Pray First

Precious

Mary on the prop, second from the left

Eastview Marching Band

Working toward those 10,000 hours

Friends

Treat time and my new dish towel

Next year I want to grow my own

Calvin's first run of a piece at college

Deck repair at the cabin!!! 

As Mary called them. . .the Aceys' 

Practicing our selfies

Are we bothering you? 

I've had the best week! A week without any eye doctor appointments or music teacher meetings. Just a normal week. I guess one could argue that if almost every week has extras then actually the free week is anomaly.  C'est dommage.

After a summer of tweaking my own set of "commandments" I finally have a list and I'm somewhat satisfied. Good bloggers are supposed to give numbered list to draw the reader in, to keep you in suspense, so I'm only going to give you number one today. I know you all will be checking your in boxes on the hour for the other nine. . .

The first of Sara's rules is to pray first.

To pray first when you can't find your phone.
Or the drivers ed info sheet.
When you get squash soup on your white shirt.
When your car is making a funny sound and you still have to drive 100 miles.
When you wake up in the morning with too long of a list.
When you wake up with just the right list.
When your skin is freaking out.
When your jaw is mixed up.
When your Facebook feed is dark.
When someone is sick.
When someone is really sick.
When there is a beautiful sunrise.
When the wild turkeys are in your backyard.

Monday was the ten year anniversary of my dad's death from pancreatic cancer. We did a lot of praying then but he still died. However, there were amazing moments and incidents all along the way that proved our prayers were heard and perhaps adjusted. We just don't have the whole picture yet, but I know. . .  it's good.

When I see wild turkeys, it reminds me of my father, and especially of that time.
I sure don't have all the answers about prayer. I only know that I'm happier when I remember to pray about everyone and everything. The closer I feel to God the happier I am. No matter what the outcome.

I just have to remember to remember.

Lord,
Be with me and my family and everyone who happens to read this today. Help us to remember to remember, whatever that means to each of us. 
Amen 

Fall is Here

Calvin and Grandmommy on a lunch date

After returning to the dorm room to change shirts on game day

Marriage vows in action but there was a negotiation. 

First day of high school smile

Another picture with Oliver 

Hmmm. Not working yet. 

Fall Hair

Callie Kitty 

It's nice to have a friend

Day three

Tools of the trade

A heat gun? Really? That is trust.

Fall is here. My favorite season. It's the season of school supplies and candles, brisk air and even football games where we leave after the band marches.

Fresh starts.

But, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't any different this year.

Calvin is settled in at the University of Iowa. Mary had her first day of high school on Tuesday. We have become the parents of older children. Say it again a little louder, the days are long but the years are fast.

We got a new kitty. Yes. . . I'm known to adopt cats during break ups and goodbyes. Deal with it. I know what I'm doing. Casey said cats are better than drugs and alcohol. See. I'm okay. Healthy even.

Callie is her name. My sister Susan was quick to note the similarity between Callie and Calvin.

After I first left for college September 1986, my parents immediately moved to Maquoketa, Iowa. I never went "home" again. When I did go back to the house I grew up in, 206 West LeClaire Road, the doors were locked. I looked in the windows and I sat on the steps and cried. To be fair, my parents waited for me. My dad stayed in his job until I left and not one minute longer. God bless him for that.

The first day of college I met Bill. We had calculus and music theory together. We walked across the NIU campus day after day. We shared dorm life, which included listening to albums after dinner and binging on junk food. He made me cassette tapes of the Alan Parsons Project. We became friends who would not date for another eleven years. Calvin has felt this pressure the last ten days. Have I met her yet? Who is she?

It's different now. We have a family text chat and FaceTime and communication is easy. I'm thankful for that. Back in the day. . . we talked on the corded dorm room phone on Sunday nights for 30 minutes because the long distance rate was cheaper after 7:00 p.m.

What are your goals for fall? I've been formulating my own goals, including practice, teaching, writing and reading.  I also spent some time this summer working on my very own ten commandments. I'll still try to follow the ones from God, but these are my own attempt at rules for life (see Jordan Peterson and Gretchen Rubin). My own code of conduct. A behavioral wish list.

I'm going to share them with you here, one by one. Maybe you will like them or maybe you will have a better idea.

It's quiet here. I start teaching next week. The piano will have new Hamburg hammers and a new action. The piano kids will come and we will get back into the routine.

Dear Lord,
Bless Calvin. Bless his practicing and studying. Bless his dorm life. Keep him safe and mostly happy. Bless Mary. Help her scatter her joy in a new school with new people. Bless the piano kids coming back next week. Bless Bill and the cats. And everyone we know.  Amen.