The Intentional Life

Grandma Jane. Devoted wife of 64 years. Mother of 6 (4 in 4 years!).  Grandmother of 22. Great Grandmother of 54+. A dairyman's wife, working alongside, supporting, despite the fact that she didn't like milk (oh, the irony!). Avid Cardinal's fan, lover of crosswords, Scrabble, and jigsaw puzzles. And no one can hold a candle to her Sweet Tea. I will remember her as the one who was always serving, always loving. In her quiet, peaceful way. She was a woman of few words, even now her actual words do not come to mind. But her actions do. She was the one making sure everyone had enough to eat. She was the one who would sit quietly, listening intently to what you had to say. She was the one who always had time to read you one more book. She was the one, that even when Parkinson's robbed her of the ability to move and speak, continued to be a Prayer Warrior from her wheelchair. And she gave the best hugs. No doubt when I come to the end of ...

 Well, it's still in May so I am telling myself that I'm not late....although compared to other months I am! My camera battery went capoot and I was negligent in getting a new one so most pictures were done on my phone with a less-than-stellar camera. Oh well. It's still documented. April had birthdays and Spring Break and a Band debut. It was full of ballet and soccer and school and more lesson plans and other school responsibilities for Paul. It was full, but it was good.  The beginning of the month brought my birthday and LOTS of homemade gifts!  Spring Break was a very welcome one.  We had a chance to spend time at a State Park and even squeaked a date night out of the week (hurrah!)  Paul picked up the Bass at the beginning of the year and has loved being a part of a Praise and Worship band. It was a huge highlight to be able to sing praise to my Jesus and see my husband performing at the same time. Looking forward to t...

This is a copy, with a few edits, from my post from last year. I wish I could say that I have always appreciated the hard work that teachers do. But, unfortunately, that is not the case. During my years as a student, they were certainly taken for granted, no thought for all the prep work and time spent outside of the classroom. The classrooms just come looking that way, right?  With all those posters and creative bulletin boards? I didn't think about all the homework assignments, tests, project, quizzes that had to be prepared before ever giving them to the students.  They just took them right out a book, didn't they? I mean, I know they had to spend time grading tests and homework, but they could get that done in about 30 minutes after school was done for the day. Done with work at 4PM?  Getting 3 months off in the summer and two weeks at Christmas, plus all those other random holidays? Psh. But that was then.  Sorry, teachers, I was a sel...

 Hannah. Today you turned 8. It's so cliche, but it's true. Those 8 years went fast.  And over those 8 years so many things have remained true. You are loud.  The teachers at school do not believe me because you are so quiet, but they need to spend a day with you outside of the classroom to find out.  From the moment you were born, with you loud piercing cry that even made the doctor and several nurses comment on the noise, you have made yourself known.  You live life loud. With singing and dancing and weird noises and laughter. You love art.  The one time you are not loud, is when you are creating your art. Painting, sculpting, drawing, illustrating your books, coloring, making creations out of boxes. You do it all and love it all. You have a heart for the hurting.  You pray daily for your friends and for "those people who love Jesus and are hurt because they do." You ask me about my friends who you know are sick. Asking if they are better ...

I confess, I have not been doing the best as of late with the blogging.  I miss the writing.  Putting the thoughts that bounce around in my head into words on a digital page.  But there are currently other things in my life that are taking precedence.  I only pray that when I have the time to sit and type that God will bring the words back to me.  Not so that I can impress others, but merely so I have in print these ideas that float in and out so quickly.   March was here. And then it wasn't.  It toyed around with us pretending to be Spring for 24 hours and then plunged us into snowy white Winter the next.  I have to give it credit, most of it's month consists of Winter, but when the last 3rd of the month rolls around, we are ready for the temps to increase a bit and the sun to stick around. But, like other things in life, one must roll with the punches. So we found other reasons to be thankful when we couldn't be thankful for cold. M...

The lamb, the wine, the matzoh.    The bitter herbs, the green herbs, the Haroseth. I love symbolism.  Hidden meanings behind things.  Small glimpses that point to a much bigger picture. And the Passover meal is FULL of it. As we celebrated the Seder dinner this evening with our kids I was gripped again with the beauty of God's story, and how He wove the thread of Jesus into every fabric of it. There are four cups that we drank tonight. I Kuddush - the cup of Thanksgiving II Haggadah - the cup of Deliverance III The Cup of Blessing IV The Cup of Melchizedek During the Cup of Blessing the words are spoken that the Lord is the giver of all our sustenance.  How astounding then, when Jesus stands up during his Last Supper, and announces that He IS the bread.  He IS our sustenance.  And that our sustenance, what we need to live, would be broken so that we may never die. During the Cup of Melchizedek the words are spoken about Melc...