sweet moments

I realized this morning that this blog could be useful in helping me remember sweet moments and tender mercies. There were at least three yesterday.

Last spring, 2007, Steven and I spent a lot of time ripping up Nola Bartlett's parking strip mess. It had tall ratty looking thyme that had been planted in heavy plastic covered with enough dirt to weigh it down and make it almost impossible to remove, but allowed weeds to thrive. It was a major task to dig it up and replant with wooly thyme and add rock pathways from the sidewalk to the street. At that time I promised Nola that I would keep it weeded, since we hadn't put in weed barriers but trusted that the thyme would spread to make a nice ground cover.

I weeded for her a couple of times this spring, but it has been a while. When I drove by last week, I was appalled at the mess. So yesterday I was determined to take care of it. Steven offered to join me and it took less than an hour to clean it up. Nola came out to talk with us while we worked. The weeds were big, so every one we pulled made a big difference. At one point I realized that one of the weeds was a three foot corn plant. We considered leaving it in, but worried about how it could be pollinated. Another was a bush bean plant. We left that one in. Steven commented about how pretty the morning glory looked and would have left it -- but a flower is a weed in the wrong place.

It was good to work together with Steven and to talk with Nola. How hard it must be for her to have the state of her environment be so dependent on others. How grateful I am to be able to clean up messes.
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Another sweet moment occurred while I was watching Hannah, Lucy, Grace and Evelyn. It was almost three o'clock and I realized that Evelyn probably needed a nap. I offered her the option, and she walked with me to the top of the basement stairs. She needed me to hold the one pound weights she had been carrying around so she could hold the wall as we descended the stairs. She took my hand. We walked into the scary dark laundry room together. She let me pick her up and put her in the crib that is set up just outside of Steven's room. She lay down on the pillow and let me cover her up. It wasn't until I left the room that she started to cry. I sang her a couple of songs and talked to her for a few minutes before I left. She had a two hour nap and was happy to have me lift her out of the crib when nap was over. The weights were on the floor and we happily picked them up and climbed the stairs.

It is a sweet thing to be close to grandchildren, to have them know me and let me help them.
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Another sweet time actually occurred this morning. I set my alarm for 12:15 am to meet Steven when he came in from work. I heard him before the alarm went off, which was good because I could stop it from disturbing Ken.

I gave Steven his meds. We sat and talked for an hour, read scripture, prayed. It was good thoughtful talk, very personal and clear and spiritually enlightening.

Sweet blessings.