“I wish that life should not be cheap, but sacred…the days be as centuries, loaded, fragrant.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Category Archives: 3 Celebrations & Festive Events
my mommiekins
She had a birthday last week.
I couldn’t resist parading her senior picture out for her. East Des Moines High School, class of 1957. I get to see my mom (aka mommiekins, aka mamala, aka mommita, aka mammogram) in approximately 7 days, 9 hours, 47 minutes and 32 seconds…give or take an hour.
Love ya, mama.
Man on Fire, Happy Birthday!
A 2004 movie, Man on Fire: Directed by Tony Scott. Starring Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, Marc Anthony. In Mexico City, a former assassin swears vengeance on those who committed an unspeakable act against the family he was hired to protect.
Happy Birthday to Dave Powers, a son of my heart, my daughter’s God-sent love, and extraordinary daddy to my grandson
I love you, Dave. I thank God for the day He sent you our way. I will never forget the spiritual dream given to me in the early morning hours of the hope you were bringing, or of meeting you later that day, not even recognizing you as that dream fulfiller. I still laugh knowing that the day dad proposed to me almost 30 years ago, He was putting all the shattered pieces together and you were being born into the world. There God was, unbeknownst to us, putting all the pieces in place until the appointed time.
You were sent to us. I know this. Maybe like the guy in the movie. And I thank God for it.
You are a man on fire.
For the past few years, I have watched you as a contagious, youthful-zeal and passion guy whose love for Jesus invited people, just swept them in, to awe and worship of God; a preacher who could rain down the words of righteousness like life and bring hope and joy. You are always at your strongest when you release true joy in a room, btw. Always. But this season, as we have ventured into an unknown that is beyond anything any any of us have ever seen (and I mean: I have been around the block!), I am keenly aware of the size of the vision and the gift of communication God has entrusted to you. I have watched you become a voice that cannot be ignored, a spiritual stateman serving notice in enemy territory. I have told the interns: You are watching history unfold. You are hearing some of the most clear, visionary, faith-building, hope-infusing, revolutionary, enemy-diminishing, Kingdom-advancing words of our time. You are being exposed to something unbelievably powerful and earth-changing. Watch for how God plans to use that in your life, through your life, because this? This is an honor.
But if I say, “I will not mention his word
or speak anymore in his name,”
his word is in my heart like a fire,
a fire shut up in my bones.
Jeremiah 20.9a
I have told them that, these young interns (ww.heavenfest.com), because I am aware of its’ truth. I get to hear you speak often and every. single. time. I am BLOWN AWAY by the power of it. Especially because I also know the gentleness and purity of it. Because I am your mother-in-law and I know for a fact that what you speak to the crowds is absolutely as transparent and real as when you stop and take the time (so so so often) to speak to just one person, even me. I watch people walk away from listening to you, as you invite everyone to know and love Jesus like never before, and I understand their awe, I get that the anointing has begun the removal of some yokes and they are amazed at this Dave Powers. I listen as they try to express. And I can stand there knowing full well that who you are on stage or in front of a crowd is the tip of the iceberg of the man of character and faith, the husband, the father, the son and brother, the man you are outside of the spotlight (which you have never tried to find anyway), what they see, what impresses people – is never more true than when no one is looking. Yes, this is what I know.
If anyone could think differently, wouldn’t it be the mother-in-law? *smile
You were sent.
You belong to your parents. They birthed you and raised you and did a great job. I am grateful to their sacrifices and commitment to see you be all God had in mind. But God sent you to us. We got you as a gift. And I thank Him for that.
Here are some words from me to you
Happy Birthday, David Michael Powers. Son of my heart. I didn’t birth you, but I am as proud of you as if I did. xxxooo Mom
She was born on an exquisite day just like today…
Happy Birthday, Tredessa!
Dessy, Dessa, Tre-Tre, Dessy-Pooh-Pie – all names for the exotic, dark haired beauty who arrived just days before a most lovely summer in 1983. You were christened and accessorized in a wardrobe of sunshine-yellow and an earlier, milder form of Jeanie-green to set you apart, I suppose, from the lots-of-pink we already had in the family. You were baby-girl-number-three (thus, Tre) and I knew from the first moment I had alone with you, something very different, quite extraordinary and alluring lay there in my arms. The eyes, even at birth, showed an intensity of spirit; yet there seemed to reside in you, even as a tiny bundle, a quiescent repose, a knowing restfulness.
Everything about you has proven these inklings to be so. You excel in so much, baby-girl. The time God spent knitting you together in my womb, was a favor I cannot hope to comprehend. So lucky you are mine.
You were born to…
We were kids. You arrived before our second anniversary. Dad was playing church softball and I was involved in women’s ministeries and of course youth group with dad. There were family walks and bicycles-around-the-block. 1106 S Armstrong in Kokomo, so much love and ice cream in the charcoal-colored house. So much togetherness. Garage sales with Miss Faye and dressing you so cute with intense colors because your hair and complexion were sufficient for them. Playing in the pool in the backyard. Hot summer days and sweet nights with our little family. You arrived to happiness and love and gratefulnes that you came.
Words for your birthday
This is your “birthday card” from your mama who loves you and really couldn’t fit all the words I want to say in a whole album of photos of you. Love you, sweet-pea. I hope this birthday is the best you have ever had…yet.
Tredessa Rhoades on her birthday
PS to Ryan ~ Do you realize how blessed you are to see what you see? To know her as you do? You must be very special to God, indeed. You have found treasure!
Tony Bennett on Having Fun!
Are you having any fun?
Safeway did an ad campaign with Tony Bennett’s rendition of “Are You Having Any Fun?” a few years ago and that is when I knew I loved his version best, though it is one of those old songs that have been recorded by lots of singers. And besides it being a happy-day-making song, it asks a good question- better, I think, than questions about where you think you’ll be in 5 years and whether or not you feel on target to own everything you ever wanted to own or have accomplished everything on your bucket list. It is simple: are you having any fun?
If you read me at all you know I am waaaaaaaaaay too serious and prone to melancholy and consider my glass-is-half-empty tendancies to simply be realistic expectations. But as God has been revealing to me from His own Word how much he intended J O Y to play a part in our lives, well, I am on a quest for it. It is treasure. When I find it (which He lovingly allows over and again), I am renewed and restored and healed and strengthened, just like Father knew I would be. Wow, He is good. Yes, He is!
Mi Familia
You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them. ~Desmond Tutu
Our late March -to- mid June months are a crazy-filled 90 days of family birthdays and celebrations. I mean, we see each other a-lot! We have 3 kid birthdays and 6 adult birthdays, Mother’s Day, Easter, Father’s Day, school programs, craft days, Heaven Fest intensifying: all good stuff. But it works because my kids are all so creative and thoughtful. They choose to change up locales, houses or parks. They theme things with kick-ball games or a New York-style food night. The grandbebes might order a 3-tier cake for one week and a stacked-donut volcano the next. It keeps it interesting and creates an ebb and flow of good times and laughter and getting to watch my granbebes running madly through life, short legs carrying giant personalities.
I’m rich!
Is family life an efforrt? You betcha. You didn’t get to choose the family you’d get. But you choose to stay a family. You choose to do what it takes to love and build and be with the people God ordained to be in your life. Love. Family. Use it or lose it. It is something I go after with intentionality. It is what I have covenanted my life to.
I don’t care how poor a man is; if he has family, he’s rich. ~Dan Wilcox and Thad Mumford, “Identity Crisis,” M*A*S*H TV show
I assembled brief moments of my May days into a video as a reminder of where the joy came from. It was a busy month. It was a beautiful month. The calendar was full, and my heart was enlarged with love and gratefulness. You won’t see the times I cried or failed or maybe made some one feel bad or was tempted to take offense. You won’t see my way- unrighteous moments or hear my constant self-doubt or times of anxiousness. Those things happened too. It’s called life.
So don’t mistake the fact that I am sharing the j-o-y for thinking I am just lucky and sailing through life unscathed. Oh, I get scathed, baby! ;) This also is not an attempt at painting pretty, but false pictures, either. But it is a sliver of my chosen treasure, the blessed moments, the transcendant times in the Presence, May days and nights when joy was mine, a gift of favor from a loving, faithful God. I can’t remember everything, so I have decided what I will remember – and these are some of those times of rejoicing and they are God and they are good. And they are mine.
I guess it’s a “vlog”?
The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another’s desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together. ~Erma Bombeck
What June will bring?
There will be birthday gatherings and putting up the pool (pool parties to come), lots of grass mowing (the mower is humming along as we speak!) and gardening and cooking for crowds (for 100 tomorrow night!). Dappled sunlight and music by moonlight, summer and crickets’ song, kids squealing and sidewalk chalk and pots of pretty flowers. A recital to benefit the exploited, fast-paced festival-planning days vs. lemonade as I swing on the patio times. Father’s Day and Heaven Fest Sundays. June will bring even extended family times as we jet to Chicago for Moslander-Family-Reunion (Ross-the-Boss, Mrs-Moss, and all-the-little-Landers…I am a “little Lander”). June is shaping up to be lovely. I will watch for the joy…and I’ll let you know where I find it!
Family is just accident…. They don’t mean to get on your nerves. They don’t even mean to be your family, they just are. ~Marsha Norman
Thank-You, LORD, for mine.
My little Gavin is a big 8 today!
Where does the time go? Happy Birthday Gavin Lee Kelley!! EIGHT!?!
YOU made me a Nonna! You were the first of all the grandbebes. And you are oh-so-wonderful in every way.
You have brought me joy and happiness every single day of your life!! How many people can really say that?
I think you are wonderful. I love you with my whole heart. You make me smile, over and over again.
You deserve LOTS of good things your whole life through and I pray that very thing for you – blessing! xxxooo
Gemma’s Dancing Movie
I SO LOVE exposing the grandbebes to my old 70s music favorites. This is Gemma’s movie in honor of her turning 4. She is a cutie.
The Music
“Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head,” was the first song we chose because it was sprinkling one morning she was here, very gray and that seemed happy. But I couldn’t resist leaving Gemma’s chatter in, so I had to switch from the wonderful B.J. Thomas rendition to the Ferrante and Teicher version. Some might call this “elevator music,” but I can actually appreciate their piano renditions (plus symphony) of the movies of the 1960s and 70s. So I digitized “Raindrops” from an old LP I have.
Then, what perfect dance song would I use? Hmmm…..I changed this song a dozen times or more. I knew when I found the right one, I’d just know it. And I did! Leo Sayer’s 1976 played-constantly-on-the-radio, “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing!” Happy!
LOVE YOU, Gemma!
You are a smile-bringer, o-yes you are!
Dear Gavin and Hunter, Guini and Gemma, Averi and Amelie~
A Happy Memorial Day to you!
Just remember: it isn’t about all the good sales at the stores or getting to play outside and being happy that school is over. It is not about the yummy hot dogs on the grill or friends coming over or even just the day we usually want to put the pool up. Today is a day to remember why we have all this freedom and such a great life. Today we want to remember all of the Americans who have served in the military to protect our nation. Many have died for the freedoms we enjoy. Today is a great day to fly the flag and remember and thank God for those who sacrificed.
And it is also a good day to remember all the people we came from, the ones who came before us, great-grandparents and great-greats. They have been the altar-builders, hewing a path before us, stacking the stones as guideposts and unmistakable remembrances on the paths, where we came from and where we are headed. We remember and we thank God for them, too.
Teaching kids about Memorial Day:
CLICK on this link or THIS ONE
It’s Grow Time!
Yes, there are other things, but come on – it is all about the tomatoes
Lemon cucumbers, sweet baby watermelons, cilantro, lemon basil, lemon cukes, spaghetti squash seedlings await their summer home placement. Crackly little packages of bean seeds, okra and lettuces are anxious to surround the tomatoes, where they may all show proper deference.
Guini graduated from Kindergarten.
That gym was packed out! Parents and grandparents and all sorts of interesting peeps filed in and filled every nook and cranny. Guini, was, of course, the CUTEST one there! She threw us smiles throughout the program and waved like a beauty queen from a Cadillac. The parent organiztion had purchased actual little grad caps and gowns for this year and it was sweet. She’s my flower girl.
There is our Guini, getting her certificate from the principal.
Hunter graduated from Kindergarten.
Hunter’s mommy homeschooled him, but he was also in a Options, a homeschool support group where they offer lots of classes and support for parents one day a week. I like what Tara said about the graduation ceremony:
I used to think graduating from kindergarten was ridiculous but now that I’m a teacher I think they should graduate every year! Hunter worked so hard this year and I worked so hard that it feels like a perfect way to seal up all that the year has been!!
Options had all the kids wear their bathrobes and slippers and their own designed grad caps. It was soooooooo cute! Hunter also won the Excellent Writer award, which, for obvious reasons makes his Poppa and Nonna pretty proud!
Gemma May turned 4.
We are doing pre-pre-school now, at least until closer to Heaven Fest and then we’ll pick up again in the fall. But the girl already counts and sounds out words and knows her alphabet and can write her name and can tie her shoes. So mostly, I think we will make crafts!
Meanwhile her parents picked a perfect day to throw her a little family soiree at Brighton’s old Benedict park. It was mostly empty (until we got there, hehe) and there was basketball and bubbles, a crazy game of tag on the playset (watch out for Rocky and Ryan, little bebes) and dress-up and food, presents and superheroes.
Gemma was just adorable gracious and exuberant about each and every gift. She squealed and smiled and was unusually grateful and acknowledging for a tiny girl her age.
She and her mommy ordered the cake (my honor to make!): a 3-tier lemon poppyseed with fresh lemon curd filling with white chocolate hearts all around, one pink heart representing Gemma. It’s funny, because this was a smaller cake, but it looks pretty massive. Other cakes I do that are gargantuan don’t look as large in photos, so these pictures make me happy. The bottom tier was actually just a 2-layer 10″ cake, then a 2-layer 6″, finally a one-layer 3″ tomato can with some filling piped in (sort of a large muffin-size). I used the very whipped and creamy lower-sugar Almond Butter-Creme icing, then just cut the hearts out and pushed them in a bit. Kinda delicious, actually. And since it was such a lovely Sunday afternoon, no bugs, no intense heat, the cake held right up to the afternoon and looked pretty sweet at the party!
Love this family. “God sets the lonely in families…” Ps 68.6 NIV
Steph posted pictures of Gemma’s 4th birthday-party-at-the-park and Guini’s Kindergarten-graduation at her blog on maydae.com CLICK! :)
Rocky is ridding his new yard of bad “xeriscaping!”
Green! Grass! Hard work! Why did everybody in Colorado in the late 90s and beyond think they could save water and energy by dumping 18,000 tons of rock in their yards? Xeriscaping does NOT equal rocks, people. Geesh. Let the mowing begin!
Gavin is officially a third-grader now!
The first of the grandbebes. How is this possible? He, who loves-loves-loves hard work (including helping people move and gardening and mowing and just all your basic slave-labor) just told me he plans to take the entire summer as a vacation from any sort of work. He said this while helping his Uncle Rocky load a slide and BBQ grill onto the back of the pick-up truck in the hot sun. Yeah. I don’t think so. But he is almost 8 and almost in 3rd grade so he is probably going to say all sorts of silly things now.
Heaven Fest fun is ramping up.
Had THE greatest leadership meeting Sunday night at The Ranch in Loveland. I looked around at 75 people or so, many of whom I’ve yet to meet, and realized, “Our family is growing.”
I think most of the group made it in to the pic. Can you say “indoor-air-conditioned stages”? Oh yes! Three of them! 8 stages, 100+ artists and bands. Giving hundreds of thousands of dollars away. Good times! www.heavenfest.com
Tomatoes are being sunk deep, deep into the center of my garden squares, where they will happily make themselves at home and start producing lots of sweet, juicy red tomatoes – just for me!
It’s grow time, baby!!
Happy 4th Birthday, Gemma May Kelley!
Happy-happy-day-of- J O Y for my little Gemma-May!
You’re sugar and spice and a really tiny super-star!
Nonna loves you like crazy!
PS – Shhh…don’t tell anybody about the movie we will be finishing this week! It is gonna be so cute! Like you!