a slice of crafting

Being back at work is made a bit easier when there are fun distractions – like an evening making little books and crafting with my daughters.  We made a big mess, started some projects, finished some projects, and enjoyed being together.

Read Full Post »

week in the life so far

I am not taking the number of photos that many of the participants have recorded – in fact I don’t have one of me yet.  But I am trying to think from a backwards perspective – what kinds of things would I want my daughters to know about my day-to-day life – the getting up, making breakfast, and living my life sort of things.  I think about this a lot these days.  Mom’s Alzheimer’s is beginning to be more obvious.  The forgetting leaves her unable to carry on a conversation for long.  It is really hard on the telephone where I can’t use visual cues to help her out.  There are so many questions I would like to ask but the frustration of not being able to retrieve the memories keeps me silent.  I am hoping that this story of a simple week in my life might offer up some of those snippets for my daughters.

Read Full Post »

a slice of happy

It doesn’t take a bunch of wrapping paper and tape to give me the gift of happiness.  Last week it was a simple morning of sewing with my daughter.  Working together on a project; chatting, laughing, being together.  As we have been packing up mom and dad’s house, I have thought a lot about the accumulation of things and this Christmas, I just knew that happiness would not be found in a box or a bag.  For this season, happiness was knowing that our kids were close by, that they enjoy each other, and that they want to spend time with us.  That is a great slice to end the year.

Read Full Post »

photo editing

I have this photoscape program where I can add words and borders to my pictures.  This is one I took earlier this month of our daughters, walking ahead of us on a river trail in Montana.  The girls had not seen each other since the wedding in May so it didn’t surprise me to see them walk off to the side of the trail, slightly ahead of the rest of us, having a moment to reconnect.  I always hoped they would be friends.  But I never dreamed how God would knit them together and that they would carry one another in their hearts and their heads.

Read Full Post »

daughters

I received this picture from a friend of my daughter’s, a picture taken as we waited for the wedding rehearsal to begin.  She attached a note that said, “A daughter is a little girl who grows up to be a friend.”

We have two lovely daughters and I have enjoyed every step of their growing up.  I also look forward to the coming years as they continue to become women of grace and beauty.  They allow me to be a part of their lives in ways that I never invited my own mother.  I don’t have any regrets about that, it just seems to seem so easy for them to include me.  They have made it very easy to be a mom, almost too easy.  But I am grateful for moments of joy and moments of tears and looking forward to what the future holds for us as mothers and daughters and friends.

Read Full Post »