Hard to believe

We still have this wonderful old piano that we bought at an auction in Lansing, NY around 1971 for $22. I made these family outfits. They were pretty stylish at the time. I am still taller than Russ and his hair is thinner, mine all white. The little boy is now a diplomat for the US State Dept. and father of 3 and husband of a lovely, intelligent wife. The girl is a very busy, very talented mother of 3 trying to keep up with being a single mom while her husband serves at a far away, lonely base in Afghanistan. The cat at our feet has long since departed followed by 2 more cats and a dog, also departed. I can't tell for sure what condition Russ was in at the time this photo was taken. I was a very young 19 1/2 year-old mother. This was taken at Russ's parents' home soon after the birth of our first child. So long ago...............

I had intended this picture to be first but I seem to be good at screwing up the order when I want to upload photos. Oh well.........This was taken just prior to Russ's departure for active duty in 1969. I was recently graduated from high school and I think we had just gotten engaged. This was in the Syracuse, NY airport. I just read an article that said that people who smile wider in photos when they're young live longer and happier. Hmmm........

House #3

This is the home of our younger daughter, Lisa, and her family on Eglin AFB in Florida. This is the third house they have been in on the same base. The Air Force is gradually tearing down houses so the other houses they lived in don't even exist anymore. And due to the tropical climate, the sand and rapid growth of vegetation has covered any evidence they even existed! This is the back yard. When I went down to help Lisa move last year, her husband was deployed so she and I put up the fence by ourselves. We had never put up a chain link fence before but understood the concept. It works to keep the dogs and kids in. We were pretty proud of the results.

I took these pictures just days ago when I was down there again. Lisa called and sounded awful over the phone. It turned out she had swine flu. She was running a fever of 104 for several days and was vomiting uncontrollably. I know she was sicker than she might have been because she kept trying to do everything! Once again, her husband is deployed overseas and she is left to take care of the house, yard, kids, and pets. She had to be ready for a yard inspection so she was mowing the lawn with a fever. She had to get dog food and milk so she was shopping and running errands despite being really sick. Once I got there, she was finally able to stop and get some rest. I took her to get her anti-nausea prescription so she could hold down a fever reducer and drink fluids and sleep. It was such a relief when her fever finally broke. She healed really quickly. I'm sure it's because she gets lots of exercise and eats pretty healthy so she's in good shape. The kids were given Tami-flu so they didn't get sick. The Lord was watching over me so I didn't get sick. Thank you, Heavenly Father!

Friends are a blessing

Not many people who might look in on this blogspot will know the people pictured here. A couple of weeks ago, we surprised our friend Dar Cobane at her birthday party in Elkhart, Indiana. It was good to see someone who loves us as we love her. It was good to see her kids, too. Stacy, her daughter, used to think James was great and she was a really close friend of Angela. Adam, her brother is certainly much more grown-up than I remember him being! We left the party a little before 9 and got about an hour away when our car died- permanently. We were towed, thanks to our insurance, and taken to a motel. Then on Sunday morning we called Dar and asked if someone in her family could drive us back halfway and we got a friend from Dayton to come pick us up in Fort Wayne, Indiana. In the end we got $100 for our car. It has taken us all over the country and served us, and James's family, well. Ammon was the one who found the car for us down in southern Utah when he and Victoria were newly married.

Time just keep passing. Pain gets more bearable and friends are more dear. But there is always new pain, but also new friends. I guess they help balance us out.

We just keep going. We just got the news that an old friend from 20 years ago chose not to keep going. I guess it was just too difficult for him. We may never know why. We have sent condolences to his wife and family. We pray for their comfort. We just keep going..........

Can you see it?

Russ did his usual marvelous job of repairing so you might not be able to see the tear in this photo of the roof of the big, white limousine. I forgot to take a "before" picture. Another aspect of the limousine business that is FAR from being glamorous: drunks. Last night the limo was scheduled for a "birthday party". After several hours of bar-hopping, the passengers got into a spat. These people were mostly family of each other. At a stop to deliver someone home, I guess he ran into the house and right back out with a rifle to threaten someone still in the car. I wasn't there so I can only report 3rd hand. A shot was fired. The limo drivers urged the people out and, after a comment from the shooter to the affect that he didn't have anything against the drivers so they should just leave, they drove away. After a good effort at cleaning up broken glass and the mess inside and outside the limo, it was parked in our driveway sometime in the wee hours of the morning (after midnight because that's when Russ returned home from an airport run). Russ shampooed the carpet, I washed the glasses and set up a fan to dry out the carpet, and we got ready to leave for the 4X a month trip to and from Detroit-Cincinnati. The newspaper today was just page after page, article after article of murders, crime, and bad news. Can the Second Coming be far away?!

Driver Education

Near the cabin in Kentucky where we stayed there were some recreational activities, among them was bumper cars. Due to the fact that there weren't many people there, we got all the cars to ourselves. Brooklyn was too small to go on a car so I volunteered to sit out with her and watch. Here is Brooklyn receiving a visual lesson in driving. Hopefully, she didn't learn very much of this particular style.

Everybody had good fun and no one got hurt, not even anyone's feelings. All in all, it was a great activity. And I think the ride operator gave our family a little extra time because it seemed to last quite awhile.

Family vacation

Russ and I just spent 4 days with Angela and her 3 boys and Victoria and her 3 kids along with Jana terHorst in Kentucky. We were delighted when we arrived to find out that the cabin we had reserved had air conditioning. It was basically a one-room cabin, with a full bathroom, but there was a kitchen area with a 2-burner hot plate, small refrigerator, microwave, and large sink.

It had a roomy loft for the kids to have their own private kid-spot to campout with their sleeping bags. Brooklyn (not quite 2) really wanted to go up there, too, but it required help and a constant companion so we limited that.
There was a set of bunk beds, a double bed, and a double futon so we had lots of space for sleeping comfortably. Brooklyn's crib was set up in a closet so we could hang a sheet over the opening to make it dark since she went to bed earlier than nearly everybody else.

The front porch overlooked the forest surrounding us. There were several cabins in a circle so you could just barely see the end of your neighbor's front porch. The kids had a really good time exploring the little ditch/stream (building a dam and throwing rocks in the water) and it was pretty safe so we could let them just go off together as a group without constant supervision. (They didn't go far and were generally in need of food, drink, or bathroom often enough to bring them back before we got concerned.)

It really is nice to have a family where the children are being brought up to be helpful, considerate of others, ready to learn, and basically pretty well-behaved. There was some chaos as would be expected with 7 children of various ages, but everyone mostly got along pretty well. With the exception of Joshua smashing his finger with a heavy rock (he lost his fingernail and bled a lot but nothing broke and he didn't require stitches), no one got sick or hurt. Mammoth Cave was very large! But the other area attractions we had planned to see were mostly closed because school had started there already. Kentucky ought to inform tourists of that schedule!

How can they forget?

My children are all grown now, with children of their own. I delight in watching them play with, talk to, worry over, and deeply love each and every one of their children. I used to play with, plan parties for, worry over, and cuddle every one of my children. I can't really hold these independent adults on my lap or hug and kiss them ferociously anymore. It just wouldn't be right. (They would freak out if I tried!) Even though the relationship has changed, I still have deep inside me that passionate love I developed as I watched for their baby eyes to close as I sang to them and rocked them to sleep. I still worry about them as I did when they had a fever or weren't home when they were supposed to be. I still long for them to be happy as I did when I spent hours making a gift or planning a party for them.

Their focus now is on their little ones, which is as it should be. I know that, as fully developed individuals, they have established their own opinions and ways of doing things. Now they know that I really don't know everything and can't fix everything and my hugs and kisses will not take pain away and make it all better. But my feelings toward them haven't changed. I still love them fiercely and my greatest desire is for them to be happy.

Did you know that God's work and glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man? He is the Father of all of us and He loves us enough that He allowed His only perfect Firstborn Son to be ridiculed, betrayed, beaten and crucified to pay the price for all of us to have the opportunity to choose to repent and live with Him forever. He wants to give us everything He has. Lots of people think of that as gold and silver and riches. But the most precious thing He has that will be most valuable to us is knowledge and wisdom. He can give us knowledge and try to teach us wisdom but we have to decide it's what we want...... more than the gold, silver, jewels, big-screen tvs, fancy cars, big houses, fame, titles......................................................