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A First Home for the Holidays
My grand puppy Koa welcomes you to his first home.
As we rustled through bits and pieces of old and new from two families, I think how appropriate is to prepare a first home during the Advent season, when we usher traditions old and new into our homes to welcome the dwelling of God among us as a newborn child.
Hope for a weary world….
Three years ago this month, this child from my parents homeland stole my heart.
Her family lived in the nipa huts of my family’s ancestry
Homes made of woven palm leaves and bamboo poles suspended above the ground
These homes are meant to protect from flooding when the rains come.
These huts could not survive the three typhoons that slammed into the Philippine islands last month. Three typhoons. The virus. Lives devastated.
advent for the empty nester…..
These handcrafted nativity figures used to crown our yearly birthday cake for Jesus I would bake for my four children every Christmas Eve.
The traditions transition as the children get older.
This year, the children are gone.
Three of them are married now.
Celebrations will be scattered across the country, literally from one end to the other, as they foster their own traditions.
This season, like the entire year, will look different.
Restoration Heartware
A heart beats differently
once the nest has emptied
when the center of her life,
for me, four children, empty out one by one.
Scattered to the opposite corners of the country
with two in the middle.
My heart is literally stretched across the map.
The Space In Between
The space in between darkness and dawn…..
the space where the morning star hovers and the sun’s rays have not yet touched the sky.
where the wash of a rising canopy warms the earth.
that is where God restores our stories.
The Best Things in Life are Sweet
The best things in life are sweet.
Freshly baked cinnamon rolls are paired with a cup of local Cutters Point coffee while I watch the seagulls drift by in the morning sun.
It doesn’t get much sweeter than that, does it?
The Little House
One of my earliest reading memories is turning the pages of this classic children’s book, The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton. The story is of a little house built in the country, where the owner hopes his family will live for generations, enjoying the sun and trees and birds and flowers. The image of the little red house fixed on the center of the page of this little book is one of few images etched on my memory.
Four Generations: Inspired by an Affair to Remember
On December 8, 1941, my father was a young soldier for the Philippine Scouts. That afternoon his life was impacted by the events initiated early in the morning at Pearl Harbor, hundreds of miles and one day away. This act precipitated US involvement in World War II.
December 7. Pearl Harbor Day.
On this day, 77 years ago, the day that would live infamy, bombs stormed over Pearl Harbor. Several hours later, Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands. My Father was a Philippine Scout being trained under the command of the United States Army at Fort Stotsenberg the day that Japanese fighters appeared in the sky, firing over troops that had only a few hours earlier received word about the attack on Pearl Harbor.
A tribute to my father......
I am grateful to share my father's and my family's story as a guest blogger on granndparentslink.com. I am even more grateful for the legacy my parents have left to our family and our children.
Please join the link: https://www.grandparentslink.com/experts-corner/a-fathers-day-tribute/
