continued...

In my yard and first fish fry

I've been having fun seeing some wildlife around here but didn't get to take pictures of everything.
On Sat. C. and V. invited K. and I to go fishing with them. Then, we invited K. and D. over to join us 4 for lunch after church yesterday. Were they ever delicious.

Home again

These flowers were the sight that greeted us around midnight when we finally got to Rachel's house. The next day started a flurry of activities--mostly shopping, planning, and finally some actual doing. In between I tried to do some baking and cooking and lots of great babysitting sweet little Hannah to make it easier for the others to keep going. Unfortunately, I didn't have anyone take pictures of me and her, so maybe Jenni or Rachel will post one. She was a great little traveler, but I think she was missing her brothers and daddy at the end!
Dave had arrived the day before Jenni, Hannah and I got there, so we got to know him better. Since I'm home someone asked me what kind of a man Rachel is "getting". So, in case the rest of you are wondering...in my opinion, he has a heart for following God. His personality reminds me a bit of my niece's husband, Kyle and also in seeing him learn about some of the menno.-style of things. Rachel already taught him and what an augashik is and he used it appropriately several times!!
On Sunday we were invited to the girls' Aunt Fran and Uncle Paul's house for lunch. What Rachel and Dave didn't know was that there was a surprise shower as well. It was very small with just a few other relatives and we finished off the shower with the best homemade ice cream I've had in many years. In the 2nd picture their Aunt Rebecca is pinning a corsage on Rachel when we arrived. She has offered to do all of the flowers for the wedding! We left a lot of unfinished projects for the 2 of them to do, but I'm sure they can do it. Jenni's gift of organization will help to keep them on track.

Mom's Day post script

And I'm so pleased to be MOM to these four lovely ladies!!

Mother's Day

As I think about Mother's Day this year I have a lot of thoughts and emotions; so many events that play into what I am thinking and feeling. Today when I read a nice note from Rhonda I was reminded how I long took my own mom for granted and then kept on doing that in my own role as a mom. I know that since I work with less fortunate girls it has really made me more aware than ever of God's grace in my own life. I have a Godly mother and I used to have Godly grandmothers and a special mom-in-law as well. I know they did an amazing job of nurturing and blessing not just me but many people. I finally caught on from hearing some of these girls stories that learning even basic things such as hygiene and manners are things I shouldn't have assumed to be "normal" things that moms pass on. I also know now that kindness, hard work and prayer are not necessarily the norm for moms in todays world either.
How very blessed I am. Partly because, even though we won't be spending the day together, we still have each other and can talk on the phone, which we often do. I had to think of this because on Friday my Aunt Katie Mae buried her only daughter, my cousin Faye, age 42. I'll post of picture of my mom and her 3 sisters taken a year ago when I was in KS. Also, I had taken a picture of Faye, my sister Kath and my mom, which I'll post. My heart is so sad when I try to imagine what Faye's husband and 3 teenagers will go through tomorrow and in the years ahead on Mother's Day. They do have a wonderful hope to meet her again.
Then, as I think about young moms today and the enormity of their roles my thoughts go out to all of them. I have a lot of admiration for all of you moms with young kids because I know how extremely difficult it can be to be consistent day after day modeling the Love of Jesus while working hard to meet their needs and guiding them along.
I also want to salute my friends who foster kids. I'm especially thinking of Shelley who is a single mom that has chosen to foster 3 kids in addition to raising her own daughter. She works very hard to teach them to love Jesus and to do the right things as life comes at them. Way to go Shelley--don't be weary in doing well!