|
The Aardsma Weekly
March 26, 2009
Writer: Rachel Aardsma
Changes
It amazes me. No matter where I look just now, change is taking place. Maybe that is always the case, and I'm just seeing more of it now than usual because I'm looking for it, but it seems like there is more changing this spring than I can remember in past springs.
Of course, the most obvious change is the weather. Just a week or two ago we were getting regular snow, the temperature hovered near 0, and we only left the warmth of the house when we had to. Now, spring rain is turning everything green, the sun is out, and we are all venturing outside for strolls and games and basks in the bright warmth.
If you want to see change, just look at our political scene. You may see a little more change than you bargained for! 'Change' was a big part of President Obama's campaign, and now he's doing his very best to bring us lots and lots. America has changed leaders and administration, and now they're changing policies and laws and ways of doing things. Not all of it is neccesarily bad, and I don't say that I'm a political expert---all I'm saying is listening to the news every night on the radio, I'm hearing about a lot of change I think we could do without.
My cat Jack enjoys a good roll in the dirt after a long, cold winter. Photo by me.
|
Another big change in the U.S.A. has been with the economy. 'Economy'....that's a word I hear a lot these days, along with other words like 'recession', 'unemployment', 'stock market', and 'spending plan'. For weeks I heard on the news about companies closing and this many or that many people now without jobs, but the reality didn't sink in until only a few weeks ago. A company only a few minutes away from here is closing. It is a very big employer for many people in this area. Several people I know will lose their jobs when the company closes. Every time it comes up in local conversation somebody else chips in....a cousin, a brother, a friend...everybody knows somebody who has lost their job. So I'm getting a look at the 'unemployment' side of the change in the economy.
But, with all this happening in the world around me, I don't have to look further then outside my bedroom door to see change! To start with, everbody is growing up on me! I suppose I'm doing the same thing, but it always seems everybody else is changing faster than me! Timothy and Caleb especially just now are growing like weeds. I watch in amusement that turns to amazement as emptied plates are passed back for more again and again and again at meals! It doesn't matter what it is---be it spaghetti or broccoli casserole---they consume incredible quantities!
Change can't come soon enough for Caleb---he can't wait to be done his school for the year!
Photo by me.
|
Of course, you get to see how much everybody has grown when you take all the spring clothes out of storage and put them back in the closets and try them on for the first time in four or five months!
"I can't wear any of this stuff, Mom! I'm two sizes bigger this year!"
Caleb quietly 'borrows' Timmy's clothes---Timmy jokingly tries on Matthew's---Matthew goes out and buys new clothes! And we girls...well, much of what we wear is passed between Mom, Beka and me until you can't be quite sure who's is who's! When 'National Closet Cleaning Day' is announced, everybody makes their piles of 'don't want', and a few of us quietly go from pile to pile, rummaging, selecting a few items for our own closets, considering if an older sibling's cast off shirt is worth keeping till we grow into it---which it usually is as the 'growing into' seems to be passed over in favor of 'growing out of' before too many days have gone by!
Some change happens really fast. You don't even realize it and it is already over. Like Matthew, who comes home from work one day, and you realize something isn't quite right. On closer investigation, you find that sometime between breakfast and lunch, a change has taken place: he's lost a few inches of hair! New haircut, new look...another change that takes a little getting used to, but it never lasts for very long. Give him a week or two and his hair has already grown back into what you are used to seeing!
Other changes are gradual. Again, like Matthew, and this time, Beka too! Both of them have begun to shift their sights from home to college. Matthew, being older, is a little ahead. Graduation from high school is days away, he's already been accepted to the University of Illinois, and many discussions on housing options and meals and transportation have already taken place, and continue to take place. This fall he'll be joining many other young people from around the world and plunging head-first into college life. As for Beka, she's not quite there yet. But she is studying hard for the SAT college entrance test, getting used to foreign words like 'professor', 'room-mates', and 'dorm', and wondering always "What should I do with my life?". This is the beginning of change. Give us one or two more years and you'll find us a small and lonely group here in Loda, with Beka and Matthew gone.
Beka and Timmy hard at work moving bags of leaves out of the shed which we hope will soon house a horse. Photo by me.
|
Other changes have been happening. Smaller changes. Like Beka preparing the shed in the back to receive a horse---a childhood dream of hers finally coming true. And the new row of blueberries in the garden. And even Mom's flower beds, carefully being sized down a little, due to the fact that there is nobody any longer with hours of time on their hands to weed them!
These are only a few of the changes that have been happening lately. I could keep going, but I think I'll just end with this anonymous quote I came across recently: "Change is inevitable, except from vending machines."
The Weekly Bible Verse
Leviticus 19:1-2: The Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: 'Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.'"
Day In My Week
Tuesday, March 10, 2009: It is tough to get out of bed this morning, due to the recent time change that my inner clock has yet to adjust to! But it is only a few minutes after my alarm goes off that I'm up and cleaning my room. After a hasty e-mail check, I hurry to make myself some breakfast. Beka is already up and we whisper for a few minutes as we make our respective breakfasts. Then she departs into the living room to watch the sun come up and the early-morning neighborhood activity, and I find my way to my room to listen to an online program.
We begin our daily tasks a little late as the rest of the family is also struggling to get used to the time change. But soon everybody is busy and I am too. Beka has her own work so I have the dishes to myself, and also the cleaning of the house, a bit of laundry, and lunch preparations. We're having lasagna today, so I take half an hour to assemble that and put it out of the way until cooking time.
Other odd jobs fill up the rest of my morning, and then it's time to get lunch on the table. Everybody is home for lunch and devotions, which is a bit of a rarity just now, so the talking and joking goes on for quite a while. But dishes and school comes eventually, and silence, for the most part, reigns. I struggle through math problems which Beka assured me would be 'easy' (I don't believe that word exists in a mathematical context), and then go for a long walk in the drizzly day with Mom and Beka. Spring is on the march--the grass is turning green and the robins are back!
After a little more school and quick supper, I have the rest of the evening to fill with correspondence, music, playing with the dogs, reading, or just hangin' out in Beka's room.
Bits and Pieces
Well, big doings here in the Aardsma family lately! You all aren't going to believe all that's happened! Of course we knew February and March were going to be eventful....but still!!
I guess the biggest news is (are you ready for this??) TWO new family members. On February 8, at noon, Brooklyn Hope Goija was born to my sister Laura and her husband Philip, and their other little girl, Kelsey. Brooklyn was three weeks early, but, except for some jaundice complications, both mother and baby are doing fine!
Baby Brooklyn and Aunt Beka getting to know each other. Photo by me.
|
You're probably all thinking "Didn't she say two?". Yes, I did. Cailyn Paige Aardsma, born to my sister-in-law Kathryn and my brother David on March 7, makes two. She was born at 3:16 in the morning by C-section. She is David and Kathryn's first baby. We are so excited for them as they enter this new phase of their life. Cailyn is absolutely beautiful and precious! Unfortunately, they had a bit of a rough start with medical complications for Kathryn, but everybody is fine now.
Think you can handle any more news? I won't give you much more, except that Dad, Timothy, and Caleb all had birthdays in the last two months. So Timmy is now 12 (oh boy...he's going to be a teenager before I know it...), Caleb is 10 (makes me feel old to have a ten-year-old as my youngest sibling!), and Dad is 54 (no comment). We also celebrated our 15th anniversary of moving to Loda.
Baby Cailyn sleeping in Uncle Matthew's arms. Photo by me.
|
Spring is FINALLY here after a very, very, very long winter! We have actually had some days lately that approached uncomfortably warm! Beka and I are done school, and are shifting to garden mode! We've already planted a few things, and potatoes and other vegetables will be going in soon. That and Beka's yearly piano recital, and the robins flying around, and the grass that has turned green overnight are all convincing signs that spring has come!
You all must be wondering where I've been over the past few months. Well, I've been here, and busy. Writing, editing, and posting a Weekly once a week isn't practical for me--it takes up too much of my time. So the Weekly has become more random. Don't worry, I'm still writing it, and I don't plan on stopping for quite a while yet, they will just be more spaced out.
The cats all love sleeping in the greenhouse where the temperature stays high even on the coldest days.
Here's the mama cat making herself cozy in a can full of mulch. Photo by me.
|
A Word About The Weather
The weather is fluctuating a bit crazily just now. We go from warm to cold to warm to cold again! But no matter what the weather, one thing stays the same: rain!! But we don't mind the rain as it is a sign of spring, and it is turning everything green again after a winter of brown-ness.
A Word Of Wisdom
There's nothing quite like sour milk in your cereal to wake you up in the morning, as Dad and Matthew can both testify!
|
