Gathering the Moments | March 2025

 

~ EARLY SPRING BLOOMS ~

here, there and everywhere

(They are so welcome!)

some inside, some outside

some real, some faux

~ AN AFTERNOON WITH JUDAH ~

~ CONTINUATION OF A PROJECT ~

that we started in January
(I gave you a peek in February.)

 ~ CORNED BEEF & CABBAGE ~

~ FRESH EGGS ~

gifted from a friend
(Love those colors!)

~ DISHES ~
added a few spring-y dishes to the plate rack

~ A SMALL PARTY ~

to prepare for a big party
(a family reunion for Ron's side of the family)

~ MY MONTHLY CAT PHOTO ~
We take oodles of photos of Manzy.
(Is he photogenic or is he our "baby"?)

~ A COUPLE OF DAY TRIPS ~

one with my friend Barbara

(antiquing; lunch at an old inn)

and one with Ron
(shopping and lunch in a seaside town)

~ A SPECIAL ANNIVERSARY ~

They celebrated by biking the 184.5-mile C&O Canal towpath!

~ AND A SWEET GIRL'S BIRTHDAY ~

   And that was our March! 

Make Someone's Day

It was Mother's Day and it had been a full day. We had gone to church and then hosted a family gathering and now it was evening. The four of us (it was before Kati was married) got in the van and went to visit Ron's mom. Ron was the last of her eight children to pay her a Mother's Day visit that year, and when we walked in, she said that we had "made her day." 

"Well, that is a pretty easy way to make someone's day," I said, but she insisted that it did. 

Thinking it over later, I pondered that perhaps it can be just that easy to make someone's day. 

* * * 

I spend several days each week with Mom, running errands, going to appointments, etc. I usually have music playing in my van as we drive to and fro, and I'll put on one of my Spotify playlists. But yesterday, Mom mentioned a song that she had been watching on repeat on YouTube ("Beulah Land" by Squire Parsons), so I went to Spotify and found a Silver Anniversary Collection and that was our music for the day. 

Last night, Mom called to say thank you to Ron for mowing her lawn and to me for taking her out yesterday and then she said, "I especially thank you for the Squire Parsons concert!" 

My mind went back to that little interchange with Ron's mom on that Mother's Day seven years ago, and again I thought that it can be just that simple to make someone's day. 

* * * 

NOTE TO SELF: 

Every day, look for ways to make someone's day! 

Do you want to join me? When is the last time that you made someone's day? When is the last time that someone made your day? 

Mother's Day Thoughts

I have shared this quote before, but I think it bears repeating here on this Mother's Day weekend...

"How can it be a large career to tell other people's children about the Rule of Three, and a small career to tell one's own children about the universe? How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone, and narrow to be everything to someone? No; a woman's function is laborious, but because it is gigantic, not because it is minute. I will pity Mrs. Jones for the hugeness of her task; I will never pity her for its smallness."

~G. K. Chesterton

Mom and me, circa 1961

I have been so blessed in my life to have known many women who saw their task as a mother as a "huge" one, a serious one, a vital one. My own mother took her mothering job very seriously. She herself grew up in a dysfunctional home, but as a mother, she prayed about decisions (big and small) that affected us, and she taught us His Word every single day. My daughter Kristin, my daughter-in-law Sarah, and my daughter Kati are also mothers who see the seriousness of their task. How grateful I am! A grandmother's heart is comforted when she knows that her beloved grandchildren are being raised by such mothers.

Three generations, 1982

Four generations, 2023

Mother's Day 2021

If you are a mother, may I encourage you to recognize the enormity of your task? And may I direct you to the One who equips you for this task?

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

Isaiah 40:11