a cozy winter night ...

fireplace glowing warm with light

photographs of the grandchildren

enraptured with heavenly music on the stereo

wonderful endless beautiful books with places to explore

wrapped in a thick blanket

on a cozy winter night ...

Bitter cold but beautiful ...

"The steps of the godly are directed by the Lord. He delights in every detail of their lives." Psalm 37:23
I was in Rockford this morning for my yearly physical, and since the sun was making a very unusual but spectacular appearance, the sky amazingly clear and blue, I took a brief hike up the boardwalk just north of the Rockford dam ...

From all of the footprints I could see, it was evident a lot of folk had been walking this trail recently ... but not when I was there this morning. No one was in sight! It was so peaceful and quiet ...

I don't want to wish this time away ~ what if this is my last winter to be alive on the earth? It's true ~ I spend a lot more time inside than outside (and I don't like it!), I complain about the cold, I feel confined and a bit claustrophobic ... but I do appreciate the amazing beauty God creates in these winter months. It helped to see the sun today! Just thought I'd share these pictures ...

Dreaming ... and praying ...

I've been rather drawn to my photos from Padre Island these past few freezing weeks up here in the North country, so I've done some editing of them and I even made a few cards ...

This passage of Scripture is from Psalm 90: "Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives ... let us see your miracles again; let our children see your glory at work." (verses 14 and 16)


What a wonderful prayer ... for contentment in God's unending love, to sing for the joy of all He is, to share that with our children. Nothing can match that kind of happiness.

We've been really really COLD in Michigan for awhile now ... and more cold is moving in ... I think from Minnesota!

Our outdoor thermometer registered ZERO at about 9:30 a.m. The sun was out, the shadows were gorgeous ... but I did not go outside to take pictures! Mr. Jones shot these with his very nice camera from inside the house. The sunshine was coming through the doorwall in the front room, and Thomas K. and I were sprawled out on the floor basking in it.
"Praise the LORD; praise God our Savior. For each day He carries us in His arms." Psalm 68.19 I would rather be on Padre Island ... or anywhere else on this planet that was sunny and warm. But on this day, frigid as it is, God still carries me safely in His arms.
I'm using the above picture as the background on my computer for the next little while. Well, there is nothing wrong with dreaming! "Both day and night belong to You; You made the starlight and the sun. You set the boundaries of the earth, and you made both summer and winter." Psalm 74:16-17

Some pretty winter pictures

Yesterday, my camera and I went for a little drive. It's been cold and snowy with very gray skies in West Michigan for a long time. In December, we only received 5% of our possible sunshine! Usually, I don't mind this so much ... it's kind of like living in a black and white world; and I really like black and white! But I'm beginning to kind of miss the sun. Today, I sat at my computer for over an hour editing my October pictures from Padre Island with the pounding waves, brilliant blue sky, the sandy seashore ... and dreamed of being there.

I really should have taken a hike yesterday, instead of a drive, but there was a fresh layer of snow so I drove up to Krupp Farms to see if the horses were outside and if they would pose pretty for me ... but they were not outside ~ smart horses ... it's really really cold!

I took a brief walk, but all of this is private property and I didn't want to be obnoxious.

I also drove down West River Drive until it turns into Cannonsburg and ended up over at Townsend Park. I can't remember the last time I was there.

When my boys were young, this is where we used to go frog hunting ... naturally NOT during the winter ...

The sun came out for the briefest moment to sparkle on the little creek ...

My feet were so numb from the cold, I didn't stay outside for very long. I thought perhaps all you folk in hot and sunny Texas were perhaps missing the beauty of the snow ... so I've posted these pictures just for you! Say "hi" to the sun for me, OK?

I knew this would happen ...

I finally began the completely UNinspiring task of UNdecorating our house today! In most year's past, this is what I accomplish every New Year's Day. And then after everything is all put away, I watch The Sound of Music ... because it's a great story ... and the scenery is breathtaking (I've always wanted to go to Austria!), Julie Andrews's voice is beautiful ... and Christopher Plumber's eyes ... whew! But this year, Mr. Jones and I were at a New Year's Eve party and didn't return home until almost two o'clock in the morning ~ AND our little grandchildren were still in town visiting again on January 2 ... I certainly didn't want to take all the pretty things down until the children had gone!

When I decorated our living room Christmas tree, I could NOT find my Willow Tree nativity ornament anywhere ... I looked and looked! I love this ornament, not only because it is beautiful and goes perfectly with our tree, but because it was given to me by my dear friend, Judi, who I worked with for years and years! I was really annoyed because not only was I missing this ornament, but I couldn't find my two beautiful angels that were given to me by another dear friend, Janice Marie! WHERE COULD THEY BE?!!

It turns out that both missing treasures were together UNDERNEATH a bag of pine cones in a discarded popcorn tin I was using for storage. I remember now that I put the pine cones there when I was tearing stuff down last year and plopped these two special gifts with them ... but neglected to label this tin. I took one peek in this tin weeks ago, saw the bag of pine cones, decided NOT to use them on the tree this year and never lifted up the bag to discover what lay underneath. I knew this would happen! I knew I would find these beautiful gifts when I was UNdecorating ... sigh. I really really wanted these displayed this year.

I made some small progress this afternoon. I took apart our small family tree and put all of the dining room decorations away. And I hauled all of the boxes out from under the stairway and brought them upstairs to the living room where TOMORROW I intend to UNdecorate everything else ... a laborious activity, but it must be done! I have already watched The Sound of Music ... a few nights ago with Mr. Jones ... I know this was completely out of the natural order of things, but I did it anyway.

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.

Our happy New Year's Eve

Eight couples: Tim and Kim (the gracious hosts), me and Mr. Jones, Nate and Christie, Gene and Michelle, Steve and Wendy, Charlie and Sondra, Nigel and Gayla (and their two sons), and Bob and Kay all welcomed the new year in together last night. All of us are members of the LOGOS adult congregation at Calvary Church. We love each other and have become like a ... family.

We had plenty of food. There were three crock pots with meatballs ... and every single one of us ladies who brought the meatballs thought we would be the ONLY one who would do so! There were plenty of chocolate goodies (and I enjoyed every single yummy bite), delicious appetizers, etc.

We had good conversation, great fellowship, ate a lot of delicious food, wore silly party hats and all participated in a Bible trivia game ... four teams of four each. I was on Team #3 and we were the winners! It was fun to be on the winning team, because generally speaking, I do NOT win playing trivia games!

At 11:45, Wendy spontaneously announced that we were going to light a candle and pass it around the group, telling what we were most thankful for in the year 2008 and what we hoped for our lives in 2009. What's special about this group of people is that there isn't much pretense with us. We've been pretty open with our lives, have shared some really difficult times together, and support each other in prayer throughout the week.

After the candle had passed around the entire circle, we ended our party on our knees in prayer for each other. It was a great way to welcome 2009 and an evening that I will always remember with a lot of deep-down happiness.

As I look back on 2008, I have so much to give thanks for. I had set a few goals ... some were met and others were not. What I think I am most thankful for, though, is God's faithfulness. He is everything I am not ... but I'm so glad He loves me anyway. What a difference His unfailing love has made in my life!

"O Lord, you are so good,
so ready to forgive, so FULL of unfailing love
for all who ask your aid ...

Teach me your ways, O LORD,
that I may live according to your truth!
Grant me purity of heart,
that I may honor you.
With all my heart I will praise you, O LORD my God.
I will give glory to your name forever,
for your love for me
is very great!

... You, O LORD, are a merciful and gracious God,
slow to get angry,
full of unfailing love and truth."

Selected verses from Psalm 86