No Greater Love

A poem with great meaning for me.

And is Thy spotless life on earth to end
Ere Thy young manhood has but scarce begun?
Will not Thy Father heaven’s guardians send?
Thou art His Son.

Is there no other way to save mankind
Without Thine agony and utter loss?
Is there no road which Heavenly Love may find
Beside the Cross?

There is no path His weary feet may know
But that which leads Him to the shameful tree;
That Great Forgiving Love will even go
To Calvary.

__ No Other Road, by E. Lillian Lowther

Today is a day of mourning, a reminder of the suffering and death of our Savior. Some of us also mourn for loved ones to whom we have said a tearful but temporary farewell; an infant daughter who would have celebrated her 53rd birthday this month, a caring, self-sacrificing husband, father & brother-in-law whose birthday was today and an infant newborn returned the same day to the Father’s arms.

But, our mourning turns to joy because of “That Great Forgiving Love”. We know the farewells were temporary. The Cross was not His final act. We celebrate the Empty Tomb and the Hope of the Resurrection. We will join our loved ones again in the presence of our Savior!

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

I Corinthians 15:55, 57

Gardens

Flowers are…sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.
Luther Burbank

This quote was on a small sign tucked away in the wildflower garden at the Desert Botanical Gardens.
I have seen it twice in the past two weeks while strolling through the garden viewing the Chihuly blown art glass exhibit. The first time was a treasured two hours with Christa and Gordon. The second was different but an equally treasured time this past week when I took my sister Katy and sister-in-law Lyn-Ette. It was a first experience for the three of us to be together on an excursion, Katy in her wheel chair and Lyn-Ette lovingly insisting on pushing the wheel chair the entire time. Had there not been such an exquisite environment it would have still been a remarkable two hours with two ladies I love very much!

I was reminded of that quote this weekend as I spent time in our garden weeding and planting with Gordon. It is the first time I have had the freedom of time for many years to dig, and weed, and plant, and experience the satisfaction of standing back dirty and tired surveying the result of my labor. We planted petunias, pansies, (my favorite which unfortunately were planted too late to smile and nod at me for long) and the border of sweet alyssum in white and purple.
I don’t remember experiencing as much soreness and pain the day after my prior gardening experiences! Twenty years can make quite a difference.

So this has been a week of enjoying beauty created by man and unsurpassable beauty of God’s creation.
“Consider the lilies of the field, they neither toil, nor spin, yet even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Matt.6:28

TRADITIONS

Happy Valentine Day!

The past weeks have been fragmented and busy meeting physical and medical needs of family members. The schedule has included running back and forth to the hospital, rehabilitation facility and finally home with Katy. Suddenly in the middle of this Bryan was admitted to the hospital for a week with an eye infection. Quiet and rest time has been limited and meals were fast food or hospital cafeteria. It was time for a “centering” activity.

It is Valentine Day so what better way to refocus than to observe a favorite tradition, baking and decorating cookies. I unpacked the cookie cutters and took them with me Fridday to bake with Mei Ling. What memories it brought back teaching her how to roll dough, watching her carefully choose the cutters to use and anxiously waiting for them to come out of the oven and cool. She was precise and fastidious with the frosting and decorating but tired before they were all decorated .There was very little mess.

This morning Stefani and Bryan joined me in our kitchen to repeat the ceremony. A double batch of our favorite sour cream sugar cookies gave opportunity to try several different heart shaped cutters. (I have 10 different ones.) Again they tired before all five dozen were frosted. Stefi dashed off with a few to share with friends, Bryan to finish his chores, leaving me to clean up a much bigger mess than yesterday.

That was fine as it gave me an opportunity to continue the “centering process”.. As I put the cutters away, I picked through my assortment, remembering past cookie baking events with children and grandchildren. Among the heart shapes is a nested set of red cutters. I purchased three sets one year, sending the other two, accompanied by my sugar cookie recipe to my grand daughters in lieu of valentine cards. I wondered if any one else was using them this year.There are the Christmas ones; trees, stars, angels and bells, each child usually had a favorite. The trees were the common favorites as they placed the silver dragees on the tip of each branch. Gingerbread men and teddy bears are there to use on the molasses & ginger sweet figures with cinnamon hots or raisins as buttons down their front.

Included in the box are the primitive ones inherited from Grandpa Ed, handmade from tin cans, one heart shaped and one biscuit cutter both with handles attached by small screws. There is the trefoil used for the Girl Scout cookie baking gatherings at Pattie Haynes home with her mother directing. That was in the late 40s, the beginning of Girl Scout cookie baking. That cutter made cookies served at the Girl Scout ceremony when Katy’s hair braid got too close to the candle of the girl behind her in the awards ceremony.

The cross, church, bunny, chick and lamb for Easter along with animals, cactus, leaves, boots and more are all washed and tucked away again. Perhaps the next time they are unpacked some one of you will be here to participate in the cookie baking tradition.

Enlarging Our Tent

Once again we have a full house. It sounds like a card game, doesn't it? Actually it has been more like a chess game as we moved furniture, and closet space to make room for our youngest, vivacious granddaughter Stefani. We moved Grandpa's office out of the last & littlest bedroom to our bedroom.She has been a great help assisting Bryan with his Algebra homework, something we were not able to do.

Oh, yes, that includes another car in the driveway. Grandpa and Gordon have taken every opportunity to sit in the passenger seat of the VW, and Chevy truck for advanced driving instructions on freeways and busy city streets. As she has already been hired at Pottery Barn Kids in Fashion Square, it was important to make sure she could manuever safely through traffic.

The past months have been busy for us with Ron's cataract surgery on both eyes. Unbelievably his vision is better than it has been for years! He only needs reading glasses & his greatest adjustment was to the amount of light and bright colors.

Bryan started highschool this fall and that has been an adjustment for him and us as well. Maybe we will survive the return to parent participation in highschool activities. It has included attending a football game, ROTC gatherings, and parent/teacher conferences.

Retirement begins

My last day in my office. I never realized how hard it would be to turn off the computer for the last time!

Can you believe I finally have a blog set up? Stefi is visiting for a couple of weeks. Monday is our day together & the first activity on the list was to set up a blog for me. Actually, I had it completed except for a template background but didn't realize I had because of template difficulties.

Retirement was a bittersweet experience. I've been there for 18 years and the friendships developed during that time are hard to leave. The celebrations, gifts and expressions of love and appreciation made it more difficult than I expected. Although stressful, the position of management over a team of 12-14 people over the past 8 years was rewarding. I truly enjoy directing, teaching and guiding others. It is even more apparent to me now that I am no longer in a position to do that. Grandpa doesn't appreciate my attempts at that with him. (ha,ha).

I've now been retired (??) for over a month. Retired but not bored. During that time, a visit to the Ophthalmologist revealed that Grandpa needed cataract surgery. This had to be completed before my insurance expires so within a 3 week period he has surgery on both eyes. It is amazing! He is only using drug store reading glasses, and complaining about how bright the light is. The Dr said his recovery so far has been above average but he isn't convinced of that. He is not able to do anything strenuous yet and must wear those snazzy wrap-around sun glasses.

Grandpa in his stylish (?) shades.

I am aware of the random positions of the photos. They just didn't seem to want to cooperate with my attempts to place them in an orderly manner. Hopefully these newsletters will become more professional as I gain experience.