Challenges
Embrace them
Fearless, with courage
Taste life’s treasured gifts
Blessings
Maturing
Home alone
World grows smaller
Embrace family and friends
Love
Embers
Burning low
Embracing more hope
Blazing back to life
Rekindled
This series of poems (written in the German-inspired style of Elfchen or Elevenie) shares a total of eleven words in each poem, with a sequence by line of one, two, three, four, and one words.
If I were starting my family over again, I would give first priority to my wife and children, not my work.
From Psalm 90:12: “So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.”
Mema scurries around the house. She’s looking for something very important on this Game Day. Her beloved Ohio State Buckeyes are facing that team up north (aka Michigan Wolverines) in the “Big Game.”
Kick-off is about 20 minutes away, and she needs to be holding on to her lucky pigskin. She calls out, “Has anyone seen my football?”
No one responds. Her husband is in the kitchen cooking up some game time snacks, and her two young grandchildren are playing in the backyard.
Hearing a commotion coming from the yard, Mema looks out to see a quick improvisation of the “Big Game.” Some of the neighborhood kids are dressed in the Buckeyes’ scarlet and gray. A few others are decked out in their Wolverines’ blue and maize.
As her eyes scan the game field, she notices her beloved pigskin. For right now, it is “the” game ball for this sandlot contest.
Kick-off for the real “Big Game” is just minutes away, and this backyard, gridiron classic needs to wrap up its final play . . . pronto!
With time running out, Mema steps out into the yard. She huddles up with her tandem of receivers (grandson and granddaughter). Few know that she possesses a pretty darn good arm herself.
In the huddle, Mema is holding her precious football. She diagrams the final play with two simple, dynamic words . . . “Go Long!”
From 1 John 4:7: “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”
Vulnerable and broken
Young lives scattering like chaff
Fractured, alone in darkness
Story needs new paragraph
Emulating Jesus’ love
Family opens their home
One lost child, then another
Spirit reaches out, love roams
Called by Christ, door swings open
Wrapping His love around each
Two daughters bond as sisters
New lessons waken to teach
Family’s love grows daily
Centered around faith and trust
Christ’s joy filling each new page
Four lives together, robust
Future looking brighter now
Surrounded by parents’ love
Sisters linking together
Jesus smiles from above
In the United States, the month of November recognizes the significance of adoption. When a family reaches out to provide foster care for a deserving child, this is one of life’s most unselfish, blessed tasks. As in the case of our family, this story opens life’s new chapter for our granddaughters, both adopted into our family.
Taking a peek from the kitchen window, an eager three-year old girl watches her Dad and older brother working in the backyard. With the final, late autumn rush of fallen leaves completed, they are raking up the annual harvest.
Bursting with excitement, Lydia enjoys the pile of colorful leaves growing wider and deeper. She asks her Mom, “May I go out in the backyard to play?”
In the meantime, Dad and brother have moved to the front yard to clean up the few remaining leaves hiding under some bushes. The enormous leaf pile is waiting for a little princess to share her imagination.
With permission granted, Mom makes sure her precious daughter is wearing a jacket. There is a subtle crispness to the autumn afternoon’s air. The jacket’s collage of color will make a pretty complement to the orange, red, yellow, and rust colors of the leaves.
Dashing out the back door, Lydia sprints as fast as her three-year old legs will allow. Upon reaching the mountain of leaves, she dives right into the middle. Quickly, she begins swimming, and her helicopter arms swish the leaves away.
Sitting in her newly formed crater, she feels like a captain of a ship. Surrounded by a protective ring of color, she looks to be quite in charge.
Suddenly, she is joined by her older sister. Now Lydia can enjoy her autumn paradise even more. The two girls, several years apart in age, create their own universe in the backyard.
Swimming and thrashing about, the leaves begin to scatter. What could make this even more fun?
Mom arrives with her answer, as she jumps right into the middle of the playful scene. Now the trio of ladies has fully taken over the once mountainous pile of leaves. With each animated action, the depth of the pile shrinks as it scatters wider and wider.
Eventually the laughter and fun invite Dad and brother. As they approach the backyard to see what’s up, they stop and smile. True, their hard work has been strewn about, but family fun like this only comes along once a year.
They both join in with the others. Leaves are being thrown in the air, and bits and pieces cling to hair and clothes. In the middle of it all, smiles an innocent-looking three-year old. Her precious expression says it all, “Can we do this tomorrow?”
Gracing the Treasure State with a magical oasis, Columbia Gardens will always reign as one of Montana’s past gems. Now forgotten along with the “richest hill on earth,” Butte’s utopian paradise hearkens back to its mining past.
Copper ruled Montana from the underground mines of Butte to the State Capitol in Helena. The ore from copper-rich veins even reached across America to influence the nation’s capital. Many knew of Butte, America (the city liked to say).
Businessman and mining magnate, William A. Clark, welcomed an opportunity to gift the mining families of Butte as well as to pave the way to his election as U.S. Senator. He bestowed a magnificent park with every imaginable attraction; while at the same time, he purchased a significant vote in the Montana legislature (U.S. Senators back in the day were elected by each state’s legislature until the 17th Amendment allowed for their direct election).
Built in 1899, Columbia Gardens would eventually grow to cover 68 acres in the city of Butte. Admission would always be free, and concessions and rides could be purchased for a small price. Over its lifetime, the park would never generate a profit. The “richest hill on earth” always paid the bills.
The park became well-known outside of the Treasure State when President Theodore Roosevelt visited in 1903. Thousands would continue to enjoy Columbia Gardens for almost eight decades.
Here’s a quick synopsis of the major Columbia Gardens’ attractions:
Grand Pavilion: Big band music and dancing
Sports Stadium: Baseball home for minor league’s Butte Miners
Roller Coaster: Multiple stories high (built in 1906)
Zoo: Featuring Montana’s wildlife
Various Rides: Ferris wheel, mini train, carousel, bi-planes
Visitors also enjoyed walking the well-maintained grounds. The immaculate park shined as a garden for the ages. Every week one day was set aside as a “Children’s Day” with the emphasis on just plain ol’ fun.
Butte’s slow demise from its greatness as the “richest hill on earth” caved in as the 1970s approached. In 1973, Columbia Gardens closed for good. No longer would summers be filled with the excitement of another season at the park. Copper’s riches had built the park, and now they would take it away.
Papa had always been sort of set in his ways. Some might even say he’d become much too old-fashioned, but he took pride in being thrifty with a dollar.
My brother, Nick, walked up to Papa one afternoon and explained his dilemma, “My old, worn-out phone needs to be replaced. All of the guys at school own a way better one than mine.”
Looking up from his magazine, Papa firmly replied, “Ain’t broke yet!”
A few days later, Mama called out to her husband in a voice filled with distress. Her washing machine was on the fritz . . . again. Papa made a couple of quick fixes, and then told Mama, “Ain’t broke yet!”
Mama always told me, “Papa has always been a penny pincher, just like his dear ol’ Papa.”
A couple of weeks later, the zipper on my outdated winter coat was stuck. Running to Papa, I tried to convince him to buy me a new coat, “Papa, this old coat is just worn out. Don’t you think it’s time to buy me a new one?”
Papa took my coat. After fiddling with the zipper for a couple of minutes, he brought it back to me with a proud smile on his face, “Ain’t broke yet!”
The next morning, Papa was sitting at the breakfast table, and he was looking over the advertisements in the newspaper. A dashing, new pick-up truck caught his eye, and he imagined himself driving it down the street for everyone to see. With his usual humble confidence, he announced to the rest of us, “I am thinking of trading in the ol’ truck for a brand new one. She has quite a few miles on her.”
In unison, we all shouted, “Ain’t broke yet!”
In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.
Find the good, and praise it.
Children
God’s treasures
Heed His call
Care for each one
Entrusted
Children
Innocent lives
Nurtured with care
Making our world better
Adored
Children
Precious gifts
Share God’s love
Protect them from harm
Cherished
From Mark 10:14:16: “‘Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.’ And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them.”
Our children and grandchildren
Grace fills their nurturing love
For generations to come
With God calling out with love
Young, innocent, and fragile
Our youth require constant love
Their welfare rests in our hands
With God sending lasting love
Our decisions beg wisdom
Cherished treasures need our love
Number “One” priority
With God shielding through His love
Unselfish, humble adults
Time to step forward with love
Our angry wrangling at rest
With God moving hearts with love
Common sense should always lead
Precious children seek our love
Misplaced actions now buried
With God dispatching His love
From 1 Corinthians 13:11-13: “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.”
As a community, we are called by God to provide for the health, safety, and welfare of our children and grandchildren. There can be no greater calling when we are encouraged by the love and grace of our Heavenly Father.
Big Sky Buckeye 