Sunday Meanderings

FOOD FOR THOUGHT - A DEVOTIONAL

THE POWER OF ENCOURAGEMENT

He comes alongside us when we go through hard times,
and before you know it,
He brings us alongside someone else
who is going through hard times
so that we can be there for that person
just as God was there for us.

~~ 2 Corinthians 1:4 ~~

Do you delight in the victories of others? You should. Each day provides countless opportunities to encourage others and to praise their good works. When you do so, you spread seeds of joy and happiness.

American poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox advised, "Talk happiness. The world is sad enough without your woe." Her words still apply.

Life is a team sport, and all of us need occasional pats on the back from our teammates. So, let us be cheerful with smiles on our faces and encouraging words on our lips. By blessing others, we also bless ourselves, and, when we do, God smiles.

Giving encouragement to others is a most welcome gift, for the results of it are lifted spirits, increased self-worth and a hopeful future. (Florence Littauer)

A Woman of Prayer - 365 Daily Devotionals, Freeman-Smith, LLC, Publisher



TEN DAYS IN REVIEW - A FAMILY REUNITED

Well, hello again. I've been gone for ten days. OK. I haven't been gone, but with the exception of one quick post last Wednesday, I haven't been present in Bloggityville for ten days.

I honestly thought I'd be able to post a few times and keep up with things out here, while Mandy and Aaron were home, but then, I'm pretty well known for making huge plans that don't happen because I tend to be a little overly optimistic. :-)

These two people, my daughter Mandy and her husband Aaron arrived Thursday, July 3rd (that would be the Thursday before last) and I hadn't seen them for months and months. I think they'd been here for maybe two hours when I realized, my blog and my shoppe and everything I do to keep them going and current, well they could wait. Truly. The moment my kids arrived, my house was so completely innundated with family, I knew. Blogging had to wait for a little while.

If you're a new visitor to A Chelsea Morning, Mandy and Aaron just celebrated their first anniversary. He's in graduate school and she teaches elementary school (5th grade) on the eastern side of Colorado. I live in Grand Junction, eight miles from the Utah border. That's as far west as you can get in Colorado.

Allow me to confuse you. This is the first time I've been separated from Mandy except for the years she was in college at Mesa State, out here on the western slope, and I still lived in Frederick, over there on the eastern slope. Somehow, we did a little switcharoo and it's all backwards now. LOL

All that's to say, this was a HUGE thing, having them back home again and let me tell you, I've been in heaven.

I don't know how to describe the past ten days except to say, it was relaxing and wonderful. I think if I'd tried to spend time at the computer, keeping up with everyone AND doing posts constantly, I'd be exhausted and frustrated tonight.

Mandy left today. And I'm not exhausted and I'm not frustrated. I feel really good and actually, in spite of the constant house full of family for ten days, I feel rested.

I want to share the past ten days with you and I can only do it with photos. Trust me, we didn't climb any mountains. We didn't make any amazing day trips.

We were just a family that hung out together. There was a whole lot of snack type meals because we didn't waste our time cooking the whole time and there were no amazing day trips to beautiful places because we're family and being together, just doing our family thing, was what we all fell into naturally.

Krissy took the whole week off so she and Cameron and our new baby (Avery) were here almost 24/7. Trust me when I tell you, it's just hotter than blue blazes in Grand Junction right now, so we played outside until we couldn't stand it any more and then we came in and snacked and lots and lots of naps were enjoyed by all. Seriously, it's amazing how many times I looked around and realized, Cameron was down for a nap in my bedroom, Avery was sleeping peacefully in her swing, Rob was snoozing in his recliner, Krissy was napping on the couch and Mandy was snuggled into my mama bear chair with a Jodi Picoult book. Mandy reads as avidly as I do - she's working through my Jodi library. LOL

So, in photos, my one claim to a "vacation" this summer - my family, all in my house, for ten days.


Fourth of July

We cooked hamburgers and hotdogs. Needless to say, we ran out of gas right in the middle of the cooking. Well of course we did. But all was OK - Andy ran down to his house and brought his gas bottle to the rescue. How classic is this family photo? Mandy's face is chopped in half. And I'm not in the photo because of course I take the photos so I'm never in them. Sigh.

Two things. First, that's Aaron's Mom Jan on the left.

And second, THAT'S MY OAK TABLE!!

Finally, we got our original family table back. Rob and I bought that table when both the girls were still in high chairs. It's traveled around the family for years and years and it's back home. We inherited Rob's mom's table when she passed away and it was truly a classic (Ethan Allen) but it wasn't the table my kids dyed Easter eggs on, the one they did their homework on and the one I spent uncountable hours filling out college applications on.

I love that table. I can't tell you how thrilled I am to have it back.


Cameron was fascinated that Uncle Eh-Won could make it rain
by aiming his shark shooter thingy into the sky.


Mandy and Cameron and Aaron.

To see these three reunited was so much fun. Cameron talks about them all the time and because he just turned three, I don't think he quite understands why he can't see them whenever he wants to.


I don't know how to explain the relationship between Cameron and Aaron. Cameron formed an immediate attachment to Aaron, the moment he met him, and he just adores his uncle. He talks about Uncle Eh-Won all the time. When I see these two together, I get so excited, because Mandy and Aaron are trying to get pregnant and I know for sure, Aaron is ready to be a father and he's going to be a really great dad.

Oh! I should probably tell you...since I left that hanging...no baby this month, but like Mandy and Aaron say, back to work, work, work. LOL


Cameron got this great Fisher-Price tee ball set for his birthday. What you're not seeing is all of the big people running all over the yard to recover the balls he's hitting. This child has got a great swing and as a former tee-ball, girls' softball mom myself, I can absolutely swear he has an amazing follow through. I see some pretty exciting ballgames in my future. :-)


Cameron got lots of "fun" stuff for his birthday (June 30th) including this shark water shooting thing that he mastered right away. Have I mentioned it's just hotter than all getout here? Cameron managed to keep all of us soaking wet with this silly thing and trust me when I say, none of us got mad at him when he "got" us. LOL


The cookie jar was woefully empty. Not acceptable. Nana's cookie jar should never be empty and mine has been for too long. Cameron saw the jar on the counter, sadly empty, and he looked at me and said, "Nana! Let's make some!" So we did.


We made peanut butter cookies, and because I had a bag of kisses sitting right on the counter, we gave them "hats." I love that kid's imagination. :-)


I'm not going to tell you how many hours my girls and I
spent playing rummy. But I will tell you, it was wonderful. We've played rummy since as far back as they can remember.

The girls and I play rummy but Rob doesn't usually play with us. It's not challenging enough for him. LOL

So....he taught them how to play pinochle. Rob and I LOVE pinochle but we never taught them to play. This visit, we did. And they are addicted. If you play pinochle, you understand. Oh my word, we had SO much fun playing pinochle.

When the four of us sat around the table at night, after we had the babies settled down and it was quiet, just the four of us playing cards, it brought back such memories.

Memories of our camping trips. We had an RV. And we spent many evenings, just the four of us, sitting at the table playing games.

I know my daughters are grown and married and having babies. But for these few nights, sitting around the table, it reminded me so vividly of when it was just us four.


Daddy and daughter having dinner. I don't even know what they were eating - maybe the oven barbecued chicken I did one night last week. No, wait! I think it might be that pizza spaghetti casserole I made up ahead of time and froze.


I can assure you, as they shared dinner, they were discussing politics, the coming election and all the things they know would just straighten this country right out. These two can go on for hours. This is when I normally go take a nice long bubble bath. LOL


Can someone please tell me?

WHY do kids think it's OK to use absolutely the next-to-the-last sheet of tp and walk way saying, "Hey! I didn't use the last of it!"

I swear. Last Tuesday night. This is Rob's bathroom.


And this is my bathroom.

And yes, only a blogger would think to photograph this, but I ask you, is this not blog fodder? It's amazing. No matter how grown up they are, some things just never change. This happens so often, it doesn't even bother me any more. LOL


Aunt Mandy lets Cameron play pinball on her laptop.

By the way, I don't know about your three year old, but I'm completely blown away at Cameron and the way he handles a mouse, plays computer games and knows how to click in and out of programs. He can't read, but he can do this. I'm truly astounded.


I set aside all my sewing while Mandy was here.

Thank goodness. Because she brought twenty yards of fabric with her. And I made curtains for her bedroom, office and living room. So I DID sew, Ladies. For two days. But....I feel good that she and Aaron asked me to do this for them.


Goodness! Where on earth did THAT photo come from?!!


We took an afternoon and Rob took us all out to see his school. I can't tell you the feelings that went through Krissy and Mandy and me, seeing our little Cameron walk around an elementary school, going into the classrooms, and getting all excited. And of course, Mandy teaches elementary school. So it might not be YOUR idea of a great day trip, but for us, it was so, so much fun.

And Papa took Cameron to the kindergarten playground and for the first time, ever, Cameron, got to swing.


I think he liked it. :-)


He wasn't too sure about the big slide though.


And so. An aunt that's only seen her new niece one other time snuggles with her one more time. Avery is four months old. The next time Aunt Mandy sees her, she'll be almost nine months old, and crawling.

Mandy knows that too much happens in between our visits, and so does Aaron. And this is why, thank you so much Jesus, they've decided when Aaron finishes graduate school, they're.coming.home.


And one last cuddle with Cameron. I think you all know how special Cameron is to all of us. Mandy and Aaron miss him all the time.


And so this morning we took Mandy to the Amtrak station. How I wish I could have climbed onto that train with her. My first trip, last fall, to see my Mom, sucked. But I'm now officially a seasoned train traveler and how I would have loved to make this trip with her. I swear, it's got to be fun if you're traveling with someone and not alone, and for heavens sake, the cost of the ticket is cheaper than the gas to drive it these days.

I asked Rob to try to get some photos. Have I mentioned it's just hotter than beejeebs out here which is code for bright sunshine? He couldn't see squat in the camera. So he got this photo.


I was going to try to convince you I was looking up to heaven and offering a prayer.

Not.

This is just a terrible photo. But since I always take the photos, this is the only photo of Mandy and me together from the whole visit. So I had to include it. LOL


Except for this one.

If you lean your head to the left and squint really really hard, you can see Mandy and me and the baby WAAAAYYY back there.

And I have no idea what that guy's tee shirt means. Good grief. Why on earth do people think we need writing on our clothes?


ONE LAST THOUGHT

It bothered me to be away from my blog for so long. But you know, it only bothered me a little. I've been doing this for almost two and a half years and I love it.

But finally, after all this time, it occurred to me, it's OK to not feel so obligated and so driven that you forget to just stop and enjoy the simple things that make up your life.

This was one of the best ten days of my life.