Good morning son! I woke up this morning expecting to see "Happy Mother's Day" emblazoned in a rainbow across the sky. And lo and behold, there it was, right out my living room window. Gotcha! But I know you're thinking it and wishing you could do that. I saw it in my minds eye. Does that count? It counts for me and right now, that's what matters. We had such awesome Mother's Days together. I remember the year I said I wanted to go to Wild Animal Safari. You and dad just looked at each other and rolled your eyes. The entire day was always about what I wanted to do or go. I can remember when you were pretty young and you were upset because you didn't have any money and you didn't want dad to give you money to buy me anything because you said, "It would just be another gift from dad and not you and you'd have to buy what dad wanted because it was his money".
I have no idea where that came from but I know you were upset and there was no rationalizing with you at that point. So, I told you that from that point on all I ever wanted from you on Mother's Day was a hand drawn card. I love those cards and I'm so thankful I have them. You never failed to make me one and I looked forward to each and every one to see what you would create. Thank you for great Mother's Day memories and all the love you shared with me. What a blessing you were. Keep up the good work! I'd say I'd expect my card again this year but I think that's stretching things just a little.
Today dad and I are re potting a new Double Delight rose. The weather got my other one last winter. I continue to work on the porch and having a great time. Corey found a mirror frame
along the street, the boys picked it up for me and I re-did it yesterday in red. The mirror was missing but dad and I found a mirror and today we'll put it all together and it's going out on the porch. I have plans to add a tray with strawberries to it...and probably a few other things. It will be a challenge to see who gets more strawberries, dad or the birds but I bet dad wins. After all, we're talking strawberries here. I've re potted about a dozen fern that dad dug up for me from out back, planted red geraniums and yellow pansies. Dad bought me some pots and planting mix for Mother's Day. That's what I requested. I have them ready to put up today so we'll do that. Later today we're going to Jon & Corey's for ice cream. She's working in her garden today too. That's what we both wanted to do today. They're getting ready for 31 more baby chicks. The foxes got in last week and took almost all the chickens so it's good timing. That girl should be on a farm!
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| Georgia Jean |
Well, we have yet another new baby in our family. Jenny & Phil have a new baby girl, Georgia Jean. All are healthy and happy. She looks so sweet. It's always nice to have a new baby in the family but to have two new ones within a couple of weeks together is really nice. I love the idea that they'll be able to know each other at a young age and hopefully make some memories together. I know that it was really great to have cousins to grow up with and go to school with. Jim and I had some great times together.
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| Allegra Taylor |
Guess who grew up while we weren't looking? I don't know how she went from this tiny, tiny little thing that use to sit on the counter and play while we cooked to a stunning young lady going to her senior prom. Where did all the years go? They've all grown up. She'll graduate from High School May 24th and plans to attend college. She loves school. Who knows where the next steps will take her. I remember this little girl who grandma and I would take to school, pick up from school and on the way home she'd be jabbering, literally 90 mph, about everything she saw along the way: the cows, "moo", the manure (we were living in the San Joaquin Valley), "yuck", the train, "twain, twain", and "I want pink milk (which was a McDonald's Strawberry Milkshake) and fries. That little girls loved trains and everything about them. Dad and I finally found one for her that she could ride. It took up half our family room but she loved that train. She loved to be read to and I know we watched Lion King at least 200 times. We wore out one tape and had to buy another. She was so easy to please and so happy. She was always a joy to have around and I miss her. I miss them all. Sometimes it seems they are so close and yet so far away. The Lord willing we'll get to see them all sometime this year. That's the wish anyway. The Lord knows the desires of my heart.
This past week or so Ruth shared a link with me and it really touched my heart.
A Stranger came by the other day
with an offer that set me to thinking.
He wanted to buy the old barn
that sits out by the highway.
I told him right off that he was crazy.
He was a city type...you could tell by his clothes,
his car, his hands, and the way he talked.
He said he was driving by and saw that beautiful barn
sitting out in the tall grass and wanted to know if it
was for sale. I told him he had a funny idea of beauty.
Sure, it was a handsome building in its day.
But then, there's been a lot of winters pass with the
snow and ice and howling wind.
The summer sun's beat down on that old barn
till all the paint's gone and the wood has turned
a silver gray. Now the old building leans a good
deal looking kind of tired, yet that fellow
called it beautiful.
That set me to thinking. I walked out to the field
and just stood there gazing at that old barn.
The stranger said he planned to use the lumber
to line the walls of his den in a new country
home he's building down the road.
He said you couldn't get paint that beautiful,
that only years of standing in the weather, bearing
the storms and scorching sun can produce
beautiful barn wood.
It came to me then. We're a lot like that...you and I.
Only it's on the inside that the beauty grows with us.
Sure we turn silver gray, too...and lean a bit more
than we did when we were young and full of sap.
As the years pass, the hard weather of our lives, the
dry spells and the stormy seasons beautify our souls.
And to think, how often folks holler because they
want life easy!
Well, they took the old barn down today
...hauled it away to beautify a rich man's house.
And I reckon someday you and I'll be
hauled off to that Great Ranch in the Sky.
So, hope there's peace with you today and
just trust that you're exactly
where you're meant to be.
So, hope there's peace with you today and
just trust that you're exactly
where you're meant to be.
I'm sincerely grateful and thankful for my
wonderful family and friends who care about
me even though I show signs of weathering!
You were a great son while the Lord shared you with me here on this earth and I know that God is so enjoying you there in your heavenly home. What a privilege it was to have you for the short time that God shared you with me. And I know that when I say me I mean your dad too. I know that because of who you were while you were here many lives are better, I know mine is. You were a living example of what every mother wants in a son and I know that because of who you were and strived to be other mothers have better sons.
Until next week, be Aaron, love mom
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