I miss you.
Twenty-eight years of you and still, I have not had my fill. You are only across the state, but it seems just as far as if you were across the ocean.
The evening is perfect. If you were here you’d make me quit working to join you on the swing.
Thank-you for stocking the fridge for me and filling up my tank and for your help on my projects before you left and for marrying me 28 years ago.
I miss you, babe. I’d marry you all over again, too. xxxooo.
By Dave Henderson www.rimoftheworld.net
Dickenson County, VA – “Who is Darrell Powers?” I’m sure many of you are asking. With the death of Michael Jackson, the major news networks have sucked the oxygen from the atmosphere with all their bloviating, contrived adulation and non stop coverage of every aspect of the performer’s life. It is no surprise that most have not heard of Power’s passing.
Darrell “Shifty” Powers, like millions of Americans, answered the call of World War II. A quiet, unassuming man, Shifty joined the Army and then volunteered for the Airborne.
After intensive training, Powers was assigned to the famed Easy Company 2nd Battalion 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, where he jumped into Normandy on D-day. He was involved in the assault on Bracore Manor, which saved thousands of lives on Omaha Beach.
Powers fought in the battle of Carentan and the airborne invasion of Holland as part of Operation Market Garden, where millions of French and Dutch citizens found freedom.
The 506th was encircled by superior German forces in the Battle of the Bulge and against incredible odds, successfully defended the city of Bastone. Powers and the 506th then entered Germany, liberated concentration camps and captured Hitlers, “Eagles Nest” in Berchtesgarden.
Shifty survived the war only to be seriously injured in an auto accident while en route home and his return to civilian life.
Like millions of veterans, Powers lived a simple productive life and would have slipped into history unknown if it were not for Stephen Ambrose and the story “Band of Brothers”, which was turned into an HBO mini series.
Tom Brokaw called this the “Greatest Generation” and I tend to agree. Average men and women rose to the call to defend freedom. Their sacrifice freed millions and defeated true evil.
This quiet man did not live in ostentatious wealth. He did not want to go to war, nor did he seek adulation for his service, but he answered the call and the world is free because of his efforts and sacrifice.
I doubt Shifty could do the moon walk, or that he was a gifted dancer or singer. He was never accused of pedophilia, nor did he find escape in drugs. He was not a pop icon, but, to me, Darrell “Shifty” Powers was a true hero.
We are losing our fathers and grandfathers by the thousands now; they are that age. The “Greatest Generation” – have you said thank you?
I grew up with Michael Jackson. We were born the same year. I can sing his hits and recognize the gifted artist he was and am cognizant of the impact he had on our society and music. I can say I have been both an all-out fan at times and have truly felt sorry for his mis-steps and very uncomfortable by his behavior at others. But we seem, as always, to idolize and revere the flashy and forget the true heroes who make life better day in and day out, not for screaming masses, but for the people around them. And they have impacted the generations just as certainly.
Thank-you to the men and women who, even still, protect us and our freedoms. Thanks to Darrell Powers and the men like him (including my father-in-law, Raymond Rhoades, who is still living, and my grandfathers, Dean Baker and Everett Allison, who are not).
I also want to mention our friend Ken Culkin. He died on July 4th at the age of 43, grilling for his family who were swimming in the backyard pool. Ken was a veteran, too, but I knew him as a great neighbor and friend, a godly brother in Christ, a man who loved his family (his beautiful wife of 18 years and 6 wonderful daughters) deeply. He was generous and kind, gentle and true-hearted. Ken will be missed.
Remember the heroes…Jeanie
NOTE TO SELF: Love and hold people close while they are here…
See a more detailed report about our recent reunion here: The Moslander Family Reunion…
We are family
I got all my sisters with me
We are family
Get up ev’rybody and sing
The sister I grew up with, aka the sister born into my family (as opposed to marrying one of the brothers), aka Tamera Dawn, aka “Tami.” She is the bottle of bubbles at the party, the the whipped cream and the cherry on top of family gatherings. She is the adored Aunt Tami, my little sister, and her husband, Uncle Gerron-the great one.
Everybody can see we’re together
As we walk on by
(FLY!) and we fly just like birds of a feather
I won’t tell no lie
(ALL!) all of the people around us they say
Can they be that close
Just let me state for the record
We’re giving love in a family dose
We are family
I got all my sisters with me
We are family
Get up ev’rybody and sing
Living life is fun and we’ve just begun
To get our share of the world’s delights
(HIGH!) high hopes we have for the future
And our goal’s in sight
(WE!) no we don’t get depressed
Here’s what we call our golden rule
Have faith in God and the things He’ll do
You won’t go wrong
This is our family truth
We are family
I got all my sisters with me
We are family
Get up ev’rybody and sing
We gathered, we ate, we talked and sang and took pictures. We worshiped together as a family. We prayed for each other, we cried sometimes and laughed a lot. We ate some more. We splashed in the pool and sunned a little. We teased each other and told silly stories of affection. We ate some more. We golfed. We danced and celebrated Joe and Robin’s 25th anniversary. In short, we just hung out together~with love. It was Ross the Boss, Mrs. Moss and Jeanie, Joey, Timmy, Tami and Danny. Er, no…Tim didn’t make it… :[…sad face.
Lyrics to We are Family, by Sister Sledge
They began arriving at about 3 pm on Friday, by plane and by car. 6 o’clock there were more. 8:30 pm we increased. Then more and by 10:30 pm, as Dave and I stood outside in the backyard and looked back at our house, fully lit up and fairly burgeoning with the exuberant noise of love and hugs and kisses and “Oh, you’ve gotten taller,” and “This is Averi!?” and “I am so glad you could come,” we smiled. It was loud and it was sweet and we were so thankful to have everyone together for a few days.
pictured below: an impromtu baseball game in Nederland; horseback riding at the farm; my little sister talked me into some weird face; the nieces with Aunt Tami ~ Stephanie, Elise, Auntie, Tredessa, Jovan, Stormie, Tara
I am the oldest of 5 children born to Ross and Norma Moslander. We are blessed to still have our parents with us. They came from Springfield, MO, where, for the second time, they are trying to ditch retirement and are looking for a pastorate. Anyone want a roomy house in Springfield? pictured: my dad with the 4 originals who were here at church on Sunday morning ~ Dan, Joe, me and Tami; both my parents with their grandchildren and great-grand-children in Nederland
My brother Joe and his wife, Robin, came, bringing Corbin-their-youngest with them, joining niece-Elise, who has resided with us here in Colorado for the past year and a half. Two of their kids couldn’t make it, but we were glad they came all the way from Aberdeen, SD, where their church just held a dedication for their new facilities. pictured: Robin talking to dad during the bonfire; Robin and Joe dancing in celebration of their 25th anniversary, the rest of us dancing, too; the fam ~ Joe and Robin with Corbin and Elise
Tim and his family from Butte didn’t make it this year and we were very sad about that, but we plan to make him really sorry by super-imposing him into photos from some old 1970s pics we have of him. That’ll teach him. Hehehehe…evil laughing.
My sister, Tami, so energetic and lively, and her husband came from Corbin, Kentucky (youth pastors by day). Gerron-the-husband fancies himself “the great one.” They are adored by the nieces and nephews and are both natural born animal-whisperers. pictured: T & G at the Mile High Flea Market; later that day at the farm, charming the animals
My youngest brother, Dan and his wife Dawn (we have known her since she was 14 years old!) got to come from Hobart, IN (very near Chicago) and brought 2 of their 3 handsome sons, a beautiful family. pictured: Dawn and Dan on the patio one fine summer evening; Dan and Dawn’s youngest son, Austin, Joe and Robin’s son, Corbin, and Dan and Dawn’s firstborn, Jordan (a semi-pro football player) at the flea market.
We gathered, we ate, we Mile-Hi flea marketed, we cooked out at the farm (Stef and Wrex? Thank-you so much for an unforgettable evening) and roped “cattle” and rode horses and played horseshoes. We bonfired and sang, we talked and talked and took pictures. We worshiped at church together and on the patio as a family. Dad told how we got our spiritual start, about his salvation and baptism of the Holy Spirit. He preached it up. We prayed for each other, we cried sometimes and laughed a lot. We ate some more. Robin cookie-ed us silly! She brought vats of her unbelievably-delicious cookies (peanut butter, chocolate chip, monster, and oatmeal raisin) omygosh – truly, Mrs, Fields – watch out! We celebrated Father’s Day late and floated down the Platte River (how are there no pictures of this??!?…especially of Corbin trying to float on a shark and it nearly taking him under as he tried to swim to shore!? Hahaha!). We splashed in the pool and sunned a little. We shot off fireworks (which may or may not have been illegal from over the Wyoming state line) and BBs and air-soft pellets. We ate some more. We golfed. Some of us (*ahem) did all-night video game parties at Rocky and Jovan’s. We took a picture on what is affectionately known to us as “Moslander Mountain” up Boulder Canyon (since we photographed ourselves there on our very first reunion in 1995). We picnicked in Nederland and played wiffle ball. Did I mention there was food? We came back down the mountain and celebrated Joe and Robin’s 25th anniversary with a dance (how did Dan get so good at that Cha Cha Slide number?…Is it because he is a high school teacher??). There was coffee in the shade on delectibly cool mornings and rhubarb dessert everyone wants the recipe for (Stormie!). In short, we just hung out together.
The weather was positively perfect: sunny all day, but not unbearably hot. Sweet summer evenings outside. God even held the mosquitos at bay for us. It was seriously perfect. All the time. And romantic lights twinkling around the yard. It was like, for these precious few days, we were all there, together, safe and secure and all was right with the world.
I am so thankful that my children not only choose to participate in the Moslander-Family-Reunions, but they are catalysts for them. They want them to keep happening. They plan for them. They help me with them. They love to spend time with their grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. They participate in every way (even though it can be hard with young ‘uns), and help with the food and just generally make me so very proud to call them my kids.
Wednesday afternoon at about 3:00, 5 days after it all began, mom and dad, who’d been the first to arrive, were the last to leave. And my heart is full of together memories, for the moments we shared. We’ll do it again in 2010 and much will have changed, but the love in my heart for these people will remain…pictured: mom and dad with Elise and with Tara and Hunter on the “good-bye” porch; and below in the yard with the sign and appropriately sad faces
I miss them already…Jeanie
NOTE TO SELF: Am I blessed with a godly heritage, or what??
My mom and dad are arriving late afternoon! Yaaaaaaaay! Oh, and my brother, Joe, and his amazing wife and their youngest, and my sister, Tami, and her man and my youngest brother, Dan, and his beautiful wife and 2 of their “boys” they are coming, too! However, Zach flew back to Montana to hang with my brother Tim and his mom and brothers, who, boohoo, can’t come. It is kind of our Moslander-family reunion.
So we will increase, for the next few days, from the usual 17, minus 1, plus 11. 17-1+11=27.
But we also get to really initiate Stef and Wrex into the fam!
My mom used to sign the Christmas cards: Love, Ross the Boss, Mrs. Moss and all the Little Landers. So, it is that bunch, plus our lovers and the fruit of our love. And some of our fruit have now married and produced a new crop, if you know what I mean.
There will be pictures.
images above, Reunion ’05; reunion ’07
I’ve heard the real me is who I am “in the dark,” who and what I become when I think no one sees.
This morning the opening line of a poem came to me*,one that impacted my thinking way back in the day, probably almost 30 years ago now. You gotta love Google. I typed in what I remembered and there it was. It’s about serving. It’s about the exuberance of our faith being translated into true love, Jesus-love. It’s about letting the enthusiastic God-talk line up with the daily walk. It is about serving like Jesus did. It is who I wanna be when I grow up, even when, especially when, no one else sees…
You know, Lord, how I serve You
With great emotional fervor
In the limelight.
You know how eagerly I speak for You
At women’s groups.
You know how I effervesce when I
Promote a fellowship group.
You know my genuine enthusiasm
With my Bible study group.
But how would I react, I wonder
If You pointed to a basin of water
And asked me to wash the calloused feet
Of a bent and wrinkled old woman
Day after day
Month after month
In a room where nobody saw
And nobody knew.
-unknown
It’s time to live the life…Jeanie
*The remembrance of this piece may have been triggered by Confluence’s block party this past Saturday in the City. Some very busy HF leadership team gave their entire day to doing pedicures for people who could never afford it. They truly washed feet all day long.
Happy Birthday (yesterday), Dave (we sometimes refer to him as DP since he has the same name as my husband…well, actually lots of people do, sooo maybe that wasn’t the reason. I do know it goes like this: DP + TP = HP Figure it out!)!
I do not take lightly the “coincidence” of Dave’s birth happening (though I wouldn’t meet him until 21 years later) on one of the happiest days of my life. Without a doubt, the day my husband asked me to be his wife and across the country and Dave was being born into the Powers family was one of significance. I tell Tara that she and I were both getting our Prince Charmings on the same day. We just didn’t know.
Fast forward to 2002. It was May. I went to a Worship Together conference with Mike Pilavachi, Tim Hughes, Chris Tomlin (?), Rita Springer and others. The worship was awesome. I’d had a long day at work and the night was so refreshing. Afterwards as I purchased some music books and CDs, I was talking to Rocky. The room was jam-packed with people. It was loud. I leaned in to tell Rocky how bowled over I was by Rita when suddenly, this guy manning the tables says something like, “Wasn’t she awesome?” It was kind of like in the movies. You’re being jostled by hundreds of people, the noise level was so high you can barely hear yourself think and then some guy talks to you and it is as if there is no noise. I could hear him perfectly, even across the merch table, and I heard nothing else. Think Twilight Zone music here. It was Dave.
Rocky already knew Dave and loved him. He introduced us. Is it OK to admit that I immediately hoped he would meet, fall madly in love with, and marry my daughter, Tara? Because that is what I was thinking! If you have ever met Dave you know this, but the guy is a connector. You don’t just meet Dave, you enter relationship with him. When he asks, “How are you?,” he is really asking you to tell him the details because he actually cares about how you are doing. Later in the summer he started hanging around us and we fell head over heels in love with him! I couldn’t believe that I could like another person my kids’ ages like I liked him. He just jumped into our lives and pried open our jaded, closed up hearts. Dave was the start of lots of good things in our family’s life, and we’d had a crap-load of not good stuff. So we regard him very highly!
It was months before DP and Tara met, but the cool thing? He didn’t even know she was part of our family when it happened. So, I did not corral him in…he fell in! *smile…
Dave, I love you for being such an honoring and loving son. I applaud you for hanging in there with us. I praise God for placing you in our path. I hope in the end it will be true that we will have been as much of a blessing to you as you have been to us. We are honored to walk through this life as family with you. Your parents did so well in raising you. And you have done so well in receiving the guidance and direction of the Lord in your life.
There is so much I love about you. Can I tell you a few things?
I love that you and Tara got to talk to Martin Smith (Delirious) at Ichthus! He gave you good advice, kiddo! You are so cool!I love you, kiddo. I celebrate the day God placed you on this earth and all your days!…mom
pictured: TOP ROW~DP with his little counterpart, Hunter; SECOND ROW~DP with dad and Tris at bowling a few weeks ago, DP making a strike; THIRD ROW~DP and Tara at Ichthus last week; FOURTH ROW~DP front and center on the bottom row at the recent HF leadership meeting (Dave is the founder and president of Worship and the Word Movement, the ministry tnhat puts HF on)…do you see me? I am the oldest one in the picture!!…
I have been blogging my head off about Dave turning 50 (which actually happens Monday) all. week. looooong! If a picture is worth a thousand words, then today I’ll keep it short and sweet. Happy Birthday, babe.
(1) I love you. (2) I respect you. (3) I was lost before I found you. (4) I loved the thought of you before we met. (5) I am happiest when I am with you. (6) Your touch heals me. (7) Your look thrills me. (8) Having you choose me changed my life. (9) Every day before you was lonely. (10) Every day before you, you were the one I was looking for. (11) You were the whole package for me. (12) You ARE the whole package for me. (13) I am a better person because you saw something in me and shined a light on it. (14) I am a better person because you believed in me. (15) You know me better than I know myself. (16) You showed me what could be, in spite of what was. (17) I would go anywhere with you – including Japan for 5 weeks! (18) I would live anywhere with you – even an RV! I think. (19) I can hear your voice in a crowd. (20) When I can find your face in a sea of strangers, my head stays above water. (21) I thank God for you. (22) I thank God because you are my proof that He was thinking ahead to me. (23) No matter how many days we have together on this earth-it will never be enough for me. (24) I will want more. (25) I treasure all the times you have made me laugh.
(26) I treasure the songs you have sung to me. (27) Your hands-I love the touch of your hands. (28) You’re as cool as the other side of the pillow. (29) You’re as warm as the sunshine at the beach. (30) You’re as strong as the waves of the ocean. (31) You’re as beautiful as the sunrise on my garden. (32) You light up my life. (33) You’re the inspiration. (34) I will always love you. (35) I won’t last a day without you. (36) I’m keeping you forever and for always… We will be together all of our days…Wanna wake every morning to your sweet face…Always. (37) I need you to know that I know you are a good man. (38) I know you are an honest man. (39) I know how deeply you care about people. (40) I know all you have sacrificed over the years to provide for our family. (41) I have seen the sacrifices for other people, too. (42) I can vouch for your total integrity in every area of your life. (43) I know you have always, when you could, chosen peace. (44) You have brought peace into my life. (45) I haven’t always made that easy. (46) But you kept doing it anyway. (47) I am so honored to be married to you. (48) I am so honored that you wanted me to be the mother of your children. (49) You are the best friend I have ever had. (50) In spite of the hard knocks, I wouldn’t have missed this for the world… (51) And I want you to know how valuable you are to me, my love, my birthday boy. You are. And if I had it all to do again? I would. I do.
I have to quit because you are only turning 50 – and I could keep going! Love you, babe…Jeanie
David Allen Rhoades will turn 50 on Monday. Wish him well here if you want. Or at dave@daverhoades.com
pictured: Dave with his 5 grandkids (one for each decade!) at his family birthday party a few days ago; Gavin and Hunter, Gemma, Guini and Averi
Dave’s 50th birthday is Monday. This is the 4th in a week-long series of love-tributes to my Dave. The previous posts are 50 Things I Love about Dave, 50 Words that Describe Dave, and 50 Reasons Dave was born.
We thought every song was about us and our love for the first, oh, 26 or 27 years (we’ll celebrate 28 years of marriage this summer)…Below are a few of the early ones that ignite some memories.
Now you’re my whole life
Now you’re my whole world
I just can’t believe the way I feel about you
Like a river meets the sea
Stronger than its ever been
We’ve come so far since that day
And I thought I loved you then
I can just see you
When you’re hair is turning gray
What I can’t see
is how I’m gonna love you more
But I’ve said that beforeNow you’re my whole life
Now you’re my whole world
We’ll look back someday at this moment that we’re in
And I’ll look at you and say
And I thought I loved you then
And I thought I loved you then…
Keep singing to me, babe and I’ll keep singing to you!…Jeanie
Happy 50th Birthday, Dave!
