Now Gone

Today Uncle Jack passed away, with many of his family members surrounding him just before he passed on.  

I have begun collecting stories about him for some scrapbook pages I am working on, and haven't had time to put them to paper, but wanted to share them in his honor today.

From his grandson Josh:

One of the things everyone notices about Grandpa is that he has amazing eyebrows. I recall several Christmases in the late 80s and early 90s when all the grandkids got a first-hand look at just how amazing they were.

On occasion, Grandpa would secretly go into another room and back-comb his eyebrows so they were as large and bushy as possible. Then he'd turn his collar up so it would almost be touching his ears. And he'd come roaring out where all the kids were playing with his hands like claws in the air and his teeth bared, doing a fantastic Dracula. We'd all scream and laugh and run around. It was funny every single time.

From his granddaughter Kaye:

I remember so many family meals at their house. One that stands out in my memory was for a Thanksgiving day meal. We were all seated, the food on the table smelling wonderful and Grandpa had asked someone to say the prayer. The prayer began and my brother, tempted by the wonderful smelling rolls thought he would sneak the first while others had their eyes shut. Grandpa being ever aware shot out a fork and promptly poked Dave's hand mid- swipe. I did not think I could suppress the laughter any longer, thank goodness the prayer was short. Sorry if you read this Dave-had to share!

From his granddaughter Heidi:

What stands out most to me is how multi-faceted Grandpa is. One moment her is talking your ear off about the smart ways to invest and the next he is showing you how to tap dance. I remember one summer when we were staying with him, he thought Beth and I spent too much time indoors. So he decided to teach us to tap dance. Every day for a week he would take us out on the front sidewalk and drill us on the few steps he had taught us. I never did learn to tap dance, but I remember those sunny afternoons fondly.  I also vaguely remember going to see Captian Kangaroo with Emily and Mike beacuse of Grandpa.(Jack was a lead character on a children's television program.)

From his great grandkids, Heidi's children:

My children best remember Great Grandpa as the man with all the hats. He and Grandma came to visit once and he brought in a big black garbage bag full of hats. He sat all the kids down around him and read them a story about the different hats we wear. They thought he was the coolest old man they had ever seen.

From his granddaughter Beth Minda:

Grandpa has for me always been a source of inspiration. I learned to dance because of him. I learned to teach because him. His beautiful voice taught me to love stories. His wisdom though scary at times to a shy little girl was always awe inspiring. What I most remember though is his beautiful way of encouraging everyone to be the best at what they do. Strong, smart and very goodlooking no wonder grandma fell hard for him.

From his daughter Janell:

My favorite memory of Dad is the Saturday morning he asked me, at age 9, if I'd like to walk in the woods. I spent most of my waking hours in the woods so I was very happy to go. He said, "We'll need to take a few things along. Get a small frying pan and three eggs." 
I had no idea what this was all about. We scrambled through the woods until we found an old corrugated metal window well. Dad flipped it in the upside down U position and proceeded to build a good boy scout fire under it. Then he made us scrambled eggs. Boy is food tasty in the woods! He told me stories as we ate.

More Wedding

Lisa came over today SANS Benjamin and we got to spend the afternoon doing our favorite thing, laughing and scrapping together!

I did five layouts and so did she.  Above are a couple I did just for me.  A friend of mine challenged me to do a layout with a title from a TV show last week, so I used the title of Dancing with the STARS on the layout from the reception.  Lisa challenged me to do a layout inspired by an altered jar that I fell in love with at Tallyscrapper.com.  I love how that one turned out.  

The second layout was from a color challenge I posted on tallyscrapper.com today, to use three colors randomly chosen by dice roll.  My colors for the layout were two tones of green and my title had to contain either the word Midnight or the word Blue.  I love these little 2x3 photos I printed at my local grocery store for cheap!

For Scrap It Forward

A lovely woman I "met" on tallyscrapper.com asked for submission to her challenge blog called Scrap it Forward, and I love the concept she has going there. Charity combined with scrappy goodness. Wonderful idea. She was looking for baby pages, and it just so happens I have 1 or 1000 baby pictures of that sweetie, Ben. So here goes Christine!

We are Stained Inside

The words to the Casting Crowns song Stained Glass Masquerade are always powerful to me. They represent a struggle I had most of my life, the struggle to be real amidst a sea of regular, of good, of unreal. That sounds judgemental and harsh, but the judgement is all on me. Like the television set that is in 98% of American homes, but which does not grace ours, I do not condemn either the church or the television; it is an indictment of my weak and wandering will, which seeks fitting in and pleasure far more than it should. Is worshiping at the church on the corner wrong? I cannot say that it is for you or you. But for me it was impossible. It was an exercise filled each moment with doubt and hypocrisy, it was straightening my skirt and struggling to hear the truth behind the beautiful music and mostly counting the number of boards in the lovely steepled roof.

I tried a monastic sort of relationship with God; just he and I and no one else invited. I faltered here too, because the very influences that drew me to shiny plasticity, were also strangely what kept me on course, what kept me coming back to God and working on our relationship.

And then God led me down a road that I didn't even know was possible, but for which my heart had been longing all my life. It really isn't a road though, its a barely visible trail, just a few footsteps in the snow really, more of a track.

And that track is what I now call church. I'm sure over 150 people have come and gone down this track, some continue to walk it, some got back on the larger road, many stopped moving all together.

There is no room for pomp and circumstance, there is no place for performance, there is just real people, really trying to have a real relationship with God, and really asking for each other's help. Sometimes in the aftermath of a Sunday at our house I find a travel mug left behind. Sometimes I find a piece of my heart I had given up on. Always I find that our differences, which are many, are left with our shoes and coats at the door of each home we meet in.

I am nostalgic and appreciative of this great church home we have found at last. And yet, if I have learned anything in these five years, it is not to cling too tightly to this place, this group. Only God, only where His track leads me, only that and nothing more or less. Perhaps I will turn around and find that God is leading me back to the steepled, stained glass corner church.

But for now I am to stay with this group of people whose stained glass windows shine out from their hearts and souls.

More Erin

Bree, a sweetheart of a lady I met at tallyscrapper.com designed some cutouts for me for an idea I had that didn't fly. I couldn't let these beautiful samples go to waste though, so I am happy to design some pages around them.

They are so delicate and elegant, so of course I thought of the wedding. The other page is Erin's highschool grad photo. That was taken over seven years ago. Freaky!

Bree, you are a wonder, and thank you so much for helping me!

Watching Mom Make Videos

For tallyscrapper.com, I make video how-tos from time to time. Andrew, who has really been enjoying using our old video camera, wanted to make a how-to video of his own.

Uncle Jack

My Uncle Jack, who is married to my mother's sister, is not doing well these days. Recently he was moved to Our Lady of Good Counsel Hospice Home.

I have little personal knowledge of my Uncle; I'm not sure why but we didn't venture back to Minnesota often as I was growing up and once I moved here personally the connection never formed. It's probably my fault and I'm sad about it. Uncle Jack and Aunt Ginny gave birth to six kids, and my cousins and their children have always fascinated me as they are talented and very real. Of course like any family they have had their share of sadness, but overall they have stayed together and stayed true. I have many photos of my Uncle Jack, but few stories, so I asked my relatives who are on facebook to tell me what they remember. Primarily I'm getting stories from Uncle Jack's grandkids, so I need to do a couple more pages to hold those memories.

I'm counting on my mom for some from the early days. She lived with her sister and husband in her late teens when her parents went on a long vacation (a year? two?) Ginny is 18 years my mom's senior.

Above are some empty pages, awaiting their memories...