Well, I’m recovering from the Packers loss on Sunday night. Watching them made me turn the furnace up…..people have to be crazy to be out in weather like that. I felt the game was very fair and that the Giants deserved the win. The Packers didn’t seem to ever get it going. Maybe next year……..meanwhile I’m rooting for Eli to win. He’s a good kid and been up against a lot of adversity.

We are having very cold weather for our area. Compared to the north and east of us we‘re having a heat wave but it‘s in the single digits and I say it‘s cold. During the night a thin covering of ice accumulated and I made it to the garage to feed the kitties but on the way back, I hit the ground before I knew what happened. I fell into the berm which is nice and soft…..so I didn’t hurt anything. I take my Fosamax pill on Tuesday so it must have worked pretty good. Ha!

I’ve had to live a long time to understand the teaching of Christ, that it is more blessed to give than to receive. In my young life I could never believe it….I loved getting gifts. When you’re young it’s all about “me, me, me.” After the children came along I began to see the reasoning. It takes so little to make children happy. I was able to be home while the children were growing up. Not that we had the money to do it but because we both felt they were our priority.

Over the years we made “things” out of paper plates, Styrofoam, drums out of oatmeal boxes, piggy banks out of dish soap containers……made hearts glued to tongue depressors and stuck them in cup cakes…..I could go on all day with the simple things that made us happy but most of all the happiness came from doing things together. The winter nights I read to the family out of wonderful children’s books are among my favorite memories.

It’s funny but when you’re little you think about all the things you “don’t” have but when you grow into maturity and now, for me, old age……I remember the things we “had” more. The priceless thing you can give your children is two parents, make a lot of time for them and to possess good reasoning ability.

Now as my journey has carried me this far I am very happy for the time spent with my children. They have grown into caring and responsible people…..being accountable and likeable. They are rich in the right things and their father and I are very proud of them.

Parenting is pretty much a gamble. Some folks do the right stuff but don’t show their kids a lot of love. Others don’t do anything “right” but love their kids beyond what they lack. Kids are pretty much like a piggy bank. Most of the time you get as much out of it as you put into it….the best thing about parenting to me is to see them make the right choices and I am thankful they love me and make me part of their life.

As I come to my declining years I know they have an understanding of the life changes I face from here on…..and to appreciate the good years we’ve had together. I would not have changed a thing because there has been a lesson in it all.

God is ever gently and faithfully carrying us on to the end of our journey and the fact we are still here is because He still has things for us to do. I want to hear as He speaks and I want to “do” as He gives me understanding. And, as Pat Boone said, “Bloom where I’m planted.”

Stay warm and from the heart of the Ozarks …..have a great day out there!

Essentially Esther