Serve by Design

It was a day or two before Thanksgiving that our oldest granddaughter, Chloe, popped the question, "Poppi, when are you decorating your Christmas tree?" This grand is always jazzed about Christmas! Each year, since she was a little girl, Chloe Michelle has helped her Mimi and me with Christmas decorating. If you knew that she already had her room decorations up on November 1st, you can imagine that she was more than a little anxious to help her grandparents "catch up" to the Christmas Season! Inspecting Charlie's Gingerbread House! I am a stickler about not putting up our decorations until Thanksgiving Day is over. Although I enjoy the ambience of a well-decorated family room with a beautifully lighted tree adorned with keepsake ornaments, garlands and red bows above the entry ways, and greenery threaded with red stringed beads on the mantle, I don't like to hurry into Christmas! So, Friday or Saturday after "Turkey Day" is soon enough for me! It w...

We recently had three grandsons for two nights and three days. Their parents and older sister were out of state visiting on a college tour. Although everyone lives nearby,   their busy schedules and ours as well don’t allow for as much one on one time with these guys that we all would like. Our “number one” in this family officially becomes a teenager on Friday of this week and he’s excited about that! His closest aged brother turned ten in January and their little brother is going to be eight in May. Adventure at the Pond! A Teenager's Homemade Crossbow! These are good boys who have had spiritual training since their birth. They are disciplined and becoming more independent these days. The family responsibility chart on their hall wall tells the story of accountability and partnership in household chores. They are polite and engaging when interacting with adults. Their parents are huggers and openly affectionate. It is not surprising that these brothers love, respect, and look out...

One of my fondest memories of Thanksgiving at my grandmother’s house was eating all my favorites at the kid’s table on the porch that was situated just off her kitchen. It was a sufficiently spacious, heated, and multi-purpose area for storage, washing clothes, and of course, served as the back entry point into the house. Kids could be as loud and rowdy as they wanted without disturbing the adults gathered in the dining room! Thanksgiving at Aunt Brenda's After eating, and when the dining table had been cleared, grandma would gather back at the main table to sit with family members (generally, females who were recovering from the clean up!). It was a time to snack on grapes from the fruit bowl and chat about many things. Most subjects were “above my pay grade” as a kid! But one topic for discussion gave me much delight and interest. It was the rehearsing how God had blessed us over the past year. Everyone could participate in this time of sharing! I have been doing some reflectin...

  70th Birthday Rib-Fest with Dad! I went home to Vandalia the day before my 70th birthday. It had been more than a year since I had last been with my Dad. While we were faithfully keeping up with each other during our weekly Sunday evening phone calls, there is nothing to be compared with "laying eyes on a loved one" in person!  During the days of the 2020 Pandemic, we had been trying to stay in our place to model for our loved ones and to some extent, protect them as we all were managing very different responses. Now that I have received two doses of vaccine, I am feeling a lot more comfortable in reconnecting with my extended family near and far.  Dad and I went over to Effingham to eat baby-back ribs at Fridays. We have been doing this for years during our mutual birthdays and have logged several special memories from these experiences. Based upon those previous years, we were fixated on one particular entrée, the dry and perfectly crusted, delectable fall-off-of-the...