The Class of 2015

My boy graduated high school last summer & turned 19 yesterday.

As we hadn't done anything to celebrate his graduation yet (yeah, we're pretty slacking), we decided to do a joint Graduation/birthday party.

We had food, fun & fellowship.

His 2 favorite gifts?

A subscription to Rush 24/7  & a totally awesome bosal made by our good friend Doug Huntley (who makes the most amazing leather goods).

It was a good day.

And yes. I am in total denial at the ages of my children.

Which speaks to my age.

Sigh.

Now seems like a good time for pictures! Here we go...

Blessings.

16 Candles

Our girl, our 1 & only girl, turns 16 on Monday.

This is her big birthday weekend.

She got her 'besties' together & they have spent the last 48 hours giggling & squealing & singing & squealing... did I mention squealing?

We did pizza (lots of pizza) & movies & candy & caves & petroglyphs.

I'm pretty sure they didn't sleep at all...

The best part was what she wanted for her birthday,,, a leather bound volume of the Works of Jane Austen.

Yes.

Happy birthday Baby Squirrel.

Presents and pizza.

Movie time ~ the new Cinderella is the best!

Breakfast in the trailer ~ "the Girl Cave"

Lava Beds National Monument (known locally as "the caves")

Sunshine cave just before the 'bat' incident.

Sooo pretty.

Petroglyph  Point

The great eye...

Pretty sure this one is titled "Margaritaville"...

Blessings.

What have we done?

I'm not judging anyone.

It's impossible to know how one would respond to a situation until it happens.

And fear is powerful. So it is not my intent to imply that anyone should have done anything differently or that *I* would respond any differently in the same situation.

But I don't get something.

I don't get why more people don't fight for life?

Yesterday a man filled with hate, and no regard for life, killed and injured many people at Umpqua College just a few hours from me.

He was targeting people according to their religion and if they were Christian he shot them in the head.

One by one he had them stand up.

He was 1 man in a room of many.

In several of the shooting incidents recently it has been 1 man in a room of many.

Why don't more of us fight back?

Why do wait obediently to be slaughtered?

Did we learn nothing from 9/11?

Where the sacrifice of those willing few on 1 plane saved 1000s.

Why don't we fight back?

What have we taught our children?

Have we taught them to be strong and believe?

Have we taught them that life is precious and to be protected?

Have we taught them there is no greater love than to lay down your life for your brother?

Or have we taught them that life is subjective?

Have we taught them to be unaware?

Have we taught them to fear and to doubt?

Have we taught that it is someone else's 'job' to serve and to protect and our job to wait?

I don't know.

I just don't know.

But I do know it needs to change.

There is great evil in our world and we need to teach our children to stand up against that evil.

We need to give them the ability to protect themselves and others instead of training them to sit in a dark room and wait: either to die or to be rescued.

There has to be a better option.

We must teach that life matters.

We must fight back against evil.

We need to give our children and ourselves the tools to protect and save lives.

What are those tools?

Should we all be carrying a gun? Maybe.

Should we all take self defense classes? Probably.

I wish I knew the answers.

I wish I could understand.

Unfortunately all I have is questions like the rest of you.

And a heart filled with pain and sorrow for  those families.

All of those people who have to find a new "normal" now that their world has been shattered.

All because of one man filled with hate.

We need to fight the hate.

Blessings.

Rebirth

Last Sunday was a wonderful day

Our youngest little bub was baptized.

He asked about having it done several weeks back &  he had his talk with his daddy &  his talk with our pastor & then we picked the day.

Our church doesn't have a baptistry so we do things a little differently than some of you may be used to.

Often times we drive over to a local ranch & use their indoor (and heated!) pool.

But that wasn't available so we had to improvise...

Yes. That is a cow trough.

 But it's okay. It was a brand new one. Our pastor needed one anyway so we just 'borrowed' it for it's maiden voyage.

It was a little chilly that day but the sun was shining & we were able to share it with everyone at church.

 It's such a blessing & such a praise when your children choose to confess their faith in such a public way.

Being able to witness the celebration of someones spiritual rebirth is so encouraging to the rest of us & especially when it's your child.

Makes my heart happy, happy, happy.

Blessings.

Fruit of the Spirit

It's been a rough month for our family.

2 weeks ago my father in law passed away. Totally unexpectedly & much, much too soon.

Technically, he was my step father in law, but we'll talk more about that in a minute.

Rick was an amazing man. A kind man. A very fun man.

He had all of these silly sayings he always used. He called all the kids "big boy" & threatened to "scob their knob". He did it too.

And he is the only person I have ever heard call my husband "Bubba".  And he did it ALL the time.

He loved family. He loved his kids & his grand kids.

And we loved him back. More I think, than some of us realized.

I've done much reflecting these past weeks as often happens in these times.

One thing I keep coming back to is what the Word says about the fruit of the Spirit...

Galations 5:22&23 says:

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Rick is personified in these verses I think.

The Bible talks about knowing people by "their fruit" meaning if they have planted seeds of love & kindness through out their life that will show.

Someone who has spent a life sowing strife & unhappiness will not leave the same legacy as someone who sowed love.

Rick was "just" a stepdad to us in the eyes of the world but to us he was much more.

We both lost our dads a few years back & it was a sad time. We both felt the loss but, sadly, neither of us had been close to our dads for many years.

We hadn't had that special, loving relationship that we should have had so our losses were more remote. The sting was not so close.

Not so with losing Rick.

We have both cried more & harder tears over Rick.

He sowed more love into us & he didn't have to.

He sowed more love into our children & he didn't have to.

He had his "own" children & his "own" grandchildren but he never once made that differentiation.

He never once made us feel like we weren't his.

At his service story after story was told of his love for people. Of the fruit he sowed over his lifetime.

He was an ordinary man who lived an extraordinary life.

He was a son, a brother, a soldier, a husband, a father, a grandfather & a friend. 

And he will be sorely missed.

Blessings.