Sunday, July 25, 2010

Skating Through Life...

It is kind of quiet in the Fastenau home this week. Looking forward to visitors next weekend. Stan’s daughter Debbie and her 3 grown kids will be spending a couple of nights with us. They live in Utah and Idaho and the youngest is in northern Missouri. He does not get to spend a lot of time with his kids so this weekend will be special.

We are still recovering from our trip to Arkansas. Clint’s birthday was the 10th, Jan’s the 11th and Eden’s the 14th. She turned 4 this year, a happy go lucky little girl.

It was a very busy week. I got to spend one day with Kathy, my partner in crime, my cousin, my best friend, the sister I never had. We had such a good time! We didn’t do anything special, just sat around. We laughed and cried and talked, something we had not done in a long time, Quality time!

It amazes me sometimes how the Lord works things out. Clint’s dad was still in the hospital when we got into town, in fact they had called hospice in. I was so glad we were there to help with the kids so Janice could focus on Clint’s needs. He needed her support, her love, and she was able to devote the time to Clint. His dad passed the morning of Eden’s birthday. Clint and Janice had spent the night at the hospital with other members of the family.

I was very glad that Eden’s party was the week before, more about that later. Eden had a hard time understanding how her papa’s body was here but he was in Heaven. She was sad that she did not get to go to the hospital and say bye to him, and asked if she could write him a note. I told her of course, so she proceeded with paper and marker (gotta love those washable markers) in hand to sit for 45 minutes composing a note to her papa. She had lots of letters and a few pictures and lots of hearts covering the page. On the night of the visitation, her mommy helped her place the note in the casket; needless to say several were wiping tears. At the funeral we sat at the back of the family section with Eden and her other grandparents. Sometimes we do not think children are listening or grasping on to what we are saying but they are. The preacher mentioned about Jim being in Heaven and able to walk and talk again, and Eden whirled around towards me with the biggest grin on her face and said: “Granny did you hear that, he said Papa could walk and talk now in Heaven just like you did.” “That makes me happy!” Out of the mouths of babes… we could learn a lot from children!

Now on to the PARTY! Jan decided to have Eden a skating party this year. What a fun time. She was so funny, in the beginning she was holding on for dear life, scared that she would fall, but by the end of the party she was skating all over the place.


This reminded me of how we are when we are faced with a problem or a trial. We hold on to it with all we got, trying to figure it out, find a solution. If we would only let it go, place it at the foot of the cross, He would take care of it for us, and we could enjoy life again. But we have to have faith, and believe, and stop picking it up again.

"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Hebrews 11:6

until next time... nel



5 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday to Eden! Wow, she caught on to skating in a hurry! Glad you are back on line. I've missed ya'!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I had tears in my eyes as well when I read about Eden writing her Papa a letter & putting it in the casket. It's such a hard concept to grasp, even for grown-ups, isn't it?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Happy Birthday to Eden! It looks like you're having a great summer with more adventures to come. Yes, we did make it thru Springfield but only to connect with I-44 from Hwy 65. Have a great week. Blessings, SusanD

    ReplyDelete
  4. Happy birthday Eden :)

    We host a public roller skating problem once a week right now. We throw on some dancing music and disco lights and it's a lot of fun for all ages :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. A very Happy Birthday to Eden! She is absolutely precious girl. I had to laugh...those roller skates are bigger than she is. This Ozark farm chick is so glad she dropped by.

    Ya'll have a wonderfully blessed day from the stormy hills and hollers of the Missouri Ponderosa!!!

    ReplyDelete