Some Things Never Change

The other day Julene was telling me on the phone how Paeton had gotten out of bed , come into the kitchen and asked, “Remember how at Grammy’s house I had a snack before going to bed?” (Our sweet boy is 4 years old and he’s thinking back at least half a year because they’ve been back in Indonesia since May.) She asked him, “Do you want some cereal?” to which he readily agreed.
I also remember him sitting on the counter last winter and enjoying his bedtime Cheerios. It brought back memories of 20 years back when Ben did the same thing . . . only he often lay down on the counter, and as I’m thinking about it, it was probably because there was a cabinet in the way. I showed Paet the photo of uncle Ben and he quickly got into the right position, because, after all, anything uncle Ben did or does he wants to do also.
Why don’t I just show you the two pictures and you can see for yourself what has changed and what hasn't.
(Just like in the coloring books…..)

Paeton Ben - winter 2007-2008

Ben - winter 1987-1988

A time to iron and a time to refrain

To start off I need to say that during this episode, blogging or taking pictures was the last thing on my mind – I’m still new at this. Everything got promptly trashed and cleaned up. However, the next morning, I was able to re-enact this for your amusement. With love from the ironing queen!
Right about now I admire anyone who would never even THINK about ironing a nylon camisole. It was near the top of the pile . . . I was thinking for a tiny split second and then … no, I was hoping the iron wasn’t hot enough yet. Well, you see what happened.

And for anyone who’d like a better look . . .

I feel the need to justify myself somewhat and that is that I’ve never had this bad of an ironing blunder in my life . . . and I iron every week! I love the look of piles of laundry ironed and folded neatly, like in a store.
Oh well . . . I can go back to Smart Set and buy another $15 camy, but I was quite worried about my $90 iron.

What to do? My always loving, supportive h is snickering . . . as I go to google how to clean nylon on an iron.

So I hauled out everything that was suggested. (Oops, the salt never made it into the photo shoot, but then, it didn’t work anyways) I’m not sure what worked in the end, because I ended up soaking up some nail polish remover in a paper towel and letting the iron sit on it. I also tried scrubbing with soda and finally just sprayed it with oven cleaner (careful to cover up the steam holes). Then I sat down and had a piece of cake.
When I got back to the iron and started scraping again, it suddenly came off, all in one easy piece. I couldn’t believe it!Now I know that you may never iron something that doesn’t need ironing, but you may just drop the hot iron on your carpet or get it close to a plastic bag . . . and then you’ll know what to do. I’m just happy my iron is good to go again.

Plane Chit Chat

I sat beside her on the plane. She was a beautiful woman, around forty years old. Surprisingly, she was rather nervous about flying and I was thinking of how I could give her some assurances. As we talked she seemed to relax and she proceeded to pull out a book about dogs. Getting excited, she began to tell me about her passion for dogs, showing me pictures, suggesting I get this book too and read it. I listened about how inhumanely some dogs are treated and noted her burning desire to do what she could to free the dogs.

I, however, in one sense, sat there speechless. (I mean - anyone who knows me would see this situation as humorous - enough said) How could her excitement about dogs just spill over, while I, also, had something important to share? Yet, the words were stuck in my throat. Why is it that she could freely let me know about her love for dogs and I couldn’t tell her about my love for God? Oh, I so wanted to tell her, but my fear got in my way again.

As I’m mulling over this strange show and tell, I’m wondering . . . did God send me someone to show me how simply it’s done? Couldn’t I just have pulled out my Book and told her that she does not need to be afraid to die?

A quote I heard shortly after this incident went something like this: (I need to look this up)
“I’d rather tell you the truth and have you hate me than tell you lies and have you adore me.”
I pray that I can speak the truth in love and not worry about offending, but rather remember the possible eternal consequences of not saying something.

You've Got Mail!

We stopped in Seattle on our way back from a trip. As we often do, we thought about what time it is on the other side of the world and decided to send a quick email to inquire about a Christmas list, since we wanted to do some shopping the next day. Good thing for blackberries!
The following morning we received a specific list just before heading to the store that we would need to go to. From a place where naked kids play in muddy rivers and their moms hang their laundry on railings of the shacks they float on, she had checked out a gift on-line and sent us the name brand, color etc. of a special item. All this while we were “on the road”, so to say! Quite amazing, I thought.

Sometime later there was a beautiful little bulky envelope in our mailbox. There was no mistaking where it had come from with all of the stamps on it!! I held it for a while and just enjoyed looking at it! I began to think about all the people who had been involved in bringing this tiny, precious package half way around the world . . . from the hands of loved ones to the exact right home! This too, suddenly seemed amazing!

There are some things emails can't send . . . Thank you, Julene

In the Fall Season

I’m thinking that I must be getting older when I choose a title such as I did for this blog.
Who else would talk about seasons?
A long time ago I heard a song by Steve and Anni Chapman that talks about the stages of our life in seasons. I was thinking that, if a good long life of 80 years is divided into seasons,
I should be in the Fall season at this time. Wow!


The good thing is that Fall is very beautiful! I love the colors, the fresh air, the anticipation of special celebrations and pulling those yummy pies out of the oven.

In a similar way, my life is full of the colors of the changes
that have transpired in this season of my life.
Just as Fall is a time of new beginnings,
 there have been moves out of the house, as well as abroad,
 bringing about big changes!
In the last 8 years, we have added three in-law kids and

five grandkids to our family!
(One can’t deny that this adds lots of color!)
I also can’t forget to mention that Fall has always been a time to go back
and learn more and I seem to remember, even as a child,
the anticipation of moving upto a higher grade level
with a mixture of pride and fear!
This makes me feel quite at home right about now!
Just getting set up to do these posts, has been a learning curve for me.
Yes, it’s an exciting time of change,
learning and realizing that there is much to look forward to.

Fall is also a time to feel like we can, in some ways, rest and enjoy the harvest,
 the fruit of our labor.
As I look at my life in this manner, I can say that I am learning to embrace the changes this season brings, because I see that only through these changes
will I see the beauty of further growth.

FOR EVERYTHING A SEASON

For quite some time now I have thought about whether or not to start a blog. Although I have journaled for years, doing so in a public fashion is a bit daunting . The one big question I have for myself is “why would I not just keep it to a personal diary?”

It seems to me that writing for “other eyes” will, in some ways, keep me more focused and accountable. I may look at circumstances from a different view and find reasons to write about them. I am not a great writer, often lacking the exact words I want to say, but I hope to improve with practice. My desire is that through my journaling I will be able to better see the hand of God in my life as a whole and in the every day. In seeing the brevity in the stages of our life, I wish to focus on appreciating the moments.

So here I go . . . at the stage of my life where I’m reflecting on past opportunities and hope for the future. My husband and I are empty nesters again . . . I say again, because that’s how we started. When we were dating, we wrote letters to each other weekly for two years! (snail mail letters – I feel very old)

Recently I spent an afternoon reading through these mushy love letters, most of which were promptly destroyed. When my husband honey came home from work that day, I was by the stove cooking. As he came in, I said, “Do you realize that we are living our dream come true?” He obviously needed some clarification. I said, “Well, I’m cooking for you and we are sleeping together.” Bluntly spoken, those were our dreams in our dating days, which I'd been immersed into for an afternoon!
At this time I feel like the whole next stage of raising kids has been a whirlwind that just passed us by and here we are . . . back to where we started.

Seasons have come and gone, and God willing, more will come, to which I look forward. I have a peace and assurance from past experiences that God will continue to be our refuge and strength. He truly has given me the desires of my heart, not necessarily how I would have pictured, sometimes through hard things, but He who made me and has a purpose for my life, somehow does know best.