Graduation

I am sure we are all shivering at certain times during this latest cold spell.  I woke up early this morning and after being up only a minute decided to crawl back into my warm bed. The electric blanket was still on and it felt so nice and toasty.  I don’t know if it is an old wives tale, but I used to hear that a really good cold spell kills all of the germs that are in the air.  I certainly hope so, because I have had two colds already and winter isn’t even officially here.  My husband and I went to Laramie on Friday to attend our grandson’s graduation and it was bitter cold there.  However, seeing Craig graduate warmed our hearts and the tears welled up in our eyes as we watched him walk across the stage and stretch out his hand to receive his diploma. This is a beautiful milestone in his life and a proud moment for all of his family.  I always feel so very grateful when someone from my family accomplishes a goal they have set out to do and getting a good education is one goal that I am especially happy about.  Raising six children has afforded me many opportunities to attend graduation ceremonies and so far I have attended all of them from High School, College, Master Degrees, and Doctor Degrees.  I’ve been to six grandchildren’s high school graduations and four college graduations and have two grandchildren that will graduate from college in the next few years.  I have four little grandchildren ages 3-7 and am hopeful I can attend theirs as well.  All in all that is a lot of speeches to hear and tears to shed, but seeing them all reach their goal is a proud moment that is etched in my memory.  So, back to the minus degree temperatures we have been having, it was worth the time and effort it took to trek over the hill to attend one more beautiful celebration and to be there to give a big hug to my smiling grandso

I am sure we are all shivering at certain times during this latest cold spell.  I woke up early this morning and after being up only a minute decided to crawl back into my warm bed. The electric blanket was still on and it felt so nice and toasty.  I don’t know if it is an old wives tale, but I used to hear that a really good cold spell kills all of the germs that are in the air.  I certainly hope so, because I have had two colds already and winter isn’t even officially here.  My husband and I went to Laramie on Friday to attend our grandson’s graduation and it was bitter cold there.  However, seeing Craig graduate warmed our hearts and the tears welled up in our eyes as we watched him walk across the stage and stretch out his hand to receive his diploma. This is a beautiful milestone in his life and a proud moment for all of his family.  I always feel so very grateful when someone from my family accomplishes a goal they have set out to do and getting a good education is one goal that I am especially happy about.  Raising six children has afforded me many opportunities to attend graduation ceremonies and so far I have attended all of them from High School, College, Master Degrees, and Doctor Degrees.  I’ve been to six grandchildren’s high school graduations and four college graduations and have two grandchildren that will graduate from college in the next few years.  I have four little grandchildren ages 3-7 and am hopeful I can attend theirs as well.  All in all that is a lot of speeches to hear and tears to shed, but seeing them all reach their goal is a proud moment that is etched in my memory.  So, back to the minus degree temperatures we have been having, it was worth the time and effort it took to trek over the hill to attend one more beautiful celebration and to be there to give a big hug to my smiling grandso

Fun with granddaughter

I am so thankful that our country sets aside a special day to give thanks! I awakened early Thanksgiving morning and the first thing on my mind was the many things I am thankful for.  First off – I thanked the Lord for a good night’s sleep.  I had been having pretty restless nights as my muscles have been aching and I can’t sleep on the side I’m used to sleeping on.  So to have a restful night for a change was truly something to be thankful for.  I thanked the Lord for the safe arrival of my family from up state. Later in the day I thanked him for the phone calls from my family that could not come for Thanksgiving, but will come for Christmas. I am very thankful for my three year old granddaughter.  She is such a joy and fun to be with. I was playing “My Little Ponies” with her and we had them all lined up in a row. Seven of them. I asked her what we should do with the little ponies? She replied “Oh just let them horse around.” She is always coming up with really cute little sayings and also trying out big words.  I asked her if she would like some chicken noodle soup and she said: “Grandma, I don’t particularly like that.”  She is also into great imagination in her play.  We start to play together and soon she is in her own little world talking to herself and having great fun with whatever she is playing with.

My daughter and son-in-law helped us bring up the tree decorations from the basement today and then said “Let’s just put the tree up too.”  I was dreading my husband and I having to do it next week and having all of the boxes setting in the family room, so this was an unexpected blessing.  We all pitched in and soon the house was decorated and the tree looks very pretty. So, I have much to be thankful for in just the past two days.  My daughter prepared the Thanksgiving feast and had us all to her home, so I didn’t have to do that and my husband and I could just enjoy everyone.  I did my Christmas shopping in early November and decided we would only buy gifts for the four young grandchildren. That was quite a challenge!  As soon as I thought I was finished I received telephone calls with ideas of what they would like. Naturally nothing I bought was on their lists!  So we rushed out and bought one nice item that they each had requested. Our older grandchildren like getting money, so they are easy. 

All in all it was a wonderful week filled with many blessings and to me the greatest blessing is to having family all gathered around the Thanksgiving table eating a hearty meal, laughing and enjoying this time together.

Rain

I have lived in Wyoming for sixty eight years and I never remember a week of constant rain like we have had this past week.  Many people prayed for rain this summer when it was so hot and dry and now it appears we may have to invoke the Lord to stop the rain.  I am not a Meteorologist, so I don't understand why our area is being deluged right now with so much rain and our neighbors in Colorado are experiencing flooding. I do wonder what it was like in the days of Noah living in a dessert  and he was building an Ark to prepare for the great flood.  He must have been called crazy by many, but he just kept building it anyway and obeyed God so that his family and animals would be saved.  When a flood comes, oftentimes lives are lost and great destruction takes place and one may wonder why did God allow this to happen?  I don't have any answers to that question, but I do believe it is a time to turn to God in our great need and allow him to help us just as he did Noah and his family.  I guess the bigger question is: Do you turn to God daily and spend time with him in prayer?  Or do you wait until something devastating happens and then cry out to God to save you?  Hopefully, you are developing a relationship with His Son Jesus and know Him personally.  During my prayer time with Jesus I began to write down what I felt he was speaking to me in my heart and thus my book "Living Waters: Writings from the Heart of a Christian" came about.  My second book, "Living Waters Volume II; A Message of Hope," gives you an inside view of my conversations with Jesus.  If you are struggling with your prayer life, I believe either one of my books will help you.  Don't put off praying until you are desperate but know that God loves you and desires to have a relationship with you, so come to Him now and don't wait until a flood comes and you are hanging on with all of your life.  Reach out and He will throw you a life line and bring you to dry land.

I guess there is a reason for the saying "There's no place like home!"  My husband and I took a six day trip driving across Wyoming. We loved driving through the Wind River Canyon, the beautiful scenery outside of Cody on the way to Yellowstone and in Yellowstone. Teton National Park is worth the trip in itself and then the Hoback Canyon on the way to Pinedale is really a breathtaking drive. As a long time Wyomingite I am happy that we have such beauty in our state and we can enjoy it. We golfed in Worland and in Cody and both courses were in great shape and fun to play.  We soaked in one of the hot mineral pools in Thermopolis and visited our friend, Father Hugo Blotsky who is the pastor at  the local catholic church. We ate alot of fast food, but also dined at some very good restaurants.  My ninety eight year old Aunt is in a nursing home in Worland so we took time to go visit her.  She is in an Alzheimers unit and we knew she probably wouldn't know us, however we seemed to sense a glimmer in her eye as we greeted her. She also talked to us about things she did and would add some of the expressions I remembered her saying over the years. We left feeling sad that her last years are being spent in the nursing home, however she is receiving good care and we were happy that we could see her one more time before she goes to her eternal home. We drove to the Heart Mountain Relocation Center to visit the museum that depicts life behind barbed wire for the American Japanese during World War II. It is hard for me to believe our country did that to its citizens, however war is war and to President Roosevelt it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Hopefully we learn from past mistakes! We spent an afternoon at the Buffalo Bill Museum and didn't see it all. We began our trip by attending a Wedding Anniversary Mass at St. Patrick's in Casper to honor and bless couples that have been married for twenty five, thirty, thirty five, forty, fifty years and above.  Ray and I have been married fifty seven years and we are grateful for the beautiful celebration Mass by Bishop Etienne. We left Casper and drove to Thermopolis to spend the night as that is the town we started our married life. The apartment we lived in is still there and much of the town looks the same as we remembered it. It was good to relive some of the places we have been in the past, but as I began this blog it is always so good to be home!

My Son David

I am just like every other mom in that I am very proud of my children and their accomplishments. Even if they hadn't accomplished anything that the world deems as great or special, I would be proud of them just because they are a part of me and God's gift to me.  My children are all very special to me and I love each one because of their uniqueness and the love they give back to me.  That being said, I wish to focus on my son, David who recently was announced the winner of the Ashby Prize given by the Editors of Environment and Planning A.  The Ashby Prize is for the most innovative paper published in their journal for the year 2012. It is quite an honor just to be published in a premier geography journal not alone win their award of the year. David's paper is titled "Performing carbon's materiality: the production of carbon offsets and the framing of exchange."  They award two prizes and the other one was awarded to Jessica Dubow for her paper titled "A therapeutics of exile: Isaiah Berlin, liberal pluralism and the psyche of assimilation".
My son David, is an assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Systems at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. He received his PhD from the Ohio State University's Geography Department and the fieldwork for this particular paper was done in Costa Rica.  He received a Fulbright scholarship and funding from the Social Science Research Council and also Ohio State's Climate, Water, Carbon program. I wish to take this opportunity to publicly thank my son for all of his hard work and to congratulate him on a job well done! I know it sounds like I am bragging and I am! That is what mothers do!

My flower garden

Today I worked in my flower garden and I must say it felt so good to be outside in the sunshine and working with my hands. I received two beautiful rose bushes for Mother's Day and they were already loaded with roses. So that was a good start to put those in the ground. I went to several nurseries and purchased some perennials as I would like to have most of the garden come back every year. The one thing I noticed as I shopped around, was that prices are up on everything,living and green. I am also trusting that we won't have a freeze between now and June first! Hail was forecast for yesterday and today, so I had buckets ready to cover the expensive plants so they wouldn't get pounded on. However, we only had a light rain and then the sun came out in all of its glory. Are you like me - in a hurry to get things in the ground even though you have to be watchful with the weather? Sometimes I'm that way with the Lord - in a hurry to see my prayers answered! I remind myself that God is always on time and never late or early. I know it is best to pray and then just wait on the Lord to act in His time, but I keep knocking at the door like he never got the message. Answered prayers are like a beautiful flower garden - keep track of them in a notebook and soon they bloom out all over the page.

Did you get a special Valentine's card from someone you love? My husband always seems to find just the right card and with the right sentiment written on it. He just has a special knack for picking out cards whether its for Valentine's Day, my birthday or our anniversary. I, on the other hand tend to choose something simple and not much wording on it. However, I often write a note in it or like this Valentine's Day I wrote him a love letter and added it to the card. If you find it too difficult to write a love letter I want to encourage you to just try it and know it will be well received as long as it is heart felt! So to help you out, I will share with you my love letter to my husband of 56 years. So with my husband's permission, here goes: Valentine's Day is a special time to express my deep love for you and I want you to know I do love you deeply, sincerely, and heartfelt. I have loved you these many years together and have never stopped loving you. Even in turbulent times, my love for you never lifted. You are my knight in shining armor. You are my prize, my man, my lover, my protector, my provider, my friend, my companion, my soul mate, my bed partner. You are so much more and it is hard to put it all on paper. You are a part of me! You are the father of my children, the head of our home and my prayer partner. You are the one God chose for me to live out my life with. God doesn't make mistakes and he certainly made a wise decision when he set you aside for me. I thank Him for you and I thank you for staying by my side and going through this journey of life with me. It has been quite a ride and we haven't reached our destination yet, so who knows what lies ahead - only that we have come this far and we will complete what God has started for us. I love you my Dearest Husband! Happy Valentine's Day

Obedience

January is going by so very quickly and I didn't even make a new year's resolution yet. Perhaps I will just skip it this year because custom dictates that it should be made on the 1st of January.  So I guess that means I don't have to try and lose weight, get organized, etc. as I never made that resolution! Works good for me! Seriously, for all of you reading my blog I do hope that you are successful in whatever you are doing to fulfill that New Year's Resolution.  Lately I have run into a number of people that have been losing lots of weight. Just this past weekend I visited with an old friend that lost sixty five pounds this past year. One of my sons has lost weight by being disciplined and following the diet plan he began months ago.  This leads me to believe that discipline is key to being able to accomplish whatever goal you are striving for.  I know it takes discipline, plus desire, to sit and pray each day and listen to the Lord. It takes discipline to be obedient to whatever God asks you to do. It takes discipline to set aside the Sabbath and go to church and let it be His day.  It takes discipline to read the Bible every day. I could go on and on, however I know you get the drift of what I am writing. It took discipline for me to write two books and get them published and as I look back I know it was the grace of God that helped me. My desire in doing it was to be obedient to what God was asking of me. It is in obedience to God's will that true satisfaction and peace comes to my soul.
May you all experience peace and joy this new year.