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Oreos

June 6, 2011 by donna brown

My love affair with Oreos began when I was very young; I think I was under the age of four.  I loved eating them with milk and strawberries.  I remember one time when my dad brought home a flat of fresh strawberries, which I called “Oh boys” because every time my father brought them home, my mom said, “Oh boy!”  So that’s why I thought the delicious little red berries were known as “oh boys.”  Anyway, I remember that day because I ate those strawberries in a bowl with milk covering them and Oreos crumbled on top…heavenly.  That wonderful dish doesn’t look the most appealing to adults because the milk turns all chocolaty and the Oreos get mushy, but I’m telling you…it’s good!

When “Oh boys,” I mean strawberries weren’t available, Oreos were just fine by themselves, even better with milk.

I also remember well the day I shared Oreos with my first-born.  He was about 15 months old when I put him in his high chair and gave him one of the cream-stuffed chocolate delights with his sippy cup of milk.  I taught him how you can twist the sandwich cookie apart and eat the creamy filling first, though it is perfectly fine to just eat it as it comes, crunching through the dark black cookie crust, which is my favorite part, and then finding the sweet white cream.  It is the perfect balance of cookie and cream.

Oreos are still a part of my family’s life all these years later.  For the last few years, when summer arrives, we buy the big 10-package mega box at Sam’s…perfect for snacking during breaks from swimming.  My kids know that summer is officially here when the huge Oreo box appears in the pantry.  Today I was the one who fetched the Oreo snack as three of my boys were calling out Marco Polo in the pool.  Ahhh…summer!  Ahhh…Oreos!

 

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me and Bryan D.

June 4, 2011 by donna brown

Bryan D. is my main man, my husband, my best friend, my lover, my encourager, my helper, my leader, my soul mate.  He is a part of me and me of him…we are truly one.

In so many ways, he is my strength.  He challenges me by his undaunted devotion to his God, his wife and his family.  He encourages me to do things I never thought possible.  He listens to me well, even when I go on and on about the same subject again and again.  He doesn’t seem to get tired of me.  He’s always glad to see me and flashes a wide grin whenever we meet again after a time apart, no matter how short a time it’s been.  He knows me and that is an incredible gift…to have someone know you inside and out, sometimes better than I know myself.

He speaks truth into my life, into my heart, and into my head.  I can get so caught up in thoughts  that are  not true,  and Bryan D. calmly reminds me of that which is true and helps me recognize the irrational feelings and misperceptions and fears in my head.  He tells me that I’m his ministry, his calling; that God gave me to him to take care of…and he does that very well.  One of his goals in life is to celebrate our 75th wedding anniversary.  Now how long we live is pretty much out of our control, but it melts me like butter on warm toast to hear him say that…he wants to be around me for that long…that’s incredible.

We’ve grown up together, not that we knew each other as children.  I met Bryan Darling when I was 19 and he was 21.  But we’ve been growing together since our first meeting; we’ve done most of our living on this planet together.  We’ve been given a family together.  We’ve faced hardships together.  We’ve celebrated much joy together.  We have failed together and we’ve succeeded together.

My relationship with Bryan D. is what I dreamed of when I was a little girl, though I could never have put words to my dreams.  I remember when I was 14 hoping that when I was grown and married many years, that my husband would still want to hold my hand…and Bryan D. is the most marvelous hand-holder.  He is a gift from God and he is mine and I am his and I am blessed for that.

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By faith

June 2, 2011 by donna brown

I have a friend who is re-entering the work force after years of being a stay-at-home mom…after years of homeschooling her children…that’s a big change both for her and for her family.  I have a relative who is back at home after years of working outside the home.  She is looking for a job, but so far none have come her way.  I have a daughter who will be heading off to college in the fall…away from home…away from me.  I’ve been thinking about all of this stuff…the staying-at-home, leaving-the-home, working-at-home, working-away-from-home stuff that probably surrounds many of us.  And while all of this stuff is swirling around in my head, I’ve still been reading in the book of Joshua in the Old Testament of the Bible.

Yesterday, I read about the battle of Jericho.  Do you remember that song, “Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho”?   The words to the chorus go like this:

“Joshua fit the battle of Jericho

Jericho Jericho;

Joshua fit the battle of Jericho

And the walls came tumbling down. ”

The chorus part is the main part I remember and as a child I did wonder (I still wonder) why Joshua “fit” the battle and didn’t “fight” it.  Anyway…I was reading in Joshua chapter  6 about God’s unique battle plan for Israel’s attack on the city of Jericho, which was surrounded by great walls.  It was a strange plan, to say the least.  I don’t think this particular battle plan has ever been used since in times of war, at least I’ve never heard of it.  But it was God’s battle plan, so Joshua thought it was the best plan to go with.  I think he was right.

The children of Israel were to march around the fortified city of Jericho once a day, with the armed fighter men (my boys always said “fighter men” when they were little) leading the way, followed by seven priests carrying trumpets and then the rest of the people.  As they marched, the priests would blow their ram horn trumpets.  Other than the sound of those trumpets, no sound was to be made by the people…no talking was allowed.  (All those people and no talking…that was the first miracle right there.)

The people would rise early in the morning and assemble and march in silence as ram horn trumpets blew…once around the city and then back to their camp…strange, to say the least.  The people of Jericho who surely gathered on the top of those walls to watch, had to wonder what in the world was going on.

Then the 7th day came.  Things were to be done differently on this day.  This was the day that God would bring those walls tumbling down.  On this day, the 7th day, the people were to march around the city 7 times, while the trumpets blew and then at the signal blast from the trumpets, the people were to shout.  It was that shout that would bring the walls down and the city to her knees.

Joshua did as he was told, the fighter men did what they were told, the priests blowing trumpets did what they were told, the rest of the people of Israel did what they were told…and the walls came tumbling down…just like that.  Most impressive.  Most miraculous.

After reading the story in Joshua 6, I then read a verse in the New Testament book of Hebrews, chapter 11, verse  30:  “By faith, the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.”  By faith…the people marched.  I wonder if those people who were marching, one step at a time, realized that they were doing this big work of faith?  I wonder if maybe they just thought about the next step they were to take?

I think that maybe faith is more about taking the next step in our lives, trusting God’s ideas more than our own, than about huge leaps.  Oh, I do think that there are times for huge leaps of faith, but more common…like everyday common are little steps of faith.  Those are the kinds I’m watching my friend and her family take right now…daily steps of faith, trying to follow God’s leading.  Those are the kinds my relative is taking right now…waiting for God to provide for her needs on a daily basis.  That’s the kind my daughter is making as she prepares for a new school in the fall.  That’s the kind I’m supposed to be taking too…daily little steps…doing the next thing that God directs me to do, trusting Him with all of the outcomes.

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Bike Ride

June 1, 2011 by donna brown

     I just watched our two middle sons tear down the driveway on their bikes, the 6 foot 3 inch older brother leading the way with the 5 foot 9 inch brother in hot pursuit.  As their mom, I enjoyed watching them set off on their adventure.  The older brother (child number 3) has decided that he wants to do some bike riding this summer.  So he has begun getting up earlier than his summertime-sleeping-in siblings to begin his ride before the day gets too hot.  This morning, however, younger brother (child number 4), was also up and dressed and ready to follow older brother wherever he went on his biking trek.  Older brother wasn’t thrilled with this development, but the mom (me) thought it okay and he had to agree.

So younger brother fixed a water bottle to take and dusted the spider webs out of a bike helmet so he could tag along.   (Older siblings don’t always like the tagging along thing that younger siblings love to do…younger siblings seem to love it).  And they began their journey…older brother moving swiftly and younger brother peddling like crazy to keep up…all of this down our sloped driveway, with speeds mounting.  The mom began praying that the older brother wouldn’t harm the tag-along younger brother and that they would not do any stupid or dangerous stunts as they turned onto the county road at the end of the sloped driveway.

I watched their backs as they disappeared down the hill and I remembered when the younger brother first learned to ride a bike without training wheels;  it was the first day that older brother went to kindergarten.

On that day, even though older brother was child number three, it was still hard for the mom (me) to let her young five-year-old go.  I was weepy that morning after having taken child number 3 to his new school.  I returned home with younger brother, child number 4, and wondered what we would do to fill the hours before child number three returned home, along with children, numbers one and two.

I didn’t have to wonder for long, because child number 4, younger brother, was adamant that he wanted to ride his bike (the little bicycle spray-painted purple so no one could tell it was his older sister’s pink bike)…AND child number 4 wanted to ride his bike WITHOUT any training wheels.  Child number 4  is a very focused and determined person and after a bit of discussion, I began taking the training wheels off the spray-painted purple bike.

The problem with child number 4  trying to ride his bike without the training wheels was that child number 4  could not touch the ground with his feet when he was seated upon the bike.  The hand-me-down bike was still a bit big for child number 4.  It had worked with the training wheels because the training wheels held the bike up for number 4  to sit upon.  (I think that I forgot to mention that at this time child number 4  was three-and-a-half-years old, but a very determined three-and-a-half-year old none the less.)

So I pushed the bike without the training wheels out of our garage and out onto the driveway with child number 4  walking alongside me.  He mounted the bike and I began to push him gently as he began to pedal…and then I let go of the bike, which determined child number 4  was balancing and pedaling along.  As I watched him pedaling hard and actually riding the bike, without the training wheels, I began to wonder, “What’s going to happen when it’s time to stop the bike?  He can’t touch the ground…he’ll fall over.”  But child number 4  was way ahead of me in his thought process and when he reached the end of our driveway…he didn’t stop the bike…he just bailed.  He jumped right off the bike and the bike kept on going for a couple of feet and then fell over.

I gasped when I saw him jump off the bike…but he landed on his little three-and-a-half-year-old feet wearing a huge grin on his cute little face.  He did it!  He had ridden the bicycle without any training wheels!  He had challenged the purple-spray-painted-hand-me-down bike and he had won!  He looked at me, with that big grin on his face, and announced, “Again!”

     And so that’s how the morning of child number 3’s first day of kindergarten went for me (the mom) and child number 4.  He would climb up on the bike that was too big for him as I held it still and then he would take off with a gentle push from me…ride the length of the driveway and then leap to the ground as the bike kept right on going.  What a way to ride!  What a great memory for this mom…AND by the way…the two middle brothers did make it safely back from their first long-distance bike ride together.

This is a bit after the morning bike ride.

This is the youngest child…child number 5, who wasn’t even in the story, but likes to have his picture taken.

 

 

 

 

 

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Things I didn’t know…about epilepsy

May 31, 2011 by donna brown

I never knew much about epilepsy.  My understanding of epilepsy was that if a person had epilepsy the person had seizures and seizures meant convulsions.  That was the limit of my understanding about epilepsy until two years ago.  Two years ago, my understanding of epilepsy changed dramatically.  Two years ago, my then-17-year-old daughter had her first seizure and then another and then another.  Epilepsy suddenly was a part of my world.  It invaded out of the blue…with no warning, or at least none that we could understand…and it has stayed, bringing changes and dynamics that I simply didn’t know existed.

With Amy’s first seizure, there were convulsions and a rigid body and unconsciousness that lasted an eternal several minutes.  In those minutes, the lives of our family changed forever.

I didn’t know that having a seizure meant that in our state ofAlabamayou couldn’t drive for 6 months.

I didn’t know that having two unprovoked seizures meant that you are officially diagnosed as having epilepsy.

I didn’t know that seizures can cause horrible headaches.

I didn’t know that a seizure can so affect a person’s brain that it takes weeks to months for a body to recover and regain its strength.

I didn’t know that seizures and anti-seizure medication can cause memory loss.

I didn’t know that there are so many anti-seizure medications.

I didn’t know that a person can still have a seizure while taking an anti-seizure medication.

I didn’t know that seizures can begin in many different parts of the brain and affect different nerve and muscle functions.

I didn’t know that having a seizure can be terrifying for the person having it.

I didn’t know that having a seizure can feel like free-falling.

I didn’t know that there are different types of seizures and not all seizures have convulsions with them.

I didn’t know that epilepsy can be so debilitating.

I didn’t know that people with epilepsy can have wonderful and fulfilling lives.

I didn’t know that having epilepsy would make my daughter all the more beautiful and heroic to me.

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Sunshine

May 30, 2011 by donna brown

Today is my best friend’s birthday.  She is a ray of sunshine in my life.  She is many rays of sunshine in my life.  She is many rays of sunshine in many people’s lives.  She says that her momma pumped her full of sunshine as she was growing up and it must be true. So now she shares all that sunshine with anyone and everyone she meets.  She has never met a stranger. (I meet strangers all the time, except I don’t actually meet them because they are strangers.)  She is a warm, welcoming kind of person…the kind everyone likes to be around…because she is so sunny and happy and fun.

I didn’t meet Sunshine until I was 40-years-old, but I think she’s the best friend that I had been waiting for since I was 9.  She understands my sense of humor…she gets me.  I can make her laugh.  She makes me laugh.  When no one else is laughing, we’re laughing.  It seems nothing is off limits to our funny bones.  There are simply some more solemn happenings in life that we just don’t need to attend together because we might start laughing…the kind of laughing where it is hard to stop laughing.  And all this laughter is good for me.

Not only does Sunshine share much laughter with me, I can share my heart with her.  She’s always there to listen.  She prays for me and for my family and the things I care about.  She has taught me a lot about grace and forgiveness and how we’re all broken people.  (I have perfectionist tendencies and she has taught me that imperfection is okay. We humans are all imperfect and broken in some way because we live in a broken and sin-stained world.  Being broken is no problem because God can mend and use broken things and broken people.)  She has taught me a lot about faith and simply believing God and what He says in His Word.

I’m so thankful for Sunshine!!!!  I love her and listening to her…her stories about her family and the town she grew up in, her deep musings, her likes and dislikes…I love knowing her…Sunshine definitely makes me a better person and the world around her a better place.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SUNSHINE!!!!

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Flip-flops

May 28, 2011 by donna brown

It’s been a slow dawning…a creeping realization…one I’ve tried to ignore, work around, persevere through…but just a few days ago the truth stared me in the face and began to lodge in my mind.  I think… I’m pretty sure… ok… I know…I’ve flunked flip-flops in life.

The ugly truth met me when I tried on my latest pair of really nice, dark brown, imitation leather flip-flop sandals that I had purchased just a couple of days earlier.  They were just what I was looking for when I tried them on in the store, with the piece of heavy-duty plastic wrapped around the strap that goes in-between the big toe and the next not-quite-as-big-toe.  They looked nice so I bought them and was very pleased with my purchase.  Then on the facing-the-truth day, after the almost-impossible-to-remove heavy-duty plastic was finally removed from the strap on both sandals, I slid my feet into them and started to walk into another room.  Immediately the nerves of the tender top-of-the-foot-skin sent pain signals to my brain and screamed, “Remove immediately!”

I continued to take a few more steps and then succumbed to the reality that the imitation leather was going to rub deep holes into the top of my feet, while the little between-the-toe straps were going to cut off my toes.  That’s when I knew…I’ve failed at flip-flops.

I never wore flip-flops as a child like my two younger sisters did.  My feet stayed safely tucked inside my sneakers.  I didn’t go barefoot much either (my little sisters did that all of the time also).  Why walk around barefooted outside where innumerable hard or sharp things can easily penetrate the epidermis of the foot?  It made no sense to me.  Yes, Jesus had worn sandals, but there are NO pictures of them being flip-flops and besides, they didn’t have Nike’s back then.  (I did actually wear sandals as a child sometimes, just not the flip-flop kind.)

But a few years ago, I took the plunge and began purchasing flip-flops.  By golly, I would train my tender toes to work in flip-flops!  There has been some success, but last summer when my friend went on and on about her new Olukai brand flip-flops, talking about how comfortable they were, even MORE comfortable than going barefooted, I went and bought a pair…just like hers.  I found the right size in the store, tried them on, paid for them, went to my car and switched out of the shoes I was wearing into the most comfortable flip-flops in the whole entire world before finishing my errands for the day.  A couple of hours later, I walked through my backdoor with two raw and red feet; little holes rubbed into the tops of both of them.

I’ve not given up…yet.  I’ve continued to wear the most comfortable sandals in the whole wide world every once in a while and then stop to let the rubbed places heal.  I suspect that I will also do the same thing with the really nice looking, dark brown, imitation leather flip-flops that I just bought…I’ll just now wear them knowing and accepting the truth of my flip-flop destiny.

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Manna and change

May 27, 2011 by donna brown

I don’t really like change.  Whether it’s big changes in life or little changes in life…I can get tripped up over changes.  Even the transition during the end of the school year, the switch from kids being in school to kids being at home rattles me just a little bit.  It’s not the kids being home that rattle me…I love having them home…it’s more the shift from very structured days…you get up at this time, to be here by this time, to be picked up by this time, to do homework by this time, to go to bed by this time (very structured)…to not so much structure on more relaxed summer days.  I can do about a week of total unstructured time in my days and then I need some structure.  Anyway, even good change like summer vacation makes me feel like the ground is shifting just a bit under my feet.

Lately I’ve been reading the book of Joshua in the Bible and in chapter 5, I read about how the manna stopped.  The manna had been God’s special provision of food for His people as they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.  They wandered because of their lack of faith and disobedience, but God was faithful to give them food every day.  The time comes when the Israelites enter into the land that God had promised to give them long before they disobeyed.

After the children of Israel crossed the Jordan River, which God miraculously parted so they could walk across on dry ground just like they had crossed the Red Sea some 40 years earlier, the people celebrated the Passover.  Verse 11-12 say:  “The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land:  unleavened bread and roasted grain.  The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate of the produce ofCanaan.”

There it is in black and white in my Bible:  The manna stopped.  The manna stopping was a miracle, just like the manna starting had been…it was something God did.  When I read about the manna stopping, I wondered, “Were the people afraid when the manna stopped?”  I think I would have been.  They had gone out and gathered manna for 40 years.  For some of the people, that’s all they had ever known…it’s what they did…every day (except on the Sabbath, but we won’t talk about that here).

“No manna” equaled a big change for the Israelites.  It was change, even though the change they faced was a good one.  God was keeping His promise to bring them to a new homeland.  They would eat the wonderful and abundant produce of that new land; but it would still be a change.

Those couple of verses in Joshua reminded me that when there is change in my life, good change or seemingly bad change, I need to have faith in the God who cares for me.  I need to remember that the God who provided all the manna will provide in a new way, maybe a different way, as well.  He doesn’t forget about me AND He is not afraid of change at all.  As a matter of fact, He’s in control of it.

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Things I didn’t know…

May 25, 2011 by donna brown

I didn’t know that there are such things as “Hose Washers.”  Okay…well…maybe I’ve seen them before on garden hoses sometime in my life, but I didn’t realize what they were, the way they could make life easy or brighten my day.  They now have a real meaning in my relaxation therapy daily ritual of watering plants.

My husband brought home the little package of “Hose Washers” last night; along with a new “Kink Control” heavy duty garden hose “with TRIPLE FRAME TECHNOLOGY” that controls hose “kinks better than regular hoses” and even does this in Spanish also according to its packaging.  I’ve never been so excited about a garden hose.  But, since one of our hoses has so many breaks in its vinyl cover that it actually folds in multiple places, stopping the floe of aqua to my flower bed, I was very excited over his new purchase.  This new hose has a 7 year warranty!  Can you believe that?!

Back to the “Hose Washers.”  The “Hose Washers” are for another hose, which has no breaks in its vinyl covering, but has gotten into the nasty habit of leaking at the spicket of the house and where it is attached to a spray nozzle.  “It didn’t leak this way last summer,” I recently informed my husband, with realizing that there was a simple remedy to the hemorrhaging hose ends.

So this morning I installed the cleverly thought up invention of “Hose Washers” and proceeded to test them out.  The just-yesterday-spraying-dripping-leaking hose performed much better with its new “Hose Washers” and I am delighted…Who knew?…I didn’t.

Side note:  I must also tell you about the third gadget my husband bought, along with the “Kink Control” hose and the amazing “Hose Washers.”  He brought home to his spoiled wife, a spraying wand…with multiple settings.  Listen to the many ways I can now send water unhindered through my “Kink Control” garden hose:  There is the “shower” setting (my personal favorite for plant watering, not too hard or too soft, but just right).  There is the “soaker” setting (not sure what exactly that one is for, but figure that my kids will discover its meaning and use it on siblings).  There is the “rinse” setting, which sends a strong stream of water in any direction you point.  The “power wash” setting, which is the “rinse” setting on steroids, and makes me feel like wearing a cape when using it.  Then there is the “bucket filler” setting, which I’ve never seen described before on a watering wand, but has been much needed by many a driveway-car-washing-enthusiast.

I can now look forward to the summer knowing I’m equipped and prepared to handle the watering tasks ahead.

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I’m not a homeschool mom

May 24, 2011 by donna brown

I’m not a homeschool mom.  Really, I’m not.  I never have been.  None of our 5 children have been taught at home by their mom…well, officially, that is.  Hopefully, I have taught them many things.  But I have never had the full weight of their formal education resting solely on my shoulders as their teacher.

Don’t get me wrong…I mean no disrespect to those moms who do teach their kids their school subjects in a home setting.  I have had and still do have many friends that have chosen to homeschool their children AND I have a lot of respect for them.  That’s a HUGE responsibility!!  But, my husband and I have never felt led to undertake that calling.

So you may be wondering why I am writing a piece about NOT being a homeschool mom.  It’s because of the rumors.  I call them rumors, and my best friend calls them rumors and we giggle under our smiles when someone asks me if I am still homeschooling.  Yes, I get asked that.  I’ve been asked that question many times,  for many years, even by people that I’ve known for quite a while.  My answer is always the same:  “No, my kids are at such-and-such school.  We don’t homeschool.”

“Really?!” is usually the response, followed by, “You’ve never homeschooled your kids?”

“Really” is my typical answer, “We’ve never homeschooled.”

“Oh, I thought you did,” states the inquisitor.

Our family has been in the school-age years of life for MANY  years, but we have homeschooled for 0 (zero) years, that would be “no” years, not any years…never…ever.

I even receive school curriculum catalogs in the mail, but still the truth of the matter is, we don’t homeschool.

Posted in Things about me | 3 Comments »

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