Today, I decided to go through some of my old photo albums. I did shed a few tears, especially for the ones who have passed away. Life goes so quickly by. I’m sure when God puts us on the new earth with Him, we will be thankful since life there will be far better.

From the time I was young, I loved to teach. When I got home from kindergarten, I would have my sisters sit down and teach them everything I had learned. In the summertime, I would gather all of the neighborhood children and teach them in my “school” or have Vacation Bible School. Here is a group of them with my sisters, of course.

During the Christmas vacation of my freshman year at college, I came home, and the pastor’s wife had invited my family to come to her home for dinner. She wanted to show us her new deck and jacuzzi, so we all went to her backyard to see it. It was very cold out, so after I saw it, I ran back into the house, but I didn’t know the pastor’s wife had shut the sliding glass door. I slammed into it and was thrown onto my back. I broke the bone between my eyes in three places and had to have surgery on it. I believe that this is what caused my brain tumor. Tumors are often the result of trauma. If you go straight back into my head where I broke the bones, lies my pituitary. The tumor grows from a diseased sella where the pituitary gland lives. Moral of the story: make sure you don’t run into a plate glass window running full speed!

My mom loved feeding everyone! In fact, a few of my sisters’ childhood friends told her recently that they wanted to move into our home when they were children. My mom made our home a warm and inviting place to be. She listened to our friends and fed them great food. Many families, even back then, came from broken homes, or their mothers worked full-time outside of the home.

The young women in the picture below were my college friends in my home. Our favorite thing to do was to go to each other’s homes on the weekend and raid the refrigerator! We missed being in a home. I was never a fan of dorm life or the classes, but I loved my friends!

I dated this guy during my sophomore year in college. He pursued me for a while, but I wasn’t interested. Finally, near the end of the year, I became interested in him. In this picture, I had brought him home to meet my parents. He was a great guy and loved the Lord. He asked me to go with him to the year-end dinner. At the end of the year, he told me he wasn’t coming back. He was going to go to college in Colorado, where he lived. I was sad about that. I saw him one time after that at Hume Lake, where he was working. We both liked each other, but it just wasn’t meant to be.

This is Mark. Our families were friends for years. When we both grew up, he decided to date me during the spring of my junior year in college. He was a great guy, too. He loved the Lord and came from a good family.  We had fun together, but in the end, we decided we weren’t headed towards marriage. He married a godly woman, had a few children, and was an elder in his church. Thankfully, my heart was never broken by a guy. The only one who could have done that was the one who became my husband.

I’m sure you recognize this guy! We hit it off on our first date in February 1980, and the rest is history! We could tell quickly that we were “molded for each other” as he often told me. I have no regrets! I am thankful the Lord led us to each other, and we are both covenant keepers. We enjoy life so much together these days. He told me recently that my steady, joyful spirit makes it easy for him to live with. I wasn’t always this way, as you all know, but nothing good and lasting is easy, but so worth it!

Well, that’s a bit of my life. It seems that as I grow older, I reminisce about my childhood often. I don’t know why, but it’s fun to do. I have a lot of good memories to remember. I have some hard and painful memories too, but I don’t dwell on them. Since my mom is no longer around, I love thinking about her and what a great mother she was to me. God is good. I love living for Him.

For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
1 Peter 1:24,25

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