Why Do We Love Roses So Much?

Out of all the glorious flowers that bloom here and there and everywhere, why do we elevate roses to such an exalted position?

No other flower seems to have quite the reputation for expressing love that roses do.

Why are they at the top of the heap?

Was there once a king who gave roses to his beloved, thereby making that species famous?

Was it a poet who first immortalized them as the flower of love?

 I'm sure some historians would know the answer and could describe, in great detail, the origin and development of our affection for roses; but maybe the answer is simple.

Maybe we just love them because they're beautiful.  ;-)

When All Else Fails

When toddlers are grumpy and can't seem to settle into a cheerful activity...

...sometimes, all it takes to help them be happy is...

...letting them play with water.

It works {almost} every time!  ;-)

The Story Behind the Song

I learned something new tonight.

During a concert of the Touring Choir from my high school, the famous (in my circle) Mr. Hartzler, choir director extraordinaire, mentioned that the song "Precious Lord, Take My Hand" was written after the death of the author's wife and baby (the story is here).  I had never heard that before, but that knowledge makes the words even more poignant.

As I sit here tonight and wind down at the end of a busy, full day, I can say with that powerful hymn, "I am tired, I am weak, I am worn," but now I know that my fatigue and emptiness are nothing compared with what Thomas A. Dorsey was enduring when he wrote that song.

Still, I'm so very grateful that my precious Lord leans down to wrap my hand in His strong one.

Dear 16-Year-Old Me

"I don't want to see a new blog post from you when I get up tomorrow morning," my dad told me this evening after supper.

With 11 guests expected for lunch tomorrow, in addition to our normal 8, he knew, after looking around my messy kitchen, that I had my evening's work cut out for me and didn't need to stay up late because of any kind of obligation to blog.  So, when he told me he didn't want to see a new blog post, I suppose that was his way of saying, "I love you."

I love you, too, Dad; but I didn't quite follow your advice.  I know I don't have much time tonight, but it doesn't take hardly any time to post this--a video I've been meaning to post but then forgot about.  Today, at Riven Rock Park, while I slathered sunscreen on your grandsons while they danced in and out of the frigid mountain water, I thought of this video and remembered its vivid warning about skin cancer.  I guess I'd have to say that, in my life, the only warning about skin cancer that was more vivid than this was when you discovered a cancerous mole on your arm.  Thinking about that makes me exhale deeply with gratitude that yours was caught so early and dealt with so effectively.  It also inspires me to keep coating my boys--my "I-don't-want-to-stand-still," "don't-get-it-in-my-eyes!" boys--with sunscreen.


With all of that said, Dad, here's a video for you to watch when you wake up.  As for me?  I'm heading back to the kitchen.  ;-)

From Dreams to Reality

When we lived in Israel, I got a book--a plain red book with blank pages--to fill with ideas for the future, dreams about the house we would have when we returned to the U.S., pictures I cut out of magazines that sparked my interest and gave me inspiration for future homemaking plans, etc.  

Many, MANY of those dreams haven't come true--and probably never will.  (For example, I thought we would buy some land when we returned and build a small log home on it; instead, my parents sold us the home place, and we've been here ever since.)  But on one page of my dream book was a page torn out of a magazine (probably Southern Living) with a picture of a tree on it.

The tree was a Chinese fringe tree, and I liked it so much when I saw it in the magazine that I decided I would try to have one someday.  

On one of my birthdays (maybe the first one I celebrated here after our return from Israel?), my dream came true, and Jeff got a fringe tree for me--actually, two.  

We planted one in front of my dad's office (which is now their home) and one in front of the other house on the property, the one in which they were living after they moved out of the home I now live in and before they moved into Dad's former office.

When I was down in that corner of the property yesterday, I had to admire--as I do every year--the lacy, delicate fringe that this tree dances in during the springtime.

 Not all of my green-thumb projects turn out well, but I'm happy that this particular one did.  It's lovely when reality turns out to be as nice as the dream was all along!  :)

Planting Boys

I'm just not sure we have enough boys around here.

 Do you think if we plant these two fine specimens...

...more will pop up??  ;-)

* The holes in my parents' flowerbed were actually there because of the Bleeding Heart flowers we were transplanting.  After reading an online article about how to transplant Bleeding Hearts, I recklessly took on the job--after all, Google makes us all experts, right?  I joked with my parents that if the worst case scenario happened and both Bleeding Hearts died, I'd buy them new ones.  That was the only kind of guarantee I could give them.  I'm not a landscaper after all...and after doing that job in 90 degree weather yesterday, I don't think I'd ever like to be one!  ;-)

Just Like George

Remember when George H.W. Bush went skydiving on his 80th birthday--and then again on his 85th?  My dad did something similar two days ago, on his 71st.  No, he didn't jump out of an airplane, but he did jump...

 ...on our trampoline!  :)

That was a first for him.

 "First AND last," he said when he stood on solid ground again with shaky legs.

With this kind of adventurous behavior when he turned 71, who knows what craziness Dad will be getting himself into by his 80th?  I'd better go reserve his spot on that skydiving trip in 2020!  ;-)

Wordless Wednesday {Because of My Mother's Green Thumb...}

Guest Post: Pause Life for a Moment

I feel extremely honored to have been asked by JDaniel4's Mom to write a guest post for her series, Pause Life for a Moment.  You can head over there to read some of my thoughts on an issue that I think generates enough shame that we mothers are disinclined to talk about it.  

Thanks so much, JDaniel4's Mom, for giving me this opportunity; and thanks for your blogging friendship and encouragement!  :)

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In other news on this beautiful day, May 24th happens to be the birthday of someone very special to me:  this fine gentleman!

That, in case you couldn't guess, is my dad; and the baby he's holding is me--about 35 years ago.  Dad, you haven't changed a lick in the last 35 years!  :)  Well...OK...so you've changed a little bit.  ;-)  But your faithful love has stayed the same, so today I not only say, "Happy birthday!" but also, "Thank you from the bottom of my heart!"

I always like to look back to see what I posted on previous birthdays.  Here are some from the past few years:  :)

2010

2009

2008

2007 and another short one from 2007

Little Prince Charming

Is it just my imagination...

 ...or is Shav getting more and more handsome...

...every single day?  :)

WiW #3 - There Is No Me Without You

I've finally let myself start reading a book that's been sitting on my shelf for months.  I knew it would be gripping; and I also knew that, while we were in the midst of our busy spring schedule of homeschool/music lessons/everything else, I wouldn't have the time--nor the emotional energy--to devote to it.  But now, I do.  :)

The book is There Is No Me Without You by Melissa Fay Greene, a nonfiction book about Africa, the AIDS crisis, and the way one woman opens her home and heart to many (MANY!) children made orphans by the horrific, nearly incomprehensible spread of the disease.

Here is one of the passages that intrigued me:


Adoption is not the answer to HIV/AIDS in Africa.  Adoption rescues few...For every orphan turning up in a northern-hemisphere household--winning the spelling bee, winning the cross-country race, joining the Boy Scouts, learning to rollerblade, playing the trumpet or the violin--ten thousand African children remain behind alone.


"Adoption is a last resort," I would be told in November 2005 by Haddush Halefom, head of the Children's Commission under Ethiopia's Ministry of Labor, the arbiter of intercountry adoptions, "Historically, close kinship ties in our country meant that there were very few orphans:  orphaned children were raised by their extended families.  The HIV/AIDS pandemic has destroyed so many of our families that the possibility no longer exists to absorb all our Ethiopian orphans."


"I am deeply respectful of the families who care for our children," he said.  "But I am so very interested in any help that can be given to us to keep the children's first parents alive.  Adoption is good, but children, naturally, would prefer not to see their parents die."

Let me clarify:  the book is not anti-adoption (and neither am I...in fact, I'll confess to perusing the Ethiopia info on the website of the adoption agency my brother and his wife used when adopting their three children from Guatemala, All God's Children International...if I had a large sum of money sitting around, I'd adopt in a flash...and in fact, we very seriously considered it before we were surprised with Shav's pregnancy).  But I see the point of the book, that the problem is so immense that adoption doesn't come close to solving it.

Here's another good point the book made:

Fear of contagious disease is typical in tropical and subtropical countries.  Inhabitants of temperate zones fail to appreciate the extent to which their steel and glass civilizations are built upon the bedrock of annual winters, while those in tropical zones are bedeviled to death by contagious parasites, viruses, insects, and bacteria that are never beaten back by ice or cold.

As I have watched the ants return to my kitchen after their winter hiatus, I'm reminded of the truth of how blessed we are to have our insect population controlled by annual cold spells.  If that's not a blessing we take for granted, I don't know what is!

I'm less than halfway through the book, but already I give it two thumbs up.  If I didn't have laundry and dishes and cleaning and children calling my name, I'd curl up on the couch and spend the rest of the day reading it!

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This morning while my boys rode bikes on our driveway and played in and around the garage, I opened a storage box of papers and started decluttering.  This is one of the things I found:

These are 22 questions the members of John Wesley's Holy Club asked themselves each day in their private devotions over 200 years ago.
1. Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I really am?  In other words, am I a hypocrite?
2. Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?
3. Do I confidentially pass on to another what was told to me in confidence?
4. Can I be trusted?
5. Am I a slave to dress, friends, work, or habits?
6. Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?
7. Did the Bible live in me today?
8. Do I give it time to speak to me everyday?
9. Am I enjoying prayer?
10. When did I last speak to someone else about my faith?
11. Do I pray about the money I spend?
12. Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?
13. Do I disobey God in anything?
14. Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?
15. Am I defeated in any part of my life?
16. Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy, or distrustful?
17. How do I spend my spare time?
18. Am I proud?
19. Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisees who despised the publican?
20. Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold a resentment toward, or disregard?  If so, what am I doing about it?
21. Do I grumble or complain constantly?
22. Is Christ real to me?

After reading that list, my first thought is, "Thank You, God, for Your grace!!!"  :)  But my second thought is, "Spiritual growth doesn't happen without honest assessment, and this is an outstanding tool for that."

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For more gathered words, visit Barbara H.'s Stray Thoughts.

For the Second Year in a Row...

...we took advantage of Homeschool Day (held on May 13 this year) at Kings Dominion to celebrate the end of our school year.  (If you want to take a peek back at our trip last year, here's a link to that post; it makes me smile every time I read it.)  Although I think I've neglected to mention it here on the blog, we actually officially finished this school year on April 29.  During the past few years, we've settled into a wonderful routine of doubling up on some lessons and working ahead so that we can finish in April; and the boys--and I!--are very motivated to do a little extra work to make that happen.  May is a gorgeous month in our corner of the world, and I love how peaceful it is as we gently transition into our summer routine, free from the constraints of needing-to-get-school-done-even-though-we'd-rather-play-outside.  If all goes well in future years, I anticipate April being the month in which we always strive to finish.

On a similar note, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if, in future years, we make this annual visit to Kings Dominion on their Homeschool Day.  As it is now, the thought of having to wait a whole year is nearly torturous for David and Tobin; and I get asked often when we can go back.  In the car with the boys a few days ago, I explained--yet again--that their question about when we can go back is one of those questions (that they're very good at asking!) that I just can't answer, because despite our plans, only God knows what the future holds.  I told them that, yes, I love Kings Dominion, and I certainly hope we wil be able to go there again next year, but maybe someone in our family would be really sick and we couldn't go or maybe we wouldn't have enough money to go or maybe...well, who knows what might happen between now and then?!  They quieted down for a little while, but I'm sure tomorrow or next week will bring another round of questions along the same lines...maybe even the question Tobin was asking recently, "We go to Kings Dominion in two days??"  :)  "Not exactly, my dear.  Not exactly."

All of this clamor for a return visit serves to reinforce something we already knew:  the boys LOVED our recent trip.  Here, in picture form, is the evidence, with comments interspersed:

 From my visits to Kings Dominion during my teen years, I only remembered the big, thrilling roller coasters; but there are actually quite a few rides and attractions geared for little children.  It was no trouble at all for even the youngest boys to find plenty that they wanted to do while we were there.

 Jeff strapped Shav into this airplane...

 ...so he could ride with his biggest brother.

This was so funny to me:

 while Tobin and David were able to get their airplane to go (relatively) high in the air...

 ...Josiah could not get his and Shav's to elevate at all.

 It was the most boring ride for Josiah, and we laughed good-naturedly at him as he sat there bored stiff.  He is almost nine, after all, so he's outgrown these kiddie rides fair and square.  But he was expecting to do more than just ride around in a circle without rising up in the air one inch!

The bumper cars were more exciting.  :)

 It was fun to have Josiah, David, AND Tobin out there running into each other.  I thought it might be a good idea for us to install a bumper car area in our front yard, so that when sibling rivalry issues are running amok, I can send them out there to take out their aggression that way.  I wonder if Jeff will agree to that.  ;-)

 Shav was the watcher...

...and as Tobin went speeding by (well, not really speeding, maybe "sauntering" is more accurate) in a speeding sauntering rocket, Shav calmly sat in his stroller outside the fence, drinking from his sippy cup.

I decided to have the boys each wear a shirt that was mostly red, so that they would be easy to spot as I did my motherly headcount (1, 2, 3, 4, they're all here...1, 2, 3, 4, they're all here...over and over and over...all day long).  :)

While Josiah and David went on the Scooby Doo roller coaster (which is now called something else, but I can't remember what, so we call it the Scooby Doo), Tobin ventured onto this rocking boat...

 ...and loved it.  That boy is a wild man!  He wanted to go on EVERYTHING and was stopped only because he was too short.  But this boat ride was a good one for him.

It makes me happy to see Tobin and Shav together like this.  :)

 The next picture makes me smile as I see how they're looking in opposite directions.  Good thing they're not really trying to drive a car together!  It makes me think of the saying, "Too many cooks spoil the broth," and also the verse from Amos 3 that says, "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?"  :)

It looks like they're more unified now.  :)

Tobin liked these swings...

 ...but this was another snoozer of a ride for Josiah.  His legs are so long that his feet touched the ground, and he had to lift his feet a little so they wouldn't drag as the swing turned around.  :)  Later, he and I went on the "real" swings, and that was much more exciting for him.  :)

 At lunch, we left the park and went across the street to grab some fast food at Burger King.  Since by that point it was raining (yes, it rained on us, turning even the non-water rides into water rides), we went through the drive-through, then came back to the Kings Dominion parking lot and ate in our van.  Meanwhile, we watched one of the funniest events of the day.  A couple of teenagers came out to the parking lot, carrying a huge stuffed animal (I think it's a pig?) that they had evidently won in one of the carnival games.  And then!

 They tried (and tried) to stuff it into their small car.  Through the trunk?  Nope.  Through the doors?  It wasn't budging.  We were watching all of this and laughing a little at their foolishness as we wondered whether it ever occurred to them, in their ardent desire to win that huge porker, whether they would actually be able to get it home or not!  Jeff, being the kind-hearted (not to mention, strong) guy that he is, eventually trotted across the parking lot to them and offered to help.  Between him pushing and the guy pulling, they somehow managed to get the beast in the car.  I can only hope that they were able to get the thing OUT of the car, without having to cut it in half or something equally as drastic.  ;-)

By this point, I was hitting the afternoon sleepies and wishing that I could sneak in a little nap; but of course that wasn't possible, so back into the park we went.  It didn't take long to get fully awake again.

Watching Josiah "drive" this car made me suddenly and unexpectedly sentimental.  He's not even nine years old yet, but from all that I hear from older mothers, the years between now and when he turns 16 will whiz by, and before I know it, he'll be driving a real car.  I can only imagine the strong emotions a mother feels when she watches her firstborn drive off alone for the first time.  I'm glad I still have some time before that happens! ;-)

As I was imagining how our day might go, I wondered if it might be the first day of Shav's life that he didn't get a nap...but no, it wasn't to be.  While the others in our family rode in the old-fashioned cars, he slept in the stroller, and I savored the sight of his cherubic face.

After the cars, it was time for the swinging eagles...

...which Tobin the Fearless was delighted to ride with his daddy.  It's not really a kiddie ride, and Jeff made the eagle swing quite high, but Tobin loved it.  :)

While I waited, I did a little more savoring of our littlest prince.

When we walked past the entrance to The Grizzly ride...

 ...the boys had to pose and show us their fiercest bear faces.  (Just like Tobin did in the pictures in this post from a while ago.)  Quite an intimidating bunch, aren't they?  :)

I had to admire Shav's dimpled hand...

...and his sandal-clad feet.

He is so very loved.

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I have many more pictures to share, but I've been working on this post for long enough.  Before further delay, I'll go ahead and publish this part, and hopefully continue the saga of our joyful adventure later!