February 20, 2011 3:59 p.m.


We are now in the throes of music competition season.  Yesterday we had one strings audition for both children, and they did just fine, having both secured the “Superior” ratings they needed to proceed to the state level.


Then yesterday evening, I was advised that we needed to quickly throw together an application for a concerto competition for Chips in late March.  As part of the competition, I had to write a short biography for Chips (in case he wins, for the state newsletter) and include a photo.  To get a feel for how to do this, I checked out prior newsletters to read what was written in the bio’s of other student winners of the recent past. 


At first, I found this task daunting and intimidating, and it brought to the surface all of the insecurities of a homeschool mom.  But now that it is finished, I feel pretty good about it.  What do you think?  Does this sound like a cool kid or not?


[Chips], age 11, has been a violin student of S______ G_____ for nearly five years. He first began to study violin at the age of 3. He has been homeschooled since preschool and is now doing sixth grade level work. [Chips] is no stranger to music competitions. In 2008 [Chips] was Elementary Solo winner for FMTA District __. In 2009 he took first place in O___ Music Club Elementary Solo Scholarship competition; In 2010 he was FFMC State Winner for Medium I Solo. In addition, [Chips] participated as violinist in an all boys’ piano trio with S____ Music Institute (M_____) that was FFMC State piano trio winner three years in a row (2008 – 2010).

When [Chips] was four, he and his family moved out to several acres in the country, where he and his sister developed a love of nature. He and his family have camped extensively throughout Florida, the Southeastern U.S., and Blue Ridge Parkway. His camping experiences culminated last autumn in a cross-country trip across America, touring 13 different states and 7 National Parks. [Chips] is also active in his church, participating in its choristers group. He enjoys relaxing by reading mystery novels, swimming, bicycling, playing piano, and repairing his friends’ digital watches.

October 21, 2010  10:34 p.m.   

Ten years ago today we became parents! It happened 9,700 miles away from home, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on account of a beautiful, bright-eyed and curious infant boy who is growing up to be a fine young gentleman. Today, we celebrated by going out for ice cream. Afterwards, he played both the piano and the violin for our listening pleasure. We cannot believe how blessed we have been all these years!

The moment Chips was first handed to me.

 

December 31, 2009 7:51 p.m.

Remember the Y2K "crisis"? A lot of people made an awful lot of money over that fear- mongering. And that night came and went -- nearly without a hitch -- all over the world. The lights stayed on. Not just in places like the US where billions of dollars were spent to prevent a catastrophe, but even in countries on the other side of the world, countries that had no money to spend on the "issue". I shall never forget it. Y2K has forever changed the way I view the world, the mass media, and the "crisis of the day". It has taught me that, if you get old enough, and hold on to memories of times past, pretty soon you won't believe anything they tell you. Did you notice how, beginning with the very next day, nobody on television or in the papers had anything to say about it all? It was all simply forgotten and never talked about again.

Back in those days, Yours Truly (Breezy Point Mom) was a Senior Electrical Engineer with responsible charge over design projects throughout the high voltage transmission and distribution systems at the House of Mouse (remember that place we camped a few weeks ago?). The property containing the House of Mouse is approximately twice the size of Manh*ttan Island, and consumes electrical power equivalent to a medium-sized city.

For eighteen months, one of my responsibilities was to test equipment related to electrical power distribution across the property, all to reassure upper management that everything was "Y2K Compliant", that is, it would continue to function normally after crossing that momentous time threshold into the year 2000.


Of course, this task came in addition to all my other project responsibilities. It was a sort of... uh .... added blessing in my professional life.


Most of the work associated with testing all the equipment required me to work through the night. Company policy forbade us engineers from testing equipment during theme park opening hours, when a mistake could take down power for thousands of visitors. So Y2K required me to continue working regular days, interspersed with many nights, as needed, at various times, over the course of 18 months. I was never able to get into a routine of either days or nights. It was often two nights followed by two days, etc.


To top it all off, all of the salaried employees where I worked were required to spend the big Y2K night on the property "manning" all of the high voltage substations serving all of the visitor venues, including four theme parks, many hotels, and a shopping mecca. If the power system came crashing down over the crowds, we were supposed to come to the rescue and restore power manually.

Oh, and did I mention that over a million visitors were expected to be on the property that night?


For you see, even thought the world was waiting with bated breath to see if the world would come to a crashing anarchic end, the House of Mouse was not concerned. They were not planning to be "closed" that night due of concern for public safety. In fact, they were throwing a really big party to ring in the new year. They had such confidence in us ... in little old me... just imagine.


So as I was saying, we salaried folks manned the stations, not just engineers and electricians, but all professionals and the operations departments for all systems - solid waste, waste water, reclaimed water, mechanical systems, as well as electrical. Also, administrative assistants and all office and business support personnel who were salaried were required to be on site, driving around the property, supplying foodstuffs to all us more technically-oriented folks. This included two of my best friends, who were able to visit me briefly that night before moving on to another substation.


What about Self-Reliant Man, you may ask? Where was he throughout all this excitement? Unfortunately, he was not permitted, due to legal (and insurance) reasons, to share this wonderful night with me at the substation, and he stayed home (50 miles away) and went to bed.


So while the world was ringing in the new year (decade? century? millennium?) I was sitting in a swivel chair beside a Formica topped table with a two way radio sitting atop it, shooting the breeze with three electricians. Yup. I'll never forget it.


And when midnight struck, we heard all the fireworks outside, but had to stay inside and wait for orders in case the end of the world as we knew it happened.


And then we had to stay there until 7 a.m., per planned procedure, in case all the equipment took time to recognize that it was supposed to fail. Only it didn't. And at 2 a.m., I received a cell phone call from the manager of electrical operations. His voice over the phone sounded so relieved that I could almost envision tears in his eyes. He said since all was well, I was permitted to go home, and Happy New Year. Poor guy. He must have aged ten years during that last quarter of 1999. All for a hoax.

Fast forward to now. I sure am glad that I am now a stay at home homeschooling violin mom of two, spending my New Year's Eve playing Jenga and Pay Day and watching the movie "Scrooge". I wouldn't trade my new life for anything.

Happy New Year to all my dear bloggy friends! We made it ten years past the end of the world.

I have joined Homeschool Memoirs, and the first theme begins today. The writing idea is as follows:
This week, we want to hear about YOU. The author behind the words. The Momma behind all the homeschooling kiddos. Just write up something about you, your family, and your home. How long you’ve been homeschooling and why you decided to homeschool. It doesn’t have to be anything lengthy at all, but we’d love to hear it! You might include a family photo too!

Well, first off, I have only been in the blogosphere for two months, and I am thoroughly enjoying it. I have been married for 14 years, and am a homeschooling mother of two children, ages 5 and 8. We live in a rural area in Florida, in a home on 5 acres. I have now been homeschooling for 5-1/2 years, ever since my DS turned 3. It has been a journey for which I am always thankful. Sure there are some days that aren't so great, but that would apply to anything that I set my hand to. I have my hand fixed firmly on this plow, and there is no turning back.

Deciding to homeschool hit me like a bolt of lightning when my DS was 2-1/2. Prior to then, I had never given it any thought. We were planning to send the children to a local Christian school. Now, I can't imagine life any different! One day, I visited a school supply store in my area (L*keshore), and when I was leaving I picked up a freebie newspaper that was in a rack by the exit of the store. I think the newspaper was all about homeschooling. I read articles that evening on homeschooling, and followed up by investigating websites and library books on the topic. It didn't take long before I was "sold", and then there was no problem convincing my DH of the soundness of the idea. So, I knew it was of the Lord. Nowadays, homeschooling has become such an integral part of my identity that I view life completely differently than I did in those days. Homeschooling means Freedom!

This is a photo of our family last September on vacation on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Another benefit of homeschooling. We can take those vacations at any time of the year we desire. I am looking forward to writing these weekly themes and meeting more of you homeschool moms.

p.s. This first post is in memory of my mother, whose first name was Etta. Today is her birthday. She has been with the Lord over 17 years, and would have turned 85 today.

In a parallel universe, yesterday was to have been a Big Day for my daughter. You see, had we not been homeschooling, it would have been her First Day of Kindergarten. I was very mindful of that fact over the weekend, thinking about how I would have been getting all her clothing ready, and getting her up around 6:30 in the morning. I wonder how she would have felt at the prospect? Excited? Nervous? How would she have reacted when I left her in her classroom? Would she have begun the new chapter with confidence? The first day of school is a day that you never forget. At least I never did. But instead, August 18, 2008 will fade away as an utterly forgettable day in my DD's life.

Of course, it would have been an anticlimactic event because she would have been home with me today again anyway. All the schools in our part of the state were cancelled today due to the expectation of turbulent weather a la Tropical Storm Fay.

But no. The First Day of school was not to be this week. Providence has seen to it that I would choose to keep her home as a homeschooled Kindergartner.

And that she is.

In fact, neither of us even remember her first day of homeschool. I think she was around three years old, and it was some time in early 2006, but that's all I can recall. I think my little girl doesn't remember not being homeschooled.

I told her that it was the day that she would have begun school away from home. But that she was stuck home with me instead. She giggled sweetly.
So instead of beginning Kindergarten, my daughter was home with me, doing our Kindergarten lessons. She snuggled with me on the sofa, reading a Berenstain Bear book to me. She spent a good amount of time pretend playing with her big brother. We practiced violin without being exhausted from a long day. And she is on lesson 140 out of 160 lessons in Calvert Kindergarten. So she is nearly done with Kindergarten, and probably will be done by late September. After a vacation and short break, we will ease into First Grade. I am still at the stage where I feel rejuvenated at the thought of beginning a new grade with new books. In fact, I feel rejuvenated simply after looking over the Calvert catalog.

As I mentioned earlier, I believe that one never forgets their first day of Kindergarten. I remember very well parts of my First Day. I remember stepping off the bus and looking at the sidewalk as I approached the classrooms (our public school system actually needed to use our church facilities for their two kindergarten classrooms -- how funny is that?) I remember my teacher, Miss Devry, telling me to go into the room with the door with the big apple on the window. I remember choosing from one of the empty seats to sit down, so I sat at the end of a rectangular table. It would, in fact, become my "assigned seat" for the entire year. I remember how a boy and girl were seated at either side of me. Michael and Jennifer. I think they had made a pact with each other that they would torment whoever sat in the vacant seat between them, all year long. So I was that person, and they started in on me that first morning.

I believe that experience began a downward spiral of lack of confidence in me, and engendered many similar experiences which followed, having a profound effect on the person I am today. But despite all the pain along the way, I believe the effect has been a good one, overall. To use a cliche, I think I have marched to a different drummer ever since. But that has been good.

Still, it has played considerably into my decision to homeschool. And as a result, my kids are already becoming everything I wasn't. They are incredibly confident and secure. My son is tough as nails, and would never let his sense of self be dented in by any kid. My daughter, while secure, is more emotionally sensitive than he is. I think she would suffer more at the hands of a Michael or Jennifer. So I think that she needs the nurturing and safe environment of being a greenhouse plant, rather than being planted directly outside in the garden. I know there are many who would disagree with my thinking here, but I believe it will make her a stronger person in the long run, and let her childhood be a little less painful than mine was.

Right now the children are playing happily outside. They insist that they are playing in "hurricane Fay", but there is not a breeze or drop of rain in sight. I can hear their shrieks, laughs, and giggles from inside. May they always continue to be the best of friends!

post script: as I write, on 4:10 p.m. my husband called to tell me that he is coming home from work early. He had "early dismissal" from the office on account of Tropical Storm Fay. YIPPPPEEEE! I feel like I am a kid again, and we got a snow day!

I am so looking forward to camping this season. Just two more months until the weather moderates here. Although you wouldn't know it today and yesterday. In fact, as I write, the local temperature is still just 79 degrees. It has been uncommonly cool here in our state these days, mainly because it has been overcast with showers. What a difference - we have barely used the air conditioning.

But I digress. Like I said, I can't wait to go camping again. About three years ago, we ventured into the world of camping. Now those who know us will agree that my DH and I have had plenty of hare-brained ideas over the past three years. Camping was another such idea, another instance of redefining our family identity. Once we had blown $37.50 on a family tent, and splurged on those $20 sleeping bags and $60 Thermorest mattresses, there was no turning back. No sirree, not this family.

I love the cool season, and I love submerging into it by spending all our time outside while camping. I love putting out the checkered tablecloth on the picnic table, and giving the campsite that feminine touch of home. I love mixing up that first cooler full of Gatorade.

I love how hungry I get while camping, and how delicious all that comfort food tastes when we have grilled it, griddled it, or boiled it. It is fun to talk about the raccoon that sneaks a peak at us eating from behind a tree trunk, and the rustling sound it makes when it doesn't think we're paying attention.

I love listening to the children giggle as they play with small cars in the sand, or toss a ball around the campsite, or snap glow sticks aglow and wave them around.

I love when it is beginning to get dark, and the sounds change in the woods. More crickets, more snapping of twigs, an occasional hoot owl in the dark. I love to crunch my way along a shadowy path with my DD on the way to the restroom, playing with flashlights along the way.

I love sitting around a campfire after dark, with the Coleman lantern dividing our territory from the vacant black night. I love reading to the family, while they throw leaves into the fire, or nosh on popcorn or smores. I love sticking a cup of cocoa or coffee into the cupholder of my folding chair, and zipping my fleece jacket up higher around my neck. I love covering my ears with a wool cap, even when it isn't that cold yet.

I love walking around the campground, and checking out all the other campers. I love seeing how they make their fun. Some bring their portable TV sets, others kick up in an easy chair inside their RVs, and all we can see is the glow from behind their blinds. Some opt for simpler pleasures, just getting together with old friends, and their sites are filled with laughter and playing cards.

Some sit outside in loungers, playing Sudoku, filling out the Jumble, and just content to be outside in the chair next to their loved one, waving to the occasional passer-by. Campers are definitely friendlier than the average person. I love to see the decked out campsites, complete with Tiki torches, or Christmas lights, or glowing chili peppers. And then there are the gourmet campers, who grill seafood, steaks and ribs, complete with all manner of fresh veggies and a bottle of wine.

And then there's us, with our burgers and beans, our griddle cakes and eggs, cold cereal, bagels, baked potatoes, and cheese steak sandwiches. Oh well, to each his own.

I love when we are all zipped up in the tent to go to sleep. All four of us in a row. DH and DS sleep so comfortably in their sleeping bags. DD and I are sleeping bag rebels. DD lies on top of her bag, and I have long since rejected a sleeping bag, in favor of an air mattress, flannel linens, and a blanket on top. I need to stretch and spread out when I sleep on my stomach, arms and legs extended in various directions. I like the little night light we hang from the peak of our tent. We talk a few minutes, and laugh at the moving shadows against the side of our tent from nearby campers. My kids are fortunately still at the age when they enjoy everything.
I don't love so much the continuous zipping sound of the front door zipper at 1:30 a.m. when the guys have gotten up to go to the men's room together. Why can't they ever keep 'till the morning? And why is it so hard to fall back asleep afterwards?
I especially love waking up at the earliest light of dawn, hearing the first twittering birds, and sneaking out of the tent before the family to heat up water for coffee and cocoa. I love strolling around the quiet campground before others have waken and enjoying the misty morning peacefulness. Breakfast never tasted so good.

I love family bicycling along trails, and gentle hikes. Trying to fish off a dock. Exploring. Beachcombing. Admiring the mountain views. I am so thankful for the simple pleasures that camping brings to us. And thankful that we have found so many wonderful camping spots, with the promise of more to discover this year.

So I can't want, and I count the weeks until camping season begins again. It isn't far away now.

Now if we could just convince some of our friends to try it out with us!

The young lady who commented on my previous post gets the Ancient History prize today, folks, for taking my mind back to 1977 to Ms. Evin's French class when and where we met! That's right, I have a friend of thirty one (31!) years reading this blog. I would happily post her high school yearbook picture here but she would undoubtedly flame me for it. Here is a lady who truly knew me when.

Stacey reports that she would have her own blog if she had anything worth blogging about. Let's see -- last I remembered, you were jumping out of airplanes, and hang gliding. Sounds pretty blogworthy to me. You always were a thrill seeker, and always knew how to have a good time.

Stace, I am here looking at a scar I have on my right pointer finger. Do you remember the day when I was visiting you at the tennis club that you belonged to (where are the right emoticons when you need them?) and...

... I had had a boyfriend at the time who thought he was pretty cool,



So, I, too, thought I was cool, like him, and proceeded to tear apart with my bare hands a soda can that I had just emptied,



just like my boyfriend had done in front of me the prior weekend,



except that my hands began too close together at the center of the can? Therefore, I did end up that day with what the tennis club employee called a "semi-serious" cut. That cut probably could have used a couple of stitches that day. Except I ignored it, and wrapped it up, (it was a Friday afternoon) and kept it hidden from my parents that entire weekend, lest they ask what happened, and I would have to explain how I got the cut, which, for me, would have been impossible.

By the good grace of God, it did heal uneventfully, although slowly, from the inside out, as it is supposed to, and today I am a happy healthy well-adjusted adult. A fact to which all my more recent, Modern History friends can certainly attest.

I saw the symptoms before affluenza became a known buzzword. Before I was a mom myself. I saw kids who were never satisfied, and the older they got, the bigger the thrills they needed. I spoke to a dad of a 3 year old in my neighborhood who said to me one day "If you think it is hard to keep them happy when they are babies, just wait. It gets really hard when they're three!" Hmmm. I tucked that comment in my brain for pondering. We live near the world's biggest tourist attraction. I mean 42 square miles of ultimate entertainment -- the biggest mouse-related theme park and vacation kingdom there is. I knew kids in my neighborhood who, at age 10 or 12, had gotten bored with going there. Didn't want to "do D*SN*Y" anymore. Boring.

This is insane!! What is going on here? I have since learned it is called affluenza. A disease that is bred by the affluence we enjoy here in our country. We have the resources, so lets give all we've got to the kids. For better or for worse. So I thought about what effect this overstimulation of kids with entertainment and activities would have on them. It bothered me so much, that at some point when my oldest was still a toddler, I saw the handwriting on the wall, so to speak, and decided to change our path. My dh understood the problem immediately, and he was on board as well.

Since then, we have made a deliberate decision not to overstimulate our kids. Keep life simple and natural. Toys we chose were simpler, we tried to avoid logos and name brands, we shyed away from characters of all sorts (which are just ways of getting kids to recognize a brand at an early age). We stopped watching TV, and therefore, TV commercials. We tried to eliminate every aspect of commercialism that we could from our home. We minimized electronic toys and gadgets, for ourselves as well as the kids. We dish out computer game time in very sparing doses.

Now the kids don't know what they are supposed to want for Christmas. They just know what they like.

We heard of a family that gave their kids three gifts per child for Christmas. After all, Jesus himeself received three gifts. We did this each Christmas, and found that they still ended up with too much stuff. (this past Christmas, we loosened this rule to allow for stocking items and educational items as extras. Since we don't buy them gifts all year round, except birthday and Christmas, we find we need to stock up a bit on those educational items).

I know. By now you think we are very odd. Just keep reading. Horror of horrors -- we never take the children to any of the world famous theme parks that we are "privileged" to live nearby. We tried it once, when my oldest was 4. He couldn't handle the stimulation, and had repeated meltdowns in the park. We decided we wouldn't do it again for years to come, and we haven't.

Theme parks are like Fr*tos or L*y's Potato Chips to a child's sensibilities. Once they get a couple of experiences of them, it grays out all other more subtle life experiences. Especially when you live right near those theme parks. No other place quite measures up. We want to avoid that. There is plenty of time for them, when they are older.

We approach every event, every vacation trip, from the point of view of how much it could overstimulate our children. Because when you overstimulate, and overstimulate, and overstimulate, pretty soon it takes more, and more, and more to provide the same thrill anymore. Life itself gets duller and duller. We human beings are made that way.

We talk to the kids about being wise consumers, and avoiding the pitfalls that advertising set up. Recognizing a gimmick when you see one. Does this toy really look like it did on the cover of the box? Isn't it just a bunch of little plastic pieces and stickers to put on? Where does the fun come from? YOU! You can make your own fun.

I hear parents comment often in amazement about how their youngest children were alway initially more enthralled with the box than they were with the toy the box contained. We parents (and grandparents) are the ones who teach them to crave the toys. This doesn't have to be. They really can make their own fun, and should be required to, now and them. It is so good for them to be understimulated more. This is the classic case of less is better.

So, we remain low key in every area of the children's lives. Lives as commercial free as possible. As a result, they really do know how to make their own fun. They have a blast playing with blankets hanging over things. Exploring nature in our yard. Pretending together for hours. We read so many family read aloud books, so they have the ideas they need to create pretend play. Now that the door of reading is being unlocked to our younger child, I have caught them in the same room both reading their own books. It is a very rare time when they report that they are bored. Maybe once every couple of months.

Vacations are getting simpler and more frequent. We have stopped the nice hotels, and integrated camping into our lives. It took some getting used to, and we had to build up some new planning, packing and camping skills, but now we really love it. Vacation destinations are nature-based now. Mountains, scenery, state parks. The kids love it because they love nature.

Did I mention that my kids almost never have nightmares? (if I could just say the same about nosebleeds!)

Now, if you can find a down side, it is this. My kids are very sensitive to stimulation. Sometimes, we are watching a DVD, and if the movie is less than, say, 20 or 25 years old, it can be very stimulating. The scene changes at a frenetic pace, the action is non-stop, and it is difficult to always know what is happening. My kids, especially the 5 year old, don't care for this. My youngest has had a couple of nightmares in her life, and they have always (always!) occurred after a movie that I later regretted letting them watch. Yes, these are G-rated movies. They are just very stimulating, because folks demand that nowadays.

Tonight, we are going to do something that is unusual for us. My husband's work group has provided a fun night out. There will be S*nny's Bar-B-Q served for supper(yum!) and then a minor league baseball game, topped off with fireworks. We've never done anything like this before. We are looking forward to it, because it is such a rare experience, a big deal for our family. I'll post about how it goes.

Last Friday, I got to see my buddy. (that's her in the picture, wearing black. I'm in pink). We will call her L. My kids call her TTL. Sometimes I even call her U/B, but that's a story that is not for this blog. L and I met over 12 years ago, during a past phase of my life, when I was an electrical engineer for the utility company of a very large and significant MAJOR TOURIST ATTRACTION and WORLD FAMOUS THEME PARK in this part of our state. Anyway, we became friends rather quickly, not so much due to MY great personality, but mostly do to L's amazing ability to connect with people on a level that is beyond superficial in a short time.

It wasn't long before I knew from her, and from another work associate there (remember Susan H?), that L and her dh were very committed Christians who were searching out the Lord's purpose for their lives, and trying to live it. This resonated with me, because I was at a point where I was seeking to "put off the old [wo]man and put on the new" in my life as well. We clicked and got to be really good friends. Within weeks, we were meeting during lunch time to study the book of James together. This mini one-on-one bible study eventually grew to include others at our workplace, including my own supervisor. It was pretty neat to have this spiritual refueling in the middle of the work day. I know I really needed it there.

While I was working there, before I became a MOM, L and I had offices right next door to each other, and we were able to share so many of the details of our everyday lives, and the lives of our families together. Fast forward 12 years later, and we still do that, as much as we can on an extended phone call every week or two, but it is impossible to be aware of all the details that working together provided. I do miss that aspect of working, although I don't miss working there that much otherwise (L is still in that office part time now) since it could be very stressful.

L has two sons. One is little yet, like my dd, and the other son is medium going on big (very soon). Let's say, when L and her husband came to our home for dinner for the first time, back in 1996, her oldest son was 6 months old, and I remember L having to clean out his messy nose with Q-Tips! I still have a vivid picture of that.

Back in those days, she shared with me all she was learning about being a parent of an infant, then 1 year old, then 2 year old, etc. And I was going through the whole entire infertility / adoption saga that can span many long years, and she walked, with compassion, with us through that valley.

Well, my friendship with L is one of the big joys of my life. We have a good level of understanding and appreciation of each other that falls not far short of family. In fact, we have met, and gotten to know, each other's family and extended family, and they are a part of my heart, too, especially L's beautiful and wonderful parents (who I always would like to see more frequently!).

I can count on L to point the way to Christ in any situation that I share with her. In fact, when our children were baptized in our previous church, L and her dh were our sponsors, which means that we parents are accountable to them for bringing up our children as Christians. L has taken this role seriously, bless her, and to this day she has sincere and loving interest in the spiritual wellbeing of our kids. When our son "turned his back on sin" and trusted in Christ, L was the one to really celebrate that event with us.

I could go on and on about L, and this post would be way too long, but hey, it's my blog, and I can post endlessly if I want to! She is the person I have called when bad things have happened. When I was in New Jersey with my dad in the hospital, and he was in the process of dying from chemotherapy, L was the person I called and cried to on the phone for an hour. When I thought my son was missing, and a search helicopter was hovering over our neighborhood, L was the person I called asking for prayer. And L knows that when bad things strike in her life, I will be there to uphold and support her, as she upholds and supports me.

When I become a shameless bragger about my children's successes, she really and truly rejoices and shares heart to heart in my thrills and my pride. Not very many folks can do THAT!

As far as pointing the way to Christ, L has the ability and desire to speak the truth to me in all things, and has challenged me on several occasions to do the right and responsible thing. Whew! Scary!

So, last Friday was an opportunity for one of our summertime visits where we go to her house and she treats me like a queen giving me a delicious lunch and chatting about our families, our churches, current events and politics from our "enlightened" point of view, and well you get it. She even celebrated three of our birthdays with us, all at once. It does my heart so much good to see how excited my children get when they are going to her home and playing with her sons. Perhaps their family holds the central place in their hearts that it does in my heart. Time flies at TTL's house. Now, I hope that they can make it to our place on August 7th like we discussed, because it would truly be a double treat for us.

So my son and I are having a discussion about Eleanor Roosevelt, and how she blazed new trails for the role of a First Lady. We talked about how she traveled on behalf of her husband, FDR, and met dignitaries and heads of state from many countries. Finally, I asked my son "Do you know who the First Lady is [now]?"

And his reply: "No, but I thought the first lady was Eve".

Guess I deserved that one!

It's July 1st. This is the anniversary of my mother's passing away from cancer. By the time it was discovered, it had become lung cancer, breast cancer, and brain cancer. Nobody ever knew for sure where it had started. I was 28 at the time. I was a working professional, but still living in my parents' home. My mom and dad were still my life, besides a few work and college friends. I had no marriage prospects at the time.

I remember clearly one day when it was obvious to me that mom was slipping away before our eyes. She was home at the time, all set up in the family room in a rented hospital bed. Her personality had already been drastically altered by the brain symptoms, so in that way she had already changed. But we were seeing other irreversible changes that really hit home one evening as I was sitting in my room. She would be really leaving us ... soon. An Amy Grant song was playing on my portable CD player, and as I listened to the words, it seemed almost surreal to me.

In many ways I felt like my life had just barely gotten started. I had marriage and family, yet, to look forward to. But it would all happen WITHOUT my mom. Could I visualize 17 years without her? Ten years? Five years? Heck, I hadn't ever gone a week without at least speaking to her by phone. It was all so inconceivable.

Somehow, the Lord gives us the grace to do it. The loss of my mom has changed me in immeasurable ways. Profound ways. I began to rediscover my dad, and become better friends with him. Everything up until then had been so "mom centered". (She really had been the hub of the family.) Dad retired shortly after my mom passed, and then we found ways to have fun with him, going on trips together and parties and things that we had never done before with Dad. So that was a good thing.

I began to make decisions -- big decisions -- more on my own. And within a few short years, I had met, and married, my dh, and began a new life in the South, in a different state, far from home. And the rest is my life's ongoing history.

And the Amy Grant song that was playing on my CD player that June evening so long ago can still be heard on the radio from time to time. It goes like this:

I WILL REMEMBER YOU (Amy Grant/ Gary Chapman/ Keith Thomas)

I will be walking one day
Down a street far away
And see a face in the crowd and smile
Knowing how you made me laugh
Seeing sweet echoes of you from the past
I will remember you

Look in my eyes while you're near
Tell me what's happening here
See that I don't want to say ... goodbye
Our love is frozen in time
I'll be your champion and you will be mine
I will remember you

Later on ... when this fire is an ember
Later on ... when the night's not so tender
Given time ... though it's hard to remember
I will be holding
I'll still be holding to you

I will remember you

So many years come and gone
And yet the memory is strong
One word we never could learn ... goodbye
True love is frozen in time
I'll be your champion and you will be mine
I will remember
So please remember
I will remember you.






This is Mom and Dad at their 40th wedding anniversary party, May, 1988. That was a great day!