Betty Jean

My Mother

A sweet, simple, naive, kind, gentle, loving woman.

So many adjectives to describe her. My Mama.

 

She was teacher, defender, the one who made lots of sacrifices for my sister, brother and me.

She spent hours making our clothes, cooking, doing backbreaking work under poor conditions without the conveniences we now have.

She could stretttcccchhhh a dollar, as they say!

 

I can honestly tell you I never heard my mother complain.

She literally rescued me from our burning house

when I was a baby.

 

 In my life, I strayed many times.

What she taught me about Jesus brought me back to the right path.

Her examples of prayer and faith,

faithfulness and loyalty stand out in my memory.

 

What others said about her?

She always had a smile and a kind word for others.

She had a reputation for never gossipping.

 

(She did have a sneaky side, though! ;-)

We found out one of the funny things she did sometimes was pull out our

roller skates after we had gone to school ... and skate on the driveway!!!

We found that hilarious.)

 

Selfish kids we are when we are young.

I remember at the end of the day,

all she asked from us was for someone to rub her feet.

(Wah, we didn't always "feel" like doing that.)

 

She passed away 25 years ago after one of the most courageous fights

against cancer I ever witnessed.

How I miss her. It would be a privilege to be able to rub her feet again.

 

The joy of her life in her last years were her grandchildren.

It was a disappointment to us that she did not get to see them grow up.

 

Have I made her sound too perfect?

She wasn't.

But she was the perfect Mom for me.

I look forward to seeing her again one day.

February 19,1931 - August 28,1987

Back to School

Our oldest grandson, Brady, is beginning kindergarten this year. But since he is (and has been for some time) in day care and Montessori school, the transition for him isn't so drastic as those just beginning school for the first time (for both him and Mommy).

Seeing pictures everywhere in Blogland and on Facebook of kiddos going back to school takes me back ... waaaayy back and evokes many school day memories. My mother told me that she would send me off to school crying because I wanted to stay home, and my sister would be crying because she wanted to go to school. (I bet my Mom was crying her eyes out just 'cause both of us were crying and giving her fits!!!)

For myself, I remembered this pic with the neighbor kids all set for school.

Me with ruffles on my dress Mom made
My little sister holding her baby doll.

Way, way back there - around 1956. Laddie pencils, tablets with wide rule, chalk and chalkboards, learning to read and write, spelling, and arithmetic. Kind teachers (who were able to keep control in the classroom amazingly just by the fact that they were an authority to be respected), saying the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag each morning, and the Lord's Prayer were also part of our school days.

All of the girls wore dresses (strange thing I never noticed before that the girl standing next to me appears to be wearing jeans). I had a plaid lunchbox which I carried throughout elementary school. It always contained a grape jelly sandwich on white bread, a thermos of chocolate milk, Fritos, and a fried cherry pie or a chocolate Hostess cupcake (remember the white filling inside? Ewwwww. I think they arrest Moms for lunches like that these days.)

We didn't ride a school bus. I have no idea why unless Tulsa had no public school bus system back then. We all walked to school together. It was quite a distance, too (you know the story, 5 feet of snow and pouring down rain). Seriously though, I have been back to the old homeplace and it was a long distance for children. In 2012, I am sure no Mom would send her children off to walk that far at the age of 5 or 6. Amazing how things have changed. And very sad.

On our way to school, we cut through Ziegler Park ... a beautiful park with lots of huge trees and a creek running through it. I remember everybody taking turns walking on the frozen creek in the winter time. As we crossed the park, we would listen (and tell) stories about what horrible things had happened to little children in that park. Oh, scary tales were told and all of us shuddered as we thought about it. How heartbreaking it is that these nightmarish tales are reality at present.

We were strictly admonished to never talk to strangers, nor were we to ever get in a car with anyone and to come straight home from school. One morning, the sweetest elderly couple (who also happened to be our next door neighbors AND landlords) stopped to ask if I wanted a ride home. Duh. No, I am not allowed to accept ride from strangers. LOL.

Surprisingly enough, though I did heed my Mom's warnings not to ride with strangers, somehow I reasoned it was all right to part from my friends and go home with one of my little classmates who lived in a different direction. Poor Mom would then have to leave my sister with the neighbors to come looking for me. On foot. Not only did she did not know how to drive a car, we were a one car family back then. Ohhhh, yes, I remember the feel the back of the switch on those days that I did not heed what Mama said. :-)

Special memories of the good, the hard and the bad times. I'm sure you have special memories of the end of summer and going back to school. Any favorite you want to share?





Lights to light the way

 

 

Just being silly today.

 



Kate has found yet another use for her new Twinkle Toe shoes

 

that Skechers probably never foresaw!

 

She has decided they

 

can light the way for Nonnie

 

when she goes to the "Powder Room"

 

;-)

 

 

 

(I have blessed you by sparing you any other

sound effects than Kate stomping her shoes!!)

Sunday Hello

 

Tulips are such happy flowers, don't you think?

 

The Dallas Arboretum Spring 2012

 

I love a field of tulips. We may be approaching Fall, which I enjoy immensely,

but I just found this in my photos and wanted to share.

 

The tulips have faded for this year, the roses are withering,

and the crepe myrtles are beginning to look a little ragged around the edges.

 

Fall will bring beautiful foliage and colorful mums and pumpkins and such.

I enjoy all the seasons because they are reminders to me in nature

of the fact that God's love never changes.

 

While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,

summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” 

(Genesis 8:22)

 

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant,

and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones,

and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; ...

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

 

 

 

 

Blessings to You Today

I took this photo in the Arcadia National Park in October, 2010.

Blessings to all of you and my apologies

as old posts are being updated and brought forward as

I am removing pictures obtained from the Internet.

 

The heavens

(NIV) Psalms 19:1
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Thank You, Father. Each day I am blessed to enjoy such a view out my window, greeting the dawn in the morning and watching the sun set at the end of the day. You paint the most glorious pictures daily ... for our pleasure!!!



This wide open view allows me to see the resident hawk soaring and searching ... bunnies scampering across the lawn, birds in flight, even a bobcat in our yard one afternoon. We may not have the most scenic view of the lake, but it is one that I have come to love. The wide open space of sky that I can see speaks to me of Your greatness. Watching lightning storms reminds me that when Jesus returns, it will be as lightning from the east to the west.

Kate noticed the sunset the other night and we watched it go down together. This brought about lots of questions about where the sun went tonight. :-) Any attempt at explanations was met with "why?" :) Having the privilege of a relationship with and enjoying the company of this child (and Brady, Noah and Jack) is so much more than I ever dreamed I would be blessed with. Thank You God.

(NIV) Psalms 8:3-4 "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?"

Don't Worry ... Be Happy

Dear Heart has claimed more than once that he is "not a deep thinker."

 

 

 

I disagree. One of his favorite sayings is "Be Happy"

 

The Apostle Paul said it like this.

 

 

C. S. Lewis said it this way:

 

"My own idea, for what it is worth, is that all sadness

which is not either arising

from the repentance of a concrete sin

and hastening towards concrete amendment or restitution,

or else arising from pity and hastening to active assistance, is simply bad;

and I think we all sin

by needlessly disobeying the apostolic injunction to

'rejoice' as much as by anything else."

 

Whew!

 

Selah!