Odds and Ends

I've been a little bit "blue" this week. Being on this side of our trip to Texas is always a little rough for me. I've been looking through all of our pictures and decided to post a few random ones. They are a little bit out of order, not intentionally, but Blogger will not allow me to move any around right now ... so it is what it is!
You have to love this embroidered sign, don't you? Rachel pointed it out to me when we were in one of the many shops we looked around ...

We've actually seen this sign (above) in many places throughout Texas, even at Fort Bliss in the PX! Yikes.

And this picture of Lottie was too cute NOT to post ...

We tried to take a few pictures to remember the vast difference between Texas and Michigan ...

These pictures remind me of an old western movie, with thirsty cowboys running out of water in their canteens, etc.

Let's see ... oh, when we got to Ft. Bliss to see the kiddos, I pulled these weird nose/glass disguises out of my bag. I told Matthew, Ems and Chris to make weird faces at me and I would take their picture. They thought it was SO hysterical!

Here's Matthew getting all serious about the Playdough ... he takes his playing VERY seriously sometimes ...

And I'm not sure which of the kids had the idea to make a long train first ... and then which of them decided to make it an animal circus kind of train, but both Chris and Emma worked very hard on this!

One day, we had about ten minutes when we were waiting for the grown-ups to get ready to go somewhere, so I was playing a little animal guessing game with Emma, Chris and Matthew (just to make the waiting more bearable). I would make a sound, and they would guess which animal I was imitating ... and then it was their turn to make a sound. We did all of the regular animals, but then I told them to try to make the sound of an UNusual animal, so it would be more difficult to guess. So Christopher said, "Ding, ding, ding. ROAR!" (and Christopher's ROAR was an extremely LOUD one!) Emma guessed a lion. Christopher shook his head, NO! Matthew guessed a Tiger. Christopher shook his head, NO! We guessed every single animal we could think of and then we gave up! Christopher, very straight-faced said: "A dinosaur snowman makes that sound!" Well! Christopher certainly isn't lacking in imagination at least!

This is how Emma looks when she is proud of something she has done ... I love this look on her face and I love to do art work with her.

Emma and I were talking on the last day I was there about how far Texas was from Michigan. Emma was saying she was concerned I would forget about her. I was alarmed to hear that, so I responded: "Emma! I could never forget about you. You live right in Grandma's heart. I take you everywhere I go!" Ah, but Emma was NOT going to let me get away with an error so huge as that. She said, "No, Grandma. JESUS lives in your heart. I just live in Texas." Hmmm. Out of the mouth of babes ...

This is one of the shops in Bandera ... I like that last line: Stuff You Need.

And here is Nicolas getting smooshed by Nia and Nathan in the hammock ... now that's the good life!

And little Nia who had apparently gotten a bit carried away with an orange marker earlier that morning ... but Grandpa didn't care one single bit ... she is precious.

Lottie enjoying a relaxing moment in the hammock ... ah, peace and contentment.

And here is Queenie enjoying some ice cream the night we had she and Nathan's birthday party.

And here is Mr. Nathan waiting for us to get ready to go shopping in Bandera ...

I noticed we didn't get quite as many pictures this time around of any of our GRANDSONS and I feel very disappointed by that ... I've decided it is because they are TOO FAST for us. By the time we get our cameras ready, they have moved on to the next thing ...

Jackson still enjoys trains ... but he also builds really well with LEGOS and is very good at all kinds of puzzles too.

Jackson and Karis both painted with me for awhile, so I'm glad to have this picture of it.

And Karis stuck to me like glue ... and I enjoyed her very much. We were driving in their van one day ~ me in the way back, and Karis in her car-seat in the middle, and this was our conversation.

Karis: "You know what, Grandma?"
Me: "What, Karis?"
Karis: "I LOVE you, Grandma!"
Me: "Wow. I love you too, Karis. And mommy loves you a ton!"
Karis: "You know what, Mommy?"
Sabrina: "What, Karis?"
Karis: "I LOVE you twenty-eight ... NINE ... and ONE!"

This is Karis's bunny. I think she looks a little bit sad. Me too, bunny. Me too.

A few Father's Day photos ...

Father's Day has come and gone this year in kind of a BLUR. I don't know how else to describe it. Before we left for church this morning, our dads (Andrew and Grandpa Jones) opened up wonderful Father's Day cards from Sabrina and the kiddos ...

We worshiped together this morning at church ... I opted out of serving the 3-year-olds so that I could sit in the same pew with my usually faraway family members and just soak up the joy of the Lord. I loved sitting next to Olivia this morning in church ...

I was so thankful to see my brother and Carol just briefly before the service began. They were very understanding of my request for a nice picture of them ... PLUS, I got to give them another hug and kiss and send messages home with them to my nephews and nieces in Florida ...

After church, I served lasagna and garlic bread, along with cold vegetable pizza ... but I neglected to take any photos of our dinner! Very soon afterwards, Sabrina and family packed up their van and it was time for them to leave us. I purposely did not take pictures of them leaving. I'm a little tired of the whole leaving thing ... and long distance everything ... and wishing our family could be closer ... so NO pictures!

Sadly, Livie (Olivia) left her brand new SOFT and WARM and COZY Grand Haven sweatshirt on the recliner in our family room and we didn't discover it until it was too late for them to come back and retrieve it. We'll wait a few days to send it down to Austin ... who knows what we may find left behind in other rooms of the house that we could send all together?

I have 130 pictures to look over and edit from Emily's baby shower yesterday. Her Aunt Vicky's house and property was SO amazing ... and Emily was so beautiful opening her gifts ... I just have to show you the best of those pictures! But not tonight!

Letting go ... again!

Just a few days ago we celebrated Dylan's 25th birthday. And today, we helped move him from our house to the place where he will be living for the next little while. He would have moved out sooner, but actually, he really hasn't LIVED here at home with us for a long time ... just quick visits here during school breaks and summers off from school.
This is the house where Dylan will be living. His friend, Paul, owns it. Two other fellows rent rooms here and now Dylan does too! I think it has real character, as do tons of houses over in Eastown ... all of them so interesting. This whole street is lined with nice houses, well-kept yards, gorgeous flowers ...

After we unloaded our van and Dylan's car, we caught a quick lunch at Wolfgang's on Wealthy Street. I had never even heard of this place before! It's kind of an all-day breakfast cafe', but it has a nice luncheon menu as well.
This beautiful plaque is hanging just inside the entrance to Wolfgang's!
While we were waiting for our food, I ducked out of our booth to take some quick pictures ... do you see anyone you know in the picture above ... look real closely, Sabrina, and you might see a very dear friend! I didn't notice her at all while I was taking this picture and then I ducked outside to take some pictures of the window box flowers and felt an arm slip through mine and got a nice hug from ...
SUZ!!! How delightful to bump into her today! Suzanne was one of Sabrina's roommates at Calvin ... and I think they roomed together for three years. I made her give me her word that she would come over to see us while Sabrina is in town. She was joining a friend for lunch at the very same time we wandered on over to have lunch ... what a very nice coincidence. She is smiling at Mr. Jones in this picture ... a beautiful smile, Suz.
So this is Dylan's new neighborhood. I'm very happy about him being here. Eastown is chuck full of interesting people, shops, fun places to eat, and Dylan has many friends who live nearby.

So the Jones Junction is empty once again ... (sigh)!

Trip statistics and other thoughts ...

"Love all of God's creation, the whole and every grain of sand in it. Love every leaf, every ray of God's light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love." Feodor Dostoevski: The Brothers Karamazov

The mountains of New Mexico
White Sands National Monument

Padre Island, Texas Gulf Shore

The River Walk, San Antonio, Texas

Near Comfort, Texas

At a park in Bernham, Texas

Outside the Blue Bell ice cream factory
Bernham, Texas

"You know my every thought when far away. You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest ... if I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me." Psalm 139:2b-3 and verse 9

We have been far away and now we are home. I'm giving thanks to the Lord that He was with us every mile of our drive, through major cities, across the Mighty Mississippi, alongside mountains, in and out of little podunk towns, to and from seeing all of our loved ones. God was very good to us all along the way. Would you like to hear some statistics about our trip?

Total miles: 4,837

Total states: On the way down from Michigan: Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and then back into Texas. On the way home: Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and then home!

Hours in our van: 80+

Pictures taken: 3,287 total (1,926 by me and 1,361 by Grandpa Jones). We also have 4 CD's that were burned from pictures Jes and Di took, as well as ones Sabrina took. That's a LOT of photographs!

Favorite Hotel: The Drury Inn. We stayed at one in Pacific, Missouri as well as two nights while in San Antonio. They are decorated nicely and are clean. They have a wonderful hot breakfast buffet every morning, as well as a "happy hour" from 5:30 to 7:00 every night where there is abundant food and drink, all included in your night's stay! But we also liked the Comfort Inns and Suites ~ we stayed in several along the way.
Favorite Restaurant: It's difficult for me to choose between Cracker Barrell, I-Hop or Applebee's. All of them have nice menus with great senior (!) deals ... and I mustn't forget CHILI'S too! While we traveled, we breakfasted at the hotel, ate fast food for lunch, and then tried to eat a healthier meal for dinner. In many places, we found the serving sizes so huge we could actually split a meal and still be very full.

Favorite Families: Well, let me see ... the Pahman's, the Rauch's, and the Jones' x 2! Quickly browsing through our thousands of photographs, I have great pictures, cherished memories of wonderful times with everyone. I have a lot of editing to do and then I'll publish some beautiful family pictures ...

We're home!

This was the view from Adam and Emily's kitchen to their back deck at about 6:30 this morning. Snow!

We left Chaska around 8:00 a.m. after breakfast and our goodbyes to Adam and Emily. We were hoping to drive out of the snow and have a nice smooth ride back to Michigan ...

It's not a real long drive from Chaska to the Wisconsin State line and by the time we reached it, the snow had stopped coming down ... it had changed to a light rain.

Throughout the entire drive through Wisconsin it was mostly windy, cold, and now and again we would drive through a mix of rain and snow, but nothing terribly hazardous.

We drove through quite a variety of weather today, EXCEPT clear skies just weren't in the bargain. The grey skies kind of added to my gloomy thoughts of our spring trip being over ...

By the time we hit the Chicago area, we ran into very heavy rain that lasted all the way to the Michigan border. And once in Michigan, the rain changed over to snow and we even saw cars in the ditches on both sides of the highway. So we slowed way down and just took it easy. About a half hour from our house, the highway was completely dry for the first time all day! We arrived safely home at just about 9:30 this evening. We've unloaded our mobile suitcase (the van) and that's all we are doing for now! I'll post some pictures of our yesterday with Adam and Emily hopefully tomorrow.

Our last day in El Paso

I prepared for this day weeks ago, this last day to see Jesse and his family ... because this last day is emotionally very difficult ... this leaving without knowing when the next time will be. I believe God heard and in very special ways answered every prayer about this day.

We started our day by worshipping at Sunshine Community Church. None of us had ever visited there before. It's a very warm and welcoming community of people. They've been studying through Colossians on Sunday mornings. Their pastor Dykema is a very humble gentleman who is impossible not to like. We learned that he has a married son with family who live in Kentwood ... they are youth pastors at a church in Ada! And during the welcome part of the service, when we turned around to shake hands with folk in the row behind us ... two young college guys were home on spring break to El Paso from Calvin College. Small world. The kiddos all attended children's church together. I asked them later what was their favorite part of going to church this morning.

Emma: I liked singing songs to God and then praying to God.
Christopher: I liked the cookies best!
Matthew: Me too! I liked the cookies!

The children have all been invited to a birthday party this Saturday at the church. One Saturday each month, they celebrate all of the children's birthdays for that month and have a little party. They also have a nice family dinner once per month following the morning worship service. I think my favorite thing about being there this morning was meeting people for the first time who love and worship the same God that I do ... and immediately sharing friendship with them.

Other than attending church this morning, we did a bunch of rerun activities right at the house. We just hung out, visited with Jesse and Diana, ate a quiet lunch, and played with the children. Jes and Di left later in the afternoon to have a dinner date, but Diana had prepared lasagna ahead of time for me to throw in the oven for our dinner, so we were all set.
We did lots of stuff that I am best at doing with little children. It is completely relaxing to me to do any kind of art work and the children were excited to get out our watercolors again and do more painting. All three of the children are very creative, each with their own style, and each of them very happy to sit for a very long time with me and just visit while we painted.

After we ate our delicious dinner, we read books together. I love reading children's books out loud, stopping to ask questions, pointing out interesting stuff in the illustrations, and most of all listening to the kids as they talk about a story. We had an especially nice story time tonight.

Jes and Di returned home from their date and since the children return to school tomorrow morning, bed time had to be rather strictly observed tonight. So we did the bedtime routine, with kisses and hugs and little talks.

I'll try to repeat to you the conversation I had with Emma as we said good-by.

Emma: I will miss you, grandma, when you go away.
Me: I will miss you too, Emma. Sometimes I am very sad in Grand Rapids without you.
Emma: Me too, grandma.
Me: I have a few friends in Grand Rapids who also have grandchildren who live far away.
Emma: And they can't see them?
Me: That's right. So sometimes we get together and talk about how sad we are.
Emma: You know what grandma? Sometimes ... not always ... but sometimes I forget about you.
Me: That's OK, Emma.
Emma: Sometimes I have fun with friends and with mama and daddy too ... and I forget about you.
Me: That's OK, Emma. I'm glad that you have fun with your friends and with your mom and dad. That makes me happy. That's the best thing you could tell me. But there is Someone I don't want you to forget.
Emma: Who, grandma?
Me: I don't want you to forget about God, Emma. I want you to remember how much He loves you.
Emma: I will, grandma, because He lives in my heart. I talk to Jesus and I look at the pictures in my Bible every day ... well sometimes everyday.
Me: That's good, Ems. That's the happiest thing you could ever tell me! I think we should give each other our most beautiful smile and have one last hug.
Emma: That's a good idea, grandma.

So that's what we did. We left with smiles instead of tears tonight, promising to talk on the phone together and maybe on the computer too. I am very very thankful for these precious days in El Paso.

72 days ...

Would you like to see and hear about the last night and day we had with the Pahman grandchildren?

Thursday evening, we girls decided we needed to paint our nails ... but first we had to trim them.

Emma was SO excited to paint my nails! We used a clear nail polish that had pink sparkly glitter in it. "This is just like what Aunt Emily does, isn't it Grandma? She does girls' hair and nails and makes them pretty. That's her job!" so said my Emma Joy.
Emma painted my fingernails first; then I did hers ~ and then we did each others' toenails! They were very sparkly when we finished.

I got out the Christmas present I bought for Grandpa Jones (!!) and read the stories with each of the kids separately so that they could wind up the little train themselves and see it go around the tracks!

Matthew was especially delighted ...

... and needed his tongue to help wind the little engine up!

Emma and I played with the ABC blocks. We made all kinds of short words, sounding out the letters together, and then Emma stacked them all up and made this tower.

Matthew was a little bit pouty while waiting his turn ...

... but when I asked him to smile for the camera, he did a pretty nice job even though he was still feeling pouty on the inside!

We did our whole play-doh routine again because it really is a lot of fun ... AND it is something all three children can have fun doing together. A lot of times around here, one of the kiddos will want to play in the playroom downstairs (with me) while another one wants to play in the family room (with me) and the other wants to read books (with me) ... so it ends up that one or the other of them is somewhat unhappy since I can't do all three things at one time with them.

I have plenty of equipment to go around to all three children with play-doh ... but they still have to share and wait their turn if they want to use the play-doh factory or another toy I only have one of ... but that's OK because learning to take turns and trying to wait patiently is part of growing up!

Matthew spent some fun time with Grandpa in the family room while Emma and Christopher and I built with LEGOS in the playroom.

Emma was very proud of the model she designed ... and she decided that the one I made was especially for her!

We also read a bunch of books together. Believe it or not, reading to three children can be stressful. I think it's because there are THREE children instead of just one or two. With two children, you can comfortably sit on a couch with one on each side of you and read while they both look at the pictures. But you can't do that with three children because someone always has to NOT sit right next to grandma ... and that's a problem!

So a few of our reading times took place at the dining room table where I could walk around with the book, read a page and then show the pictures to each of them separately ...

... not ideal, but we made it work for us! I love reading books to little kids, asking them lots of questions after each page, seeing if they will know how the story ends, or just showing them a picture and have them tell me the story without the words!

I knew that this was my last day to see the children for awhile. I didn't mention it to them, though, because I just wanted them to play like every other day. But I was very aware that time was running out ... I wanted to make the most of every single minute ...

And then before I knew it, Jesse and Di were here to pick up the children!

Emma was sad to leave her Grandma Jones ... and well, sad is quite an inadequate word to describe my feelings. Jesse tried to comfort her. And I showed her the calendar in the kitchen and counted out the days (72) until we would be leaving to drive down to Texas to see everyone again.

Christopher was pretty undaunted ... he is always on the move, ready for the next activity ...

We reluctantly helped load the kids into their SUV, gave innumerable hugs and kisses, cried, and waved good-bye as they drove down the driveway ... until we couldn't see them anymore. They were planning to sleep the night at Di's folks and then begin their trip back to Texas early this morning.

Ten weeks from now, Grandpa Jones and I will be packing and getting ready to head south. My eyes haven't been dry much today and I have such an ache inside. It's really difficult to have all nine of our grandchildren live so far away and have months go by without being a part of their lives ... but I'm trying to make the best of the situation and do what I can to be a faithful grandma to all of these beautiful children.