Easter Blessings

The Joy of Easter and Family!

Easter is probably my favorite holiday, don't get me wrong, I love Christmas, Thanksgiving, and the 4th of July. But Easter is, to me, the best of them all. It is the celebration of the risen Lord, Jesus the Christ.

It was on what we call, Good Friday, that Jesus was Crucified, and put to death in one of the most painful ways possible. But on the 3rd day, the day we celebrate with Easter, Jesus rose from the dead!! He conquered death and through that victory His shed blood on the cross made available to us, the gift of eternal life!! And that is why it is my favorite! (For more on the gift of Salvation, take the link to "Meet My Best Friend.")

Ah brothers!

For my family, Easter is also a time to get together and have fun! In our family, since the weather was co-operating this year that meant a BBQ and yes, egg hunting! Our family, extended family means aunts and uncles and cousins... a group that loves getting together and hanging out!!  My children and I first had a stop at my daughter's house and a bit of time with just us before going over to join the rest of the family in Grants Pass.

I had a heck of a time getting a photo of my kids, for some reason I managed to continuously get pictures of them with someone closing their eyes... that's the reason for the exaggerated eyes photo. LOL, I really was laughing so hard that I had tears in my eyes at one point.

My daughter taking a sibling selfie.

My four blessings.

This year, at the full family BBQ  we were blessed to have 4 generations represented, my kids, my sister-in-law's kids and all their kids as well as my in-laws. The youngest generation refers to the generation above them as Aunts and Uncles, they decided to do this since my kids and their cousins are almost as close as siblings. And that is another blessing, it is a relationship that has come about by many holidays spent together.

This year was especially dear to my heart... it was the first time in over a year that all 4 of my kids and their families were all here with me at the same time. One of my sons is in the Air Force and the other moved out of state a year ago. So this was a joyous occasion indeed... and one I took advantage of, I made sure to get a picture of all of us, it is the first, full family photo since the February before my husband passed, that was 6 years ago in 2013. 

It is so very important to enjoy time with the ones you love, in the grand scheme of things, life is short. So make the most of it!! Gather together, play games, talk, laugh, have fun, and make memories!!

Time to hunt!!

Seek and Gather!

The parents hid the eggs and then the kids were set loose to find them! The littlest of the girls got a little bit of help but for the most part, none was required, they knew their mission! Nothing quite like the joy on a child's face and the sheer excitement of everything.


My hope and prayer for all of you is that you may enjoy your family as I enjoy mine and that you create memories to last you all for years to come!!

Grief and a Polished Rock

Recently I was cleaning out my purse and I reached in and grabbed what looked like a Milk Dud. I couldn't figure out where it had come from, lol. When I actually picked it up, I realized it was a polished rock.  Then I remembered where I had gotten it, it brought a wistful smile across my face.

Last year when a dear friend lost her husband I joined her in attending a Grief Share group, at the end of one of the sessions we were handed a polished rock.

This simple little rock was to remind us that grief is like a rock. When you pick up a rock from the ground it is rough, and craggy, and it can have sharp edges. However, when you put that rock in a rock tumbler it begins to smooth out, until it is so smooth, it almost seems soft, at least to me. Grief is like that, when it is new, it is sharp, raw and painful. Over time, it gradually becomes smoother, the bumps are fewer and the edges have become smooth and not sharp anymore.

Over time the grief process allows us to reflect back on the memories of the one we loved and see the beauty of the life they led, the times we spent with them, and all the little nuances that made them... well, them.

The timing of finding the rock in my purse, and recalling the lesson behind it was quite timely, I was having one of my 'bumpy' moments, the Lord knew just what I needed at that moment, I needed a rock.

As I think about this lesson, and hold this rock, I also reflect on another rock, it is the Rock that I anchor my life to, Jesus.

2 Samuel 22:2 And he said: “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;

Psalms 18:46 The LORD lives! Blessed be my Rock! Let the God of my salvation be exalted

Take the lesson of the polished rock, remember those rough places will smooth over time, they will become something beautiful.

Blessings!

Mary

Do You Dream

Do you dream? I am not talking about the visions that flow through your head while you sleep... I am talking about the big things, the things that capture your imagination... that maybe you think are impossible.

Do you dream? I hope so!!!

Sometimes we are afraid to dream, we fear disappointment, at least I do at times, I admit it.  I have had times throughout life that I was afraid to dream... I had seen to much disappointment. That being said, I have learned the joy of dreaming. Are all the things I dare to dream going to happen? Probably not, but some of them will and that's exciting!!

As a little girl, I had an amazing imagination, I could dream up all kinds of things... how the future would turn out. Has my life gone as I dreamed it would? No. But I have been blessed!! 

I always wanted a big family, I was one of 5 kids, I have 4 children, two bonus kids by marriage and 5 grandbabies... so that dream. Check.

I wanted to own a home, my house isn't big, but I do own my home, so... Check.

Found this sign at Hobby Lobby in Nov of 2018.
A dear sweet friend blessed me with it for Christmas.

I dreamed of going places, and I have. Before Glenn went home to the Lord we were blessed to go to Lake Tahoe on several occasions (a place I think is one of the most beautiful I have seen). We traveled to Los Vegas, Disneyland, Hawaii, and we took 2 cruises to Mexico; in addition we had many camp outs with the family. I have wonderful memories from those days.

When Glenn passed, my world was rocked, I wondered if I would ever dream again. By that point of my life those things I had dreamed about were for both of us together, and they could never be. The challenge was to overcome those dreams and readjust, learn to dream about my life, with out him.  It hasn't been an easy thing to learn, but through God's grace it has come, incrementally. I didn't wake up all of a sudden one day and say... "Hey, I can start dreaming again." Nope, didn't work like that.

How it did work, was a step at a time, God took me through small steps, teaching me to trust Him along the way. Guiding my path as he promised to in Proverbs 3:5-6 (Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding, in all your was acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.) God had given me the scripture Matt 19:26 that says, "With God all things are possible," during Glenn's illness, little did I realize that it would truly become the anchor in my life. 

I have held fast to that scripture and seen the Lord move in my life... in spite of the appearance of obstacles. 

In 2017 I was able to sell the manufactured home that we had bought in a manufactured home park and I purchased another one, on it's own lot... no one can raise the rent on me and price me out of my home. (That happened to a neighbor of mine.)

I have been blessed in the last almost 6 years to continue to travel and see places that I didn't think possible. I have been blessed to travel to Alaska, and drive the Al-Can Hwy with my son and his wonderful wife, I went Hawaii, and also a Mexico cruise with friends, I went to Savannah with family to see my niece graduate from college, and most recently I saw the fulfillment of a dream that I have had since I was a 10 year old child, I went to Sydney Australia and then cruised to New Zealand with my sister-in-love.

I remember once a friend said to me, if you shoot for the stars and only hit the moon, is that really a failure? ... I think not.

I still have dreams that have yet to be realized, and I have more that I am beginning to dream about doing. What will happen in reality and what will forever stay a dream, I don't know... but that's okay, I know that God is a big God and He wants the best for me. So I choose to dream and trust Him.

My heart for each of you-- Dream!!! And DREAM BIG!!!