Time. Something we all have, in different portions, good and bad. Have you ever heard someone say "I just wish this day would be over"? Especially on a work day, that seems to be the desire of most. Recently I've begun to think though, about the people wanting just one more minute.
When I was a little girl, I was very shy. I was the oldest child and getting out of the car to go to school each morning was just too much for me to handle. I would be away from my family all day. They would be together without me. "Just one more minute momma. Just one more minute" I would beg as my mom had to push me out of the car so she could take my younger siblings home. And I just knew that one more minute would be life changing for me.
Ever thought that while you are wishing your day was done, there's a 70 something year old man sitting at the bedside of his wife of 50 years as she struggles for each breath? While you watch the clock waiting for 5 so you can clock out and go home, he's holding her frail hand and looking at the face of the love of his live. Thru his tears he sees the beautiful young woman he married all those years ago. To him it was only yesterday. Just one more minute. That's all he wants. Just one more minute to hold her, talk with her, laugh with her.
Remember when you were a little kid and something exciting had happened? You just couldn't wait for daddy to get home. As his pick up truck pulled into the driveway, you could hardly contain your excitement! Daddy's home! Daddy's home! You ran to him, hugging his legs so that he couldn't even walk. Your long wait was finally over. You had your daddy's full attention and all was right with the world. That one moment made your long wait just go away.
Time. We use it. We abuse it. We each have our allotted amount and no one knows how much that is. I recently read a blog by Kevin A. Thompson where he said "What minor detail of today might be used years from now as God weaves our lives into His story?" That sentence alone brought up so many thoughts for me. Thoughts of days that could have gone completely different had I reacted differently at one particular moment. Thoughts of times I obeyed our Father and He used that to bless someone.
Because of the timing of that blog, my thoughts also went back to an event 75 years ago. Every year on January 22nd I think of a person I never met. Growing up I heard about him all the time. His name was Raymond Eudell Pruitt. My maternal grandparents' first child. He was never called by his first name or middle name. It was always "Raymond Eudell". Raymond Eudell was born on January 22, 1939. Growing up all I ever knew was that he was a 'blue baby'. He never took a breath. Raymond Eudell was born at home, which was the norm back then. And while I had heard about him my whole life and had put flowers on his tiny grave every Decoration Day, I didn't know the whole story until a few years ago.
After my grandfather became ill and had to go into a nursing home, I called my grandmother pretty much every Sunday afternoon. We both loved our visits. She would tell me about moments from her life. Good and bad. Difficult and triumphant. And we talked about Raymond Eudell. She told me how he was delivered. She told me how she reached for him but her aunt who delivered him took him away. She guessed her aunt thought she was waiving for her to take the baby away. She never got to hold him. My heart ached for her every time we talked about him. After over 70 years her arms still ached for him.
While Raymond Eudell never lived outside the womb, his life, his birth, his moment has always been a part of my life. It has given me a perspective that I would have never had otherwise. His little life has been used by God to shape me. When my grandmother was struggling to breath as she prepared to pass from this life into the next almost 4 years ago, one of the things I told her was that she was going to get to hold Raymond Eudell soon. The pain I was feeling at the thought of her leaving was overwhelming. But the joy in my heart for her as I thought of the moment she would get to hold her precious baby for the first time was even more overwhelming.
Never underestimate that one moment. Leave each moment in God's hands. He has a plan far above anything we could ever imagine. And although sometimes we go through fire and those moments seem like years of pain, still leave it in God's hands. He does work ALL things together for good to those who love Him.......
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Fuzzy Little Blessing
Since our last dog was 7 years old when we got her and she had obviously gotten thru the puppy stage, Pippa has been a whole new adventure for us. Our last puppy, Millie, was 21 years ago and lived in our back yard, not in our house. So training her was not really an issue. Our sweet little Mercy probably couldn't even hear us and seldom saw us the last few years. But she also didn't chew up shoes or phone charges, didn't growl at us and until doggy dementia really set in she was very little trouble at all. While Pippa is quite the little 2 month old Pomeranian personality and I love her to pieces, I must admit saying "NO!" to her has become something all of us do on a more than regular basis and would like to get to do less of.
Puppies are a lot of work. One minute she remembers where to potty and knows she will get a treat for doing it right. The next minute she's tearing the potty pad to shreds with her sharp little puppy teeth! "Puddles" is a very good nickname for her right now. At less than two pounds, sometimes she still fancies herself a grizzly bear or a wolf. Her ferocious growl while playing tug of war with her rope, a belt or anything else she can get her teeth into would make you think she was at least 20 times her size. And I'm pretty sure she really thinks she is.
Mornings are started in a new way as well. While I normally would read Scripture, devotionals and have a little quiet time almost at a leisurely pace, I now read much more quickly so I can spend time playing with Pippa and mopping! That Pippa LOVES us like crazy in the morning! Normally I'm the first one to get to her in the mornings and am immediately covered in sweet puppy kisses and a cute little squirming body that is excited from the end of her nose to the tip of her tail. This morning, however, my husband got to her first. Next thing I knew he had brought her down the hallway to our room and gently tossed her onto our bed where she immediately pounced on me, smothering me with puppy kisses and so excited she could barely stand it! I think if she had two or three tongues to kiss us with in the morning she would be even happier!
While it seems telling Pippa "NO!" is the norm, we have a lot of fun with her, too. This weekend I discovered two of the kids helping her tap dance to "Tea for Two" on the dining table! She was very happy to participate. While playing outside one day she because very brave and proud. Then a big dog in the next yard barked. She hopped like a rabbit up to the step, wanting to get inside the yellow garage. She loves to ride on the shoulders of our youngest son and is absolutely beside herself when she sees 'dad'. And at this moment I hear one of her squeaky toys down the hallway where she is playing with one of the boys.
Pippa is a lot of work. And she will never replace Millie or Mercy or any other pet. But we also have a bunch of kids who are unique and couldn't be replaced by each other either. The kids are a blessing. Our other dogs were blessings. And even little stinkin' Pippa is a blessing. Blessings aren't always sweet and kind. Blessings aren't always pleasant. But blessings are from God and sometimes require work on our part. My little fuzzy blessing just bounced into the room. Gotta go!
Puppies are a lot of work. One minute she remembers where to potty and knows she will get a treat for doing it right. The next minute she's tearing the potty pad to shreds with her sharp little puppy teeth! "Puddles" is a very good nickname for her right now. At less than two pounds, sometimes she still fancies herself a grizzly bear or a wolf. Her ferocious growl while playing tug of war with her rope, a belt or anything else she can get her teeth into would make you think she was at least 20 times her size. And I'm pretty sure she really thinks she is.
Mornings are started in a new way as well. While I normally would read Scripture, devotionals and have a little quiet time almost at a leisurely pace, I now read much more quickly so I can spend time playing with Pippa and mopping! That Pippa LOVES us like crazy in the morning! Normally I'm the first one to get to her in the mornings and am immediately covered in sweet puppy kisses and a cute little squirming body that is excited from the end of her nose to the tip of her tail. This morning, however, my husband got to her first. Next thing I knew he had brought her down the hallway to our room and gently tossed her onto our bed where she immediately pounced on me, smothering me with puppy kisses and so excited she could barely stand it! I think if she had two or three tongues to kiss us with in the morning she would be even happier!
While it seems telling Pippa "NO!" is the norm, we have a lot of fun with her, too. This weekend I discovered two of the kids helping her tap dance to "Tea for Two" on the dining table! She was very happy to participate. While playing outside one day she because very brave and proud. Then a big dog in the next yard barked. She hopped like a rabbit up to the step, wanting to get inside the yellow garage. She loves to ride on the shoulders of our youngest son and is absolutely beside herself when she sees 'dad'. And at this moment I hear one of her squeaky toys down the hallway where she is playing with one of the boys.
Pippa is a lot of work. And she will never replace Millie or Mercy or any other pet. But we also have a bunch of kids who are unique and couldn't be replaced by each other either. The kids are a blessing. Our other dogs were blessings. And even little stinkin' Pippa is a blessing. Blessings aren't always sweet and kind. Blessings aren't always pleasant. But blessings are from God and sometimes require work on our part. My little fuzzy blessing just bounced into the room. Gotta go!
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Birthdays, a Puppy, and Some Other Stuff
This week we celebrated the birthdays of our oldest and youngest sons. Oldest turned 27 on Monday and youngest turned 19 on Thursday. Because my sister and I have birthdays 5 days (and 3 years) apart and got lumped together all our growing up years, when I realized child number 4 was due close to the birthday of child number 1, I determined to never do that. As I remember the 8th birthday of number 1 son, I recall being still and resting as much as a mom of an 8 year old and two toddlers can do because I didn't want to go into labor and have them sharing birthdays. Son number 4 did make his presence known at that celebration though. He kicked me so hard I came straight up off the couch that night. Not the usual pregnant weeble rising where you roll around your belly so you can finally stand on your swollen ankles and aching feet. No his kick brought me straight up in such a fashion that it was pretty obvious he wanted to be included in the celebration.
Two and a half days later son number 4 did make his arrival. Big brothers proudly came into the hospital room to meet him....all wearing cute little sweat suits with their pants tucked into cowboy boots! Yes. Grandma let them pick their own clothes. And yes I was embarrassed. But they were as proud as they could be!
We've done very well not combining birthdays all these years. Until now. As schedules get busier and busier, the only night available for all to go to dinner this week was Monday. So with both birthday boys in the front seat and mom and dad in the back, we headed to the restaurant. We actually had 6 out of 7 of us at dinner at the same time. As we ate, we had the usual conversations. Sons being the occasional smart mouths. Daughter trying to appear unconcerned about everything. And of course everybody was making fun of mom. During a conversation about our daughter's car, my husband said what I thought was "she wore my tank". Thinking that was some sort of slang for her driving so much she emptied the tank of gas he had just bought her, I looked at him and asked "she wore your tank?" Somehow that turned into "warrior tank" and I thought we were then discussing the war game she constantly plays on her phone. Apparently everyone knew what was going on but me. Hubby told me I needed to say it a little bit louder. I tried to get everyone to drop the subject. Middle son suggested I get hearing aids. And finally I looked at a booth near us where, in the middle of January, sat a rather large, hairy man wearing shorts and a really big tank top. So what my husband was trying to say....."I should have worn my tank." Maybe I do need that hearing aid but at least everyone got a good laugh at me.
The second birthday of the week got a little bit of attention on Thursday. Unfortunately the birthday boy had to work until late and dad got called into work at the fire department so we ended up eating cake and singing "Happy Birthday" at a fire station at 10 o'clock at night. That's the second birthday we've celebrated at a fire station in 6 months. At least it was a different station than last time so we had a whole different bunch of fire fighters to annoy. :)
And now the amazing Pippa! She is growing so much! And she's so smart! We are learning, as my middle son says, to Pippa proof things. I've got some new phone chargers ordered. She really likes chewing on those. And her 'daddy' calls her puddles, a name she definitely earns. But we all love her. Can't help it. She thinks she's a grizzly bear one minute and is a limp fuzzy sleeping rag doll the next. My daughter is getting sick of me posting Pippa pictures on Instagram. But I'm gonna do it anyway.
Never thought I'd be running on a cold, windy January day but actually ran over 2 miles yesterday. So thankful our nutritionist/exercise guru son encouraged me. I would have never believed a year ago that now I would be down over 30 pounds, healthier than ever and loving exercise! One night this week I got out our Wii Fit. While I've been exercising in other ways, it told me that I hadn't used it in 1,215 days! It was, however, very proud of me for my weight loss. And it even told me that I am 34 in Wii years! That's 18 years younger than I actually am. I couldn't believe it. Now tonight when my youngest son set up the Just Dance and we played it for an hour and a half, well that just about killed me. He's really good. I'm really not. And he sure loved watching the playback of our dances that would randomly record. I think that was his favorite part. Not mine. I even made faces at the camera because I knew he would be watching it and laughing at me. Oh well. Wii says I'm 34 so I'll just stick with that. And now crawl off the bed. If I can make it that far. I'm sore. And pooped.
Two and a half days later son number 4 did make his arrival. Big brothers proudly came into the hospital room to meet him....all wearing cute little sweat suits with their pants tucked into cowboy boots! Yes. Grandma let them pick their own clothes. And yes I was embarrassed. But they were as proud as they could be!
We've done very well not combining birthdays all these years. Until now. As schedules get busier and busier, the only night available for all to go to dinner this week was Monday. So with both birthday boys in the front seat and mom and dad in the back, we headed to the restaurant. We actually had 6 out of 7 of us at dinner at the same time. As we ate, we had the usual conversations. Sons being the occasional smart mouths. Daughter trying to appear unconcerned about everything. And of course everybody was making fun of mom. During a conversation about our daughter's car, my husband said what I thought was "she wore my tank". Thinking that was some sort of slang for her driving so much she emptied the tank of gas he had just bought her, I looked at him and asked "she wore your tank?" Somehow that turned into "warrior tank" and I thought we were then discussing the war game she constantly plays on her phone. Apparently everyone knew what was going on but me. Hubby told me I needed to say it a little bit louder. I tried to get everyone to drop the subject. Middle son suggested I get hearing aids. And finally I looked at a booth near us where, in the middle of January, sat a rather large, hairy man wearing shorts and a really big tank top. So what my husband was trying to say....."I should have worn my tank." Maybe I do need that hearing aid but at least everyone got a good laugh at me.
The second birthday of the week got a little bit of attention on Thursday. Unfortunately the birthday boy had to work until late and dad got called into work at the fire department so we ended up eating cake and singing "Happy Birthday" at a fire station at 10 o'clock at night. That's the second birthday we've celebrated at a fire station in 6 months. At least it was a different station than last time so we had a whole different bunch of fire fighters to annoy. :)
And now the amazing Pippa! She is growing so much! And she's so smart! We are learning, as my middle son says, to Pippa proof things. I've got some new phone chargers ordered. She really likes chewing on those. And her 'daddy' calls her puddles, a name she definitely earns. But we all love her. Can't help it. She thinks she's a grizzly bear one minute and is a limp fuzzy sleeping rag doll the next. My daughter is getting sick of me posting Pippa pictures on Instagram. But I'm gonna do it anyway.
Never thought I'd be running on a cold, windy January day but actually ran over 2 miles yesterday. So thankful our nutritionist/exercise guru son encouraged me. I would have never believed a year ago that now I would be down over 30 pounds, healthier than ever and loving exercise! One night this week I got out our Wii Fit. While I've been exercising in other ways, it told me that I hadn't used it in 1,215 days! It was, however, very proud of me for my weight loss. And it even told me that I am 34 in Wii years! That's 18 years younger than I actually am. I couldn't believe it. Now tonight when my youngest son set up the Just Dance and we played it for an hour and a half, well that just about killed me. He's really good. I'm really not. And he sure loved watching the playback of our dances that would randomly record. I think that was his favorite part. Not mine. I even made faces at the camera because I knew he would be watching it and laughing at me. Oh well. Wii says I'm 34 so I'll just stick with that. And now crawl off the bed. If I can make it that far. I'm sore. And pooped.
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Life Lessons from Pippa
Today I am blogging at lunch in my office break room because we have a layer of ice on the roads and it has been treacherous driving the last two days. Plus it's still difficult to do much with a new baby in the house so blogging at home is sometimes out of the question.
Oh that baby! I had forgotten what it was like! So much loving that turns from puppy kisses to puppy bites and hurt feelings for both parties. A little escape artist who is playing in her pen one minute and outside the pen. Her little head tilted to the side as she contemplates how to get her food bowl out as well! She's a real hoot!
I guess the biggest lesson I have learned so far with Pippa is that the way we respond to others really does make a difference. Knowing she's a baby and has to learn needs to temper our responses to her biting and attacking at times. It has made me think about how I respond to others. If someone says or does something wrong to me I know I can be quick to snap back. But Pippa is teaching me that sometimes the other party doesn't realize they have done something wrong. She's showing me that I need to think before responding harshly. And if I 'bite back', that other person might just return with even a harder bite, harsh words etc. All the while, real communication isn't happening and everyone ends up getting hurt.
Gotta get back to work. And I'm sure I have lots more Pippa lessons to learn.
Friday, January 3, 2014
Presley Isabella Parks
I am quickly learning that writing a blog with a new baby in the house isn't easy! New Years Eve brought Presley Isabella Parks into our lives. "Pippa" for short. While Pippa is actually a fur baby, she has changed our home in an unbelievably special way. As I type, she is napping in my lap and I love it!
In April when we lost our sweet little 17 year old Shih Tzu, Mercy, we thought we could never love another dog. We still miss her and just typing this brings a lump to my throat. But just a few months after losing her our house just didn't seem complete. Mercy had given us so much love. We needed to feel that again. So the search began. Newspapers. Websites. Even phone apps designed for finding just the right pet were incorporated in our search. Friends, family and neighbors kept watch for us. On New Years Eve my dad told me of some puppies he had learned about. I made the call. Texts were exchanged. And that evening we had Pippa!
Pippa is amazing! She's a round little fur ball with beautiful clear blue eyes. Weighing in at slightly less than a 1 lb 12 oz jar of peanut butter (we didn't have scales to weigh her so this was the closest we could come) she is bundle of fun. Her Merle Pomeranian coat is unlike any I've ever seen. She goes from resting, relaxed like a rag doll, to attacking her toys with such energy, determination and fierceness that you just know she thinks she's a 300 pound grizzly bear!
This little fur baby runs thru the house crashing into things. Trying to climb or reach something, she often turns a back flip after losing her balance. Pippa is a hoot! She attacks our socks like she thinks they are eating us alive and she has to save us from them. When she's in her grizzly bear mode there is just about no stopping her. She puts every ounce of her tiny little body into her attack. And she loves on us with the same enthusiasm. Sweet little puppy kisses that sometimes turn into sweet little puppy bites!
While some say potty training can't be done at this age, she is well on her way to learning. And she's even sleeping pretty much all night already. I'm pretty sure we have the smartest puppy around.
So I'm gonna spend a little more time with my precious little fur baby now. But I'm sure there will be many more stories to come about the adventures of Presley Isabella Parks. Pippa....Puppy Love!
In April when we lost our sweet little 17 year old Shih Tzu, Mercy, we thought we could never love another dog. We still miss her and just typing this brings a lump to my throat. But just a few months after losing her our house just didn't seem complete. Mercy had given us so much love. We needed to feel that again. So the search began. Newspapers. Websites. Even phone apps designed for finding just the right pet were incorporated in our search. Friends, family and neighbors kept watch for us. On New Years Eve my dad told me of some puppies he had learned about. I made the call. Texts were exchanged. And that evening we had Pippa!
Pippa is amazing! She's a round little fur ball with beautiful clear blue eyes. Weighing in at slightly less than a 1 lb 12 oz jar of peanut butter (we didn't have scales to weigh her so this was the closest we could come) she is bundle of fun. Her Merle Pomeranian coat is unlike any I've ever seen. She goes from resting, relaxed like a rag doll, to attacking her toys with such energy, determination and fierceness that you just know she thinks she's a 300 pound grizzly bear!
This little fur baby runs thru the house crashing into things. Trying to climb or reach something, she often turns a back flip after losing her balance. Pippa is a hoot! She attacks our socks like she thinks they are eating us alive and she has to save us from them. When she's in her grizzly bear mode there is just about no stopping her. She puts every ounce of her tiny little body into her attack. And she loves on us with the same enthusiasm. Sweet little puppy kisses that sometimes turn into sweet little puppy bites!
While some say potty training can't be done at this age, she is well on her way to learning. And she's even sleeping pretty much all night already. I'm pretty sure we have the smartest puppy around.
So I'm gonna spend a little more time with my precious little fur baby now. But I'm sure there will be many more stories to come about the adventures of Presley Isabella Parks. Pippa....Puppy Love!
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