2FaithfulSisters

Today is my birthday. I don’t normally take time off from work for this day. However, today was a beautiful sunny day. I’m a sucker when it comes to a warm sunny Spring day and when it’s my birthday I felt the outdoors was calling my name! Needless to say I took this afternoon off!

Leaving work without it being planned almost makes me think I’m doing something naughty. I’ve always been a rules follower. I never would have thought about doing this when I was in high school. Well, I may have thought about it but never acted on it.

I’m a big girl now and I wanted to take off the afternoon so I did! I haven’t regretted a moment of it!

I decided that today was a special occasion and I wanted to celebrate it this afternoon. My husband’s job is always very busy this time of year so it’s hard to make plans due to his crazy schedule.

As we get older our birthdays seem to get lost in the midst of the rest of the days on the calendar. I completely understand this thinking yet it’s still nice to have it remembered.

I spent an hour out on our pond in my new kayak. It was so – much – fun!! I got a little workout and found a fun new game that I invented! Chasing Napping Turtles!

There are a lot of fallen logs on the edges of the pond and there were turtles covering all of them basking in sun on this beautiful sunny day! It was so fascinating to see this. Some of these logs had 12 or 13 of them sunbathing. I tried to count how many I saw but lost track. I’m sure the total number would have been at least 50.

I really wanted to get a picture of this but as soon as I tried approaching them they would quickly dive back into the water. So I continued my little game of trying to sneak up on them. It was a lot of fun and had me laughing out loud and talking to them. I wanted them to know that they were really cute and I just wanted to get a picture of them. Sometimes they would pop their little head out of the water to see if I was still there. Yep I was!

I love nature! I love the sounds and the peacefulness it can bring. It can quiet our minds and bring rest to our tired souls and put things into perspective! Thank you God for the gift of your beautiful world!

Aging is part of life. We’re all getting older with each day. It can weigh us down with all of the things that come with it ~ I know this all to well.

I want to live my life to the fullest! I wanted to take advantage of a beautiful sunny day that just happened to be my birthday ~ so I did!

On your next birthday treat yourself to a skip day ~ you won’t regret it!

I was able to spend the last couple of days with one of our sweet granddaughters ~ Klara.

We had a grand time hanging out and it made me realize that it’s been a few years since I was seven. I think maybe I could learn some things from her wise young soul. She was full of giggles, silliness and sass. These are some fun things she did that warmed my heart and made me happy!

Holding hands while walking . . .

Holding hands while watching a movie . . .

Skipping along the trail ~ full of happiness . . .

Laughing so hard over nothing in particular . . .

Singing out without being intimidated . . .

Dancing to the music . . .

Swinging into the tree tops . . .

Snuggling at any opportunity . . .

Kisses good night . . .

Saying I love you . . .

These things brought me back to when I was seven. There weren’t to many concerns or worries. Life was carefree, fun and simple.

Needless to say I loved hanging out with her! It made me realize I need to be less worrisome and more free to embrace the simple things in life.

I need to voice my “I love you’s” more often, skip if I feel like it, sing loud, dance to the music, reach out and hold a hand, swing to the tree tops!

Maybe we all should be seven again . . . and then take a nap!

‘Twas the night before New Years and all through the house were . . . five dogs (one of them was a puppy!) . . . two six year olds . . . one four year old . . . one nine month old . . . four tired parents . . . one Grammy and one Papa.

Needless to say, we had a packed house! This frazzled Grammy couldn’t find the matching Christmas jammies that were purchased specifically for this weekend. I wasn’t able to sleep well with my mind trying to go through every place in the house that I may have stashed these jammies.

With all of our family here my mind begins to think of memories and expectations. Since I wasn’t able to sleep I decided to get up and do some journaling to process my thoughts. The house was quiet with all the kiddos, dogs and parents still slumbering. All I wanted was a cup of coffee, journal & pen then I was ready to go!

It was 4:30 am when I quietly got out of bed. I thought this was going to be a great way to start my day! We live in an older home and have a few squeaky places in our floors. I was trying to avoid them and preserve this special quiet time that I had began to anticipate with excitement.

As soon as I nestled into my cozy spot I realized that I had woke up a couple of dogs. Ugh! I quietly got up to put them outside and was hoping they would just stay outside and play while I went back to my plan for the morning.

So again, I nestled into my cozy spot with anticipation to have this quiet time that I had longed for. All of a sudden the doorbell rings. Remember this is between 4:30 and 5:00 am!! I thought who in the world would be ringing our doorbell at this hour!! I was alarmed and a little scared when it hit me – the dogs!! Our new puppy Luna had jumped up and was able to ring the doorbell!

My nice little quiet time was over – it never really began. Some of our guest were awake too, but thankfully most of them slept through this crazy early morning. Lon & I decided we had the smartest puppy since she could just ring the doorbell when she was ready to come back inside!

We may have had a packed house full of family and canines but we were all together and that makes me happy!

By the way – I’m writing this two weeks since that weekend and I have yet to find those Christmas jammies!

“Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you.” Matt 7:12

I tried to be quiet and not disturb everyone’s sleep ~ I really did!!

My mom has been gone for a few years now. It seems like after she was gone I realized how much more I loved her and depended on her. I used to think that I was just like my dad because I totally look like him and acted silly and goofy like him. I also thought that my sister was just like our mom because she looked just like her and was quiet and more reserved. However, after she was gone I started to see so many things in my life that were completely my mom. I loved that! It was a connection that I had with her that I hadn’t realized even existed until she was gone. I miss her so much!

She’s the one who taught me all about homemaking. Sewing, crocheting, knitting, embroidery, baking. I guess my creative mind came from her. There were ALWAYS homemade cookies in the house. I really thought all moms did that.

She was able to stay at home to take care of the house and our family. This example is what I followed before my kids went to school. I treasure those years I was able to stay at home with them.

She had been a diabetic since she was 7 years old. That took a toll on her body. The doctors didn’t want her to have any more children after my sister was born but, I came along only 14 short months later. After I was born she was in a coma for 5 days, the doctors didn’t expect her to survive. It was truly through the power of prayer that my mother survived. Along with my dad she was able to raise my sister and I and also live to see 4 grandchildren grow up.

While thinking about the similarities that I share with my mom I have found something that isn’t as fun as other traits. She suffered from depression and anxiety for years. She was a quiet woman and her generation was not accepting of anything negative regarding mental health. I think she was embarrassed to admit how she was feeling and did not seek counseling. In actuality I don’t think she realized she needed help. Her generation would say that she was “down in the dumps”. By the time she went to see a doctor about this, her anxiety was out of control and she was never able to be the person that she had been before.

Fast forward to where I am right now. Depression is a real thing in my life. I recognize it. It comes and goes. I try to be proactive with it when I sense it sneeking up on me. I feel bad when I think about how my mom suffered and was embarrassed and ashamed. I learned that there are so many people in this world who suffer from it. This is not a choice, it’s a mental issue that can be helped. During this season of “happy family gatherings” there are many who are struggling. They are sad and can’t figure out why when they have people around them who love them. Many people can cover it up so we may not see it. Ask caring questions. Sometimes all it takes is someone who loves you and asks “how are you REALLY doing?”. Don’t give up! Seek counsel, there is help for everyone!

I had a dream about my mom the other night. I guess that’s why she’s been on my mind. In my dream she had been gone for awhile. It was just my dad & I. We were getting along, just ok. Something was missing. All of a sudden my mom shows up full of energy and laughing and telling stories. She was a different person. She was mentally and physically healthy. It was so refreshing!! I had NEVER seen my mother with the positive energy flowing through her like this. I think God was reminding me that she’s ok. She’s in heaven where there’s no more suffering, no more tears! I have to work on my mental health to stay mentally healthy. It’s not anything to be embarrassed or ashamed of. It’s just a bump in the road.

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” Revelation 2:4

I’m on vacation as I’m writing this. My 89 year old father lives in Virginia, I’m in NW Kansas, so that involves a long car drive plus a couple of planes to get here.

I’ve been learning that I may be the only Jesus some people may see. I need to represent Him well.

As I was anticipating this trip I was thinking about the possibilities of how I would show Jesus’ love to others. I thought maybe there might be someone in the airport I could purchase a cup of coffee for or maybe I could give some encouragement to a person I was sitting next to on one of my flights. After I arrived in Virginia I realized that there weren’t any magical moments on my travel day that I had thought would happen. Maybe on my return trip . . .

It’s amazing how God puts things into perspective! After I had been here for a couple of days I decided I wanted to see what the coffee shop scene was in Richmond. Thanks to a quick google search & GPS, my dad & I took off with a list of places we were gonna check out.

The first two were a bust! Not sure how old this list from google was but they were both closed – not for the day but, literally closed! (google needs an update). We finally found one – WISK. It had French pastries that were incredibly delicious!

On to the next one . . . Rostovs! I was wanting to get some fresh roasted coffee beans for my son who appreciates the art of a good coffee. So our next stop was a shop that roasts their own beans. Dad & I were having a great time. He’s not a huge coffee fan, but he was a good sport and went along for the ride. Hanging out together and having some good laughs and making memories is what I wanted for our time together. We found a great parking spot and were walking up to the front doors when all of a sudden there was a “bump in the road” for our day . . . or more appropriately a “bump in the sidewalk”

Dad had tripped on an uneven sidewalk and took a pretty nasty fall. It was severe enough that he needed medical attention quickly. I was amazed at how many people jumped into action to help him! He was shook up and bleeding pretty heavily. The owner of the shop took charge and made a little triage station on a patio table in front of her business. A young man walking by stayed with him while I went inside to get more help. Two kind young women who were customers of the shop stayed to help and even transported him to the hospital!

I felt so blessed to see all of these strangers come and help and so many offers from others to see if we needed anything else. The doctor who stitched him up went over and beyond to help us in our situation.

While preparing for this trip I was thinking I was going to be the one to show Jesus’ love to others, but instead He showed His love to me through strangers.

I was encouraged to see so many good and kind people! I have a tendency to not watch the news because of the negativity and hatred in the world. I think people need to know that there are good things happening too!

My dad ended up with a broken nose, broken glasses, stitches on his face and nose, bumps and bruises, ache’s and pains! He made it home the same day. It’s going to take a while to get healed up but he’s ok. We’re so thankful for that!

I went back the next day to thank as many of these kind folks that I could find. They appreciated my thanks but were more concerned with how my Dad was.

Reflecting on these last 24 hours, I am reminded of how blessed we are. There are good things going on around us. We may need to look hard sometimes but, they are there. Good and kind people make me happy!

While we are living our lives, look around you and see how you might be able to lend a hand and help someone.

Be good and kind!

“So we are Christ’s ambassadors . . . .’’ 2 Corinthians 5:20

Today marks the 5th year since you’ve been gone. Life has gone on. Birthdays, anniversaries, babies, graduations, girlfriends, boyfriends, house renovations, big moves. You haven’t been a part of any of it. I miss you.

I turned 60 on my last birthday – you are still 56. You were always my older sister but now I’m older than you ever will be. I thought we would grow old together and take sister trips and do crazy things and laugh till we cried and peed our pants! This makes me smile thinking about it. When you laughed it always made me laugh. Most of the time I couldn’t understand why you thought something was so funny but it was so hilarious to watch you laugh so hard. I miss you.

Life has been lonely since you’ve been gone. I wonder what your life is like in heaven. I wonder if you can see us here. I wonder if you are watching what we’re up to. I wonder if it’s so glorious there that you haven’t thought of us here. I wonder.

Even though it’s been five years it’s still hard for me to believe that you’re gone. I can’t call you and get caught up with each others’ lives. I still have your number in my phone under my favorites. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to remove it. Sometimes I accidentally call you and I think how awesome that would be if you would answer. You were my favorite person to call. I miss you.

We started a little quirky tradition the day you went to heaven. We stopped at a 7-11 and got a slurpy. We didn’t know what to do next. Your fight to save your earthly life was over. It’s so strange how this drink can bring back so many memories. I haven’t missed a year. I love memories. I miss you.

I have survived. At one point I didn’t know if I could. I was stunned. I lost half of my identity. We were always Janet and Barbara or Billy and Bobby. I’ve had to learn how to do life without a sister. It hasn’t been easy. It’s been a long journey that I’m still on and probably will be for awhile yet. Thanks for being my sister. I miss you. I love you Janet Mae!

Winter has a way of keeping us inside. It’s cold and sometimes gloomy. We tend to just stay home more because of the weather and lack of daylight.

This is why I love Spring! To me it’s like the earth is waking up from a very long slumber.

Early this Spring I went out to my special place of solitude – out in the pasture with beautiful rolling hills.

It was a damp and slightly cool evening . . . there wasn’t any wind at all . . . it was perfect to me!

It was refreshing to breath in the fresh air . . . I too was waking up from a very long slumber. The long winter months seemed to have lulled me to sleep as well.

I just stood and listened to all the birds, natures chorus singing their beautiful song! As I listened, it was as if God himself was leading this amazing choir. To me it was perfect harmony.

“The birds nest beside the streams and sing among the branches of the trees.” Psalm 104:12

I was praising God for this amazing melody when I heard a woodpecker . . . it sounded more like a jackhammer in the middle of this beautiful song. It abruptly brought me out of my peaceful state of mind.

How did this blend into the beautiful sound I had been hearing? Why would God make Woodpeckers sound like that?

The Bible has MANY verses that tell us to sing praises to the Lord.

“Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord! Praise the Lord! Psalm 150:6

Not everyone is blessed with a voice that is easy on the ears. But, God made that voice. We still need to loudly proclaim praises to His holy name! It doesn’t matter if you can carry a tune in a bucket or not . . . it’s a sweet and beautiful sound to the lord!

I love to hear the blend of all voices in song . . . in tune or not so much in tune. We are all glorifying our Father who we love and adore!

If you are blessed with a woodpecker voice . . . sing loud and proud . . . God made you and to His ears it is a perfect melody!

“I will sing to the Lord as long as I live. I will praise my God to my last breath! May all my thoughts be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord.” Psalm 104:33-34

Today is Christmas . . . it’s much different than in years past. We celebrated Christmas last weekend with our family . . . it was a weekend filled with fun . . . chaos . . . busyness and lots of love!

Today however, will be filled with quiet . . . contemplation . . . rest and love.

Our home is quiet. Lon’s out hunting and I’ve got a book I’ve been wanting to read waiting on me. This year will be simple. It’s good to have time to think and reflect on why we still celebrate Christmas.

I love all the lights and shimmery things that we see at Christmas. However, this was not how our Savior entered the world. There weren’t any shimmery Christmas lights or fun blowups in peoples yards. There was one bright star . . . that was enough to show the way for the shepherds and wise men to find Jesus and worship him.

It was simple . . . it was planned to be simple. The Jews were expecting their king to come with fanfare. Yet, He entered the world as a tiny baby . . . in a barn . . . in the night.

“And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. Luke 2:7

It was simple . . . yet, oh so powerful! Because of this tiny babe . . . born in a barn . . . we have a savior! He is the light of the world!

“ . . . I am the light of the world” John 9:5

We are surrounded by a dark world . . . darkness is everywhere. Jesus was born to be light in a dark world. There is HOPE! Jesus came to save us . . . when we have Jesus in our hearts we also have light for our broken world.

Let’s be Jesus to our world . . . our little corner . . . our community . . . the people we love and care for!

Let’s show others the light of Jesus . . . people are lost and hurting, we need to show others that there is HOPE!

Let’s be light in the dark . . . be kind to others. We don’t always know what situation they are in. You will be blessed!

After I have spent time reflecting on why we are celebrating Christmas I realized we do so because of a baby born so long ago . . . it was so simple . . . yet . . . so powerful!

H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y J E S U S!

As I’ve written before, I have a special place where I planted a special tree. This amazing adventure has changed my life!

I had a dream of building a fence to surround this special tree. I wasn’t sure if it would ever become a reality but hey, a girls gotta have some dreams – right?!

The setting for this tree is pretty much in the middle of a pasture with a cute pond right beside it. During part of the year there are cows that are living on this piece of land, not to mention the deer and other wildlife whose homes are nestled right there too.

When the tree was first planted, a small fence was put up right around the base of it to protect it from all the deer and wildlife. It has served it’s purpose. The tree is stronger and much taller than when it was first planted. It has survived MANY strong Kansas wind storms!

When the dream of building a fence started. I had thought it might look a little rustic – something like what would be on Little House on the Prairie. I called it a corral. I just wanted something simple. My dream included planting some perineal flowers with a little bench. It was going to be cute! My sweet little oasis – out in the middle of a pasture!

The first couple of years after planting the tree were growing times – for me and the tree. I used this time to heal my soul after losing my sister. I would go out to this special place to think and cry and do whatever I needed to do. I felt like I was ready for the next phase of this adventure. I was hoping this year the dream of the fence would become a reality. My husband Lon knew about my dream. He also knew I would be the one to decide when I was ready for things to get started and he realized he would probably be the one to build it! This is how he loves me! He knew how important this was to me – my dreams became his as well.

It was so fun to be able to work on this project together. It has shown me the kind and sensitive and very smart man he is! I’ve always known these things about him – I’m still amazed at how sweet and generous he really is! Lon is a very quiet man that has a huge heart! He doesn’t like a lot of attention on himself so, this post will make him a little uncomfortable. I’m just so proud of him and I think he deserves some recognition!

Just like planting a tree – I didn’t have a clue about building a fence! During this past winter Lon would occasionally ask me if I wanted to go up to the farm to look at some things that “might work for your fence”. He was thinking about it – he was taking on the fence project. This made me smile to know he was trying to figure out how to do this. Our farm is about 30 miles north of town so we had a few little road trips to see what things we might find to build the fence. Usually these little trips were on Sunday afternoons. It was so fun to just hang out looking for treasures! This was early spring – it was exciting to be out in nature exploring with my husband! It was good for my soul!

Lon would sometimes say what do you think about doing this or that for your fence. It made me love him even more to know that he understood the importance of this fence. He was actually putting more thought into it than I was!

He knew I didn’t want a brand new looking fence. That would look a little strange in the pasture. We talked about putting some wagon wheels together or parts of old tractors that my father-n-law had taken apart. He was trying to keep the rustic look and I liked the history part of it.

Well as time went on those ideas where scrapped. We decided to go with an old galvanized fence with a scallop looking top. Lon had an old roll and we thought there would be enough of it for this project.

We began with measuring, then marking the places where the posts were to be with little flags. When I saw the layout of where the fence would be I felt like I was at the beginning of building a brand new house only it was just a fence in the middle of the pasture. The dream I had was starting to take shape!

There were 10 posts to put up. That’s a lot of digging by hand with a post hole digger! Lon did it all by himself. Anyone who knows him will understand if there is a job to be done, he just does it – he doesn’t stop to ask for help. Since it’s right by a pond he would run into sand. The post hole digger didn’t work very well with sand so, he literally would lay flat on his belly to scoop out the sand till it was at the depth where we needed it to be. I was right there cheering him on!

While we were putting in the posts we would measure and make sure they were as straight as could be. The ground is definitely not level so that brought about a few obstacles. We figured out how to get around these bumps in the road together. Team work!

Now it was time to put up the gate. I had several old gates to choose from at our farm that Lon had been saving over the years. We took another trip up there for me to pick out the one I wanted. I felt fortunate to be able to choose from several!

Now came the tedious part of making a latch for the fence post to match the latch on the gate and having everything fit perfectly! Luckily Lon has some pretty good blacksmithing skills that allowed him to whip out a latch pretty quickly. All of this was so much more complicated than I ever could have imagined!

The work involved leading up to putting up a fence is pretty intense. We live in a rural community, we are surrounded by fence – I have a deeper appreciation for all the hard work that goes into building these. As we drive by all the fence, I can see different styles that some have used. Just like cooking or sewing, everyone has there own twist or flare to get what they want. Some fences look like they hired the fence to be put up while others look a little more homemade. They all accomplish the same thing. Either to keep things out or keep things in.

I kept asking Lon when we would be able to actually put up the fence. It seemed like all the foundational work was taking forever! It was fun to work together on this project and I was learning so much, but the waiting was hard! It seemed like we were ready to put up the fence then we had to do one more thing before we could.

The day finally arrived where we could put up the fence! As we began to unroll it, we could see the fence that we’d been saving for this project wasn’t in good condition. It wouldn’t be good enough to put around the tree! We had worked so hard getting to this point, especially Lon! It was so disappointing.

There wasn’t much we could do. We went home, Lon went to the shop and I went into the house. I felt so deflated! We had worked so hard! Disappointment was an understatement! I knew Lon’s work schedule was to start getting busy pretty soon. If we were going to be able to put up the fence, now was the time to get it done. We were so close, yet without a fence you can’t put up a fence. I wondered why the Lord would bring us to this stopping point so abruptly.

We thought about finding a new fence that looked old. I looked online and wasn’t able to find anything. Lon suggested that I put something on our local buy, sell, trade to see if anyone might have some laying around that we could purchase. We didn’t need very much of it.

Almost immediately I got a response from a man who lives in our town. He said he had some that might work for us. Lon & I went to look at it later that evening, I was shocked and so surprised to see what he had! It was exactly what we wanted and it was brand new! And he just gave it to us – for free!! This is the type of fence that you can’t even purchase new anymore. He had an entire roll that was still brand new!! I can’t tell you how excited I was!

Lon told me I was the luckiest girl he’d ever known. I knew differently – the Lord had his hand in this! He was teaching me that He was the one planning this, and because of this little set back (it seemed big at the time) my faith grew a bit more.

These are the things that build our faith. Little things that just seem to work out when we can’t figure out why. We just need to recognize them as a gift God has given us and give thanks for these special gifts! So because of this, I want to thank my amazing husband who shows his love for me through his hard work. Lon, you have been a gift God has given me, thank you for loving me, and thanks for building my cute fence!

As I prepared for Thanksgiving this year I was reminded of what’s important in our lives. Our world has been turned upside down with a pandemic, politics, rioting . . . hateful negativity in general. I’m happy to let you know that there is SO MUCH MORE to focus on than all of the bad. There’s still a lot of good in our world, we need to take the time and see what’s right in front of us. If we begin to fill our minds with positive thinking, focusing on the little things in our lives will become more important.

“Whatever is worthy of respect, just, pure, lovely, commendable, if something is excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things.” Philippians 4:8

Our whole family was home for Thanksgiving this year. This makes my heart so happy but, it can also cause some anxiety. I have high expectations for these times. In my mind I want everything to be as nice as possible however, when 3 preschoolers, 4 dogs, 6 adults, plus all the paraphernalia that is packed for an extended trip, chaos usually follows.

I have been working on recognizing things that God has gifted us. This is a list that I have compiled from this weekend.

4 year olds with a new/used Barbie dream house

relaxing morning coffee chats with the girls!

early morning hunts for the guys.

mother/daughter laugh till you cry turkey prepping

small towns

granddaughters helping make pumpkin pie

lovely Elsa duet concert – into the unknown anyone?!

successful turkey bake

dishes . . . dishes . . . and . . . more dishes!

huge brussel sprouts

cousins dragging a tunnel outside

outside play time

family working together in the kitchen

birthday girls

watching my big little boy shooting hoops again

swinging

4th generation on the steps at Longfellow

courageous little girls

finding treasures

yummy hot chocolate

whipped cream

messy counters & clean counters

fun hat finds

birthday presents

pots & pots of coffee

big girls who like the little girls presents

daddy’s shoulders

sisters

parades

christmas lights

black friday shopping

quiet early mornings

puppy snuggles

trail of socks everywhere

road trip to the farm with grandpa and dad

driveway full of cars

When I see this lengthy list it makes me smile. God has been so good to me . . . to all of us! The blessings in our lives are gifts from the Lord. When we recognize them in this way the little things in life begin to be the big things. As we move into the advent season let’s continue to be searching for all the gifts God has given us, especially the gift of his son Jesus.