Silver Anniversary

25 years.
Over half of my life.
Not quite half of Stan's.

1 fun wedding day; 1 life changing car accident
2 jobs for Stan, one at a time, most of the time on B shift (evening)
3 houses, also one at a time
4 children currently aged 21, 19, 16, 13
5 dogs, one right now
6 cats with half of those living here now.
STOP!

I don't have time to come up with a full list of 25 things since our day is full of LAEP set construction & SR Library clean-up (yes, we are going two separate directions; life is full & blessed) so I'll just hit some biggies:

13 years in FL for Stan. The rest of us celebrate that milestone Memorial Day weekend > so that's half of our married life in FL.

16 years homeschooling with the end in sight; 4 years to go. It's strange even to imagine this ride being over.
Field trips and road trips and trips to the ER
We've been through droughts and floods and hurricanes (you may think I jest but it is true).

20 motor vehicles = cars, trucks, vans & motorcycles > not all road worthy, many having at some time to be dragged home from beside the road and Stan becoming much more familiar with their innerworkings than he desired. PTL for my handy mechanic!

25 years of God's faithfulness & blessing.

Lacking Wisdom

Teeth that is. And they are now lacking in Caleb's mouth since they were removed yesterday. All four. Yes, he was awake for the procedure. Yes, in describing some of the experience, he used the word "cool" > he is after all a teen boy.
He did not like the sounds amplified as was explained to him, and said the shots were the most painful part of the extraction.

A blessing was that he didn't have long to worry. We had an appointment scheduled on Wednesday afternoon for an evaluation with an oral surgeon. Stan had an early appointment with our dentist the same day. When I asked to borrow & bring Caleb's panoramic x-ray to his evaluation, the receptionist agreed then asked if I knew that the procedure could be done there if it were a simple extraction, as it was soon after deemed. I was thrilled since it is much closer to the house & in not such a congested area, plus they were able to do the surgery the next day so Caleb didn't have too long to ponder all the implications (surgery = pain, as does the lack of wisdom...).

So my long, lanky 16 year-old is camped-out on the couch with ice packs keeping his cheeks from chipmunking, pain meds are keeping the daggers of misery away, and I am offering soft foods to try to keep his strength up & so he doesn't lose too much weight.

And wisdom. Must encourage extra growth in that area. Always. For me too.

Psalm 90:12
Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 111:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To Him belongs eternal praise.
Psalm 3:13-14
Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold.
Proverbs 9:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Reach the World for Jesus

Once a month my BSF group has a fellowship lunch. At yesterday's, one of the group members testified about being an international internet missionary.

An international internet missionary? What a cool concept! How often is the distance (or $/time to travel that distance) the deterent if you equate missions work with traveling to foreign soils? My friend specifically mentioned corresponding with someone from Germany. What if you could impact the world without having to get a passport or immunizations? You wouldn't even have to get out of your pajamas. Some of you wouldn't even have to get out of bed - but I'm naming no names...

Now, before you get all worked up about all the quacks out there, listen to the rest of what I have to say. (Yes, that means you must read out loud. LOL)

Global Media Outreach is a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ > so not some new fly-by-night.

They have an intense interviewing process for those willing to minister to make SURE they know the Lord so will not lead seekers astray. Email addresses are protected by having the site as a "middleman". Potential answers are provided for you to assist in your ministry. You choose the amount of contacts desired. You are required to check your email daily.

Here is the note sent to me from my friend:
This website is looking for volunteers who would be willing to share the gospel w/ seekers over the internet. They provide free training & connect you w/ as many as you are comfortable in responding to. In 2009 alone, they had over 10 MILLION people come to Christ thru their websites!!

Here is a little more info from the site:
Global Media Outreach is a global ministry presenting the good news of Jesus Christ online 24/7. As a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ, our goal is to stay on the cutting edge of global communication technologies to share Jesus and help believers grow in their faith worldwide.

The Vision
• Giving everyone on earth multiple opportunities to know Jesus
• Seeing hundreds of million receive Him and building them in the faith
• Connecting them to Christian movements everywhere

The Mission
Conducting relationship building, highly personal, gut-level ministry with people from all countries through thousands of GMO trained online missionaries.

The Opportunity
• Building the Church globally through on the ground partnerships with local congregations of all sizes
• Giving a person anywhere on earth the opportunity to know Jesus for only 10¢

Comments (as well as my tired brain recalls) from BSF group members:
"Who ever thought something like this would be possible?"
"God knew! Part of His plan to reach the world!"
"Jesus is coming soon!"

Amen! Come quickly Lord Jesus!

Getting Ready for a Wedding: First Shower

As MOG, I was told I would be a "special guest" at this first shower for Maryn & Jacob, thrown by one of her aunts for M's family & parent's church family. Rachel & I got to meet some of Maryn's relatives & get told how much they love my son. That was special all by its self. :-)
Also, the food was yummy.

Maryn looked too cute in her pink "future bride" shirt (or does it say "bride to be"? EEK - I don't remember! Wait a sec while I run through some photos to see if I can read it on one of them... Ah - no such luck. You can trust me though > it was cute, pink & said something about becoming a bride. )
She has kindly offered to procure for me a shirt proclaiming "Mother of the Groom". That could be fun. A plus is that I have her permission to wear it for my other sons when such conditions arise.

No, I will not wear it in anticipation of such conditions arising. :-) Not me! I would never.

When Maryn started opening the gifts, she was told that old tale about having one child for every broken ribbon so she broke none. I told her that I didn't break any either. (grin)

I also said that my grandmother had told me that in her day, it was said that a bride would be blessed with a child for every towel received, so she's up to four, I believe. (another grin)
I didn't mention that Stan & I received 8 or 12...

Isn't this beautiful? This is Maryn's mom's first quilt, made especially for Maryn with the oriental theme she loves. No, it was not a surprise. I believe M helped pick out some of the fabric. Suzanne has been working on it at least since last summer. That is Suzanne standing & helping hold up the quilt.


All the gifts were opened & it was almost time for cake. Maryn & Jacob had received some nice gifts to help establish their own home.

Then we played one game.
A roll of tissue was passed around & we were instructed to take what we needed. ???

Then we went around the room & for each square gave one piece of marriage wisdom/advice. You should have seen the unmarried girls squirm a bit. The one engaged cousin had lots of advice (which is really quite funny if you think about it); Rachel had a couple of offerings including "Don't forget to spend time with me!" & "Take good care of the (Jacob's) birds."

Others that I recall:
*Listen, listen, listen, listen.
*Respect each other.
*Don't go to bed angry.
*Kiss him when you wake up & when you go to bed.
*Wave him off to work & greet him when he returns.
*Remember that he is the leader of the family; gracefully submit even though you know you are right & he is so WRONG.
*Love covers a multitude of sins.
*Leave room in your life for other people.
*No adultery, mental or otherwise.
*Don't get upset about little things such as messy habits.
*Keep growing closer to God & you will grow closer to each other too.
*Get involved in his hobbies (there was a fun fishing story here).
*Remember that he is not there to solve all your problems, that's God's job.
*Always tell him "I love you" when he leaves [because no one is promised a tomorrow].
*Listen, listen, listen, listen.

Good advice even for us old married folks, special guests or not.

Getting Ready for a Wedding: MOG Dress

MOG is a fairly new term for me but in this wedding business, I'd better get used to it. Mother of Groom is a title I hope to be blessed with a couple more times down the road, probably prior to experiencing MOB, although I've heard that girls often "settle down" at an earlier age than guys but I'm in no hurry. God's timing, folks!

One thing I was nervous about was getting the right dress. I was informed that the MOG is seen only 2 minutes max while being escorted down the aisle & leaving, that no one notices the MOG as all eyes are on the BEAUTIFUL BRIDE and that the MOG is to "become one" with the scenery. Nice. But I still wanna wear something I like that will blend in nicely so my DIL 2B is HAPPY - which should help my son to be happy also...
Plus there are those wedding photos which you know last forever. What DIL wouldn't want their fav in-laws hanging on a wall somewhere commemorating their special day?
SO
While fetching Rachel's dress while Maryn was at the mall too, we looked for a dress for me. I kept choosing "wedding horror story" glittery or skimpy or hippy things (LOL!) since I didn't see anything I liked > Maryn didn't think it was as funny as I did. (sheepish grin)

Finally, I found a dress I liked & Maryn liked it too. Problem: It was too big > I like that problem better than some others...
When I found out that the smallest available was still too big, I wasn't about to pay that price for a dress that would have to be fitted. UGH!

I looked some more, even online but that dress stayed on my mind. No, I didn't obsess. Of course not.
Around Christmas I'd prayed & decided that that WAS the dress for me if I could find it again at that smallest too-big size. You can guess the rest: I found it. It was clearance priced by this time (hurray!). It was STILL too big. While I considered putting some weight on to help it fit better Mom reminded me of all the clothes she had made including some bridesmaids dresses for weddings.

When we went to Alabama after Christmas it was Mom to the rescue!!
She fitted & tacked & sewed & fussed about the dress not being made correctly to begin with. It has a symmetry problem but I do too so it was almost like it was made for me...

She worked nearly all night & then the next day too. What a blessing!
It was definitely RE-made for me.



Rachel inherited one of the jumpers Mom made way back when.
You know we had to have a little fun trying things on. :-)





And here is the finished product, complete with shoes. I'm hoping it is neutral enough to blend nicely with wedding colors chosen by upcoming DILs too.
I'm gonna have to wear the shoes some prior to the big day just to get used to wearing heels again. You can see me tripping up the aisle, right? That would be a memory maker.

Guest #1: "Look! The MOG just took a nose dive!"
Guest #2: "Yes, but look at that beautifully fitted MOG dress!"
Guest #3 "And those shoes match so well!"

Actually those shoes seem to fit a little big too. Think I should take them to Mom? Maybe I'll just try to gain some weight in my feet.

Getting Ready for a Wedding: Junior Bridesmaid

We were thrilled to find a bride's maid dress and shoes for Rachel on a clearance rack at the mall. We went back the next day with Maryn to make sure it was the right red. Yes! We have a winner!

Rachel is having a hard time waiting for the wedding to wear it in public.

"Mom, it would look nice for Christmas." (bright SMILE)

"Mom, Valentine's Day is coming up & I have a new red dress..." (grin. wink, wink)

Not questions, because the law was laid down when we bought the thing.

I'm glad she's looking forward to its unveiling. Now to find a cute short sweater jacket to go with. Let me know if you see a white one on a clearance rack somewhere.

Ooooooh

Caleb checking out his mail from colleges: "Ooooooh"

My musical reply "Oooooo Oooooo Oooooo" the beginning of "Thou O Lord"

Rachel then started singing "I look just like Buddy Holly. Oh, oh and you're Mary Tyler Moore"

Sometimes we just crack me up!