The Rare Moments

When the children were little, the Wife feared they would "never" grow up...and they did.  Now we are at the stage where they are leaving the house; now the Wife wonders if we will "never" be together again. This year, because of Dear Farmer and the Wife's anniversary, all the children made the effort and arranged lives to be together for a full 24 hours! God answered our prayer, and there was peace among all of them for our blissful moments together...and the Wife cherished this in her heart.

The Wife clearly remembers her grandmother, the Amazing Farm-Wife, saying much the same things...
She was 90 at the time...so, it must be a "mom-thing".

These are the ebbs and flow of life. Children graduate from sippy cups(the inventor of which, should have received some sort of award!) to coffee mugs. The arrows, that were once jammed inside our very cramped quiver, are shot out. Wrangling them to all come home at one time, doesn't often happen.  It's the rare moments that help us to look back and be thankful for all the craziness of the past with fondness.
Those little ridiculous trials-the child who refused to eat potatoes, the dishwasher that never quite worked right, or the dustpan that was forever cracked-they weren't that big of a deal after all.
Probably didn't need to stress over the unplanned haircut, or the marker on his face.

Enjoy those rare moments...cherish them in your heart...

Jell-O: part of the Tapestry of Family

There is an art in the family that appears on the buffet line at every family gathering...the Jell-O.
In our family, the Jell-O rarely comes plain...there's always an additive.  The additive makes it stretch further, and gives it some sort of health(maybe). The Amazing Farm-Wife tells me she will only use a couple boxes of the gelatin concoction...so the additive is that much more important.
Here's the Jell-O's we know best:
Lime with cabbage shredded in
Lime with cottage cheese mixed in
Orange with cottage cheese mixed in
Orange and Lime both got carrots and sliced celery
Pineapple mixed in with just about any flavor

Our family has a special list of favorites, because there's people that we have had over for dinner that do not understand/like the wonderful taste of cabbage shredded into their Jell-O:
Raspberry with Raspberry Pie Filling
Peach with Peach Pie Filling
Blue with Blueberry Pie Filling
Strawberry with (did you guess it?) Fresh strawberries!

Old-timers remember Jell-O plain gelatin with veggies and hard boiled eggs in a wonderful visual display, but it takes a little getting used to for younger people...

Regardless how the Jell-O comes, it's always served with love, laughter, and a whole bunch of great people!