Enjoying each other and celebrating the uniting of two families at the Dady/Bakke destination wedding. Wish I could figure out how to change this arrangement before posting but . . .

So much to say, so little time to paste away

Luke sits across the table from Michelle and Momma Bakke in the Dominican Republic Punta Cana Airport waiting to fly home after all the wedding celebrations of July 3rd 2008.






Tomorrow I'll try my best to cut and paste the stories I've already written. Now is when I wish I had InDesign on this computer. Even more I wish I had two screens so I could see what I was doing big picture. If wishes were fishes they'd fill the sea. Oh, well, this too will be done and over and I'll be glad to start something else. Or, maybe I'll continue down this road awhile longer. Writing and musing, that is.

Here I sit . . .

Here I sit typing brief thoughts before the onslaught of cooking, entertaining, celebrating. Why do I do what I do? Decide we should cook & decorate for the the after-wedding reception ourselves instead of hire it done? True, Mary Dawn has baked many cupcakes and made the salads and salsa verde, but it still remains for us to finish cooking the meat, the guacamole, the last batch of cake, the icing, the decorating, etc.

I should be grading papers, writing a memoir, answering mail, or should I? Should I not be exactly where I'm at? For it's here God has planted me and it's here I will grow.

Weddings and More

Here it is April 11, 2008! My, does time fly. I am less faithful than I meant to be to entering posts to this blog. Between the prospect of two upcoming weddings and the production of two 'baby' publications, I seem to be 'caught between'!!! Had no idea the implications of that title when I created it. Seth and Becky's wedding is May 17th. Luke and Michelle's July 3rd. Seth proposed right after Christmas when Becky came to visit the Texas crew. Luke proposed while he was in Seattle just before Thanksgiving. Both creatively ask the BIG question and I had lots of fun 'helping' with the plans in one way or another!

Next time I post I'll give a brief story of the first proposal - Luke, Michelle, a favorite restaurant, and a surprise dessert!

My golf - oh, I mean my fisherman son!

So, Luke goes to Dolthan, Alabama to play golf and every spare moment he's fishing! Lewis and Alicia's fishing waters compel him to fish and to teach all his friends the fishing art. Actually, Luke appreciates how his dad taught him how to fish. Now, he passes on the knowledge. I wonder . . . maybe he should become a trophy bass fisherman instead of a golfer. What do you think?

And here's the golfer in Joplin, MO earlier this summer.

One of my favorite pass times watching Luke play his game. "Mama, don't teach your babies to be cowboys"
. . . or golfers for that matter!
Just a warnin' - to be sure -
'Cause you'll hardly see him if you do,
but you'll follow round and round the country wishin' you never had to leave, never had to work, or clean, only wantin' to be seen
followin' around the man, whose passion lies within the scope of green
ribboned strips down which a small white ball soars and lands and soars again until is found a tiny hole in which to fit.
So now, for just a moment 'round me drape the strong arm that sends the ball into its space.

Beginning again . . .

School started last Wednesday and three school days have already passed! And I'm "Wordstruck" as Robert MacNeil labels himself and his autobiography. Too many words to read, to write, to do! Too many worlds to play in . . . shall I play wife, mom, teacher, writer, student? How will I balance on life's rooftop as Fiddler on the Roof depicts Tevye balancing in Tsarist Russia? Classes at U of Arkansas at Little Rock start soon. I already feel the crunch of time and energy to complete the course. Do I tip too far in one direction or the other? Will the present roof give way and a new balancing act be required?

Through all of the changes, how can my life reflect my Lord and Savior? Only with Colossians 1: 17 firmly anchored in my mind will I step forward with assurance - "And he (Christ Jesus) is before all things, and in him all things hold together" - even when things /life seems to fall a part.

How wonderful to see our daughter complete her half Ironman triathlon! Chris, Hannah, and I went to Arkadelphia, Arkansas Friday evening; she signed in for her packet; we ate at the spaghetti dinner, listening to the pre-triathlon information and visiting with other competitors; then went back to the Quality Inn, where I fell asleep even before Chris and Hannah returned from a MacDonald's jaunt! Yesterday, August 18, 2007, she swam 1.3 miles, biked 56, and ran 13 completing the course in 5 hours 48 minutes. Thankfully temperates stayed under 100. Even with the humidity the day remained tolerable. First place in her age group - well done daughter! We were all amazed at those winners of 48 and more, who completed the course in under 5 hours.

Here's another balancing act - tried to grade and completed only one project. Too uncomfortable and too much going on to concentrate (not to mention a few visiting ants), but I wouldn't have missed being there for her and cheering for her!