Resurrection Sunday - Sweet memories of the past and hope for the future

This is our first Easter without my Dad. Every time we pass one of these milestones, it brings a wave of emotion. I have lots of good memories of Easters with Dad. When I was living at home, we took spring vacations at Easter many years. Dad did a lot of traveling working for Ford and accumulated plenty of frequent flier miles and free hotel stays. We reaped the benefits of that during our annual family vacation.

On Easter 1984, Dad delivered our Sunday sermon in our hotel room in Anaheim, CA. I don't remember exactly what he said, but I do remember that the hotel room overlooked Disney Land, where we spent the rest of that day. That was our first really big family vacation. Mom, my brother and I flew out to Phoenix. Dad left the day before and drove straight through, 36 hours so we wouldn't have to rent a car. We toured the southwest - went down a natural water slide in Flagstaff, saw it snow in the desert, spent the night in Vegas, took an amazing boat ride in Utah, saw the Great White Throne, then ended up in California where we went to Disney Land, swam in the ocean and I threw up at the Olympic Stadium. Dad really knew how to plan a vacation!

Easter 1987 was just after we had been in Hawaii for an incredible 2 weeks. After enjoying the beauty there, visiting "Wacky-key Beach," and "seeing parts of Hawaii the average tourist doesn't see," we flew back early on Sunday morning and showed up jet lagged for the services at our home church. Not having slept at all the night before was not a valid excuse for skipping church in our family!

Several Easters after that we spent in Florida - usually Orlando or St. Pete Beach. I can't remember the name of the church we attended there, but I know we were regulars when we were in town. It didn't matter where we were on Easter (or any Sunday, really), worshiping God still took priority. I'm thankful for a Dad who taught us that the things of God are what matter most.

My recent memories of Easter with my Dad include Easter 2003. Mom, Dad, B and I were having Brunch together after church when we gave them the news that we were expecting our first baby. Then we ate a whole lot of really good food!

The next year we went back to that same place for Easter brunch. There was big news that year as well, but not of the happy sort. We grieved together and comforted each other and then ate a whole lot of really good food again.

By the time Easter 2005 rolled around, J was head over heels in love with Papa. We have some really sweet pictures of them together that day. We had brunch together again after church at that same place for the third and final year.

Easter 2005, before church At Brunch with Papa


Easter 2006 J's first Egg Hunt J and Papa watching the puppet show after the egg hunt

Last Easter turned out to be one month and 2 days before Dad died. It was our last big holiday together. I think it is a fitting one to be the final celebration, because it is the one that gives us the hope of being reunited again one day. Christ's resurrection conquered death for all who trust in Him. My Dad was one of those who did, and because of that, I know I'll see him again.

Easter 2009

"But Christ has been raised to life! And He makes us certain that others will also be raised to life because of Christ. Adam brought death to all of us, and Christ will bring life to all of us. But we must each wait our turn. Christ was the first to be raised to life, and His people will be raised to life when He returns...These bodies will die, but the bodies that are raised will live forever...Our dead and decaying bodies will be changed into bodies that won't die or decay...Then the Scriptures will come true, 'Death has lost the battle! Where is it's victory? Where is it's sting?'...But thank God for letting our Lord Jesus Christ give us the victory!"
I Corinthians 15:20, 23, 42, 53-55 (CEV)

I look in the faces of my children and I know that God is good.

There are few things I've found greater pleasure in than being a mother. I loved feeling the little pitter-patter of a little one growing inside me while I was pregnant. I love snuggling a sleeping baby in my arms. I love seeing them smile or hearing them giggle in their sleep. Even with my fussy ones, I felt pleasure at the fact that I had the skill to soothe them when no one else could. I got called to the nursery week after week because they cried inconsolably, but when they saw me, they smiled. I never had that kind of power before I became a mother.

I love the fact that I know our children better than anyone else in the world. Daddy certainly knows them well. And Grandma knows them well. But I know them in a special way from having carried them and nursed them and been their mommy. It's a special bond like no other.

I'm sure I've laughed more since I became a mother than I ever did in the years before that. It started when I was expecting J with giggle fits - sometimes at inappropriate times - which I blamed on hormones. It's continued with laughing at their goofy antics and silly jokes and cute expressions, and seeing their joy at discovering the world and the people around them.

I love lying next to them and having "Mommy time" before bed each night. We talk about the things we did that day. They ask questions about things they didn't understand. They tell me about their hopes and dreams. (Like J wants to be the Cash Cab driver when he grows up and H would like to visit Costa Rica someday - although she's not sure why.) I love hearing them sing and listening to their prayers.

I love watching them grow up into little people, seeing their personalities unfold, and being in the position to influence that process. It's a sobering responsibility, but one I wouldn't trade for anything.

When I think about what a wonderful design the family is and how much pleasure I've gotten from being a part of one, I can't help but know that God is good. All the joy is His design. It's marred by the effects of sin, to be sure, but I firmly believe the family is the most wonderful institution in our society. I suppose there's no reason we couldn't have been made to reproduce like plants or amoeba. We could be like animals that care for their young until they can walk and eat, then send them on their way. But God loves us enough to have designed a much better way - one that reflects His relationship with us. One that allows us to glimpse the depth of the sacrifice that He made for us when He gave His only Son for us. One that gives us a chance to experience a pleasure like no other - the pleasure of being part of a family.

It's all because God is good.

Father's Day

I participated in several writing contests during my years at college. I never considered myself much of a writer and certainly never had any expectations of winning. I did it as more of a self-improvement project. They were the sort of competitions where you showed up, they gave you a topic, and you had an hour or so to write about it.

One year the subject was "What is your favorite holiday and why." I wrote about Father's Day. It was probably an unusual choice for a female college student, but it was an honest one. I have a lot of happy memories of Father's Days.

For years, the Detroit Grand Prix was held on Father's Day. All through high school and a few times during college, my Dad would take me down to the race. He did a lot of work with Motorola in those days and would get invited to the courtesy tent they had at the track. We would go after church, eat free lunch, and watch the race. I can't say I'm much of a fan, but I enjoyed the experience, just because it was special time with my Dad.

That essay came to mind today. This was the worst Father's Day I've had - I spent much of it in bed crying. I know for my Dad, however, it was his happiest one ever. He got in free again, but this time, admission was courtesy of the blood of Christ, not Motorola. The food was no doubt far better than what we had at the tent. He was part of a crowd of people from every tribe and nation cheering for something far more glorious than a car race.

"I can only imagine. . ."

Disney's PhotoPass - The Conclusion

Read Part 1 here or Part 2 here.

The next day we traveled home. Papa picked us up at the airport when we arrived. J was so excited to tell him about all the wonderful things we'd done. I was listening as I helped load the luggage in the car. "We rode Dumbo and Peter Pan and there were Pirates and flying carpets and we got a balloon. . ."

And then I overheard him say, "And we got a little card with Mickey's picture on it!"

I turned to look and, sure enough, there was the PhotoPass card in J's hand!

"Where did you get that?!" I demanded.

"It was in the white car," he answered. (The rental car we'd had in Florida was white.)

"Where in the white car?" I demanded again.

"It was just lying there on the seat!"

"When did you find it?"

"It was just lying there in the white car!"

Interrogating a 4 year old isn't easy. We went over and over trying to figure out exactly when and where he'd found the thing until he finally exclaimed, exasperated, "For the last time, I'm telling you, it was just there in the white car!!"

We're not exactly sure when or where he picked it up. We're guessing he probably found it when B took the car seats out at the airport in FL. It must have slipped under one of them. I had tried to reach under them during our search, but never actually took them out to look. Live and learn!

So B's big adventure was for naught, but when the pictures are that cute, two PhotoPasses are better than none!

Disney's PhotoPass - Part 1

The folks at Walt Disney World are always looking for ways to keep more of your money when you visit. Apparently the two weeks' salary it costs just to get your family through the gate isn't enough. One such way they've come up with is the Disney PhotoPass. It's a service where they have photographers stationed all throughout the parks. They'll take your family's pictures in front of Cinderella's castle, the Epcot ball, with the characters, or any other photograph-worthy spot. You get a card that they scan each time they take your picture. You can then go online and view, edit, and of course purchase your photos.

My brother, who is an expert Disney vacationer, had warned me, "Write down the number from your card. That way, if you loose the card, you can still find your pictures on line." I listened to him. I wrote it down in my notes. I thought about it a couple of times throughout the week we were there. But did I do it? Of course not.

Why would I want to be responsible and thereby miss an opportunity for a blog post?!

We met a bunch of the Disney characters during our time there. H was not real keen on the whole thing. They are, afterall, about 3 times her size. The first day, we met Donald Duck, Pluto, and Goofy. I'd read that you should get autograph books for the kids to take when they meet the characters. It gives the child something to do so it's not so awkward walking up to them. We did that. H took hers and kind of tossed it at Donald then backed up as quickly as she could. Most of the time, she wouldn't go near them unless I was holding her. And unless I was between her and the character. Therefore, I'm in a lot of pictures with H and Disney characters. Woo Hoo!

To Be Continued. . .

"Okay, Donald, you stay over there and I'll stay over here. Just pass me back the book without coming any closer."

That blur on the left side of the picture is H running away.

"Yeah, Quincy! We love Quincy! Just not enough to actually get next to him."

"You must be joking if you think I'm getting near that big furry beast!"

My Frugal Journey

I had a good laugh when I read this post today. I'm sure my husband could have written it. The coupon box, the stockpile, CVSing, the adrenaline rush as you plan and execute your shopping excursion--it's all stuff I can relate to.

I started getting in to the whole "frugal" thing more than a year ago. It was a gradual process that started after H was born. With two children, I desperately wanted to stay home more. I would have quit my job then and there if it weren't for one problem: Going to medical school cost about as much as our first two mortgages combined. And somebody was going to be coming after us pretty quick if we stopped paying that loan back.

There's no going back and saying, "Excuse me, I've decided I don't want to be a doctor after all. I'd like to return this degree. Can I have my money back?" Which is really unfortunate, because I'm pretty good at returns in other situations.

That little problem combined with the fact that hubby was between (paying) jobs at the time made the stay at home mom deal not an option. I hated the fact that decisions about how to care for our children were being dictated by money. I never wanted to be in that position again, so we determined to make debt retirement a priority.

We started out by cutting back on frivolous expenses like eating out and getting Starbucks regularly. I started buying store brand items to save on groceries.

The next step in my frugal evolution came from reading Jeana's blog. I was intrigued by some of her comments about combining coupons with sales to get things free or nearly free. I started asking myself her coupon question: "Would I use this item if I could get it for free?" If so, I clipped the coupon. My stockpile began to grow. I would strike deals here and there, but was far from expert at it. (Jeana's actually evolved past the coupon stage now, but I'm not there yet.)

By saving the coupons until the item was on a super sale, I started to get more brand-name items for less than I'd been spending on the store brand. I signed up for the free trial of the Grocery Game during this phase. It was good training to learn how to scan the sale papers for the best deals to match with my coupons. I started trying to stock up on things when they hit the rock bottom (preferably free) price rather than waiting until we needed something and paying whatever they're asking at the time.

Then, I discovered Money Saving Mom and progressed to a new level of frugality. I took her Supermarket Savings course and read CVS 101. It opened up a whole new world to me! My first big CVS heist, and I was hooked!

I talked B into CVSing with me one night. As we walked in, I assured him he'd have so much fun that he'd be out doing it on his own! We split up the list between the two of us, because, although I'm usually brave enough to ask the cashier to split my things into two orders, I've never been brave enough to do more than that. (With one exception, but she asked for it!) When you've got multiple $2 off $10 coupons, you really don't want to go over $10 per order, you know. I gave B the quick check out tutorial - "Give her the CVS card first, then your items, then the $/$$ couons, then the manufacturer's coupons, and finally pay with the ECBs. Don't let those manufacturer's coupons out of you hand until the $/$$ coupons are scanned or it screws up the whole deal!" He was a good sport about the whole thing. And while my prediction that he'd want it to be his new hobby hasn't come true, he did have at least a smirk on his face when we walked out with 4 bags full of stuff they'd basically paid us to take off their hands.

It's been a fun way to make the most of what God has given us. I view each dollar saved as a little less time away from my precious children. I've been able to stretch our dollars and have plenty left over to share with others. Our church's food pantry got a case of pasta when Meijer was "giving them away." The homeless ministry has gotten high-end toiletries, courtesy of CVS. I've found frugality to be contagious, too. I've got my sister in law hooked, as well as Julie - whose husband even hijacks her blog to brag about her great deals!

I'm still learning and evolving in my management of our family's resources. I'm thankful to the many wise and godly ladies I've "met" and learned from courtesy of the internet. And I'm very much looking forward to November 1, when the fruits of my frugality are starting to pay off and I'm stepping down to part time at work!!

Comedy on the Road

We just got back from a fabulous family vacation to Orlando. It was our first vacation since H was born (not counting visits to family). We all had a great time. I'll probably write more about it sometime, but I had to get up a couple of classic H quotes while I'm thinking of them.

We rented a house for our stay. It was nice, but the houses in this neighborhood were very close together. The next door neighbors had a little terrier who apparently spends his entire life on the back patio. He barked constantly. Ok, maybe not constantly, but a lot! I referred to him as "that yappy dog." H thought I was saying his name, but not being familiar with the term "yappy" she started calling him "Happy Dog." It was hard to be so annoyed with him after seeing her standing at the fence saying, "Hello, Happy Dog!"

We had lunch around the pool on Thursday. There was a little plastic fish that the kids were playing with. H dipped it's nose in her PBJ, then held it up and exclaimed, "Look! It's a jelly fish!" Cracked me up!

There's no free lunch

But sometimes there's free bowling. We were blessed to get some today.

J woke up this morning with a hankering to bowl. So, after I finished at work we met at the bowling alley near the hospital. The bad news was, we just happened to walk in as they were getting ready to lock up. They're hosting the after-prom party tonight and were closing early to get ready.

The good news was, the very kind lady who owns the bowling alley said, "You know, I'm going to be here for a while doing some things. I'm going to let you go ahead and bowl." It was great. We had the place to ourselves.

Have you ever been the only one in the whole place bowling? It's pretty loud when you throw the ball without any background noise to drown it out. Especially if you prefer the overhand technique to throw the ball like J often does.

When we went to pay, she said it was her treat and then promised J that next time we came she'd take him in the back to show him how the pin machine works. How cool is that?!

Thanks, kind lady!

Keeps Me Singing

H is our little music lover. This is one of her favorite pastimes - sitting on the bed looking through the hymnbook. She calls it her Bible. She not only likes looking at it, but she has a few favorite hymns she likes to sing and hear. When I'm putting her to bed I usually rock her and sing to her for a while. For a long time, she's been in the habit of calling out favorites and then singing along. It's very cute.

A few months ago she called out a request and I started singing what I thought she had said: Rock a bye baby. She got quite irritated and repeated her request. I tried again and got the same response. The third time I realized she was asking for "Rock of Ages" not "Rock a baby." (They sound a lot alike when you're talking to a one year old).

Tonight she made a new request - Power in the Blood. I'm not sure where that came from, because I really can't remember ever singing it to her. (Nor could Grandma, the other major musical influence in her life.) I'm pretty sure it's been a few years since I've sung it at all, but I made up for it tonight! It was a big hit with her.

A few years ago I made a list of hymns I'd like my children to learn. Some are on the list because I think they're great, others because I think knowing them is part of being a culturally literate Christian. I thought about typing the list here, but it's about 60 songs long, and I don't really want to take the time. So without biasing anyone with my opinion, let me ask - what hymns would be on your must-learn list? Maybe I'll publish my list another time after I hear your ideas.

J's eye view

I never know what I'm going to find when I download the pictures from my memory card. They often include some of my son's photography work. He likes to take the camera and capture our home from his perspective. Sometimes it's video. Usually it's stills.

So here, I give you a tour of our home from J's point of view:

The front entrance

Daddy's trumpet and one of daddy's favorite pastimes

Doggy stuff

The living room

Favorite toys, favorite book

Unidentified drink concoction. What's that red drink doing on the carpet?!

Beloved (sometimes) sister

This one I really like. It's the shadow from our front window.

Sleepy time George. There were 21 pictures of him on the card the day I downloaded this!

Sunbathing kitty

Kitchen gadgets

I left out the grown-up people pictures. Let me assure you that being photographed from hip level is no one's best angle. It accentuates all the wrong parts!

Baby's First Trip to the Day Spa

She does love girly stuff!

Whew! Glad that's over.

I had a big presentation Wednesday evening. My partner and I gave a CME dinner. I can't say I really enjoy public speaking. I enjoy having done it, but I find the preparation and delivery fairly stressful - particularly on my gut. Ugh! I have great respect for people who can do it on a regular basis (like B). I can fake being a decent public speaker if I have a month to prepare. If I had to do it weekly, I'm afraid not.

As a result, there hasn't been much to talk about on the blog lately. Unless you'd like to hear about advances in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. In which case, I can wax eloquent for quite a while. Power point slides included.

This week should be more interesting. My partner is going to Cabo san Lucas for the week. That's good and bad from my perspective. Bad for me, because I'm on call for the next 10 days straight - and day number 1 has not been a good start to the stretch. Good for her, for obvious reasons. But good for our family because we get to doggy-sit Churchill!

We took care of him last summer and H fell head over heels in love with him. She still refers to most dogs as "Churchill." This is our way of getting our dog fix without the expense or long term commitment of actually getting our own dog.