Father's Day Poem for my Dad

To honor a father, is more than a card

To make you feel all warm and fuzzy

It’s a life that I live, like a sower with good seed

Living out the principle’s you’ve taught me

I’m indebted to you for so many things

A card could never repay

Or even come close to expressing my thanks

And admiration on this Father’s Day

For who would I be without your example

And what would I believe in my heart

The way that I live, and the convictions I hold

Honor you as to others I impart

To pass on the legacy of salads and juice

Of cayenne and lemon in water

The lifestyle of learning to care for this temple

 Just by my diet, they know I’m your daughter

Or my love of discussion, to brainstorm ideas

And communicate in a way that sinks in

Whether art, or a poem or an essay or one liner

In this way we are very akin

Or why am I social? Making friends with great ease

Knowing how to affirm and inspire

Selling books door to door, or teaching a class

In our genes there must be the same wire

The way that you work, using your talents and time

To “make it happen” every day

I’ve learned self motivation

Being responsible for results, not excusing failure away

Because if life gives you a lemon

You make lemonade

You always learned and you grew and prayed

Because character is not made in a crisis

It is only then displayed

But most of all things from you that I’ve learned

Is the amazing love of our Lord,

You modeled it to me, going above and beyond

I am so humbled and honestly floored

How could you delight in giving so much

So unselfishly you give and you give

And now in my life, I honor you too

With the same attitude I want to live

And as I read this, I’ll probably choke up

I know someone else who does that too…

But there’s no one else I’d rather be like

Dad, there’s just not another you

Happy Father’s Day

Happy Mother's Day

If there's one holiday out of the entire year that I REALLY like celebrating it's Mother's Day.  Christmas, Thanksgiving, and even birthdays are so fake sometimes. Those holidays are often so much about food and decorations and gifts that you haven't earned that they become very empty and shallow. But Mother's Day? Oh, it's packed full of affirmation, hard earned affirmation (my primary love language - the way I give and receive love :) Being a mother now, I relish the opportunity to reflect and give my mom her hard earned praise. And someday, I hope to be the recipient of sincere gratitude articulated through written words.

So Mom, here's to you...but first a preamble:

As I wrote out your Mother's Day letter I wondered if I was just repeating myself from last year. Do mother's ever get tired of hearing the same things? Probably not :) Surprisingly, I could only find two on my computer from previous years. The other ones were probably written in a card or email that I didn't do a rough draft first and saved. So, here are the two I found and at the end is your affirmation for this year :)

This was written in 2005

Mom,

As I teach a class on the “law,” we have covered the commandment that says “honor your father and mother…” After studying it I see that “during the earlier years of life parents shall stand in the place of God to their children” (AH 293). As Moses was to the Israelites, you were to me, and though you sacrificed so much (and still are) I returned the favor with dishonesty, ungratefulness, rebellion, and complaints. I am regretful now that I wasted those years living steadily at home to give you not only respect, submission, and obedience, but failed also to give you love and tenderness, did not try to lighten your cares, or guard your reputation (AH 293.1) As my mother, you are entitled to a degree of love and respect which is due to no other person and I just ask your forgiveness for not being the daughter God would have me to be.

Now, as the pressure and inconclusiveness of planning a wedding strain my heart and mind I am so comforted and filled with gratitude to know that you have been down that road before and I can count on you to impart your creativity, wisdom, precious time and energies to help me. “Thank you” is insufficient to express my relief to have such a mom as you to help with all the decorating, organizing and execution. Your vision impresses me so much. You have the ability to see something that’s not as though it were. This goes for your knack at decorating as well as developing us children to be who we are today. I’m sure there were times when we were young and you endured our stubbornness to eat our food, reluctance to do our chores, brattiness with each other, and rebellion with our friends. You could have been tempted to think and reinforce that we would never change, but instead you nurtured and corrected, and encouraged us to have the fruits of the spirit and the love of Christ.  As you “stood in the place of God” for me, “training me in the way I should go, when I grew up I did not depart from it.” (Pr. 22:6) Thank you for being a faithful mom, going “through the same round day after day, week after week, with no special marked results” You may not have been able to “tell at the close of the day the many little things you have accomplished. While others were dealing “with the things which must perish and pass away, you were dealing with developing minds and character, working not only for time but for eternity. {AH 233.1} Thank you for being such a great mom and cooperating with God to help me become who I am today. I owe so much to you.

                              Love,

                              Your grateful daughter

                              Happy Hopie

I think this was last year - 2012

Dear Mom,

A while ago the kids got a fever and I held them almost all day. I showed tender sympathy, compassion, prayed with them, and nursed them back to health. A couple of days later when they had recovered, I began to feel achy and hot. As I tucked the kids in I asked Omega to pray for me because I thought I was starting to get sick. She didn’t want to. I told her, “I prayed for you when you were sick. Can’t you pray for me?” She still didn’t want to. I felt so unappreciated. There have been other instances where I am confronted with the fact that kids just sincerely do not understand all that I do for them. They are absolutely clueless to the depth and height and breadth of love I have for them, demonstrated in countless ways. It makes me think of Jesus who asked the disciples to watch and pray with him and they fell asleep. “The loneliness of Christ, separated from the heavenly courts, living the life of humanity, was never understood or appreciated by the disciples as it should have been. . . . When Jesus was no longer with them, . . . they began to see how they might have shown Him attentions that would have brought gladness to His heart. . . .” {AG 163.5} And, I admit that it isn’t until now that I appreciate all that you have done for me. As I do for my children, I realize every day what you did for me and you deserve a sparkling crown and a full body massage ;) From the little things like making sure you packed extra clothes, towels, shovels and buckets to the beach, to buying us new cleats or prom dress, to instilling in us a reverence for God’s word and exemplifying the power of prayer, Mom, I owe a lot of who I am to your example and training. Thank you doesn’t even scratch the surface in communicating the depth of my appreciation.

“Then it will be found that many who have blessed the world with the light of genius and truth and holiness owe the principles that were the mainspring of their influence and success to a praying, Christian mother.” {AH 239.1}

I love you forever,
I like you for always
As long as I’m living
My mommy you’ll be

Your Hopie Doodle  

Mother’s Day 2013

Dear Mom,

It’s a quiet Sabbath afternoon and the kids are “secretly” making me a Mother’s Day card in Angel’s room, so I have a moment to write my own tribute to my wonderful mother.

I watched the sermon “The Secret Place” by David Gibbs a couple of days ago and was again impressed with the truth of the statement, “Next to God, the mother's power for good is the strongest known on earth.”  {AH 240.1} The good you have done in my life is certainly most dramatic in my earliest years of character formation, which I have thanked you for before, so this year I will thank you for the good influence you are in my life right now.

The first thing that comes to mind is that you are always available to talk to. Despite my social nature, I have very few friends. David and Jesus are really my only friends that I talk to regularly. But, aside from them, who do I call when I want to share good news with someone? YOU!! I’m so thankful that you are always there. I don’t have to worry about interrupting you at work or something because you are always available, even when you “should” be working on a project. I feel honored that you make time for me as well as all of Omega’s chatter.

This brings me to my second appreciation. I’m thankful that you invest time into my children. It’s easy for a grandmother to spoil her grand-kids with gifts, but you go beyond that and write instructive/inspiring little notes and postcards to them, and spend lots of time on the phone listening to them. I believe that is really bonding their heart to yours. Those who assist in blessing my children bless me :) When other people take time to show love to my kids, it's like they are showing love to me.

Thirdly, I’m thankful for the example of your life. I see that you spend your time and energies trying to bless others. You have the heart of a servant, and Jesus said that servant hood is the best way to imitate Him. I’ve seen this in many ways. Here are just a few: You are a real helpmeet to Jim - doing projects around the house with him and meeting his needs in so many ways. You are active in church functions - volunteering your time and talents. You give people rides generously and spontaneously, even if it means dropping what you had planned on doing. You befriend the elderly and friendless - inviting them over or helping them when they have no one else who cares about them. You try to teach the ignorant, imparting the knowledge that you have learned through the years. You invest time, money and creativity in the quilts you make giving them special touches that show individual thought for them. You intercede in prayer for those who are in spiritual danger. Overall, you just are always doing good for others in very practical ways like a modern day Dorcas.

Thank you for being a great Mom, both past and present. I love you so much.

I love you forever

I’ll like you for always

As long as I’m living

My mommy you’ll be

Hopie

Catch up #2 - house hopes

Another "major event" of March was someone coming to look at our house. The holidays made everything slow down so December through February were months of silence and we had almost given up hope that we would sell it. Then one Monday morning our realtor called and asked if I had gotten her email. I said, "no" and she said, "Well, someone wants to look at the house today, sometime between 10:00am  and 4:00pm. I started cleaning like a maniac and called my husband to come fix the floor in our bedroom.

The night before he had watered our fig tree (which we kept inside during the winter) and it had overflowed onto the floor. When we did our laminate wood floors, there were certain places where we cut the planks a wee bit short and it didn't line up all the way to the baseboard (which we have since filled in with wood filler). The water had actually gotten underneath the flooring so he had to take a chunk of the floor apart to let it dry. Luckily he was not doing a delivery route and was able to come right over and get it fixed in no time.

Here is our house from the outside:

 Here is the outside of our house from the back. I took this during sunset, so it makes the paint look like a different shade of green.

 

Here is our lovely "barn". See the numbers on it? We didn't number the rooms. Whoever lived here before us did that. We use #4 for storing firewood. #2 we currently park our truck in and store other stuff in. #1 is currently empty. That's Julian's car poking out but he doesn't live with us anymore. 

Here is the other side of the barn. #6 is the kids playhouse. #3 is the entrance to where we keep firewood (which on the other side is numbered as #4). To the right of the ladder is the entrance to our chicken coop where we currently only have one surviving rooster.

We have 13 fruit trees that were planted 3 years ago. So, technically they should bear fruit this year but they are still on the small side. We have apple, pear, apricot, peach, nectarine and plum.

If you have kids, I highly recommend a sand box. The kids have all kinds of fun exercising their imaginations all in this little box. What's even cooler is that underneath that box there is a big tank that collects grey water from the bathtub. The water then gets pumped underground to water our trees. 

And...here is our garage. Since taking this picture we have fixed that little window there and we plan on putting on real garage doors. It's all closed off so that's why we are parking in the barn. 

So, let's imagine that you walked in the front door (which most people don't - we usually come in through the laundry room). But, here on the left is the living room. Right ahead is the dining room and to the right of that is the kitchen.

We want to put some rock work behind the wood stove to give it that "finished" look, but our realtor said some people may want to take the wood stove out. So, we figure, what's the point in spending the money on something that may be a turn-off to someone who wants to buy the house.

Down the hall, the first room is David's office.

Next on the right is the kids room.

At the end of the hall is the bathroom. This house does not have a traditional "master bathroom" that is connected to the master bedroom. A turn-off for some people, but it's not a big deal to us.

The only room on the left is the master bedroom. We love the bay windows, but one thing we need to get is some blinds. On some nights the moon is super bright and in the day, the sun shines in so well that our bedspread and pillows are getting faded.

There is no "walk in closet" but there is a "his" and "hers" closet that are big enough for us.

If you walk back down the hall, past the living room and dining room is our guest room.

This is actually the largest room, with the largest closet in the whole house. It used to be the garage and it was turned into a room.

This is our guest bathroom. I had to take this off the realtor's site cause I didn't want to take another one and upload it.

 Lastly, our laundry room.

There you have it. Our house. If you know anyone who wants to move out into the desert, let them know there is a lovely house they can look at.

So, when the lady came to look at our house we had barely finished a lunch of pasta with home-made sauce and garlic bread. BAD choice of food for the day. She was VERY sensitive to the smell of garlic and went through the house really fast.

She liked it well enough though that she said she would be back with her husband later that week. But, the day he was supposed to come, their realtor had a family emergency and they cancelled.

That was a bit discouraging but it's in the Lord's hands. If he wants us to sell our house, He'll make it happen.