possible with him, Bob's mom and I usually in the afternoons and Bob in the evening.  I've sometimes skipped taking Bob's mom over in the afternoon (letting her get a ride) and joined Bob in the evening.   These last few days there has been very little response from Dad.  When asked he might blink a response, but has been frequently sleeping with very little response.  Sunday night when a newly born great grandson visited, he leaned over and...

When he shared his goal, I wanted to jump up and down.  My husband tried to renegotiate the deal.  Jokingly.  I started something when our grands became old enough to memorize scripture that my parents had instituted with our sons.  $1 per verse.  A child doesn't often see the value of scripture memory, but we who are older realize how important it is to hide those verses in your heart as young as possible. The effort to memorize in youth is so much easier, even if the understanding of and value placed on the scripture grows with age. When we have our family call on Sunday afternoon, our west coast grands frequently will have a verse to share. (The grands in town often share their verses when they come for Fabulous Friday.)  I now have a spreadsheet to keep track of which grand has said which verse.  No payment for double dipping.  But it had been awhile since they had a verse for me.  So I was a bit surprised when one grandson told me he...

I've never really liked crazy quilts, those quilts made up of random fabrics, without order or pattern. I have appreciated quilts for many years and sewn a number of quilts through the years (including one for each grandchild, which adds up to a fair number of quilts!), but I started a crazy quilt this summer all because of a change of perspective. When classes finished this spring and I began to have some time to do other things, one of the things on my list to accomplish this summer was to organize my sewing area.  I decided to watch some YouTube videos on organizing fabric, which lead to watching YouTube quilting tutorials (frequently while preparing dinner) and you probably can imagine where things went from there.  So far this summer, I have sewn, basted and begun quilting the baby quilt for the grandson we are anticipating in September.  I have sewn from scratch or finished up three other quilt tops (to be quilted later) and started a few others.  But in ...

With many schools closed and  not all schools being able to offer online education (and even if they do), many parents are currently in the role of a home educator and not by choice. May I offer some help?  I'm a retired homeschool mom.  We (because it truly is a job for both husband and wife, although I did most of the academic teaching) homeschooled our sons from kindergaren until they headed off to college. I learned so much during those years (I'm actually not sure who gained the most benefit, them or me.) Here are some things that I found very helpful.  Some were learned the hard way.  Hopefully you can benefit from what I had to learn. 1.  Establish good routines .  Decide what time is time to get up and stick with it.  Require your children to get up, get dressed, have breakfast, do a few chores and then start your "school day" at a regular time.  Of course, this is not rigid.  You're not a military institution, but routin...

I began blogging shortly after we learned we would be moving to Switzerland for what was to be a year's assignment for Bob. Knowing that I would want to remember not just what we did while living abroad, but what I learned from the experience, I decided blogging would be a good vehicle to record my thoughts along with pictures of the gorgeous scenery of Switzerland. And I'm so grateful that I did.  The places we visited, the things we saw, the experiences that were a part of those years were very special.  I hoped I would continue the habit when we returned to the states, but its been much more sporadic. (Like almost non-existent!!) But a friend's post on instagram prodded me to realize I am again in a very unique situation where I want to learn all that the Lord will teach through this time and not forget .  I keep a bullet journal, but I don't use it to record as a diary of thoughts.  It's upcoming events, things I need to do, but not my thoughts on what has...