Thankful for You, Gainfully Employed Ethan!

It is like you just woke up from a long dream. You are involved and in our faces, but silently participatory, more than usual. No homework these days. Just sketching and sketching and sketching and on the computer devices that you have.

I hope you enjoyed the dinner that we prepared for you. This year, Dad helped so much on the eggplant. Dad cut it up and fried 2 of the 3 large eggplants that he bought. My hands were getting tired after the first one. I meant to do an apple pie, but my hands were really achy. It was my shoulder that was throbbing, from the twisty hand motions of the peeler. I will get it together by Christmas. Okay?

Working Man whose feet cannot be felt?

Perhaps you need other shoes!

You are a strong fellow, as your name describes. You have muscles that are being developed through your job and your mental abilities have been sharpened through your years in IB. We are very proud of the young man that you are becoming.

Don't forget to keep sharpening your muscles,

all in syncapation with each other!...

Got a job, got a haircut, October startup date is rushing toward us!

You are doing a great job with the outside work. I am grateful for the extra work that you took in the grass cutting efforts around the side of the house. You are taking up the initial efforts. We need everyone to come up to the tasks, please. We are grateful for your wholehearted startup. Please know that we are expecting great things from you!.

A Job, my good man!

Grateful for the gift of my starter job! I hope that this is your testimony.

Be diligent. Be respectful. Be considerate. Be busy. Be honest. Take responsibility. Do your best and you'll do fine!

a summer of "West and Welaxation at Wast"!

The Pearly gate that I was

refering to was the SATs themselves.

I love that you asked me that question. It means that you are reading my blogs or have read that post, at least. The SAT is a gate, because it is to college, what tying your shoes is to kindergarten. It is a compilation of completed tasks and knowledge that are expected to allow you to be successful in the next phase of education. It is pearly, because it is shined and thought out and constantly being renewed as a pearl is in the mouth of the clam. The SAT test is not an exclusion, but an inclusion to tell people what still needs to be discovered by this treasure hunter of education. He's got this and that and he needs this and that.

It also sharpens the mind to undertake an evaluation of skills in a better and better way. That skill is necessary and a growth process.

You are being sharpened and sharpened through the education process and the goal is full usefulness in God's calling upon your life. No person can tell you that this is done and it never will be done. Education is not an end in itself and your skills may fall outside of the pail of what is developed in the education process. Still, everything in education can translate into whatever it is that God has called you to do.

Graduation is an end of something. As you walk ahead, in the light of what you've learned from your home and your schools, may God give you insight and direction for the future and some tests can help you ascertain your purpose....

Thus Pearly Gates!

Please read The Pearl by John Steinbeck

The Graduation!

My Graduate decided to

ask discretely for a special mother son haircut moment. Just before the graduation. I promise not to cry at the wonder of it. Thank you, Irma Bombeck for your wonderful counsel on such a moment in "Mothering"book.

In preparation for Graduation

Why would we ever need such a thing as a thimble?

Thank God for the gadgets that have simplified our lives and made thimbles a thing of the past. I feel saddened about this. Thimbles were always used by my grandmas and they had them in dishes all about the house. They all could wield a needle with winsomeness and precision. There wasn't an occasion that a needle and thimble wasn't drawn from the purse with respect and great usefulness. There was always a button to be replaced or a hem to be fixed. I took it for granted. I rolled my eyes each time they whipped stitches swiftly and purposefully before my eyes. Dresses that I put on that were their handiwork with pins inplace to make sure that I hadn't put on a few pounds between the measuring and the final occasion. I mocked and scoffed at the choices of necklines and the choices of material. I hate flowers on them, Grandma! I want a plain dress! I want a storebought dress, just one time! That time came and I was so sad to see it come! I can't be sure I have the time to sew your wedding dress, said Grandma to me, with a severity that still brings tears to my eyes.

She held on until the very end and missed the day by 2 whole days, but she was there for every fitting. She said, if you miss this appointment in life, you are a greater fool than I can say. I won't miss it Grandma! Don't miss any delivery God gives you. I won't miss it Gram. and now I haven't and she was right. Every delivery, is from our God in heaven. Pain and agonies alongside, mental and physical, each relationship is worth it! She said your mother gave me the greatest gift, all those babies. I believe her. She is my thimble and I will never, ever, ever sideline her message. Expand the waistline and make the dress fit the occasion, don't terminate.

I will Praise Him, Still!