A Milestone

Forty years ago today, I was working in the kitchen just a hundred yards from here or so when my water broke. A few hours later, I gave birth to my first child, my daughter Lina, just as my mother’s plane was landing at the airport. My friend Terri met my mother and brought her straight to the hospital, so she got to see her granddaughter when she was less than an hour old.

I had secretly hoped that my first child would be a daughter, making her at least the fifth in a line of firstborn daughters. We had some rough times in the early months, mostly due to me being a new mother and her being a new human. But eventually, we figured it out. Even as a baby she was so smart and funny.

Over the last forty years, she has brought me a great deal of joy.

I’m so glad we were able to celebrate with her over the weekend.

I tried calling her this evening but I assume she was partying with her friends. I did text her also.

We are so proud of her. She went to the mission field as a teacher at the age of 23. Nine years later, she came back to Texas and taught here for several years before transitioning into library work. She worked hard to earn her master’s degree and has made a fulfilling life for herself in Nacogdoches. This month has been a banner month for her and for us, because we’ve seen her five times! Usually we go months at a time between visits.

This rainy morning after the usual Bible reading and tea, I worked on our newsletter list and on writing some thank-you notes, because we have already received some generous gifts toward our outgoing fund. It didn’t occur to us to check our account at the mission until a couple of days ago.

Late in the morning Walter and Jasper went to Lowe’s to buy lumber and polyurethane, and I went to Walmart to get a few things before going back to work on newsletter stuff. Walter used some of the lumber he bought to make some repairs on the house exterior.

There have been some phone calls, but no movement forward on Walter’s medical stuff. They did schedule him for a colonoscopy—in August. We were hoping for something a little sooner!

Joy Spark: Well, I didn’t mention it yesterday, but yesterday’s was seeing Rhea. Today’s was a text conversation with a childhood friend that I haven’t heard from in years, and who wants to receive our newsletters. She sent photos of her kids and got me caught up on her life. I was so tickled to hear from her. And I miss my mother, because she also would have been so interested to know that I was back in touch with this old friend who shares her name—Donna.

Parting Shot:

Hydrangeas are still hanging in there.