Thanksgiving 2018

Another year has passed since the last Thanksgiving.  Like in everything else we celebrate, each year grants us the chance to do all the traditions that we have developed over the years and also a chance to accommodate changes and new things that reflect the progress in all of us.  Sometime the changes result from deliberate choice and some are imposed on us.

I'm thankful for changes.  Traditionally, I would have used my good camera to take pictures but this time I used my cell phone.  The quality of the pictures would have been better but the spontaneity would not have been there. 

All my children would be home on Thanksgiving but Shannon was not.  However, we were talking to her almost throughout the time we prepared food - just like when we would all be home - through Skype.  We got to see her pet cats while they climbed on her as she talked to us.  My kids are growing more and more independent and slowly developing their own tradition.  On the other hand I too need to slowly release my grip on their schedule. 

We would all sit around a beautifully set table to enjoy the food.  This time we sat on the floor of the family room and ate Thanksgiving dinner while watching The Phantom of the Opera.  We were really casual this year which is more fun and liberating.

I am thankful for tradition.  Tim still grills the turkey.  We still get a huge turkey regardless of the number of people to allow leftovers.  Brahms still helps with making apple pie and mashed potatoes.  Miriam is in charge of the obligatory veggie in the meal.  Our Spiced cranberry sauce and Stuffing with Italian Sausage all remain to be a hit.  They are the simple things that remind us of the occasion and which then connect this year to the next one.  

I thank God for my family.  In the end, however, the most important thing that makes Thanksgiving are the people that gather year after year.  These are the people who share a common connection and understanding of life together.  They are the family who have experienced and acknowledge common blessings.  All else are decorations.  Sometimes we invite people for Thanksgiving, we say, as a gesture of generosity but most often I find it as an obligation to show rather than an act of love.  

Thanksgiving is a recounting of blessings 

in the presence of God - the Giver of all. 

Smoky Sunday Afternoon

The air was still heavy with smoke from the Camp Fire.  Being outdoors is the least thing we would want to do.  After the church service today we, along with Matt and Jean Peterson, were invited to go play games at Larry and Annelydie Bagget's place.  We had tea with Swiss Apple Pie.  Swiss Apple Pie is like fruit tart which, one of these days, I will try to learn to make it.

I always enjoy going to their place because they have an interesting backyard with different fruit trees.  Their house has morphed into something beautiful and a delightful place since the first time we saw their place last year.  Larry is a very handy man and Annelydie is similarly a very hardworking and creative, always looking for something to challenge herself. 

We played Sequence. Spouses did not team up together.  Tim and Jean Peterson won most of the time.  Although Tim was very competitive, Jean was not.  But they won anyway.  I'm inclined to believe that chance instead of strategy made it all happen.  Matt and Larry won twice but Annelydie and I almost won every time.  Sadly, almost never happened.

The Bagget's have an airbnb unit at their place.  It is a very nice room with a great view.  The smoke makes the trees look like they are separated by low lying clouds or fog.  Sometimes I wished we too had a guest room with a separate entrance.  This is also because I've been watching the British show "Escape to the Country".  :)

Within my line of sight no more

What used to be one unit is now pulled apart into four.  I'm referring to our family - my husband and I plus my three dear children.  They are all part of me and for a long time I took for granted the fact that they were all within my line of sight under one roof.  Then one by one university education, and now job, pulled them away.  Then all of a sudden my life is changed.  I didn't anticipate this effect on me and I guess I did not prepare for this.  

Although, parents spend what seems to be a lifetime preparing their children to be independent, in my case, I was not prepared to be separated from my children.  It is like losing a part of me and that I now have to adjust my life.  But it is not simply adjusting.  It appear that it requires a lot of time getting used to the change.  

This period in my life, however, is not all that grim.  Things may be so different now but the situation brings me to a different level of growth which started when my first child went away to Wisconsin for her job.  God used the situation to teach me very hard lessons on giving up control (101).  I thought I barely passed.  But now with my second child I am now put in another upper level class - giving up control and trusting God (202).  I must admit, this is a difficult subject.  The lab exercises are excruciating.  However, I am learning to depend on God in a real way.  I'm learning to say to Him, "God they are Your children before they are mine.  So I trust them in your hands."  I am not only learning to give up control over the welfare of my children but most importantly I recognize whom I can transfer my control into.  

The picture above is a collection of snap shots from the four locations of my family taken today within a period of thirty minutes.  It serves as a reminder to me that God is with His children no matter where they are.  Things are going well.  And it is not because of me.  It is all because the Ruler has everything under control.

   

 Parenting brings unintended maturity.

Just a thought on Social Media

A beautiful pine cone I picked up on one of our morning walks. 

If only social media did not cater to self-promotion, self-absorption, pride and comparison;  if only social media did not promote envy, hate, and cynicism;  if only social media did not provide a stage for superiority complex; if only social media was a means to reach out for the sake of reaching instead of climbing our own ladder; if only social media did not morph into an anti-social media... If only...

But alas, social media mirrors that which goes on in the real world.  The good things I do are often ruined by some shrouded intentions of my heart.  The seemingly innocent acts are tainted by my selfish motives.  The impressions I have on others are a highly if not completely determined first by what I think of myself.  Alas, self gets in the way of every good opportunity to be a good social being.

Sometimes the root of the problem is the 

only solution to the problem.

Last High School Graduation

Graduation Day - May 25, 2018

It's hard to believe it's been four years since Miriam walked into the portals of Oak Ridge High School.  Four years of learning different subjects from different teachers; four years of making new friends as well as culling out people from friend groups; four years of Band and drumming; four years of homework and tests; four years of riding the school bus - well, almost four years; and so many more that I cannot name.  Four years and now everything is going to stop.  Not only a break but a total halt. High School days are over!

The card we sent to relatives.  (Picture taken on May 11, 2018)

Miriam's graduation marks the last time we will see our own child graduate from high school.  Unless a miracle happens - which is a possibility I am not going to discount at this point.  :)  It also means that Tim and I will not be getting up at 5:30 am to prepare breakfast and packed lunch.  She will also have to read the bible on her own instead of her father reading it to her while she eats her breakfast.  There will be changes to happen in her life as well as ours (her parents) just because she's graduating from high school.

This year's graduation was different for so many reasons: 

1. It was a cold day.  In fact it rained on the morning of graduation day getting the students wet during rehearsal.

2  We did not have a big family get-together.  Outside our immediate family, only her Grandpa George was present - per Miriam's request.

3.  We were late going to the stadium - we had to stand by the fence links to watch the ceremony.

4  Varoff, Band Director, decided to involve the the graduating members of the band to play during graduation.  

It is hard to write down everything in one blog post but pictures will tell more stories than words can tell.  Here between these few words and the pictures are lines that tell whoever will read or scroll this page that my husband and I are proud of our daughter for her accomplishment and the hard work, discipline and diligence that made it a fun ride.  That we are thankful to God for the grace that He granted her so that things that seemed impossible were made possible and the spiritual guidance that kept her to stay on course when it seemed better to take the other way.  And most importantly, we are thankful for those moments when Miriam was clearly aware of the hands of God in situations that seemed out of her control. God is good!

I see graduations as a milestone on the 
highway of God's grace.

I Like It

Tim Lewis - May 22, 2018

So it happened that I had to take another picture of Tim for business purposes.  But for me it is but a record of a moment in time.  Thus, it has to filed in the Lewis Chronicles (aka this blog) 😊

Whenever I take his picture he seems to smile more than he should.  I believe that is my effect on him.  In above image he was instructed by me to quit smiling.  But traces of smile still linger on his face.  :)

Miriam Goes To Prom

Miriam goes to prom with who else but her drum-line friends.  She had a few requirements when it came to her outfit: solid-color dress, flat shoes, shawl, no makeup, no special hairdo.  It turned out she was comfortable and confident. 

 BFFs

The Corsage...

The Sass

The Stars with the rock = RockStars

The Children.  Aruj and Calvin.  Not Nick

The Core

The Gang

This girl...Miriam

Tim at UEFI 2018

 

Tim Lewis, CTO, Insyde Software  (Image courtesy of UEFI)

Although Tim attends and speaks at UEFI Plug Fest almost annually, I don't seem to recall seeing any signs that he was actually there at the conference except for swag that he brings home.  However this year was different.  Not only did my daughter and I join him in his trip and stayed at the hotel where the conference was being held at -- we also got pictures of him speaking!  Thanks to the UEFI 

Tim Lewis speaking at UEFI Plug Fest 2018  (Image Courtesy of UEFI)

Well, it looks like he is speaking in the picture.  Maybe he was actually speaking.  The podium bears the uefi logo.  It looks official.  And video camera was also in the picture.  That looks very real.  But there is one significant part missing in the picture - the audience.  Was he talking only to two camera men and one other person?  I'm sure there were more people in the room but the picture does not say that.  Anyway, I get to make my personal commentary on the photograph because I did not take the picture.  Nevertheless, I am sincerely grateful for the pictures!  

And to complete the story, here are two of my own pictures... 

Tim prepares to speak.

Miriam and her daddy work at the hotel lobby.

Miriam Visits UC Davis With a Different View

With her brother having studied and now works at UC Davis, Miriam got to know UC Davis from head to toe.  And yet today we brought  her to the university once again but this time Miriam had a different purpose - to visit her future school.  That's right, this girl will be going to study at UC Davis for her college education in Music.  In fact, I may say that she was sought after because the university offered her scholarship and invited her to join the university's Honors Program.  Needless to say she feels welcome and is very happy with the prospects of the next chapter of her education.

Brahms gave her a thorough tour of the campus to satisfy her curiosity.  There is nothing better than having your own brother as your guide - he gives the scoop that you need to know.  (Shannon also offered to give her a tour of UC Irvine if she had been accepted and chosen to go there.)  The only thing that would have made the tour better was if Tim was feeling better.  He was quite under the weather but he joined part of the tour anyway. 

UC Davis was photogenic today and so was Miriam.  In as much as she decided to join the honors program, she has the advantage of knowing early which residence hall she'll be living at.  She was particularly glad to know that the Music Department and her future dorm are not far from each other.  Many things were fascinating to her such as the size of the library, the bicycles, and the student union that looks like an airport.  :)  She has yet a whole new world to discover when she will actually live there but for now she can only imagine college life.

What that means to Tim and I is that we will soon be without a child at home.  Life for sure will be different.  We too will have a whole new life to discover ahead of us.  :)

We Praise God Always.

One Score and Seven Years

Tim and I have been married for a long time.  Twenty seven years!  And yet it seems like we just got done with our honeymoon and starting life together.  The time we've spent so far seem short.   If the old saying is right, then we must be rejoicing and enjoying this ride.  :)

At twenty seven years, we have enjoyed raising our children whom we love.  Our youngest, Miriam, will be going to college in the fall.  This means that Tim and I are about to start a completely different phase of our life - the second honeymoon.  Now we are older and wiser.  Twenty seven years has changed us from who we were when we first started.  We are in constant training to be more forgiving and accommodating of each other; less annoying, less irritating and less irritated.  And yet we are aware that as we train we are in the battle ground.  After these many years we learned that as much as we both know that we love each other so dearly, we are only one careless word away from making the other person feel betrayed and unloved.  Likewise, we are only one unguarded thought away from thinking that the other person is our worst enemy.  That's only one tiny area of our life together where considerable change occurred.  But I will talk about them some other time.

This year, we celebrated our anniversary by traveling to Vancouver, B.C.  It was the second anniversary first trip where we did not bring any of our children with us.  The first one was a total surprise to me when Tim organized to leave to our very young children with our friends and we drove thinking that we were going out for lunch.  Yes, we did go out for lunch but we continued to drive after that - towards the airport.  Anyway, that was half painful and half delightful trip.  This time however, was not like that.  Whew!  We planned together!  Vancouver was beautiful because it snowed on the day we arrived and sunny on the following two days that we were there. 

Just the two of us in the beautiful Fairmont Waterfront.   It was like a true honeymoon.  However, at this stage, I am not so used to the idea of not having any of our kids share experience with us.  We have always traveled together since they were little.  Now I have to train myself into a different stage in life.  Overall, it was a great trip, we had a lot of time reflecting on a lot of things.  We went to see many beautiful places, ate at great restaurants, ventured to understand the local culture and spent time just relaxing and being with each others uninterrupted.

Twenty seven years, and we have a lot to learn and experience.  To learn and experience not for our own glorification but for passing on so that others might also enjoy what God has allowed us to.  After all, the end goal of this life and this marriage, as a matter of fact, is to live in the knowledge   that God is God and Lord.

God is good.  He is gracious to us.

New Year 2018

Yes, we will remember that on the first minutes of 2018 Miriam was wearing a new plaid shirt

 and that I was wearing white nail polish while Tim and Brahms take their selfie :)

12:00 AM - January 1, 2018 (California Time):  There are four goblets.   

12:00 AM January 1, 2018 (Wisconsin Time)  There are five goblets with one virtual person :)

So we celebrated the changing of the year with Shannon remotely.  That's right.  We were virtually together - laughing, talking and watching Pride and Prejudice.  She prepared her food as we traditionally do on New Year's Eve - and so we were eating together.  The only limitation was that we could not pass the food from our table to hers nor from her table to ours.  But it worked out really well.  To be on Skype for almost six hours was good!

The frustrating part of the whole thing is the fact that we could not feel the person on the screen, we could see her plants and cats but we couldThe other challenge was having to watch a movie simultaneously on Netflix.  But my kids are technical enough to synchronize our electronics regardless of the distance between California and Wisconsin.

The Lewises will always find ways to be a family 

That hair though

Cheers!!!