In a Sentimental Mood

My dad walked in the door a few days ago with some papers in his hand--not unusual since he almost always collect our mail and brings it up to us when he comes each evening for supper.  But these papers didn't come in the mail.  :)

"I was going through some things and found these.  I decided not to shred them," he teased.  As if any papers with my childish handwriting on them should ever be shredded!!  ;-)

 First was a note I wrote to my mother when I was 10 years old, and then one to my dad when I was 12, after I had picked some raspberries from the fence row and given them to him.

 Then another one, this note to both of them.  I'll quote it since the writing is so faint.  "Dear Mommy & Daddy, I love you so much.  Thanks for doing all you do for me and for helping me when I was sick.  Love, Davene  P.S. Yellow is for happy sunshine.  XOXOXOXOXOXOXO"

 I said earlier that those papers didn't come in the mail, but I guess I'm mistaken because this one seemed to be addressed rather elegantly.  ;-)

Mr. and Mrs. Huffman
Huffman Happy Home
Biggest Bedroom

Any mail carrier could have found the right place based on that info, right?  ;-)  (And to think that Jeff and I now sleep in that Biggest Bedroom!)  :)

Seeing those scraps of paper that I had completely forgotten about made me feel a little sentimental, and that mood was heightened today when I put Benjamin in this outfit--probably for the last time since he's really too big for it.

I remembered that Josiah had worn this outfit when he was a baby, so I started looking for a particular picture of me holding him when he was wearing it.  I never did find that picture this afternoon, but I did come across a couple of other pictures of him in it. 

My parents were here for lunch today; and if I had spotted these photos before they left, I would surely have taken pictures of Benjamin with them!  As it is, I took a few with him myself.  :)

 Maybe someday, I'll find the picture of Josiah and I, when he's wearing it.  When (if) I do, I'll at least have these with Benjamin to compare.  :)

It's a funny thing about these baby/toddler clothes: they're just cloth, but oh, what a wealth of memories they hold!  And when there are items that we've had from our first child to our last, that wealth of memories is very large indeed!!

While I was looking for that picture with Josiah, I came across this picture of my brother David's children: Jacob, Elizabeth, and Isaac.  This was taken in Guatemala, 13 years ago, before my brother and his wife Lori adopted them.  I vividly recall the intense joy and anticipation we felt that summer as we watched God's plan for bringing children into my brother's family unfold.

And now, David and Lori just got back to the States with three more children: Dilan, Melany, and Evelin. This time, they adopted from Colombia.  We haven't met them yet and haven't seen a picture of David and Lori with all six of their children together, but oh, what joy and anticipation we are all feeling!

The last sentimental bit for today: a few days ago, Dad let Josiah wear one of the old coats floating around his house, and since Josiah actually owns plenty of coats (although he happened to not wear one that day), we decided to pass it on to someone else.  Before we did that, however, I checked the pockets...

...and found a treasure.

 One of my mother's old pretty handkerchiefs.

 I washed it up and tucked it away in one of my dresser drawers.

 I try to get rid of clutter (and actually enjoy the process of letting go of stuff very much!), but this was one item I couldn't quite bring myself to discard.

Little scraps of paper, little bits of cloth, a photo in an old dusty album--they're not much.  But from such things are sweet, priceless memories called forth.