Posted in Grandchildren

Posted in Grandchildren

As you know, Kezziah had a Birthday. What she did not have was a party. Her great -grandpa was away her birthday week, and the next week we were going to have her party. Well, then the power went out and we were scrambling. This weekend it was the septic trial at her house and well, now it is the 16th and Aunt Christy's Birthday. How did this happen? Well it did, but one tradition did not fail her. Grandpa (my Beloved) always takes the kids off to Baskin Robbins for their ice cream just the two of them. It is a secret special treat just for them.

But today something happened that has never happened before. Kezziah asked Pa if I could come too! Really! She invited me to share her special moment. Pa was good with it, said it was her idea and instead of just an ice cream cone, Pa let her get a Sundae! Two Scoops!

Somethings are worth waiting for! I was so honored by her kind sharing heart.

Sometimes surprises just bless your heart.

And Kezzi blessed her bubbe! Thank you Kezzi!

Because of Jesus, Bobbie

Posted in Grandchildren

   

Merry Christmas???

 

The Holidays are upon us and we are surprised at all the things we want to do, don’t have time to do and can’t wait to do. Our list gets longer every year; have you found this to be true? Not the Gift list, but the trying to fit everything in list, is longer. Did we see all the people we need to see? Did we watch all the Holiday shows we love to watch and the baking? Will we get to the baking? Not because it must be done, but because I love the doing of it, especially if there are small hands in the kitchen to help, and Mike loves the eating of it. I have a lot of help!

 

We have managed to get through the birthdays, and Chanukah. Thanksgiving was a special treat because we had so much family to share it with us. Yet here it is, almost Christmas and there is no Christmas letter and the cards have not been mailed. They have been bought and I can see them from the keyboard as I type this. Mike has mentioned them a few times, but I am distracted by so many things. I feel much like Martha in the Bible. (Luke 10:40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!")This would be why I am up after midnight typing away wondering why my mind is working over time. I could have stayed in bed and thought this through, but instead I am here thinking of you while Mike is sleeping.

 

Is it help I need like Martha? Is it because I am wondering if I am making the memories I want those I love to hold dear? Perhaps that was Martha’s struggle too. Will Jesus, like the food? Will it be served hot? Are the decorations just right? Does He know how much love I am putting into this? I do want to feed the hearts of those I love.

In my heart I hear the words “Commit your plans to the Lord and they will succeed.” My plans? Maybe I need to consider Jesus’ plans instead? What does a merry Christmas look like to Him?

 

We saw a glimpse of it tonight as we drove through the Live Nativity with our youngest Granddaughter and her Great-grandfather. That is a memory! Her squeals could be heard by her mama in the car behind us. “The Bad king wants to count the people and take their money.” “OHHH! The Angels came and told the Shepherds Jesus is born.” “AHHH! Look at the sheep and the goats (that is a deeper Bible lesson for another time), can you see the Star?” “Oh look they will not let Mary sleep in the Inn and she is going to have a baby!” “She is with the animals in the hay holding Jesus!” Hooray! Hi! Hi Baby Jesus!

 

Oh how that transported me to another time and another memory when shouts of Happy Birthday Baby Jesus could be heard throughout the Italian Cathedral from two other small excited babies.

 

Maybe it isn’t in the planning, but in the moment we are to find Christmas. For we are certain tonight was part of what Christmas looks like to Jesus. This is only the beginning! There will be songs to sing. There will be plays to see and soup and fresh bread to eat after Christmas Eve services. It holds the past traditions and the new memories together. There will be empty seats but not empty hearts in our home as distance keep us apart but love is not constrained to time and space. As the Grinch discovered, you can’t keep Christmas from coming.

 

But we sure can clutter it up! SO tonight as my prayers fill this letter and our hearts longs to see you again, We ask that the clutter be removed and in the moment between tinsel and boxes, you see Jesus and celebrate His birthday with Him. May you exclaim with glee as you realize It is Christ-mas and the Angels are Shouting to you “Glory to God in the Highest! Unto you has been Born a Savior, LOOK there is Jesus! He has come to fill your heart today and always.”

 

After all it is…..

Because of Jesus, Mike and Bobbie

 

Merry Christmas to all, and now to all, Good Night!

 

Posted in Grandchildren

Since it is only one week until Chanukah and I am lagging far behind in my preparations, I knew I needed to post Thanksgiving Pictures while I could. This seems to be Talia's Thanksgiving debut as she shines from beginning to end. She is into everything we are doing at all times.

Talia and Zemeira begin with washing dishes so we can make decorations. This is important because it will explain the wet spot on her dress in the next photo  Also notice Zemeira's Sweet potato on the window ledge she has been growing it since Sept.

Talia did her leaf rubbing and is learning to cut. She doesn't get all around the leaf like Zemeira but she will cut about every inch all the way around the page.

Tirzah did all the finishing touches on the snack table.

While Zemeira and Talia Mashed the Potatoes.

Then we have the First Thanksgiving play. Notice the Wild Turkey as she runs through most of the scenes.

After the intellectual part comes the Turkey Pokey! The Hokey-Pokey with a Holiday twist!

The kids love the Wings, The drumsticks and the Waddles and tail feathers....

You do the Turkey Pokey and you turn yourself around...

But their very, very favorite part is watching the grown ups do it. And All of the grown ups are such good sports, they do it!

 

And at the end of the day there are the moments for which I am most Thankful. The moments that Trancend the generations and bring peace and tenderness between a great-granddaughter and her great grandfather.

God truly has blessed our family from generation to generation.

Posted in Grandchildren

   

Or how we share the news.....

I was visiting the blog of a dear friend and she was asking about when to share the Santa truth.

This is really a big deal, more for us than for them I think. It falls into the realm of personal conviction and that can only come from the Holy Spirit. I know because I fought Him on this issue a LONG time.

First my background. As a small child I saw Santa. Really I did! When I was four years old my parents took me to see Santa in a big department store. You know the kind like in the movie A Christmas Story?  Well I sat on his lap (I will have to find the photo to share it with you I am so Cute in it!!!!) Any way I asked Santa for a REAL puppy not a toy one not stuffed one a real one! Santa's helper went into the toy shed and came out with a real puppy and placed Lil Sam in my arms! I was in love and a believer from that moment on. You would be hard pressed to convince that child Santa didn't give her a puppy.

Santa also brought our Christmas tree and all the presents. Christmas Eve you close your eyes and Christmas morning AWE doesn't come close to describing it! I can vividly remember the year my sister Terri announced there was no such thing as Santa. That year everyone but Terri had a present under the tree from Santa. You see if you do not believe in Santa He can not believe in you. (Praise God Jesus doesn't do that!!!!!) The next year even Terri believed in Santa.

We did not go to church. We did know it was Jesus' birthday and we sang Christmas Carols (mostly Elvis, Harry Belafonte and Johnny Mathis) so we knew the story just not the heart of Christmas.

When Mike joined the Air Force tradition was the only way to give our children any relationship with our parents. We were never back home for the holidays and Santa was as much Mike's upbringing as mine, except they went and cut down their own trees instead of Santa bringing them. I decided that is because I was a city girl.

When we moved away to our first station my mama told me Santa Claus is the unexpected gift. He will come and you will be surprised. Our first Christmas alone,Santa brought us a warm electric blanket. We lived in a basement apt in South Dakota. We slept in the living room because it was so cold and our landlord gave us a blanket.

When we had children Santa arrived in grand fashion, complete with jingle bells and reindeer. One year Mike had drank a little too much and was jingling bells on the roof  of our new apt on the second floor. It had snowed and he fell off!!! Two floors! First, drunks bounce, second snow cushions the fall. But what does mom and grandmama do??? We rush the babies to bed because heaven forbid they would see Mike and not believe in Santa! He was okay, we all laughed (we had all been drinking) and the children slept with visions of sugar plums and muffled yelps for help.

Another year Matt had measles and couldn't go see Santa on Base, so Santa came to the house. Poor Matty, we sent him to get the door to surprise him and Santa HO Ho Ho'd so loudly he freaked and ran smack into the wall like a cartoon character. It took 45 minutes for Matty to take his present from Santa

Also my children had always seen Santa coming out their bedroom windows. You see being an Air Force family there is always an airport near by with a blinking red light. This red light magically becomes Rudolph's Red nose on his way to the house on Christmas Eve! And Mike still jingled bells out the window but from the ground level!

Being overseas added the extra bless of Armed forces radio and when Holly the Elf read Heather's letter to Santa over the radio....Like me, you would never convince her there is no Santa.

So this is what we had to undo once we became a Christian.

It didn't happen over night. It would be years after I was saved for Mike to be saved. This kept these things around much longer. I struggled with Halloween as a new believer and yes we did all holidays as big as Christmas before the Lord came into our hearts. Submission to My beloved kept that one along longer than I wanted too.

But Christmas, I figured if we just added Jesus it would be good enough and if Jesus was first than all was perfect. So we would wake up Christmas morning snuggle in bed and read the Christmas story before going down to the tree. We would sing Away in a Manger and then Jolly old St Nicholas.

My girlfriends which were fabulous mentors to me in the Lord told me I HAD to get rid of Santa. But I just couldn't do it! I would just say.. Until the Lord SHOWS me a SPECIFIC scripture that says no santa than we will do both. Jesus loves it when we challenge Him to show us truth. I continued doing both and Jesus began to work on my heart.

The first thing to go in our home was the Christmas tree. Oh How I loved my tree! So much so that I brought one home on a two hour BUS ride in Italy. One year it wasn't conviction, but finances that said we couldn't afford a tree so we placed our presents underneath our nativity set. That year we noticed our focus start to shift. The focus was on the babe in the Manger and not the present under the tree.

Finally the verse arrived....my heart stooped as I read it. The fact that I was reading it in the Amplified version made it strike my heart all the harder. In tears I took it to my Beloved and said "Does this mean what I think it means?" And he agreed that it did.

So we sat down our children (most children their ages had long since given up on Santa but as you can see we made it hard not to) and I explained to their Jesus loving hearts that this had been the only way we knew to share our childhood with them and to share their grandparents with hem as well. It was the only way we knew until we came to the Lord as well. We had begun our own traditions like snuggling in the morning to Jesus Birth, Caroling and candlelight services. We had begun to set up just the Crèche and not the tree but now the Lord had shown us something in His Word that we feel we have to obey...

Than we read to them the verse asked them what they thought it would mean. We started with Halloween and the tooth fairy and ended with Christmas in sobs!

We explained to them about personal convictions, about how they aren't allowed to watch some movies other families watch and how just as we shared our family traditions with them, it was their responsibility to let parents tell their own children what they think is best it is not their job.

To this day I miss My Beloved and jingle bells I still look for blinking red lights and I long to sit my grandchildren on Santa's lap. Now they smile at him wave and wish him a Happy Chanukah! Tradition has such deep roots. Yet the new traditions have deep roots too and Glory to God in the Highest actually is more than just a slogan on windows.

If you are looking for Santa traditions I have shared them with you if you are looking for a way to tell your children about St. Nicholas and what an awesome man of God He was there are plenty of links for St Nicholas. If you want to break away I have also shared what worked best for us.

I am however struggling over whether to share the verse the Lord gave to me as I know it did not matter to me what my girlfriends said I needed to see it in the Word of God for myself. It had to be a personal conviction just as Homeschooling had to be. It was James 4:17 that made me bow my knee to the Lord where Homeschooling was concerned.

So I will share the verse in the Amplified version which helped me deal with this heart issue. Maybe it will bless you too. This is not about context, this is not about Historical accuracy this is solely about a verse that Jesus used to answer my challenge "If He shows me..." and He did.

This is where you stop reading if you don't want to read the verse. However you celebrate the Holidays make memories and traditions that set your children's heart a flame with the love of Jesus. Fill them with joy and laughter. Do whatever you can to keep stress to a minimum and be blessed. After all, JESUS is Lord!

 

1 Timothy 4 :7

 7But refuse and avoid irreverent legends (profane and impure and godless fictions, mere grandmothers' tales) and silly myths, and express your disapproval of them. Train yourself toward godliness (piety), [keeping yourself spiritually fit].

Posted in Grandchildren

Once upon a time there was a little Pricess named Talia.

Her very first word was "Happy" and she was!

Her royal court adored her !

The local craftsmen made her fine jewelry, Painted her portrait and made paper dolls for her pleasure

She even has her own castle!

The wizard of HA's promised to fulfill her veggie dreams, In movie, song and plate!

Every Princess needs a new gown for the Ball

And a loving Jester named Baloo!

And with a whisp of wind the magic happens , her dreams come true and Talia is Two!

Happy Birthday Princess Talia! May your "Happy" make you as Happy as you make us!

 

 

 

Posted in Grandchildren

This is my Kezziah Rose.

She spent the night with me while Mike was in Reno with his Dad at their annual Reno Air Race extravaganza. (sadly three pilots lost their lives this year)

But back to Kezziah...she was such a sweetheart and kept me from being all alone. She is the best helper and I got "Zones" done while Mike was a way I had forgotten I even had thanks to Kezziah.

In between chores we made paper dolls and tried to put together and Impossible puzzle that made us laugh out loud because it was so HARD! We never did get more than a twentith of it completed. We also watched Ice Princess which lead to deep conversations about listening to one another before jumping to judgement and how what you wear can cause others to have preconceived notions about you.

Kezziah who had made Apple Butter for the first time last week expanded her culinary skills by making a coming home stew in the crock pot for "Pa". He loved it!

Thanks Kezzi !!!!

 

Posted in Grandchildren

The thing about the news telling you there is a massive Recall of Fisher Price toys is they NEVER tell you which toys. They did the same with pet food. With that in mind and the fact that so many of you have small children that have had Birthdays and thus presents since May 2007, you may want to check out this list. FISHER PRICE RECALLED TOYS This link has PICTURES of the toys which will add in finding out if you have them or not.

 

Because of Jesus, Bobbie

Posted in Grandchildren

I know how's I am? Do you?

Today Kezzi, Malachai , Jaden and Zemeira went to soccer VBS Camp! They had so much fun. My favorite part is always the hand motion dances to the songs. Aren't they just they cutest things? Their main theme verses are Jeremiah 29:11-12 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord,"plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me and I will listen to you." Whar a great verse to give a generation surrounded by hopelessness. Please pray for them, there are 150 kids at VBS. That is about 1% of our TOWN!

Because of Jesus, Bobbie

Posted in Grandchildren

We had such a a great time together. She was the only one to stay with me. Tirzah and Kezzi were at Ashley's, the boys were planning a take over filled with Daddy and video games, Mommie had spinning class, Talia was sleeping and poor Zemeira just didn't know what she was going to do. So she stayed the night with me.

First we made dinner and she washed the dishes. Then we waited for it to get dark reading stories together. Once it got dark we headed outside to the hottub to look at the stars and tell stories about our camping trip.

 

The next day we took out bubbe's paper dolls. I have had these paper dolls for a very long time and we had never punched them out. I do not know what I was waiting for, collector's items? Girls to grow up? I finally decided it was time to break them lose from their paper prisons and have some fun; besides she is old enough to not rip them

 

I thought you might  like to see the results of our playtime.