Good Saturday to you from our corner of Iowa where sunshine is bringing endless shades of green to the outdoor world after so much rain. We have a new "resident" in the backyard that provides entertainment for my hubby. A baby rabbit has joined the pack and comes into our yard to graze. He is adorable of course!
Speaking of yards, Joel has been busy this week making a rock area up front of the porch where we tried to lay sod last year. Complete failure so we decided to go with edging and rock. The neighbor wanted to get rid of a pile by his driveway that was left from his last project, so Joel has been using the wheelbarrow to bring it to our yard. Then sifting it through a screen sifter he made to get rid of the layers of dirt....washing it thoroughly over and over and then drying it some and putting it in the area. This is day 3 of the project. He is enjoying it all, especially being outside! With a temperature of 70 forecast for today he will not be in until supper I am sure!
Last Sunday night our oldest son arrived late in the evening for an overnight visit. He had been at his daughter's game and came for the night before heading to a second college softball game on Monday....then driving all the way home later that night. We had such a nice time visiting on Monday morning. We were both very sad when he left and not ready for him to go. We realized we had only had three people visit us since last December....My sister and brother-in-law came for a couple of hours, and then our oldest son. That is so not okay......my hubby does not swear but he is known to say, "damn cancer" or "damn covid". He says that is not swearing ~ it is cursing these evil diseases. Both have limited our lives too much. We can all relate on some level.
Joel got his second shingles shot on Tuesday in the morning and I had an eye shot in the afternoon. Neither of us thought he would be affected that quickly but he was feeling funky by that afternoon and that night and the next day he was napping ...2...3...4....times. By Thursday he was much better and ready to get outside! BUT Thursday we spent a few hours getting me a new phone and getting help from our favorite computer repair couple to get it working well! The old one was 5 yrs old and had zero storage space left.....Our Verizon store did a poor job of helping us.
This has been a week of roller coaster rides with this ol' body but I walked 35 minutes all but one day. I did not walk Thursday and it felt so weird. Seriously, it had been a couple of months since I had not walked every single day. Now when I don't walk everything feels out of sync. I think that is probably true for most patterns we set up in life. It is odd when they are missing..........I know I have written about it before, but Holy Spirit spoke strongly to me about walking ten years ago and I continue to make the effort......the first time He spoke to me I ordered hot pink tennis shoes and sat them by my recliner to remind me that I WOULD be walking again. (battling Lyme)....The first time I made it the 5 minutes down to the river and 5 minutes back we celebrated!!! My goal at present is to walk 45 minutes....then the sky is the limit! ha..
Tomorrow is Mother's Day. My mother died 20 years ago this June at the age of 92. She struggled with addiction to alcohol through out my childhood so my two older sisters helped raise me. Joey, who was 15 years older than me, (Gr. Jo to my kids) mothered me and I lived with her and her family at age 10 and then again at age 12 until I went off to college. My sister Jan who is eleven years older than me, also mothered me while she was at home and a couple other brief times in my childhood. I am forever grateful to these three women and how they shaped my life. BTW, My mom stopped drinking at age 59 and was a wonderful grandmother to our kids.....and our relationship was restored too. God is so good, isn't he. Thank you mom, Joey, and Janey, for teaching me about life, teaching me about courage and survival, teaching me how to dance, play rummy and yahtzee, laugh, love God, and pray.
Today I received in the mail a box with a surprise inside....a pot with bulbs to grow an indoor Dutch tulip garden. Some of the shoots are already visible and we are excited to watch this unfold....It was from our oldest daughter and son-in-law and grands and what a delight to open it! It isn't warm enough to have flowers outside just yet so this is May in a pot on our table!
Mothers come in all ways, in all shapes, and in all sizes. None is perfect, no not one. But God loves moms so much and I pray that each of you as moms, or having moms, are richly blessed by our God who created moms for his children. Happy Mother's Day!
Speaking of mothers it brought to mind a woman I have been watching on YouTube ~ Lisa Harper who is a dynamic, funny, deeply smart Bible teacher and who makes the Bible and daily living come together so well. I thought of her because at the age of 57 she has an 11 year old daughter from Haiti that she adopted as a single mom. She is so good to listen to! "Try her, you might like her!" In some ways she reminds me of our oldest daughter who teaches Old Testament at her church, etc. I have always wanted to sit in on one of her studies!
Today I am grateful for moms that come in all ways, shapes and sizes, for a new phone, for a visit with our oldest son, for emails and texting with family, phone calls with family and friends, for how hard my hubby works to take care of our home and property, for doors open and fresh air coming in, for a baby rabbit to enjoy. Grateful for Lisa Harper teachings, grilling pork chops, bulbs growing in my house, and so much more..............
Enjoy your weekend!
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