Quiet Thoughts
I haven't been here much lately, not for lack of desire or interest, but rather time. Life has been full to the brim and then some, all good stuff, but just too full to allow much computer time. We've only been home two weeks from our trip to Colorado and New Mexico, but it's been a complete blur.
I came home from our trip with a seriously sore back. Two weeks later I've discovered chiropractors. My opinion of them is that I'm darned thankful. Thankful that whatever he does makes it feel better, and I can almost stand up straight. I can walk and turn over in bed at night, and clean the house, and function much better than I could two weeks ago. I used to be skeptical but that was before I hurt and two weeks of muscle relaxants did little to fix it.
An added blessing was that my newly-discovered chiropractor told me about Community Bible Study here in our community. It was starting in a week, and I promptly signed up. We're doing a study of Hebrews this fall and I was so pleased to walk into a room and see over 100 women from all over our community. In the past I've tended to stay with those who go to our church, but I wanted to branch out from that, so I'm really looking forward to this upcoming year of study.
We also hosted a party for our Sunday School class and the house was busting at the seams with 41 people here on Labor Day. We had SUCH a good time! Horseshoes, bean bag, badmitton, with tons of good food and friendship. It felt good to fill our house with people we've grown to love.
Then two days later we drove in and picked up our 5 year old granddaughter, Miss Addie. It was her first solo visit to the lake, and she arrived with a to do list! Play Skippers, make cookies, have a tea party, paint toes and fingers, call cousin Landon, bubble baths, eat ice cream, watch Strawberry Shortcake movies with popcorn .... We didn't get every single thing checked off but it wasn't for lack of effort! Helping her dress into pjs one evening, I was struck by just how tiny she is, and how precious grandchildren truly are. What a blessing it is to wake up in the night, look over onto the pillow next to me and see a cascade of blonde curls and a little, warm body snuggled up. These days will pass quickly and I want to soak up all of it I can.
We've agreed to serve on our neighborhood HOA- Don on the board and me as head of a newly formed Hospitality Committee. It's my goal to start up a book club that meets monthly, have an annual Christmas party, 'girls day out shopping trip', neighborhood cleanup days, and cooking breakfast after the men work to patch roads (private roads out here!). It'll take time but we think it's a good investment, and we want to be a light wherever we live, so this is a good place to start.
It's been cooler here - what a blessing to get up and feel temperatures below 60 degrees. I've been sitting on the sunporch in the mornings, just a bit too cool, for the pure pleasure of it. I hear we're about to inch back up, but surely fall is around the corner, even in Texas.
Our Idaho daughter is planning an upcoming visit; our son's newest baby is already three months old and growing by the minute!; our oldest daughter is busy as a one-armed paper hanger with schooling kids and coming and going. We've got several people near and dear to us who are desperately ill. All in all there are days when I just tell God, 'you know everything that's going on, what all our needs are, and I'm leaning on you to provide for each one. Healing, comfort, grace, mercy, strength, wisdom.' Some days it takes an act of faith to just lay it all down at His feet and walk away.
All the news of September 11 makes me think back - ten years ago I was a newbie grandmother, with a brand new grandchild; I had a senior at home who had just broken his ankle in a football game; my husband was still hard at work in Pennsylvania, with no mention of retiring. How life changes in ten years! It makes me oh so aware that the next ten years are bound to fly by too. My oldest grandchild will be twenty years old, in college. I'll be in my mid-sixties, with a seventy year old husband, and mercy, I can't even tell you how that sounds to me!
All the more reason to continue to number the days - be sure they count.
I came home from our trip with a seriously sore back. Two weeks later I've discovered chiropractors. My opinion of them is that I'm darned thankful. Thankful that whatever he does makes it feel better, and I can almost stand up straight. I can walk and turn over in bed at night, and clean the house, and function much better than I could two weeks ago. I used to be skeptical but that was before I hurt and two weeks of muscle relaxants did little to fix it.
An added blessing was that my newly-discovered chiropractor told me about Community Bible Study here in our community. It was starting in a week, and I promptly signed up. We're doing a study of Hebrews this fall and I was so pleased to walk into a room and see over 100 women from all over our community. In the past I've tended to stay with those who go to our church, but I wanted to branch out from that, so I'm really looking forward to this upcoming year of study.
We also hosted a party for our Sunday School class and the house was busting at the seams with 41 people here on Labor Day. We had SUCH a good time! Horseshoes, bean bag, badmitton, with tons of good food and friendship. It felt good to fill our house with people we've grown to love.
Then two days later we drove in and picked up our 5 year old granddaughter, Miss Addie. It was her first solo visit to the lake, and she arrived with a to do list! Play Skippers, make cookies, have a tea party, paint toes and fingers, call cousin Landon, bubble baths, eat ice cream, watch Strawberry Shortcake movies with popcorn .... We didn't get every single thing checked off but it wasn't for lack of effort! Helping her dress into pjs one evening, I was struck by just how tiny she is, and how precious grandchildren truly are. What a blessing it is to wake up in the night, look over onto the pillow next to me and see a cascade of blonde curls and a little, warm body snuggled up. These days will pass quickly and I want to soak up all of it I can.
We've agreed to serve on our neighborhood HOA- Don on the board and me as head of a newly formed Hospitality Committee. It's my goal to start up a book club that meets monthly, have an annual Christmas party, 'girls day out shopping trip', neighborhood cleanup days, and cooking breakfast after the men work to patch roads (private roads out here!). It'll take time but we think it's a good investment, and we want to be a light wherever we live, so this is a good place to start.
It's been cooler here - what a blessing to get up and feel temperatures below 60 degrees. I've been sitting on the sunporch in the mornings, just a bit too cool, for the pure pleasure of it. I hear we're about to inch back up, but surely fall is around the corner, even in Texas.
Our Idaho daughter is planning an upcoming visit; our son's newest baby is already three months old and growing by the minute!; our oldest daughter is busy as a one-armed paper hanger with schooling kids and coming and going. We've got several people near and dear to us who are desperately ill. All in all there are days when I just tell God, 'you know everything that's going on, what all our needs are, and I'm leaning on you to provide for each one. Healing, comfort, grace, mercy, strength, wisdom.' Some days it takes an act of faith to just lay it all down at His feet and walk away.
All the news of September 11 makes me think back - ten years ago I was a newbie grandmother, with a brand new grandchild; I had a senior at home who had just broken his ankle in a football game; my husband was still hard at work in Pennsylvania, with no mention of retiring. How life changes in ten years! It makes me oh so aware that the next ten years are bound to fly by too. My oldest grandchild will be twenty years old, in college. I'll be in my mid-sixties, with a seventy year old husband, and mercy, I can't even tell you how that sounds to me!
All the more reason to continue to number the days - be sure they count.
