As we have continued to do our Sunday Jar objectives (slowly I might add) I've discovered that some may be hard to do with smaller children such as the ones Lil Man and I have picked these past two Sundays:
1. Make phone calls or write letters to those special friends and loved ones to let them know you're thinking of them
AND
2. Family Activity: Play the scripture hunt game. Each player takes a different page of scriptures. After reading that page, each player then writes a one sentence question, the answer to which is found some where on the page. At the signal, swap pages and questions. The first player to locate the correct answer to his question is the winner.
The first one is obviously not terribly difficult as we contact our littles grandparents fairly often via phone calls , videos, pictures, and visits, but I wanted to go BIGGER: Call or write a letter to someone we haven't talked to for awhile so that they know we're thinking of them and that they feel special.
But who??
The second one is more of a head scratcher..."how on earth do I make this game into a toddler version when he has the attention span of a teaspoon?"
We might just have to pass that one up this time around.
Anyway, this week has been considerably better than the previous week. We've been moving slower than the slime off a snail, but we have been moving and I'm excited about the direction we are going and all of the destinations we are heading to. It's so nice to be filled with hope and peace again and to be enraptured by the soundproof room of prayer. It's been amazing to let go and to let God give me that extra patience I didn't know even existed. Every time I thought I had, "Had enough", there was more which has been super necessary in teaching Lil Man the difference between hugs and choke holds. Don't get me wrong, this is only a small bright spot in the whirlwind of many challenges, I'm simply pointing out that it's nice to have something to hold onto again.
Speaking of which tonight has been a good night for reconnecting.
Once a month my little family of four go out to eat at the magical place known affectionately by Lil Man as "Gramma's house," or what I call in by passing conversation with Dax as "my families house." Either way we take the 15 minute drive out in the eastern part of town to spend sometime with our family and tonight we also had the company of Grandma Nerrings.
I asked her about Oma and Opa and found out in more specifics that Oma was born in the United Sates whereas Opa moved here from Holland when he was 8 years old. They both lived in Utah for a time but never actually met there, instead they met in California and had their children, one of which being my grandma. I learned that Opa actually tried to teach the kids dutch but it would confuse Oma so she asked him to stop.
However, there was a young dutch child that went to school and didn't know any English, Opa was gracious enough to go to school to translate for them and they sometimes met after school for dinner. One of these times Opa was having a conversation with the father about something and even though my grandma couldn't remember how to speak Dutch she understood their whole conversation and can still count to 10.
I also learned that she has traveled to Holland and did normal tourist things but not much by the way of visiting any relatives or homes or graves. Either way I found my heart smiling as I listened to my grandma tell me little tidbits about the great grandparents I have yet to meet and a hunger to learn more, but not just LEARN more but EXPERIENCE more.
In the sang words of Ariel, the Little Mermaid "I want to be where the people are, I want to see, want to see them dancing."
So...
Dear Relatives,
We haven't met yet but I'm hoping soon our paths will cross and we can come together in memories and histories and perhaps even make our own in our life times. I hope that all is well where you are and that the sky's twinkle and the mountains and hills roll in the breeze. I hope in the meantime you'll breath deeply and peacefully and that you find your place in this world rooted as deep as an oak. Know that it's the trials and challenges in life that humbles us and makes us remember God because without him we are nothing and without him there are no moments in time to be whole. I hope that as we all strive for this same and complete sense of purpose and work through the stickiness of healing wounds that we will remember that we are on the same team and you and I will be cheering on one another. Never give up, for with an uphill battle soon comes a downhill advantage. You must fight to get stronger and to see ahead.
Until we meet,
Vaarwel
(goodbye)
Megan
