All things family-related. My husband and me, the children we made, the grandbebes that thrill us now. Our whole great big, loud, messy family. Love! *sigh…
In these challenging economic times, it seems there is a free-flow of tips and tricks on the news and in the magazines about how to be frugal and save money.
I was telling Dave how a women’s magazine writer had spent two or three paragraphs telling how she saved $2 a week by having her high school daughter take her lunch instead of buying it one day a week during the school year and how ridiculous I thought it was that they wasted good paper and ink to even print such a lengthy and lame “tip.” C’mon-you’re a novice if saving two bucks a week is a revelation to you. I can think of 101 ways to save $2 a week (which would give you a total saving of $202, btw). What a lightweight. {insert smirk here} Thank goodness the magazine was given to me free.
Dave (apparently ignoring my sarcasm) responds, “I can save $38.75 a year by getting your books back to the library on time.”
Because I never do.
But I also see it as a contribution to the library and a good-citizen-type thing to do.
Stormie won the t-shirt design contest for Extreme Community Makeover-Denver. She did a “paint effect” background with a paint brush look coloring in the Denver skyline.
I am writing a devotional to be included in a book being compiled for distribution for my sister-in-law, Robin’s, Women in the Word ministry seminar in April. Tara will write one, too and she was way worried about trying to come up with 300 words (it is to be between 3-400 total), while I, on the other hand, have been agonizing about getting rid of words.
Because I am in the garden mood, currently, I decided to use a blog post from last June as a jumping off point and have managed to take it from 569 words to about 429 and I just cannot seem to go lower. Each time I would ruthlessly rip one sentence and delete, I would think of something else to add. Here is where I have landed and I think I will go ahead and submit it to the editor. She may now do with it what she will. Be careful, please – these are my words, and I love them (t-hee)…
Fire in the Garden
Read: Galatians 6.7-8
Excitedly leaving winter behind, the seeds are planted according to package directions at the right depth after the final frost date, assuring us they will sprout in 7-10 days. You watch, you wait…two weeks – still nothing. You begin to believe something has gone wrong, that the cooler-than-usual nighttime weather has destroyed the promise. You consider running to the store for another package of seeds, concerned about the time you have lost for the growing season. Will there even be time for a harvest now, you wonder? Another week goes by and the barren soil just lies before you. You resign yourself to running to the nursery to pay too much for established seedlings. You don’t see any other choice.
But before you can get there on that blazing-hot and sunny day, one glance at the patch of garden where disappointment has been and you spot the tiniest of green specks. And look! All over: the most fragile and minute seedlings are emerging – just as you had planted them. They have arrived! They are here in their glory! Hope has not been lost.
What the good soil and tiny seed could not do alone, what watering and watching did not produce immediately, the intense, piercing heat of the sun (unlocking the moisture beneath the soil’s visible crust) rises, softening that seed. And just like Jesus, from the tomb on the third day, risen! Indeed!
Sowing the seed of God’s Word into our lives and homes and standing on His promises does not always bring the instant results we are looking for. We hide His Word in our hearts, we meditate on it. We allow ourselves to be washed by it. Yet we are devastated at the barrenness in our lives in certain areas. An unbelieving husband or prodigal child creates unbearable pain. Health issues and financial stress deplete our hope.
There are variables in sowing and reaping. Some seeds seem to remain latent, yet the promise of reaping what we sow is not diminished in the waiting.
Sometimes it will take a very hot day in the furnace of affliction to become the defining moment, the proof we need that He remains faithful and His Word is true. In the fiery brilliance of distress and the cry for relief, under the white-hot flames of suffering, we break-through. In seed-shattering brokenness – new life! His Word confirmed!
He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. If you sow to please the Spirit, you will reap the green, life-giving things of the eternal, variables notwithstanding.
Scatter seed. Sow. Believe it – you will reap!…Jeanie
NOTE TO SELF: Final frost date is May 10 (this blog post has 610 words…Now more)
Dave is 50 today! He took the day off and we hung out. Then the kids and grandkids and Elise (except for Dave and Tara who are traveling the great northwest right now) popped over for tortellini and some Wii tournaments. Gavin is an amazing bowler! I am 68 years old according to the Wii fitness thingy. If Stormie hadn’t sabotaged me, I’d have been younger. *smile….
Half a century ago, you were born with nothing and no one to call your own, my honey. Who could’ve known what was in your future? Happy Birthday, David Allen Rhoades!
We are all yours, truly…Jeanie
NOTE TO SELF: I am the luckiest woman. I am blessed.
Dave’s previous birthday posts for this landmark celebration (I appreciate your kind indulgence, dear readers):
My girls flipped over the movie (I can’t even tell you how many times they saw it collectively) and then madly read all the books. When the DVD was released yesterday, we had to re-arrange furniture, black out windows and generally cease from all other activity to watch Twilight. Dave punched his hair up with product and put some of my foundation on (I am apparently paler) and some plum eye shadow under his eyes and mugged for the camera to make the girls laugh. And we watched it with the girls (including Elise-the-Niece and Stef-with-an-f).
It is about vampires. It is not a romance. It is a love story (there is a difference). It is also for much younger women than me, but I did enjoy the the line from Edward: Your scent is like a drug to me – like my own personal brand of heroin. I mean, who wouldn’t want to evoke that kind of passion? Elise happened to be wearing a t-shirt with the same quote.
We kiddingly declared it another in a series of Dave’s birthday celebrations. So, I finally saw it. I was Twilighted.
NOTE: Dave turns 50 tomorrow!May I just say thanks to the Kansas farm girl who gave birth and let him go? Thank-you for your courage and for doing the right thing.
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 foralways… 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
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.
Endless Love Diana Ross and Lionel Ritchie 1981. This was a huge hit the summer of our getting together and my sister, Tami, wanted us to sing it to each other at our wedding. We didn’t, but there is some early-marriage video of us lip-syncing to it very late one night.
Eddie Rabbit Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places (meaning before we got together :) )
“Some people are made for each other. Some people can love one another for life, how ’bout us?”How ‘Bout Us? by Champagne 1981
Cliff and Olivia Suddenly…the wheels are in motion, and I am ready to sail any ocean…
Reminds me of youth group trips: Careless Whisper by George Michael 1984
Up Where We Belong 1984 “The road is long, and there are mountains in our way…” Jennifer Warren and Joe Cocker from the great movie, An Officer and a Gentleman. Dave and I actually sang a “Christian” rendition of it which was quite well-liked. Hokey, yes, but Bebe and Cece did it first.
1984 Tina Turner What’s Love Got to Do with it? Got to do with it?!
Whitney Houston 1985 “No other man’s gonna do ~ so I’m saving all my love for you…” Saving All My Lovewhew!
1984 I Just Called to Say I love You, Stevie Wonder, naturally
We lived near the fairgrounds and our first night at home as newly marrieds, we listened to Air Supply singing at the fair, but through our windows So Lost in Love 1981
Never Gonna Give You Up, Rick Astley
Dave and I have sang this song at many many weddings, Always by Atlantic Starr “Boy, I love you so, can’t find enough ways to let you know. But you can be sure I’m yours for always…We both know that our love will grow…”
Patti Labelle and James Ingram “Baby, come to me. Let me put my arms around you this was meant to be…” Baby, Come to Me
Little Jeanie Elton
“Once in your life you find her..” Arthur’s Theme: The Best that You can Do, Christopher Cross
I Love a Rainy Night Another Eddie Rabbit from 1981
“My friends wonder why I call you all the time, what can I say?…Because your kiss is on my list of the best things in life…” Kiss on My List Darryl Hall and John Oates
My baby takes the Morning Train, 9-5 Sheena Easton
Olivia Newton-John 1981 Physical I wanna get physical, physical…let me hear your body talk…
Rapture 1981 by Blondie, the first “rap” song I had ever heard. And she was blond and white.
“Please remember my life is in your hands” Woman by John Lennon
The Boy from New York City
1981 Slow Hand The Pointer Sisters
Ronnie Milsap Smoky Mountain Rain “keeps on fallin’…”
IOULee Greenwood, the song of our first anniversary in 1982. We danced to it.
Survivor Eye of the Tiger We actually used to work out to this song.
Another Ronnie Milsap: I Wouldn’t Have Missed It
Michael Jackson just hitting his stride Billie Jean 1983 Didyou see the Motown 25th Anniversary Special? It was historic!
Islands in the Stream Dolly & Kenny channeling the sounds of the Bee Gees
Sweet Dreams are Made of This Eurythmics
Making Love ot of Nothing at All Air Supply
The Girl is Mine “the doggone girl is mine…” Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson
Laying out in the backyard getting a good tan just after Tre was born in 1983 listening to Taco Puttin on the Ritz
“Just you and I sharing our love together. And I know in time we’ll build the dreams we treasure. We’ll be alright…” Just You and I Crystal Gayle and Eddie Rabbit
Take a Look at Me Now(Against All Odds) Phil Collins 1984
Kenny Loggins Footloose
Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go Wham
“I’m addicted to you, baby. You’re a hard habit to break.” Hard Habit to Break
Everytime You Go Away“you take a piece of my with you…”
You’re the Inspirationyou still are, honey!
Amy Grant and Peter Cetera (he had just left Chicago and she was stepping out ino secular music The Next Time I Fall in Love I’ll know better what to do…
Sorry, but yes, Barry Manilow Wouldn’t it be nice being Lonely Together(we listened to this on our first date! haha!)
It’s Sad to Belong to Some One Else when the right one comes along
Dave sang to me at our wedding, a Carpenter’s hit I Won’t Last a Day without You
That’s the Way, a contemporary Christian wedding song was another one he sang to me in our ceremony
So romantic Wonderful Tonight.
But old songs are ours, too God Only KnowsThe Beach Boys
I’ll be Seeing You, we love the old love songs of the WWII era
Once on a walk in Dallas (around our 2nd anniversary, I sang the entire Gladys Knight rendition of Best Thing that Ever Happened to Me to Dave, because he is.
I had to delete a bunch of “our songs”. Too many. But last night on American Idol, I heard yet another song about Dave and me by Brad Paisley, Then. It is a song of memory, looking back to the first kiss and having babies days. It recalls all the love of those days, but then goes on:
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 before
Now 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
For all the grandkids we’d share…The amazing grandkids:
Gavin – anything Grandpa does, Gavin wants to do!
Hunter – can keep Poppa talking about anything and everything all. day. long!
Guini – “again! again!” If one twirl in the air good, 2 will be fantastic!
Gemma – pointing out to us everything in life that is funny.
Averi – Poppa’s dimples and cheeks!
And all the grandchildren to come and great-grandchildren and the husbands we will add through Tredessa and Stormie…we are increasing!
He was born because God is good.
Because of a summer teen fling in the Heartland.
Because the birth mother (who was really just a girl) chose life.
Because the Rhoades family still had family love to share.
Because Garry & Dale needed a little brother.
Because Sandra and Sharon did, too.
Because Debbie would need a big brother when the time came.
Because Dad Rhoades had stories to tell and Dave had the heart to listen.
Because worship teams would need a drummer.
Because churches would need a pastor.
Because people would need to be led beside quiet waters.
To bring peace to any situation.
To teach peace and live peace.
To teach me the strength and power of gentleness, the value of just being nice.
To bless people. When he prays God’s blessings-he knows what that means.
There are stories to be told.
Stephen King won’t live forever.
The grandkids need their crazy-cool-swingset-playset-climbing apparatus.
There are daughters to walk down the aisle.
The world needs more twinkling Christmas lights and Christmas spirit.
To leave a legacy of godly fathering.
To leave a legacy of the faithfulness of God.
To equip our children for all that lies ahead.
To be an example as a godly man.
To make a place for worship and for the One we worship.
To worship the One.
To own everything you could possibly need for absolutely anything and be able to keep it all in one 3-car garage.
There are still passionate kisses to be kissed, hands to hold, love to be made.
For indulging my ideas and new projects, all the while tempering me.
To make toys and play GI Joe with the kids and put up the pool every summer.
To dig the deep holes for my garden.
Because no one else can pack like he does. A suitcase, the trunk, whatever…
As proof that God is good.
Dave turns 50 on the 23rd. You can leave him a birthday comment here or send one to: dave@daverhoades.com
pictured: Dave and I at a backyard soiree last fall (yes, I cut Bryan out of the picture!). I love Dave in his Latino-lover Western-Mexican snap shirt (from Stormie), though he is always timid wearing it, fearing people will really think he is trying to be a Latino-lover, which…he is. Really one. Not ‘trying’. *smile…
