New Seasons

Matthew 5:4

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

We have been going through a very trying time in our home.  The past few months have exhausted us as my husband’s mom, Jan, underwent surgery, recovery, and finally went to be the the Lord on March 10.  I’ve known her since I was 18, and got to know so many neat things about her life over the last few months.  She had Alzheimer’s disease, and it was painful to watch as she slipped away from us.  It was frustrating and took a lot of time and energy, mostly from my husband and his sister.  I helped more toward the end, and it makes the loss even more profound.  There’s a lot to reflect on and many stages of grief to cycle through over and over agin.  I feel so bad for Steve, and I personally am experiencing the loss so much more than I ever would have expected.

To add to that, a few days before her death, our youngest, Hannah, discovered our bird dying, likely from flying and falling.  It was devastating and traumatic, and is still haunting her.  I usually have Steve hold a dying pet, but it happened precisely as he was about to meet with Hospice across town to sign over his mother’s care, so I earned a new motherhood badge that day.

Meanwhile, our month was peppered with celebrations.  Rachel turned 17, and we all went to Colorado Fondue.  During Spring Break, Steve, the girls, and I took a much-needed trip to St. Augustine.  March is home to multiple family and friends’ birthdays, including Hannah’s.  She turned 13 at the end of the month, and we celebrated with a family outing to Medieval Times and a dragon/medieval themed party with her friends.  Steve and I marked our 24th wedding anniversary, and Infinity was in full swing.

With the indoor percussion season drawing to a close and spring in the air, I am looking forward to the summer before us.  I just found out yesterday that next year’s marching band is set to run full swing beginning with upcoming percussion auditions and the traditional Spring Icebreaker.  Justin will March with the Boston Crusaders drum corp starting in July, and there is an in-person Percussion concert scheduled.  

The days are getting longer, but the years feel shorter.  It is good that the Lord is in charge of them all.  I struggle to understand the concepts of birth and death, making something out of nothing and ceasing to exist.  Though I believe in souls, I have a hard time wrapping my head around it right now.  It all feels so much deeper and personal now.  It reminds me of the verse I Corinthians 13:12 “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror;  then we shall see face-to-face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

At Jan’s memorial service, our pastor encouraged us to lament our loss.  Lamenting is “a passionate expression of grief, often in music,  poetry, and song form” (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lament).   So, I find it a “God thing” that the verse on my mind is from the book of Lamentations.

God is faithful in bad times and good, in celebrations and in grief, in happiness and sadness, in sickness and in health.  Great is His faithfulness!

All in a Day's Work

So, my sister just resigned from her "job" to stay home full-time with her kids.  She was so grateful for this Sunday afternoon when her littlest little had a fever, and she knew that she was free the next day to take her to the doctor.  In fact, these "emergencies" are "all in a day's work" for stay-at-home moms.

Yesterday was the day back to school after Spring Break. I've been exhausted with the cold virus for almost 3 weeks, so the "ahead of things" has moved to the "behind again" stage.  Anyway, my youngest just turned 8 on Sunday, and being that it fell on Spring Break and Easter this year, we scheduled the party for this Saturday.  This, of course, leads to sending the invites out yesterday since they would likely get lost if sent before the holiday.  I forgot to send them in the morning, so this became priority #1 for the day.  I would finish them (since I discovered that I wasn't as far along as I'd thought) and bring them at lunchtime. 
Hannah had reminded me about the "bring cupcakes for my birthday" tradition the previous day.  It had somehow slipped my mind completely, and I wasn't sure how I was going to get these ready after a full day of church and family celebrations.  BIG thanks to my sis for sending home the leftover cupcakes, because given the choice, my daughter chose them as perfectly acceptable for fulfilling the task. 
The pressure was on, though, since I had to have lunch with her at 12:15 (or was it 12:05 or 12:19 - I literally forgot) and then leave and go directly to an appointment at 1:00.


Well.....I started this post last Tuesday....Here we are eight days later.....It's a Mom's life, all right.......