Farewell's

Sometimes good bye's are breezy and easy. Friends will be seen again very soon and there is no reason to mourn. They are bittersweet, a warm lingering embrace echoing with the fond time having just been spent.

In the last days I've said to far too many good bye's than I care too. For just a few precious moments I feel the privilege of sweet fellowship with a friend. Moments that slip by altogether too quickly and than it's good bye till a time that is not known. Phone and e-mail make me very glad for hearts can be shared even over a great many miles.

Miles separate my brother and I now. This feeling fills me when he's home. Just the lovely thought that my brother is close by and I can tease him whenever I like makes me happy. I don't mind when he teases me. I don't mind when gives what I think is far too much advice but secretly am very grateful. Now he resides somewhere else serving with his gifts and desires and most importantly doing God's work.



I kissed my grandma's check never knowing it would be the last time. I wouldn't have said good bye even if I would have known. Instead I breathed a cheerful good night. For I knew even if I didn't see Grandma in the morning I would see her in heaven. My farewell would not be forever. Good bye's are never forever in Christ whether we say them with expectation of meeting again on earth or whisper a quiet good night for the last time.

Gentleman Covored in Dirt?

I told you I was going to share adventures from my job. Here is one from my first day.

I looked around for some help from the male employees. Really that was quite a lot of supplies for one girl to bring in I thought. No one was around so I gathered up my first load of things I had just come back from picking up and preceding went in side. Full arms don't exactly allow give you free hands to open the door so I set down part of my load and opened the door for myself. Thinking there should have been someone there to open the door. Unknowingly someone was there.

"I was going to open the door for you" the farmer in the John Deere cap apologized "but you were too fast".

I laughed and than gave a very heart felt "thank you".

Though the man wearing scruffy cowboy boots never got the chance to be a gentleman I was grateful. I knew he had been all the way over on the other side of the room and stopped his conversation just to lend some chivalry. I've opened doors many a time for myself when there were 5 guys standing by the door.

Perhaps he didn't look the part in his dirt ridden farm clothes. Oh but I knew he was more of a gentleman than those looking sharp in handsome freshly ironed clothes.
I needn't have said thank you but I just had tell him in two words that I appreciated his wanting to put the ladies first. I hope he understood.

I remember him as a gentleman, I hope he remembers me as a lady who appreciated it.

Life in June

Life has been anything but normal this month of June. Even from the first day routine of life fell aside to be replaced with sickness, helping, mourning, laughter, and time with family.



Today is blissful, making breakfast for dad and than worshiping the Lord. Coming home to leftovers served on china than enjoying a very good book and a nap in between. I needed this day of quietness to rest. For my life is about take some normalcy but perhaps not in the restful since. I'm going to be a working girl as of Monday. The local grain elevator offered me the same position I had last summer during wheat harvest. Gratefully I accepted, many don't have a job right now. However God gave me a job which fit perfectly into my summer activities. Perfectly it's just a mile up the road allowing extra money to go into my bank account:) I had lots of adventures last summer and perhaps will have new one's this summer. I just might to tell you if you want to hear.



I almost didn't take the job because I was scared. Naively I didn't know many things that I know know about my workplace. Dad gave me just the spur of encouragement I needed. Challenge is what I'm looking forward too. "Being in the world and not of it" will be easier other times than other's. God has put me on this earth for a purpose and I attend to strive to glorify God in everything I do and say.



Pray for me if you think about it.

Gone...but only from Our Sight

I watched as the hearse slowly pulled out of our driveway. Grandma was leaving what had been her home for the last several years for the last time. In truth she had left hours before when took her last breath and at long last met her Savior face to face. Her body in deteriorating shape was no longer a prison but now only shell; having served grandma very well during her 96 years of life.

I felt very selfish during the days and hours following that beautiful Sunday morning. I wished to see grandma's face light up once more as I stopped in for a visit. I wanted to scoop up the frail hand and let's its warmth fill my heart one more time. Times like those are gone now. Sorrow and joy are left in their place. Lots of joy.

How can we help but rejoice. I imagine that grandma's smile never leaves her face now. Grandma is running with the children that left this earth before they could even be named. There is the One who knew grandma better than any of us. Grandma sought after Him her whole life always looking for a opportunity to follow the Lord's command. Whether it was passing out tracks with her home baked cookies on Halloween. Serving faithfully for years at the Source of Light Bible Correspondence school. Or just the chance to worship with other believers. Grandma now is spending every possible moment with the Lord she longed for all her life. Just the tinniest thought of what Grandma is doing now makes me happy. Yet there is sorrow.

Moments are long gone of stories shared from the past. I miss eating the yummy bakery items from her fridge. Late night visits because everyone else was in bed I found very comforting. Good night kisses were the best because I rarely got them anywhere else. Grandma was notorious for frugal ways. Living through depression meant grandma knew how to make the most of everything.

At first glance it may have appeared grandma lived a life of not enough, but that is what the world would see. Riches, grandma had more wealth than most her age. When grandma slipped away to glory 10 children, 48 grandchildren, and 95 great grandchildren mourned her death. Grandpa who waited patiently 2 years to marry his bride welcomed grandma along with 2 of the children gone before.

Memento's to remember grandma have been bestowed on us but it's just stuff that one day we too shall leave. No the real treasure is vibrantly living and breathing. Carrying on grandma's legacy until we shall meet triumphantly meet in the clouds.

A christian legacy means more than looking back and remembering the blessings of our loved one's life; it also means looking ahead and recognizing that our loved one has gone before us and given us a pathway of faith to follow.
Roy Lessin

Grandma enjoying breakfast with one of her great granddaughter's.

Hi:)

Does anybody wonder where I've been? Oh I hope so:)

I haven't strayed far from my home yet I've done little of the ordinary. The events from the past 2 weeks are still too raw to even process. I hope to share with you more but all I can say now is three words.

God's grace enough.

Never ever forget that. When you are overwhelmed, filled with grief, full of selfishness, cannot trust; remember it. Don't you dare forget how good and kind our God is ever. For I have great pity for the person who has gone through trials as great as my own without our God. Surly they bore so much needlessly for it was already being carried.

"For in our weaknesses He had made us strong"