Aren't we the perfectly matched intergenerational group?

Celebrating Maya's birthday at American Girl.

This was sooooo cool!

American girls having a tea party!

Yum!

Maya and Mia meet Skating Mia.

We love the Cubs!

Sweet.

No 1 Cubs Fan

Aunt Munch's brick at Wrigley Field

Last lecture...

I, along with so many others, have been inspired by Randy Pausch.

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-technology/20080725/Obit.Pausch/

What a guy!

Rylan making the "Grandma-Rock on" face.

Fourth of July...

Kutie Kylie...

Old Glory...

So, what's new?

I have almost come to the place where I cringe a little when someone asks me that. I bet they are waiting to hear if Jerry Springer has called us yet for an appearance...

These last weeks have been mostly filled with fun. A stay at the Holidome with my sister, Gail and assorted grandkids, a really terrific Fourth of July weekend, a reasonable rhythm to our life. Pete's parents are requiring more care but not so much we can't handle. What I do sense is an overall feeling that too many of our friends and some family have just had major struggles going on...marriages, relationships, jobs. Frustration that life isn't turning out the way they expected. My prayer radar is tuned up cuz that's often all I can do.

And tonight I am lucky to be using Katie's computer while I sit for the kids while she is at work. It turns out that our trusty home computer blew a gasket or something and we will be replacing it. Sunday night I had picked out some photos to download on my blog but decided to wait til morning. That night we had a big storm and while reading in bed, the biggest, loudest clap of thunder crashed. I truly thought it was a gunshot; I looked over to see if Pete was still breathing! Strangely, Pete never even heard the blast. I went downstairs, checked around, sniffed around for possible fire. I mean, it was that close. No apparent damage until the next morning when we discovered our computer was blown, modem not functioning, slingbox fried. Boo. So we are now in rebuild mode. Hopefully, we can recover everything on our hard drive.

Last note to anyone who might be interested. We have found Facebook to be a great way for our far flung family to quickly keep updated. Facebook also has a really fast method to download albums of pics. Love it! So, what's new with you?

Lin and Phil and girls with Dolly Parton. What a memory!

Can you spot Lin and me clowning around?

Her teacher picture...

Lin's winter scene in oil.

Leaving a Legacy

Just last night at the last Grief Support for the spring season, our vocalist sang Legacy, a Nicole Nordeman song. The chorus goes:

I want to leave a legacy

How will they remember me?

Did I choose to love?

To make a mark on things

I want to leave an offering

A child of mercy and grace

Who blessed Your name unaologetically

And leave that kind of legacy

Some of my parents in the child loss group struggled with their own legacy and the legacy of their beloved children no longer here. It is so hard to wrestle with but what I know really impacted me was thinking of the legacy my sister, Lin, has left.

July 2nd is the 11th anniversary of Lin's death. She was only 47 years old, her life cut short by a dumb accident. The words of this song speak about her. She left her mark. She never shrank back to talking to anyone about Jesus. She and her daughter Mandy were quite a duo while shopping when someone would ask about Mandy's rare condition. Somehow Lin always got around to talk about their faith and how God had a plan. She never saw tragedy; she saw opportunity.

And boy, talk about gifted. Besides, her evangelism, she was a rare artist. One of her beautiful paintings is shown here. She painted the walls at Willow for the Promiseland ministry; she created beauty out of almost nothing. And the gift of mercy was her trademark. She just didn't see the bad. She could point out what was right and pure in a situation. So tonight when Pete and Karen and Lin's son Phil and I sat outside a restaurant on this beautiful evening, we thought of her and thanked Him for the legacy of her.

In the crazy irony of life, July 2nd is also Chris and Christa's wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary, dear ones, far away in Singapore, though I doubt you'll see this. I know you are not blogland fans...Happy anniversary anyway. You are leaving a legacy, too.