Liz's Letters

Many years ago, I am guessing about 19 of them, our family visited the Grand Canyon for one day, on the way home from a trip to California to visit family.  Our eldest son was around 11, our middle one around 9, and our baby was a little over a year old.  Our boys wanted desperately to hike into the canyon, but our oldest one especially so.  He pleaded and my husband and I held firm our "No" as our youngest was too young and we were not outfitted for such an adventure.  I promised that we would return one day. A few months later we moved to the East Coast of Virginia.  Not planned when we stood at the edge of the canyon and that promise was made. And the many times we planned vacation time to the beach, our son reminded me of that promise to go the the Grand Canyon. Time flew quickly and years later we had not returned to the Grand Canyon.  But, we did move to Texas and as we looked at spending time as a family, our oldest son brought this promise bac...

This season of my life feels very different than I thought it would.  My husband and I might actually be "empty nesters" but our kids still are a big part of our lives.  It's not a bad thing, but just when I thought I was going to have more time to do the things I thought I would always do "when the kids are gone" they just don't seem to be happening. So when people ask me how it feels to have all the kids out of the house, I really don't know how to answer. Sometimes, it feels really quiet and lonely. Occasionally, I am excited to have the house ro myself or to not have to hide my leftovers.  And sometimes it feels the same as when they were here.  But what I do feel is I am Mom.  Still. Mom.  Our oldest son and his wife just went to India to work for 6 months.  The other side of the world. I have "talked" to them just as much (maybe a little more) this past week as when they were here, 10 minutes away. I am still Mom. Our second son, the Ai...

Waiting with eager anticipation, I walk through my yard daily this time of year.  One of the things that I monitor is the blooms on my Peony plants.  We lived in Minnesota in the late 1980's and the house we rented had peony plants.  When we moved in, they were just starting to bloom.   I fell in love. We left that home, moved to Kansas for a while and then moved to the east coast of Virginia.  Everything I read told me that I would not be able to grow Peonies in that state.  I ordered some and planted them anyway.  The second year that they were in the ground, and before they ever bloomed, we found out we were moving to Texas. Everything I read told me I certainly could not grow Peonies in Texas. I dug them out of that yard in Virginia and brought them with me to Texas. That was almost nine years ago. They bloomed this week. They have bloomed every year, except the year of their transplant. I always pick the first blo...

 Having a daughter in a sorority is fun.  One of the things I have enjoyed this year (this is her second year as an AOII) is taking photographs.  This sorority is good about documenting and has a tradition of keeping a scrap book for prospective members to look through when they are considering a sorority involvement.  These photos were taken for my daughter's scrap book page.  She is  "Big" to a younger pledge sister who is called "Little".  I find it quite amusing that they actually call each other "Big" and "Little" as opposed to calling each other by their given names.  Anyway, having my new camera and in the spirit of continuing creating fun photos, here is part of the photo shoot I had with my daughter and her "Little".  Pretty Girls.

Yesterday, a friend sent me an early morning text. It said, "I would love to kidnap you today so we can take our cameras down to Ennis to take pics of the bluebonnet fields." My first thought was disappointment. After all, I do have to work. I was hopeful as I went to my desk to evaluate my day. Much to my surprise,my day looked really easy. So, the message I sent back said, "I can do whatever I want after noon!" I charged my camera battery, finished my work, put on my tennis shoes and off we went to the blue bonnet trail! In January, I changed jobs in hopes of reducing my stress level and having more time to do things with friends, family, and restore my interest in nature, creativity and spend time with my new camera in hopes of capturing some nice photographs. What a treat it was to have God answer my prayer with the job change and then He continues to provide me with opportunities to enjoy the things I hoped to spend more time doing. My second "...