Up To The Change (Challenge)

Good morning son!! And what a beautiful morning it is. It's predicted to be another hot one. Add the thunder showers this afternoon and the humidity and I don't think dad and I will be doing much but watching a movie or two. We've been working pretty hard this week, heat and all, to get ready for the bed to arrive. Yes, we were finally able to add a bed and create a guest room. It has felt really odd to be creating a home and not have room for guests. Now we can have company! It feels so cool to be able to say that again. We've never had a home when we couldn't invite people to come and visit. Things are once again tilting to the right!

Times and lives do change. People change. Change is something we all have in common. We can accept it, take it and run with it, or, we can fight it. In the end, whichever path we choose, change is going to happen. Dad has a saying, "The only thing constant in life is change.". Not only is change constant but, it progresses in it's own time. Sometimes it happens and we don't even realize it until later. Sometimes we see it coming and have time to prepare. Sometimes we're not aware of the change that is coming and there's no time to prepare. For me,  just speaking for my life, there's been a LOT of changes over the years. God has seen fit to give me a personality that accepts change pretty well. When I was younger, much younger, change came pretty easy. As the years have passed, please note that I'm NOT saying, "as I get older", I've still been pretty acceptable of change, I don't fight it, but I can "see" this funny, quizzical look on my face as it's happening and it takes longer for the recognition of it's reality to set it. For instance, when we moved for dad's work. Most of the time dad would call and say, "I'm being transferred to, X, Y or Z". And my response was always, "Okay, let's go". As always, the company paid the expenses for US to move so we did all the work. Dad and I could pack and load a truck in less than a week. Dad had to start work the Monday we arrived. It would take me three days, count 'em, three days from the day we arrived for me to unpack, have everything in it's place, pictures hung and boxes broken down and on the curb. Now evidently, it takes the both of us two years!

We are so thankful for God's grace and patience with us as we continue to maneuver through life's changes. Whether it be a life change or a room change in our home. God is there. How do people do it without Him?
 
Dad and I have always wanted our home to be open and welcoming. Your grandpa and grandma were two of the best examples of that. I guess I came by it naturally. Dad is from the South and I know it's natural there, "Y'all come now, ya hear!". We've loved having friends and family visit, invited and unannounced. Growing up that was a daily occurrence in our home. I think it's more difficult now to get people to just drop by. Maybe it's because lives are so busy. I don't know. But times change and that's not necessarily a bad thing, just different.

I've been thinking  about you a lot this week. More than usual. All good. Maybe it was a natural thing to think, "now the kids can come and visit", while we were getting the room ready. It was just one of those fleeting moments that I have. It happens so quickly it's there and gone almost before I realize it's happened. I hope those moments never stop. At first it was really difficult to have those moments because I missed you so much. I still miss you, but the pain isn't as great. Oh shoot, I don't know how to explain it. You know what I mean. The pain is still there but with time becomes more bare-able. Clear? Oh well, you're on your own, I know what I mean.

I know I promised you "after" pictures of the guest room but I didn't get as far as I thought I would. We had been using it for storage and also had all the Christmas decorations stored there. Dad cleaned up the area down in the basement and moved everything down there. In one day I might add. I was going to change the paint color but after thinking about it I've decided to leave it the cream. I'll add color my usual way, furniture and accents. Maybe my painting days are over?  (Now that we've both stopped laughing.)

This week dad and Josh are going fishing. Dad did a "header" down in the basement last week and so they had to postpone their fishing trip until this week. No, he's fine but for the first time in a long time he had to sit all day with a package of frozen broccoli on his knee. Don't laugh, that's all I had and it worked!!

We had a quiet 4th of July. Just the way we like them. It was a good day. We talked some about all the 4ths we celebrated when you were growing up. Yes, I'm laughing here. I think the last time we did fire works together was the year before the Lord called you home! Do you have fire works in heaven? Maybe that's the lightening we see. So many unanswered questions that aren't going to matter a hoot in heaven. Funny how we wonder now. 

Today is going to be a very quiet day for us. It's time for rest and fortunately, we still have enough brain cells to recognize it. Most of the time anyway!

Until next week, be Aaron, love mom