Our Family of Two

"Big Poppy" Returns Home

Years of standing in the weather,
bearing the storms and scorching sun.
Only THAT can produce beautiful barn wood.

A stranger came by the other day with
an offer that set me to thinking.
He wanted to buy the old barn that sits
out by the highway.
I told him right off he was crazy.
He was a city type, you could tell by his clothes,
his car, his hands, and the way he talked.
He said he was driving by and saw that beautiful barn
sitting out in the tall grass and wanted to know
if it was for sale.

I told him he had a funny idea of beauty.
Sure, it was handsome in it's day.
But then, there's been a lot of winters pass
with their snow and ice and howling wind.
The summer sun's beat down on that old barn
til all the paints gone,
and the wood has turned silver gray.
Now the old building leans a good deal,
looking kind of tired.
Yet, that fellow called it beautiful.
That set me to thinking.

I walked out to the field and just stood there,
gazing at that old barn.
The stranger said he planned to use the lumber
to line the walls of his den
in a new country home he's building down the road.
He said you couldn't get paint that beautiful.
Only years of standing in the weather,
bearing the storms and scorching sun.
Only THAT can produce beautiful barn wood.

It came to me then. We're a lot like that, you and I.
Only it's on the inside that the beauty grows with us.
Sure we turn silver gray too...and lean a bit more
than we did when we were young and full of sap.

But the Good Lord knows what He's doing.
And as the years pass He's busy using
the hard weather of our lives,
the dry spells and the stormy seasons to do a job of
beautifying our souls that nothing else can produce.
And to think how often folks holler because
they want life easy!

They took the old barn down today
and hauled it away to beautify a rich man's house.
And I reckon someday you and I'll be hauled off to Heaven
to take on whatever chores the Good Lord has for us
on the Great Sky Ranch.
And I suspect we'll be more beautiful
than for the seasons we've been through here...
and just maybe even add a bit of beauty
to our Father's house.

May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
I sincerely thank God for my wonderful friends and family who love me
even though I show signs of weathering.


~April 1, 1925 - January 29, 2009~

Preschool & the Big Big Bus-sh

Bitter-sweet days will never end as long as children are in our lives! Ashton started Preschool, which isn't anything too new in his life since he's attended school ever since his second birthday, but to ride the big yellow bus by himself is another story!

Picture a regular sized school bus, with regular seats, but with small seat belts...then picture this bus driving away, seemingly empty, with little 3 year olds on board and not being able to see any of them through the windows! And they LOVE it!

Bus driver Lynn was the best first bus driver!
Ashton has to scare her every time he gets on her bus.

"A is for ants and Ashton"

Ashton loves going to school. He loves his teachers and Ms. Lisa, but most of all that Big BIG Bus-sh! He asks for it multiple times per day. He says good bye to the Bus-sh every time it drops him off. He prays for it in each prayer. We're so happy that he gets this experience at such a young age!

My Happy Place...

Yes, my true love is the snow... but my secret is that my true happy place is here. It's been too long that I have actually been, other than in my mind, and right now would be the perfect time to make it a reality. It is time.

One step at a time...

No need to RUSH,

It's like learning to fly...

'Tis the Season for Tradition

Each year we start the Christmas season off by preparing our home for the holidays, no sooner (or later) than the day after Thanksgiving. One part of this ritual is setting up the LGB train set that was given to Ashton on the year he was born. We started a new tradition this year...watching "The Polar Express" as we create a little boy's toy-train dream! Tradition is a enormous part of the holidays, and being a mother who has come from a family of tradition, it is crucial that such methods be passed on...as well as new ones!

It is also no urban legend that one year, while watching the movie "Elf" at home, I caught on to the Elf-ish spirit and created many snowflakes by hand. Then, after IRONING each one and sprinkling them with magic snow glitter, I hung them all throughout my home. This is something special to me that makes the holidays at our home ever since.

The next best tradition that I will never give up, by promise to the matriarch of our Lodder family, is our Christmas Eve Lodder Family Christmas Party. This promise is not so easily kept once married and in-laws to appease, but since the day I was adopted into this family I have missed but only 2 of these celebrations. My absence was excused, however, for #1- being sick with bronchitis and strep throat, and #2- having a baby the same week as Christmas...which was certainly no excuse to stay away, but I did.

At our family party, we dine on our grandpa's home-cooked prime rib dinner, visit with family from both local and out of town, share stories of the happenings of our lives, entertain one another with our talents..."the Lodder talent (or lack there of) show", and exchange and open gifts.

I have heard and know of many people who share a similar tradition, but I have always liked to believe that during this one night only we participate in such things that other people only dream about! I am THAT lucky!

Following our Christmas Eve party, the festivities continue at my parent's home where we receive our long-awaited Christmas pajamas! I just KNOW that we are the only ones to do this as well! Watching a holiday movie before retiring to bed is something also included in this night.

Shortly after this photo was taken, Ashton noticed that Emma's sweater from grandma had a hood attached to it... We immediately had to locate some sort of "hood" for him to not be so as upset that his did not.

No...as cute as it seems...they did not get to spend the night and Christmas morning together. Emma and her parents went home, while Ashton and I stayed the night to spend ALL of Christmas with Nanny, Poppy, G, Chase and Buddy!

Who doesn't have vivid memories of themselves WAITING to open presents after seeing them and then being told to wait??? Why wait? Pictures are good, but why should one have to pose or wait any amount of time before tearing into those nicely wrapped gifts?

My priceless moment...there are no words.

Following the exciting eventful morning, we finish Christmas day with yet another gathering. This time those included are from the Van Tassell family. We spend the time with more food, more conversation, exchanging more gifts, playing with our toys, and this year a new tradition of decorating sugar cookies! We love spending the holidays with our family...traditions would cease to exist with out the ones we love.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!