Memories of a Very Fast Summer

Memorial Day - so long ago, it seems in some ways, but so quickly it has become the end of summer as we know it.




School started yesterday - it seems impossible that the three months of summer vacation went so quickly. Feisty has a very nice new teacher, but she's having a hard time weaning herself away from kindergarten and the awesome teacher she had last year - the one who came and took her out to lunch and to the park just because Feisty missed her and was afraid she'd never see her again. Last night she told me that she did not like the new kindergarten class. When I questioned her some more, I asked her if she thought maybe she was just suffering from envy that they were in Ms. Logan's class and she wasn't any longer. She had to agree. She then prayed to Jesus that there would be someone in that class that looked like her so Ms. Logan wouldn't forget her. Awww.

First day of first and third grades.

Last spring, at the end of school, I mentioned that Care Bear's teacher had told me about the haiku she had written (I couldn't believe they did haikus in 2nd grade - I think I was a sophomore before I knew that word!) The teacher kept a copy so she could use it as a teaching tool for the kids this year to understand how to write one. I finally got a copy myself. Here it is:

Haiku

Syllables are cool
Syllables go with haiku
Haiku can be fun

I had the 4 girls a lot, and as I've said before, in the math of summer, 4 is much more than 2 times 2. What better way to spend many mornings than going to VBS? As I mentioned before, the big girls went to VBS at six different churches and enjoyed each one. One of them had a carnival and program on the Friday night - the littles enjoyed the activities as much as their big sisters. In fact, it was the first time we saw them actually interact and "talk" to someone other than each other.

They really didn't like cotton candy after all.

There was a lot of dirt and a lot of baths ---

Throw in swimming lessons, camp, Girl Scout camp-outs, library time, the county fair, swimming for fun, sleep-overs with friends and they've had quite a summer.

Then there was helping Grandpa get the dirt off his truck ---

Helping Grandpa in other ways --- picking up sticks from the wind the night before, then "helping" mow the lawn. BTW, their "twin language" has finally given way to our language, and what fun it is to be able to converse with them a bit - and know what they need a bit more easily!

There was the day that they got to my house really early because I had an appointment to get their pictures taken - wouldn't you think a place that photographs kids all day long would have a better way of keeping a schedule? Or at least have some toys to play with?? I chose this place because it had appointments. If I'd wanted to take a chance on ever getting in, I would have taken them to Wal-Mart and sat all morning. You can imagine how much fun it was to find out they were already behind - one hour after they started. We left. Still haven't had the pictures taken and now school has started.

We headed on up to CSU to get my free parking pass (one of the perks of retirement - free parking on campus for life - not a bad perk, when parking costs go up there every year!) They had some fun climbing on one of the less attractive sculptures (or whatever it is!) Their colors matched.




The fun thing about living in the same town with lots of relatives is that when they get company, it's usually someone you want to see too. Such was the case this summer with my sister when her kids came to visit. Second cousins can be a lot of fun.




The little train in the park with more second cousins was great - the cattle car was such a fun place to ride.







The parks in our town are full of sculptures - Katie wasn't quite sure if she liked this one or not.

But we had some fun at the park by the library -

Care Bear couldn't resist a bit of dramatic acting!

Then there was the day we went and got this beautiful bouquet of flowers for the church nursery attendant's birthday - Sandy is our favorite person! Turns out she was gone for the week - so we ended up enjoying them at home and she had to settle for a nice picture!

Then there was FINALLY losing a top tooth --

What's wrong with this picture? My next door neighbors - nice folks - but they don't seem to get the concept of a BACK YARD. Big back yard. But everything sits in between our house and theirs - I have to work at not looking. DC works so hard to make our space beautiful, and this is such a mess. Especially the compost dealie-bobber - what's up with that??? Don't they have a door into the back yard??? And before you ask, no, we don't have covenants. Oh, my. I guess if that were my worst problem -- but it's not.









Have a great week-end!

Where HAS the Summer Gone??

Well, here in Northern Colorado, at our house, it has gone to lots of time with the girlies, for various reasons. Grandpa is a whiz at keeping the big girls busy and happy - his company closes for 3 weeks, and it has been good for us. School begins next Wednesday already, so I thought it would be fun to look back at the summer.

I was blessed to have missed the one week that the temps were at the 100 degree mark - I was in Minnesota, where I expected to be miserable with heat and humidity. Oddly enough, the weather was very pleasant for me that week and I was able to enjoy a walk every morning - I need to share the pix I took there one of these days.

Because of the nice weather, when I've had a chance to be home without little people, I have spent a lot of time on the patio doing my favorite activity ---




Right now I'm reading the 5th book of the Anne of Green Gables series. I'm reading them again in hopes of visiting Prince Edward Island when we go to see Kevin in Maine the first week of October. I need to watch the movies again. Best movies ever made from a book - ever.

Speaking of Kev - he was here last week and it flew by. The littles fell in love with him - in fact, it was as if they remembered him, though that seems impossible since they were a year old when he left.




Kev was as excited to see his dog, Callie, as he was to see any human in his life. Sema has done a fabulous job of training this huge animal, even though she has only recently become willing to have a pet!



The big girls came such a long ways in overcoming their fear of dogs in general, Callie in particular. This was HUGE and made Kev very happy.




Kev had either a sinus infection or allergy issues while he was home and didn't feel great most of the time. But I'm so thankful he had this week to catch up on his rest and have time to heal.

The highlight of the week for me was Sunday evening, when he shared with our church family. The Sunday evening crowd is always fairly small, but this group was made up of folks who have known him since he was born, watched him struggle, prayed for him, loved him, supported him financially. Now he opened his heart to them and told them things they had never heard. He did a fabulous job, and was, as the pastor said, very transparent. There were many tears, including mine of course, and even some from him. It was a powerful time. Pastor called Sema up and we surrounded them with prayer as they face many decisions in the next year.




Kev left very very early Monday morning (as in we left the house at 3:30 am!) for a six month internship back in Maine. Thank you so much for your prayers for him and Sema over the years, and please continue to pray that they'll discern God's will for the time following the internship.

Remember last fall when we tore out our old patio and put in a new one designed by DC?

Because our yard is so very shady, we can't have lots of roses or petunias or other summer flowers that I love.

This is my only rose bush, not counting the mini ones that do well.

It's funny - DC says we've had these lilies for years, but I never noticed them before!




DC spent a great deal of time finding plants and flowers that could thrive in this cooler area. They're doing well, and it'll be fun to watch the perennials fill in as the years go by.













I brought this dahlia bulb home from the grocery store one day and watched as it grew and grew and grew - very tall. It had one blossom when a huge gust of wind hit one afternoon, snapping it off flush with the ground. It was sad. But, as so many things in life, it came back from adversity and is growing again - I don't know if it will have time to bloom again, but I'm watching it every day. There are many more things that should be blossoming yet, but we'll see if they have time before the weather gets too cool.





I have lots more that I was going to write and show tonight, but decided to give you a break. I'll be back with the girlies' activities soon. I'll close with some beautiful skies.











Have a great week-end!

Six Degrees of Separation

There is so much to catch up on and so many pictures to share - summer is almost over for all intents and purposes. The big girls go back to school in 10 more days. I can't believe it, though it will be a bit of a relief. They've enjoyed 6 Bible schools at that many churches, so that has helped immensely - and they have learned so much, made new friends, and enjoyed each one. I was thrilled to see them just go for it each week. They each went to camp. But now first and third grades await and they are excited. I pray they have as good teachers as they had last year.

"Six degrees of separation (also referred to as the "Human Web") refers to the idea that everyone is at most six steps away from any other person on Earth, so that a chain of, I can't "a friend of a friend" statements can be made to connect any two people in six steps or fewer." (Wikipedia) This has not been proven, but is an interesting theory.

I can't vouch for this theory or offer any proof, but I do know that I've been through an amazing experience recently that made me think about it a lot.

A few weeks ago my blog friend, Mary at Needled Mom mentioned that she had been to her 45th high school reunion. I commented that we were the same age, obviously, but that my high school had not planned a big celebration this year for our 45th. She just casually asked me where I would have had to go for a reunion and I mentioned the little town outside of Omaha, where I was privileged to be a student my junior and senior years.

Though I was the "new kid", as I had been several times before, this small class absorbed me into itself and made me feel so welcome. Many of them had gone to school together since kindergarten. Many of them still live there, or at least their parents do. It was a very good two years.

I didn't make it to the 10-year reunion, probably because I had a new baby. I didn't really keep in touch with any of them too much at all, except for meeting up with one friend who had moved up here to Northern Colorado and was teaching just a few miles away. We did connect when our kids were little, but those were busy times and we didn't keep the connection going very well.

But about 25 years ago, one of the girls from the class, Linda, and her husband were moving out here to Colorado and as "chance" would have it, John was to work at the same company as DC. Linda looked me up in the book from the 10th reunion and called me - we're so stable (boring?) that we had the same phone number - still do, for that matter. She wanted to talk about the best places to live around here.

Imagine my amazement when one beautiful afternoon, I saw this car creeping down my cul de sac, and coming into my driveway. It was Linda and they were buying the house next door to us! This was a house where some really rowdy kids were living, whose parents left them alone on week-ends, with disastrous consequences. We didn't even know the house was for sale, but what an answer to a prayer I hadn't exactly prayed yet!

It turned out to be a wonderful 6 years - Linda eventually got a job at the same elementary school where I worked. We had so much fun together, and our kids were friends. One of the really fun things happened when we contacted Carol, the one who lived up here already, and another friend, who now lived in Denver. We began having lunches together for our birthdays. We decided at age 40 that we'd stop celebrating the birthdays, but still get together 4 times a year for lunch!

Soon, though, Linda and John moved back to Nebraska and we lost touch with Pam. But Linda comes out often enough that we still have wonderful lunches together, the 3 of us. These pictures were taken a year ago when we had lunch with Linda at her cabin here in Colorado.






The other day we had one of those lunches and I shared with them the amazing news of my blog friend who went to school with them back in kindergarten through 4th grade. I asked if they remembered her, but had neglected to get her maiden name.

Mary sent me a message with her maiden name and some of her memories. I forwarded it to the other two "girls." This has begun an amazing journey down memory lane. These three have been joined by another Mary, who was my best friend back in those days of high school. Mary in California has added her mom and brother to the mix of memories and it has turned into such fun. I could easily back out and let them "talk" to each other, but I am enjoying their memories so much that I stay in as the conduit.

Life is full of interesting turns, and this has been a joyful one. I have so enjoyed peaking in on the memories of these other three once little girls.

A Rather Ugly Reminder of a Beautiful Thing

I know what you're thinking! "What in the world is that??" And you have every right to surmise that I have lost my mind.

Do you wash your rags that you use for nasty jobs like washing the floor, washing the car, changing the oil, etc. etc.? DC keeps a large supply in the basement and every once in awhile, he plops them in the laundry room for a fresh start. In these rags are old t-shirts, used up towels, and other odds and ends.

This week when I did the chore of washing and drying the rags for him, I noticed this really gross old towel. I realized that it has been in my life for over 40 years. Isn't that ridiculous? But I am glad it is still here, because it made me think of where it came from, and the story that goes with it.

I had just graduated from high school and was looking forward with tremendous anticipation to leaving for college. I had been a serious student and just assumed that would be my next step. I had made a trip to the campus of choice and fallen in love with the place and the people.

I don't even remember applying for admission - I don't know when that took place. I wasn't able to get a job that summer, so was spending my time going to camps as a counselor and as a kitchen worker, probably working in VBS, and other fun things. Paying for college was the last thing on my mind, though it should have been front and center, since I was from a pastor's family with 5 kids and not a lot of income.

I remember as if it were last night - I was lying in bed trying to get to sleep. All of a sudden, reality had hit and it was only a short time till I had to leave for school. I had dragged a huge box into my room and was packing for the adventure. My dad told me I needed to use smaller boxes because we'd never be able to lift it.

I don't know what was going on in his mind at that point, but as I lay awake unable to sleep that night, I began to think of money, or rather the lack of it. I don't know why we were all so naive. I don't know why my folks never mentioned it before. I need to ask them that question. But I heard them talking down the hall in their room.

I could not get to sleep no matter what I tried, so I decided to get up and see what was keeping them awake. Surprise surprise - they were talking about how in the world I was going to get to go to college, financially. We talked for quite awhile. One idea they presented was that I could stay home and work for a year (where?) and go to college with a stash of cash. I didn't like that idea, because my sister was a year behind me and I didn't want to be freshmen the same year. They indicated that she may have to do the same thing the next year. I was not happy thinking this way.

I went back to bed and of course, did not go to sleep. I began crying and praying. I know it was God who began to bring these thoughts into my mind. I realized that not only did I not have any money for tuition, room, and board - I didn't have any of the supplies I needed - towels, sheets, toiletries, a decent winter coat, clothes, ironing board and iron (yes, we still ironed in those days), and many other things - all came buzzing into my consciousness. All I had was a set of red luggage that I had won for having a good Tupperware party. I had thought I was set!

As these thoughts plagued me, I began to relax and feel God's presence. I began to think of how, if I did stay home and get a job (where?), I could actually have some nice clothes, and I could buy all these things I needed. I wonder if I thought of applying for scholarships - financial aid from the federal government was not a common thing back in the 60s, at least not that I knew of. I went to a small school with not much in the way of counseling, obviously.

As the night rolled into morning, I had relinquished my stubborn will to God's. I told Him that if He wanted me home another year, I would not only accept it, but would make the best of it.

I got up the next morning and heard my mom talking on the phone. It seems that someone in the church had been having some of the same thoughts - they were asking if they could give me a "college shower," to help me get some of the things I needed. The next thing I knew, my brother and his best friend (who was like a 4th brother to us), and who had jobs that summer, had come up with the idea of getting me a winter coat and some towels.

Yes - towels - those blue and white polka dotted towels. The face towels and wash clothes were pink and white with the same dots. The church shower provided so many things, including an ironing board and iron. What a faith-building time this was in my life.

A few weeks later, my brother, sister, the same friend/brother, and I went to western Nebraska to hold a service for the church in Ainsworth. We had been singing as a quartet for the two years I lived there, and we had so much fun doing it. I'm not sure why we were asked to do this, but I know it was something God planned. I was the designated "preacher" for the morning. I shared this incredible experience with the congregation that morning and used the passage from Matthew 6 - I am sharing the King James Version, because that's how I learned it and I love the last sentence so much better than any other version - "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

25 Therefore, I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink,; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26 Behold the fowls of the air; for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek); for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

That last verse became my life verse, and I need to remind myself of it often. The next four years were one miracle after another as God supplied every need, sometimes in very strange ways.

I'm glad I found that ugly old towel this week - it brought back such wonderful memories.

This Week-end I . . .

• Took advantage of DC's birthday gift card from his employer for a free dinner.
  

• Wished I was in Brockton, Massachusetts to participate in commencement ceremony and service for Kevin's completion of his Teen Challenge program.
  

• Heard from missionary friends who surprised him with their presence at the ceremony - we were so appreciative that these folks, who live in Boston, took time from their busy schedules to bless Kevin, and us.
  
  
• Finished Book #3 in the Anne of Green Gables series.
  
  
• Worked with Sema, Kev's wife, to make him a surprise batch of caramel rolls.
  
  
• Got to hug my big handsome son when he got back from the airport - his first trip home in 18 months.
  
  
• Made "Minnesota salad" for Sunday lunch - called that because we can only get the little macaroni rings in Minnesota.
  
  
• Had lunch with our new 4x4 group from church (4 couples eat together 4 times within 4 months).
  
  
• Ended up with the girlies for an extra day and night - Kristen stepped on a huge thorn that had to be dug out of her heel, so is sleeping through the pain.
  
  
• Talked to my young friend from our Cambodian family on the phone.
  
  
• Had the privilege of hearing my nephew preach in the evening service. He's a youth pastor in Olympia, Washington.
  
  
• Went to McD's after church because I didn't have anything in the house for the unexpected four extras to eat.

Have a great week!

AS THEY SAY IN HOCKEY . . .

GOAL!!