Cactus Flower

  This time last December Byron and I were winding up our trips to the interior and all the various home Bible studies to get ready to head to America for Christmas with our family.  This year seems a little too quiet and somber without that rushed feeling of packing and prepping.   I wasn't even sure if I should bother to get out any of my old stash of Christmas decorations or hunt for our artificial tree.    I finally decided against the tree but did search for my trunk of ornaments, nativity scenes and Christmas houses.  In a quick flurry of decorating I removed all the miscellaneous things from the top of our big buffet cabinet in the living room and turned it into a Christmas village.  And I started pumping out Christmas tunes on my little Internet radio to make the moment bright. But my mind has been wandering back to Christmases past when our boys were small.  William here was demonstrating his leadership skills at a young age telling ...

 

  Goodness, what a year!  After two years of no international travel with all the Covid mess, this year we hit the air running making two quick trips to the USA and one trip by plane to another state here in Brazil for a wedding.  I saw snow four times in January and lots and lots of rain in our semi-arid region of Brazil as all of Bahia saw record amounts this year.   The Covid bug caught up with us in July and Byron ended up spending one night in the local hospital right in the middle of a missions team trip from the States.  We have used our guest room this year over and over with visitors from Petrolina, Virginia, Lage dos Negros and other varied spots. We have run the backroads of dirt and mud more times than I can count and added more stops to our regular route this year and more activities all around our target area.  We have hauled young people, wheelchairs, puppies, guests, missions teams, benches and all kinds of crazy things on top of a...

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" Good grief, Charlie Brown!"  The poor guy!  Lucy never had any patience for all of Charlie's problems and feelings.  I'm thankful for my live-in best friend, my husband, who does his best to understand.  So many times grief can hit us in funny ways.  There's the grief of distance.  We live on another continent from all our loved ones big and small.  Thinking too much about what they might be doing each day can be overwhelming when I have to admit that I don't always know.  The little ones are growing and I'm not there to go to that school thing or that party.  My college boy didn't have anyone there on the family weekend this month.  My parents aren't getting any younger and neither is my mother-in-law even if she won't admit it.  Grieving too much about all my loved ones can be a bad thing. There's the grief of mistakes.  I can't deal too much about the crazy years when one of our sons seemed bent on destruction.  If I ...

  I forgot to say, Eu amo vocês, at the end of the video. Gramma loves you each one!

  On a fine sunny day in late September, Papa Byron and Gramma Michele hopped on a jet plane to head to North Carolina in hopes of being on time for the arrival of our third grandchild.  He beat us by a few hours, but we got to see the little fellow when he was only a day and a half old.  We couldn't have asked for more!   Our days were numbered, 15 to be exact, but each was well spent.  We were able to see all three of our sons and Byron's mother as well as my parents.  Mr. Logan was welcomed by his older brother and sister with open arms and many smiles. And everyone got a chance to pose for a photo with  the star of the show! Great Grandma Beckner and Great Grandaddy Beckner, Aunt Kerri and even Papa Scott.  Mr. Logan slept through most of the photo sessions! Mother and Father of Logan are well and doing great with #3 in their nest. We also were thankful to be present for the pastoral ordination services of our oldest, William Atha. He was exam...