A Happy Gramma, Part Two

So I was wrong. I thought she had finished it up and mailed it but that wasn't the case. In fact, it still hasn't gone in the mail. But it is done, wrapped and ready to package up and put in the mail. A cute little pink apron. All it needed was a couple of buttons sewed on and the ties put on. So Brombeere got it back out and got that stuff done the other day and it turned out really cute. This gramma loves sewing and especially if she can sew something for a grandbaby.  Maybe when she finally retires and has more time. She keeps looking at blankets and other things she can sew. She used to sew things for herself and all the kids back before she went back to work. When she doesn't have to work any more I expect there will be a lot more sewing going on. Until then the summer usually includes a couple of sewing projects if at all possible.

A Happy Grandma

I am married to a Gramma. I thoroughly enjoy that but that's another story. Anyway, this gramma I am married to has a number of grandbabies, only a few of which live close enough to us that we get to see them with any regularity. Ah, the down-side of our mobile society. We follow the job and it results in families being all spread out across the country. Such is life. We did it to our parents and some of our kids have done it to us. Fortunately, we also live in a society where communication is quick and living spread far and wide is not the problem it used to be.  But I digress.

This gramma I'm married to has several grand kids and they have birthdays.  This gramma I'm married to also loves to sew. She'd sew a lot more if she could find the time but other things seem to keep getting in the way.  She teaches kindergarten and usually gets to sew a couple of projects each summer.  That makes summer a happy time.  But I digress again.  One little girl, one of our cute little grandbabies, who lives many hundreds of miles to the south of us, is having a birthday in the near future. So this gramma I'm married to sewed her an apron. A cute, pink little number. Snip, snip here. Stitch, stitch there, in the merry, old land of ... well, my house.

 

This sewing usually has to take place late at night. And fortunately, for this talented gramma, a child's apron is a pretty simple project. Anyway, I was unable to get a picture of the final product because it got late and I had to go to bed and the apron got packaged up and mailed right away so it would get there in time for the birthday.  This gramma loves her grandbabies and she loves to sew. A wonderful combination.

An Engagement Party

 

Recently Schwarzebeere and his girlfriend announced they were getting married. To celebrate they held an engagement party and invited lots of family and friends. A new tradition to me but hey, who am I to complain about an occasion to party and celebrate. So the happy couple hosted a dinner, cut a cake and we all had a chance for the two families to get to meet and get to know each other. Family and a bunch of friends. It was a good time. The wedding is scheduled for later this summer, which is proving to be a bit of a challenge. It would seem that one of the reasons for long engagements in this part of the country is that the places to hold weddings and receptions are booked up that far out. But they're working at it and there are a number of options that remain available, even if not the first choice. But in the meantime, they move forward and are excited.

An Exciting Time

Yesterday after Himbeere got off work (he works third shift) he had some breakfast and then jumped in his truck to go visit his girlfriend.  She lives several miles away and part of the trip involves a long, straight stretch of dirt road.  Long enough to lull an already sleepy boy off to sleep.  So Himberre fell a sleep at the wheel.

He said later he felt a bump and opened his eyes to a small cloud of snow in front of him, snow he had knocked into the air. Then he saw trees rushing at him and thought, "Uh oh.  This isn't going to end well."

So on he plows, into the snow at the side of the road.  And then the truck came to a stop.  He said he sorta just sat there, with a white-knuckle death grip on the steering wheel for about two minutes.  Then he began to realize his hands were beginning to get sore.  So he let go. Then he just sat there a few minutes, taking stock and deciding he wasn't hurt.

Then he called his mother.  That made her feel good, not that he was in a tight spot, but that he called her first.  It took some doing and several other phone calls but they finally got the truck out of the snow and back on the road.  He ended up getting towed back to a heated shop because the serpentine belt had been shredded and was all wrapped around a bunch of other stuff on and around the engine.  That plus the engine compartment, in addition to the engine, was now all stuffed with snow.  So they towed it to a heated shop, dug the belt out and replaced it and then left the truck there a while so the now could melt out.  Then he came home and slept for several hours.

As his big sister said, "God loves you, Himbeere. He took good care of you this morning!"  Amen to that.

Life

They say that life is mostly the same, old boring routine punctuated here and there with highs and lows.  We've had both this last week.  But the best part of the week began Wednesday when Heidlebeere and her kids showed up on our door step!

It is so nice to have them here. They drove out and it only took them two days. Sure feels good to get out of the car after all that.  Brombeere commented the other day how nice it is to have the sound of little kids laughing, playing and having fun - so nice to have them around.  Took them a little bit to warm up.  One of the draw backs to not living closer.  But once they did it has sure been fun.

 

They were here Wednesday night and then drove over to see Blaubeere for a bit.  Then they came back.  Last night we made shish kabobs for dinner - everybody helped.  Some by actually helping, some by staying out of the way. They were good.  We did them in the oven and that turned out to be real easy.

 

I have long maintained that Himbeere is like a cactus; sometimes prickly on the outside but soft as butter on the inside.  Its times like this that I think that is really true.  He may never admit it, but he likes having his nieces and nephews around.

A Family Affair

We recently had occasion to go visit Moosebeere and his family.  They'd had a baby a few months ago, our eighth grandchild, and we wanted to go visit them. Couldn't let this kid get too old before we came to visit. So we hopped on an airplane and make the trek to where they live. 

This trip provided a lot of contrast from our climate to the climate where Mooseberre recently moved.  When we left our house there was two feet of snow in the yard and it was below zero. We spent most of the day on airplanes and when we landed it was over 70. You know all those people who like to take a vacation to a warm place during the coldest part of winter? We'd never done that but this trip brought to mind some reasons why someone might do such a thing.

The actual occasion of this trip was to participate in the blessing of this new baby. That was very nice. We saw some interesting landscape on the way to the church. A small stream with a narrow bridge over it we had to cross.  Some cactus. A very different landscape from what we left at home.

Some interesting things were going on at Moosebeere's church.  They had only recently been made a ward, having been divided off from a different ward.  So during the business portion of the meeting, in addition to the blessing of the baby, there were quite a few sustainings as they worked on staffing this new ward.  I thought that was interesting, anyway.

The blessing was very nice. Plenty of family made it there for the occasion, mostly from the other side of the family. But that's alright. Afterward we all went back to the house for lunch and visiting.  Its a good thing Moosebeere has a fairly large house because all the company filled it right up. Lots of little cousins and cousins once removed running around. No kid pictures, though. Moosebeere has asked that no pictures of the kids be posted online. I think the sounds that families makes when a lot of them get together is a very sweet sound. And so it was that Sunday. It was a very good time.

But like all too many such times, it was too soon at an end and it was time for us to head back to the cold and home.  The weather was a bit merciful, I guess.  The temperature at our house had warmed up a little and at Moosebeere's it had cooled off a fair amount so that there was only 15 degrees difference between the two locations. That helped make coming home a little easier.  I've often wondered how people do it when coming home from that kind of trip.

As we said when we left, "This was fun. We'll have to do this again." So now the trick will be to not let it get to be too long before we do that again.  It was a good time. I'm really glad we went.

Snow Again!

 The other day it snowed again.  I asked Himbeere if he'd clear the driveway and he jumped right up and got to it!  I was impressed! It is such a help when he or the other kids are willing to help like that because I can't do it myself.  So he was out there, in the cold, working away and it hit me - he was wearing shorts.  Sixteen degrees and he's wearing shorts to clear the driveway. He's a bit crazy. Good thing it was one of the warmer days we had during January.

From the Scriptures

 

I was reading in the scriptures about the dedication of the temple that King Solomon built in ancient Israel.  After the construction, which included the best materials the people had, the Lord appeared to Solomon to accept the house they had built for him.  The dedication of that temple was somewhat Pentecostal, with some of the same miraculous manifestations that accompanied other great outpourings of the spirit that are recorded in the scriptures. And Solomon worshiped at the temple and the Lord appeared to him.  Among other things, the Lord said, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place." (2 Chronicles 7:14, 15). When I read that it made me think of similar promises the Lord has made to his people, about the blessings in the land that accompany righteousness, how the Lord will bless those in their promised lands that keep his commandments as long as they keep his commandments.  But I also noticed the promise to hear the prayers and see the needs of his people who attend and worship in the Lord’s temples.  How blessed we are today to have temples.  And how blessed we are to have temples so close, so much more accessible than they were for so long.  It was a reminder of how anxious the Lord is to extend his blessing to us, how much he does to help us keep his commandments.  We really live in a marvelous age.

Let it Snow!

The other day it started snowing.  They had been predicting a few inches but when it finally got here it just snowed and snowed. Snow is wonderful stuff - it looks great while its falling and it looks great once its done falling and you've done all the clean-up.  But doing the shoveling can get to be quite a chore.

This particular storm ended up dropping quite a bit.  If fact, for our area it came real close to breaking a long time record. As it was, it beat records going back over one hundred years.  It came real close to breaking the all time record for a single day's snow fall.  We got just over nine inches within a 24 hour period.

 Having a snow blower makes cleaning it up a whole lot easier.

Now all we need is for the city to quit coming by and turning it back into our drive-way.  They have a rule about not throwing the snow into the street.  Why can't that work both ways?

Give Said the Little Stream

Because of my calling I sit on the stand at church.  We have been instructed to be in our place, ready to go, five minutes before church starts. Unless its my turn to conduct, I’m usually seated 10 and even 15 minutes early every week. As a result, I usually get to watch as most people come into the chapel, find a seat and sit down. I have to admit that this is an interesting procession. Families and individuals both. Today, as I was watching, I saw my favorite person come into the chapel. That was nice in and of itself. 

Have you ever watched a little trickle of water work its way down a row of some kind of vegetable or flowers in a garden? It works its way here and there, finding its way around the row, to each plant growing along the way. The water doesn’t follow a straight course down the row. Rather, it moves this way and that, from this side to that side, pausing here, waiting there, passing this, moving around that as it works its way to the end of the row. That’s what I thought of as I watched her come into the room, stopping to talk to this person, greeting that person, moving further and further into the chapel. She sat by this person for a minute to talk, then moved some where else to speak to that person a minute, moving into the room. Each time bringing a smile to someone’s face.  Countenances would light up. Hugs here. A pat on the shoulder there. She sat by one person, gave her a hug and leaned her head on her shoulder a minute. She makes me smile. So like a little trickle of water, bringing refreshment wherever she goes. Like the little stream, “do as the streams and blossoms do; for God and others live.” 

Always giving. This is the wonderful person I am blessed to get to share forever with.