Wordful Wednesday

Grandma's Hands - author unknown

"Grandma, some ninety plus years, sat feebly on the patio bench. She didn't move, just sat with her head down staring at her hands.

When I sat down beside her she didn't acknowledge my presence and the longer I sat I wondered if she was OK.

Finally, not really wanting to disturb her but wanting to check on her at the same time, I asked her if she was OK. She raised her head and looked at me and smiled. "Yes, I'm fine, thank you for asking," she said in a voice clear and strong.

"I didn't mean to disturb you, grandma, but you were just sitting here staring at your hands and I wanted to make sure you were OK," I explained to her.

"Have you ever looked at your hands," she asked. "I mean really looked at your hands?"

I slowly opened my hands and stared down at them. I turned them over, palms up and then palms down. No, I guess I had never really looked at my hands I thought, as I tried to figure out the point she was making.

Grandma smiled and related this story:

"Stop and think for a moment about the hands you have, how they have served you well throughout your years. These hands, though wrinkled shriveled and weak have been the tools I have used all my life to reach out and grab and embrace life.

They braced and caught my fall when as a toddler I crashed upon the floor. They put food in my mouth and clothes on my back. As a child, my mother taught me to fold them in prayer. They tied my shoes and pulled on my boots. They held my husband and wiped my tears when he went off to war.

They have been dirty, scraped and raw, swollen and bent. They were uneasy and clumsy when I tried to hold my newborn son. Decorated with my wedding band they showed the world that I was married and loved someone special.

They wrote my letters to him and trembled and shook when I buried my parents and my spouse. They have held my children and grandchildren, consoled neighbors, and shook in fists of anger when I didn't understand.

They have covered my face, combed my hair, and washed and cleansed the rest of my body. They have been sticky and wet, bent and broken, dried and raw. And to this day, when not much of anything else of me works real well, these hands hold me up, lay me down, and again continue to fold in prayer.

These hands are the mark of where I've been and the ruggedness of life. But more importantly, it will be these hands that God will reach out and take when He leads me home. And with my hands He will lift me to His side and there I will use these hands to touch the face of Christ."

I will never look at my hands the same again. But I remember God reached out and took my grandma's hands and led her home.

When my hands are hurt or sore, or when I stroke the face of my children or husband I think of grandma. I know she has been stroked and caressed and held by the hands of God. I, too, want to touch the face of God and feel His hands upon my face.

I sure do miss your hands Abuela!

Stefanie

Wordless Wednesday

Living in a house of boys....

Wordful Wednesday

So, Tim wants to dye his hair Luscious Rasperries. I can't really blame him, he is his mother's son. Since we had dyed his hair black already, we had to bleach his hair which we did last night. We left the bleach on for an hour (he has course hair) and I warned him that his roots would be a lot lighter since they no longer had dye on them. Well, this is what we came up with......


Before...

After....

This picture was taken this morning before he left for school. As you can see, he's not a morning person and was like Aww Mom!!! when I told him I wanted a picture. We decided to wait to see how the bleaching turned out before we dye it the raspberry. That may be coming tonight. Woo Hoo!!

Yesterday I cut Kyle's hair. He wanted his hair to look like his father's, short military cut with a small fade on top. Kyle has very thin, naturally bleach blonde hair and already has a receding hairline. I got the clippers out to buzz the back of his head, made him look down, began to buzz ...and out of nowhere he said to me "What are you trying to do, make me bald woman!" I couldn't believe it. It was all I could do to not fall on the floor laughing and the only words I could utter out of my mouth were "Excuse me?" What does Kyle do in all his literal-ness? He repeated exactly what he said. I couldn't help but laugh! Later, Tim was being a typical older brother and started teasing Kyle, telling him that he would shave Kyle's eyebrows off while he was asleep. Kyle, in a very calm and controlled voice, told Tim "Well, you won't be able to find my eyebrows because they are the same color as me." What a great response! My little Kyle - what a character!

We were decorating for Halloween yesterday and I got some window stickers for the kids to put up. They had a blast. Some were glow in the dark, so they put them on the bathroom mirror, would go in the bathroom, close the door and scream like they were scared. The best part about putting up the decorations was when Tim and I put up this spider that is sound and motion sensitive and drops down on a string when activated. When Meryck came home from school, he walked inside and when the door slammed, the spider went off. Meryck about jumped out of his skin! He was so afraid. As the awful mother that I am, what did I do?? I laughed so hard at him. Tim took the spider down and I tried to get Meryck to touch it and he completely freaked out. He was screaming at the top of his lungs and clawed to get away from it. Meryck wouldn't even walk down the hallway that the spider was in, he would walk around the kitchen so he wouldn't have to walk under the spider. Then Kyle came home and the same thing happened with him. They both thought the spider would come down and get them. After quite some time (and a lot of reassurance from me that it was fake), they would stand under the spider and scream "BOOO!" to activate the spider. It was really funny at first, but after about an hour of hearing two little voices screaming at this spider, I realized that I must've been out of my mind to buy this thing. Happy Halloween!!!