Dancing With Jesus

God was merciful and released Elvett Brown from his broken and hurting body today. He passed from this world into his Heavenly one around 4:20 this afternoon. As, I'm sure, his family is weeping, he is dancing on the streets of gold with Jesus.

Blessing of Grandparents

Today, as I prayed for Elvett Brown and his family, my heart cried for them. What a heart breaking time it is...to lose someone so precious in your family. They are bittersweet moments as we kiss them goodbye from this world....and send them off with a grand Hurrah to the next. I remember standing around my Grandpa's bed and singing him into heaven, in essence. I remember praying that God would have mercy on him and take him home quickly so that he wouldn't suffer any longer. And at the same time, I wanted to cling to him and beg him to stay with me longer.

I remember feeling that way when my Grandma was dieing. I remember telling God that I wasn't finished with her yet. I still had so much I wanted to share with my Grandma. My sister has this wonderful picture of my Grams and Gramps holding newborn Kyle. Those looks of love on their faces are something that I am envious of. I wanted so much to be able to lay my own newborn children in their arms and have their blessing over them. Gramps was there to see my babies, but not Grams. Sometimes, in my mind, I imagine that picture is Grams with my babies. (dagnabit...I'm making myself cry!) Yet, even as I long for them to be here, I imagine they are having a glorious time in heaven with Jesus.

Grandparents are a blessing. At least mine were. I have a lot of wonderful memories. My Grams was a lot of fun. I don't remember her playing around with me like my Mom does with my kids. I just remember loving being with her. Maybe it was that Love thing. I have a couple of pictures of my Grams that, to me, epitomize the way I felt when I was with my Grams. One of the pictures is just a little tiny thing...something like 2 inches by 2 inches. I think my Mom told me it was taken on my first birthday. I'm not sure...my hair is awfully long! Anyway....Grams is holding me and the way she is looking at me just tells me that I was loved. I love this picture. I keep meaning to have this picture framed somehow so that it doesn't get ruined. The other picture really isn't a very good picture at all. Grams is kind of sitting in the background. It was taken on my graduation. I am examining my gift...and Grams has this look of glee on her face. She is so excited. I really wish it was a better picture because the look on her face captures the feeling I would get when I would see her. She was excited to see me....she was excited with my accomplishments.

I remember Grams taking my sister and I for milkshakes on the days that she would take us to piano lessons. I don't know if Mom ever knew....but we thought it was fun. Grams always ordered butterscotch. She loved her dogs, too. I remember when we would get ice cream cones....the dog would get a lick....Grams a lick...the dog a lick...Grams a lick. Ugh. I think that sticks in my memory because I thought it was gross. I remember playing "doctor" with Grams. My sister and I would have a big bottle of Vaseline lotion and washcloths. I am positive we used at least half a bottle "doctoring" Grams legs. (We really just gave her these grand leg massages!! We had fun, though!!) I remember spending a week with Grams and Gramps in Kamiah, Idaho. I can't say it was the most rip-roaring good time I ever had, but it ranks high in my memory bank. Grams and I did jigsaw puzzles together.

I have a lot of good memories of Gramps, too. He really was quite the character. I can't begin to tell you how many years it took me to quit answering the question: "How old are you anyway?" Fell for it every time. I remember the summer that Gramps made a swing set in the trees in their front yard. If I remember right, my sister and I were staying with them for some reason. It was so exciting to watch that come together. One thing that stands out about that was the trial run on the rope swing. My aunt Jan landed on her bum when the rope broke! Yikes! We spent lots of hours out there. (Push me higher, Daddy, I want to touch the tree branches!) I also remember Thanksgivings being torturous as we all had to go around the table to say why we were thankful. It wouldn't have been so bad if there weren't a gazillion of us....and we had to sit there in front of all that yummy food. Then, Gramps would give his annual lengthy Thanksgiving prayer. Torture, I tell you, torture!

I know that I was lucky to have my grandparents with me for as long as I did. Even though I am blessed with happy memories, I still wish that I could have had them with me longer. I miss them so much sometimes.....like today. They were most definitely a blessing in my life. I love watching my parents with my kids.....that too is a blessing. I cherish all of that in my heart.

Thank you for your prayers for my friend and her family. This time will someday become precious in her memories, too.....even though now it is very difficult.

Prayers Needed

For those of you praying for Elvett Brown, my friend's grandfather, please step it up. He has taken a turn for the worse. Due to his advance directive wishes, they have removed his feeding tube. They had a precious time with him yesterday, singing hymns with him. He had some lucid moments with the family. It just breaks my heart as it brings back memories of my own Grandpa's last days.

Please be praying that God would be so near to Elvett and his family.

Thank you.

Stuff, Stuff, and More Stuff

My kids are spoiled. Plain and simple. They have so much stuff they don't know what to do with it. I often go through their rooms and dump bags of stuff into the garbage and they have no clue that anything is missing. I've even hauled bags of stuff to Goodwill unnoticed! A lot of times when I am cleaning, I uncover these long lost treasures and it is new and fresh all over again. With that thought, I am tempted to wrap up some of their hidden Stuff and regift them for Christmas. They won't notice....maybe.

I am a little frustrated with the Stuff right now. My kids seem to see a clean, picked-up room like a freshly cleaned chalkboard....you just gotta write on it. It never takes very long for my kids to go into the freshly cleaned room and dump their stuff all over the floor. Drives me nuts. I was on a cleaning strike there for a while. I just let their rooms go. If they want the mess...then they can live in it. You know.....they don't mind. I guess it is only me who cringes every time that I walk by. It became nearly impossible to cross the floor in the boys' room. How can they live in the chaos???

I finally got a little tough yesterday. I made the kids take about 30 minutes and clean up their rooms. They did a fairly decent job....even though with all the drama one would have thought that I was torturing them. Their rooms were definitely cleaner...but not quite up to Mommy standards...at least we could see the floor. I finished the job today....and currently their rooms look pretty nice.

With all that, I couldn't help but contemplate the Stuff. I've come to hate the toys that come with all these little pieces. I tend to be a little anal about the pieces....and my kids are most definitely not! When we play with them together, I try really hard to keep track of them all so we can play another day. Inevitably, the kids will play with these toys when I am not around to herd all the little pieces back to their respective homes. You would be amazed at the places that I find the marbles from our Trouble Jr. game.... color cards from Candy Land....cherries from Hi Ho Cherry-O. I won't even begin to discuss Legos.

It seems like, when I talk with my friends, they all have at least one child who is anal about their possessions. They become almost obsessed about the care and usage of their toys. They may line them up just so. Or cry when some unauthorized person lays a finger on them. They may even have a melt down if a piece is missing. Heaven forbid. Well, darn it, somehow my house got skipped over by the Neatness Angel. My kids couldn't care less. They still manage to throw a fit here and there if they can't find something....but it never affects them deep enough to change their behavior in order to prevent the loss or damage of said item.

I guess that I need to find the magic Lesson to teach them responsibility about their stuff. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I have talked with them about respecting their possessions. It seems like that discussion is mostly in regards to mine. (My possessions tend to be a little more costly....like a house...van...etc.) Maybe I should start praying that my kids would some how develop a Neatness habit. I would definitely consider that an Act of God if that should ever happen. I may just fall over in a dead faint!

At this point, there is nothing more I can do about it. I will just hope and pray that somewhere along the line my kids will become doers of Mom's word...and not just mere hearers. That is a pretty lofty goal. I guess in the meantime, I will just go lock myself in their rooms, take a moment and soak up the sight of their nice, clean rooms.

A short lived moment, for sure.

Storms a-raging!

We had some pretty beautiful weather this weekend. It was pretty warm outside. We got some yard work done. Daria had some soccer practice outside. She was running around all weekend in shorts and a t-shirt. Granted, it wasn't that warm out...she just felt like wearing them. Considering that it is almost the middle of November, I was a little amazed at the warmth. I wasn't too amazed with the warmth as I shivered through an hour of soccer practice! Brrrrr!!

I haven't liked the forecast the last couple of days. All I would see on those 7-Day Forecast was rain...rain..and more rain. I enjoy Oregon quite a bit....most of the time....except these cold, rainy, dark days. Some people were complaining about all the sunshine we have had lately. Not me. I am just hoping that those aren't the last sunny days we see this winter. I miss the sun when it is gone. I think I need to purchase one of those Happy Lites that mimic the sun so I don't get seasonal affective disorder. Whatever.

This morning I woke to the sound of the wind whipping through the trees that surround our house. I could tell that it was one doozy of a storm brewing outside. My room still seemed to have that dark, gloomy feel about it. It was nice that the kids didn't have school today...no plans...so I just buried my head under the covers some more and pretended that I was still sleeping.

Then Luke woke up. Bummer. Amazingly, his first response wasn't to come in and yell at me to go out into the living room. I did hear this little click, click, click, click. Uh-oh. No lights. Yep.....the wind was blowing so hard that the kids and I woke up this morning to no electricity. You would have thought that the circus had come to town with all the yahoos and shouts of glee that came from my boys.

My first response was to go around and open all the blinds so that we could see better. Oh no....that was the wrong thing to do. Luke quickly informed me to close them right back up. Caden was dashing around the house looking for all the candles and begging for glow sticks. That is our survival plans during a power outage....at night. So why not now?

So that is what we did. We lit all the candles and huddled under blankets. Our fun lasted for only about an hour....so we did pretty good. The kids couldn't remember why we couldn't watch TV. How come we can't play on the computer? Mom....the fridge light is out! Mom...can I have a piece of toast? What are we going to eat then, Mom??? (He settled for bread with butter and cinnamon sugar!) It reminds me how dependent we are on electricity. It was good for a laugh or two anyway!

The winds have settled down now. The yard is now a mess! So much for all the work we did this weekend. We have a few branches down in the yard. One hit the roof and then crashed down outside the front window. The kids thought that was pretty exciting! I'm just thankful it was a small branch instead of a huge tree crashing through my living room!

Stay warm and dry this week. I have a feeling the "fun" has just begun.

Yippee....ugh.

My Sweet Hubby

A few weeks ago, I confessed my obsession with Fleece clothing. If you have forgotten, you can go here. Fleecewear is the only redeeming thing about the cold of Fall and Winter. There is nothing better than snuggling up in a warm, fleecy shirt. It is just like wearing a warm, fluffy blanket. At the time of that post, I had just purchased a new fleece shirt from ll Bean. I hadn't worn it yet, but I was drooling over it. Since then, I have had several opportunities to wear it...and I love it.

On the internet shopping excursion I had that found the shirt from ll Bean, I had checked the site for Old Navy. Apparently they hadn't posted any of their fleecewear yet. Well, the other day, in a moment of bored inspiration, I looked on Old Navy's website. They had some fleece shirts that were similar to the one I found at ll Bean. The great thing was that they were $10 cheaper! Hmmm.....

I have been waiting for the longest time to hear the announcement of the grand opening of the new Old Navy that was due to arrive in our neighboring town of Tualatin. I have been frustrated that I hadn't heard anything. When I found those shirts, I decided to see if they were open. Their website listed them as a location...but didn't say if they were open. I went there yesterday....and they were OPEN!! Yippee.

I went in, found my shirts and picked out a couple. They aren't as thick as the one from ll Bean....but they still felt delicious. I really didn't pay much attention to the total cost when they rung me up, because I was paying with a gift card....and the kids were distracting me. I only had to pay $5 over the gift card amount. As I was driving home, I did a mental calculation. I didn't think my card was that much money....so I looked at the receipt. Those shirts were only TEN DOLLARS A PIECE!!! I just about drove off the road! I'd have bought more if I'd realized.

Last evening, I shared my bargain hunting with my keep-my-hand-on-my-money-at-all-cost hubby. (He particularly hates spending money on food and clothes!) I was bemoaning that I'd have purchased more colors if I had known. On our way to our bi-weekly Family Date to Costco, Tim asked me how late Old Navy was open. I didn't know. Well...blow me down....he offered to swing by on our way home and I could buy some more.

And he did!! He didn't even hardly blink an eye as I picked out four more shirts. Isn't he just a sweetie? He won't be surprised to find me snuggled up in one of them this morning. As I feel the warmth of my new fleece shirt wrapped around me, I think I will just imagine it as a hug from my man. I think every once in a while he likes to surprise me with things like this just so that he can keep me off balance and stay "unpredictable." Whatever. I still think he is pretty awesome.

Thanks, Babe!

Friday Aaarrrggghhh!

I have been wanting to post a blog all day. But I told myself that I wouldn't sit down to write one until I had something positive and uplifting to write about. So far that hasn't happened. I can only think of my Hormonal Trainwreck I'm riding on right now....the crabby, out-of-control kids ravaging my house.....the dark dreary day. What fun are those topics when they aren't amusing thoughts...they are dark, angry thoughts. Hmmmm....what should we do?

This week, my friend's 89 year old grandfather was struck by a car as he crossed the street. He was in the crosswalk...I think it was dark....and he was wearing dark clothing. I don't know the full scoop on the story...but needless to say....he is in bad shape. I can't even begin to name the many bones that are broken. I am amazed that he has lived through this ordeal. It will take months for him to recover....if he ever fully does.

This afternoon, as I was driving to the school to pick up Caden after his fieldtrip, I watched a couple of teenagers cross the street. I was struck....as I am every time that I see this...that these kids NEVER pause, check traffic, and then proceed. More times than I care to count, I watch these kids step out without a glance at traffic. There is this one intersection in town that is particularly scary for me as a driver. It is an intersection that I do not have to stop....there is a crosswalk with flashing lights that could be activated. Usually there are cars parked close to the intersection on both sides that block my view, as the driver, of pedestrians on the side. How many times have kids just stepped out without looking. It has freaked me out so many times. I am on constant alert as I pass that intersection.

I guess what strikes me about this, is that I was raised to always be on the defense....whether you are the pedestrian or you are the driver. Never expect the other person to see that you are there....always assume that they do not see you. Is these kids' failure to take that defensive stance a part of this self-centered stage of life they are in....or did their parents fail them somehow? Maybe they think they are invincible...and that the won't-happen-to-me things of life won't happen to them? I don't know.

I am not sure where I am going with this. I surely don't expect my little blog to change the world on this. I guess I just wanted to voice this frustrating observation. I don't know who was at fault in my friend's grandfather's accident. Was it his fault for not checking before he walked? Was he walking too slowly? Was the driver not paying attention or going too fast? I don't know. It just saddens me to hear of his pain. I can't even imagine how the driver feels. What an ugly, ugly thing.

So, in closing, if you think of it, please pray for Elvett Brown.....and please look both ways before crossing the street.