Wednesday, June 18, 2008 Of Grace & Elegance and a Generation Passing
My grandmother, whom we called Grammy, passed away last week at the age of 90 years. Her health and mind has been slowly failing over the last few years. We were fairly certain we wouldn't have her through the summer. Now she is in the summer of Heaven with her Lord.
I have now, with my parents, buried all my grandparents in a short 15 month period. This has caused me to reflect on the cycles of life - children, parents, grandparents. My grandparents didn't give me the idea of loosing one - they all left en masse. Those dear old people that my parents discussed with their siblings on how to care for, no longer need caring for. It is a strange liberation for them and yet a strange new emptiness. Now their focus goes to the estates and their brothers and sisters who remain.
My view of life has changed. The old people were always my grandparents - not my children's! When I was in junior high, my great-grandfather died. I had such a good time with the cousins I didn't see often. We stayed up late, ran around everywhere, never saw parents until we needed to eat. As a result, I slept through my grandfather's funeral. This was a dear sweet man who lived so long on lemon drops and Freedent gum (that was what he told us kids). When I got home, I felt horrible! It didn't dawn on me until just this past week on what that man meant to my Dad. This was his grandfather, who loved him and helped raise him. I explained this to my daughter and niece, trying to impart the wisdom I just then realized. It took me over twenty years to realize that my parents had grandparents that they cared for and had to bury. How it hurt my Dad to have to bury this sweet man while his daughter slept. My Dad was blessed as his two grandma's lived for over a hundred years. WOW!!
Though Grammy was always this white haired lady to the girls, she wasn't that for me. In all truthfulness, she wasn't a cuddly grandma. When my sister and I were little, we called her "grandgemother." Whatever image comes to your mind upon the hearing of that word is probably a correct evaluation of her as a grandma. She was a harsh woman. Yet now I see why. She was a ranching wife, with a political husband. Not an easy job.
Prior to her marriage, she was the first XIT Queen. Beauty isn't word enough for her. She was elegant and graceful. Her red hair flowing. This I remember, rich red hair falling down like a sunset water-fall. Just as quickly as it fell, it was swooped up into her ranching bun. I did love her hair. As she got older and the hair turned whiter, she did soften tremendously. I really enjoyed her then.
Though she didn't play with us as grandchildren, she did adore her great-grandchildren. My daughter always caused great smiles on her. When my boys came around, she found endless delight into watching them play. She really didn't get to know my baby as her alzheimer's set in fully by then. She did see him and acknowledge him as her grandbaby.
Her passing marks the end of that generation, in my family anyway. My children no longer have great-grandparents to love on. Really, this is what they want - both of the children and the great-grandparents. Now my parents are retired and at the age where they can just enjoy the grandkids. It takes a bit out of them to keep them for a long time, but the so enjoy watching the boys play and the girls walk around whispering as teens tend to do.
I have to realize that it isn't just my parents getting older. Though I love hearing, "You're not old enough to have a teenage daughter!" The truth is that I do and I am. What a joy can be in getting older and watching the generations go! My grandmother's memories of the Dust Bowl and World War II are gone into the grave with her. But her stories are passed down and added to with each generation.
This one was told at her funeral: During the Great Depression, my Grammy and her mom only had one nice dress. Being that her mom was insistent that they attend church, they took turns. One would wear the dress one week, then the other would wear the same dress the next. This really impressed me as my Grammy always dressed well - even when ranching. In fact, I knew her mind was too far gone when I visited her in her room and she was wearing a pink and black sweat suit top with nice poly-blend sea green pants. Ohhh she would have had a fit had she known!!! I realized from the story that my Grammy's grace and elegance weren't just in her taste for clothes, it was the fabric of her being. She is grace and elegance! I would love those traits from her. Of the many traits of hers I have, I'm not sure those two fell to me ...
The kids and I visited Grammy after the baby was born. My parents came with me because at this time Grammy didn't always know who I was. Though she always recognized my daughter. My Dad took this picture for me. I am ok with my kids remembering Grammy like this; I have older memories and now stories to share. (Obviously, the person who dressed her this day was fired!)
I love you, Grammy! |
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Friday, April 18, 2008 My Riches
It is the blessing of the LORD that makes rich, And He adds no sorrow to it. Proverbs 10:22
Last week, we welcomed our newest member to our family. The Lord has blessed us with another little boy. And we are amazed by him! I space my children out (not intentional, it just happens that way). I forget what it is like to have a new baby. The delight, the joy, the wonder!!!
He happens to be my smallest baby, so we have been enjoying taking pictures of him next to large objects. This is a Bolivian Pot my sister gave us for Christmas.
I am still considering his blog name, so for now he is new baby boy. The latest one to make my husband and I rich.
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Wednesday, April 9, 2008 Christian History Lesson 1 part 1&2 Response
This post is in response of PrincipledMom's lessons on her blog. I will admit right now that I am not going to go into the depth that others might, and for good reason. My baby's due date is today and we are waiting on pins and needles for this little guy to make his appearance. Needless-to-say, I am very distracted right now. (Your prayers for us would be greatly appreciated; we are so anxious to meet our newest child.)
The Christian Idea of Man
Simply, we are created in His image - Genesis 1:26&27. God stated "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness..." God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.
An image is a representation - we are representations of God. We hold His qualities and characteristics. We hold His likeness. Not one of us holds all of God, but we all hold some measure of attributes of God. I have a sister who is incredibly nice and patient. She works in the ER here in NM. The patients adore her. I believe she reflects and aspect of God during her work - one of loving people, even in unlovable situations. Not everyone has this, yet we all have some attribute.
God is infinite! In the myriad of characteristics we could hold, God has given each of us an individual and unique representation of Him. This means that each of us is an unique individual. I love this! We are created with independent value. Each of us holds aspects of God's character within us that He has picked out. We are valuable to Him; we hold intrinsic individual - independent - value.
Is this profound enough? We are individual. We have intrinsic value.
This leads perfectly into ...
The Purpose of Government
Government is to protect that individual with independent value in his/her Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness. These rights derive from God and individuals give the government the responsibility to keep them. Government is the servant of the individual! The people united, though diverse and unique, give the government authority to protect our God - given rights.
These rights are God given. Life is in His hands. John 1:4 "In Him was life; and the life was the light of men." God is the creator of life, we do not have that power. I know this little guy kicking inside me is not the doing of my husband and I (though, I know that God uses a husband and wife to bring children). God decides when that child will come and what that child will be and so on.
I am going to stop here for now. This study really does have me thinking about how our ideas of Man and Government reflect our nation. I am really pondering what is being said of our nation given our choices for the next president. Are we a nation governed by the people or are we a nation of people wanting to be governed?
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Thursday, April 3, 2008 Christian History Course
My friend, PrincipledMom, is hosting a history study on her blog. I am looking forward to the lessons and discussions. I would encourage my readers to check it out. The lessons start on Monday. Even if you do not have the CHOC and T&L books, don't let this deter you from participating. In fact, you will so enjoy what you are learning that you will have to buy the books. These are worth having in any home!!!
Anna-Marie just had a baby. Let's keep her in prayer as she juggles this awesome study and homeschool and keep up with a newborn!!!
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Saturday, March 8, 2008 It is not what goes into a man that defiles him
But it sure does mess with his blood sugars.
Since my husband was diagnosed with Diabetes, our eating habits have certainly changed. We are more cautious with our what we bring into our home and our bodies. As a result, my husband's insulin shots have decreased dramatically. When we left the hospital, he was to take at least 4 units of Humalog before meals (this was the base on the sliding scale, if his blood sugars were higher, he would have to add more units) and 30 units of Lantus before bed. In the past two weeks, he has only needed the Humalog a few times usually before dinner and he takes no more than 20 units of Lantus at night.
We are still on the learning curve, but I will explain a little of our regular meals. Mind you, I have experimented with Raw Vegan dishes for the last two years. I have only inflicted this on my family for two or three nights a week at the most. Usually I would then reward my patient family for trying "rabbit food" by getting a nice big Papa Murphy's pizza the next night. OK, not always, but it has been a favorite of our family recently. Well, till January anyway.
Our family is not vegetarian. It wouldn't break my heart if that ever happened, but my Rancher Grandfather would roll over in his grave. However, we have reduced the amount of meat we eat to four days a week, maybe five. Most of our meals are Raw Vegan dishes. Here is a typical day:
Breakfast: freshly juiced fruits (Jack LeLanne Juicer from Costco is pretty darn cool), fresh fruits, and various nuts (excluding peanuts).
Lunch: Hard boiled eggs, big salad with all kinds of cool veggies. The kids and I will have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches sometimes.
Dinner: Here I experiment with a Raw Vegan dish. One night, we had (soaked & drained) garbonzo beans with carrots and celery and whatever else I put in it. Sometimes we have chicken, turkey bacon, or a good steak.
Snack: Kids and I will have fruit, yogurt, peanuts (not many of these, these are daddy's new candy), my USANA Shakes & Bars, whatever we find. Daddy has celery, carrots, peanut butter, pumpkin seeds, diet Root Beer, Mejool dates, peanuts, a couple of USANA bars & a shake.
Our meals tend to be low glycemic, so his blood sugars aren't spiked. Willy's first hypoglycemic episode (very low blood sugar) was really odd. He was shakey, sleepy, sweaty, and we were clueless. For being such intelligent people, we over look some obvious signs! He ate some raisins and other sugar things. We over did it and he went high. Yikes!! We have since learned what works to elevate his blood sugars when he is low, but more importantly we have learned to monitor his insulin to not force him into a hypoglycemic state. This is how he has been able to go nearly two weeks without many Humolog shots.
For the most part, his blood sugars remain low through-out the day. Since we have low-glycemic meals, he doesn't need an insulin shot to lower his blood sugars more knowing it isn't going to spike anyway. The evenings aren't as low unless he has some exercise that day. When he exercises, his blood sugars go down significantly. It isn't always possible to get in a good bike ride or a few minutes on the elliptical, but when he does it is amazing how his body responds.
How awesome is this creation of our Lord's? The human body is a wonder beyond many! Even in the face of a disease, the Lord has given small miracles to help the body function the way it should. Praise Him!!
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Saturday, February 16, 2008 Vacuuming
The kids and I spent the day cleaning house. I didn't think it was going to more of a chore than vacuuming, dusting, laundry, and such. My vacuum had other ideas.
The silly thing wouldn't (forgive me, please) suck. I thought perhaps if I cleaned the head and roller that it would start working. I unplugged it and took the bottom off. Through my investigation of the roller, I found that there was a mega dust bunny hiding in the tube. So I took that apart and took out the offender. I put it all together and proceeded with my vacuuming.
I noticed that it still wasn't working as it should. I was totally perplexed at this point. This is a fairly new vacuum; it should be working. I took it apart again, found another dust bunny. This time I wasn't satisfied. I took the whole vacuum apart:
I even found its brains:
I have never done an investigative study on how vacuums work, but today I figured out how mine works in moving air through hoses and filters. The brains looked good, it was running. So it must be somewhere else.
Frustrated, I took a nap and dreamed of how my vacuum (forgive me, again) sucks. The thought came to me, that the intake hole from the filter must still be working. But as I was sleeping, I wasn't sure if this was me or my dream thinking.
I put the vacuum together and waited for my sweet man to come home.
Side praise: My husband is feeling better. He is able to go back to school, though on flex time, and work a bit. We are still getting used to this new lifestyle, but God is good and faithful! Thank you all for your prayers!!! When he came home, I was explaining my dilemma and apologizing as to why the house was in disarray  . I took the filter (tall thing with the red hat and clear body in the picture) off, and he suggested that I turn on the vacuum to see if the air intake was working. (Funny, that was my dream or the Lord giving me a break.) It worked. That meant that the filter was the problem. Hmmmm.
I thought I would clean it, though I had cleaned it real good after I used it the last time. I took it apart and noticed that the inside filter wasn't locked into place. Would that make a difference? Ummmm... YES! I took the whole thing apart for nothing more than figuring out how it works: for nothing!
After locking everything into place, that sucker (forgive me) worked!
I love levity in life! My living room is back together, the vacuum works (and I know why), and I just need to finish the rest of what I was to do. Perhaps tomorrow...
Praise God for faithfulness in even cleaning!!
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Learning from the Shepherd
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Our School's Motto means: Faith, Virtue, Self-Control
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But it sure does mess with his blood sugars.
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