Hard to Believe- Mother of GROWN Children

It's hard to believe that I am now a Mother of adult children! I hope that I have been even half the Mother to them that my Mother was to me. I know that I love my children as my Mother loved us. I also know that I let them know how much I love them. And, they let me know that they love me. I'm so thankful for that.

It was wonderful that our daughter sent me a lovely bouquet of flowers to my work place on Friday. I brought them home and have been enjoying them all weekend.

Our middle child, who likes to cook, offered to make me a special meal today of anything that I requested. I asked for his Manicotti, and he made the the very best he has ever made...it was so delicious! He cooked everything from scratch, using fresh herbs, tomatoes, nothing canned. He used 5 different cheeses and italian sausage for the filling and a delicious fresh meat sauce! I saved some to freeze to take to our daughter and saved some for our youngest son. It was the best Mother's Day present that Rob ever gave me! (Oh, yes...he shopped for and paid for all the ingredients too!)

Speaking of our youngest, I didn't get to see him today, but he did call and wish me a Happy Mother's Day.

And, our daughter called, and I had a really nice visit via telephone with her. I wished her a Happy Mothers Day too, as she is a Mother too!!

Considering how I miss my Mother, my Mother in Law, and my Grandmothers... I really did have a good Mother's Day!! Thank you Dawn, Rob and Scott. I love my kids so much, and have such good memories of them growing up!

Miss My Mother

My Mother passed away 5 years ago on Mother's Day Morning. It makes Mother's Day even harder for me and my siblings, because we know it was Mother's Day that we lost her. My Mother always told me that her Mother was her best friend, and now I know that that even though she and I were states away from each other, we talked on the phone a lot. The days before the phone rates were reasonable, we wrote each other regularly. I had a letter from her every week. She was my best friend too. I know that she was my sisters best friend, who lived right next to her and Dad. So, I know how my sister feels even more lost without her, and I know she is still grieving Mom and Dad, as if their passing was just this year! Our Mother was very instrumental in all 5 of my siblings and my life...and we all miss her so much!

In memory of Romaine Elizabeth, we love you and miss you!

Snow May 7, 2010 - Duluth, MN

Here's some photos to show how beautiful it was here yesterday!

Beautiful Snow in May - Duluth, MN

We had snow yesterday! Maybe 3 inches over the hill where we live, on May 7th! Duluth made the national news! They said it hasn't happened in history here...that's not true. I remember snow in May before. Someone yesterday he specifically remembered getting a substanial amount of snow in May of 1995...that's not that long ago!

The good news: It's 3 pm on May 8th. Our snow is gone! We see the green again, both on the trees and in the yards! So, snow in May is certainly bearable for us here in the Northland!

It was so very beautiful driving home from work yesterday. With everything except the road, covered with snow, the roads were just wet. I had to stop and take a few photos...I am posting them here for you to enjoy also.

"St. John's BIBLE"

My post below told you about the exhibit at the Science Museum that I saw on Tuesday of The Dead Sea Scrolls, AND the pages of the "Illuminated St. John's Bible". In case you have not heard of this (I hadn't) here is some information. It is one of the first completely handwritten Bibles since the invention of the printing press. St. John's University here in Southeastern Minnesota (Collegeville), commissioned this work (see the info below that I took from the Wikipedia) and you can go on the official web site and see and read more. The exhibit showed the orginial pages that are finished so far, in calligraphy and beautiful artwork, all done with quills, like in ancient days! The project is to be finished in 2011. The pages are truly works of art and very beautiful!

"At the dawn of the twenty-first century, Saint John's Abbey and University seek to ignite the spiritual imagination of believers throughout the world by commissioning a work of art that illuminates the Word of God for a new millennium."- Mission Statement of The Saint John's Bible Commission.

Beginning in 1970, master calligrapher Donald Jackson expressed in media interviews his lifetime dream of creating an illuminated Bible. Following a Saint John's-sponsored calligraphy presentation at the Newberry Library in Chicago in 1995, Jackson discussed a hand-written Bible with Fr. Eric Hollas, OSB, former executive director of the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota. Between 1996 and 1997, Saint John's explored the feasibility of the Bible project, Jackson created first samples, and theologians developed the illumination schema. The Saint John’s Bible was officially commissioned in 1998 and funding opportunities were launched. The public was introduced to the project in 1999 and it is scheduled to be completed in 2011.

The Saint John's Bible is seven volumes and two feet tall by three feet wide when open. The Bible is made of vellum, with 160 illuminations, and has cost $4 million to produce. The version of the Bible is the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

From Wikipedia

The official website: http://www.saintjohnsbible.org/

The Dead Sea Scrolls

These scrolls over 2,000 years ago were found hidden in caves in The Dead Sea, near The Holy Land, where Jesus walked. Many were found in jars as the photo below.

Last Tuesday, I took a day of vacation from my job to join a group of women from Hope and area churches, to travel to The Minnesota Science Museum in St. Paul (MN) to see their exhibit of "The Dead Sea Scrolls" and "St. John's Illuminated Bible". It was well worth taking a day off, the exhibits were great, and very interesting! There was a lot of history and background given to help understand how, where, and also the impact of finding the scrolls! The first ones were found the year I was born. After that, they went back to the caves and found more, over a period of time throughout the 50's and early 60's. It is just amazing how those findings could be translated and prove the writings of the Bible!

Pages from The St. John's Illuminated Bible, were also on display. (see my post on it). We were in there over 2 hours, and didn't even realize two hours had passed when we came out from the exhibit hall!

I have to add too, that being on a bus with a group of fun loving ladies, made the 2 1/2 hour trip of going and coming, lots of fun too!! Thanks to Pastor Laurie from Hope UMC for coordinating this trip.

I'm so thankful that my eye was better, so I didn't have to miss a worthwhile day. It made up for the weekend before!

Much Better This Weekend!

Well, I certainly did have a better weekend than I did last weekend. Last Friday evening I accidentally got some cleaning solution in my left eye. Ouch, did that ever hurt! I went to Urgent Care at my favorite hospital. The Doc looked at the cornea and said it looked fine, and even though I was in terrible pain, he did not send me home with any medicine, told me just to take ibupron. Well, it didn't get better, and I went to bed early, so that I would not feel the pain. 3 AM, woke up with worse pain, and a worst looking eye, red and swollen! Went back to UC and after waiting many hours to be seen,and being very miserable, find out that NOW there is a burn on my cornea. So back home with two eye drop medications, to be taken every 2 hours. Went back to bed. Got up only to take the eye drops.... the only way I could handle the pain was to sleep! So, I also slept away the whole day on Sunday. What a waste of a weekend! And, eye pain is one of the worst pains ever! Thankfully, the meds worked, I was able to go to work on Monday...though I had to explain to everyone that I did not have "Pink Eye," which is contagious, and still did my eye drops every two hours. I was worried that it wouldn't be better for a trip I was taking the next day to St. Paul with a group to see the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Science Musuem. The Doctor told me that "eyes heal fast", he was right. I was able to take the trip the next day and see all the exhibits at the museum!

May is Here!!

I bet you are like me, you can't believe the month of May is here already!! I must say that this past winter in the Northland here was not very bad, and it passed by pretty fast, faster than usual! Of course, having spring come here earlier than it has in probably 40 years, has really helped! We've had some very nice days, and in March we had rain instead of snow, and our green and leaves on our trees came out in April! Yes, we have actually had a spring here! Very nice!