Happy 30th Birthday Baby Girl!

Just couldn't let the day go by without adding some pictures over the last 30 years of Rachel our oldest daughter. Born December 11th, in Germany at 2:35a.m.! Enjoy the day, and many blessings with much love.

PS Still can not figure out how to load these pictures correctly and scan them so they are straight! Sigh*

Thirty Years Ago Today...

I looked like this...

It's hard to believe, but thirty years ago today we were stationed in Germany, and I was over due by 5 days at this point. If you had told me I would have to wait another 48 hours to meet my first child, a daughter we would name Rachel, I probably would have burst into tears! Now my darling firstborn is about to be 30 and I want to stop the clock. Where has the time gone? How can she be thirty? My very inquistive, determined, intelligent and beautiful baby is now a mother of her own, times three! God is so good to me. Truly I am blessed! She is a wonderful wife, mother, woman, and committed Christian. I love being her mom.

What I Did Over Thanksgiving Week

We so enjoyed our time with Debi, J. and Miles we wish they lived maybe an hour away instead of two days away. Miles is so great with a terrific, fun personality and will soon be turning 2! Baby brother should be here in about 8 weeks. But what a lovely family they have become.

Out Of The Boot and Into A Sneaker!

Hooray! Hooray! Yesterday the surgeon told me I was ready to graduate to a sneaker for my foot! Yea! I feel like I just got out of prison! The foot is still a little swollen and stiff, but things are moving along. Now on with Holiday preparations.

PS Today, Friday, I managed to go down the stairs normally for the first time in 15 months! This was worth all the surgery and aftermath!

One Lame Duck

In case you didn't already know, I had foot surgery a week ago today. Yes, more surgery on my right side from that fall off my bike over a year ago! Actually, I think I am doing pretty well, with very little need for pain killers, and the crutches and wheelchair have been put aside around the house. The only truly hard and challenging part remains taking a shower. I have to put a trash bag on my leg, since the foot isn't to get wet while its in a cast, and then I prop my leg up on the half wall of the shower, leaning back and twisting sideways towards the opposite wall to get my head under the showerhead. Now mind you this is a rather large walk-in shower stall about 4 1/2 feet wide and the half wall has the jacuzzi tub, on the opposite side of the shower, is about 3 feet high. No easy feet, oops I mean feat, when you are wet, soapy and standing on one leg (which is violently shaking after a few minutes of taking all my weight) stretching backwards in a half twist.
Why, that almost sounds like an Olympic gold medal accomplishment with perfect 10's in agility, flexibility, heighth, breadth, artistic and creative manuevering and most importantly, cleaniness! Truth be told today while I was drying off, I removed the plastic bag, and then tried to shave my legs...not a pretty sight. To my mind it has brought new meaning to the term, "Lame Duck." I chuckled to myself that thank the LORD no one had to witness this not so pretty site of woman with a boot on one foot in a protective garbage bag, attempting the ultimate act of squeaky clean...shaving her legs! I can hear the announcer saying, "now there is one lame duck." I agree.
Picture to follow soon...I mean of the foot.
And here it is...day 8.

Early Christmas Shopping

The beginning of fall is also a time for our household to start planning out and preparing for the holidays. I know it's early, but I usually get all the Christmas shopping done over the next month and then wrap and ship the boxes before Thanksgiving. It's something I have done for years, because when we lived overseas packages had to be sent rather early in order to arrive on time. So even though that's not necessary anymore it has been beneficial for our household to just get it all done way ahead of schedule. It's one less stress and we seem to enjoy the holidays more once we get that behind us. So yesterday, my spouse and I were able to go to the "big toy store" and shop for our grandchildren. Haven't really done much toy shopping in the last two decades and it was fun to go back and remember when we bought for our girls when they were little. Much to my surprise, Cabbage Patch dolls are back and reasonably priced as well! I remember buying my girls those dolls before they became the hit item of the season one year... I think it was 1983. I bought them in October and by December people were paying triple what I had paid. Meanwhile, the two precious dolls sat in the basement waiting for that special day when they would be "adopted" with a birth certificate, name, and vital statistics already prepared! I kept thinking since we were short on cash all the time, I should sell those two dolls and make some money! Ha! But I didn't sell them and Christmas morning, though the girls were only 5 and 2, they loved their sweet new baby dolls!
Now I have to adjust my shopping for 3 grandsons and another on the way, which translates into toy trucks, building blocks, and Thomas the Train cars! It's so different, but equally fun. However, I confess that I sent my husband to pick out those items while I headed over to the "girls section." Since I do have one sweet little grand daughter to shop for I probably spent an hour in the doll aisles trying to find just the right doll for an almost one year old little girl. I'm still looking because I couldn't find what I was looking for, but that is the fun of it which is something my husband just doesn't quite get. He has always been one of those men who when he goes shopping, goes in, gets what he wants, and leaves. No meandering the aisles for him. Drives me crazy when I just want to look at everything and he leans on the shopping cart like he's going to die. So, he fills the cart with the requested boy items and says, "what else are we getting?" Answer: "I don't know, let's just look and see what else there is." Of course, he doesn't say anything but his whole demeanor is shouting..."let's get out of here before I break out in hives!" I remember one time my husband was shopping for me in a shop that is very much a woman's store...lot's of fun decorating items like candles, dishes, quilts, etc., when a woman pushing a little boy in a stroller came in, and kid was screaming his head off. My husband assured the woman that there was nothing wrong, but that it must be genetic because he felt like screaming too. and it must start early in life. All the women in the store just starting laughing. I suppose there is just no understanding of basic gender differences especially when it comes to shopping. So, maybe the real reason we shop early in the season is so my husband won't be screaming to get out of the stores while driving all the other shoppers to distraction. It's possible you know. This is why women never take their husband shopping with them, and why men are okay about it. It keeps peace on earth.

A Warm Blanket

Fall is here even in Southern California and though the days are still hot and the A/C is turned on for a few hours, the nights are cool and crisp allowing us to pull the covers/quilts/blankets up. I call it "the best sleeping weather." Windows are open, a slight cool breeze, and quiet reigns. But now I have discovered I have the best warm blanket of all! Lately, as my study of God's Word continues to surround me on a daily basis I have begun to think of His Word as a "warm blanket." Afterall, it seems His Word covers me and surrounds me with His protection, love and assurances just like a blanket.

As my family will attest, I am a quilt lover. My grandma used to make them out of scraps of fabric and each scrap could tell a bit of the story of her life. One scrap might be a shirt she made for her husband or an apron for herself, another a dress for a granddaughter, or still another from a halloween costume. Sewn altogether those scraps became a beautiful quilt that I still treasure today! My warm blanket from the Word is a lot like that...the story of Abraham being called out of Ur to relationship and friendship with the LORD. Or how faithful Daniel was even though he was held captive in Babylon, and Esther courageously speaking to the king on behalf of her people. Most importantly, the story of God's own Son sacrificially atoning for my sins! And then there are the many promises we can claim: He will never leave me, He will guide me, He sees me, His grace is sufficient! And on, and on... Such a comfort when the winds of life blow! God's Word is my warm spiritual quilt in which I can cover and wrap myself. His faithfulness, love, and peace in the midst of any of life's storms. So as the fall season commences and I pull the blankets up to comfort and warm me, I think of His Holy Word as my best warm blanket of all. Hope you have the best warm blanket too...just like mine.