Carpe Diem

On Friday, my son-in-law Jason received his doctorate in Physical Therapy. He did so  along with 750 other students who graduated from the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta with various medical degrees. The stadium was filled with proud families, many white haired and walking slowly on the steep stadium steps of the arena. As I was seated in my frigid not very comfortable stadium seat, I found myself planning how I could rescue one particular sweet lady with a shirt that had appliqued daises on it if she started to fall as she was making her way up the steps. I never did actually come up with a plan in which both of us wouldn't fall to our deaths so it's a good thing she made it. What made them risk life and limb to come watch their grandson or granddaughter receive their degree? It was written all over their faces that a dream had come true for them, for one of their own to become a doctor or a nurse or a physical therapist. The whoops and cheers and even blow horns, could not be contained even though we were admonished to please refrain until the end. Who could blame them? Behind every graduate's name that was called was sacrifice both from the graduates who had grown tired long ago of studying and also from their families who had worked hard every day to fund them.

This day is so joyful, so hopeful for these young people who can finally begin their jobs doing what they have trained to do. These young people are the future of medicine and I have a feeling I will be calling on them one day in the not too distant future. I don't think there was a happier place on the planet than in that arena that day.

Thank you graduates for sticking with your education when you didn't feel like it. That lesson alone will take you far. After too many ridiculous images of Occupy Wall Street, these are the images I will think about. Society thanks you. I thank you. Lucy thanks you!

Busbee Cabin

Sometimes you need to get away and that's just what we did last weekend. We traveled to Asheville to see a very talented friend perform in an Opera production of "The Sound of Music". I knew it would be stretching my children to take them to a performance which began at 8 PM, their normal bedtime, but was willing to give it a shot.

We reserved a cabin a little outside of town  since there was a flower festival going on at the Biltmore Estate and all the hotels were booked. We were actually met in the road as we approached Busbee Cabin by Liz the owner who apparently wanted to give us the once over before we stayed there. She and her husband walked us inside and showed the remote controlled fireplace which the kids loved, who wouldn't! It also had a hot tub which is now a requirement when we travel. The next morning, we decided a hike up Chimney Rock would be more appropriate for our clan than touring the Biltmore. As we were leaving the cabin the next morning, who should we meet but Liz and Bill! They wanted to give us hiking suggestions, see if everything was ok. This is starting to get a little creepy at this point. How did they know we were leaving? My daughter suggested that we invite them to come in the hot tub with us to thank them for letting us stay at their cabin! She was completely serious and more hospitable than me. I later realized that I had yet to make the final payment on the cabin. Maybe that's why she and Bill kept showing up.

As we were driving the winding roads in the Blue Ridge Mountains, I was wishing that I had passed out the Dramamine before hand as one or two of us is prone to car sickness. We arrived without incident and most of us were enthusiastic about the hike, everyone that is except our middle school aged child. She chose to fill our time expressing most everything she disliked about hiking, her fear of heights, allergies to grass, sleep deprived because of sleeping in a strange bed. Hiking on the other hand was the most awesome activity invented to my son. There were 500 steps going up to Chimney Rock and he ran every one of them, some of them twice! I'm definitely adding Sherpa to his list of job possibilities in the future. It was exhilarating for sure, but I spotted a pregnant woman and a senior citizen smoking a cigarette who were able to do it! We would climb up Chimney Rock  complainers and all! We made it to the top and were all rewarded with some hot tub time.

The time finally arrived for the play. The usher actually told us that the performance would be longer than the movie! We would never make it! Since this was an Opera production, we had the youngest attendees in the crowd. My 8 yr daughter with her souvenir owl stuffed animal, Seymour was seated next to an octogenarian. It was reported to us that our son farted during the performance and we had to confiscate his souvenir handcuffs, but otherwise a successful outing! They loved the production slept in a little the next day, a winning combination! Yodel- ay-hee-hoo!

Cupcake Blues

My children, sad to say, are going through what I hope is just a season of lying, sneaking, and stealing. No parent wants to discover this, yet somehow I must find a way to consider all joy!It is difficult to not feel like a complete failure as a parent when I have been charged by God with their moral and spiritual training.

Sadly this time it took the form of sneaking Easter candy and even frozen Gigi's cupcakes from the garage freezer before dinner. For those unfamiliar with Gigi's cupcakes, they are not ordinary cupcakes, not in any way. They are cupcakes on steroids, huge in size with equally huge mounds of super sweet butter cream frosting piled on top. I myself can only eat approximately 1/4 in one sitting and I love cupcakes! They were left over from Kristen's wedding which makes it doubly sad since they had to be trashed to make a point.

By God's providence, the culprits were discovered by their older sister who happened to to be looking out the window as they were hastily trying to consume them outside in the culdesac. Fortunately, they are still not great at hiding the evidence. I see this as precious time to pray for the conviction of the Holy Spirit to kick in as I will not always be around. I began with the spiritual implications of sneaking, etc. which brought no contriteness whatsoever. It wasn't until the brand new box of ice cream sandwiches along with any other sweet treat I could find went into the garbage that produced weeping and gnashing of teeth from one and a very long sad face from the other. This escalated into a full blown fit which brought Daddy onto the scene which is never good, So much angst was displayed that it honestly reminded me of when Esau traded his blessing for a bowl of soup in Genesis.  I'm starting to see the signs of a serious sugar addiction that must be addressed. This of course is just an aside to the more serious sneaking issue.

The discovery again of the sinfulness of my children while disappointing and discouraging, should not be surprising. God's word speaks of our sinfulness a lot. Sin is not pretty and it looks different for everyone of us. Yet, God still hates it and we should hate it too. Our only hope is to pray for God's grace every single day. I pray that my children would hate sin and love God and his word, that they would desire to do what is right in His eyes. In the meantime, it's fruit for dessert.

Finger Lickin Good

With Kristen's wedding came out of town guests of various eating/drinking/living persuasions who would all be at my house at the same time. There was my diabetic extremely healthy eating/never tasted a drop of liquor Dad and his wife with my Bud light drinking/carnivore brother and his wife. Throw in my niece who as an aside was packing challenged, bless her heart, and the usual suspects which are literally growing (can't wait for Lucy!) by the day, all hungry. I packed my refrigerator as much as I could, made everything I could think of ahead of time and hoped for the best. As far as I know everyone got fed even though I wasn't present for every meal since I was also busy with hair appointments and various other Mother of the Bride duties. 

A brightly colored bridal luncheon

On a sugar high!

We are family, Can you tell!

 I love my family with my whole entire heart. Since I am the child who moved away, I usually do the visiting. It's a penance of some sort that must be paid and paid. This was a rare time when my family came to my house for a change. And I do mean change. Many things were different around my house with my visiting family, God love them. My sweet sister-in-law is fond of indulging my children with candy, and anything else that comes to mind, like how about dying their hair hot pink and neon green and piling it on top of their heads wrapped around a standing coke bottle. Why didn't I ever think of that? The kids loved it with a capital L! She also succeeded in helping them catch a fish. It could have been the sugar emanating from their pores or the can of dog food that they punctured and floated in the water, who knows. She absolutely wins the gold medal for indulging! Everyone should have an aunt like her.

Trying to be accommodating to my brother, I also found my person physically inside a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant since I don't know, the year 1978. I can trace this directly back to when I would pick him up from working at Church's Fried Chicken reeking of grease and poultry. Apparently, it did not have the same effect on him.  I decided to go with the flow and act like KFC was a perfectly fine place to eat lunch. They do now serve grilled chicken which I did eat, but it has to be the only restaurant on the planet without any kind of salad! I was trying desperately to blend in, but this proved difficult when my son kept exclaiming,"We have never been here before!" and "Wow,this chicken is greasy!" The things we do for love...

I  did get my brother out on the kayak! He's more accustomed to larger, motor powered water craft out on the gulf, but he was a good sport.  A good time was had by all and Eric now has one less child to assemble things for.

A Perfect Day

My daughter Kristen became a married woman on Saturday. Escorted by her father to Here Comes the Sun exactly at the moment the sun peeked from behind the clouds has to be my favorite moment of the day. Or it could be when her daddy serenaded her on his violin. Or it could be when my daddy admonished Kristen and Ben from God's word so beautifully. I definitely got off easy, only making myself presentable as the mother of the Bride and greeting people which honestly I love to do.

How many prayers have I prayed for this child, for her marriage, for this day? Prayers to pass an Algebra test and prayers for safety as she jumped her horse come to mind immediately. God's faithfulness surely brought her to this day!  The day your daughter marries is a turning point, when her focus turns to her husband and her life with him instead of life with us. Aside from her decision to become a Christian, it is the most important decision she will make.

Kristen's wedding took me back to my own wedding 29 years ago now when I married up and married Mr. Jakstadt. Turns out, it's who you marry that makes a happy marriage and somewhere in my youth or childhood I must have done something good as Maria sang in the Sound of Music. Marrying Mr. Jakstadt was one of the best decisions of my life!. Of course I had no way of knowing this at the tender age of 22, but God knew exactly who He wanted me to marry and He told me so. Thank goodness I listened!

As Kristen and Ben drove away and the balloons floated into the sky, she looked the same but she was Mrs. Benjamin Small. I pray that life for her and her new husband will be as beautiful as her wedding day.

A walk in the rain

This week has been busier than most and that is saying a lot! This week we are hosting a missionary at our house which means I feel the need to create a clean, peaceful, holy environment- ridiculous I know. It's funny what one thinks one must do or not do in the presence of a missionary. I do consider it an honor to host someone who has heeded God's call to go to a foreign land to spread the name of Jesus. I'm also using it to the hilt with my kids. "Shh, the missionary is still sleeping." in the morning as they get ready for school at 6:20. The only problem is, the missionary has been kept quite busy with meetings, etc.and it was three days before they laid eyes on him!

Yesterday afternoon, the two youngest came in to ask if I would take them for a walk. My answer was perhaps, which is the best answer I have found in response to one of those questions. Perhaps gives some hope even if you really plan for your answer to be no but can't bring yourself to burst their bubble just yet. My son came running in to confirm if  it was true, did I say we could go on a walk? I truly did not have time to spend going on a walk. I had to tidy up for the missionary, which pretty much needs to be done on a constant basis. My youngest came inside and told me to get a jacket, that I would need it for the walk, but that it was by no means raining. Well, that was my out, it's raining! Ruining my hair is reason enough. I have never seen such a devastating look come across her face. I couldn't do it. Walking we would go. I don't think telling them we were going to Disney World would have made them happier. They jumped on their scooters/bicycles and off we went. What started out as a drizzle did become rain and my hair did frizz and curl in an unattractive way. But it turns out going for a walk was a fantastic idea. I loved our walk! They loved our walk! I'm so glad we went on a walk. I would even say it was the most peaceful, and even holy part of my day.  

Real is better

In my constant quest for fitness that gets harder with every passing year, I play mind games with myself that work for the most part. You may have even played some of them yourself. I convince myself that baby carrots are a perfectly delicious snack food and I would much rather have them than say the extra cheesy goldfish that my children are eating. They are roughly the same color and size but that's about it. Funny, my kids always ask me for some baby carrots! They somehow have the idea that whatever I am eating must be better! In this case they would be very mistaken. I've also convinced myself that 100 calorie mini fudge stripped cookies are very satisfying and every bit as good as the regular fudge stripped cookies. Well, I happened on a box of See's candies from my anniversary and decided I should go ahead and eat one since I'd had the box since my anniversary in December. Well, my taste buds went Kapow! as I bit into the rich chocolate truffle. I realized right then and there that real is better. Real is amazing. Real cannot be duplicated. I love real! Now I know why Coke is the Real thing, or it was for a long time.

This got me thinking about other wonderful real things like relationships. There is nothing better than knowing a person for who they really are and being known for who you really are. It says that you both feel safe to be yourself. Likewise, there is nothing worse than a relationship that leaves you constantly wondering who they are and where they stand. I'm currently in one of those relationships with my middle school aged daughter who has entered the relationship abyss. While I realize that she can't give me what she doesn't know herself and that this is normal to some extent for the middle school years, it doesn't make it any easier. Especially for someone in love with real! I am not good at faking, not at all. I don't even like dyed hair, although I reserve the right to change my mind.

I am encouraged that two of my offspring successfully made it to the other side and we enjoy wonderfully close and real relationships today.  I am also encouraged that I have a real relationship with Jesus Christ who is the Master of Real. He not only knows me better than anyone, He longs to have a real relationship with me.


For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb... You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways, Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely O LORD.  Psalm 139 


Now that's what I call knowing someone!