Let Them Be Little

VIEW FROM THE PORCH

OF MY parent's home.

From the front porch

 

And from the back porch

Really beautiful!

It has been wonderful to be here over Christmas.  Though we came because of sad circumstances, being together with family has been a gift.  With Grandma returning to her heavenly home for Christmas, she also brought our family home for Christmas and that has been very sweet.

IN HER OWN WORDS

FROM Grandma's funeral service.

A favorite part of the service for me was when my Uncle Ken read words written by my grandmother specifically for her funeral.

I enjoyed her words so much that I thought it would have been wonderful if she would have recorded herself singing as well, that way she could give her own remarks at the funeral and provide some music too!

Excerpts from the words she wrote on Sunday May 21, 2006:

"I wonder what it will be like on the day of my funeral?  I hope it is neither too hot nor too cold.  If it is too hot, the flowers on my grave will soon wilt and die.  If it is too cold they will freeze and die.  How about a cool September or October day?  I'd like everyone to be comfortable, because the Myton Cemetery is not the most pleasant place to stand around, even on a perfect day.

I wonder if all my children and grandchildren will be there to see me off.  Will they feel bad, or will the be glad the "OLD GIRL" is gone?  The should be very glad, because I have lived a long and productive life, with much hard work, so it is time to go.  I am not afraid to die, I just don't want to suffer before it happens.  I'd really like to be "twinkled" and not have to taste of death, but I don't get that choice.  I know for sure that my Redeemer, Jesus Christ lives, and the He will be my judge when I stand before Him.  I know that I will recognize Him as my Savior, and I know He loves me because He said so in St. John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Now to the speakers, I Don't want the funeral to last over an hour, and I do not want the speaker to lie and say that I was a good woman.  I know my faults-- Bad temper, uneasy around a group of people, no conversationalist, just say that I helped Aften raise a good family, with God's spirit there."

There is more that she wrote, mostly tributes to her sons and daughters and their spouses.

Isn't she such a wonderful woman?

I love my family!  How grateful I am to have a heritage such as this!

The funeral lasted right around an hour.  It was bitterly cold but that didn't matter because we were all together.  Most all of us were there and I would have to say that we smiled through our tears.  It was bittersweet for us.  No one lied at the funeral, and she was really and truly an amazing lady, and we all know it.

The funeral service:

Family prayer at the viewing offered by her son Reed

Invocation at the funeral offered by my father (her son-in-law)

Obituary given by my mother (her daughter)

Message from Celia (Grandma) given by her son Ken

Musical Selection sung by me and accompanied by my sister

Speaker, her son Newell

Closing remarks by her Bishop

Musical Selection by Rosalie Dalling (a friend)

Benediction given by her son-in-law Joe

Nathan was an honorary pallbearer.  It was sweet to learn that she had asked for him to be a pallbearer but since he is in Argentina, he was an honorary.  What an honor.

After the graveside service, and because it was so bitterly cold (probably around 0 degrees) the funeral director and groundskeeper wanted to place the casket in the ground as soon as possible.  We were still there as it was lowered into the ground. 

Uncle Ken had dug the grave with his backhoe in preparation for burial, he told me that she had asked him to get her as close to Grandpa as possible.  When I looked into the grave, I saw my grandfather's casket (the vault around it) within a foot of hers (probably more like 8 inches or so).  She would be very happy with that! 

The backhoe wouldn't start because of the cold, so he wasn't able to cover the grave right away.  My uncles, cousins, Jonathan and Ashton (Smash) all grabbed shovels and began to fill it in.  That was a sweet moment for me to see my guys attending to the very last act of service for my grandma.  Smash was shoveling and working as hard as he could in that bitter cold, without complaint.  They all were.  That meant a lot to me.

AN ANGEL RETURNED HOME FOR CHRISTMAS

ON THE MORNING of Dec. 20th, 2009.

My dear grandmother, Celia Cope Richens, at the young age of 93 (and 1/2) left her earthly body to join her husband, parents and family on the other side.

Oh, what a sweet reunion that must have been. 

Knowing my grandma, she is thrilled to be out of the body which has imprisoned her these last 6 months. 

Although I am thankful that she is out of pain,

and although I am indeed grateful that we had her with us for as long as we did,

I will miss her.

She lived a long, full, and beautiful life.

She is a woman to emulate.

I am grateful for every minute spent with her.   I am  grateful that each of my children were able to know and love her.

Witty, fun, vivacious, hard-working, beautiful, talented, a go-getter, thankful, kind, selfless, spiritual, strong-willed, determined, intelligent and joyful are just a few of the words that best describe my sweet grandma.

I love her dearly.

A NEW ADDITION

WILL BE JOINING OUR FAMILY

this next year!

We are very excited!  (I am extremely over-the-moon!)

More details to come...

if you are curious,

or think you may know what our new addition will be,

feel free to leave a comment (except for Jonathan and/or the kids, they know too much...).

I am sure that my friends Gayla and Stacy will be very excited with this news...okay girls, let's hear what you have to say!

IN ARGENTINA

He made it!

We heard from him today, what a happy surprise!  I wasn't sure just when we would hear from him again.  It feels like Christmas nearly every day around here!  :)

Here are some excerpts from his first letter from Argentina:

¡¡¡HOla Familia!!!!

¿Qué tal? Estoy muy bien! Y pueden enviar el correo electronico a mí!!! ¿Cómo andan todos?

I am in a gas station right now, sending my email to you guys... Fun huh? Oh and the kids here love the missionaries so much... There are dogs everywhere... The drivers are  crazy, pero todo está bien. Estoy hablando con un chicito aquí . Su nombre es Franco y el tiene 12 años.

So, my new companion. His name is Elder Callacordo, and he is from Peru. He doesn´t speak any English, but that´s okay with me. Í can tell that the Lord is helping me to understand the language, and what a blessing. I would not have any idea what was going on  without the help of the Lord. Estoy muy animado para todo de Argentina.

My area. We are going to open a new area, a rama (branch) in Pico. We haven´t gotten there yet. We leave on the bus at 6 tonight. We should be in Pico tomorrow a las 10, pero I´m not sure. Sorry I can´t tell you more about my area. I don´t know anything yet!

The trip. LOOOOOOONG, but fun. I learned that Argentinians speak very much like the Italians... I couldn´t understand one bit of their conversation! haha... It´ll be okay. I´m sure of it. I am so happy to be here in Argentina!

¿Qué otro? Franco dijo que su familia es su parte favorita de Argentina. El tiene cinco personas en su familia. Y él va a servir un  misión! Hooray!! 

¿Qué otro?....the culture here is so different than the Estados Unidos... Pero I love it!!!! La gente aquí greet with a kiss. I can just see the cringe on Smash´s face right now! haha.

Well I´ve got to go to catch my bus to Santa Rosa! Les Quiero mucho!!! Voy a llamarles en la semana que viene para La Navidad!!! Hasta luego! Tenga un buen semana! I´ll be praying for you!

Con todo mi amor, para siempre,

A DECEMBER BIRTHDAY

WISH FOR GRANDMA JOAN

(aka Jonathan's mother)

 

We wish a very happy birthday to you!

Lots of love and warmth is sent to you from this TX fam.

HUDDLED AROUND MY CELL PHONE

ON THE LIVING ROOM FLOOR

for a couple of hours

while we talked with Nathan!

That is what our family did early this evening!

And oh, how sweet it was.

It was the best!  The best of the best, really.

The missionaries had permission to call home from the airport this evening before they departed for Argentina.  They left from the training center early this morning and will arrive in Argentina, Buenos Aires, at 9 AM tomorrow. 

After Nathan arrives in Buenos Aires, he will be put on a bus for Bahia Blanca.  He has been told that this bus ride can be any length of time between 3 and 24 hours, depending on the bus he gets on.  Hee, hee.  I can see him now, with his big suitcases, big brown eyes looking a bit like a deer caught in headlights, in 86 degree weather (I checked!), squished on a bus full of people (with armpits in his face) and traveling for who knows how long.

And you know, he will love it all!  Every bit of it.  He is so excited to get there and get working!

He had let me know that he had permission to call today and that it would be around 5 PM.  We had a lot of schedule arranging to do in order to get everyone home at 5. 

At 4:30 my cell phone rang, just after I dropped off Smash at his percussion lesson.  A strange number came up on my caller ID, when I answered, I heard "Hi Mom!"  

Hi Mom.  Two of my favorite words.  When I hear those two words, it means that one of my most favorite people is greeting me and is about to share something with me.

It was Nathan, calling early! 

Jonathan was on an important conference call, Emily was in sectionals for her french horn.  Meg had the night off of gymnastics and was working on homework. 

When I heard Nathan's voice on the other end of the phone, I thought my heart might just burst!  It felt like it had been forever since I had last talked with him.  Yet, it seemed as if it had only been a few days as well.  

I explained to him that everyone was planning on coming home early from their various activities in order to talk with him but that they weren't available yet.  Then I was really kind and considerate when I asked, "Should I call you back when they all come home?"  He replied, "No, I can just talk to you until they get there."

And so we did.

And it was beautiful.

And fun.

And Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! 

That is the best word I can think of at the moment to describe just how great it was.

But it got even better.

When everyone was home, we ran into the living room, sat on the floor in a circle around my cell phone.  With it on speaker, we all talked (and laughed) away!

He shared with us some wonderful experiences and a little Spanish as well.  He had lots of questions about how and what everyone was doing here at home and was genuinely interested.  He always is sincere in wanting to know how everyone is doing and feeling.  We had lots of questions for him as well.  It was an absolute treat to hear more about his experiences during the last two months.

He was so appreciative of everything, letters, packages, treats, etc.  Thank you to all of you who have done something for him.

He was also thankful for our prayers in his behalf.  He said he feels strengthened by them. 

How blessed I feel this evening.  I wish I could adequately describe to you how wonderful he sounded.  He seemed happier than ever before!

What a blessing for us all.  (Especially Nathan).

I could shout supercalifragilisticexpialidocious from the roof-tops!

 

DECKING

THE HALLS?

Not so much.

Although I have really been trying!

If the Un-twinkle Fairy would have left my lights alone while they were packed away for the year, I could have decked all the rooms and the halls by now...

but since the Un-twinkle Fairy has stolen all of the light out of 15, yes 15, strands of lights, I am having trouble decking anything!  (Although the frustration has left me feeling like decking something...somewhere...ha,ha!).

As I type, I am seeing ANOTHER strand out on my tree.  Oh twinkle!

All I can say is, I guess it is my year.  My year for a visit from the Un-twinkle Fairy. 

Maybe if I trash them all and start over with new strands, the Un-Twinkle Fairy will move on.

It's worth a try. 

All things glittery, sparkly, twinkly and shiny are always welcome at our home!

ON PACKING

AT THIS TIME of year when goodies and treats are in abundance, you may have read the title and wondered why it states "On Packing" instead of "Packing It On!". 

This weekend my mind keeps returning to luggage and packing.  That may seem silly to you, who thinks of packing during the holiday season?  Well, that is..., other than those who may be traveling home or to a holiday destination...

We have no plans for travel but I can't stop thinking of packing.

Nathan leaves for Argentina on Monday morning and will arrive in Argentina on Tuesday morning.

Before he left here, I helped him pack. 

While we were packing up the belongings that would be his for the next two years, I taught him the art of packing. Oh yes, the art of packing. 

It was a sweet moment when I told him about my father teaching me the importance of proper packing, Air Force style, before I departed for Italy.

All of my things and my two suitcases were scattered about my room, the task seemed overwhelming.  In came my sweet father along with his hard-working hands to save the day.

He taught me proper rolling, not folding.  With every item of clothing neatly and nicely straightened, he began the rolling process.  He assured me that if done properly, they would not be wrinkled when I took them out of the suitcase.  He also assured me that what seemed impossible, fitting all of my belongings into two suitcases, was actually possible!

He, of course, was correct!  And I was amazed!  My dad still amazes me.  He's one of those people you wish would talk more because every time he speaks, it's good...really good.

He taught me where I should put particular items in order to best use the space allotted.  And therefore, gaining more space.  And it worked!

Since that day, I have always packed that way, his way.

So, while helping Nathan pack, I talked to him about how my dad taught me how to pack and that his way of packing totally saved me.

But with Nathan, the experience went a little differently.  We started out with everything around us needed to tackle the task at hand.  Then, he began bringing me items that had been forgotten.  While doing that he became distracted by all of the other things going on around him.  He wasn't staring at me or my wrinkled hands as I did my father.  He wasn't sitting next to me watching in awe of how amazingly well I can fit things into small and tight spaces as I did with my father so many years ago.

So, in the end, I was finishing his packing as he ran around the house from this thing to that, this place to that, this person to that.

I believe he did hear the helpful hints I gave to him.  (If he did, it will save him a bundle when he checks his bags!).

This weekend, I keep thinking of him and wondering if he has packed his bags? 

Did he roll his clothes? 

Did he think of me or my dad as he was packing?  

Knowing Nathan, he probably is not packed yet but he will be done when it counts most, when it's time to leave.

He is smarter than I am so he probably didn't need the packing tutorial the way I did. 

But I love so much that my dad taught me the art of packing, I have shared it with many, many people. 

And I can see him rolling my clothes and carefully placing them in my bags as if it were yesterday.

Now, after writing this, I wish I could pack up and go see the folks!

I know I've shared this photo of Nate with my folks before but I just love it!

FLOPSY AND MOPSY?

Flopsy, Mopsy and even Cottontail are welcome here in the Spring but not for Christmas.

When the "stockings are hung by the chimney with care," I want to see their names written there!  Ha, ha!

Ahh.  Better.  (For me, no one else cares. And I only care if I can or cannot see the names on ours, it doesn't bug me on anyone else's stockings!  Weird, I know.  But thought I would post the solution in case I have any friends who might be like me out there.)

If you too would like your stockings to stand a little taller until the glorious morning when you find them filled, a piece of cardstock the width of the top of the stocking will do the trick.  The cardstock doesn't need to be very long, mine goes to just below our names.  That's it!