Our Twentieth Anniversary

Celebrating our twentieth anniversary...

 by taking a few pictures at the entrance to our favorite park in town.

The arches were just too perfect!

At our wedding, the wedding arch we borrowed from Jonathan's Colorado church

and set up in my Pennsylvania church

had been decorated with fresh ferns picked that morning from the roadside by Kenneth Lefever and my sister Iva, and twined with some pink and white flowers.

 This time, it's Russian sage behind us--one of Colorado's best flowers for xeriscaping.

But we moved further on into the park, and Crystal patiently took a few more snaps with us looking at the ducks in the pond. (If you click on the photo below, it will enlarge, and you can see two ducks to my left.)

The easterner--and the westerner.

And God made them one.

 And out of that union came three wonderful sons 

and four beautiful daughters.

 And sometimes you have to choose to just be happy even if your closest relative (i.e. youngest daughter or whatever the case may be) is sour at you.

 You do not have to let somebody else's pouts, 

grouches,

complaints,

or criticisms

spoil your love, joy, happiness and contentment. 

You have the power to choose.

Because you will always have those days when the waste baskets overflow,

and so do the desks...

 And those days when your choice to help someone else results in boxes of extra stuff at your place to sort...

 and there are always piles of things waiting to be carried downstairs (or upstairs as the case may be)...

 and fly tapes that really do need to be changed, thanks to the neighbor's countless horses

(we won't say anything about our goats, steers and chickens)...

 and floors to mop, and never-ending other tasks that consume time and energy and emotion.

 So for a few moments, we pull out the wedding dress and iron it and 

take time for celebrating twenty years together!

 Because there will always be those people who will find reasons to find fault

when you are happy. 

But you can choose. 

You can still choose to be happy.

Because isn't that what brings most glory to the Lord?

Taking Time for Flowers, Fun, and "Fotos"

After church Sunday, while our family was still dressed up, I changed into my wedding gown and our pastor's wife so kindly snapped a few shots for us, with this one including Jonathan's mom and dad. I had an extra cowboy hat to put on Grandpa--just for fun! 

Grandma wore to church that day the dress she had worn to our wedding 20 years ago!

So that was very special!

 The vase of beautiful flowers standing in front of me was brought to church that day, and the pastor, who had brought it to the parsonage, teased that I should hold it instead of the artificial bouquet I had. I loved the bouquet of real flowers and set it in front of us.

Then we posed on the beautiful Colorado porch swing.

 We know full well that life is not all fountains and roses...

 or kisses and hugs...

 or yellow sunflowers and sunshine and cute little girls in straw hats holding up white trains...

 We understand only too well that life can get kind of cock-eyed at times, 

a little crooked and screwed up...

that even in the happiest of times, you end up hanging onto your hat

while your daughter hangs onto your train---

 and too often life just plain turns upside down!

So when things get back to rights, you look back and wonder how you ever made it.

But you made it because you just kept focusing on what mattered--and not on the wind blowing your hat away, or the way your rose kept falling off your hat,

or the pout on a little girl's face,

or the funny old man sitting a little ways away from where you wanted a picture at the park,

(who said you have to worry about what grouchy people say about you?)

or the cars slowing down to stare at the wedding party 

that wasn't exactly a wedding party...

(and who says you have to worry about what people think who don't have any idea

what it is like to live in your shoes?)

 just a happy mom wanting a sweet picture with her daughters to celebrate twenty years 

with their dad,

and sharing the love that made the girls oblige their mom even though they would rather have 

been reading books!

And so for a few more sweet moments today, our actual 20th anniversary, I hurriedly put a few more pictures on my blog--in between many moments of less-than-perfect situations--

like waking up about 4:30 and not being able to go back to sleep,

and knowing that Jonathan has to deal with a difficult work situation

with a hired worker disappearing on him while a second main crew guy is back east with a dying mother.

And there is the usual multi-tasking of the day as we finish getting together

school books, desks, pencils and sharpener, crayons and markers

and begin school.

And just before lunch I try to squeeze in a few minutes of sorting through packed-away clothes for Danny who hardly has any clothes in his drawers

and who usually declares that most pants I find for him are too baggy or too short or too long or too uncomfortable...

And how many times today were there lumps in my throat and tears wanting to come?

And after lunch the banging piano during practice time drives me outside under the clotheslines to hang a basket of clothes--and I discover how my middle son hung a shirt up by its sleeves instead of the way I tried to teach him (because the boys are having to learn to do laundry, too, to help the girls),

and I end up sitting on a stool by the clothes lines near the goat and the chickens,

and I say to God, "How am I supposed to do the impossible?"

And the more I sit and ask God, the worse I feel. 

So I pull myself up, and pick up clothespins and hangers, and hang clothes,

and disappear to the motor home for a little bit to regain my sanity,

and end up going into the house for a flyswatter....

And that is just how my days go.

And that is why I blog.

And for now, that seems to be God's answer:

"Do not feel guilty to spend a few moments blogging--

to experience and remember and look forward to joy and contentment and grace--

right in the middle of the impossible."

Just Enough Clouds for a Beautiful Sunset

Twenty years ago on August 26th, 1994

 a young man from Colorado...

 promised a young lady from Pennsylvania, 

whom he'd met and courted in Ukraine, that he would

honor, 

love,

and protect her

                                                                 till death parted them.

And the young lady who hadn't been sure she would always enjoy the rocks and the prairies of the west,

but felt sure of his love and of God's will,

promised to love 

and honor 

and obey him

till death parted them.  

And they sealed their vows with a kiss.

 And twenty years later, 

the same tender-hearted and strong but sensitive man, 

and the same lady

began to celebrate the memory of that day just a bit early--

so it would last as long as possible!

Because marriage is not just about a beautiful wedding, bridal gowns and lace and kisses,

but it is about weathering storms

as well as about admiring sunsets.

 

 It is about helping, forgiving and strengthening each other's weaknesses.

It is about being honest when we are hurt--

and making up afterward.

The wedding kiss becomes one of a series of kisses--the kisses of commitment,

the kisses of joy and friendship,

the kisses of forgiveness and grace,

the kisses not just of passion but of compassion--

the kisses underneath a cloudless sky,

and kisses when the clouds are gray and pouring rain and there is a leak right over your bed!

And I'm so thankful for a husband who is careful to be very appropriate in public,

but renders countless kisses behind the scenes,

and even obliges his wife who loves to be creative with ideas and asks for a silouette picture 

which she is so excited about how it turned out better than hoped for!

And a few relatives and friends shared sweet cards...

one with the touching message (copied from a Country magazine) in a lovely home made card from my mom and dad giving me a lump in my throat:

"May there be only enough clouds in your life to make a beautiful sunset!"

Taking Time for Joy

You've just spent several days with a lot of time down in the basement with the children, clearing out stuff to take to the goodwill, sweeping, vacuuming, reorganizing and rearranging furniture so the boys can move their bedroom out of the schoolroom where they have been this summer.

And you remember that this coming Tuesday is your twentieth anniversary.

And you want it to be kind of special.

So after washing a huge stack of dishes and seeing that apples get chopped for a dessert, and after hanging a load of laundry and seeing that various job are done, you iron your wedding dress you found back in a closet, and you decide to try it on so your daughters can see what you looked like twenty years ago. i  

But this time, you have a little daughter who is eager to be in the photo, too. 

Your seventh child, five years old.

And you take some moments

for joy.

.

Because there will always be stuff on the couch to put away...

 

and stuff to load onto the truck to take to town to sell for a friend.

 

And there will always be the next meal to fix...

 

and another load of laundry to hang on the lines--rags for cleaning the milk goat and comforters to dry.

So you just take time for joy!

So now the wedding gown is ironed and hung and ready to put on tomorrow for photos with the family!

Fun Photos with Steer, PIgs, and Roof

Here are some fun photos we took a few days ago to submit to Colorado Country Life's photo contest.

They were asking for photos of someone in your family reading their magazine in a fun place. 

So my nephew Kenny, who was with us for a couple days, agreed to try for the $25 prize by posing on our steer. 

I loved how the steer looks bored in the first photo, but then the next photo has him taking off with Kenny hanging on with his knees!

Timmy and Danny wanted to submit a photo with the pigs! We got a nice email back from the editor saying she loved this photo. 

Then we had a few others, too.

The boys husking corn to freeze while the girls were away. The boys, Hannah and I froze  five or six boxes of corn while the girls were gone. That was a big job!

Hannah loved learning to sew on a button on her little blouse.

Things always look different from above.

Sammy likes his high places.

 

From below, I loved the way the clouds are reflected in the door and window.

 

Perspective is about deciding to view all the weights in your life--

Or all the joys.

The weights are ones we took pictures of because we are advertising and selling things for a friend to help her out. 

And the beautiful poppy is one that bloomed by our mailbox in the little flower garden that 

Carrie planted and tended. We were so thrilled that a flower bloomed before the goats, chickens, steers, or pigs got it!

And talking about perspective--I had something to say about that when I looked over Sam's shoulder and discovered this photo on his advertisement for a dresser he was advertising.

Depending from what direction you take a picture,

depending from what perspective you look at a thing--

it can look like itself--like reality,

or it can look really skewed.

Give us, O Lord, a proper perspective of our lives and of the things that happen to us--

so that we may not be too discouraged when things seem to be going badly,

 nor be overly lifted up when things seem to be going well,

but that we may  live with a balanced perspective,

and "with eternity's values in view."

These thoughts are just simple thoughts that I enjoy sharing--often when I am too tired to focus on work and need a break. For many, writing is work, but for me, it is a joy. 

So I came in here while the children were out catching chickens for a lady who was buying some, and finished this post.