The Hidden Blessings

The unexpected, extended time with our kids has been a hidden blessing during this tough season.

It’s almost surreal how life goes on after cancer turns everything upside down.

Meals still need to be made. There’s always laundry to do. And if you live in the country – cows need to be feed, fences fixed, and hay baled.

And Jan wasn’t able to do any of it.

That’s where the kids stepped in.

Thankfully, Nate is still living at home and has taken on the biggest share of the outside work. But his siblings won’t let him carry that load alone. Every weekend, whoever is available shows up. Sometimes just one, sometimes a whole crew.

Every weekend.

They’ve mowed the lawn and trimmed, moved fences, chased cows, cleaned pastures, put down mulch, helped in the garden and picked up groceries. Whatever needs to be done, they do it.

Jan is right outside with them. On good days he’s fixing mowers, talking technology, and playing with the grand baby. And life seems almost normal.

On not so good days, he does more sitting and watching. Laughing at Indy’s shenanigans, and just enjoying the loved ones around him.

Savoring each moment.

Thankful for the precious gift of time and family.

A hidden blessing in a tough time.

Moving Day

It was moving day again at Windy Ridge.

Another chick has flown the coop!

Thankfully, she didn’t fly far!

Anna is renting a house about 25 minutes away, closer to church and friends, but a little farther from work. Far enough away to be independent, but close enough to see often.

She’s spent the last month finding furniture, figuring out utilities, and otherwise preparing to be on her own. And I searched my cupboards and went to garage sales to find the necessary kitchen items – important things like a cheese grater and pizza cutter and ice cream scoop.

This is our fourth child to move out – and the most complicated move. The other kids just packed up their cars or trucks and waved goodbye as they drove out the driveway.

But this move involved furniture – heavy furniture – that needed to be transported over 4 miles of very dry and dusty gravel roads.

This move needed dad.

And he orchestrated it all with finesse.

It took two cars, a pick-up and a borrowed enclosed trailer that we pulled down the gravel roads at about 20 mph so we we didn’t kick up dust -but we got it all delivered, unloaded and arranged.

Now our chick is setting up her own nest.

We are so excited for her!

From a Baby Bubble to Graduation Hustle

It was a bit of mental whiplash – I went from a delightful baby bubble full of sweet Indy snuggles to the realization that Nate’s graduation was approaching at warp speed!

I hit the ground running as soon as I got home.

Thankfully the invitations went out before Indy was born.

But I had hours of baking to do!

Nate’s favorite cookies.

Batch after batch of them.

And yeast rolls. Hundreds of yeast rolls!

Over 25 pounds of flour.

Four dozen eggs. White sugar. Brown sugar. Butter.

Sheet after sheet in the oven.

On the cooling racks. In the freezer.

What a huge job done!

This week I’m on to cleaning.

Window washing.

Flower planting.

Two of my sisters showed up yesterday as much needed reinforcements.

Now my kitchen is so clean that I’ve decide we can’t cook until after the Open House!

Just a few more days and my last born will be a graduate!

But first – I have a few floors to mop!

Don’t Blink

Something surprising happened while I busy with class the last few weeks.

Nate grew up and got a job.

I guess it’s not surprising that our kids grow up – but there are times when you are struck with how quickly it happened.

He had heard about a job possibility at a sawmill in the area, so he worked overtime to finish up his school work so he would be ready, just in case. And he did it! He finished his senior year, except for a little bit of reading and a few Latin lessons that he is doing at night.

He literally woke up on Monday morning a home school student, got a phone call at noon, and woke up Tuesday morning as a full time employee.

Up and out the door by 6:30 in the morning, with a lunch and snacks he packed himself.

And an even more shocking development – he even does his own laundry because he ran out of work clothes.

He does come home every evening starving and is quite happy to enjoy a meal that I made. So I guess he still needs me, at least for a little longer.

And just like that, after 26 years of having kids in the house, I am home alone all day.

It’s true what they say of mothering – that the days may be long, but the years are short.

They grow up overnight when you aren’t looking.

Don’t blink.

Exciting News!

Exciting things are coming this spring!

Our daughter Laura and her husband Steven had some pretty amazing news to share with the world…

That’s right! A baby!

That means I’m going to be a Grandma!

Or Nana.

Or maybe Mimi.

But definitely not a MeeMaw!

This sweet little bit of excitement will arrive late April, and we are beyond excited!

Not As Planned

Would you believe it’s taken me over a week to fully enter this New Year?!

It’s taken me that long to recover from December – which did not go as planned.

I had a crazy allergic reaction that started Thanksgiving weekend, and by the time I lost my voice 2 weeks in, we started to suspect that I might be allergic to our Christmas tree.

So mid-December. my wonderful husband and son banished me to the basement for a few hours while they un-decorated the tree, took it outside, cleaned all the ornaments and lights, manhandled the artificial tree from the attic, put it up, threw the ornaments and lights on it, and vacuumed everything.

My heroes.

If you have ever lost your voice you know how exhausting it is.

I spent a lot of time in the recliner.

I did almost all of my Christmas shopping from that chair.

(God bless Amazon and the UPS drivers.)

I watched every single new Hallmark Christmas Movie. And some old ones.

I listened to hours of Christmas music.

And I discovered that my kids and husband are rock stars.

They dipped, baked, mashed, rolled, wrapped, and vacuumed my entire to-do list.

Everything. Even the things I had given up on.

They each took a part of our big Christmas Eve meal and made it happen. It literally showed up in front of me on the table they had beautifully decorated.

It was a humbling and beautiful gift to realize that after years of making Christmas for them, they could now make Christmas for me.

Yep. December was quite a month.

My voice is finally back, and my energy is returning.

And even though December did not go as I planned, I can see God’s hand in it all.

Faithful and kind.

My prayer journal is full of so many answered prayers.

And I am thankful.

I can say like Samuel –

“Thus far has the Lord helped us.” (1 Samuel 7: 12)

Thus far.

I’ve been letting that truth soak deep inside the last few days.

But I think I’m ready now.

Let’s see what God has in store for 2018!

I guess it’s no wonder I’m slowly moving into 2018.

Still Makes My Heart Happy! Age to Age

450px-trio_of_hands I thought of this post as we walked the four blocks to the nursing home yesterday to once again perform our Christmas program for the residents.

I saw the connections happen again this year – just like last year and the year before that and the year before that.

And my heart was happy.

From December 17th, 2015

Age to Age

Directing our church’s Christmas program is one of the highlights of my Christmas season.

And one of my favorite parts of directing is taking the program on the road to our local nursing home.

Every year I give the kids the same talk.

“I don’t care if you mess up a song or forget a line. I just want you to smile and have fun. If you have fun on stage, your audience will enjoy it. And when we are done, I want each of you to go around the room, take the hand of each and every resident and say Merry Christmas.”

This year was no different.

My older kids knew the drill, but I had some younger kids who had never done a program. They looked at me like I had suddenly sprouted reindeer antlers. Touch old people? Weird.

After church, we had a potluck, put on costumes, packed up props and walked the kids the four blocks to the nursing home where the staff had the residents ready and waiting.

When we had finished presenting the program – which was adorable in it’s imperfections – I prompted the kids to start their “Merry Christmas’ing”.

As my older kids started the rounds, the younger followed.

Small hands, sticky from the potluck dinner, reached out and touched older hands – hands that had seen hard work, loved babies, clapped in joy, and wiped away tears.

Work worn hands that are now so smooth the skin is almost translucent.

I heard the sweet “Merry Twistmas” and saw young eyes full of imp and mischief looking into eyes that had seen much of life.

I saw the hand squeeze. The tentative smiles.

And it happened.

A connection was made.

And then another.

And another.

Those kids started to see beyond the wheelchairs and wrinkles and discovered real people.

Those residents looked into sweet young faces and remembered.

Both the young and the old were blessed.

And there was joy in my heart.

Deep Woods and Grand Adventures!

It was just what we needed.

A few days with the kids on the North Shore in Minnesota.

Epic adventures through the deep woods.

On and off the trail.

Smelling the pine woods.

Climbing rocks.

Bonfires every night.

S’mores.

Picnics.

Waterfalls.

Swinging bridges.

Rock cliffs.

Warm days.

Cool nights.

Lake Superior in all it’s beauty and power.

And quiet.

Hammocks.

Loons.

A cabin in the woods.

Games.

Snacks.

Late nights.

Photo shoots.

Silliness.

Laughter.

The whole family together.

Perfect.

My Visit to the Farm

My two year old great nephew came to visit this week with his parents and baby brother. Here’s a look at his visit from his eyes…

My Visit to the Farm

By Dawson

I liked to go to Aunt Melinda’s farm.

I got to pet the baby kitties and touch a chicken.

I got to feed them, too! They really like muskmelon seeds and watermelon rinds!

Did you know that chickens run around in circles?

And they laid an egg in the coop.

Uncle Jan has many, many cows. And they really do say moo!

They are big. But I am brave when daddy carries me.

Uncle Jan has real tractors that I could sit on and pretend to plant corn and peas and spaghetti!

I like to sit on the mower, too.

And the 4 wheeler.

We took a walk to the big pond and saw lots of cows.

Bullfrogs made a funny sound and some jumped in the water and made big splashes!

I threw lots of rocks in the water. They made big splashes, too!

I liked to swing on the swing and chase the soccer ball all over the yard and slide down the slide.

i really liked playing with Aunt Melinda’s toys!

Especially the barn and the tractor and the Fisher Price toys.

We played and played until we heard another Amish buggy drive by on the road.

Then I would remember all the fun things outside and we put my shoes on and went back out to do it all over again!

My little brother had lots of fun, too!

We had so much fun at Uncle Jan and Aunt Melinda’s that I cried and cried when we had to go home.

I can’t wait to come back!

Mom’s Birthday

“What do you want for your birthday?,” they asked.

“That’s easy,” I responded.

“I want all my children home at the same time.

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I want to play games – lots of games – and snack all afternoon.

I want an easy supper – like smoked turkey sandwiches.

And a beautiful big salad with berries and pecans and feta cheese.

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And queso dip with chips.

And ice cream – with chocolate – lots of chocolate.

And I want to eat on paper plates so we don’t have dirty dishes.

Yes, that’s what I want.”

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And they came – all of them.

And we played games and laughed.

We ate turkey sandwiches and lots of queso on paper plates.

We snacked on puppy chow and popcorn.

We stayed up late and savored every minute.

It was perfect.

Absolutely perfect.

Yes. That’s exactly what I wanted for my birthday.