Tuesday, December 26, 2017

For Unto Us A Child is Born . . .


How blessed am I that, in this compromised familial set up, we always, every year, get to wake up together on Christmas and Easter mornings, able to celebrate the first hours together of these most holy celebrations. We don't have the afternoon meal together, we have it the night before, on the Eve of, but we always are able to worship together the morning of.  I am so grateful. 💜




 I was again blessed with courage, strength, fortitude, provisions (including week of gifts that came my way which eased my mind on a couple fronts, He provides always for our needs in His timing!) and joy in celebrating this Christmas and Advent season. Nope, it's still not easy buying to only stuff four stockings instead of five, the tears sometimes just flowed in the check out lines, but our Dear and Gracious Lords helps me to know how to manage those times quietly and pull it back together, as they're expected still I think. All things are possible when you trust in the Lord, your God, with all your heart and all your mind.

Ahhh...that just brought to mind this great hymn...and after spending 1/2 hour looking for an acceptable link...whew...I'll tell ya...this is what we'll share...

Finally...this...I'm quite certain that those on my Christmas list this year are quite bummed I read one of my Sunday papers a couple weeks too late and wasn't able to place an order in time!
(-;

Friday, December 22, 2017

December . . .

Started beautifully, yet with a hole in the heart that still rests close to the surface. But alas, I started December immersed in the Gospel presented in Handel's "Messiah".  Below is the text of one of my favorite movements from Messiah. Listen to the recording (link below), stick with it to hear the beautiful contrast between the alto and soprano voices (ignore the unimaginable dresses worn in the orchestra (-:). I have always been transfixed by the peace, beauty and simplicity of the music of this one, believe it or not, I have not been historically listening very closely to all the text (we're on stage for over three hours in this!)...but WOW...this speaks so PERFECTLY to my December needs this year AND it's beautiful musically!


He Shall Feed His Flock - Handel's "Messiah"

He shall feed His flock like a shepherd; and He shall gather the lambs With His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. (Isaiah 40:11)
Come unto Him, all ye that labour, come unto Him that are heavy laden, and He will give you rest. Take His yoke upon you, and learn of Him, for He Is meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
(Matthew 11:28-29)


 While I was Messiah-ing, Harrison was Boar's Heading.
I was able to see the dress rehearsal.
His first go at anything like this. Final word, "I think I might do that again next year."
(-:

 Also that weekend, "my" choir...the one I conduct, who's average age is 96 years old...I'm not kidding, (Carl from the tenor section is 100 and upped our average), was invited to sing at a local universities' Christmas festival. They loved it, I loved it and then I walked around and looked at beautiful things like pictured above. (-:

 December also saw Livia getting a bedroom to herself for the first time in her eight years. She has most definitely made it her own, with her little touches...and legos...everywhere.
(-:

December had this cool kid and his basketball team, (who's team name is so professionally smeared out by his tech cautious mom, oy!) winning 1st place in a tournament!

 Then, one night, while our school was refusing to post a snow day the next day, we took a gamble and stayed up a bit past bedtime and played a couple rounds of Cross Eyes. Fun, fast game.

 And then, whew, the next day was a snow day.
Yay!

 Nearing the end now, we enjoyed the annual school Christmas Program on a lovely Sunday afternoon.  Before we left I managed to get a couple of sweet pictures. 

 I'll have you know, William tied his own tie.
He googled it.

These two.
💝

Monday, November 20, 2017

8 is Great! . . .

 Awwww...just look at this happy birthday girl!
She and I had a nice time Saturday morning pulling the house together and decorating for her party although today is thee day. Liv made little gift containers of special items she made or found to give her friends, she invented a party game with a sand timer she located during her morning travels called, "who can hold their breath the longest," and another game called "find the picture" where she drew pictures and hid them around the house and went..."Oooo, you're soooo hot Henry, you're burning up, you're so close...oh...wait...oh...nope, now you're cold..." as the kids looked for them.

Yes, in fact we had store bought cupcakes...which, so funny...for the life of me I could not put my finger on what I wanted to do with the two cake platers that I put the cupcakes on above.  I knew there was something cool to do with them but in the hustle and bustle and lack of sleep, I couldn't think of it and Liv just put cupcakes on the two tiers and we set them next to each other.  By Sunday night I had my "ah-ha" moment as I went to put them away...I had intended to stack the smaller one on top of the larger one for a tiered effect, cupcake tower...well...that woulda looked cool!
😑
Time to blow out eight candles.

 Got 'em all!

G-ma Kat had the best idea ever to bring loads of toppings for the kids to put on their ice cream (in addition to being receptive to my 11a.m. call saying..."um...in addition to the toppings could you also bring the ice cream? Oh...and...the cupcakes..." One of those kinda weeks! (-; Anyway, nothing like being a kid and having free reign on the toppings with no adult standing there holding the spray whip cream can or the chocolate sauce putting on their adult-ish size portions! That WAS the party right there in my opinion!

Another fun party hit was the throwing of the confetti.
Now...I wish I had a picture of what was thrown...Livia and the tallest friend there next to her had cut tiny bits of ribbon over the summer and put them in a teeny-tiny sized doll bag, maybe 1 inch wide by 1/2 an inch tall.  They decided they wanted to throw the confetti into the air...all, what? 25, 1/4 inch pieces of ribbon...Go for It, Kids! Whoo-hoo.  They actually had such a hoot with that and even scrambled around to pick them up as they fell like they were some kind of treasure.  So funny!

Mid party-wrap-up pause:  Are you with me on how much fun these kids are having with everything that could have existed at a party in 1950??  Yeah...take that rented bouncy houses and zap zones...Ok, on with the pics...

Next up was Henry inventing the balloon volleyball over the birthday decorations game.
Please recall with me friends...I am turning 47 and have given at the very least 58 birthday parties so far over the last 18 years (averaging up to age 13 for the oldest three, though I've certainly done dinners and stuff as they aged past 13, then 11 b-days for W and 8 for L)...so...if Henry wants to start playing balloon volley ball, through the wall window and over the birthday decorations...I say...Go for it, Henry!

Almost...

And...it's over!
Whoo-hoo!

After just over an hour of all that fun...whew...we all went skating at a rink that I actually used to skate at sometimes in high school.  It just so happened to be as close as any other rink to us and less expensive, so it won the coin toss.  It also happened to be the busiest Saturday they'd ever had with 8 formally planned birthday parties (not us...we celebrated old-fashioned at the house remember? (-:) there and a few church groups. Lots of people on the rink, but not too many for good fun to be had by all.

Eight!
Such a beauty, so creative, smart, funny, a great friend, loves, loves, loves dogs, loves to read, is good at math, will humor me by learning a piano piece every now and again and never lets me forget to read our devotional book together after stories at bed time. 💗 

Friends and a brother.

Friends!

Sunday, November 12, 2017

Firsts . . .

First Solo Flight today!
Wow-wee-wow-wow.
I am sooooo in awe of this girl.
Did I mention...WOW-WEE-WOW-WOW!!

And . . . 

 First costume fitting, for his first theatrical production!
While this is most certainly not on the scale of the solo flight...in a small way it comes close as this football playing, boxing loving boy is...correction...was...never one to consider being in a play of any sort...certainly not a gigantic medieval Christmas pageant where one has to wear tights. And then...a special someone who loves theater entered his life...😉
Anyway
Gold sleeves...nope.

 Golden neck trimming...
nope.

Oh my goodness...look at his face with these ladies.
Hysterical!

And...the winner...Puffy Sleeves it is!
(I asked if Lords have to wear hats to which there was a hearty "yes" of a reply.  Thank goodness!)
(-:

And...then...I'm about to sign off and I realize I never posted anything on Tuesday of this week which is when I consider it the "one year anniversary" of Ben's passing, not on the 8th when everyone else recognizes it. And then, as I'm about to start typing this closing section I realize...well, that actually is another "first" isn't it, in this posts entitled Firsts. I hadn't thought about this when I started. See now, this post here is just like life (or at least mine)...there are still great joys to behold while simultaneously carrying the hardships. My summary of moving through this "first" of a week marking an anniversary of such tragedy is one of gratefulness to our always gracious Heavenly Father for blessing me with strength, courage, comfort, friends and family and covering us in the prayers of the faithful. He will carry you through...and He did.
💜
First full family trip to visit the Texas family/cousins, 2013.

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

No, that's not a Halloween costume . . .


As a matter of fact I actually forgot to take pictures of Liv tonight as I trick-or-treated with her and her friend Henry and his mom and sisters.  Not that I do much for the costuming these days other than pull out the costume bins and take the lids off. She wore a black witch gown with orange sleeves and a purple and black stripped witch hat...with her silver hightops.  There...now you picture it, eh? (-: Quite sure this is the first time I actually didn't take one picture on Halloween in 18 years...kinda sad...but I'm waaayyy tired and quite over-extended, so it is what it is I guess.

So, what's with this cross-country/track/basketball boy dressed like a hockey player??


Yeah...well...about that...
He recently announced he'd like to learn how to play hockey!
Excuse Me?
What was that?
I didn't quite catch what you said there, William...
Oh...you said you wanted to play hockey???

Well, as taken aback as I am, and as well as I held it together at the used hockey gear store, my many years haunt with Ben, and pulling out Ben's skates...and...and...seriously now William? Now?..Off we go tomorrow night to try Learn To Play Hockey at a local rink...

I've decided I'll just keep on keeping on.
How 'bout that?
(-:

Oh...Plus...it snowed today...just a few flakes but it was definitely our first ones of the year!

We got to visit this gal over the weekend! . . .


I was so glad!

Her brother was too...just not during the best.time.for.photos.ever.
!!!

It was a quick but fun trip. Eating in one of her favorite dining halls...um...those have changed since the 80's, for the waaayyy better...scoring some free tkts to that night's football game, a must-have parent/college student stocking up shopping trip, ours being at a Target super store deal, walking the campus, staying in an awesome airbnb (2 for 2 on good luck with those now), making the good parental decision NOT to allow the high school freshman to go with the college freshman to a college Halloween party (No...I didn't really care that it was the triathlete club that was hosting as a matter of fact (-;) and then stay on campus (um...seriously?? I was actually asked permission for that???) meeting hall mates and just getting updated on college life. 

(-:

Sunday, October 22, 2017

Pumpkin Carving . . .


Face drawn...check!

Neighbor and Friend over to share in the fun . . . check!

Uncle to help finish the 11 year old brother's carving . . . check!

Ready to light 'er up  . . . check!

We have been beyond blessed this fall with beautiful weather (well, once we passed some crazy 90 degree days in September) and yesterday and today were no exception. Only one morning basketball tryout on the agenda yesterday so I decided it would be a perfect day for pumpkin carving and inviting family over for a patio fire, chicken and mashed potatoes, apple cider/cinnamon donuts/caramel apples.  Boy oh boy...did we score with this idea...G-Ma Kat and G-Pa came over and G-Ma made the most amazing loaded mashed potatoes and her always moist roasted chicken while I spent time going between carving and cleaning up the giant lilly garden planted 15 years ago and left untended for the same amount of time. Then Uncle J dropped by for some eating and carving and I'll tell you what...I'll take this kinda day over a trip to Disney any day of the week! So blessed.



Did you know the kids all had a first day of school? . . .


This post it brought to us by the thought for the day:
It is never too late to record memories!
(-:

This gal headed off to college on August 14th!
After we packed up from a quick Lake Mi camping trip that morning!

She was ready and raring to go . . . understandably so!
She arrived on campus about a week early and I believe our first conversation a few days in included, "It's like summer camp around here, there is SO much to do! Swimming anytime, comedians, concerts, I'm meeting so many people..."  Likely the summer camp effect has waned a bit once classes started, but so happy for her!

So, yeah...that's the name of her dorm...her brother...and a sophomore chemical engineer she's getting to know...can't ever have too much Harrison can you? (-;


And there it was, dropped off at the dorm (fellow college kids moved her in, awesome system!), stayed about a half hour because then she had a dorm meeting and I had a 4.5 hour drive home to go to work the next day. She's off studying to become a pilot, wowza!


These cool kids headed off to 3rd and 6th grade on August 28th.

"Um...yeah...mom...could you get this over with!!"


Third grade, the year of the Bucko Shop, field trips every month and this youngest of the kids looking WAAAYYYY to grown up! Also...if you're wondering, she's never had a haircut and she is refusing to do so.  Haven't quite figured this parenting dilemma out yet but certainly don't have the energy to make much of it, I'll let her lead the way on her lovely locks at this point.



We are STILL making it to Big Boy for our annual, first day of school lunch.  Should link back to all the others some time.
 OK...I guess that's now...turns out there's not as many lunch pics as I had thought.  Should compile those...someday...
2015 (H, W, L) & 2015 (L&B)
2014 & 2014 (L&B)

 Finally, on September 5th this fine young man became a high school freshman!

As of late October he is loving and thriving at his choice of high school.  He wanted to leave our home district and go to a smaller public school a bit to the south and it is a really great fit for him by all accounts.  He knew.  He's a smart boy, always has been.

He played a very personally successful football season, has swimming class first hour which he LOVES and even breathed the thought of possibly joining the boy's swim team, has photography which he LOVES, has three "Honor's" level classes and World History, is on the Drum Line in band which he LOVES and even said that although Honor's English is his hardest class it's his favorite.

For those of you that know the incredible journey this boy had to walk through to attend his choice of high school, beginning just months after such tremendous tragedy of the loss of his brother which was just on the heals of the destruction of his intact family...you know the depth of gratitude I hold for God's Grace, Care and Blessings bestowed on him.

So, my friends, I'm going to write one more thing that I've had a hard time figuring out how to put it, because part of it is so cool to me-the part of all the different levels of schooling the kids are in now-but the other part, hard and painful, which lingers on my lips every time I stop at the youngest one in elementary school...because where is Ben, he can't just not be in the list. This summer I was getting stuck, I'd go through the list of the kids' school grades for the year and then in my head I would think, "and one that is dead." Eventually though, God gave my heart a peace that passes all understanding in being able to say...I have one child in college, one in high school, one in middle school, one in elementary school, and three in heaven (Ben having joined his twin baby sisters who were brought to glory before they were born in the year 2000). I don't actually go around saying this, but in my mind the list ends with Ben not dead but alive in the promise of eternal salvation through the death and resurrection of our dear savior, Jesus Christ. I praise God for His faithfulness in caring for each and every one of my children!

Thursday, September 7, 2017

August 11th . . .


Was this boy's Golden Birthday!
(the boy in the bright orange...(-:)

And so...on August 12th, while camping with nine other families and a huge gaggle of kids, we celebrated with my good ol' Texas Sheet Cake (s)! One with nuts and one without. 

There's my Sweet William!

It was a short trip, the annual, many family, camping trip on Lake Mi, this year. Sandwiched between three of the kids trip with SP, one needing to be gone and then back for football and one moving off to college...but we still fit it in and I am SO glad! (plus...sure made for dramatically easier packing only being there a couple days...first time in 15 years probably not taking a trailer or any other external packing do-hickey).

Then, a week later, Mr. Golden Birthday had a birthday trip to putt-putt and go-carts with a good buddy...check out that form, he took some golf lessons this summer! (-:

This was THEE best!  Hadn't been go-carting in a million years, what an absolute blast...I want to become a race car driver now...or at least a go-cart race car driver.  Pedal was to the metal...even when sharing the car with Liv...she managed...haha!

There she is now.  Naturally, we had to pick the pink car.
While we were here I texted some pics to the uncles and came to discover D.M. used to hang out at this very same place in high school, that was fun to learn...and then I wondered, where the heck was I?? This was only a few miles from my house, don't think I ever went!

I scored an amazing Groupon deal that allowed for pizzas, pops, rides and even some games since I didn't play all the things available to me...no, as a matter of fact...I didn't do the bungee trampoline...the kids had a really great time, so nice!

Mini-me in my hat.

Then...since we were so close...I decided we needed to stop by my old stomping grounds.  I told William's friend..."hold on to your hat, you're about to experience the thing you'll be writing about when your teacher's ask you the coolest thing you did all summer...you know...that time when you walked down memory lane with your good friend's mom at her elementary school, middle school and high school!" Hahaha...I crack myself up...

We all did LOVE the bridge though...who wouldn't!

And...low and behold...even all these years later, with all this whacky stuff in the news...the ol' cut through the woods path to get to the elementary school is still there.  Who woulda thought.

To top it all off...and I hope this made it in the friend's summer fun report because it's an absolute highlight of the trip and I do have video if you tempt me...THE MARCHING BAND CAME OUT TO PRACTICE while we (well, the kids...I was looking for the ol' trail) were playing at the elementary school playground!! Say what?? I marched myself right on over there (pun intended) to shake the hand of my descendant Drum Major and the Band Teacher and enjoyed hearing the tweets, drum cadences and the fight song. Yeah...I'm pretty sure that made the report!
(-: