Saturday, April 14, 2018

Sleep, Glorious Sleep!

                                                     Live Every Day...
                               Like It's Saturday!

Oh my goodness. What a luxury it is to sleep past 3am, the usual time I get up each week day when I am teaching. Now please don't imagine that I am complaining here. I am not. I am so used to this schedule that it is second nature to get up at that hour. However, there is something so delicious about a Friday night when I can whisper seven magic words to myself ...
                         
                       "Tomorrow...Get up when you want to."

Saturday is purely magical. I always make coffee the night before and just pushing that button with no sense of rush or have to...well it is just so good for my soul. After doctoring up my brew with a magical concoction, I settle down with the fireplace on, my cup of coffee, Daisy, our sweet doggy by my side, and reach for Jesus Calling. I almost sigh at how luxurious it is to read it and then read it again, slowly and out loud this time.


I wonder this morning if it would be so special if I lived like this every day. Would I appreciate the slower pace of life?

Would I take the time to smell the coffee? Would I pet sweet Daisy with no thought to "I had better get a move on?"

Being a teacher brings me such total JOY that I would do it for free. Yet anyone who has been a teacher knows that the work load is tremendous, not just in the planning, but also in the paper grading. On Saturday there is still a big pile of papers to be graded, and they will be done by Monday morning, but I don't have to do them right.this.minute.


Just that extra few hours of sleep makes the world seem bright and gay, even though it is super cold and rainy here in Spokane. We are all wondering when in the heck Spring is really go
ing to get here. (It was snowing as I came up the south hill this week. While it didn't stick, it was SNOWING.)

Oh dear sweet baby Jesus, we desperately need some warm weather. The poor trees and flowers are so confused. You can almost hear them saying...

                  "Should I really unfold completely? It's a bit
                    too chilly for that."

Yet a day by the fire, reading and sipping coffee, seems like such a blessing. I might do this or I might do that.

Or in Pooh's words...
                    
                 "Let's begin by taking a smallish nap...
                   or two."    
                                                                 -POOH

I'm with Pooh on that one. "Sleep, Glorious Sleep"...
how precious you are.

May you have a fun, relaxing and restful weekend!
God Bless!
Love, Linda


                                                    

Saturday, April 07, 2018

Happy 35th Wedding Anniversary Bert!






It's a rainy day here in Spokane, a drizzle really. A perfect day to curl up by our fire and reminisce about the last 35 years.

Yes, today is our 35th wedding anniversary and "Praise God!" my beloved Bert is here so we can celebrate it together. We have been sipping coffee, listening to some of our favorite music and telling stories...lots and lots of stories. We are holed up in our comfy family room with Daisy the doggy rotating between our laps,
on the wall the huge hand painted sign I got Bert for our 25th anniversary. It says...

                              YOU HAVE
                              MY WHOLE
                              HEART
                              FOR MY
                              WHOLE LIFE

Our story has so many twists and turns, meeting in grad school. Me... with a shattered heart, never going to trust again. Bert with a heart of gold, knowing I needed to heal, that I was completely broken. He... being a much needed friend and helper...someone who prayed for me, for my girls, constantly. And he listened...he listened and listened, without judgement. I cried with him, buckets and buckets of tears.

He was a perfect gift from God, I believe that with all of my heart.

And then one day I realized that he was truly my best friend. My
friend Gail nudged me by saying, "Linda, if ten years from now you tell me there are no good men out there, I'll personally kill you.
There is one standing right in front of you,"

And he was, my Bert, standing there then. And he is standing here now, thirty five years later.

I am amazed to this day that he really likes me, just as I am. He really loves me, no matter what. He thinks I'm pretty. He tells me that every day. I still leave him love notes, every day. Thirty five years later.

We have been through some tough times, some very tough times, but we give those times to God. He holds us and we get through them.

Don't misunderstand, there are times Bert drives me crazy. At times, he has a tough time finishing what he starts. I'm a big finisher. But in the end we both know how little that really is.

We know what BIG is. After all, two years ago he had a TIA stroke and I almost lost him. And God brought him back to me.

I cherish every day I have with him.

One of my favorite sayings on a framed picture of the two of us is...
          
                              You don't have to promise me
                                  the moon and the stars,
                               Just promise you'll stand
                                  underneath them with me. 

And so my paratrooper, businessman, wind surfer- namer, best friend, Daddy, Papa, counselor, helper, listener, holder, hard worker, server of others, care-taker, lover of God, best person I know, love of my life...

                              Happy 35th Anniversay, my beloved!

You have my whole heart, for my whole life. And my darling, I have yours!

God bless sweetheart!
Love always!
Your Linda


                                




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