Happy birthday, Mom!

Today is my mother's 70th birthday. A few years ago, she and my dad moved to New Mexico from Iowa, and having them closer has been such a blessing!  A couple of years ago, we experimented and recreated my grandmother's apple-butter recipe (pictured at left). Working and laughing with my mom is such a blessing!  Through the years, she has always been hwere I could turn to laugh, cry, rant, or exude.

Happy birthday, Mom! Thank you for all the blessings you bring to my life!

Update to the update: high pass FTW

High pass FTW: Ben received word last Saturday that he received a "high pass" on his Greek Masters comprehensive (the highest score given), and he is now the proud recipient of a second Master's degree.  We would be proud of you, Ben, without this degree.  But we are especially proud of the courage and fortitude it took to finish strong. Well done, son!

And now, let's all pray for a job...

An update on our classicist...

An update on Ben and Elsa is long overdue here.  It is a time of great change and flux for them! Ben will be ending his graduate school career this spring-- at least for now-- hopefully with a second Master's degree (this one in Greek to match the one he already has in Latin.)  He took his final comprehensive for the second Master's degree this week, and will have results soon. And then it is hunting-for-a-job-in-the-real-world-time.  I know he and Elsa would appreciate your prayers, Gentle Readers, in this time of uncertainty and transition! Elsa continues to keep the office of the School of Opera and Ballet humming at IU, and Ben is brushing up his resume.  If any of you know of a job availability in teaching or translating classical languages or modern ones (he's pretty competent in Spanish and German, and has a reading knowledge of Italian and French), or in research, or in technical writing, or in editing, or in any other kind of job that will support his family, Ben would love to hear about it!

Thoughts on grandparenthood...

Some of you, Gentle Readers, may be thinking that this has become a blog all about our Emma.  Not so, really- it is still a blog about my life and family.  But one very significant part of that currently is the new world of being a grandparent.  I have been wondering what makes this new aspect of my world so sweet and fascinating.  It is not that Emma is beautiful and cuddly-- though she is both.  It is not even really just about Emma. I find it difficult to put this into words, but as you know, Gentle Reader, that never stops me from trying!

Being a grandparent is really about delighting anew in God's faithfulness.  All the good things that come with babies-- seeing the world in fresh ways as they do, receiving and giving love, caring for the helpless-- are somehow magnified when the baby belongs to your baby.  Maybe I was too sleep-deprived with my own children to realize in the same way God's inter-generational faithfulness.  Yes, I rejoiced in God's blessing of my children, and delighted in them.  But now we are reaching out another generation. God is graciously continuing a line and fulfilling a promise to bless me and my children and my children's children.  I was moved when my children were baptized, and it was even more so to stand with my son as he baptized his daughter.  There it was: the fulfillment of a promise that God would be my faithful God.  I can't help but think of that every time I look in Emma's little face.

I still didn't say it well.  But those of you who are grandparents know what I mean.  It is a big, expansive kind of blessing.

Wednesday without words...

The preciousness of God's gifts...

How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

~Psalm 36:7

Today I am thanking God for His love reflected to me in so many things: the steadfast love of a dear husband,  the sweet love of family, the quiet love shining from the flowers of spring.   I sometimes need to remind myself of the preciousness of such gifts!

Miss Emma

This is the dress that Grandma made at her house in New Mexico when she was missing Emma, and here it is on Emma at her house in Arizona:

We enjoyed delivering this, and several other things, in person this past weekend. She is more adorable that these pictures show, and her Mommy and Daddy are doing a great job with her!  Grandpa spent one day at the Prebytery meeting, but Grandma pretty much stared at and played with Emma all weekend!  We walked at Saguaro National Monument together, went scorpion hunting at night with a black light (and found 26 scorpions on the sidewalks and walls in Emma's neighborhood!) and got to feed Emma, give her baths, play with her, and enjoy her.  What a blessing grandchildren are!