It's very late and I should be in bed, but I just wanted to put down a few words. I spent the weekend visiting with my dad's three remaining siblings and their spouses. It was a very rich time but I found as I was making the drive back home that I was a bit melancholy. I'm attempting to begin doing some writing about my dad and I wanted to talk to his family to find out as much as I could about his childhood. Daddy loved his family so much and theirs is one of love and commitment. I heard many stories. The stories made me miss Daddy and Mom. They made me wish that I could have known my grandparents better. Strong emotions were evoked - laughter and tears. My mind is full of so much that I want to remember and so much that I want to share with my children and grandchildren. I heard stories that I remember from family gatherings over the years, but the stories never get old and only improve upon retelling. Uncle Roy died young, and he and my dad were very close. I barely remember him. So many now have passed away, Aunt Ruth, Mom, Dad, Uncle James, Uncle Gene, Uncle Paul. Such rich lives. As I listened again to familiar stories and learned some new ones, I was once again thankful for the family that I was born into. I realized afresh the depth of joy in belonging to a family in all of its humanness...the beauty of goodness and the pain of facing the truth about the things that have happened that we wish we coud change. And I guess that's where we find the wonder in being part of a family - those who (in our case, and I hope in yours) will be there for all those times we mess up. There were definitely things that got messed up and I learned that my parents generation generally doesn't like to talk much about those things. I learned a lot by what was said and what wasn't and realize there's a lot I'll just never know. I'm starting to get sleepy and since I don't know if anything I'm writing makes sense at this point, I'll go to bed. I do pray that I won't forget how it feels right now to be overly tired from staying up into the wee hours talking with family. I look forward to heaven, to being again with all those I love, where there are no boundaries of time or distance to keep us apart.

In light of the evil that has happened at Virginia Tech, I thought of words to a David Wilcox song. My heart was comforted as I listened several times to this song and turned my heart to "love that wrote the play." I pray your heart will be comforted and that our hearts will be turned to the Source of all comfort and wisdom.

Show the Way - David Wilcox

You say you see no hope, you say you see no reason
We should dream that the world would ever change
You're saying love is foolish to believe
'Cause there'll always be some crazy with an Army or a
Knife
To wake you from your day dream, put the fear back
in your life...

Look, if someone wrote a play just to glorify
What's stronger than hate, would they not arrange
the stage
To look as if the hero came too late
He's almost in defeat
It's looking like the Evil side will win, so on the Edge
Of every seat, from the moment that the whole thing
begins
It is...

Chorus:
Love who makes the mortar
And it's love who stacked these stones
And it's love who made the stage here
Although it looks like we're alone
In this scene set in shadows
Like the night is here to stay
There is evil cast around us
But it's love that wrote the play...
For in this darkness love can show the way

So now the stage is set. Feel your own heart beating
In your chest. This life's not over yet.
So we get up on our feet and do our best. We play
against the
Fear. We play against the reasons not to try
We're playing for the tears burning in the happy
angels eyes

For it's
Love who makes the mortar
And it's love who stacked these stones
And it's love who made the stage here
Although it looks like we're alone
In this scene set in shadows
Like the night is here to stay
There is evil cast around us
But it's love that wrote the play...
For in this darkness love can show the way

Easter 2007



I've just finished a book by Eugene Peterson, Living the Resurrection. I read it in one sitting and just like Cleopas and companion on the road from Emmaus, my heart burned within me as I read it. To know Jesus, the risen Lord, is the most amazing truth in all of life. In the ordinariness and meanness of my days, I pray that knowing Jesus and living each day in the reality that I am living now in his kingdom, will rule in my heart and in my mind. And that will compel me to live my days with joy and hope. Hope, my friend Sarah tells me, is the constant expectation of good. Sarah learned this truth from her Grandmother Ruth.

My heavenly Father knows what I need and will always deal with me as his daughter. So, I can ask, seek, knock, and expect that when I talk to my Father I can trust that He will not give me a stone when I ask for bread, and He will not give me a snake when I ask for a fish. So, I pray that I will truly seek the things that are above and live each day in the knowledge that my Father knows what I need.

I am so thankful that my children and grandchildren are close. I am so thankful that I am able to watch their little dimpled fingers reach for Easter eggs. I love to hear their laughter and their words as they begin to comprehend their worlds and the people around them. To hear excited cries of "Mimi" when they see me...there's nothing like it.

So, here are pictures of our sweet family. My prayer is that these little ones will never know a day when they were not aware that they had a Father in heaven who created them, loves them, knows them, and will never leave them. Just like Sarah learned from Grandmother Ruth, we learn who God by living in our families. I pray they will know that hope is a constant expecation of good.

Well, I'm having trouble posting pics for some reason - so I'll just go ahead and post and hope I can post pictures later. Blessings to all.