So Cute!

Now that I have learned how to take videos properly (blog March 26), I am enjoying taking them of my grandchildren. It has become a form of entertainment for Alexis and Lydia and me.  After I take a video of them, I put it in a folder on my computer desktop that is labeled "grandkid videos." Whenever they come to visit, the three of us sit at my computer and watch them. The girls absolutely love it, and sometime I should take a video of them watching the videos because it would be entertaining in itself. Alexis adjusts the office chair to their height and they both sit on it together. Lydia plops her finger in her mouth and twirls her hair and Alexis clicks on the picture to start the show. They both sit there enthralled and when they see themselves on the screen they giggle. Often they even laugh out loud when they see themselves doing something funny on the video. When it ends, Lydia bounces up and down in the chair and takes her finger out of her mouth long enough to shout, "gen! gen!" We either watch the same one again or we proceed to another one. I have quite a few now, so we don't always watch all of them, but they definitely have their favorites and one of them is the very first chopped up one that I took of them accidently.  Whenever, we get to the part where Alexis sticks out her blue tongue, they both find it extremely funny.

I have the feeling that they will always find these "movies" of themselves amusing. I can just imagine them as teenagers still watching them. From time to time I am going to post some of them on my Blog so in the event something unfortunate happens to my folder on my desktop, a few of them will live on in Blogger infinity. Of course, I am also posting them because they are just so cute! Who doesn't like to watch two little girls watering flowers or clowning around in Grandma's kitchen or a little two year old running clutching her watering can as she goes back for more water to fill it up?

Have I mentioned that I love being a grandma and that I love these little girls?

Too Blessed to Complain

Yesterday's devotional from Our Daily Bread really spoke to me. This is not a new concept and we often speak about our blessings and I know that I have abundantly more than a lot of people in the world. But sometimes seeing it firsthand is more powerful than just hearing or reading about other people's poverty.

As a church, we have been trying hard to reach out to our local community. In an earlier blog, I wrote about the children that we have been interacting with. In this blog I am going to talk a little bit about their parents.  I have gradually been learning to know them better and am finding them to be kind and thoughtful and appreciative of what we have been doing with their children. They truly love their children and are doing the best they can to be good parents to them.

We have been communicating specifically with three families. Here is a brief sketch of some of the things they are dealing with. All names have been changed and some situations as well to protect their privacy.

Tom and Beth have 5 children of their own. Beth operated a daycare for years but was forced to discontinue it around 2008 because of her own personal health issues. She and Tom adopted a brother and sister (ages 4 & 2) that had attended her daycare who were going to be put in foster care. To me, this shows that she loved and cared deeply for the children that she was in charge of. Both Tom and Beth have severe health issues and yet they adopted these two little children when their own children were practically grown. In talking with them, they are strapped tight for money, with a lot of it going for prescription medicines (Tom is diabetic and also needs extra oxygen) and other medical expenses for themselves. The boy and girl are now 10 and 12 years old and they have been coming to our kids club. The parents were so appreciative when the church financially helped to send them to camp for a week. Beth told Steve that it would have been impossible for them to come up with the money to send them, and they are so thankful that their children can have this opportunity.

Greg and Cheryl live with Greg's two daughters in a mobile home in a mobile home park. They are both on disability so on a very limited income but it is obvious they care very much for the girls. I have had the privilege of texting back and forth with Cheryl and have found her to be a very easy person to chat with. When the girls went to camp she sent me their address and asked me to pass it on to others from church so we could write a letter to them. Greg and Cheryl were very excited about taking the girls to camp and agreed to drive them there themselves, however, they had no gas for their car until the next disability check came. We were able to loan them some money, so they could make the trip. Another thing I have noticed about this family, is how Greg tends to his small yard. He is obviously a skilled gardener as beautiful flowers are planted around the mobile home and around the tree in the yard as well as the porch.

Sue lives with her fiancé Mark and 2 daughters in the same mobile home park as Greg and Cheryl. Their mobile home dates back to 1966 and is in great need of repair. Mark works full-time as a baker and Sue has just completed online classes and received a BS in legal studies so is searching for a job as a paralegal, administrative assistant, or legal secretary. Meanwhile she is on welfare, until she can get herself back on her feet. I admire the way Sue took the initiative and earned her degree so she can hopefully have a better life for herself and her daughters. However, of course, she now has student loans to pay back so it will be awhile before she can make much headway, and obviously, the first thing she needs to even get started is a job. There was water damage to the ceiling and walls of the trailer and Sue and Mark needed some paint and other materials to patch things up. Stretched as they are to make every penny count, there was no money for these necessary repairs and we as a church were able to help with purchasing the materials they needed.  They were so grateful and Sue keeps asking what she can do to repay us (not monetarily, but through service or some other way).

These families amaze me. To me they have not complained about their lot in life and they are not looking for a free handout. They state the facts the way that they are and they are dealing with their situations as best they can. They have so little and I have so much. Of course I do not have an unlimited money supply, but I would not think twice about writing out a check to send my child to camp. At the gas pump, I simply swipe my card and don't even consider whether I can afford to fill my tank. If the house needs repair, we go and get the materials that we need to fix it (unless it is a major renovation like replacing the porch!). Yet I will complain that I haven't gone on a vacation for years, that I have too much yard to mow, that the house is too big for me to keep after, or that I am so busy working I don't have time to do something else that I would enjoy. How SILLY! I need to stop and look around me and see how I can share the blessings that I have with others. I need to change my attitude from "I don't have time to deal with other people's problems" to  "I need to take the time to listen and to help others who are dealing with major life crises."

Working with these families has opened my eyes to how many around us live on a very meager income and just barely scrape along and sometimes can't even afford what we consider the necessities of life. I have no idea why I have so much and others so little (life isn't fair). However, maybe I have been put in these people's lives for such a time as this. If I am available to listen to them, love them and their children, and pray for and with them, God is able to do much more than I can ask or imagine in all of our lives. My prayer is that I will keep my eyes and ears open to ways that I can bless others and that I will keep my mouth shut when I am tempted to complain about some minor inconvenience in my life.

~ We don't need more to be thankful for, we just need to be more thankful. ~ Bill Crowder

Before and After

For years we have been saying that we needed to replace our porch and windows and put vinyl siding on the wooden part of the house where the paint was chipped off and fading. Of course, every time we thought about it the dollar signs we envisioned in our head made us cringe and we always pushed it on the back burner until "next year." Well, finally we gulped and put out the money and did it. I LOVE it. Here are some before and after pictures.

 

 

 

Once in a while spending some money actually feels good!  I am so happy with our renovations and as you can see from the pictures, Chip is too!





Dear Awstin,

Happy birthday Awstin Wade Lehman!!! Finally, you have arrived! We are so excited and already have fallen in love with you!

I first learned about your existence last Christmas. Your daddy had my name in our gift exchange and after I had opened his present he said, "there is a card in there too." Unsuspectingly, I pulled the little card out of its envelope and skimmed its contents. My heart stopped and I reread it again to make sure I understood it.

Mom, The gift we wanted to get you (which we know you will enjoy for many years) is back ordered until July. We got this gift so you would have something to open on Christmas. But the gift we know you will LOVE has an estimated arrival date of July 4, 2013. Love, Shawn & Melissa.
     
I gasped and looked at your mommy and daddy and said, "Are you serious?!?! I just can't believe it!!!" I threw the card at Grandpa and rushed over to hug both of them.  The rest of the family was sitting in stunned silence not understanding what was happening. As the card got passed around and everyone realized that you would be arriving next summer, the excitement escalated. Your Aunt Kristen and I were crying with happiness and the others were smiling and congratulating your parents. It was a special moment that I will always remember. After 10 years of marriage, your mommy and daddy would be welcoming a third member (well fourth--I can't forget Indy) into their family.

In February, we were delighted to find out that you were a boy and we continued to look forward to July when we would get to meet you. The beginning of July came and went and everyone was getting a little impatient. However, you were on your own timetable and did not want to be rushed.

What a sweetie you are! You weighed in at a whopping 9 pounds 15 ounces so you are a "big" baby and already have a great start on life! I believe you are going to have big eyes just like your daddy & mommy and I love the little bit of hair you have on your head.

You are a lucky little boy to be a part of this family. You will be loved by your parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins. You will find that the Lehman family can be goofy and silly and some days you will probably wonder about the strange antics of your wacko relatives but rest assured that underneath that silliness is a family that cares deeply, loves unconditionally, and will stick by each other no matter what. Welcome!  We love you!

Love,

Grandma

Mother

Today marks the 7th anniversary of my mother’s death. In a lot of ways it seems so long ago. Time has a way of marching on and it really saddens me how quickly memories can fade. One of the main reasons I started this Blog was to help me remember and to also share my memories with those that will read this now and in the future.

It’s a little hard to describe my mother. If you have never met a person, it’s almost impossible to really get a grasp of what their personality was like by reading or hearing another person’s description of them. One time when I was about twelve I asked my mother about her mother who died when I was young. For some reason, I was curious about her personality and wanted to know what she was like. I think it was because Mom brought up more than once that her mother would not let her take a picture of her wedding cake because supposedly that was a frivolous thing to do. Of course I thought this was ridiculous and in my childish mind I classified Grandmother Kreider as mean for ruining my mother’s desire to have a keepsake picture of her wedding cake. To my surprise, Mom paused and thought for a while and then said, “she was nice.”  Such simple words that really don’t give any deep insight into a person’s true character and yet they also bring a picture into your mind of someone that was pleasant to be around. It changed my opinion of my grandmother and I am also going to use these words to describe my mother. She was nice.

Edith Amanda Kreider was born on February 3, 1926 and was the fifth child and third daughter born to Elmer & Mary Kreider. Six more brothers followed after Mom making the family count a total of eleven children. I don’t think they ever lacked for food and necessities, but I am pretty sure they were not considered wealthy. More than once I heard Mom tell the story that in grade school she wore the same dress every day to school. On Saturday they would wash it and then she would wear it again the following week.  Finally, her mother made her a new dress which she excitedly wore to school.  Her teacher made the comment to the class, “Oh look, Edith has a new dress!”  At the time, Mom said she was so proud that her teacher noticed her different dress, but later when she looked back on it she realized that it was pretty unusual for someone to wear the same dress every single day and that maybe she should have been ashamed and embarrassed when it was such a monumental occasion for her to wear something different that her teacher commented on it.

Mom was an academically gifted student and got straight A’s on her report cards. Unfortunately, she had to quit school after the tenth grade and she never did get a high school diploma. I think this always bothered her but apparently not enough for her to take a GED test later in life to obtain one. I remember she was good with math and handled most of her and Dad's finances keeping meticulous handwritten records in a ledger. Mom always wrote in cursive and it was a beautiful script. After she died, I found a notebook in which she had copied poems.

When I looked at that unique handwriting a wave of nostalgia came over me. I kept the book.

Mom was also a good artist. She painted several pictures which some of us children have on display in our houses today. The one I have is of the old barn across the road from where I grew up.

Unfortunately, there is a blue smudge on the barn and a small tear in the road, but it is still a great painting. My brother Glen has a picture that she painted of our house at River Road in Conestoga.

This is my favorite. I am amazed that she could have such artistic abilities and absolutely not pass any of those genes on to me.L

I remember Mom as someone who worked hard and didn't complain much. She enjoyed cooking and baking and gardening. Each spring it was a big deal to get the garden planted and all summer and fall she froze and canned the produce that she harvested from it. Her flower gardens were beautiful as well (again sadly something she didn't pass on to me). She planted mums along the one side of our garage and they would bloom well into November. I remember one year a man stopped and asked if he could take a picture of them because they were so pretty.

Mom was quick to see the humor in things and was always up for a good laugh. My brother Gene and I will never forget the time the two of us and Mom drove out to Colorado to visit my sister Lois and her family. Somewhere in the Midwest, Mom and I decided to switch seats. I was in the back and she was in the front. We thought we could do it while Gene continued to drive. Mom got her one leg over the seat to come back and somehow she got stuck and could neither go front or back. All three of us were laughing so hard that eventually Gene had to pull over so we could get Mom unstuck from her precarious position. I still cannot think about this without smiling.

Mom taught me a lot. I learned the basics of housekeeping from her like cooking, baking, and cleaning.  She tried in vain to teach me to sew but alas my impatience proved too much for either of us to conquer. She would patiently rip out my stitches and tell me to try again. Honestly, I would try but eventually both of us saw the futility in it.  

Mom taught me to be honest and to work hard and to be a dependable person. She taught me to be (I hope) a good listener. One thing you could be sure of is that if you told Mom anything in confidence it would go no further. She encouraged me to persevere when things went wrong and times were tough. One of her favorite sayings was, "this too will pass." I think of that quote often when I am going through something that is unpleasant.

Like any mother, Mom loved to see her children happy. One of my fondest memories of something she did for me was a 16th birthday party. Our family never did much to celebrate birthdays and I had certainly never had a party but I must have mentioned that I wished for a party. She contacted one of my school friends and together they planned a surprise birthday party for me. On a day close to my birthday, I came home from school and went immediately out to the chicken house to collect eggs. When I came into the house two hours later, six teenage girls shouted at me as I opened the laundry door.  I nearly jumped out of my skin and I can still see Mother just beaming in the background as my shock turned to complete joy as I realized my wish for a surprise birthday party had been granted.

Another thing that I appreciated about Mom was her faithful support of me.  No matter what I did, I always knew that I would have at least one supporter  It might have been a piano recital, a school program, a softball game or whatever. I could be sure that Mom would be in the audience. Mom wasn't overly demonstrative and rarely if ever did I receive a hug or an "I love you" from her, but I never questioned how much she loved me.

She also lived out her faith in a quiet way.  I don't think I can comprehend the pain that she went through when most of her siblings chose to join the Eastern Mennonite Church in the late sixties and early seventies. It drove a deep divide in her family and unfortunately it was never reconciled. In many of her siblings eyes, she was no longer living a godly life and one sibling went as far as to tell her that she was going to hell. I know Mom took this hurt of the bickering of her family over religion to her grave, but I think in her own heart, she was at peace with the choice that she and Dad made to stay with Lancaster Mennonite Conference. She believed that Jesus was her Savior and that she was saved through grace not through any restricting guidelines that a church demanded of her.  Mom rarely talked about her family or her faith to me and I think it kind of went with her personality to keep things to herself and not speak openly about her feelings (this is a trait that I did inherit from her).

There are many other things I could write about Mom, but it would make this Blog post too long. She obviously taught me my love for Scrabble and other word games. After I married and had children, she helped me a lot with childcare and my children loved to go to her house. I always enjoyed spending time with Mom and I know that she was always glad to see me and my family. 

A couple of weeks ago, I visited my parents’ graves. I walked around the graveyard a little bit and read the many other tombstones. So many people and each one of them lived a life and had a story to tell, but I am guessing that for the most part their lives and stories are buried with them.  They walked and talked, ate and slept, were happy and sad, hoped and dreamed like everyone else in the world before and after them, but when their casket was lowered into the ground and covered with dirt, unless they had done something of historical value, within a generation or two, nobody remembers what they looked like or anything about them. 

I traced the etching of my mother's name on her grave stone and pictured her face in my mind. Memories washed over me and I lowered my head and silently wept. Wiping away the tears, I turned away from her grave and thought to myself, "Yes, Mom, everything does pass, even life on this earth."

I think when children can say proudly, "I am _________'s daughter or son" it means that the parent has been someone that has earned their love, respect and admiration. I can say not only with pride, but also with a grateful heart that I am thankful and blessed to be Edith's daughter.