Well, this morning at 3:44 am my Grandpa passed away.  My Mom, Dad, Aunt, Grandma and Colleen walked in just as they were recording the time.  Even though it is expected, it is so sad when it finally happens.  My Grandma seems to be doing well.  They are all so tired.  I'm glad we aren't in limbo anymore, and that he is not suffering anymore.  I have been so flooded with happy and funny memories of him.  Like when I told him I was going to marry Aaron and he asked me if Aaron had any money!  I told him no, and he told me not to waste my time. 

 

Totally unrelated, but last night Elijah started crawling up the stairs, Lydia told me, "Mommy, I'll handle this!"  So funny.  Yesterday we were having a tea party and Lydia was telling me what was available.  She said, "we have water, Kool-Aid and Milk of Magnesia." !!! She had digestive issues last year.  LOL

 

Elijah and Emily both have ear infections.  Elijah's burst and terrible things came out of it.  Yuk!  And they hate to take their medicine.  Total exorcist scenes trying to get Emily to take hers.  "Our name is legion, for we are many!"

 

Aaron had a really good experience this week.  He was a project coordinator for Community Day for HCA where they went to House of Mercy to do volunteer work.  The lady that ran it first asked them to build a roof, and possibly put in a serenity garden with a water feature.  Can you just see a bunch of corporate guys standing around wanting to do a presentation on the water feature, write a computer program about the water feature, or do a financial analysis of the water feature, but install it? Anyway, they settled for setting 16 posts to set up a fence and painted all the cabinets in the kitchen.  They did a lot of hard work, and I am very proud of Aaron for heading it up! 

 

Anyways, just wanted to touch base with everyone and thank you for your prayers.  Please continue to remember us this week.  God bless.

Please pray for our family.  My Grandpa Megaw is in his final stages of alzheimer's disease.  We got a serious, but not urget call from the nursing home that said his body appears to be shutting down.  But as we know (unfortunately because of all the deaths the past year) that this could take a while.  Of course I would love it if he made a big turn around.  But it is so heart wrenching to see him like this and my Grandma having to endure it.  Since March of 2005 we have lost Aaron's Grandma Deloras and Grandma Alice, my Grandpa Cooper, my Aunt Emily and Aaron's Uncle Ernie.  It has been a long season of sorrow.  I think it is really hitting me today.  It is strange because when Grandma Megaw was diagnosed with breast cancer almost 20 years ago, she was given under a year to live.  Now she has outlived them all.  Told you she is small but mighty!

 

I remember my Grandpa taking me and Matthew to Knott's Berry Farm and on the way home on the freeway we saw a huge flat-bed truck that was carrying a load with a tarp over it.  I asked my Grandpa what it was and he said, "an elephant," totally without missing a beat.  He then started laughing his head off.  They used to love to take us to Knott's and Disneyland.  He never called me Janelle, he always called me by my aunt's name, Lorraine.  Then in more recent years he started calling me Shorty.  Well, I found out from my aunt that Shorty was her nickname from when she was younger.  There's too many funny stories to tell about my Grandpa.  I love him so much.  Again, please pray for all of us right now.  We appreciate it so much.

I read a definition of the Hebrew word for peace "shalom" in my Bible that says the Hebrews understood that peace includes completeness, soundness and well-being of the total person.  It is not just a warm, fuzzy feeling that comes over me when all the babies are asleep  but a soundness of mind.  Balance.  Completeness.  It makes me think of 2 Timothy 1: 7 "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."  We can't be complete and of a sound mind when we are out of balance.  I have been thinking of all the things I would love to pursue.  All the things I'd like to do with my kids, around the house, professionally, education, etc. etc.  Maybe I'm just looking for distractions?  Bro. Steve just said in service that we need to simplify and not over-commit ourselves.  So many times I think that if I am going to do something "right" I have to hyper-focus on it, and in so doing everything else can be neglected.  It's like I am so disciplined in some things, that I think I can let others just go. 

 

I don't know if this is making ANY sense at all.  But it is like when I first got married, I remember thinking if at one moment in time I could have the apartment spotlessly clean, all the laundry done and put away, all the bills paid and the grocery shopping done, I would be content and relax.  Well, not much relaxing was going on because that is a dream that will never happen.  I finally found peace (shalom) with housework when I found Flylady.  Some members of my family make fun of Flylady (Mom & Colleen), but she has taught me to set up routines to clean house, cooking, shopping, laundry, etc. and then I don't have to think about those things.  I don't worry about laundry, because I know Monday and Tuesday are laundry days.  And I don't worry about dusting and mopping the floors because I know that will happen on Fridays.  I truly, truly can rest and not worry about my house because I gave up the unrealistic idea that everything would be perfect all at once.  Perfectionism can kill you. 

 

So what I want is that shalom in every area of my life.  It is difficult to achieve.  Steven Covey says in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People that we have 4 main areas of our life to keep in balance - spiritual, intellectual, physical and emotional.  I would love to have the right emphasis on each.  It is so easy to get bogged down in the day to day rut.  Especially with two bottoms to diaper!  Sorry for the mental image.  It has been interesting, since I have been thinking so much about peace I have been hearing the word everywhere.  Isn't that what everyone wants?  I read a quote that said something to the effect that all of our ambitions are for one goal, so that we may be happy at home.  So true, isn't it?  When you lay your head down at night, are you happy and at peace?  Does it matter if you achieve success in one area if it is at the expense of the others like physical health, the love and respect of your kids, the numbing of your mind?  Of course not.  I am not trying to be all "out there" with these thoughts on peace.  I am really trying to define it for myself so that I can better choose what to pursue.  What will bring more balance, completeness and soundness to my life.   All the rest is really just a distraction.  I even went to dictionary.com and looked up "shalom" on it.  Do you know what came up on the side?  An advertisement for amazon.com that said "buy shalom now" !!!  I thought that was pretty hilarious! 

 

 

 

I found the peace that passes understanding

I found the river where the living water flows

I found the joy that only comes from knowing Jesus

I found the lover of my soul

 

I am trying to "speak" this into my life today.  I had this song on my heart all last week, but would have felt like a fake if I had posted it here and pretended that my home is just overflowing with peace.  Actually it has been a circus around here.  Debbie Martin has been telling me since I found out there were two babies that for her it got crazy around 18 months.  She kept telling me how wonderful it was when the boys were infants, then it went crazy when they hit 18 months.  Well, I was just sure it would be different for me because I have had only glimpses of "wonderful" since bringing home.  Oh I feel so guilty for admitting that, but they are hard work.  But she was right, it seems to be getting crazier now.  They are at the stage where they just want to explore everything, but don't understand that if they head down the stairs on their heads, it will hurt!  Elijah has resurrected "Biter Boy" in the cage.  He had not been biting for months, and Friday afternoon when I was giving Emily her bath I found 4 purple marks on her back where he had bit her.  Emily is no walk in the park either.  She has two modes, quiet and happy or screaming bloody murder.  Well, what with the biting and all it is no surprise.  So she isn't as mute as I feared.  She is saying Mama and still gives kisses.  Elijah has learned "bite" and says it with a smirk.  He has also taken a few steps.  They are hilarious when out of the pen.  Emily just runs through the house laughing and swinging her arms.  Elijah likes to throw things across the kitchen floor, crawl after them, then do it again.  Elijah also likes to finger paint with the last ounce of milk in his bottle.  Oh joy, maybe he can become a starving artist.  Probably not when you look at the size of his ham-hock legs.  Lydia is staring at me, more guilt.  Better go engage her in some cognitive stimulating play.