Plum crazy...

 Taking it back a few years with a memory...spurred by a construction project at our house. 

We have a two-story house and quite a large wooden area above our garage on the end of the house.  Our house is 42 years old and much of the wooden areas are rotten or squirrel damaged.  So we are having all the wood and trim replaced. 

These two cousins are turning 30 this year and I'm happy to say they are wonderful men and have given up plum throwing.  :)

Years ago when my oldest son was a young boy, he and his cousin were playing in the driveway, and we have a plum tree nearby that drops a lot of red plums right on the drive.  Well, as boys will do, they began picking them up and throwing them and proceeded to pelt that area above the garage door with plums, enjoying the sound and spots they were making.  But Mama wasn't too happy!  She caught them in the act and knew those spots would stain.  She gave them a tongue lashing and promised they would have to clean up the mess.  She had to get paint and make them get on a ladder and paint over those spots.  And did the cousin come back and help?  No, and then she wasn't sure she wanted her son up that high doing the painting.  So guess who cleaned and painted those plum spots?

Augh!  Parenting is the hardest job ever sometimes.

WHO'S READY TO PARTY?...

We got this cake for a family party recently!  :)

Seems we all are awaiting the return of normalcy after this pandemic.  We watch and wait as mask mandates are lifted and rejoice in seeing the virus numbers decrease. Celebrations long awaited are planned, and we are anxious and excited!  We no longer take these times for granted!

I was reminded of this excitement as I read I Chronicles 15 recently.  It recounts how David and the priests of Israel wanted to bring back the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem.  Their first attempt ended poorly as David did not follow God's instructions given in earlier times of moving it with poles.  It was placed on a cart and as it was being transported, it slipped and a man named Uzzah steadied it with his hand.  A direct commandment had been broken, and Uzzah died.  After a brief time of mourning, David tried again, and this time was successful.  He made sure to follow God's instructions.  There was careful planning.  There was much rejoicing and a grand parade as the ark entered the city.  It was a great occasion with special garments, singers and musicians, food and dancing!

David was dressed in a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who carried the Ark, and also the singers, and Kenaniah the choir leader. David was also wearing a priestly garment.[So all Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant with shouts of joy, the blowing of rams’ horns and trumpets, the crashing of cymbals, and loud playing on harps and lyres. I Chronicles 15:27-28

David and the citizens of Jerusalem were excited about a time of renewal, hope and being closer to God's glory.  Are you feeling renewal and hope?  Are you excited about celebrating something?  I am ready to go to those belated weddings.  I'm excited for those graduating and reaching special milestones in life.  Gatherings, small or large, are something to embrace, not just an obligation, and I think most of us are realizing that now.

Here's some fun pics from a recent gathering we had to celebrate missed Thanksgiving, Christmas, my MIL's 80th birthday and Mother's Day:

Group pic

Grandmother Sharon and her greats!

I hope this spring is a wonderful time of renewal for you and that we all have a new appreciation for occasions.  What will you be celebrating soon?

CONFUSED...

 

I don't know when I've been in a more confusing time.  The world is confused.  Do we still wear masks or not?  Do we get the vaccine or not?  Do we trust our leaders or not?  My personal world feels the same as well.  Some days I have to act as a parent, some days I'm getting parented.  Dealing with an aging parent is difficult.  It drags me down.  I try to be the rational one and not get too excited over it but sometimes I just want to curl up in the comfy chair and sleep.  Anticipation of what is to come is saddening.  

There are some bright spots.  I am more into Jesus Christ and his Word than ever before.  Loving my morning time!  Spring is here and the earth is renewing itself once again despite hardships over the winter.  I get to walk almost daily with my husband.  He listens to me without judgement.  We were invited to an event at church for the young adults and it was refreshing to my soul. My sweet son-in-law led the songs.  So many reasons to be thankful!  

Anticipation of heaven is what my focus should be on, but sometimes it's hard to see past the present. How do we keep on going?  Remembering.  Remembering the past, the hard things He's brought us through.  Being grateful.  Seeing all those little things that God created.  Knowing his Word!  Knowing that He does not change.  He is our good Creator, and will bring us through this.  I am reminded of a saying I love that has changed my view of others:  

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

PANDEMIC MEMORIES...

What was life like in early 2020?

We had a great start to the year, going on a business trip to the Netherlands and Ireland in February - 2 weeks back to back.  Dan's 60th birthday was spent on the weekend between the 2 trips in Amsterdam.  We thoroughly enjoyed it and knew there was some concern about a virus in China but otherwise were not affected until we re-entered the country and they questioned us about where we'd traveled.  That was February 29. From there things escalated quickly to businesses and church closing, mask-wearing, and shortages!

What was the biggest change? 

Not going places for fear of getting the virus.  Wearing masks, for sure!  Feeling suspicious and wondering if this whole thing was real or not.  Weird shortages at the store - from toilet paper to detergent.  Dan had worked out of the home office for years so that wasn't new for us.  But not going on business trips every few weeks was very different for him.

What were your coping mechanisms?  

Getting outside!  Of course walking has been a big part of my life for a long time.  We also took the opportunity to re-decorate the formal dining room and paint the laundry room.  

What did connection in your relationships look like?  

Less getting together - trying to "social distance" - a new term for everyone!  With our kids we still got together for birthdays and holidays and a few times we played games on an app called House Party.  Unfortunately we did not see any of Dan's family at Thanksgiving or Christmas because their small town had a terrible outbreak of Coronavirus.

What will you remember most?

The disappointment of plans being cancelled.  We had planned an Alaskan cruise far in advance to accommodate all 6 of our kids schedules.  The ship we booked ended up in the news as one of the ones there was a Coronavirus outbreak on. I really felt bad about was those who missed graduations and weddings or they were drastically different that what they wanted.  But the worst was those we knew who lost loved ones from the virus!  Another thing that happened was Dan had our pool filter blow up in his face and he ended up in the hospital for several days and I was not allowed in to see him nor knew how bad it was for the first8 hours.  It was a scary and frustrating time.  He ended up having 5 more surgeries on his teeth/eyes and we are thankful he still has his vision.  

What was the biggest challenge?

Not knowing how long this was going to go on...and the sadness for those who died.  There were many others who died this year as a result of the isolation and other complications the pandemic caused.

What was a beautiful memory?

There is not much I can think of except worshipping outside with our church family, singing outside in the OC Forum.  

What do you believe now that you didn't one year ago?

I already knew this but was reminded...Life is short and we should appreciate each day!

What would you do differently?

Nothing - I found out how much of an introvert I am.  I love reading books and working on things at home, and did more of both.  But if I was unable to go to my Body & Soul exercise class I would definitely suffer emotionally.  Praying with my sisters in Christ and moving to inspirational music really is a boost for me!

What will you carry forward?

Don't be afraid to try new things or change old ways.  Look at things from a different perspective.  Women's Ministry that I'm volunteering for had to embrace some new ways of doing things.  

 

SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY...

A stop at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut on our road trip deserves it's own post.  Like the song (Sentimental Journey) says, I was like a child in wild anticipation!  I hadn't been there since I was 16, and I was excited to share my memories with The Hubs.  

Backstory:  When I was 16 years old, my Dad, a professor of Mathematics at Oklahoma Christian University, was honored to get to study Babylonian Mathematics at Yale for the summer of 1980.  It was a wonderful experience for him academically and a great surprise for our family, as we had taken "our last big road trip as a family" the summer before to California.  Dad arranged for my mother, sister and me to fly up to Connecticut and join him the last month.  We had an apartment, with no air conditioning (which was common there) but the summer of 1980 is known historically as one of the hottest!  I thought the people up there must be crazy to not have air conditioning.  

For a month, my sister and I walked all over New Haven, stopping often in the Peabody Museum to see the dinosaurs, eating pizza at a local diner, going to the mall, even taking sewing lessons at a fabric store.  We were extras in a commercial filmed at the mall.  We went to several events on the Yale campus with our parents- a tour and film nights; a picnic with the other professors.  We went to church and doubled the size of the youth group, enjoying time in one of the member's homes.  On the weekends we went to other states - saw Boston, New York City, and Princeton, New Jersey, even staying with another professor and his wife in their home.  We enjoyed Hamonasset Beach and Mystic Seaport.  We grew to love Italian bakeries.  I realized on the way home I had not seen a Mexican restaurant in a month!  On the drive home we stopped to take in more history and culture in Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Nashville.  I actually kept a journal of the trip, so it's fun to read and see what my 16 year old mind thought about all these new experiences.  

 Our first stop in New Haven was at an Italian bakery for some goodies!

 Peabody Museum of Natural History, on the campus of Yale University.

They had a special exhibit on Babylonian Antiquities, which is what my Dad studied there!

The Peabody also has an excellent dinosaur room!  This was my first time ever as a kid to see actual dinosaur bones!

 In the Children's Area, they have Hissing Cockroaches and Leafcutter Ants!

What they believe the Dodo bird may have looked like, based on the skeleton.

So, I mentioned in my teenage trip journal that Clark's pizza was the best.  And they are still there!!!! 

This beautiful bell tower on campus was chiming as we walked by!

Entrance to the Sterling Memorial library, which has interesting architecture and history.  

This is something I've always been in awe of on the campus since I first saw it - the Beinecke Rare Book Museum.  They have one of five Gutenberg Bibles in the US displayed here.  But what I really loved are the walls.  They are made of marble.  On the outside of the building it looks like a plain white building.  But when you get inside, if it's a sunny day, you can see the sun shining through the marble and all the striations of the stone.  It's always been so amazing to me!  I was tickled to just walk around inside and show this to The Hubs as well.

The few hours we spent here were really special to me.  I loved seeing the sights and eating the foods I remembered.  I never really had memories of living anywhere else except Oklahoma, so New Haven, Connecticut was a real eye-opener for me in so many ways: historically, an ivy league university, small churches, and the culture.  It was such a wonderful experience and I'm so glad I got to share a little bit of it with The Hubs.

HOW TO FIT 20 YEARS OF PHOTOS INTO 1 ALBUM...

For many years I enjoyed scrapbooking.  My Mother made both my sister and me a simple one that I added to as I was growing up.  I loved pictures and mementos!  One of my favorite things to do when I would go to my Grandmommie's house was to get her photo album from Hawaii and look through it.  It was like a different world to me.  Seeing her in a muu-muu, getting a kiss from Don Ho, seeing hula girls - it was all very eye opening.  She brought all her grandchildren many gifts when she came home from the trip as well.  My mother started both my sister and me a scrapbook with our school class pictures and I added to that.  As a teen I made my own scrapbook out of wallpaper. Later in high school, I was on the yearbook staff.  I learned more about layouts and editing and throughly enjoyed it.  It reenforced my love of scrapbooking.

When I became a mother in 1989, of course portaits and photos were important to me.  I took as many as I could afford with my little Kodak Instamatic.  Then came DOUBLE PRINTS.  Hallelujah!  You could pay just $1 more and get two of every print. Thus began our problem with storage.

Long story short, I got double prints of every roll of film for about 20 years!  My justification was that Grandmas wanted some of the pictures and I would also make albums for the kids after making my own.  God forbid my kids ever forget any moment of any experience we provided for them!!!
So here I am, years later, with all my kids in their 20's.  I've never made them that album.  I quit making myself albums around 2008.  (I actually did make each child a special themed album for their 16th birthday) Everything was going digital and it didn't seem practical to get prints anymore.

With all the decluttering I've been doing the last three years, I kept avoiding the "SCRAPBOOKING ROOM."  Why?  You know why.  It means I have to get all those double prints out and make the books or give them to the kids in a big mess or toss them (which I could never do).  As life got busier, all those precious memories had become a burden to me, and so I determined I would get those memories in albums.  This year, 2018 was going to be the YEAR TO GET IT DONE.

When I first started back in January, I had no idea how I would go about it, but after fumbling around for a while, I developed a system.  I have three children, so the goal was to make three albums.  I came up with some rules:

1.  Use only the BEST photos.  Throw away any blurry or bad ones.

2.  MAKE JUST ONE ALBUM.  Do we really want to burden our children with a library of albums?  I had a 50 page album for each child.  That means, there will be a few pages of baby days, a few of school days, a few of family, a few of holidays, sports, performances, and vacations.  You can see how this will help you choose only the best photos.

3.  SORT by child first.  This part went relatively fast!  Look through pictures, noticing which child was prominent in each photo.  So, for instance, vacation photos from 2005 involved an epic road trip to California.  After sorting through them, I had four piles: Vacation pics for Child #1, Child #2, Child #3, Extras.  Store the pictures for Child #2 and #3 in other boxes for their albums to be done later.

4.  SORT by events and seasons second.  For example, I got all of Child #1 pictures sorted into the following categories:  Toddler, Family, Birthdays, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, School days, Sports, Music, Performances, Friends, and Vacations.  (The seasons included holidays)

5.  THINK AHEAD.  I looked at what I had and determined about how many pages to dedicate to each category to make it work for a 50 page album.

6.  FORGET DATES.  I think one reason I avoided this so long is because I thought I had to write dates on each page.  I basically did a book based on the seasons, starting with spring.  Spring had 4 pages of Easter time through the years.  Plus a page about LTC.  Then came summer.  I did a big collage of misc. summer pictures, then had 2 pages of swimming pool times, 2 of lake times, 2 of Fourth of July celebrations.  When you do this, you find that most of the pictures you took were pretty meaningless and it helps you choose the best photos.

7. DECORATE (a little).  How you do each page is entirely up to you but my system was to do basic pages with a little cropping of photos to try to get more on the page, maybe some colored paper, and sometimes a sticker or die cut to add some embellishment.  Occasionally I did a more intricate layout if the pictures lend themselves to it. But in the words of my friend Delise, a CM Consultant, just "get it done!"  A done album is better than no album.

8.  BE PREPARED for some emotional fatigue!  Going through these reenforced the fact that I'm getting older and my babies are grown up!  I had to take breaks - it was hard to choose between all the Kodak moments. In some cases it was easy, though.  I realized that year my child played baseball that it didn't turn out to be his thing and so 1 or 2 pictures of that was plenty.  It was a bittersweet process!

9.  FINAL TOUCHES.  After getting the album basically done, I went back through, page by page and noticed where I might add some embellishment.  I also put titles on many of the pages, some with letter stickers and some in my own handwriting.  I was torn on whether to journal for them or let them fill it in with their memories.  You can decide.

10.  GET OVER THE IMPERFECTION.  I realized I didn't have as many pictures of a certain child on this or that and I couldn't find hardly any graduation pictures of one!  Also, as I moved on to do albums for Child #2 and #3, I didn't realize it, but my style changed.  I did more collage type pages and that is just fine. Anyway, I didn't worry about it.  Remember, just get it on the page!

Maybe they won't appreciate it, but my mind is feeling good and a burden is lifted.  I'm glad I was able to put them together, and the rest of the pictures?  They will go in a box for each child.  I just can't throw them away!  But there's not nearly as many anymore and they are sorted.

Now I'm wondering if I could be a Scrapbooker for hire!

:)

SMALL HOUSE BIG MOMENTS...

Thanksgiving is always special in our family.  There's nothing special about the place.  It's a tiny town in southwestern Oklahoma.  There's nothing special about the house, it's tight with all of us.  The food is delicious (to us), but nothing gourmet.  It is special because it's the one time of year all the family gathers together.

                                                (Just the grandkids, spouses, grands)

When a family with six kids matures, there's no way all the grandkids, spouses, and great-grands can all be somewhere at the same time.  But we had 58 this year at Thanksgiving, which is a great number.  At the request of Grandmother, made long ago in the 1980's, Thanksgiving would be her thing and she didn't care when any other holiday happened.  So most try really hard to be at Thanksgiving.  That request has turned out pretty well.

What also makes it special is that over the years, we've made some fine traditions.  Wednesday night is the All-Church Singing, each song led by a different person in the audience.  This year the youngest songleader was 4 years old!  Wednesday night singing is followed by delicious party foods and games at Grandmother's house.  Thanksgiving morning is the Turkey Trot, a run down the road to the cemetery and back (about a 5 K).  There is an actual trophy!  After the Thanksgiving meal and some relaxing, we head two blocks away to another relative's house to do the Pumpkin Bash! It's kind of like pumpkin baseball, only messier.  :0  Afterwards, lots of dominoes and card games go throughout the night.  The children are entranced with all the wonderful old toys that Grandmother has and just seem to roll with the crazy schedule of the day.

I've been reading a book called The Power of Moments, by Chip and Dan Heath.  Thanks, Sugarhill for the recommendation.  I realized our Thanksgiving is a great example of creating defining moments for many in our family.

So thankful for Christian family and the desire to keep family commitments strong!  Read the book and look for ways  you can do this if you don't have it right now.  Future generations will thank you!

FUN FACTS FROM MY SON'S WEDDING...

The wedding pictures are in and it's been fun re-living the event!  Here's the things that were interesting to me about it - besides the fact that it was many miles away from Oklahoma:

THE WEDDING VENUE was actually the bride's Uncle Bill and Aunt Barb's farm in Ridgefield, Washington.  (I told most people it was in Portland, Oregon, since that's where the bride was from. Ridgefield is just over the Columbia River from Portland) They have had several weddings here and so they already had so many things prepared for the event.  It was nice to not be on a strict timetable like you are with regular venues!

 THE BRIDE'S DRESS was bought in OKC at one of my favorite consignment stores!

THE BRIDESMAIDS were from 3 different states and 1 different country!

THE BEST MAN'S SHIRT was bought literally 2 hours before picture taking the day of the wedding!   He thought the shirt he had brought was fine and the groom nixed it, so we were left to call The Men's Wearhouse and stop by on the way to the wedding venue and pick it up!  Crazy kids!

THE MASSIVE TREE for the ceremony is an old Maple tree.  Would you believe the entire group, guests and all, fit under it's canopy?  I love trees and nature and it had to be one of the most lovely settings I've ever seen for a wedding.  Uncle Bill had everything groomed so nicely in the yard!

THE MOTHER/SON DANCE was a little sweet and a little silly with some of two songs.  My son wanted something that was sentimental (cheesy) and chose "You'll Be In My Heart."  I wanted "Happy Dance!"  We had a lot of fun even though we weren't in sync most of the Happy Dance song!  Another thing:  I'm not really much of a dancer - but going to aerobic exercise classes has made me confident enough to enjoy having some fun with wedding dancing.

THE GETAWAY CAR was a surprise gift to him from his bride.  He loves cars and enjoys tinkering on them, buying and selling, and especially driving them!  She asked a cousin of hers who owns a  1968 Chevy Nova, fully restored, if they could leave the wedding in his car.  He said he would be their driver.  :)  So they got to leave in a fun fashion.

OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS who made the long journey to come to the wedding!  There were friends from California, Tennessee, Tulsa, and OKC.  There were family from all over Oklahoma who came too.  It was great, and it's a humbling feeling to think they would do that for you!  

35 YEARS AND WE AGREE...

Our wedding anniversary in June this year marked 35 years!  I wrote a Facebook/Instagram post that was all about wedded bliss, and what hard work bliss is, actually!  We do agree, though, that 35 is a great place to be.  Our stresses are minimal compared to those of early marriage.  Our parents and children are independent of us, at the moment.  His job and our finances are at a comfortable place.  We enjoy worshipping with a wonderful congregation and serving with God's people.  We're active physically and struggling to stay there. Our favorite things are worship, hiking, biking, traveling, and eating good food, and we get to enjoy these things often.  We appreciate the place we are, even if it's temporary.  

Phillippians 1:5-7 Reminds me that God isn't finished with us yet!  "He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion until the day of Jesus Christ. "  Thankful for growth and continued hope in whatever God has planned for us to do.  

I share this to encourage all of the young marriages out there.  May God bless you and may you find encouragement from the believers to continue on the sometimes difficult road of marriage.

Some favorites from our last year - we had many adventures!