Moments before the tumult of the paper toss...My Santa-baby lays under the tree before the children rise and jump on him

Only one real child is still at home. Everyone else is grown, but they are still children to us. I am very grateful for the elongation of the maternal season that we enjoy. When they are gone the empty nest is a fountain of memories, but for now the memories are still in the generator.

Father-bear loves the nightlong vigil of commitment and intensity. I am always a willing, but incapable armorbearer. We carry the torch into the memory generator, like there is a treasure in that cave and there is. There are memories that are treasured, just for us. Just for the page of Christmas that is Ezra's 11th Christmas and Ethan's 15th. We are all still watching the men that they will become. Enoch, at 20 is still watching the family develop and participating as an adult now. The fledgling college woman carries her womanly spectacles and puts them on and takes them off as it suits her. She is a woman, when she wants her way and a child when she wants it that way also. The women are like all of the elves in Santa's workshop. They have the invaluable tasks of galavanting and creating the festive mood. Elyse at 28, carries the orchestra baton in her bag. I think that she and Grandma Monica, must have met somewhere between earth and heaven she is so much like her. Emily, my clone is 24 and the bossiest boots in the bunch. We couldn't have found this bunch of treasured memories without their capable services. Santa and I fall into place and follow our directions and the wonders of Christmas Present unwrap themselves as they have for our 31 Christmases together.

Our Christmas Treasure chest always seems more full than we can bear and there couldn't be another wonder to observe, enjoy, or complain about, as we always do all of the above. Still there is another chest of memories to discover and enjoy. The Circle is still unbroken and remains a blessed privilege to encompass. All Hail the Power of Jesus Name!

I Hope You get everything on the Grown Up Christmas List. Merry Christmas!

With Cotton, still in our ears, we went to hear the "Maestro" play in his Christmas Concert. How very pleased we were.

Of Clouds and Cotton: Merry Christmas Cottonfields to munch!

Once we've gotten our baby girl the clouds look wonderful. Before, they are just in the way and we have to smack them aside to get to our EVVY. :{

Me at 53! So Much to Be Grateful For!

I finished the blankie for the college woman to have a comfort from mom to hold, while she's away.

Our Favorite Thanksgiving Pizza Place is a wonderful family outing!

On the phone with sis is a rare occasion. I hate talking on the phone, unless I have my guitar on my lap:)

Happy Birthday, Jackie, Did you have a Great Party?

Welcoming Baby Jackie----Before she was born---50 Years ago today, our lives changed...

What a couple of hooligans we were, for sure. We probably had the most messy and defiant fun, when mom was expecting Jackie, "Doggone Right!" It feels like yesterday, in my minds eye, when I see those little faces coming around again in Naveem and Addison. How could anybody look just like my baby sister? We were deciding that we were big enough to pour the milk and juice for ourselves. Are you sure we are old enough, Ju asked? I am sure, let's go downstairs, we certainly don't want to wake mommy, with baby Jackie in her tummy, now do we?

We scurried downstairs and opened the fridge and mom called down and scared us. I dropped the bottle right on the kitchen floor and mom fell down the stairs and slid into the kitchen to try to rescue us from ourselves. We didn't need rescuing, because we were becoming the "Big Girls" "Doggone Right!"

We were too short to turn on the light in the downstairs hallway and we were too afraid of the dark to go to the fridge without the light on. We snuck down the stairs and stood on each-other's back. Ju was still too short standing on my back, so I had to stand on her back to reach the light. Dad would leave Manchester downstairs to discourage us from getting into trouble any more than we already did, except one Thanksgiving he came home and the turkey carcass was strewn all over the dining room, because mom had left it out to thaw. Dad, nearly had a heart attack thinking that it was one of us. He never left Manchester downstairs while we were home after that day.

My favorite, pre Jackie memory is trying to climb up the cuckoo clock. I said Ju, if you hold one chain and I hold the other, we can climb up and see the cuckoo bird. The clock fell down while we were trying. How did that clock get on the floor? I don't know? "You're doggone Right!"

We were in the car driving, just past the church and nearly to Ms. Ruffins house area and on the radio came "eaving on a Jetplane". I remember it like yesterday. Ju was seated next to dad in the front seat and she started screaming, "She is not coming back!" She is not coming back!-- He had to pull the car over to the side of the road, to try to comfort her that Mom had gone to the hospital to bring baby Jackie to us. Why is she getting so upset? I thought. I was a pro at knowing what was going to happen with this baby sister, thing. I had been through it with her. We sat there for a long time. I really don't know now if dad knew what she was saying. You are acting luney, he said, what is luney, I said. After the song was over and Ju calmed down we got on our way. I still can't believe that we were only 2 and 1.

Not so lost this time... But we got her back to school in only 10 hours on a Sunday

Happy birthday, Jackie, Did you have a great party? So sorry to have missed it. Much love to You Jack!

I finished the blankie that I was making for her on the journey and we didn't get as lost as we did, on the way to get her.

I fell asleep{I'm the "nagivator", I mean "navigator"} on the way to get her for Thanksgiving this year. I woke up and we were in Roanoke, VA. We had missed the fork to go toward Raleigh and had stayed on 85 instead. I loved it. A wonderful lady gave us directions, we don't really know how to use En's gps feature on his phone and he wasn't with us. So, the human element of asking for directions was terrific. We were only 90 miles to the west of the school and it looked like a straight shot on the map. We took 158 and I really enjoyed it, because they had something other than cotton on the sides of the road to entertain me. Ben was getting unusually peaved because it was another country road with slow drivers in front of us. We started talking country and pretending that we were the cop that would pull us over. We were rolling in laughter all the way into Chowan. Thank God, we didn't get pulled over and we didn't lose anytime, it seemed at all.

My Emmy drove home this time and she knows streets like the back of her hand, so I went to sleep, about an hour from home. She really doesn't need a "Navigator, Nagivator" for driving. This time there wasn't as much cotton on the sides of the road, it had been harvested. I saw cows on the side all the way and they were also very social to us, surprisingly so.

The sky was nearly cloudless and I asked EVv to keep her computer in the car and not to put it in the trunk, because I just knew a story about the cows and the sky would hit me and I would need to write it down. That's not what happened. We talked about the birthday party that we missed and how Addy makes me remember when Jackie and Ju were born. I remember spilling the juice all over the kitchen floor and mommy sliding into the kitchen like it was home base. They laughed at the thought of us being little enough to try to climb up the cuckoo clock. It's great to talk about old memories, while making new ones.

My American Doll goes home to college, today.

The nest is certainly not the same without her. But she is delightfully growing wise and knowledgeable, while away from us. We went to the American Girl Doll store that newly opened down here. The last time we went there she was 10 and it was in NY. She was a little child and they all saw the lights and the beauty of the store and we all wanted to grow up to be American Girls. I guess we all are growing to be who we are. That is a really great store. Now onto the trek 10 hours to take her back. Her blankie that I am working on is almost finished.

Hallowed Be Thy Name!

I will Bless His Holy Name!

It was overcast on the road for the entire trip. Intermittent raindrops hit us, nearly all the way up north and back. I closed my eyes for a minute and there we were, "Welcome to Virginia" I saw the sign. We were truly lost going to Evie. Who knew she was just a few minutes from Virginia. Now we know. A kind attendant gave us very specific and great directions and we almost thought we had shaved a little time off of the 5 hour trek, but we pulled in exactly 5 hours from the time we cast off ship. Halleluia, for the good providence there!We got back in one piece and Emma {our dog} and Ev rolled on the floor, like only they can. She was the only one who could really show Ev physically how very much we miss her when she is gone.

She's back now, so it really is a Happy Thanksgiving week celebration for us.

Lord You are Forever

What is a mother to do? 16 degrees in the morning, last week and it will be 72 today.

What a wonderful dilemma to have? The weather of delightfulness. Mother, I can't find my jacket... Oh honey, you won't need it today; Spring has come to visit us, for Thanksgiving.<

Talk about a reason to be Thankful, among other things!!!

I'm Just a Sinner, Saved By Grace

Thanking God for my Tapestry!

I love the discipline that led Carol King to lead us through her stitches on her "Tapestry" Album. I imagine sitting in class with her and she leads us outside of our romantical imaginations of life and sharing of ourselves with children and husband and friends.

I imagine her saying that "Way Over Yonder" was an emotional lament in the African American Gospel Music Genre that thoughtfully expressed the view from an eternal perspective the stuff that makes us feel that we are going to lose our minds. Try doing this yourself and see if it doesn't give your the catharsis of expression that other genres might not. {The whole album is a cry from her heart and a light to direct us through our own attempts at relating, it seems to me}

"Always keep one hand on your mind, when sharing from yourself." I hear her say. Relationships are complicated and it is very easy to lose yourself in them. "How much of yourself to choose to share with others? is the question in relationships." "It really isn't supposed to cost you your entire sanity to enjoy relationships" She says, it could, but it doesn't have to and God didn't intend it to be that way. If there is such a thing as a freedom of "choice" it is a choice of how much of yourself, you will invest in this relationship, ie. wifing, mothering, sistering, etc. One hand on your mind and one hand on the relationship, I only have two hands and I have hundreds of close relationships and half a dozen children and I can't even go on facebook for just that reason... Carol carries you through the stitches of her tapestry and shows you that you don't have to pull the whole thing out when the stitches get crossed and look tangled. I have needs and others have needs that I have a responsibility to meet. Family is complicated, but when it all comes together, it will be beautiful, when we get

"Home Again and Feeling Right!"

Take a listen and learn about your womanhood from a mother who loved us enough to share some of the stitches:)

Small Mercies? Who's Birthday is it today?

Who's---what's Birthday is it?Thanking God for His mighty and miniscule providences, today!

I was walking around in a real fear of the loss of my short term memory. I had been crocheting and Elyse's dog interrupted me for some fun interaction. I had my large project with me, in my lap and I pet her and then got up and gave her a treat. Distraction led me in a few different directions, to the laundry and to the dishes and then I returned to my crocheting project and everything was intact, except that my 18 inch needle was gone. I know Emma didn't eat that? I backtracked, I looked as best I could and reached into the couch, but I was sure that my memory must be gone. I kept doing exercises of memory, "what is my name?" my address? These things are the first thing to go, when I have a memory episode, here and there. I was certain that my Alzheimer fear had come to invade me.

I bought a new needle. I found sundry other needles around in my search. I resumed my project for a few days. finished one and started another and I sat on the couch to complete another project, when I was interrupted by a dinner pot overboiling. As I jumped up, {as much as I can jump, these days} I heard a clink of metal in the couch behind me. The new needle had fallen into the couch and clinked against the old needle. Thank You Jesus, I am not in the last stages of Alzheimer's, after all. That needle had found the exact place in the couch where the other needle had fallen into the couch. It was a real interior portion of the couch that it had fallen. Halleluia, What a Savior!

Whew! We survived that arctic blast. Thank God for warmth.

Yesterday's 16 degree morning was a swift breath of the cold that usually doesn't come to us at this month of the year.

It ended up warming into the 40's and it is a warming 30 something this morning, Thank You, Jesus!

Ethan gets out the door at 6 am to the busstop and he is usually not thoughtful about the temperature and gregariously trots out the door. Yesterday was a search for the warmest cool adornments. Ezra stole Elyse's scarf as convinced by mom and wore 2 coats and came back with one. He's been having a problem at his locker, which we haven't figured out the cause of, yet. He lost his gym shorts and now a jacket and he keeps saying that "the locker ate it" or something to that effect. We will have to get into the school to find out the problem. It's so hard to get angry with him as he adjust to Middle School. His aspirations for student government didn't pan out and he daily comes home with a quiet, not sullen, but surely maturing sobriety.

Enoch often intercedes for him in the table talk about his day and so it is somewhat difficult to get the whole story. Last semester's "Health class" made him much more aware of the blooming "biologies" about him, as I see it. He seems unsure if "MOM" knows all of the stuff they taught him in the class, just announced his new "knowledge" and hasn't wanted to discuss it any further, with a secure and sure stubbornness. I'll crack that code, soon enough. He's adorable! The rest of the grown people in the house are greatly helpful and we are Thankful, as ever for good health and loving combustions...

PS``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` The weather today was wonderful. few puffy clouds outside and the temperatures finally raised to 60 degrees, after all was said and done. I can hardly remember the 16 degree morning and wrapping my middleschooler's neck with a scarf. He has shorts on now? Certainly a heavenly transition for November! That is what I love about NC!

We are one in the Frozen!

It is truly frozen tundra, all over the country today! 16 degrees is unusually cold for us in NC. I love the mild weather patterns we have here. November has brought an unusual gust of wintry freeze to the whole nation. Lord, You are in control and we are grateful for Your mercies. Great is Your faithfulness. Extra sweaters, hats and scarves create a oneness that goes beyond our divisions. Help us to turn our eyes to You! Love You, Lord! We submit to the cold!

Glorify the Lord!

Celebrating my Marriage!

What is praying the hymn, Joyful, Joyful? Lord Hear Our Prayer.

1 Joyful, joyful, we adore You, God of glory, Lord of love; Hearts unfold like flow'rs before You, Op'ning to the sun above. Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; Drive the dark of doubt away; Giver of immortal gladness, Fill us with the light of day!

2 All Your works with joy surround You, Earth and heav'n reflect Your rays, Stars and angels sing around You, Center of unbroken praise; Field and forest, vale and mountain, Flow'ry meadow, flashing sea, Chanting bird and flowing fountain Praising You eternally!

Always giving and forgiving, Ever blessing, ever blest, Well-spring of the joy of living, Ocean-depth of happy rest! Loving Father, Christ our Brother, Let Your light upon us shine; Teach us how to love each other, Lift us to the joy divine.

Mortals, join the mighty chorus, Which the morning stars began; God's own love is reigning o’er us, Joining people hand in hand. Ever singing, march we onward, Victors in the midst of strife; Joyful music leads us sunward In the triumph song of life.

Where is sunward? and How does joyful music take us there? I am praying about that today.

1 Lord we bring our hearts before you. We thank you that the sunrose so beautifully and were it not for your grace we would be down on our knees worshipping the sun as our ancestors were in their idolatry, so many years ago. We have seen the beauty of the Savior to have saved our souls and so we worship You, the One true and living God, with a simple prayer of blessing Your Holy Name and the redemption that was purposed in eternity and lived out in the perfect life of our Gracious and Merciful Savior Jesus.

2 Every part of Your creation reflects Your perfection and we attempt to imitate those perfections that You have placed all around us, but our wills are so entrenched in our own ways that we keep running to the habits of idolatry, we ask your forgiveness for that, when we do, LOrd and we ask that our daily schedules and the lives that we live would be like the earth and heaven that Praise You in their daily courses.

We pray for our relationships that are far below the beauty and perfection of the relationship that we have seen in the Trinity. We keep using our relationships for our own glory and appetites and we ask that You would place us on a course of loving as You loved.

4. We are what we are, Lord and we have only time to act out these intentions, Dear God. We pray that You would early join us to Your Church in communion with You and the Saints in Glory, that we would have time to live out these intentions upon the earth for Your glory and for our good. In Jesus Name, Amen.

We took her back, yesterday.

We know that our children don't belong to us. But we borrowed our Evvy from Chowan for the weekend. They are borrowing her from us for a while and we are borrowing her from God, along with the other wonderful loans that we have in our family.

Great weather we enjoyed, for our Wednesday through Sunday rendezvous. We had thought we would do a lot, ie. play tennis, go to the AG Store, etc.

The first night it was Ev and I, together. "Mom, can I sleep in your bed?" NOOOOOO!--Okay, it will be alright for just one night. Why?

I don't think we ever get used to being a "mommy"{representing motherhood to a bunch of people} I guess, I lived up to the challenge and let her sleep in my bed for the night. For that one moment, she was able to regress to a second grader. We went through the challenges of college freshman year and carried it together for a minute and she said can I put my side of the furniture on the floor for a minute and take a breath. Sure, said everybody else in the family. We are so glad to have you home. Our agenda was set aside and we all just watched Evvy be who Ev is to us for a brief{all too brief 5 days}.

Do you have to go back so soon?

Not a cloud was in the sky, all the way up north the 5 hour drive. Lots and lots of traffic, but no clouds were around. Last couple of times, it was an entire show of cloud stories to write about. This time we were all ears on Evvy. Dad gave a tutorial on drawing eyes. {Em felt left out of that huge gift, because she was driving} "How come Evvy gets all of the good stuff?" We're not jealous, but we could be.

From Tuesday to Sunday the trees had completely changed in color. It was glorious in color on the right and the left sides the trees were in their most beautiful reds and yellows and browns. There was a lot of variety of color and still a little green, before the dormancy of the trees that is quickly coming upon us.

Then, as we got close to the campus, the white of the cotton that annoyed us immensely, by its redundancy had become bales and bales and bales of this icky looking off-white stuff covered with tarps on the sides of the roads.

I guess, I never saw the real significance of "Eli Whitney" and the cotton-gin. I just kept saying his name over and over as we saw the seeming unending mounds of cotton that were everywhere. His name was just one of the answers to the question in Social Studies class and now it seemed that we were

FOREVER IN BLUE JEANS!

He is the Champion of Love!

I will cherish the old Rugged Cross...

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Now on the matter of the children's deportment

Duties of Parents---What a needed resource, that I found. JC Ryle....

I do not mean that you are to spoil him, but I do mean that you should let him see that you love him. Love should be the silver thread that runs through all your conduct. Kindness, gentleness, long-suffering, forbearance, patience, sympathy, a willingness to enter into childish troubles, a readiness to take part in childish joys,— these are the cords by which a child may be led most easily,— Ryle, J.C. (2012-10-09). The Duties of Parents (p. 4). . Kindle Edition.

I found an old treasured book at Amazon.com for 99cents I bought it again. I have to remind myself to be a "Parent for Jesus". Ryle always grabs my mind's eye and brings it back to my responsibilities. I hope you will read the whole book too. it is great reading.

God's Mercies and Stronger than the Strong Man!

It is a very overcast Sunday Morning!

I can imagine that the view of the reservoir is pretty wrinkly on this overcast and nearly rainy day. It seems to be ripe for a huge torrent. The clouds and the sky are very close to the ground. We haven't heard thunder or seen any lightning yet. It seems God, doesn't mind if we sleep a bit more before the light show and thunderation. Probably, as soon as we get to church the angels will have their loud praise party.

I love being in church when it rains and thunders because the heavens seem in synchronization of our worship. Sometimes I can't tell if we are saying amen to them or them to us. I think that it is certainly the latter. The heavens always declare the glories of God. We are the ones who are choosing to praise Him on the overcast and thunderous day.

On sunny days the calm is worshiping and on tumultuous days the rhythm of the thunderclouds give us the heavenly metronome to join in. Halleluia for the privilege of worship!

OooooH! I am so glad to have found this wonderful resource for teaching little minds to know Jesus!

We had this in our home for years and years and I do hope that other young minds will have access to it.

Cries to God from a new generation! I am engaged to pray for the "Cries of my sweet young voices in sympathy" Draw us to Unity in our Praises, Lord! There is only one God!

I worship You Lord from the depths of my heart! You Alone! Polytheism set aside. Idolatries crushing. Arms of flesh set aside!

Reference(s) Found.

Psalm 72:8 He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. Psalm 135:7 He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain; he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries. Isaiah 41:9 Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away. Isaiah 43:6 I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; Jeremiah 10:13 When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures. Jeremiah 16:19 O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit. Jeremiah 51:16 When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures. Zechariah 9:10 And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.

1 Samuel 2:10 The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed. Matthew 12:42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. Luke 11:31 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

Psalm 83:1

Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. Psalm 83:2 For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. Psalm 83:3 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. Psalm 83:4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. Psalm 83:5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee: Psalm 83:6 The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes; Psalm 83:7 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre; Psalm 83:8 Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah. Psalm 83:9 Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison: Psalm 83:10 Which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth. Psalm 83:11 Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb: yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna: Psalm 83:12 Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession. Psalm 83:13 O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind. Psalm 83:14 As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire; Psalm 83:15 So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm. Psalm 83:16 Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O LORD. Psalm 83:17 Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish: Psalm 83:18 That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.

Proverbs 28

Proverbs 28:1 The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion. For the transgression of a land many are the princes thereof: but by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged. A poor man that oppresseth the poor is like a sweeping rain which leaveth no food. They that forsake the law praise the wicked: but such as keep the law contend with them. Evil men understand not judgment: but they that seek the LORD understand all things. Better is the poor that walketh in his uprightness, than he that is perverse in his ways, though he be rich. Whoso keepeth the law is a wise son: but he that is a companion of riotous men shameth his father. He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor. He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination. Whoso causeth the righteous to go astray in an evil way, he shall fall himself into his own pit: but the upright shall have good things in possession. The rich man is wise in his own conceit; but the poor that hath understanding searcheth him out. When righteous men do rejoice, there is great glory: but when the wicked rise, a man is hidden. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief. As a roaring lion, and a ranging bear; so is a wicked ruler over the poor people. The prince that wanteth understanding is also a great oppressor: but he that hateth covetousness shall prolong his days. A man that doeth violence to the blood of any person shall flee to the pit; let no man stay him. Whoso walketh uprightly shall be saved: but he that is perverse in his ways shall fall at once. He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough. A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent. To have respect of persons is not good: for for a piece of bread that man will transgress. He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him. He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with the tongue. Whoso robbeth his father or his mother, and saith, It is no transgression; the same is the companion of a destroyer. He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife: but he that putteth his trust in the LORD shall be made fat. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered. He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse. When the wicked rise, men hide themselves: but when they perish, the righteous increase.

Wow, what a treasure to have found this delightful Anne Murray concert. I loved it! Hope you do,too.

Whose Birthday is it today?

Is it 11 years since Ezra blessed our lives so suddenly? He's still the same dear sweet middleschooler as he was as an infant. We see him growing so confident and yet so sensitive to his elder brothers and sisters ways and influences. It is a wonderful bond of sibling love that I see in his eyes. Enoch said this and Ethan said that and Emily said this and Elyse said something else and where would Ev stand on this issue. What an endearing process of thinking I am learning in watching his concern for elder brethren. Happy Birthday Ezra! You're not a baby anymore. a link to your blog

Remembering Grandpa Bob!

11 years today, someone said he was gone. It seemed unbelievable that he would have succumbed to any sickness. He seemed so very strong. Cancer deteriorated the body. He stood stalwart as a symbol of the great tennis patriarch. Ezra was in my tummy and 3 passings happened before my dear baby came through the womb. He was the last of my births and Dad passed and Gramps and Uncle Mose in the span of the 9 months.

Comfort for the difficulties of mourning was that dear little fellow. Somehow we saw all of the departed lights of masculinity rising in his birth. We were grateful for a safe delivery, though it was touch and go some what there.

Next thing on the family calendar is the sweet birthday of our Ezra

And I love you so, the people ask me how How I've lived 'till now, I tell them I don't know I guess they understand, how lonely life has been That, life began again the day you took my hand And yes, I know how lonely life can be The shadows follow me and the night won't set me free But I don't let the evening get me down Now that you're around me And you love me too, your thoughts are just for me You set my spirit free, I'm happy that you do The book of life is brief and once a page is read All but life is dead that is my belief And yes, I know how lonely life can be The shadows follow me and the night won't set me free But I don't let the evening get me down Now that you're around me Read more: Perry Como - And I Love You So Lyrics This is my Grandpa Bob Song

I hear my grandpa singing this to me. He communicated so clearly though more without words than with. He said I do wonder how I could love a "judgmental Christian Girl, like you". Try not to lose the mystery of your condition or swiftly you will find why I could "not love a judgmental Christian Girl like you! I see hopeful naivete in your eyes and once you lose that there will be a very sad fall. I know a lot more about life and love than you do and I hope that you know that I planned very carefully to be in your life and I love you anyway!. "SO!"{That is my name, So}

Rejoicing in the truth of redemption!

whose Birthday was yesterday?

WE had the most spectacular sky scenes yesterday. All the heavens knew that I miss my "thedratic" baby sister. The sky went all out like a broadway show. I couldn't even write about it until later. There were curtains going up and rain storms here and there as we travelled into the city to see Joni Eareckson Tada. It was a prayerful and wonderful gift for me on my baby sister's birthday. THE heavens cried for me. THEN Joni picked my heart up and encouraged me to press on. I was delighted and encouraged.

We all stayed up past my bedtime to watch Evy on the Facetime!LOL

She sent us a souvenir of the sweet occasion. The big lady is doing fine and we are wasting alot of food because there are 2 of them missing from eating it. I will learn to cook for the fewer of us after a while. Happy problem to have.

The Wise Sharpening of the African American Woman's mind!

Halleluia, What a Savior!

That Zina Garrison, looks to have cracked the glass ceiling of self depracation in that protégé of hers. I would give her a cigar!

Your mission, if you choose to accept it is to build an athlete woman who has no mental block to the number one spot, internal or external. This block must be conquered, even before the physical prowess is fully bloomed!

That looks to be what Zina has created in her young monster. That girl is a monster in bloom. Physical at 50% play ability good and growing, but the mental acumen to look a Senior woman in the face and not fear beating her. That has been our African stumbling block in a matriarchal system. We rear them to fear us so that they cannot overcome our "mothering". I applaud the spirit that I see developing in the young 18 year old. Give it your all, do not genuflect to the matriarch and in all your beating, don't beat yourself. If anyone beats you, let them know that it is because they are better at your game and not because you were too chicken to win.

Sharpen mind and body, but don't beat people into subjugation to do it. That's not what the rod is for.

If I never see her again, I am blessed to have seen what I would have wished could have been the womanly condition of Black Tennis in my youth. "We are definitely going up!"

I ate 'em and they turned my stomach, some. Not sure why?

My Tubers{sweet potatoes} were beautiful in the way they grew around eachother. I have, for a long time been enamored with the "tubers" growth and beauty. I have seen such parallels inside the body, as I colored, with the Sweetpotato in pictures. This time I grew some for myself. What a proud moment to pull them out of what looks, on the surface, like a fruitless garden and have these beauties smiling and looking at you. I must eat you right now, and I could have bitten into the raw one, but I dared not. City girls don't eat their own produce. One never knows whether the process has been completed rightly. Was there too much miracle gro or too little insecticide? How does that process work with sweet potatoes?

I nearly forgot about the holes in the sweetpotatoes. They looked like worms had tried to get into them. That concerned me some. I found that when I cooked them the skin had absorbed the eating of the worms and the inside of the potato wasn't harmed or touched. Very different from apples, that the skin having been penetrated by the worm, will keep the little thing inside as a gift for you if you don't watch out. The sweet potato seems to be eaten by the worm and save the meaty part of the potato for me. The skin seems to be softer than a white potato, but far more resilient to the elements. I don't know why?

I washed and boiled them and ate them with my "legume enriched" meatloaf. I had a serious stomach problem the whole night. Was it the legumes or the sweet potato? No one else got the problem, so it must have been the sweet potatoes. I will try it again tonight, just to make sure. Or I may wait a week.

I I really never harvested sunflower seeds before. I hadn't put the 2 things together, in my mind. "here to sunflower seeds come from?" was one of the questions that got crushed in its earliest inception. I have grown them before and I have eaten them before, but I had never spent the time to pull them out of the "face". I guess I was like Ethan when he found out that cucumbers were edible and not just a cartoon character. I always thought of that part of the sunflower as the face and not so fruitful.

I sat for a half an hour or so trying to extract them whole after having dried the flower in the house for a week. Sweet syrup was coming off of the flower and I wished I had been a bee to get it out. I licked it and said "YUM!" This is yummier than the seeds. You should have tasted my fingers after the extraction process was completed. Yummy! " do love icky sticky stuff"to quote Pooh Bear.

I know that I am very sensitive to tactile on my fingers. {I used to go into the wool aisle and just stick my fingers into the different skeens to enjoy} Sunflower seeds are very similar in tactile delight. They are sticky sweet and dry at the same time. They stick to your fingers just a little and then leave the stickiness on your fingers and become dry. I am typing with the stickiness, because I don't want to wash off the sweet flavorfulness. Yuck!

I intend to plant mine and not eat them. Partly because I want to associate the experience in my mind with the sweet flavor and not the seedy flavor that I am used to. And partly because I want more sunflower seeds to harvest, If I can get some more before winter, somehow. Maybe they won't bloom again, but I'll try putting them in dirt and seed what comes of it.

My millet came up far more beautifully this year, than last year. They were bigger and thicker than last years batch. I do love millet, as difficult as they are to process. I must be a bird some where. I usually would blend them in something and enjoy it in a bread. It is a reminder of Dr. Manion and Grandma Ruth who told us how he would use the different whole grains in a well rounded diet. I haven't fully inculcated that as a practice, but I do occasionally use the different grains and millet is a delightfully different flavor of grain, to wheat.

Grow'n Tubers

Tubers in my yard!

Chowanautical and set at full sail!

Our Poor Puppy is a real sheepdog. When we came in the door from the trip to Chowan, she looked at us. Are you okay with this? One of us is missing, Mommy. I am not okay with this Emma. But it wasn't by accident and she is not lost. She is on a mission and her goal is to come home smarter and more equipped. Let's hope that happens! Still we are missing her.

Thank God for our police and firefighters!

We are so blessed to know some of our bravest and finest, in our neighborhood. We wouldn't trade them for the world. So grateful to God, are we for them. Our prayer is for their safety and blessing, today!

Fewer pain meds and the knee and the elbow are getting more useable!

I am not good with bone pain!

My children think its nice to stand over me and ask to lift and help me. I hate it, as nice as it is as a gesture, I start to feel old. I keep seeing Dr. Lang telling dad in a stern voice "TONY, a man's got to do what a man's got to do!"

Today I got out of the car without a hand and without the meds. Halleluia! That pain felt like it was going to last a lifetime, it was deep and urgent pain. Now as it dissipates, I am reminded that healing is a gift from God. I am very grateful for the dear and very expectant Dr. who is delighting my life, with encouragements as she looks at the developing and the aging of my bones. She's not my child and she is not a friend. A counselor and overseer of the healing process, We've been blessed with many dear Dr.s down here. A breaking bone and tearing skin season for us. But, the tearing has grafted in these dear people into our lives and hearts and taught us much about our ability to follow the directions of others, who may be younger and yet knowledgeable directors for our health.

Thank you to my family and friends. I am grateful for the well wishes. Thank you to the many doctors and nurses and technologists who serve us. God bless you all

No more trying to lift mom out of the chair, you hear!

IT helps to look back to 2013, every once in a while and see where we've come from. This week is back to school and get Evvie off to college!___

I Hope You Dance!

She's back!

We walked into church late. The whole bunch of us big galloots were in the pew together, a rarity for us. We are usually in different portions of the church. This time it was hard to keep us sober acting for the worship service. Various giggles kept coming from our pew. Mother says shut up! we elbowed eachother to try to get ourselves together. Who's mother? I thought to myself. Oh yes, I am mother. That is the job description that I was given. It's your job to keep the "peace" or piece, {as Madea says, ie."a Ruthism"}. It is a good thing that we go to a Pentecostal Church first thing in the Sunday Morning.

Elyse is home from New York. We were all waiting expectantly for our dear and loving elder sister to come on home from the "real far country". She said she would meet us at church and She was there as expected. Its a good thing, too. We all would have beat her up, if she would have stayed in the far country. Just kidding.

We danced around the church in a nearly modest way. "On account of, because of" the Good Providence of God in protection and travelling mercies. My bad leg, notwithstanding. Shouting is in order on just such occasions!

When we got home, we had testimony service. She is recounting the travels to the "Homeland". We are still at Monday's good blessings and times with the cousins and the Aunties. Hallelia, What a Savior!

Look What else I found! There really is Nobody Like Jesus! Halleluia!

Instantly, I was transported to Jamaica Ave and 218th St.

I got a phone call from Elyse going to the Aquarium. "What bus is it to 179th St.? How many times have I been to Jamaica Ave and 218th and gone to 179th St from every other direction? 179th St was like a North on the compass for a huge chunk of my life. Wherever you are find 179th St. and you can walk from there, if you need to. There is always a bus or a train to take you there.

I am grateful that I am not in the hustle and bustle of the city regularly. It is soothing that the run to the doors of the train is a distant memory. But it is bittersweet and somewhat I longed to just look at the view of the buildings and feelings of a New York minute. Blink your eye and the minute is over. I thank God for the dearness of my hometown and the sweetness of new beginnings.

This is a sister that always sings about the "Presence of Jehovah" and it never gets old!

Look What I Found Today! God is Great!

Look what I found!!!

What, My Son?

It is the 31st of July! Proverbs is the meditation of the 31st for me... What if?Proverbs 31 and Genesis example of the fall are the criterion for allegiance with God or with the devil. Regard for human life and the desire to cheat defenseless women are the criterion for the allegiance with God or the devil? Jesus paid it all! We are in need of a Savior!

Thank God for the month of July!

The midyear message came in loud and clear from the quarterback and it was thundered through the corradors of forums that I have heard. Halleluia. Psalm 22 was the passion of our Savior and it bought certain blessings for us, said the visiting minister in Philadelphia. I was awestruck that these realities had eluded my mind for so long. It brewed in my spirit for this long. We cannot receive completely the blessings of Psalm 23 until we embrace the reality of the price Jesus paid in Psalm 22 on our behalf. These young people are really listening to God through those devices they are using, some of them at least. That was my first and prejudicial thought as I prayed the truths into my spirit. {I intend to go into further detail on the devotional blog about this} Suffice it to say, that once he had placed that seed into my spirit the truth was blossoming everywhere. Graduations and at the hospital with the dear nurses and doctors that attended to me there, etc. I couldn't get away from the reality of the truth that Jesus' having paid it all is continuing to purchase grace and provision for us. Now, that we are kissing July goodbye and looking for the back to school provisions. We do this with God's directions and running with the football of truths to go into the new school year. Bless the Lord, Oh my soul! Ow, I can't shout until my knee gets better!:) Link to the sermon from Pastor DeYoung. Please listen and be blessed

Enough Ice Cream, already, Mommy?

I do not have to celebrate the ice cream and return of my baby, until the ice cream is all gone. What used to be a half gallon should sit in the freezer until the next celebration of family. Yesterday, I made myself sick in the stomach, eating ice cream 2 days in a row. I am glad that my stomach is no longer used to that. Too much fat is not good.

Now that back to school is on the horizon, I start my maternal montras until school starts. "Get off of the technology! No you may not play the Wii! Go outside! Lets do this or that outside thing! etc." {Please, help me remember, Lord Jesus} These techy children cannot see outside their devices. That dear boy who spoke at Ev's graduation taught me that{bless his heart}.

It is a mother's responsibility to say to herself, that if he hasn't bothered me terribly or gotten into trouble that I can see, he must be in trouble that I can't see. Cyber-trouble.

Mental and emotional entanglements of one sort and another grab far deeper into the soul than a gallon of ice-cream. We don't really know where those entanglements will carry our children. This pied piper is huge and ominous and invisible.

My mind goes to the invisible man and old movies about the invisible potions that people used to make. There is a generation who is bound together in the internet. Let us make it for the saving of their souls and not the demise. Please, God!

Why are your lips blue?

Oh that dear Ezra? Calls from camp, "Mom, I fell out of the tube, but I'm okay." That was 3 days ago, no news was good news in my mind, until I saw lips of blue getting off of the bus.

Where does mother's mind go, to see the blue lips? He totally shrugged me off and went into the building. He is walking, he is talking, my mind checks off the other life signs that are evident, so as not to go ballistic in an inquiry as to why my son came back with blue lips.

I whisper a prayer for the mothers whose lot it was to receive the reality of my overactive imagination, in this case. Thank you God, Ezra took out the bottle of blue candy that was the culprit for causing the maternal anxiety attack that nearly just happened. Thank you God that you remember why, when no one else can identify with this consistent and constant struggle of life. Yes, I am still taking my medicine and all the more when an Ezra man goes to camp.

nk God these young men are aware of their mother's oversensitivity to these mild episodes of crazies. I didn't really have an episode, but the yank of the heart that is growing up of the littlest fellow in my home is a season of real and important self-stock. Will you ever be ready to let them go? I really don't know and they know that. They tolerate my imbalance. I pour out in prayer to God, my sensitivity that some mothers this week had the heartbreak and worst nightmare come true in their lives, come to pass. Comfort and help them, Lord, as only You can.

This week, I will take a break from asking the why questions. I will just commit to pray for those whose hearts are open in pain for the rest of this short lifetime. I will Thank God for the best answer to all my prayers, that my Ezra came home safely and has had a great time and a little more grown than he was before he left.

It is my ultimate prayer that the craziness that bereavement leaves was the reason that Solomon was as wise as he was. His mother would have seen stars at the blue lips, like me. God bless their understanding of their mother to their profit, in Jesus' Name.

PS. after that... I smooched him to high heaven and we ate cake and ice cream and I filled his belly with good hearty beef soup and home made bread, once I forgot about the blue lips, we celebrated God's goodness.

It is so good for the elder children to feel some of the pain of missing Ezra! Turnabout is fairplay, ?

I remember tears from my little brothers when I went to Highschool and they thought that they would never see me again. I saw Paul cry when we went to Georgia, that his sister was going away. I am grateful to see the heartfelt missing of the elder siblings to this little fellow, who is the center of our attention so often and so often taken for granted. I want him to come home to a new house. A clean house, for a little while, at least. A joyful home and a welcoming place for him. Help us, Jesus. He comes back at 2 today! Hurry, hurry... Lots to do.

The Crew made it back from Chowan, safely. Of Course, they had spurious notes of the orientation from the college...

Suffice it to say, she is registered and still on course for late August sailing.

My early morning breakfast of coffee and cottage cheese w/sugar free lime jello{maybe a diet spurred on by watching the video of Ethel Waters I don't want to get that big, I thought}, was interrupted by Mr. Bunny, who came over to check on my bone healing and my knee reset. "I'm still in pain" I told him. He commiserated, as he always does; then, hopped off, before I could get the green pepper that I was cutting for him. He wouldn't let me take his picture this time.

The house is awfully quiet without Ezra. He might have asked me 10 times to play the wii by this point in the morning. No, No, No...etc. My "no" quotient is missing him for sure. {How many times can you say no to a sweet face, like his?} It seems odd, how very attached my boys have been to gaming.

En was into the DS at the same age. I hated it, but he was so quiet that I didn't really notice his disappearance until, it got lost, one day. All of a sudden this, bunch of conflicts arose that hadn't been there before. A new boy was with us, who hadn't been with us before. {We had missed his wonderful contribution to the conflict of family love.} This missing of my baby is a wonderful missing. I know it is my arms reaching into personal regions of interaction with God and others. When they are lost in "cyberdom", I don't know where they are, but, at camp they are somewhere that I can relate to. Thank you God for a great opportunity. Ezra sold candy to get to camp this year and it was a grand determination and a wonderful expression of effort on his part that we were grateful to see. We trust that God will meet him there and show Ezra more of Himself.

We celebrated Ezra going to camp yesterday with a trip to "Subways" and 3 hero sandwiches fed the bunch of us. We all had directions for him in his goings. Don't do this, do do that, etc. It must be so confusing to be the youngest child, I cannot imagine how many bosses, this poor baby has. I try to ask his opinion about it. What are you looking forward to? What is your anticipation of things? I wrote him a "palanka" {family letters of love and good wishes tucked into the suitcase}and I do hope he reads it.

Ben bought new pajamas that morning and it was a funny interaction between Ezra and his dad in that. I do see so much more sympathy and comradery between Ben and Ez. He took an hour out of our getting ready for church to run to Walmart and get pajamas for the boy who has hand me down pajamas from everybody. I tried to be supportive because I know my heart does funny things in sentimentality. It is Sunday and he is finding this reason to go to the "store"? I won't question, I will just watch what happens. Breakfast and pajamas and a new outfit and Ezra wasn't excited and happy, like I expected. They looked at each-other. The same face at different ages 55 and 10 years old, looking back in the mirror of time at the same face and the same excitement of ambition and life. "I don't want "Mario" on my pajama's, Dad." Here comes Jayne out of Ben's mouth. He is trying to carve a new image for himself I deduced. This is my turn to correct myself and translate the interaction from son to father. Ben usually has to do this for me. Your father just said I love you in this son and your answer should be Thank you. Oh, this is what it should be and he condescended to my request. I know what he meant and I know what Ben intended in this offering of seemingly extravagant{in terms of time and attention} love to the "youngest boy" launching out into the deep. This new boy who comes back is coming back more in touch with others outside our family and maybe with a little peer interaction that he isn't used to, I expect. We will see? I pray that he will learn to lead, somewhat. 6th child in the family rarely gets that opportunity. Help him, Lord Jesus, I pray.

Nearly Chowanautical...

This is a riproaring weekend for us, anticipated. The older crew is going to Chowan with the college woman for orientation. I have to stay home for the middleschool fellow to get to camp on Sunday. I have my post to participation in the team play. I am disappointed not to hear how the Baptist College orients the parents to college life.

I was really helped by the Lutherans when we went through this for Elyse. I was hoping for more parenting tools from the Baptists at this occasion. I am sure that they will clue me in and bring me on board, when they get back from this long trip.

We are really only as old as our eldest distant child, I think. So now I am growing into 5 hours old. How long can you hold your breath to get to your child if she needs you and you are crying. Faith is stretched that far and your heart is stretched out of sync when they are that far away. I don't care for facetime and the phone for communication and that distances me further or causes my heart to reach in prayer that far.

Can Mommies move to Chowan?

No, you have to stay home this trip and that is part of my personal orientation. Trusting that their father can ask the right questions and participate more in his way in the process of letting go. Not really letting go, but offering out. Extending our own reach, is more like it. Let's hope we are up for the challenge of this. I think we are. Will Ezra get back from camp 4 whole days distant from us? All of these prayer requests are brooded to God in prayer and I know He has it in control and no amount of my worry will make it turn out any differently. He never sleeps or slumbers and He cares for my children more than I do. Thank you God for your massive care for us.

Good news! Look Ma, no cast!

They gave me a clean bill of bone use. The fracture is such that it doesn't need a cast. Ten days is enough in a splint and a sling. Halleluia... Still hurts some, though. Tylenol for pain is working and my other arm is getting used to being used alot more than usual, so it is hurting just to keep things even.

Emma, my Border Collie was so pleased. She ran up to me when I came in rejoicing that I didn't have that "thing" on my arm. She didn't quite jump on me and let me know that she was aware of my freedom and still delicate condition. She put her paw right under my foot after she jumped around, as if to say: go ahead step on my paw, that is your family's way of celebrating, I have noticed. I laughed that she is so a part of our family nonverbal conversation.

I almost fell again avoiding her. I love her shepherding ways. Not falling for a while and no roller skating for a while. :)

Happy Anniversary, Mommy!

This year on my anniversary, I watched the little rascal's episode of Spanky's dad forgetting the anniversary. We always love the end scene where Spanky gets to spank his dad and we giggled about this nearly 60 years or so after the original episode was on. There is something cool about the way we go about celebrating such a great accomplishment and mom staying with dad all these years.

I love my mom's attitude and direction that I watched through the 52 years of me knowing her and this is either the 53rd or 54th anniversary of their relationship. She always made it very clear that God was first and she was doing this wifing and mothering stuff for God, first. No person is worth the effort, ever. We miss dad and celebrate the joyful expressions their union has left us.

I enjoy that thought as I traverse my own 31 year old neophyte effort at covenant keeping. I always try to remember that God is the only one worthy of the effort of love and devotion. When my husband is close at hand he is the other participant in this deep covenant,the affection goes to him. In the meantime, until we see God face to face we await the Church's communion with Christ.

Thanks for teaching us that, mom!

Psalm 4:3 But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him. Psalm 4:4 Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.

OWWWW Mommy! WWW.Come Lord Jesus!

My mommy said what kind of cyber jargon is owwww Mommy? She sent it around to her translators. What did she just say? They said Jayne said she broke her arm and it hurts. Generation gapp kicks in. We are trying to stay current with eachother and have closer ties, but do we? Mommy called and we laughed and I really don't know if she was joking that she thought that or not. But I think the younger generation has a goal of really relating in present tense and not in future or perfect tense. Who are you and what are you really saying? Cut through the decorum and nonsense and tell me what is up with you. They need guides and not critics. God help us to keep the tabs on what our cyber cries are doing to our culture for good and for ill.

Still Maranatha and seeking the face of God in the providences that we are dealt

I refuse to let a broken bone get me down:(

I am 52 and I have a broken radius. Owwwww! Splint still on my arm, sleeping is a bit of a strain. I am grateful for a wonderful caring family concertedly delighting in my comforts. The hand is slightly swollen and maybe I should try to paint the nails before Tuesday when I see the doctor again. Maybe a little make up and nice clothes for the holiday will pick up my sullen emotions on the holiday. I intend to have a happy 4th of July, regardless. I intend to write a new chapter in my life from this fall. My radius is radiating and the Tylenol is woozying. Keep the pills coming, I say! I am kissing my booboo and up and adam! Poor, Poor Pitiful Me!

I got A BRAND NEW SKATING INJURY...

When will I be the wonderful skating woman that I was born to be? I have never yet been successful the few times that I have tried rollerskating. This time was the most embarrassing. I was so excited about the couple of us being able to go to the rink. It has been years and my Evvie was available to go, so I was not going to miss the opportunity of one last hurrah before her launching. It was a beautiful and warm evening. I got a pair of size 10s for my big feet and had all of the ambition to keep my hands on the wall for the whole evening. It would be a warming up exercise and little by little I will get around that skating rink before I am too old to do so. Oh well! Evvy and I got a little too ambitious. We were going to walk to the wooden part without holding on. It is soft on the carpet area and how hard could it be. 5 maybe 6 steps out and kerplunk, I fell. elbow is fractured and a whole night in the hospital. That part of the adventure was too long to tell on one blog. 3- 6 weeks in a cast and my very first broken bone ever. Talk about an enchanted evening and skating on thin ice? That's me! Silly mommy, skates are for kids? Or are they? All in a day's work...

Thank you, Aunt Amy and everybody for talking to Emily!

Ethan has a lot of reading for the program he is in and we didn't realize it until this late in the game. Now is the shuffle to find these books and get him reading them, before it is too late for him to complete the task.

We've got some summer skill builders for the Middleschool young man who is blossoming and we are still deciding whether to contest the decision for him not to go to Fries school in the fall. He is our baby and I think we want him close to home, maybe? I am not so sure the travel will do him good. The question on our hearts for him is how to occupy him with things other than videogames? Does anybody else have this dilemma? If I turn my back for a second he is on the Wii or the DS or the computer watching and watching and watching something or other. It isn't all bad, but I am concerned at the tremendous amount of time and attention to those things.

I finally, {after some badgering} got to watch the "Lego Movie". I enjoyed that fast-paced movie! I was at home on my couch and I felt like I was going to fall out of my seat, it was so fast. The graphics were meticulous and microwave or warp speed, to coin an old phrase. Will I ever be able to keep up with minds that are moving in graphics that fast. Can their vocabulary be that fast also, or must it ever lag behind their visuals. A picture is only worth a 1000 words if you know a 1000 words. eh?

The Accident!

On Sunday afternoon, there was nothing out of the ordinary to talk about. We had had a bit of unusual lunch, dinner. Not the usual meat and potatoes, but a cook out style of Sunday lunch. I didn't go to church. I was a bit under the weather, emotionally. Not really out of the ordinary for me on family special occasions. I do always get a bit homesick at these days.

I really didn't know that they had left the house. I was still basking in the rich word that I had gotten from Tenth, in the music and in the preaching as well as the corporate prayers. They seemed dearer to me for having missed them for so long. The phone rang and that is rarely a comfortable thing for me. So much bad news comes over the line. I could hear Elyse's voice say take the phone to Dad, right away. Still not alarmed, by that, they know that I don't like to talk small talk over the phone, ever. It seemed like 10 or 15 minutes, when Ben came down to announce that there had been an accident.

Oh dear, I pictured mangled metal and my children with scars on faces and hands, but walking out of it. I said nothing, just got my things and went along to see the damage. We mustn't be angry with them, you know. It is a mercy that they are able to call about these things and we've been so spared of these things for so long. I talked myself down from the anxiety. Ben was unusually light about it. I decided that he must know it isn't that bad.

I saw her swollen eyes from the street. Before we got into the parking lot, I saw her tears lining the street. Maybe I felt them under me as we drove. She was shattered, but the car was relatively unscathed. Slight damage to the bumper, but huge damage to the heart of my dear Emily. She is so sensitive!

All our hearts are still recuperating!

Baby Girl's Graduation

If you dropped me straight from my HS grad into yesterday's highschool graduation, I would have had no idea what those children were talking about. What is a "selfie"?

I sat with baited breath waiting for my baby to appear out of that corridor. Why are we named with a W and all the way in the back of the line? It seemed like yesterday that her dad went to the store to deck her out in ladybug buttons to bring her home from the hospital. Where did the time go? It takes so long to get to see her. Thank God they had the photos of the graduates on the big screen. I almost forgot what she looked like, I've seen so little of her, lately. We used to color together. We used to play Hello Kitty. Sunflower dancing was her claim to fame in our family and so quickly, she's a woman graduating. I had my cry in the CVS, thinking about how to express my missing the little "thing 2 that has blossomed into a High School graduate.

I will compose myself. I will not baul through the ceremony about my coloring partner having grown up. It was a celebration.

Suddenly, this handsome young fellow appears on the stage, He was school president and no wonder he is so comfortable in front of a huge audience and oriented us, seamlessly into the celebration of the class of 2014. He looked like he had come out of "Moonlight Bay". hey, wait, that was about a hundred years ago now. Did they graduate people way back then? I remember thinking that about older people, like my grandmother and mother, etc. Now, I am the older person. Relevant? Old School? Dinosaur? The balancing generation, I've decided.

He said, We are done, let's applaud ourselves, no, let's take out our device and take a "selfie". I was in tears, laughing at how things change and things stay the same. Here was my baby and her class learning to use their media for usefulness in the world, the same as "Gordon Macrae and Shirley Jones", in the movies and "Theo and Justine" on the Cosby Show and all of the renditions of the "Same Old Song" playing over and over again. All at once, the waiting was worth it. They called her name! Evelyn Hope Walker, I heard the doctor say, "it's a girl!" Every starring moment flooded my mind for that one moment and she wisked across the stage, with my heart in her hands and then! She was graduated. They are setting sail into life and I am glad for them. My Evie celebrated with us and went out afterward, with her mom's full confidence that she will make us proud. I stopped crying long enough to write this blog, so, I will be alright!

Ezra's Graduation today, What a big boy he is now! On the way to Middle School Hooorayyy!!!

Reminiscing!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, Just to take Him at His word; Just to rest upon His promise; Just to know, "Thus saith the Lord."~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Refrain: Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him! How I've proved Him o'er and o'er! Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus! O for grace to trust Him more!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ O how sweet to trust in Jesus, Just to trust His cleansing blood; Just in simple faith to plunge me 'Neath the healing, cleansing flood!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yes, 'tis sweet to trust in Jesus, Just from sin and self to cease; Just from Jesus simply taking Life and rest, and joy and peace.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I'm so glad I learned to trust Thee, Precious Jesus, Saviour, Friend; And I know that Thou art with me, Wilt be with me to the end.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ , this is fifth grade, now... Officially a sixth grader!