To my friends who are...

"JUST A MOM"!
(I've read this before, but when someone sent it to me last night, I decided I'd share it here)

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store.

Inside I'm thinking, "Can't you see I'm on the phone?" Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all.

I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this?

Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, "What time is it?" I'm a satellite guide to answer, "What number is the Disney Channel?" I'm a car to order, "Right around 5:30, please." I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going, she's gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England . Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself as I looked down at my out-of-style dress; it was the only thing I could find that was clean. My unwashed ha ir was pulled up in a hair clip and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, "I brought you this." It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe . I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription:

"To Carol, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees."

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names.

These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything. A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, "Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it."

And the workman replied, "Because God sees."

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, "I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does.

No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become."

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on.

The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.


When I really think about it, I don't want my daughter to tell the friend she's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, "My mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table." That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want her to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to her friend, to add, "You're gonna love it there."

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

Great Job, MOM!

HAPPY SPRING!!

I went outside this afternoon to look for signs of SPRING! Obviously by my header, we're quite aways behind last year! But, I did find small signs...The lilacs are putting on buds, a patch of green in the grass, My fruit trees, pear & apple have buds on them, the cherry trees are heavy with tiny buds...and most exciting of all, I found our first flowers! It's actually here! HAPPY SPRING!!
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Track Season

This is Relyssa's 3rd year in track. (she's second from the left in these photos.)She runs the hurdles, short and long both.
The other years she also did pole vaulting, but has given it up.
This was taken yesterday at her first track meet of the season, and I didn't go, but sent the camera with Leon. It was his first try at photography...he's always left the camera to my hands. I think it's high time he learned!!

Baby Jayden

My Nephew Matthew and family came from Las Vegas to visit for a week. It was great to see them, and so fun to see the newest baby in our family. What a little sweetheart. She is so cute!
Every time I called my sister that week and asked her what she was doing, the answer was--"holding the baby"...of course! Would have been my answer too!

Jayden & Great Gramma Cilla

I got as much cuddling in as I could! We met for lunch one day, and passed the baby around. Here's our sister-friend Cyndie waiting for her turn!

What a cutie!!


Dressed to the "nines"

Jayden & Mommy (Amanda)

Our daughter Jana with Jayden

Homemade bread & fruit/yogurt smoothies

Since I decided to work on feeding our family a little more healthy, I've been experimenting with some recipe's. Here's today's results, and something a little more colorful than the drab pictures of winter!



Homemade Granola with a drizzle of honey topping the smoothies made a yummy light lunch for me!

ALL RIGHT!!

I got it! I'm so excited!! Here's my new "toy". Canon Power Shot S5IS--8.0MP, 12X optical zoom. My first digital was a Canon Power Shot A80, 4.0MP, with only a 3X zoom! I got it in the spring of '03, so it lasted me just a little under 5 years. I'm looking forward to some of the "up-grades"...especially the 12X zoom. Should have fun with that. Maybe I'll even learn to do video clips...
**Note after playing with it..Wow, it will do a video for up to 1 hr if you have enough memory card in! And, really easy to do too, even for a non-tech person like me! Now I'll probably be boring you all with pix of the cool stuff it does :*) OH!! That's right, I guess YOU DON'T HAVE TO READ MY BLOG IF YOU FIND IT BORING!!!! :*) SMILE! :*)

Heading for 3rd degree...

I thought it would be fun to post some pictures of Relyssa and her Karate years. I'm not sure at the moment how old she was when she started...But you can see from the first picture that she wasn't very old...10? Ryan wanted to take classes, and Relyssa wasn't about to be left behind! Ryan quit sometime after he reached green ranks, but Relyssa continued. She has totally paid for her classes, uniforms & testing herself, first from a paper route, and now from doing student teaching at the school with lower ranking students. She's been on the Demo team since a little before she got her 1st. black belt. The demo team is made up of a few of the best students, and they preform at different events/functions here in town, and sometimes other places, along with all the Martial arts schools graduations. She's competed 2 years at Lincoln's Cornhusker games, bringing home gold medals. She turned 16 in Oct 07.

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Saturday we went to watch the graduation for the Martial arts students where Relyssa attends. She just completed the 2nd testing out of 3 for what she has to do to get her 3rd degree black belt. The final testing will be in May, and hopefully by that graduation, I will have my new camera!! Anyway I thought it would be fun to include some pictures here of the graduation students, classes & instructors. Relyssa is part of the "demo" team that preforms at the graduations & other events to promote the school, and it is so much fun to watch this group. They are excellent. Hopefully another time I can include a video of them. It's incredible!