A City Life For Me

Elaine and I have been memorizing Philippians this year.  I am behind schedule, and behind Elaine.  But we continue to press on, because hiding God’s Word in our hearts is important.  I have been reminded of that recently because He is using those verses that I am learning to comfort my heart and reassure me as I walk through some uncertain and sad waters. I lived most of my life just thirty minutes away from my mom’s parents.  Grandma and Grandpa.  They were a part of everything – every birthday dinner, every piano recital.  Everytime I flew to college they came to say goodbye and press a $20 into my hand.  Every Christmas Eve we spent crammed into Grandma’s basement or living room with my crazy extended family singing carols, reading the Christmas story, and opening more presents than should be allowed. Grandma is not doing well right now.  She went to the ER this week with intense abdominal pain and they found a hole in her small intestine....

  I started (and completed!!!) a study in Psalm 91 from the Doorposts blog.  This is the first time I have completed a Busy Mama 30 day study in…30 days!  Henry loves his new glasses! Labeling some stray tracts with our new church logo! The kids enjoyed some quiet reading time while I had morning devotions We found strawberries for $1 a quart and made 16+ pints of strawberry jam! Spring snow storm…to the kiddies delights I have always favored the McDonalds Shamrock shake, with its rich mint flavor only available in the month of March.  My budget couldn’t follow my cravings, especially when the kids got a taste of the deliciousness.  So…we made our own!  They had chocolate chips in them, the only thing lacking from the Mickey D’s version!     I started cloth diapering again with Henry.  Grandma & Grandpa Fezzie came to help us with a St. Patrick’s Day blitz, and Henry enjoyed wearing Grandpa’s boots. Bubbles!  I brought h...

Since we were home for a couple of weeks to do some house hunting, Mom & Dad Hamilton, a.k.a. Grandma  & Grandpa came down for a day visit.  We enjoyed just being with them – puzzles, baseball, dinner, and everything in between! We managed to end in a tie so no one threw a fit about losing! Elaine, Nehemiah, Mom, Nolan, Henry, Dad, Libs The inevitable silliness that comes when we say “Lets take a picture!” Not bad for one taken by a kiddo…Elaine helped with this one!

One of the highlights of coming out west on deputation is getting to see my grandparents.  They are getting up there in age…Grandpa turned 90 in February!  They faithfully pray for us and support us, and I know they enjoy seeing some of their 16 great-grands!  We enjoyed having them for dinner and sitting around on the patio! Henry & Grandpa Elaine did some reading to both of my grandparents! We practiced a song we are hoping to incorporate into our deputation meetings.  They sang pretty good…but we need to work on body language! While we were in town my parents had a BBQ to say “thanks” to all the guys who helped them move in, move the shed, and lay flagstone for the new patio.  My dad has a smoker and enjoys sharing his creations.  He makes the best short ribs ever!  (With help from Mom of course!).  While Wes was cutting wood pieces for the fire pit, he discovered some baby bunnies.  The kids enjoyed them for the evening before the...

“For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.  The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.  Who knoweth the power of thine anger?  even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.  So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” Psalm 90:9-12 This weekend I was able to catch a flight from Cincinnati (en route to our next meeting), and return to Denver for a special family reunion.  My grandfather turned 90 on February 7th, and nearly all of his family made the trek “home” to celebrate!  I thought of the verses quoted above because grandpa not only got his threescore and ten years (70), and the fourscore years (80) by reason of strength, but God gave him a bonus 10 years on top of all that!  I also think that my grandpa has lived verse 12 – num...

Usually Christmas is exactly that for me.  Snow.  Hot chocolate.  Twinkle lights.  Tissue-paper-wrapped packages.  Gingerbread lattes.  Fresh cut Christmas tree.  This year, however, things were much different for us!  We were on the road since the day after Thanksgiving.  Everything of ours…all of our traditions, were in storage.  We had one Christmas celebration in Florida on Dec. 14th with Kenny & Becky.  No offense to Floridians, but doing a winter holiday in a hot state is about as un-Christmas as it gets in my mind!  Then we drove five days to get to Denver and arrived in freezing snowy weather.  Opposite ends of the spectrum!  Mom & Dad had just moved, and then had the trip to Florida, so when we arrived the kids got the pleasure of decorating Grandma’s tree. They got a little ahead of Grandma and helped themselves to the box… …and we got a little bototm heavy on the front of the tree! But I ...