Simple pleasures ...

Can you see what's in my bucket? Look carefully! Do you see him?! Isn't he cute?
I was working out in the yard this afternoon, digging up dandelions, weeds, and last year's dead leaves, and other unsightly growth from the lawn and flower beds when this cute little toad came hopping into view ...
He didn't want me to catch him and hopped right through the fence and into a pile of leaves. "Not so fast!" I said to myself and then promptly climbed the fence, balanced oh so carefully on the outside air conditioner, leaned way over, and caught him!
I know it's hard to believe, but this little toad made my day. How is that possible you ask? Because it brought me back to the days when the boys and I ~ years and years ago (it seems like forever ago actually) would go hunting! In the summer time when I was a single mom and the boys were out of school and I still had to work, I would get up in the early hours of the morning and get my transcription for the doctors all finished by about 11:00 a.m. Then, we'd pack up some peanut butter-and-jelly-sandwiches, snack crackers, our canteens, a very deep bucket, and our "frog nets" and go on an adventure! There was a nice shallow creek that ran through Townsend Park (Cannonsburg) and that's where we would go to hunt frogs and crayfish. A few times, we brought Jesse's tent along with us and made an entire day of it. I can honestly say that these happy excursions remain as the best memories I have of those years. The boys would run from the car, nets in hand, hollering all the way down to the creek ... but you had to be real sneaky about it because those frogs were FAST! How many could we catch? Who would catch the biggest frog?
I think Shane almost always caught the most! He just had a knack with that net and he was SO determined! Mostly, we were just content to catch a few, hold them, examine their cool skin and color, put two up against each other in a race, see how many we could fit in our pockets, and then we'd return them to the creek at the end of the afternoon. For very little $$ cost, an entire afternoon would lazily slip by with us up to our knees in the water, looking at all the wonderful things God had made ... and for me, it was a sense of complete peace and total happiness! Good and healthy fun, pure joy! So, thanks little toad for the memories! I have him all situated for the night in my yellow bucket with water, rocks, plants and a lid with holes ... he is being taken to Dylan's Field Ecology class tomorrow, where he will be enjoyed by all!

Mother's Day Moments 2008

It's been a nice Mother's Day, even though it's been cold (BRRR!) and rainy all day. We worshiped this morning and learned about three godly women from the Book of Acts ~ Eunice, Lois (Timothy's grandmother and mother) and Lydia. I didn't realize that Lydia was the first European convert to Christianity (at least the first one that was recorded in biblical history)! She was a wealthy business woman who came to faith in Christ through the Apostle Paul's ministry.

I had 15 beautiful children in my 3's class this morning and the class ran pretty smoothly. It's always a bit touch-and-go with that many little ones, but we manage to survive it each and every Sunday!

During third hour, we had the privilege of hearing an aviation missionary couple who are preparing to return to Papau New Guinea with their three children in six weeks. What a fascinating story they have of the great things God is going there in that country.

We invited Nana and Cookie over for dinner today. I made up a nice batch of lasagna yesterday that I just had to re-heat after church, cooked some delicious fresh green beans and almonds, made a yummy tossed salad and baked some garlic bread. Nana brought an apple pie (yum) and we all ate too much! Dylan joined us for dinner as well.

I asked Mr. Jones if he could try to get a good picture of my mother and I. Neither one of us like having our picture taken very much and these are not the greatest shots, but after cropping and manipulating and DELETING most of them, here are a few ...




I also received some very nice phone calls today. It was wonderful to hear Shane's voice and talk to him for awhile ... he has such a nice voice on the telephone. And I talked to Sabrina for a long time too. And guess who I heard from last night via e-mail? Jesse! He left the states Wednesday morning and was STILL not in Taji as of very late last night. He was, however, waiting for a helicopter flight from Baghdad to his base. He said his travels have been "pleasant and safe." That's good news for a mother's heart ...

The rest of the day has been rather quiet and mellow. Very nice. We worked hard in the yard the last few days and needed this day of rest ... how smart of God to make sure there was one day each week where we could just STOP, breathe deeply, think, worship, gather our strength, soak in His goodness ... mothers of young children, however, have much less rest and quietness no matter what day of the week it is, but I am praying that this Mother's Day was a good one for all of you!

Tulips, tulips everywhere!

I have lived in Grand Rapids since 1971 and in all that time, I have never ventured out to Holland for Tulip Time! Isn't that crazy?! The only time in my life I have seen the tulips in Holland was in the fifth grade, when my class from Grant Elementary School (in Livonia) took a field trip to see the big tulip parade that year!
I'm not sure I caught the tulips in their prime this year ... it's been a really cold week here ... but just look at them! Aren't they gorgeous? (to steal my great-nephew Matthew Owen's much used expression)
Mr. Jones and I drove out to Holland right after lunch today. Our destination was Windmill Island. This is the De Zwaan windmill. The name is Dutch for "The Swan" or graceful bird. This grain mill is over 240 years old and was brought here (in pieces) from the Netherlands.
This picture was taken from the fourth floor of this working grain mill. Most of the parts on the fourth, fifth and sixth floors are the original wood (Norwegian Fir). The brick portion of the tower was built locally. We took a guided tour. My favorite part was the outside gallery which runs around the outside of the fourth floor. The view was really nice from up there. We met an old gentleman taking the tour who was wearing a hat that declared he was a survivor of Pearl Harbor! He was on the USS Sarasota when the bombing happened!
This is the whole wheat graham flour which is packaged into three-pound bags and sold over at the gift store.

I couldn't decide which color of tulip was my favorite ... there were so many to choose from! I was preoccupied with taking pictures of them and my glasses kept getting in the way, so I took them off and draped them onto the V-neck of my shirt ...
We walked around the whole park, in and out of shops, up and down rows and rows of tulips and returned to the car before I realized that I no longer had my glasses ... they were gone!
Since I was driving, and I can't see to drive without my glasses, it was kind of serious that I didn't know where they were. I searched my bag, my pockets, my camera case ... no glasses! It was time to retrace my steps and see if I could find them. I went back to the Post House where we had gotten our map of Holland and asked if there was a Lost and Found. There was one right there, but my glasses had not been found. I had a sick and sinking feeling ... so as I re-walked everywhere I had been on Windmill Island, I started praying ...
I was SO thankful to find my glasses, sunglasses attached, lying on a stool outside the entry door to the windmill. They must have fallen from my shirt while I was taking an interesting shot and I never noticed! Someone was kind enough to pick them up and just place them right on that stool! Whew! Thanks, Lord!
Can you imagine how exhilerating it would be to have the power to create such beauty, with such array of color, sizes, shapes, fragrance ... God must have had such a great time making all of it, don't you think? But even more than that, listen to what is said about US ~

"...we are God's masterpiece.
He has created us anew in Christ Jesus,

so that we can do the good things

he planned for us long ago." EPHESIANS 2:10

Back to Big Red

Since we were in Holland this afternoon, I couldn't drive back to Grand Rapids without seeing my lake! Yes ... Lake Michigan is MY lake. I love it like no other!
What I really wanted to do was to get some photographs of Big Red from the south side of the channel; in other words, the side opposite of Holland State Park. I wasn't sure which road to take in order to do that, so Mr. Jones and I picked up a map of Holland while we were at Windmill Island and found our route without any trouble! However, the road we needed (South Shore Drive) only goes so far and then it dead ends into a gate house with a posted guard ... and closed gates!
I rolled down my window at the gate and asked the guard if it was possible to get to Big Red on this side of the channel. He very kindly gave us a one-hour pass, opened the gate, showed us where to park, gave us a small map that showed the walking path that winds through the dunes, away from private property, and brings you right here to Big Red! It was really cold by the lake today and very windy ... but it was SO good to see my lake and get a few more pictures of the lighthouse, exactly as I wanted! I didn't even get lost or make one single wrong turn ... do you suppose that has anything to do with Mr. Jones navigating from the passenger seat?

We finally meet David!

My mother and Cookie have been married for over a year now but I just today met Roy's son, David ... and technically he is my step-brother, but that feels pretty weird at this time in my life ... I know! I have been part of a blended family now for close to eleven years ... but this is different!

David comes to Grand Rapids this same weekend each May to take advantage of some flower sales for his own house in the Chicago area and to help Roy plant all of the annuals in his big yard. Mr. Jones and I invited ourselves over to meet him tonight! We all went out to dinner and had a real enjoyable time getting acquainted. My first impression was that he was a very serious and rather intimidating person, but he isn't either of those! He has an engaging personality, is very intelligent, and we liked him a lot.

Would you like to hear a little about him? David is a year younger than I am. He was in ROTC while studying at Wheaton College, was called to service in the mid-70's and ended up serving in the first Gulf War. Early on in his Army career, he was stationed in Europe (Italy and Germany) for about ten years. He retired from the Army in 1995. He presently teaches Ethics, Leadership and Business at Judson University. He and his wife have one son (Jonathan David, age 24) and one daughter (Alyssa, age 22).
This is one perfectly beautiful rose, isn't it? It was in a pot that Roy's son is taking home to his wife tomorrow. I think roses are perhaps my most favorite flower, but I can't say for sure because there are just so many amazing kinds of flowers that God made!

a yearning for flight ...

When I was a young girl, I often wanted to fly ... but not on an airplane. I would watch the graceful soaring of the birds and just wanted to experience ... gliding through the air!Tonight if I could, I would first of all fly down to El Paso and gather Diana and Emma, Christopher and Matthew under my wings and just hold them for a very long time ... and then after a little while (days), I would take to the air and go all the way around the world to see my soldier boy ...

I can imagine it's been a hard day for Diana and the children. It's been difficult for me too. I'm so thankful for the Psalms when my heart aches. Listen to some of Psalm 91 ~

"Those who live in the shelter of the Most High
will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
This I declare of the LORD:
He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;
He is my God, and I am trusting Him ...

His faithful promises are your armor and protection ...
If you make the LORD your refuge,
if you make the Most High your shelter,
no evil will conquer you ...
for He orders his angels to protect you wherever you go.
The LORD says, 'I will rescue those who love me.
I will protect those who trust in my name.'"

I talked to Jesse last night. It was nice to hear his kind voice one more time before he had to return to Iraq. I'm going to make his birthday card tonight, which will make me feel closer to him somehow. It feels very sad not to have seen him while he was here in the states. If any of you would like to send him a card (his birthday is next week), and you don't have his address, just e-mail me and I'll send it on to you.

I'm trusting the LORD to take care of him and give strength to Diana. I know they would appreciate our prayers ...

winter is past ...

"My lover said to me, 'Rise up, my beloved,
my fair one, and come away.
For the winter is past,
and the rain is over and gone.
The flowers are springing up,
and the time of singing birds has come ...'"
SOLOMONS SONG 2:10-12 NLB

It was one of those days where I just couldn't stay inside ... everything outside was calling to me! I worked in the yard for awhile and then I took a brief ramble through the woods ...

... and I found these beautiful flowers popping up through layers of dead leaves and branches ...
New life was everywhere ... the renewal of plants and trees and flowers ... every leaf and pedal unique and perfectly formed ...

I was thinking about how faithful God is to His promise ~ "As long as the earth remains, there will be springtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night." GENESIS 8:22

" ... those who become Christians become new persons.
They are not the same anymore,
for the old life is gone.
A new life has begun!
All this newness of life is from God ..."
2 CORINTHIANS 5:17-18 NLB