Happy Anniversary Babe!
Sometimes what we learn and who we become in the
process of "waiting"...is even more important
than what we are waiting for...
All I ever wanted to be, from the time I was a little girl,
was to be married, have children, make a home in a cabin in
the mountains, and live happily
ever after.
I am sixty years young, and all of the above has happened, and
some still unfolding.
I married my blue-eyed bandit, whole stole my heart at "Hello".
I have five tremendous children, who have blessed us
with ten grandsons, and one beautiful grand daughter.
My sweet man and I are living in a cabin, in the mountains...of Idaho...
and we are still working on happily, ever after.
Prayer is not asking...
it is a longing of the soul. It is the daily admission
of one's weakness. It is better in
prayer to have a heart without words...
than words without a heart.
The journey has been racked with hundreds of "rocks in the river".
Experiences that make you know, it takes a lot of water,
to make a rough stone smooth.
Shortly after we were married we purchased an old '56 Willy's Jeep.
Our intent was to have that puppy running, and
the world of adventure was ours for the taking. Running we got it,
but there was a price. It drank quarts upon quarts of oil, everytime
we cranked it and started down the road.
We bankrupted ourselves, before life had even begun!
We hung onto it, until, at a point down the road, we needed some cash, and realized that there was a market, for old Willy's Jeeps.
However in between adventure and reality...
we had some memorable rides!
One time we had taken it out for a climb up Y mountain, in Utah.
The trip up, was full of breath taking sights, and squeals of
delight from our baby son, who was old enough to
look out the window, and "take a gander".
We forded a creek or two, and stopped to hike around and
eat a picnic.
All to soon, the day was coming to a close,
The sun was starting to set, and it was time to head for home.
As we started back down that bumpy two track, we lost
all of the forward gears in our transmission.
The only way down, was going
to be in reverse.
It was dark. Our headlights were in front of the
jeep, lighting the path we had just crossed, in the
rear.
Grand, has the courage of a lion, and the soul of a saint,
with a few expletives. I was just plain terrified.
Prayer, took on a new dimension.
I remember looking up at the stars, and thinking they were
so perfect in their glory. In our circumstance
they seemed to be shining brighter!
My little son, had his whole life before him,
"Please dear God, just keep us from taking a curve to sharp,
send an army of angles, to hold this old jeep on the mountain,
please, please, please...I will devote the rest of
my life to honoring your name."
Well I'm here telling the story.
We got off the mountain, and got the tranny fixed, son has
grown into a great man in his own right,
with a sweet little
family he drags out on one adventure
after another.
But I will never forget the promises I made
in that urgent, frantic prayer.
It has molded my life.
To feel so hopelessly out of control, and yet the absolute
caretaker of a little one, who depends on you and
his father for everything!
Horrible, glorious, sense of responsibility.
I understand, just a little bit more the magnitude of love
and desires our Father in Heaven
has for each of us.
My LeGrand, found me.
I know, that we knew each other before, life on
earth began.
I dated the good, the bad, and the ugly...while I was waiting.
When the day came for our first date, I was going to break it.
After all it was a blind date...he didn't know what
he'd be missing, and neither did I!
Ha...
I'm so glad I didn't. So grateful, for the little voice I heard,
when I went to dial his number and cancel, that
said, "Jamie, you can't do that."
When I peeked through the window of the front door,
a few hours later, my heart just seized up.
My heart recognized an
eternal promise.
There he stood, in his cowboy hat, flannel shirt,
and levis. I knew that eventually
we would have our cabin
in the mountains.
"I believe that appreciation is a holy thing, that when we look
for what's best in the person we happen to be with
at the moment, we're doing what God does...
we are participating in something truly sacred."
~Mr. Rogers~
