STAGES

After my recent visit with my mother, 87, and also getting to visit with my daughter Beth, 33 on the ride to and from the Austin airport and a day at moms, I am struck with the differences in our three generations. There is a whole world of differences in just about everything about us and in our experiences.

You would maybe expect there to be some similarities and there are the basics of growing from babyhood, through the teens and finding ourselves and knowing what we want from life. But those are just the stages of life and even having gone through the same stages, our experiences are so different.

My mom was the only child of a young girl who never finished high school, who loved to dance and was married many times. Being born in 1921, mom went through the Great Depression as a teenager,was a very beautiful and introverted young woman. She was and still is a very creative person but did not realize her full potential in education, or in being able to choose the direction for her life. She was married young and as with so many during the 40's-60's, was mainly a stay-at-home mom taking care of the three kids. She did a wonderful job with what she had and what she knew.

I was born in 1942, during WWII and was an avid reader and artistic. I used to draw my own paper dolls and design clothes. As I grew tall and thin, I learned to make my own clothing and that skill was necessary as dad never earned more than $100 a week during that time. I wanted to go to college and was able to attend two years of Jr college on a $500 US savings bond that my grand father had given us when I was 8 years old. It was the greatest graduation gift and I used it for books and what I needed. I finished up college on a National Defense Loan for those seeking a degree in education. My dad had suggested education would be better than dress design as I would have summers off to be with my future children. I am thankful for his advice as it is exactly what I did and being a stay-at-home mom of Bill II and Beth made me the happiest.

Beth was born in 1975 and is a very gifted young lady. We lived in the same 3 mile area during her first 18 years, but she has a bit of wonderlust. She has had many wonderful experiences, from world travel, foreign living in China, and other experiences that have molded her and enriched her life, which is still unfolding. She is sweet, kind, and always forgiving. She is creative uses her taalents in practical ways. I enjoy hearing her stories and know that she will succeed in anything she tries.

As I look at the photo of our three generations, there is a sweet feeling of belonging, knowing that we belong to each other, but more importantly, we belong to the Lord and He is our source, our core! Praise be to Him for that blessing of seeing the generations of our family seeking Him. We now have the newest generation in Emma and Matti, and I pray that they too will know Christ as their Savior and Lord. May I be found faithful in sharing Him with them so that they know there is more to this world than what "the world" offers which will be lost. Only what is sown for "kingdom benefit" will last. God IS love and we are to love one another.

TEXAS HEAT

After a week trip to visit my Mom in New Braunfels, TX, I have a new appreciation for the "cool" of the upper Midwest as Minnesota is called.

I departed the day after a big snow storm and chose to take mostly long sleeved shirts and jeans with me. Big Mistake #1! I had known I would not need a jacket most likely but didn't think I would be hot in my shirts and jeans. It was 80+ for several days, I became over heated when the temp was 87 on Weds, and I was sweating up a storm while we were grocery shopping. I caught a cold and was pretty much confined to quarters my last two days there with sneezing, coughing, and nose blowing my companions 24-7. Mom made sure I ate and I made sure I drank lots of water.

During the time there, the wind blew a lot and the air was dusty and everything was dry. They are 18 months dry and everyone is worried Texas is the next dust bowl or desert. It was not a very pleasant experience. But I have never claimed to be a lover of dry, hot weather. It saps all my strength and makes it hard to breath.

So I will keep my appreciation of the colder, wetter, snowy days of winter "up north" and look forward to our almost totally perfect spring, summer, and fall weather! But you do have to watch out for the occasional state bird now and then! They grow them big in Minnesota when the conditions are right.

The pictures are of a craft item I made for Beth from a tin DVD case. The upper picture is of the front and the flower and the sentiment are raised on foam pop dots. The inside is in two layers to create a pocket for the bookmark and the pad of paper has a matching cover on the top and the pen has matching paper inserted to coordinate with the card stock This particular card stock had the greens and blues with all the circles and swirls on one side and the orange on the back which made it easy to use for this project. There is lots of Stickles glitter glue in almost every small dot or circle but it doesn't show much. I will show you others at another time. I have made 7 so far, 5 of them for gifts and all are very unique and different from each other. Let me know what you think they might be worth if I should make them to sell. They make an attractive message center by the phone, or on a desk.