Sabbath

It's been a crazy few months. Days and weeks go by and I find myself wondering, "What have I been doing?" I make lists and check things off the list, but why does it still feel I haven't accomplished anything? Like I'm spinning my wheels?

I was refreshed today to re-read some thoughts on taking a Sabbath. It seems so simple, but so difficult to accomplish. What does a Sabbath look like for me? It's NOT leisure, for leisure to me is draining, unfulfilling and absent of anything sacred. I need to know, not just what to avoid, but what to pursue. What can I do to refresh my soul and what do I need to avoid that whithers it? So as I ponder these things I am reminded by Mark Buchanan in his book "The Rest of God" the reasons for Sabbath and what I need to be pursuing:

"Real Sabbath, the kind that empties and fills us, depends on complete confidence and trust, that is rooted in a deep conviction that God is good and God is sovereign. There's no rest for those who don't believe that. If God works all things together for good for those who love him and are called to his purposes, you can relax. If he doesn't, start worrying. If God can take any mess, any mishap, any wastage, any wreckage, any anything, and choreograph beauty and meaning from it, then you can take a day off. If he can't, get busy. Either God's always at work, watching the city, building the house, or you need to try harder. Either God is good and in control, or it all depends on you."

Thankfully it doesn't all depend on me. God's got it under control, it's when I mistakenly think that I have any form of control that I get weary.

And a final quote from Mark Buchanan about what it is I need to pursue:

"God is always speaking. . . but we're not always listening. We don't make the effort and so fail to go boldly into his throne room to receive what we need: a word that can pierce, and cut, and heal. Here's the paradox: If we don't listen, we never enter his rest. Yet if we don't enter his rest, we never listen."

Mother's Day 2008

Erin and Lindsay - May 1994

Erin and Lindsay - May 2008

Great memories were made this Mother's Day 2008. On Saturday morning at 8:00 am my family took me to breakfast. I was amazed that my two teenage daughters would agree to go so early on a Saturday morning. But that is all I knew about the day, that we were going to breakfast and then we would do something else for the rest of the day. After yummy bagels and chai tea at Panera, we got in the car and Tim and the girls started reciting all the things they thought about doing on this mother's day. They included train rides to San Diego or Santa Barbara, and other fun outings, but they finally decided they wanted to re-live the many days we spent at Disneyland as a young family. We had so much fun going to all the rides that were the girls favorites, and they introduced us to the "Fast pass", which is a great addition to the Disney experience. Who doesn't want to "cut" in line? It had been at least 10 years since Tim and I had been to the magic kingdom. Although much of it was the same, we oohed and awhhed at the new additions, and reminisced about the things no longer there (the people movers, the sky buckets, etc). We walked until we could walk no more, then we got an ice cream and sat on a bench and people watched for a while. We got stuck on the Indiana Jones ride (who hasn't?), and had fun talking while we waited in lines. The record line wait for this day was 60 minutes for the Nemo/Submarine ride. It was a good ride, they improved it quite a bit, but we weren't convinced afterward it was worth a 60 minute wait (there are no fast passes for that ride). Over all it was a very fun and memorable day. I was so blessed to realize that my two teenage girls still like to hang around us and do silly things like go to Disneyland. What more could a mother ask for then to spend a day with her family at the happiest place on earth!

House painting

Before and after, all in one shot!

Before

After (the sunshine helps too)

For a break, Erin got Grandma to help her wax the Jeep.

Dad, adding more and more caulking.

Abby "helping" her mom, Rachel

Great helpers, Erin, Ryan and Lindsay

Two windows done, many more to go!

It has been an exhausting week. It all started a couple of months ago with my Dad and Mom said they would like to help us paint the house. Tim took the week of Mar. 31-Apr. 4 off. Then Dad had some health problems in mid-March and we decided not to do the house painting. Fine with us, but Tim still had the week off, and we were going to do some other projects around the house. But then on Sunday of this week, Dad called and said they had no plans for the week and he was feeling much better, they could be here by Wednesday to start painting. We shifted gears quickly and off we went, prepping, making decisions about colors and plans for how we wanted to go about this project. Tim was the crew chief and worked very hard. But we had lots of helpers. Dad was the caulking king, going through at least 12 tubes of caulking. Mom wore out rollers and brushes. Erin, Lindsay and Ryan helped sporadically when schedules allowed, and Rachel, Nathan, and Abby from the back house pitched in too. It was a great team effort. So after 4 solid days of painting, we are halfway done with the house, not including the garage and back house. So there is plenty left to do. I'll have to add Advil to the shopping list. We ran out this weekend.

The hills are alive…

New flowers are appearing weekly in the Whittier hills. Now the poppies and mustard are out in abundance. We want to enjoy this as much as possible right now, because in just a few weeks the "show" will be over and we'll have to look at brown ugly hills the rest of the summer.

There is a hummingbird in the middle of this bush. Can you find it?

Spring in Whittier

Well, technically, the calendar says February, but tell that to the wildflowers in the Whittier hills. With all the rain we got in January and early February, the flowers have begun to make their appearance. Tim and I walked up through a trail off of Turnbull Canyon this morning. We were rewarded with this view before we turned around and headed back. It was a beautiful morning with a bright blue sky, thousands of birds singing, and little critters scampering about. Supposedly there was a sighting of a mountain lion or bobcat earlier in the week, but it didn't get us. We enjoyed the fresh morning air, conversation, and seeing one of our neighbors riding his mountain bike.

Erin's dream car

We are now proud owners of a 2005 Jeep Liberty. Yes, Erin got her dream car. We bought it this weekend while she was at winter camp. On Sunday, Tim went to pick her up early from camp to take her to a volleyball tournament. The original plan was to pick her up from camp in the Jeep, but it would have put a couple hundred miles on it and we needed to keep the mileage below 36,000 to try and get in under the original manufacturers warranty when buying our extended warranty. (I know, it's a long story.) Anyway, Tim picked Erin up from camp in his van and went directly to the volleyball tournament. Lindsay and I came to the tournament later with the Jeep. After Erin's first match, we planned to have Lindsay tell Erin there were some chairs in the car that we needed to get, and she would ask Erin to go with her to the car and to tell her about winter camp. Erin fell for it without hesitation. So off they went to the car, and Tim and I were following discreetly behind them so we could see her reaction. Erin was chattering away, telling Lindsay all about winter camp, but when they walked past Tim's van, Erin kind of slowed down and started looking for my car. When she saw the Jeep, Lindsay hit the button to unlock it. Erin went crazy!! She jumped up and down and hugged Lindsay and screamed. It was quite a sight. Tim and I came running over to join in the celebration. She couldn't stop smiling, which was especially rewarding because she had just been on the verge of tears just a few minutes before because her team had lost the first match badly and the coach had given them quite a long talk. As she ran back to rejoin her team she was smiling and jumping up and down and showing them the new car keys. It didn't matter if they won or lost, no one could take the smile off her face. We made a great memory.

Lindsay's new look

Lindsay is looking more and more like the college student that she is. She shocked us by getting her hair cut shorter than she has had it in a long time. How can we possibly have a daughter in college? It seems we were just that age.

THE Annika

We had a great visit with Annika and her mom Sarah who visited from Minnesota. Annika was just a little over one year old when they left our little back house and moved to Minnesota to be near family. She is now 2 1/2 years old and quite the character. Mutual friends came to visit and play, and we got to go to their favorite restaurants (In n Out and a local Mexican restaurant). Their visit went by way to fast, but we loved being with them. And next time we see them they will have a new little brother or sister for Annika (this summer!).

45 and 23

January brings my birthday (Jan 8th) and our wedding anniversary (Jan 12th). It was hard for me to admit I'm 45 this year. How can that be? I don't feel that old! This was the first year I wasn't that excited about celebrating. I think I'd like to stop having birthdays now. It won't stop me from getting older, but it will stop reminding me how old I am. Despite my lack of enthusiasm, we celebrated anyway. Shayleen had us over for dinner and fixed all my favorites; enchiladas, rice, beans, homemade salsa, guacamole and chips. With brownies and ice cream for dessert! My jeans fit a little snugger now! And I bought myself a birthday present: new everyday dishes. It was time to replace the 80's looking dishes we got as wedding gifts 23 years ago.



Then this last weekend Tim and I celebrated our anniversary by spending the night in Old town Pasadena and going to a very nice dinner. We did a little shopping and enjoyed just being together, without interruptions or distractions. On Sunday we drove up to the the back side of the San Gabriel mountains to a little known ski area called Mt. Waterman. There were several feet of snow there, and the solitary lift was running, but nobody was on it. There were a few cars pulled over in turnouts along the road so the passengers could play in the snow. From there we went down to Palmdale on the desert side of the mountain range, and then looped back around to the backside of Wrightwood, where there were TONS of people playing in the snow. We literally saw thousands of cars either parked on the side of the road, or slowly inching there way trying to get to the snow. For miles it was an endless stretch of cars. But when we pulled off into the small town of Wrightwood, there were a normal amount of people checking out the restaurants and coffee places. As we drove we dreamed and planned for things we would like to do in the future. (I know what you young ones are thinking, how much of a future is there for two 45 year olds who've been married 23 years? Plenty!) As we drove back down from the mountains we stopped at Vince's to top off the weekend of indulgence with spaghetti. I may never need to eat again!

And so, of my 45 years, I've been married 23 years. Not as clean of a ratio as last year when it was 44 and 22, but I'm looking forward all the same to more and more of my years spent with a man who loves me and I love in return.

Happy 2008!

Lindsay and Erin with cousins Abigail and Sonya

Skiles side cousins: Lindsay, Danielle, Abigail, Sonya, John and Erin
We had dinner together and a small gift exchange. The kids had fun chasing each other, making the animated Santa Clause dance, and playing pool.

The "Skiles" side family all together.

Nerts!

We had a nice weekend in Turlock visiting Annette's side of the family. We got together with both the Skiles and Nutcher sides. We had a little bit smaller version of the Nerts tournament with the Nutcher cousins. But now that all of the next generation is in college and high school, we all play together. We made five tables of four players. Tim was the men's high scorer in the older generation, while Darcy won for the women. Trevor was the young men's high scorer (well, there are only two young men so it was kinda easy), and Courtney was high scorer for the young ladies (a slightly harder task with 7 girls competing). All in all it was a good weekend to see everyone and catch up.

We spent the rest of the new years weekend back in Whittier, doing some trimming in the yard, and watching football.