Seamantics

Monday, June 13, 2011

Memories, Pressed Between the Pages of My Mind

Well, Rebecca went to college orientation this weekend, so I guess it's about time that I wrote a post about her graduation. I've been doing quite a lot of thinking about this "end of an era" type of feeling that I have - and this sense of urgency to make the most of the time I have left with all of my kids.

First of all, I want to share a couple of scriptures that come to my mind. The first one is a little verse about Mary that has always captured my attention -

Luke 1:19 says "But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart."

Mary did not have a camera or a scrapbook or a blog (can you imagine if she had?), but I believe we are kindred spirits when it comes to memories. I treasure the time I have had so far with Rebecca, and I love to ponder what God is doing in her life and what God has taught me through being her Mom.

Sometimes I think it's easy for me to get to caught up in memories and to make an idol of the past. I have to also keep in mind this other verse from Eccl. 7:10, "Do not say, 'Why were the old days better than these?' For there is no wisdom in this question."

It's not wise to live in the past because it robs us from the experience of the present.

As much as I enjoyed my little Rebecca and treasure those memories,

From small beginnings

I wouldn't want her back because I would miss the Rebecca that I have now.

From Graduation

Thankfully, graduation and getting ready for college is such a busy season that I don't have time to wallow in memories (which is probably unhealthy anyway), but I have had moments to ponder. Even the making of Rebecca's memory table was a memory in itself. I love it how Noah wanted to help.

I have truly loved the privilege of teaching Rebecca. I sat by her on the couch as she learned to read, I sat by her on the piano bench teaching her to play, and I even floated in the water until my fingers were wrinkly as she learned to waterski (got to give credit to Dad for that one, though). I taught her to sew, with my own struggles following a pattern, and then she figured out she didn't even need a pattern and could make up her own designs!

I'm grateful that God sent along teachers and experiences for things I couldn't have taught her. Rebecca had some wonderful art teachers and theater directors. I'm so glad for the extra time that homeschooling gave her to pursue those passions.

But I'm mostly glad for the extra time that homeschooling gave us to have extended conversations and long walks. This time has bonded us together in a way that has blessed us both.

Now it's time for Rebecca to move on to her next experience, and I'm really excited for her. In fact, Terry has accused me of living vicariously through Rebecca on more than one occasion. From Websters,

vicarious: experienced or realized through imaginative or sympathetic participation in the experience of another

Yes, I admit it's true! I have shared her experiences and will continue to do so. However, that doesn't meant that I want her to live her life to please me or that she has to tell me every.single.detail. My prayer is that she will live her life to please the Lord and that He will continue to bless us with a friendship that will only deepen through the years.

I'm so glad she didn't listen to me when I said "Wheaton's a great school! You should really consider it." I'm glad that her "going off to college" involves just a twenty minute drive. It makes for an easier transition for both of us.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Finally Got to the Prom

This post is overdue, but I wanted to capture my memories of this year's TEACH formal. It was very special this year because Rebecca was honored as a senior and because it was the first time for Nathan to attend (as his sister's date - how sweet!):

From Uploading for Mom

This was also the first time that both Terry and I attended the event (in the past he went as Rebecca's escort and I stayed home) - which means for the first time in my life - I had a date to the prom!

From Formal 2011

No, I'm not bitter that I never got asked to the prom in high school, but let's just say it was on my bucket list.

One of the fun things about homeschooling is that parents are welcome at the prom and get to join in the fun. Our friends, Sally and Mark, decided to have some extra fun with the "1920's Red Carpet" theme:

From Uploading for Mom

And here we are getting down to some music from our era. I think it was "Play that Funky Music":

From Formal 2011

Several people asked me if it was strange to see Rebecca all grown up. You know, it really wasn't. She's seemed grown up for a long time. I'm sorta used to it - though I thought she was beautiful in the dress she made herself!

From Uploading for Mom

It was Nathan that really caused me to pause a little. He looked so tall and grown up. And he could dance!

From Uploading for Mom

I think my proudest moment was the mother-son dance. Nathan came over and asked me to dance. I wasn't sure if I knew what I was doing (I'm better at funky-music dancing than ballroom dancing), and I asked him if he did. He said "Just give me a second to listen to the music . . . yea, I can rhumba to this . . . I'll start on my left foot . . ." and he proceeded to lead me perfectly:

From Uploading for Mom

So, it's never too late to go to the prom.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

365 - Fire and Water

These shots were all taken during our recent visit to Arkansas.

The waterfall is Tanyard Falls - located near Bella Vista. It was a warm day, and the kids enjoyed getting wet. I also got in and waded, and I believe my older sister took numerous pictures of my backside which better not end up on HER blog.

From Arkansas May 2010

The bonfire shots were made right next to my older sister's house. The boys had worked with Terry and Uncle David to gather fallen and trimmed limbs. It made a huge fire! I love the silhouette shots.

From Arkansas May 2010

365 - Sunday School Shots

Rebecca and I teach Sunday School together at least once a month for 1st-5th graders at Redeemer Community Church. We just started meeting in a new building in downtown Johnson City. It was formerly a huge department store. Anyway, our room is very large - but the high ceilings make the acoustics horrible for trying to teach a rowdy group of kids.

When we finish the lesson, there's always some time for drawing, making paper airplanes and playing hangman with Rebecca (who is a real favorite with all the kids in the class). On this day, I pulled out the little Panasonic point and shoot that I keep in my purse.

From Sunday School

High School Musical

Caleb played basketball for our homeschool group this past season, but recently he also was a basketball player on stage in JRT's production of High School Musical.

From High School Musical

Other than meeting tons of girls, I don't think this was a play he really enjoyed. It involved lengthy practices at least five days a week and three full weekends of shows. During one of the shows there was a storm, and the power went out. They ended up finishing the performance with people holding up their cell phones to give light.

Here's a slide show of some of the photos. The basketball players had to learn lots of choreography.

New Appliances

We are getting ready to put our house on the market in a week or so. One of the things that several realtors had suggested was to update our kitchen by replacing the white appliances with stainless steel. Terry got busy shopping (and selling our white appliances) on Craig's list, and we were able to upgrade all for just $1000. During that time, I was without a dishwasher for about three weeks and spent one LONG weekend without a fridge.

Here's our old fridge (notice the High School Musical ad - watch for an upcoming post about that):

From Kitchen

And this is the one we had for about a day:

From Kitchen

It was "cool" because you could record messages by hitting a button on the front (messages like "Don't even think about drinking my last cold Diet Dr. Pepper"), but it was very "uncool" that it wouldn't keep things cold AT ALL. Fortunately, the seller took it back (claiming that he never knew anything was wrong with it), and we got this one instead:

From Kitchen

Here's my new dishwasher;

From Kitchen

I love it because it's extra deep for pots and pans. I hardly ever have to handwash anymore.

And here's my new oven and microwave:

From Kitchen

Notice that there is a hole above the microwave where the unit was smaller than the previous one. Terry filled it in with this:

From Kitchen

Isn't that clever? I need to get some smaller chalk to use in writing messages. The only thing I have right now is huge sidewalk chalk, and it's a little hard to do lettering with that.

We got a new stovetop, too, but there are plenty of pictures of that in the post below.

365* - May Shape Challenge - Circles

Recently, I've taken lots of photos in our kitchen to document the changes there (more about that in a coming post), but without really even trying I realized I had lots of photos that involved circles - all taken in my kitchen. You'll see round coils for burners in the new stovetop, round knobs, round egg yolks, round biscuits cooking in the oven, and my favorite little detail in my kitchen - a set of cute measuring spoons given to me by my sister-in-law, Angie.

I was going to try to watermark the spoon photos and have chosen the name "Lazy Susan Photography." However, I have yet to find a font that I really like.

From Kitchen

Saturday, May 21, 2011

365* Pride and Joy

This is my favorite photo from Rebecca's graduation. It represents pride, for sure, but also pure joy! In this case, the joy is not so much for the diploma received but because the preparations and ceremony were over and now it was time to celebrate!