Moments Held in a Mother's Heart

 There are moments that are held tightly yet tenderly in a mother's heart.

One is when all her children are around the table again, under one roof, for Thanksgiving meal. (Danny set his phone camera up on the refrigerator and tried several times to get a picture. The lighting wasn't too good on this one, but at least it is a picture.)

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And there are moments of just seeing the children (and a boyfriend, a girlfriend, and a niece who is fixing the fire) helping each other get ready for the Thanksgiving meal.

"I'm glad you're all here," says Crystal, "even if we keep bumping into each other!"

Laughter, joy, and gratitude filled the day. (Rose is at the far end of the table reading the article Sam wrote a few months ago after his medical mission trip to Africa where he was helping at the mission where his future girlfriend's sister and husband minister. Sam did not know at that time, back in March, that couple might become his future in-laws, but he connected well with them, especially Josh, who just became a US citizen a few weeks ago--just in time to get registered and vote conservative in our election.)

Hannah, Tim, and Rose "jam" evening before Thanksgiving, while we enjoy seeing them have such a good time with their guitars and banjo.  

And little brother (who isn't so little anymore) challenges big brother Sam on doing pushups on fingertips rather than the normal way.

And there is a discussion about breaking thumbs to do it.

Just like boys.

(And their mom is secretly glad the challenges are to do pushups on fingertips rather than taking first drinks of alcohol or doses of drugs or risks at gambling. 

Could a mom be more grateful or blessed than I am?

I found myself eager to help with washing the stacks of dishes, because the stack of dishes meant the whole family was together once again.

It was a joy to put away food leftover from all seven children around the table again, sharing exciting stories of this year's elk hunt and bear hunt. Carrie had gotten a bear, turning on cowboy music on her phone after the killing shot, because she knew other bears could be around and she was alone! She said the story of playing cowboy music "for the bears" or "to attract the bears" had gotten bigger and bigger at church!

Tom told the story of how he got his first elk this year and all the details about that.  

In the afternoon, some of the young people helped in the barn where Jonathan and Danny have been making a warm corner for the animals, and the others of us sawed and stacked half the winter supply of firewood. 

After supper we presented a few early birthday gifts to Sam, including a set of fireplace tools and a waffle maker with a couple jars of homemade waffle and pancake mix and maple syrup, and a few household items for the house he is still trying to finish remodeling.

After that, since we were already gathered in the livingroom, Jonathan led in reading Psalm 113, a scripture full of praise, and then he and I read three THanksgiving short stories that I had gleaned online from Guideposts. Then instead of just going around the circle simply saying what we were thankful for this year, (even atheists can do that, despite having no God to thank, and even heathen can do that, having only imaginary gods to thank) we bowed our heads and actually told the Lord, our one true God, one by one, our thanks to Him for special events, blessings, and mercies this year. It was very meaningful. One grace that stood out to me was Carrie who thanked God for a job she loved (stocking flowers at a large retail store in Colorado Springs and helping families with chores). Not everyone loves the job they must do day after day. But thank God for this wonderful blessing. And then--well, I will have a whole special post about another very, very special Thanksgiving that God was thanked for by our sweet Rose and her husband Tom.

For a while, Crystal and Carrie tried out playing Christmas duets from a piano duet book. What fun to listen to all that music as the sisters enjoyed being together again.

While there was plenty of food, including this pecan pie the girls made from scratch and other desserts made gluten-free so that Sam's girlfriend could enjoy them as well, we purposely kept the number of dishes of food to a minimum so that we could focus on each other instead of slaving all day and all night in the kitchen and then overeating only to

slouch on the couch

falling asleep because we were so stuffed.

There were blessings to be enjoyed, walks to take (several young people took their walk before sunrise while the stars were still shining)  work to do, wood to stack, music to play--and many things to do besides 

slouch on couches being way too full of way too much food. 

There was so much love to go around in practical ways, 

and tender ways--moments of love and meaning

for a mother's heart.