Gayla's Magazine

Christmas Family Traditions

Usually the house is decked out and Christmas is in every room.  But this year life has been more about ministry and the needs of others for our family.  This is the only decoration this year in the whole house.... actually it has felt a little strange, but relaxing..... different but free. 

But our traditions of Christmas have remained the same.  It's important for a woman to minister to her family in a special way at Christmas.  After all.... what are memories made from,  but the acts we perform for our family out of the love of our hearts at Christmas time.

 

This year we have a snowman to decorate and eat as well as the gingerbread house.

 

Everybody has fun... all of us together around the table... talking and decorating him as wild as we want to.

 

 

With cups of hot chocolate.... stirred with spoons made of cinnamon....with  lots of icing and laughter all around....we two moms enjoy watching the children and the men work on expressive creations of sugary content!

 

After it's all completed.... then we get to eat it... take what ever part you want!  It's part of the whole experience that the kids love. 

A great family dinner.... the chapel service.... a private communion service together.... go home and decorate the  gingerbread house... AND a snowman .....while sipping hot chocolate together.  We have begun our family Christmas Holiday 2009!! 

It's going to be a great Christmas for our family!! Merry Christmas!

The Treasure Map

Making memories with my 5 year old grandson is very important.  He is full of life and can tell me with just a look, his delight or disdain over something.  And together we have found a special game to play, that makes his eyes dance with joy looking at me.  He loves treasure maps.  So today my creation for him is a one of a kind treasure hunt for 'real treasure'.  Sadly the weather is causing havoc so instead of being outside - my creativity will have to work overtime to entertain him indoors. 

The minute he arrives he wants to know - MiMi do you have a treasure map for me?  Of course - who wouldn't want to thrill this darling little boy! So handing him the 'map' full of my drawings and instructions - he wants to begin right away.

So after counting steps, walking various places in the house, looking high and low he comes to the clues one by one.  A set of keys, a little note, a cup hidden with another message inside upstairs and downstairs, inside cabinets and under chairs - he is throughly intrigued and having such a good time.  It means so much to him when he can figure out the words I have written in his map.  Mom, Dad, his little sister, PawPaw and I follow him around smiling and laughing at his enjoyment. 

And finding his little treasure chest at the end of the map was pure joy!  He was thrilled and his sister was happy with hers as well.

  And then it's on to his Pirates play things to add the new little pieces to his collection. There can be no better way to spend a rainy afternoon on a holiday than with my family making memories to last in his little heart.

And then PawPaw has a surprise up his sleeve also.  'Come outside to the back porch and see something kids'.  My curiosity gets the best of me and I have got to go see also.  And there in the concrete he has taken the power washer and written the kids names in the sidewalk.  Oh the smiles and the awe of 2 pairs of big eyes looking up at him in admiration of what he did for them!  'Wow! This is really big PawPaw'!

So everyone has to stand up high to get a good view of the artistic names that are shining in the rain washed concrete. Oh how impressed they were!  The memory making days are here and we are taking advantage of them at each chance that rolls around.

Life's precious and important moments are not made of money, nor prestige or fame.  But they are the little pockets of time spent with those you love.  And the value of those times of sweet loving support are truly priceless, and we will hold them close forever. Today I have been in a wealthy place.      

 

Through the Eyes of a Child

Looking at life through the eyes of a child, brings a whole new perspective to things.  They see a very different view than us adults.  First of all things that they see are much taller to them.  Their little size makes the ratio of small to big completely different.  And that which an adult passes over as nothing - is a delightful event to a child.

Have you ever went back to the house you were raised in and found the size of it completely different than when you remembered? 'It's so small' you might say. Or found a old favorite toy again later as an adult, only to see it as tattered and not at all as beloved as you once thought it to be? The reality of an adult is not same as the view point of a child.  The child sees the house as huge - and the favorite toy as wonderful

Gracie wants to fit in my shoes, but not to wear them - just to play with!  So she dreams up a new use for them that is fun for her.  These are now ankle warmers.  And she walks around in them acting silly but enjoying the moment.  I never thought about my house slippers being 'fun'.  They are just something to wear in the mornings.  Right?

And now on to another game - sliding them up her little legs, they are now knee warmers.

And they are fun to wear because I can't bend my knees in them.  And she laughs and laughs about it! 

And when she is done laughing at herself - she heads into my closet looking for more goodies to play with.  Finding a collar she comes out with a new hat!  Look MiMi I am a princess!  And her joy at playing dress up increases.  I somehow missed this new use for the collar.

And finding my fluffy slippers she has now arranged in the very instant to be a cheer leader and she stomps around clapping her slippers and waving them at us. I sure have never enjoyed these like this before! 

The animal print slippers are now arm bands and the white fluffy ones are now a muff to wear over her hands.  She is the entertainment for us all with 2 pair of house slippers and a collar. And as she finds new uses for each of these, her enjoyment increases along with her laughter.   

Simple?  Easy?  No complications, no expense, no political do's or don'ts, no tip toes, no problems, no people issues,  - just simple life through the eyes of a child enjoying living, and laughing.   

How can I make her thought processes my own today and turn my footsteps into joy and my actions into enjoyment.   

My Precious Mother

This little lady has traveled the world for 50 plus years.  Standing faithfully beside her husband, taking care of him and her children she has braved many challenges in life.  Her life has been spent selflessly for the needs of others.  I have watched her live in different nations always with a smile, even though the food was strange and sometimes couldn't be eaten.  Living in conditions that were difficult and strenuous.  Enduring the heat, and surviving the cold she has been steady and has never given up on facing a hardship in life.  Having a grueling schedule of travel and no decent place to live.  Staying with people from different cultures and various backgrounds, being flexible enough to smile when she couldn't understand what they were even saying to her, having no knowledge of their language.  Yet she has touched thousands of lives one by one.  She has entertained important people and loved the unlovable equally the same. Her walk of faith has made her a giant hero among an untold number of people.   

Her life is a living example of a true Role Model and what it means to be a genuine Christian in private.  She has traveled on planes, trains, boats and ships, by car and bus (even up in the mountains of India)  Always a willing partner to her husband, she has supported his desires to touch the world.  Her abilities and talents are many and her quiet strength is admirable to everyone who meets her. 

Who is the great lady?  She is my mother.  I am visiting her and checking on her health, having gotten a serious health report recently. Today she spent time with a specialist who gave us some positive news.  We are looking for a complete healthy diagnoses before this is all done.  Please say a prayer for her, she has poured her life out for others in prayer and now she needs your prayers for her own.        

My Family Heritage

I enjoy seeing my grandchildren with their father so much.  A girl's relationship with her own father has a way of keeping the heart grounded in stability.  My son in law with his little girl is the perfect picture of such a relationship.  Daddy's arms to Gracie are as a tower of strength.  She feels secure and safe when he holds her.  I can see it in her eyes.  He is her refuge in the world when all goes wrong, Daddy can fix it.  The relationship between a Dad and his daughter is the foundation on which a girls inner security and personal confidence is built. 

My brother Marvin, one of the great Christian songwriters is the center of his little grand daughter's life.  To Vivian, he is her hero.  He's the fun one, her happy little face shines when he's around.  The light in her eyes is from the security she feels in his big strong arms.  Little girls need their Daddy.  It builds their self esteem, if they are loved and encouraged by their Father.

Since my own Father has retired from his position of being a Missionary (all over the world)  I get to talk to him every day if I want to. He is 'just down the road' only 1200 miles away - although that is close compared to his years in Africa, or Asia or as last year's travels in Australia.  This is in one of his offices he has had down through the years.

  Where do such good relationships begin?  From our linage of what is passed down to us from generations past.  My Grandparents heritage to me was their history of pioneering churches in Missouri, Illinois, Iowa and Arkansas.  Building little startup fellowships, and remodeling buildings to become churches, their life was all about service and helping others find salvation.  They both have since went to Heaven but they left their fingerprints in my life.  I can say I am proud of their accomplishments in the earth.

My Great Grandparents were people of honor.  Together they began a family that has touched an untold number of people for Christ.  They had no idea what would become of their linage, yet the seeds they sowed into their children turned them into mighty people of valor.  How does one value what was handed down to them through the now silent voices of character and integrity?  When I shall see these precious people on the other side of life, will they recognize me by my actions which were to be a carbon copy of their own?  The historical records are set and cannot be changed.  Their lives now passed on, have carved out a road for my own feet to follow.  Lines of truth and honesty.  Paths of righteous living to follow along behind.  They set the pace for my heritage through ministry that is the footprints I try to walk in now.  No books have been written about their lives or harrowing experiences they went through.  But the genes and DNA given to me have the strains of faithfulness and loyalty, hard work and family spiritual values imprinted within, and these have written volumes in my heart. 

The years pass slowly but surely and now my Dad is the Great Grand Father of our family.  Where did time go so fast.  He now imprints himself upon my grandchildren of who are in awe of him.  They speak of him in hushed tones and exaggerate the word GREAT  Grand Father.  Right now they are too little to understand their destiny is determined by how they choose to follow the landmarks already set by bloodlines gone before them marking the path to travel life by. The precious gifts and talents yet undeveloped within them are encouraged and allowed to grow by their relationships with the matriarchs and patriarchs of the family.  A special family?  You bet!  One that forgets what is behind and stretches for the future everyday.   

And then I watch my beloved husband with his seed and see the shaping that is happening before my eyes.  Gracie loves her PawPaw and thinks he can change the world for her anytime she needs it to change.  His relationship with her will affect her life forever as she takes her place behind in the long line of those who have taught, sung, preached lived and loved hard for that main goal - the salvation of souls.  Can she do it?  With her Daddy's voice and power encouraging her, and her PawPaw's thundering actions, and her linage of genetics finding her talents from deep within, she will find the Father's Calling for her own life and fulfill all that we have not quite finished and left for her to do.

Together my husband and I,  watch Sean and Angela guide their children towards the future with love and expectation for good to come to them. And the rest of us.......... stand silently behind them trusting we have put good stock within the young to carry them through life with wisdom.   

The Black Hairy Spider!

My grandkids and I love being together any time we can.  It's always so special with us playing together or singing or learning a new skill - or their favorite, me reading them books.  I think it must be the funny voices I use when telling a story - oh the laughing and the fun we have together!  One day this week we got to spend some time playing.  And Jake pulls out his Lego set of all kinds of little toys.  So there are toys all over the floor and Gracie and I are helping him to set up his pirate camp. 

When a little ant comes crawling out of the toys I think of all the different places these toys have been, must have proved to be the perfect hiding place for this little ant. He must have been playing hide and go seek in the toys and got separated from his friends when the toys came back inside.  So they want to know why he was playing so far from home - and I told them I guess sometimes ants don't watch where they are playing and get lost. When suddenly Gracie pulls out a big plastic spider.

And I remembered a episode that happened to me when I was a a little girl. So I gathered our future - the next generation close to me and we sat in a chair and I told them a little girls miracle. 

When I was 6 years old in Africa, one night after our cooling baths my brothers and I were setting with our mother on a small couch and she was reading the story of Pilgrims Progress to us.  My father was spending the night in another mission so we were alone that night.  It was dark and we only had a kerosene lantern to see by.  I was thirsty and ask my mom to get me a drink.  She told me to go get it by myself.  I didn't want to go because it was dark, but I obeyed and went towards the back of our small mud packed house.  I was bare footed and did not consider the dangers of a dark thatch roofed house with a bare floor.  When I got to the end of the kitchen area I felt something furry under my foot.  I screamed and ran back to my mom crying I stepped on something!  This upset her and my brothers, who were 7, 5 and 4 years old at the time.  She picked me up and looked at my foot - seeing nothing.  But I refused to calm down and insisted that there was something on the floor and she needed to 'get it'. 

So we all got up and she picked up the lantern and we walked towards the kitchen.  We were all clinging to her skirt and scared.  I am still crying.  When we reached the place I said where it was - there on the floor was a black furry tarantula spider!  Bigger than my foot and now my brothers start crying with me! 

She hurried past it and put us all on the kitchen table.  And she got the broom and went to send it into eternity.  There was no way that ugly beast would be spending the night in our small house.  Even though we all slept under mosquito netting tightly tucked in.  So she gets the broom and jabs at it.  The spider angered now, jumped on the broom!  My mother screamed, dropped the broom and jumped on the table with us!  Now she is afraid that it did bite me. 

To my readers:  In West Africa - these are poisonous spiders and to be respected.  (one missionary had lost their baby by a tarantula spider bite - although I left this part out in telling my grandkids) having not tucked the mosquito netting in tight enough under the baby's crib.   

So now we are all crying and praying at the top of our lungs, 'Save us Jesus!'  And one of the native women heard us from her hut and came running.  We pointed and she saw it - and smiled and got one of my father's boots from the bedroom and leaned over it and killed it.  Suddenly all tension was gone and peace returned!  We were saved! But she and the African woman had to carry each one of us back to the couch - we wouldn't walk past the dead creature. 

Now looking back at that, my memory is so vivid of my mother's courage.  She never blamed my dad for leaving her alone in the jungle with 4 little children, sometimes for many days at a time.  She accepted her place and with strength faced her own battles day by day.  Now my mother is deathly afraid of any bug - and still is.  But that night we conqueror a dreaded foe and she quickly went and put all our shoes on and finished reading our chapter for the night. She never had to tell any of us to wear shoes after that!   

I remember my childish heart saying, 'thank you God for not letting that spider bite my foot when I pushed him down on the floor with my foot.'

Jake and Gracie were spellbound and set never taking their eyes off of me the whole story.  I told them God takes care of every need even when you are a little child.

Tell us another one MiMi!  No..... it's enough for 2 little hearts to absorb right now. Jake was ready to conquer any foe and protect Gracie and I from any enemies around.  We are back to playing now, but my childhood testimony is added to their memory banks yet again. Tiny hearts and minds but with giant faith actions....... prevail.