May 27

... was always the day we celebrated Papa and Gigi’s birthdays.  They were 6 years and 2 days apart.   Papa’s birthday was on May 26 and Gigi’s was on May 28 so we always celebrated on the day between.  We went to the Stillwater Gardens where a portion of their co-mingled ashes are buried and placed flowers at their burial site.  The cemetery was beautiful, just as Gigi would have loved it, lined with hundreds of flags for tomorrow’s Memorial Day celebration.  In years past we had sweet birthday dinners, their cake of choice…. usually, crème de menthe … and times around the table telling Papa and Gigi what we loved about them.   Last year Papa celebrated his last birthday in bed with his usual sweet countenance and a birthday dinner of steak, eggs, sourdough toast, coffee, and crème de menthe cake.  Isabelle made a crème de menthe cake today in memory of them.  I think we will do that every year on May 27.

What do I miss about the two of them? In simple terms, absolutely everything.  I miss Papa’s kindness, his gentle nature, patience, and supreme tenderness.  His all-encompassing grin, eyes that spoke with no need for words; his voice, kissing his forehead, the smell of his skin.  I miss feeding him and eating breakfast together….just he and I.  Hearing “I love you precious girl” from his lips each and every day. I miss having Gigi sitting in the kitchen with me.  Over the years she taught me to cook.  She was the consummate hostess and passed on to me her desire to show love through food.  I loved watching Chad and the kids help them to the table for dinner.  I miss having every dining chair full.  I miss how Gigi cried every time she spoke of her daddy.  He died when she was 14. I love how Papa spoke of his God with deep reverence. I love the memories of countless running races with Papa on the sidewalk as a little girl. I love the treasures tucked away in my heart in the form of memories of Gigi walking on one side and I on the other, hand in hand with Papa.   I love that we still held hands when we walked or just sitting together, even as I was a grown woman.  I love how Papa showed Chad what it means to be a father, in word and deed.   I miss seeing both of them with our children, they each took so much joy in the lives of those around them.

Today we are celebrating the precious memories of two faithful people. The words … “may all who come behind us find us faithful”  rings abundantly true for the two of them.  While we remember them here, Papa and Gigi are celebrating today in a manner we cannot fully comprehend.  They do not celebrate for their earthly birthdays’, but in a way that I am certain must encompass every day in eternity…. celebrating the amazing joy of being with their Savior. 

A Recital....Kinda

Last Thursday was Mitchell’s Spring piano recital. The piece he played was Pirates of the Caribbean by Klaus Bedelt, arr. by Jarrod Radnich.   He LOVES piano and has worked diligently all year long.  He originally took lessons for 5 years, starting when he was 8 years old.  Hannah Geneser was his first teacher, and he, her first student.  She instilled in him a love for the piano and now that love is growing!  After his 5^th year he took a couple year break.  He stopped for a couple reasons… the first being that he simply needed a rest!  The second was that during Gigi’s difficult times as her Alzheimer’s disease progressed it was very hard for her to have the piano playing long hours for practice; it was simply too much stimulation and noise for her.  I remember being so sad because over the early years of Mitchell’s lessons she absolutely loved listening to him play.  I can only imagine the beautiful music she is experiencing now with her Savior!

 This last year he picked back up again and began lessons under Sherry VandenBos.  What a treat this year has been!  She is an outstanding teacher and has encouraged him to challenge himself and push ahead of his presumed abilities.  She has brought out the best in him and we are so thankful for her instruction!  He does not intend to stop lessons when he goes to Running Start next year, he will keep going and push himself to more intense playing … we can’t wait to see the results! 

Sadly, the video of the actual recital was on Chad’s iPhone and for some reason we cannot get it to upload or email!  I wanted record of the song so we decided to re-record it on Mrs. VandenBos’ piano at his last practice this week.  While it is not the same atmosphere as the recital, it is still fun nonetheless. Even though this performance is not flawless, it is pretty darn fantastic! Needless to say …..  Mitchell has one PROUD Mama!

PS....Yes, Mitchell did do the final note at the recital...it is his favorite part of course!

A note on the video..... if you keep it small the HD is better.  Unfortunately if you take it to full screen you will get a grainy video, and I am not sure why!

A Party

Well....better late than never!  Due to sickness and schedules, JD's birthday party was quite delayed but it finally happened!  When Mitchell was little we had friend birthday parties almost every year but as more children and more birthdays came along we decided to make a friend party something special, every five years....with the exception of the "big one" .... a 16th birthday!   Don't get me wrong, we love to have people over for dinner to celebrate birthdays as families but this is the official "do something special" friends birthday!  We loved it that JD chose a few of his big, big brother's friends along with his own little friends.  We send KUDDO's to the big boys and their interest and kindness to a little guy like JD... how we love Mitchell's buds! It was a fun afternoon of bowling, football cupcakes and laughs!  JD was keenly more interested in the arcade at the bowling alley than the actual bowling, but great fun was still had by all!

A kid quip worth sharing....

Overheard yet today as the children were working in the yard….

William to Isabelle…

“Isabelle, if Adam and Eve hadn’t sinned, would we be picking up sticks?”

Another precious and teachable moment!

Little Man

…turns 5! Our “Little Man” JD turned 5 this month and we had a sweet time celebrating this milestone birthday.  There is something special about turning 5, stepping out of the toddler years and tip-toeing towards the “big boy” years. 

How do we sum up JD in one blog post….virtually impossible!  He is our treasured little boy.  He is a delight and a handful.  He can be the most charming little fellow and the biggest stinker all in a span of a minute or two!  He is definitely the baby of the family and seems to not only know his position but with his incredible smarts, he has learned to maneuver in such a way that he gets the most benefit from where he falls in the birth order!  Our tiniest treasure chose a fun birthday dinner…. homemade fried chicken, “legular” mac & cheese (“legular” means regular…. boxed KRAFT…. NOT momma’s homemade!) and baked artichokes with melted butter.  A unique meal for a very unique and precious boy.   Happy, happy Birthday Jeremiah Daniel, we love you and pray God will shape you into a man used mightily for Him. 

Isabelle took these sweet photos below...she wanted to do a "5 year old" photo shoot of JD!

 

Sorrow's Scars

This sweet page in one of my devotionals really blessed me this morning.....

Sorrow's Scars

Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

“Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying, Moses my servant is dead; now, therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people.” Joshua 1:1-2

Sorrow came to you yesterday, and emptied your home.  Your first impulse is to give up, and sit down in despair amid the wrecks of your home.  But you dare not do it.  You are in the line of battle and the crisis is at hand.

Weeping inconsolably beside a grave can never give back love’s banished treasure, nor can any blessing come out of such sadness.  Yet there is a humanizing and fertilizing influence in sorrow which has been rightly accepted and cheerfully borne.  Indeed, they are poor who have never suffered and have none of sorrow’s marks upon them.  The joy set before us should shine upon our grief as the sun shines through the clouds, glorifying them.  God has so ordered, that in pressing on in duty we shall find the truest, richest comfort for ourselves.  Sitting down to brood over our sorrows, the darkness deepens about us and creeps into our heart, and our strength changes to weakness.  But, if we turn away from the gloom, and take up the tasks and duties to which God calls us, the light will come again, and we shall grow stronger.  (J.R. Miller) 

Taken from... A Gentle Spirit: Devotional Selections for Today's Christian Woman

9 years and a Cheeseburger Cake

Our little "Will-Bug" and "Shell-Belle" celebrated 9 years of life this month!  We have had such a sweet time of celebrating them and enjoyed 2 separate gatherings to commemorate this milestone! It is such a joy to see them grow and watch their individual personalities develop and at the same time they definitely are twins and similar in so many ways! 

William continues to be so faithful in his tenderness in response to instruction from us, he is always willing to work with rarely a complaint, he LOvEs building all he can with KNEX and LEGOS, he constantly asks Daddy how he can help him or if he can work or build with him around the house, he has great tenacity in his schoolwork and some of the best handwriting I have ever seen for such a young man!  His handwriting speaks of a future as an “architect” or “engineer” to me!  He is always willing to play many hours of “Little House on the Prairie” with his sister’s out in our red building they have converted to their frontier home! Hands down, he has to be the most longsuffering big brother anyone has ever met….someday JD will have the privilege of understanding what a gem he has in his older brother William. 

Shelley is all girl, all the time and we love it!  She has a penchant for all things pink or purple, she loves spending hours listening to stories/books on CD while her imagination is living the story in her mind.  She so enjoys “playing out” those stories for hours on end with her siblings in their makeshift frontier home.  Shelley is also so faithful in her schoolwork and also has beautiful penmanship herself! She is quite dependable in her chores and work around the house, always willing to do the next thing I might ask of her.  She loves to read stories to little ones and is so helpful to me when JD needs a little quieting down.  One of the best ways to pass the time for JD is to snuggle next to his big sis for a story time.  She loves being “little momma” when big sister Isabelle and I happen to be gone at the same time and she does a marvelous job filling in my shoes. 

They chose a delicious birthday dinner again this year…. Chicken Carbonara, garlic ceaser salad and golden garlic bread…. it is all “to die for” food!  They both wanted Kelsey and Aaron Tolsma over for their birthday dinner celebration and so we had a sweet time of fellowship with the two of them a couple nights ago.  This year for dessert they chose a Cheeseburger Cake!  WOW…. what an endeavor!  I baked everything, got all we needed from the store and planned on putting it all together and then my gem of a hubby actually ended up doing the assembly for me and he did an amazing job!  He had some interesting cake to work with as the top part that was supposed to be the bun had a hard time coming out of the bowl it was baked in and then broke into 3 pieces, but his talents prevailed and created an awesome and memorable cheeseburger cake! Children are a sweet blessing from the gracious hand of the Lord and it was another precious year of celebrating these two “not so little” ones that we love so dearly.

Snow... Snow... Snow...

Even though I don’t love SNOW... I do love the song “Snow” from the movie White Christmas and the sweet mixture of the beautiful voices of Rosemary Clooney, Bing Crosby, Danny Kay and Trudy Stevens.  Trudy Stevens wasn’t actually in the movie but instead she sang while Vera Ellen, the fourth star of the movie, lip synced the words.  Vera Ellen might not have been able to sing, but she sure could dance! We love the tradition of watching White Christmas every year!

This month we have had our fair share of snow around here.  First we drove North to the snow for a weekend of sledding, snowmobiles, games, good food and sweet fellowship and then the snow came to us….way too much for my taste!  Afer growing up in Alaska, I have experienced enough snow to last me a lifetime! Nonetheless, in the eyes of the children the snow has been outstanding fun and they have definitely enjoyed it.  Alas, I will write no more on the subject but instead, thanks to a recent English assignment, I will leave you with a few paragraphs on snow and the adventure it brings from Mitchell’s perspective.  

Snow: the smell of it, the wintriness in the air, the mesmerizing scene of intricate flakes falling from the sky, its silent beauty, and the frosty taste of snow flakes on your tongue. From a teenager’s perspective, snow is a blessing and a curse. It can provide countless hours of fun, but also countless hours of teeth grinding frustration while sitting behind the wheel. Most parents have an obvious distaste for snow, though the rare few who enjoy it make up for what the snow-haters are missing. Love it or hate it, snow is a beautiful manifestation of God’s creation.

Being towed behind a snowmobile or quad while riding an inner tube and flying over the snow at a high rate of speed is not the hardest thing to accomplish in the world, but it could be one of the more dangerous. Given this fact, it is beyond important to wear headgear while being towed. A helmet will protect you from flying ice or rock, a concussion, or possibly death. For example, if you get thrown off a tube while being towed on a frozen lake, the outcome will be much better if your helmet cracks instead of your skull. Please, for the better good of your health, wear a helmet.

This past week, I obtained permission from my household vice-commander-in-chief (mom) to venture outside of the protective, warm, and comfortable atmosphere of home; and into the arctic environment to be retrieved by a friend named Terry riding a mighty steel steed. Subsequent to manipulating my insulated carcass onto the back of his quad, the fun began. We went back to his playhouse, i.e. the farm shop, to retrieve a second quad for myself to ride. After doing so, we played like two good ol’ boys will do in the snow and on the ice. Of course, as we were leaving the shop, Terry tells me “don’t get stuck,” but how can you not! After getting stuck more times than I could count, doing brodies on our road that could’ve doubled for an ice rink, and losing feeling in my face due to the cold, I returned to my clement domicile. That night will be added to my mental file of accomplishments past, and things that were fun, but slightly stupid.

"God Bless Our Home"

We have looked at those four words on this little clock for 18 years now.  Our dear friends Carl & Laurie Smith from Alaska gave us that little clock on our wedding day 18 years ago, January 15, 1994.  This past Sunday Chad and I celebrated 18 sweet and salty years! I love thinking of the years in these terms because you often need the salty to enhance the sweetness!  God has truly blessed our home.  He has given us new life both physically and spiritually, multiple joys and sorrows, countless tender and severe mercies and He has lathered us with His grace over the years.  He gave us the privilege of walking many years alongside Papa and Gigi as their earthly lives ended and their eternal lives began, all under His tender loving care.  God has truly blessed our home.  This little clock died a few weeks ago, a new battery isn’t doing the trick anymore.  It is one of the few remaining gifts from our wedding day and still hangs indefinitely in our bathroom as I don’t have the heart to take it down yet … maybe someday! Until then, may it be a sweet reminder of the precious time God has already granted us and to anticipate what He will do through our family in the many years ahead.