Flooded with Memories

Our Old Clumsy Beast of a Computer has been living up to its name: old, clumsy, beast. Jeff (gently and lovingly) makes comments like, "It's because the picture file has 53 gigs in it," or something like that, and seems to imply that it's my fault that the O.C.B. computer is overloaded. :)

I don't know much about computers, but I do know that I can help by deleting things. So I have been. Recklessly deleting blurry photos from 5 years ago. Gustily getting rid of photos of newborns (not our newborns, of course, but the babies of friends of ours...I realize that if I can't even recognize the baby and have no clue who it is, it's probably time to press "delete"). Deciding which of the 50 shots I took of Shav in a basket when he was 3 weeks old is worth keeping, and x-ing out the remaining 48. I'm on a roll, I tell ya!

As I've sorted through our pictures, I've discovered some that I hadn't looked at in a very long time, and I had a ball traveling down Memory Lane and thinking about who I was then and how I've changed over the years...seeing friends' faces and remembering what made them unique and special...reminiscing about adventures Jeff and I had...sigh...it's been delightful.

Here are just a few of the ones that made me smile today:

I think all of these pictures were taken in 2001, although I don't know for sure. What I do know is that these first two pictures were taken as Jeff and I drove north along the coast of California. Now THAT is a beautiful drive! We were so young then, we didn't have any children, it was just the two of us in our Honda Accord on the Coastal Highway with the ocean on our left, the hills on our right, and our nose towards San Francisco. Good times!
And speaking of good times, we had plenty of those with the staff of the church we worked for. Here I am with Pauline, Elaine, and Carolyn (holding Elaine's first son Jonathan), at a little restaurant in Bonita, California. So many memories...
I hope, when I am an old woman, I can sit somewhere in a rocking chair and remember--just remember--all the happy moments with which I've been blessed.

I found something else as I was cleaning out my folder on our computer. It's I Corinthians 13 for Mothers, adapted by Jim Fowler, and it speaks so clearly to my current life situation that I had to post it here.

If I live in a house of spotless beauty with everything in its place,

but have not love,

I am a housekeeper, not a homemaker.

If I have time for waxing, polishing, and decorative achievements,

but have not love,

my children learn cleanliness, not godliness.

If I scream at my children for every infraction,

and fault them for every mess they make,

but have not love,

my children become people-pleasers, not obedient children.

Love leaves the dust in search of a child's laugh.

Love smiles at the tiny fingerprints on a newly cleaned window.

Love wipes away the tears before it wipes up the spilled milk.

Love picks up the child before it picks up the toys.

Love accepts the fact that I am the ever-present "mommy,"

the taxi-driver to every childhood event,

the counselor when my children fail or are hurt.

Love crawls with the baby, walks with the toddler, and runs with the child,

then stands aside to let the youth walk into adulthood.

Before I became a mother, I took glory in my house of perfection.

Now I glory in God's perfection of my child.

All the projections I had for my house and my children

have faded away into insignificance,

and what remain are the memories of my kids.

Now there abide in my home scratches on most of the furniture,

dishes with missing place settings,

and bedroom walls full of stickers, posters, and markings.

But the greatest of all is the Love

that permeates my relationships with my children.