say the words

"We need to make sure that we watch "It's a Wonderful Life" with the kids this weekend."

"Your food is my favorite."

"I was watching you the other night and thought to myself, 'She is beautiful.'"

"Just come over here...we need to love each other."

"Are you taking your medicine?"

"Here's your coffee."

"We need to pray."

A good friend of mine pointed out something to me one day...,

"Aaron loves you."

I mean I  know that he loves me,

but that others notice his love for me made me realize how he loves me.

So many times we are told to write down what our kids say,

and we should,

but I'm taking today to write down a few things that my husband has said to me within this past week.

Writing may be my love language,

but words spoken is his.

Well, that and... 

always making the best fires on cold days.

"is"

Everyday,

                                                     

                                                                      along the way,

 Grace will carry me.

                                        

it's a little thing but I was thinking about the new name for our blog and felt that it was missing something...one word that expresses so much of the present.

Grace is Home.

It can be understood to mean different things to individual interpretation.

Somedays it may mean that Grace came walking though our door and settled in among us.

Other days it may mean that beyond the walls of the Old House we have something more,

even if everything else was taken from us...or when we fall flat on our face,

we still have Grace.

Because Grace just is,

and always will be.

Togetherness

Frome braces, to ears pierced, strep throat, winter colds, carpools, christmas tree hunting, train rides, and going for our "family drives"...we are treasuring this time together. We hug, and laugh, and maybe spend some days guilt-free in our p.j.'s...just being together. 

Because together is a gift. 

This year has had its hard times.

And there will be more to come.

Only a few days ago Aaron's mom called. 

"Dad has cancer. "

And this world that seem to stand still the day my grandma past away, 

stopped for a moment again.

"Will you trust Me with this too?"

We wrestle through the night with the "why's?"

And rise up with the sun to say, 

"We will trust in You Jesus."

Because eternal togetherness is just a breath away.

Christmas here...

Christmas here is Advent and letters to Santa. 

Christmas here is sharing an adventure. 

Christmas here is "almost snow".  

 Christmas here is three kids in a row.

The Christmas Lodge...(stay-cation defined)

The kids had so much fun decorating their own rooms this year for Christmas....in fact they took a theme and ran away with it. Aaron and I have been treated to cozy evenings in their "Lodge" rooms...complete with music, lights, treats, games and lots of smiles.

 No skis allowed!

 AbbySue's Room #3...The Main Lodge.

 She designed her own stove and fireplace...

 complete with Christmas cookies!

 Lights...

 Lights...

 and more lights.

 Ben's Room #1

Zibby's Room #2...."we have "danceing", and sleeping. No "smoing". No crying.

new name

Grace Home....

Zibby and I settled on the new name for our little blog in this world. It seems to fit us much better now. This place to write started as a record of memories and days together as a family and has through the years evolved into more of an outlet of sorts for me, as a wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend. When I take the time to read through the many posts, in-between the lines I continually find Grace. It's by Grace that we are a family and by Grace that we continue in Love. There are simple and precious memories that make us a family and with that there are difficult and heart rending memories that solidify us as a family. Through and through there is Grace. Our Home...His place of Grace poured our...over and over and over again.

Girl with the Flower

     There was a poem that Grandpa wrote for Grandma, stuck up high on the fridge behind a "George Jetson" magnet. I remember looking up at it from the time I could read well into adulthood. I think it was called "Girl with the Flower." Grandpa's handwriting looked like the wind to me, his letters blowing across the paper like dandelion seeds. The poem was about my Grandma as a little girl. Grandpa knew her then. He met her when she was in kindergarten...he was four years older. His little sister, my Aunt Edith Mae, and my Grandma, Patricia, became best friends. In the the years to come my Grandparents would fall in love, become man and wife, raise three children, three grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, and grow old together. There was a lot of real and gritty life in-between. The kind of stuff that makes or breaks us.

My Grandparents let it make them...for 63 years.

On November 17th my Grandpa's "Girl with the Flower" passed from death to Life.

It was sudden.

We are heartbroken...still feeling a bit lost.

Most days I go over to Grandpa's for a little visit. I sit in Grandma's cozy, red chair....her needlework still out where she touched it last.

I want her back.

I bet Grandpa does too.

I feel her all around my days.

I bet Grandpa does too.

Their love left an impression on me.

From the poem on the fridge to the way he kissed her lifeless lips goodbye with the words, "my beautiful darling.." tears streaming....

Their love left an impression on me,

it is a part of who I am...

what an honor.