The Path

Life; I love it. There is so much to it. The path I take is up to me. I envision, as I look back on my path, that what I worry about now will seem like a droplet of rain in the grand scheme of this path. There is so much to do. As I intern at NCADD I am reminded each day that life is too short to get hung up on the little situations that seem to deter our progress along life's road. God is in charge and always will be. Trust. Faith. Hope. Love. I've been very blessed in my life and so why do I worry and fret over minuscule issues? I guess I am human and I am learning and trying and am in constant progress ... I hope.

Richard and Jena, Baby #1

Yay! I finally get to tell everyone that Richard and Jena are expecting baby #1, due mid-March 2014!!
The first picture of my 12th grandchild! :-)

  

Every time one of our babies was born it seemed like such a joyous miracle. Every time we found out we were expecting another baby, I was elated. I loved feeling the first flutters around 3 1/2 months. Even now I look back on my pregnancies with a peaceful, sweet feeling even with all the discomforts that came along with pregnancy. Each child is such a blessing to our family.

Talking to Trees and the Adorable Twins

A couple of times someone close to me has suggested that I should talk to a tree ... now don't get me wrong, I dearly love this person and highly respect him, but, "talk to a tree!?" I tried to be open-minded about it, but whenever I envision myself sharing my problems and thoughts with a tree, it just doesn't feel quite right (no offense to the trees! I love tress.). But then I got to thinking about journaling ... is this kind of like talking to a tree? I mean, after all, here I am sharing my thoughts on cyberspace paper, so I guess it's not so different.

The reason this subject even comes up is because I have a tendency to keep thoughts and feelings inside. After Erick's death I did this. I was shocked at how much anger I felt after he died. It hit me like a brick wall. Where the heck did it come from, and why, I wondered? I was able to function (maybe), and thought I was doing what was best for my children; you know, look and act strong; try to put their needs first. We were all thrown into a bit of a tailspin. His death was so unexpected. We found out two weeks before his death that he had leukemia. Before then we thought he was healthy and that we would grow old together. Boy were we in for a surprise. I will talk more about this sometime, but not right now. 

At the time of Erick's death, our youngest were these adorable, little 2 year old twins, Hansan and Dallan. They do not remember their daddy at all. Now they are 15 years old. My daughter-in-law, Xiaojun, took some beautiful pictures of the boys within the past week, so here they are now:

Love of Crazy, Busy Life

We have a crazy, busy life, and there is so much to write about, so where do I begin when I am so far behind? That's my problem. I think I have to write every little detail in order to share the stories correctly, and before you know it, there's a million stories that seem to pile atop each other. I then feel overwhelmed and continue putting it off, only to realize that large spaces of time have slipped into a pool of drowning thoughts that are locked inside my fading memories. *sigh* I will try to do better (as I say every time I write), but really, I will...... try. :-)

My 11 grandchildren have continued to grow even if it seems like time stands still due to my missing blogs. It is wonderful when my own children have their own children running around. Seems like yesterday that we had little ones running throughout the house. Now it's my beautiful grandchildren who come over and run throughout the house. Sometimes I get caught up in the enormity of it all; I mean, really, can you imagine 11 screaming little ones running throughout the house? Yep, that's the reality of it on some visits. But it's my crazy life and I wouldn't want it any other way. We get it figured out and it works for us one way or another.

 (Pictures of my grandchildren: August 31, 2013)