This year

This is one of my favorite artists and a great song!

Let's make this year the best one yet!

This is my son and his oldest son, my grandson. We went to coffee today. It has been so nice to visit them in MI during our break from school. I'm at winter break from teaching and my husband, Dave, is at winter break from the Masters Degree program that he is in.

We've finished the course from last semester and we took a traveling adventure vacation for our break. We were talking yesterday about it and we haven't been on a break for this long in a very long, long time.

We left the day after Christmas and we flew to Canada. We left Canada on New Year's Eve and drove from there to MI. Tomorrow afternoon we'll fly to WA and then Saturday evening we'll fly home to Idaho.

 I always over pack on my trips. The only thing that I over packed this time was work out gear...one pair of shorts and a couple of t-shirts. I've used or will use all of what I have left. I know that I over pack so once I packed I took some things out. I've worn these boots almost the entire time we've been gone. The last two days I wore the tennis shoes because the weather was so nice, but today reminded us that it really is winter and the boots came back on! Maybe in WA I'll wear the tennis shoes again and maybe I'll get an official work out in...and where those shorts; but I doubt it. The weather forecast is more of the same! WINTER!

I'm beginning to enjoy winter. I am beginning to enjoy this season and the rest it brings. But I still look for those bulbs to pop out and remind me of spring!

This is the drive from my son's home to our home away from home during our stay here.

Frankenmuth, MI is a wonderful place to visit and a great place to live. My son and daughter in love really like their community.

Community is so important. I've been really thinking about this word a lot this past couple of days:
*In my hometown of Meridian, ID I've seen on my Social Media accounts that neighbors are helping each other get unstuck as the great Snow apocalypse is happening there...living out community
*On those same Social Media sites a friend posted on how many books she has read this year and the comments were full of regrets and others listing their numbers. I have given up this amount of books because God is drawing me into community more and more and that means less time for books.

One last thing: 

According to Wikipedia, "A zipper, zip, fly, or zip fastener, formerly known as a clasp locker, is a commonly used device for binding the edges of an opening of fabric or other flexible material, like on a garment or a bag.[1] It is used in clothing (e.g., jackets and jeans), luggage and other bags, sporting goods, camping gear (e.g. tents and sleeping bags), and other items."

Also, according to most sites that I looked up, the zipper cannot be repaired if the box (see picture bottom of zipper right side) is broken off.  Mine broke off (it's a long and adventurous story). My coat would not zip up, which was ok since the weather was not too cold...but then today happened. It was in the teens. We found the company that we purchased the coat from and they replaced the coat since it was damaged. And now I have a new zipper! 

This year...I want to love God and love people well.

Day 3 is the hardest...

Last night when I went to bed I remembered that I had forgotten this...see, day 3 is the hardest.

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

 Philippians 4:8 (ESV)

The second day seems the hardest, but wait until day 3...

Seconds...
...something less then a minute (time)
...the next round, say for a meal (quantity)
...the next time around, for an item (second-hand shop)

The second part of our trip consisted of a transition from one family to another. We first went to Canada to see our daughter and her family...then they drove us to MI to see our son and his family...where they stayed until this morning/afternoon...that time between breakfast and lunch...kind of like dusk or dawn.

My heart is torn and tired. I am sad to see her leave, but I know she has to get back to her normal. I wish my normal included seeing her more often. I'm tired from a long trip of traveling in the winter.

After she left we went on a walk with my son and grandson, leaving my daughter in law (I want to so call her daughter in love, but when I tried I confused my son and he didn't like it too much :) That's ok. All my in law kids hold a very special place in my heart...I love them all so very much) and my other grandson at home to rest. On our way out I saw the hints of spring emerging from their flower bed.

We then went back to the place on the river where we were staying and I saw another remembrance of spring coming. Even in winter with the longest day come and gone, we are now looking forward to spring...the second season of the new year...we start in Jan in winter still...and then comes spring.

Around town there are the remembrances of the Christmas season...it is Frankenmuth, MI the Christmas Capital of the World after-all.

Our second half of the trip will allow us to be part of our son's new normal with their new little one. I am so glad that we were able to come out for this trip to see them. He is the youngest of the grand kids that we've been able to see. We live so far away from all of them that getting to see the new baby right away when they are newborns is not realistic nor possible, but this time it worked out. I am so thankful.

Today I was thinking about contentment. Contentment seems to come between fear and anxiousness and control. When I fear and am anxious I cannot be content, because I am so unsure of what is, what was, and what will come. I worry and fret...What is happening right now is not what I want my reality to be. And then when I am in an uber control mode I am not content either. I am trying to make the reality be the reality that I want it to be with my own power and strength.  This is not a good place to be either. Because I can never really be totally in control.

Contentment lies in the middle. It is a place of sure footing without having to be totally in control, nor worrying and fretting about reality. It is taking a realistic view of life as I know it right now and walking in faith with gratitude.

"But godliness with contentment is great gain..." 1 Timothy 6:6 (ESV)

"And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful." Colossians 3:14-15 (ESV)

 Today was a wonderful sunny day. Today was a good day to be content.


"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." Romans 15:13 (ESV)

Just start at the very beginning...a very good place to start...

Beginnings...

"Let's start at the very beginning
A very good place to start
When you read you begin with A-B-C
When you sing you begin with do-re-mi

Do-re-mi, do-re-mi
The first three notes just happen to be
Do-re-mi, do-re-mi
...
[Maria:]
When you know the notes to sing
You can sing most anything."
Copyright: Lyrics © Original Writer and Publisher 
source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/soundtracks/s/thesoundofmusiclyrics/do-re-milyrics.html

At church today, (Frankenmuth Bible Church) the pastor encouraged us to take another look at reading the Bible all the way through. I love reading the Bible...but plans always make me feel guilty...you see, sometimes I just get stuck on a verse or a piece of a verse and then I get off the plan. I'm still reading every day, or most days, but sometimes it's a little, sometimes it's a lot. And then, there's the days when sometimes its the same thing over and over until it sticks. You know, the kind of sticking that changes your life.  This plan looks like something that I'll be able to stick to...well, I'm going to start! I'll see how I do.  

Here's a video to start with:

Beginnings:

1) Genesis 1:1 (ESV) The Creation of the World

"In the beginning, 

God created the heavens and the earth."

2) Proverbs 1:7 (ESV) The Fear of the Lord

"The fear of the Lord 

is the beginning of knowledge; 

fools despise wisdom and instruction."

3)Proverbs 4:7 (ESV) Wisdom

"The beginning of wisdom is this: 

Get wisdom,

    and whatever you get, get insight."

4)John 1:1(ESV) The Word Became Flesh

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

 This is the view that I have today. Right now, as I write. As I stay in this quaint little house in MI by the river watching over my little grandson, who was the littlest up to a week ago. Within a week he has become the 3rd from the youngest grandchild. It is amazing what a week will bring. A week ago I was at home in freezing weather on Christmas having lunch with a friend from church. Then I went on to finish preparing the house and myself for our trip. And what a trip it has become! We left just last Monday to go to Canada to see this grandson and his mommy and daddy who all live there. We had grand adventures! We saw a lot of snow! (It was warmer than Idaho though.) Then we drove yesterday from Canada to Michigan to meet our now, 2nd to youngest grandchild (and his daddy and mommy and brother), who only last night still was the youngest...

oh, what adventures early morning brings!

 I awakened to a text from my daughter...the MI cousin, would quickly give up his title of "youngest" as our daughter had her daughter just a little bit into the new year! From 5 to 7 in less than a week! It amazes me, this bringing of new life into the world...I saw it happen 3 times in my life as a mom and now 7 times as a grandma...and yet, it still amazes me. I want to soak it all in like warm sunshine in a sun room on a cold winters day...soak it all in until I can't hold any more, then soak some more...I know soon that I'll be going home to my empty nest...but for now, I just keep soaking it all in. I wonder if that is what Mary and Moses felt...

"But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart." Luke 2:19 (ESV)

And Moses would put a veil on his face after speaking with the people (after he had been with God)...so they wouldn't see it fade? (Exodus 35)

My heart is full...and it will continue to fill. I am treasuring these things. I am pondering them in my heart. I wish I could put a veil on so that people around me won't see this all fade...until I see my kids again...but that is not the life that I live in.

I live in a place of ministry to people. That means that I get to live life with people and that means that we see the things that fill us all up fade. We support each other. We love each other. We encourage each other. We practice the "one anothers" with each other, no matter how awkward at times it becomes. 

I long for the day when I will get to be with all my kids together in one place, in one time zone...but until that day I will continue to treasure the bits of time that I do get!