ABC Write: BLOOM

BLOOM: The Letter 'B'
Sunday, May 3

           I am back to my cousin Lorrie's ABC Quick-Write Challenges and her new word is BLOOM.  What a BEAUTEOUS word for springtime!  As I just saw her posting last night, I haven't had much time to consider my B words, so....

B words that put a smile on my face or B words that are meaningful today: Blossom, Beautiful, Basket, Bounce, Butterflies, Balloons, Burst, Babies, Blessings, Blessed, Bliss, Bountiful, Bugs, Bouquet, Bud, Balsamroot, Bougainvillea, Buttercups, Blend, Bound, Balance, Belief, Brilliance, Benefit, Brains, Behavior, Blanket. 

          Today is Youth Sunday at our church, next week is Graduate Recognition Sunday.  We have a group of seniors who have been active in the church throughout their childhood.  They will be missed.  So I have pondered this morning on graduations and changes, blossoming into new creations, beliefs and balance, change and transformation.  My thoughts considered three B's that all grow and change: Butterflies, Balloons, and Blossoms. 

To our youth, especially our graduates....
You are BUTTERFLIES ready to BREAK forth from the cocoon, 
To BLOSSOM into BEAUTIFUL new BEINGS, 
BALLOONS, stretching and expanding,
About to BURST into a BOUNTY of BLESSINGS.
BALSAMROOT or BUTTERCUPS BLOOMING with BRILLIANT color.
From BABIES we have watched you BUD,
Each season a new petal of potential and possibility,
You will BLEND and BALANCE your BRAINS and talents
To BENEFIT the greater community.  
We have been BLESSED by your presence,
By BEHAVIOR that models BELIEF. 
Together, you have been a BOUQUET of BLOSSOMS we treasure.
Thank you and God BE with you all.  

Addendum.....Wow.  What an incredible service.  Our youth showed a level of maturity and courage to bare their souls this morning that truly was a testimony to God-in-our-midst.  They literally BLEW us away! 

BLOOM: The Letter L
Friday, May 8

My word list for this week: Love, lavendar, leather, life, laughter, lupine, lilacs, LIKE (button), labels, Lord, luggage, lake, leisure, lecture, learning, laud, light, lunar, 

In the course of all that travel....it took a few days
to get the picture finished!  

      So...this has been graduation week for us, including a LENGTHY drive to New Mexico.  LUKE (wow - I get to capitalize my son!) flew down to join us and we have spent a few days together as family.  So how can I not be centering on the words LOVE, LAUGHTER, LIFE, and LEARNING at this point??  And since the crux of Jed's doctoral dissertation was on the moon, we shall definitely include the words LUNAR and LIGHT!    
     LAST night as we drove home from Albuquerque following a LEISURELY dinner with Rick's mom, I just sat in the front seat and LISTENED to the brotherly banter  ricocheting back and forth behind me.  I've missed that sound as Rick and I travel alone now, the back seat empty.  
      This afternoon we again LISTENED as Jed LECTURED us on the various aspects of the MRO telescope located at the top of Magdalena Ridge and Mt. Baldy.  His Post-Doc work is educating him on the inner functioning and computer networking involved in telescope operations.  He was able to put LABELs on all sorts of unknown features.  We LEARNED alot!  But it was especially fun to hear him expound and share his knowledge, in terms we could understand!  
     Tomorrow?  The official hooding ceremony and reception for family and friends.  More LAUGHTER, more LOVE, more LIVELY conversation.  Finally Jed is ready to BLOOM.... a new LIFE beckons!  

BLOOM: The Letter O
Sunday, May 17

Word List Collected OVER the course of the week:  overcome, obstacle, odyssey, obey, organize, outstanding, oblivious, obvious, odometer, observatory,   

The O!  I tried to include a quick vision of our week in
Alaska....the spectacular birch trees just coming into BUD!
The magnificent distant vision of snowy peaks and the spindles
of black spruce trees.  Plus clear blue skies!  I did NOT include
the mosquitoes! 

That is NOT a very long list, as we have traveled from Jed and his graduation plus the OBSERVATORY tour to Fairbanks, Alaska in the course of this week.  The ODOMETER of our car has been spinning round and round, but we appreciated the 1500 miles of air travel that made the second half of our ODYSSEY so much faster!  We are here to spend some time helping my brother ORGANIZE and pack, clean, fix, paint, and any OTHER jobs he can dream up for the purpose of preparing his house of many years for sale.  We simply try to OBEY and do what he asks!  OCCASIONALLY we encounter OBSTACLES that must be OVERCOME, but working together we have made some OUTSTANDING and OBVIOUS progress!  This weekend we will have the OPPORTUNITY to stop and visit with long-time friends, to shop at the Farmer's Market, and perhaps be a tourist for a couple hours!  



BLOOM: Another O! 
5.22.15

Word List for this week:  Opportunity, Occupation, Overjoyed, Official, Office, Offer, Off
This was more difficult having two O words in a row!!  But....it isn't hard to do a quick write this time, because..... 

          We are OVERJOYED!  Jed received an email from Willamette University last Saturday morning.  He wasn't OFF their list of candidates at all!  They wanted an interview with him, which took place on Monday morning.  They made him an OFFER!  The OPPORTUNITY for teaching he so desires has OPENED up for him, the OCCUPATION he has been pursuing for the past eight years.  Willamette is just the kind of D3 small college he has hoped for, potentially not just a stop gap to gain some experience, but a place where he could settle in for a career.  We know lots of kids from Baker who have attended, cousin Kirsty graduated from Willamette.  He will be close to some of his best friends from Linfield, roommates and co-workers.  Close to Grandma Mac and the beach, close to the mountains of the Cascades.  Jed is beyond excited, he is OVERCOME with elation!  Thank you, God, for answered prayers!  Jed-the-flower is ready to BLOOM!!  

BLOOM: The Letter M

5.25.15

Word list: Memories, Maturity, Mattress, Mountains, Materials, masonry, mat, matrix, miter, mortar, magnificent, majestic, meaningful, measure, memorial, military, momentary, monolithic, multi-colored, multi-talented, mystical, mysterious, mundane, motor, Montana, minute, mufti, monsoon,

               This past weekend we motored through the magnificent, majestic mountains of Montana, past monoliths and monuments,  to the minute municipality of Libby.  There we met up with some memorable friends to moil: measuring, mixing, and mitering (no mortar or masonry!) to build a 'maison' for Habitat for Humanity. (Did you know there are no English ‘house’ synonyms that begin with M? That French contribution came from Rick!)  Our mates are both mentors and morale boosters, mature individuals with a mix of military, education, and materials backgrounds.  Our mufti  is multi-colored tie dye and we are multi-talented as well.  The work is sometimes mundane, but always memorable and meaningful.  Today, Memorial Day, we take a momentary recess due to a mini-monsoon of precipitation moving down from the mountains.  Memories are in the making!!