For Those Who Know my Mother

Many (most) of you who read my blog know my mom. I wouldn't think of disclosing her age here, but . . . we celebrated her 80th birthday in the summer of 2006 :-)

Mom is in the hospital right now, after taking a fall in the wee hours of Saturday morning. She fractured her pelvis, and is in a lot of pain. My understanding is that there is nothing, except bed rest and physical therapy, that can be done for an injury like this. The good news is that she did not break a hip, which would have been much more serious.

I'll be heading down, later this week, to stay with her a few days, after she is released from the hospital. She is blessed with WONDERFUL friends and neighbors, who are very attentive to her needs in the meantime. (Thank you to Pat, Gloria, John and Judy -- and I'm sure many others.)

She called me this morning to say that she had a good night, and, with the help of the pain meds they are giving her, she was able to get some much needed sleep. I know she'd appreciate your prayers. I'll try to post updates here, as I get them.

Pondering Parenthood

Someone might have told me, when I was 24 and preparing to bring my first baby home from the hospital, that I would never again be the same person. Someone might have told me that the momentous event of childbirth I had just experienced was minor in comparison to the joys, the tears, the fears, the pride, the struggles and the triumphs of the years ahead. But I don't think anyone told me that there was no end to parenthood; that I had just signed up for a job from which I would never retire. If someone had told me all of this, would I still have signed up? Yes! Without a doubt.

A parent's role just keeps changing. In the beginning we are the 24-7 caretakers. Then, before we know it, the child begins exercising some independence. And, if we do our job properly, eventually the child matures and steps out into the world prepared to take care of himself 24-7. Aaaah - NOW is it time to retire from parenthood? No way!

Now is the time to pray harder than ever before. Now is the time to be there. Just BE there. Now is the time to watch, with pride and with a bit of fear, the unfolding of a mature life that is, hopefully, stronger and wiser than we were at that age. Now is the time to listen and encourage. Now is the time to give advice ONLY when asked. Now is the time to thank God for the tremendous growth of the little seed of faith that we planted and watered for 18 years.

And now may be the time in life to learn from our children, to be encouraged by our children, and to rejoice in the realization that the world is a better place because our children are in it; to watch our children walk through trials with confidence and faith - more confidence and stronger faith than we had at their age - and come through them, by the grace of God, triumphant.

Kelsey, Chris and Sweetpea Visit

We had a wonderful few days, enjoying the company of Kelsey and Sweetpea. The original plans were for them to leave Kelsey's folk's place, in Pecos, Texas, early on Tuesday morning, and drive to Midland, Texas, to catch a plane to Albuquerque. But plans are made to be broken, it seems. Sweetpea came down with some stomach flu-like symptoms during the early morning hours of Tuesday, so Kelsey had to cancel their flight plans.

By Wednesday morning, she thought Sweetpea was doing fine, so decided to drive from Pecos to our house, after all. But by the time she got here, there was no doubt that Sweetpea was not well. We took her to an after-hours pediatric clinic near our house, and the doctor confirmed Kelsey's suspicion that Sweetpea had an ear infection. An antibiotic and some ear drops were prescribed.

At first, Sweetpea wasn't too keen on the idea of taking her medicine, so we came up with the idea of having her pretend to give her doll the medicine and ear drops first, each time, and that really helped. Here's a picture of her and Grandpa putting pretend drops into the doll's ears.
The medicine worked very quickly, and by the next morning (Thursday) she was back to her happy, sweet-natured self. We decided a short outing, to the duck pond to feed the ducks, was in order. That evening, Grandpa grilled burgers and Uncle Tim came over to see Sweetpea and have dinner with us.

On Friday we went to see Horton Hears a Who at the theater. Sweetpea did quite well, and, with the help of a tub of popcorn, made it through the entire movie.

Here's a picture of Sweetpea, ready for church on Sunday morning. She loved her new dress, and enjoyed lifting it to show everyone her matching panties! It was a treat for me to have her in my Bible class that morning. After church we went to lunch, at Chili's, with Keith and Sherry.
Monday was a busy day. We spent a couple hours, early in the day, at Explora, the children's museum. Sweetpea enjoyed all of the hands-on displays. Due to a change in plans, that evening Chris was able to fly in and join us for a couple of days, making it possible for him to help Kelsey with the long drive back home.

With the entire family reunited, on Tuesday we all went to the zoo. It was Sweetpea's second time to visit the Rio Grande Zoo, the first time being when she was 10 months old. Below are pictures of Chris, Kelsey and Sweetpea on that first visit, and this visit.

The 10-month visit to the zoo.

This week's visit to the zoo.

Today, bright and early, Chris, Kelsey and Sweetpea piled into their car and headed home. It's a very long trip, but they are hoping to make it without stopping to spend the night. I am so thankful that we had this wonderful time together.

April Showers Bring Flowers!

I worked at George Fox University, in Oregon, for 12 years. For four of those years, I worked in an office located in a university-owned house that was across the street from the main campus. I had several work-study students who worked for me, and to some of them I played the role of mom-away-from-home.

One drizzly spring day - April 1st, as a matter of fact - I had two of my favorite students working with me, Wendy and Charlene. I was busy at the computer when a lady opened the front door and came in with a long, shiny gold box, with a white ribbon around it. "Is Linda here?" she asked. "That would be me!" I said, with what must have been a surprised look on my face. And she handed me the box, which held a dozen long-stemmed white roses.

As soon as the lady was out the door, Wendy and Charlene were at my desk wanting to see who the flowers were from. There was just a cryptic note on the card -- something about my secret admirer. I knew the roses had to be from Dan, although I didn't know why. But I just let Charlene and Wendy go on giggling and making up all sorts of stories about my "secret admirer."

We went back to the kitchen area, and Charlene found a vase for me. I filled the vase with water and began cutting the ends from the stems, and arranging the flowers and greenery in the vase. Then the front door opened again. It was the same lady, carrying another gold box! As if she'd never been there before, she asked again, "Is Linda here?" The girls began giggling again, and I was a little embarrassed. But I happily took the box, opened it, and found a dozen long-stemmed yellow roses inside.

After another round of teasing from the girls, over the second card from the secret admirer, we rounded up another vase. The first vase wasn't large enough to hold two dozen roses. Then Wendy said, "Hmmm. White roses, yellow roses . . . the red roses must be on the way!" And she was right. About five minutes later Guess Who was back, asking for "Linda." She was carrying a box of a dozen long-stemmed red roses from my secret admirer. The card, this time, said "Happy April Fool's Day."

Three dozen long-stemmed roses - I'd never before, nor have I ever after, been fooled so sweetly on April Fool's Day!

When Dan does something, he usually does it in a BIG way! I'll always remember that day, both for the romance of the roses (thank you, my "secret admirer"), and for the fun they brought to an otherwise humdrum, rainy day for my girls, Wendy and Charlene; and me.