My Isaac...

April 11 - Isaac is born... he has brought laughter and joy to my life in so many ways. As a little boy he had such curiosity about important things--like how many legs does a catepillar actually have, or what happens if you give a goldfish a bath, and can a snail drive a fire engine? Then as a school boy his curiosity grew into collecting things, like leaves, or black widows found under the picnic tables at school. Finally, his love of writing and literature began to unfound and combine with a love for the outdoors that grew until it became the very fiber of his being. As a young person he was a dreamer--and when he wasn't thinking about his next haiku, or how to properly disect owl droppings, he was figuring out how to talk his mother into circles until she would agree to anything! And then adventure took him far away to gain his independence and a life many would only dream of. Each year as he would come and go, the leaving was hard, but the call on his life was stronger. And always, as the adventure unfolded before him, he would never forget his brother or sister and parents, or to say I love you, or to hug, or even shed a tear when we parted. Finally, when the adventure became lonely, he found the love of his life and his joy was complete. And a brand new adventure is being lived out and the call on his life is fulfilled.

Happy Birthday Isaac! Love, Mom

Easter Babies

Three generations of Easter baby girls.

When I was little Easter meant a trip to "downtown Canoga Park" for an Easter dress, shoes, bonnet, gloves, and purse. We always died Easter eggs and my sister was the one who organized it being very particular about the colors. I was fascinated by the whole process! On Easter morning it was always exciting to get up and find an empty Easter basket beside our beds. We then went to the living room and began to collect our jelly beans, marshmallo eggs and a chocolate bunny. We would then spread them out and count them...lining the jelly beans up by color. There was always a chenile chick or two as well. Then we dressed up for church and I usually had gloves and a little purse. Sometimes my new shoes were actually black and white saddle oxfords that would have to be polished and shined. I remember my first pair of "flats." It was hard to fit me in a dressy shoe because even my feet were scrawny! But Sunday School and church were always wonderful--"Up From the Grave He Arose" and "He Lives" were our favorite songs. A time or two I was lucky enough to go to the Hollywood Bowl for an Easter sunrise service--it was always cold but the music and sunrise were beautiful. I knew Jesus died on the cross for my sins and early on made the connection of Communion representing the shed blood and broken body of Jesus--who went willingly because of His love for even me. Mother always served ham on Easter--I never really knew why, and I didn't care for ham, actually.

When I had my own little girl, I had so much fun dressing her up for Easter Sunday and she always looked so pretty. I kept the same traditions as I had growing up and loved filling my children's Easter baskets and dying Easter eggs.

Now my daughter is about to dress her own little girl in an Easter dress (she won't keep the bonnet on, I'm sure!) and sweet little shoes. Oh how I wish I could be with them on this special day. Last year when Emily was not yet born, the family was stranded by snow and had to have Easter Sunday church at home.

Here I am about to celebrate my 57th Easter Sunday. No longer dressing up as times have changed and we're a casual society. But I will thank God for the memories of Easters long ago, and the Easters my children are making for their own special children. I'll put on my Easter Bonnet and head for the blogs for a glimpse of our Alaska babe and the Burney grandchildren--and then head to Easter Sunrise service at the Hollywood Bowl to remember and celebrate! Happy Easter everyone!

First Time on a Merry-Go-Round and Fairies

I couldn't figure out how to put the merry-go-round video clip I have, but Emmy was so cute on the ride--she LOVED it! She is such a busy girl you can't get her to stop long enough usually for a big picture smile--but she smiles all the time--she's just such a wiggle-tail you can't catch it just right! In Sacto our main objective was a trip to the zoo--which was a blast! More photos on that later--but we also visited our cousins in Sacto who have twin girls. Jonathan played with them until crashing completely at night--sooooo much fun. But the funnest part was when they got tired of being Spidermen and wanted to dress up as fairies instead. Jonathan was utterly dejected, and finally just went with the flow--note the third very masculine looking fairy! But what fun--two and a half days with Annie and kids--we were both worn out from it all--but it was well worth it!