In Loving Memory

I just found out that the world lost one of its most lovely people yesterday, Mrs. Frieda Haas.

I've known Frieda since I was about four. Some of my most fond childhood summer memories involve Frieda, her house, or her garden. Frieda would laugh and laugh at me and my friends and our antics; she had as much energy as any of us did (and that is saying quite a bit!). When I was six or seven, she was in her basement doing some chore, and she laughed as I swung from her pipes like a monkey. Whenever I would visit her as an adult, she would always say, "Ooh, I probably shouldn't have let you do that, you swinging from the pipes!" and she would laugh great, whole-body laughs. The neighbor girls and I loved to play house in a small screened in shed near her garden as she worked her magic amongst the flowers and vegetables, and at the end of the day she would share her wares with us to bring home to our mothers.

Frieda seemed to hold an unchanging quality about her; she was always happy, always energetic, always glad to see us, always old (especially to our young eyes), never seeming to change appearance-wise. She would talk lovingly of her past and her husband, dead some twenty years before we were twinkles in our parent's eyes.

When I hit Jr. High and High School I was much too wrapped up in my own life and activities and friends to think much about Frieda. But she was always there, and I know now that she was always praying for me and my friends, always thanking God for us.

When I went to tell her that I was getting married at the ripe old age of twenty, she cried tears of joy. She loved Tiger from the get-go (some people took some warming-up ;-p) and was so proud of us. Every time she saw me she would tell me she loved me, tell me she thanked God for me and for bringing me a wonderful husband. I am so thankful for her prayers.

The one time I went to my hometown since Lily's birth, I brought Lily to meet her. Frieda was lost for words. She just wept tears of joy and kept saying, "I love you. I love you." I am so glad she met my daughter.

Frieda was a loving, caring, compassionate woman, someone I hope to emulate someday. She died in her 90s, living in the same home that she and her husband bought as a young couple and raised their children in, still gardening, still visiting friends, still laughing. I sent out picture cards with our new address recently. I don't know if Frieda saw hers or not, but I do know that it would have made her smile and made her eyes mist up happy tears. She truly was a living saint.

I'll miss you, Frieda.

Only $29.99!

While picking up toner or address labels for the office, and for only $29.99 you can go to your nearest Office Supply Mega Store and pick up a kit that has all the paperwork you need for a divorce! It's that simple & easy!

Ugh.

Yellow Rectangle

One of the first things I bought for Lily was a set of blocks. What (other than Lego, of which she is too young) are better for playing with than blocks? These particular blocks come in red, blue, green, and yellow. They also come in sundry shapes (cylinders, arches, squares, rectangles, etc.). At a very early age she showed a particular preference for the yellow rectangles, and now that Lily is very mobile, I find yellow rectangles in all sorts of places. My personal favorite was in the shower. Somehow a green one got out in the garden (I think she might have thrown it out an open window), and green does seem more appropriate for that setting. Or maybe she was just letting us know what she thinks of the green ones.

Anyway, so now she is totally through with crawling (it's for babies, you know) which she only did for 5 months total, and says "Hi!" especially when she wakes us up in the morning with a big grin on her face and those smiley eyes. Then we just try to roll over and pretend we are still asleep.

Birthday Pics

I promised some pics of the Birthday and the Birthday girl! Her party turned out very well; we had a showing of 10 people, which is pretty good for only having lived here for four weeks, I think.

Big Girl!!

Lily used her first week of being one well; she went from taking a step or two, to five or six at a time, and, last night, she traversed the living room three times on her own two feet.

I knew she was able to walk and that she herself just didn't know it. Well, now she knows, and it is all about practice :-)

One Year Ago Today...

I was kissing my baby's face for the first time. Lily hit the big Oh-One today. We're going to celebrate by eating home-made carrot cake with cream cheese frosting with the few people we have met in our three weeks here in North Carolina. 10 people are invited; we'll see how the turnout is. It will certainly be VERY different than the family and friends filled blow-out that would have happened had we not made the move.

Our New Diggs

Here's a pic of our new house in North Carolina. We will be moving around February 28th. It seems a bit yuppie, but we like it anyway ;-)

It's 99% Official...

It looks like we are moving south of the Mason/Dixon line. Tiger's been offered a promotion to go to the North Carolina office. We spent four days in NC last week, and we are very excited about what the company is doing there. NC itself is beautiful, and seems to be vibrant and growing. But far more important that a fantastic career opportunity for TIger or some adventure for us all, is the fact that since we first heard about the potential move back on December 6th, we've both felt with everything in us that this is the next step that God has for us. Visiting to North Carolina last week simply confirmed what we already knew in our hearts. I have no idea on earth why we would be sent there; I suppose that's why it is called faith. I don't need to know--the adventure is in the finding out.

While we were in NC I realized that all this started when, instead of praying, "Lord, get us to France," I began to pray, "Make us into the type of people that you can use in France." I have no idea what NC has to do with France. Perhaps I will be able to tell you in five or ten years; perhaps it has nothing to do with France at all and this is just the next step in the crazy journey Tiger and I began seven-and-a-half years ago.

We put a bid on a house our last day in NC; when the bid comes through for sure I will post pictures.

I'll tell you something that I keep telling my mom, who is beside herself at the prospect of us taking Lily far away: Unless there were depression-like conditions, we would never leave our family and friends "just" for a job. The job is only the vehicle for us going to where we feel strongly God is sending us--we're going for that reason, not simply a career move.

ANYway, we are a riot of emotions right now: excited at the impending adventure, unknown, and change, mourning the impending distance between us and our family and our dear, dear friends who have become as family to us. WE ARE ALL GETTING WEB CAMS! I feel our cell phone bill will soon be outrageous....