Babies Don't Keep

The last two Saturdays Dave and I have been busy baking and cooking for Christmas when our entire family will be together again for the first time in two years. You see, when our children were young there was a poem that I lived my life by and now that I am a grandmother, I often think of the words of that poem....I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

I decided to look up the poem since I couldn't remember all of the words and share them with you today.

Babies Don’t Keep
by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.
Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo
The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren’t his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep. 

So we are getting ready for the time when we have all of our grandchildren in one place. And for a little while
....the cleaning and scrubbing will wait
because we have indeed learned that children grow up as we've learned to our sorrow,
so quiet down cobwebs and dust go to sleep(or maybe we will just write in it instead)
we'll be rocking our babies and babies don't keep!!

My Wednesday Buddy

Sometimes I find the most interesting things in my Living Room....like funny looking little men from 3 decades ago all lined up on the furniture.

 Or a movie that doesn't belong to us propped up on the couch.

 It's all because I have a little Wednesday Buddy!

Ever since Megan got her new job, Jaxon comes to visit on Wednesdays and boy do we ever have fun. He plays great by himself, is more than willing to watch a video or play while I am on the phone in my meetings, and we get to spend some awesome time together every week. Thank you Lord for my Wednesday Buddy.

November Snow

 Even though it happened the exact same week last year, the snow that fell this week seemed to surprise everyone. Friday morning when we walked, we just couldn't get over how beautiful everything looked.

 There were still leaves both on the trees and lots on the ground...

 ....but there was also a dusting of snow that covered the bare branches and the ground.

I was so thankful that my iPhone takes good pictures so that I could at least capture a few of the scenes along our walk that morning.

 Somehow it just seemed to inviting...

 ....so quietly beautiful.

 

I'm so thankful for a friend who I can walk with and enjoy the beautiful creation around us!

Rejoice and Give Thanks

 

Every morning I get a wonderful Daily Devotional in my Inbox from www. powertochange.com This mornings Devo was by one of my favorite authors, about one of my favorite verses and it has stuck with me all day long. I just had to share a part of it. To read the full devo, just click here.

Philippians 4:4-7

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again. Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God.

And the peace of God, which passes all understand, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Wow! Here was the answer to the “how?” of guarding my wellspring of life, my heart. God will actually send His peace to do it for me if I simply choose my responses today.

Choose to Rejoice in the Lord always. Focus on all the Lord is and offers to us through Himself. Take one point and make it the meditation of your day.

Choose to Remember He is near. When anxiety threatens, ask God to remind you that He is right there and He will steady you and give you the wisdom you need.

Choose to Respond in prayer. Worry is a call to prayer. Choose to lay your request before God and ask for His guidance.

Choose to Retain thanksgiving. Leave your concern with the Lord and focus instead on who He is and His ability to hold you through any challenge. Maintain a grateful heart for even the smallest of His blessings. Watch for them.

Result: His peace, which is beyond understanding, will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus.

Pretty amazing really when you pause to ponder it.

All our spillover today in our actions, relationships, words, attitudes, will pour from what is in our hearts. We are told by God to guard our hearts. When we choose to focus on Him (Rejoice), to Remember He is right there with us, to pray (Respond) even when we don’t feel like it, and to Retain gratitude in our hearts, then an amazing thing happens.

God’s peace itself guards our hearts AND our minds…. thorough Jesus Christ and we REST even in the midst of unsettling times!

Lord God,

Please help me today to choose to guard my heart through these four steps and to experience Your amazing and in-explainable peace settling over my heart and mind by the power of Jesus. Thank you for Your wonderful provision when I turn my eyes to You. In the strong name of Jesus I pray, amen.

Question: How will you rejoice, remember, respond and retain today?

Grandparenting from Afar

I don't know how many times I have had someone tell me that they just don't know how we can stand having two families of our grandchildren live so far away. My answer is always the same...we don't have a choice! :-)

But what we do have a choice about is what kind of far-away grandparents we will be. Early on we decided that we would invest time, money and energy into making sure that we had as good a relationship as we possibly could with all of our grandchildren.  Here's a tip for those of you that have made that same kind of commitment.

Hallmark has made the most amazing books...recordable books that you can read and record your voice. This one is my favorite! I bought two of them and Dave and I sat down and personally recorded us reading them before giving one to Kai and the other to our Texas girlies. All of them love listening to us 'read' the book to them. It's one of Kai's favorite at the moment! While we were up there last weekend, he pulled it out several times and wanted to read it.

Definitely a worthwhile investment in maximizing grandparenting from afar!