Passages

Our oldest granddaughter Jordan graduated from high school yesterday. Since she had been homeschooled, her graduation was held at the church that my son's family is involved in. Jordan made a speech, the event was videotaped, a great feast was had by all, and she is now preparing for the next step in her life: going to YWAM's Discipleship Training School in Hawaii, and then (we think) college at University of the Nations, also connected with YWAM (Youth With a Mission - a worldwide parachurch evangelistic organization).

That's Jordan in a dress that I sewed by hand close to 40 years ago when I was reading the Little House books to her dad and uncle (they were about 6 and 4 years old at the time).

Jordan's cousin Brenna, the oldest daughter of our older son, will be graduating from (public) junior high school next week, and her younger brother Ethan will be graduating from 6th grade at the Christian elementary school where their mom teaches art and all 3 of her children have attended. How quickly it all goes! How soon they'll be adults!

This is lovely Brenna with her equally lovely mother Rhonda.

And here's the Big E, our star basketball/softball/soccer player.

And in the same vein, Padre Sergio, the priest who received us into the Catholic church, came to Todos Santos today to say good-bye to the people of this parish where he labored for many years. He is finally getting his long-held wish and transferring to the diocesis of Los Angeles (California, USA). Although he and his siblings grew up in Guadalajara, most of them now live in and around LA, and he has been trying for years to transfer up there. It's not easy to change from one diocese to another, and even more so when it means a change of country as well.


We never know how long we have to enjoy the people who are part of our lives today, or the details of our lives that make our hearts full. Circumstances change and people move on, and who knows when we'll be together again? It has been too many years since I've been at the great gathering of my family members that happens every July 4th on a lake in Wisconsin. It has been too many years since all of my husband's family have gotten together, although from the time we were married until the time our boys were in junior high we had a huge family Christmas party every year. Then the parents and aunts and uncles either died or moved away and our generation didn't pick up the ball. I guess "you don't know what you have 'til it's gone", as Joni Mitchell sang.

So "while it is called today", let us rejoice in the amazing gifts of God that surround us - the people, the plants, the birdsongs, the ocean and mountains, the dogs/cats/horses/goats/chickens, and all the small moments that fill our days. How precious every moment of life is!

Week Ending 7 diciembre

Here's my contribution to the linkup that Wanda hosts over at her blog, Reinventing Mother, for


Let me start by saying that it's been literally freezing cold here all week (unusual for this area). Every day has been colder than the day before.

The weekend started on Friday night with dinner at the home of a couple whom we have been close to for over 40 years. Both of them are artists: he is a world-renowned sculptor of birds, and she is a painter (I featured one of her paintings in my recent blog post here). There has been much rejoicing in that family because their younger daughter and her husband and sons have moved up and now live in the old homestead (just like our younger son and his family), while the parents live in a cottage they built on the same property (just like us!). We had a great time hanging out with them - it's such a gift to be with long-time friends!


On Saturday we went into town to pick up a couple of things and go to the Christmas Fair at the Presbyterian church. Our two oldest granddaughters had a booth there selling things made by young women rescued from the sex trade in Africa and India. The women are taught how to make these bags and jewelry as a way of earning money and supporting the ministry where they have found a safe haven. All the money my granddaughters made went to support this ministry.

The name of the ministry is Hope's Gate and you can find out more about it here.

The wind was bitingly cold so we scooted on home and sat in front of the fire for awhile before heading across the road to visit with a couple who are our "spiritual parents". Then we went to vigil mass, where we met the new priest. He's a Discalced Carmelite from the Philippines, and he speaks fluent English and Spanish, which is necessary in this parish. Of course, it's WAAAY too cold to wear sandals around here, so he was wearing the same kind of heavy shoes that everyone else wears (I just had to check that out as soon as he entered the sanctuary!) For those of you who don't know, "discalced" means "unshod" - this particular monastic order was distinguished from the main Carmelite order in that the monks and nuns didn't wear shoes.

The reason that we went to vigil mass on Saturday was so we could join the rest of our family at their Baptist church on Sunday. We have known many of the people in this congregation for decades, and we always get a very warm welcome whenever we show up - even though they know that we're now Catholic. Today they had communion - this is a rare occasion for them, and in fact in 20 years we've never been there when they served communion before. After the service the Pirate took the pastor - an old friend of ours - aside and explained why we didn't partake and we had a good conversation about the philosophies behind closed and open communion.

One of the great traditions of this congregation is that they all have lunch together after the service. They actually built a huge kitchen/dining room right at the back of the sanctuary for the purpose! It has been a strong factor in building close relationships in this little country church.

Sunday evening was our second granddaughter's 16th birthday party. It was held in the fellowship hall of the Presbyterian church in town, where the youth group (high school and college-age kids from several churches) holds its meetings. Everyone from the youth group was there, plus a bunch of parents and grandparents. Most of the time was spent in dancing - to "Cotton-Eye Joe" and other fun tunes (we were taught the steps to them - they were all line dances), and at the end there was a long bout of square dancing (the simple type, in a double line, like many of us learned in elementary school). What fun!

It's so heartening to see the innocence of youth still being nurtured and honored in rural communities!

Now it's a matter of packing up the truck with all our goodies and heading south of the border…we expect to get to the border by Wednesday and home by Saturday.

Week Ending - Thanksgiving and the weekend after

I'm checking in a day late with Wanda et al over at her blog, Reinventing Mother, for


I find it extremely hard to think about blogging when I'm with my family, but tonight I have a window of time to write a quick post. We drove up the Baja peninsula to get to Santa Barbara the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

I'm planning to do a post later this week with more detail on some of the sights.

Our whole family was there - a real treat! We have traditionally all come to Santa Barbara for Thanksgiving as the one time in the year when we're all together, but the last several years some of us have been MIA for good reasons, so it was really great to get back on track with this tradition.

These are all our grandkids - ages 9 to 17.

Some of our granddaughters did a wonderful job of setting the table with special place cards (made by Brenna), beautifully folded cloth napkins (thanks, Jordan!) and little leaves scattered festively (Jillie's contribution). And of course the actual plates, glasses, etc. (Ayla's work).


The northern branch of the family had to drive the 10 hours to get back home on Friday, because they were in a wedding on Saturday, but the Pirate and I stayed several more days and did the same 10-hour drive today (Monday).

Our two Santa Barbara granddaughters both had birthdays the week of Thanksgiving (#9 for one, #14 for the other). On Friday we all went out to dinner at a Japanese restaurant where they cook the food right at your table. Here's a photo of our (now) 14-year-old granddaughter Brenna with her mom - the twin outfits were (I believe) unintentional.

Saturday we went to Stearn's Wharf and the museum there.

Our son Josh and his 3 kids.

By Sunday we were all pretty tapped out so we just hung out at the house after church, and the Pirate and I made an early night of it since we'd be doing the long drive the next day. This morning the first thing we did before leaving Santa Barbara was to take a bag of fruit down to the park where the homeless people tend to congregate.

The hotel where we had been staying provided fresh fruit in our room every day, so we gathered it all and took it to some folks who needed it. They were SO grateful! What a great way to start the day!

It was dark when we finally arrived at our cottage in Mendocino, so I'll take some photos tomorrow and do a post about this lovely place which is our family's home base.

Until then, Dios te bendiga!

Checking in before Thanksgiving

It is 10:00pm and we're waiting for our turn to go spend time with God in Adoration (we have the 11:00-midnight hour). We're leaving for the States tomorrow morning, so will be missing the ending of the 24 hour prayer vigil, the festival of Cristo Rey on Sunday, including the ending of the Year of Faith, and Padre's last mass before he leaves for 3 months on a very exciting assignment. We said our good-byes to Padre earlier this evening, put together the list of all the things our Mexican friends asked us to get for them up in the States where prices are cheaper, and are ready to go first thing in the morning. The truck is already loaded up and all we have to do is get up, have breakfast, Bible reading, and prayer, and hit the road.

It takes us 3 days to drive the Baja peninsula. We love the drive and want to savor it, so we do about 7 or 8 hours a day. Our last night will be in Tecate so we can get in the long line at the border crossing early in the morning. Then, another 6 hours to get to Santa Barbara. The part between San Diego and Santa Barbara is our least favorite part. Mexico is so beautiful, and there's a wonderful wine growing area just before Tecate (el Valle de Guadalupe) which looks just like Napa or Sonoma County did 75 years ago. Then it's the blasted, endless new tract communities on the east side of the mountains (we refuse to go through the L.A. basin). But eventually we'll end up in lovely Santa Barbara with our whole family - YAY!

One thing I love about California - the one in the U.S. - is all the spanish place names. I have a book buried in a box in our storage unit that tells the background of each place name in California - not only what it means, but why it was named that. The title is "California's Spanish Place Names". It's worth checking out, especially for you all who live there. I'm talking to you, Micaela and Valerie and Kendra and Tia!

Many years ago a meat shop opened in Fort Bragg, on the coast north of Mendocino, called Roundman's Smokehouse. When my mother was alive she would buy a smoked turkey from there every Thanksgiving and send it to our son's house in Santa Barbara where we all gathered (except for her - she refused to participate in large family gatherings). She died in 2011 and now it's my turn to be the turkey provider. This is really worth ordering; they'll ship the turkey to you, and the meat is SO tender and SO delicious!

We have missed having Thanksgiving with the whole family for a few years. While my mom was alive, my younger son and his wife, with whom she lived, didn't want to leave her alone. And last year something got in the way - I don't remember what. So I'm looking forward to being with the whole gang again. I'm also happy because we can help our Mexican friends out by getting the special items that they asked for. Most gringos, when they go north, have a long list of things they want to bring back for themselves. Now that we are well and truly settled in (i.e. the Pirate has no more room in his workshop for any more big machines) we don't really have anything that we're longing for from the States. It's so nice to be shopping for other people rather than ourselves.

It's about time to go to Adoration, so I'll wrap up with one last link. I just found another blogger here in Todos Santos. She and her husband just moved here a few months ago and I haven't had a chance to meet her in person, but her blog has great photos of our area and useful tips for people who might be thinking of living here. Her name is Casey and her blog is The Wanderlust Diaries. Check it out!

And to remind myself of what I'm missing while I'm gone, here's the view from our house.

Week Ending 20 de Julio

The last day of the past week and the first day of the current one - the tipping point between one unit of time and the next, like midnight or New Year's Eve. For me the Week Ending theme provides a bridge, smoothes out the passage of time, reduces its claim for our attention and service to it. That's probably why I was drawn to Wanda's link-up.


So here's what we did with time (not ours, really, is it?) this weekend as we hosted the Pirate's sister and her husband who are visiting us for a week, trying to discern whether our part of Mexico might be a good fit for them when they retire. On Saturday we went to the nearby city to give them a sense of what's available there and to get some supplies that aren't available in our town.

We went to "el centro", where the town plaza and cathedral are. My favorite store is on one side of the plaza. We call it the "five and dime" store, because it reminds us of the old Woolworth's or Kresge's stores of our youth. It has saddle soap, yarn, school supplies, neckerchiefs, purses, craft supplies, reading glasses, swiss army knives, and much more.

We had lunch at our favorite restaurant in the city, where I managed to capture the essence of the Pirate's personality in a photo.

After mass on Sunday we went to lunch one of the many restaurants in our town. The palapa (palm roof) of this restaurant is particularly impressive.


We ended the day with a walk around the barrio (neighborhood) at dusk. Lovely!

Life in the slow lane without any "have to's" is wonderfully refreshing, no?

It was 45 years ago today...

On Saturday June 30th, 1968 I became Mrs. David Yager. That sounds odd to our feminist-inured ears now, but it used to be how married women were referred to in print. Well, I am Mrs. David Yager. Although neither of us were christians at the time of our wedding, God knew His plans for us, that He would make one person out of two very different people. Mr. and Mrs. David Yager.

We were married in the town where David's parents grew up and where his grandmothers still lived, mostly because, since neither of us had any church connections, the pastor of his grandmother's church was the only pastor that either of us had any acquaintance with, and for some reason we agreed that we wanted to be married in a church.

Maybe the idea of being married in a church was his mother's idea. After all, we were getting married because she proposed and I accepted. Actually, the first time I ever saw David I knew he was the one I was going to marry. I distinctly heard God tell me that at the time. David has never believed that, mostly because I wasn't a christian when we met, but that didn't mean that God couldn't speak to me, or that I couldn't recognize His voice when He spoke so plainly.

Anyway, it took a few months (three? four?) before David proposed, but when he actually popped the question we had both just smoked a joint, and I wasn't exactly in any condition to answer appropriately, so I put him off. By the second time he asked me, I had gotten the idea that marriage was apparently old-fashioned and unnecessary (the hippie movement had just started) so I suggested that we simply live together.

Soon after that we went to dinner at his parents' house (I was still living in an apartment with my roommates) and his mom asked me what I planned to do over the summer (we were both still in college). I told her - I must have been stoned at the time - that he and I planned to buy a tent and live in the foothills. In her wonderfully delightful way she said "oh, you don't want to miss out on having a real wedding!" and I said "You're right! How do we do that?" and that's why we ended up married instead of just shacking up.

When we went to get our marriage license his father had to come with us to sign for him because David was under the legal age of adulthood for males (21). Since the legal age for females was 18, I was able to sign for myself, having turned 18 a few months earlier.

Our wedding was relatively small and lovely. The reception was held at David's grandmother's mansion. At the end of the reception we changed clothes (I had bought a suede miniskirt for the occasion), piled our friends into our brand new Chevy Suburban that David has just bought for $3000 cash, and went to the Haight-Ashbury. After hanging out there for a few hours we dropped our friends off and headed for the swankiest hotel in San Francisco, where someone (David's father?) had made reservations for us. We were completely out of our element, but enjoyed the one-night stay and the next morning drove back to our new house in Davis where we found all our friends asleep on our living room floor. The local cannery was hiring for summer jobs and since our friends had been living in dorms during the school year, they had no place to stay after the dorms closed...except our house.

Looking back, we both agree that it was only by God's grace that we managed to stay married, given such an inauspicious start. We had no idea how to be responsible adults - in the years since, we have often spoken of how we raised each other. We had no idea how to love one another, how to show affection - neither of us had parents who were role models in that regard, nor were there any other helpful influences in our lives to teach us. Everything we learned about being husband and wife we learned the hard way...the very hard way.

But what adventures we had (and continue to have!) And what blessings God poured out on us (and continues to)! And what depth of love we found!

Happy anniversary, mi querido...tu eres el regalo mas precioso que Dios me dio.

This is a photo of us at the renewal of our vows when we entered the Catholic Church in 2010.


Here we are with our son Matt and his wife Julie on our way out to dinner yesterday to celebrate our anniversary and his 41st birthday (he was born on our 4th anniversary).

{p,h,f,r} - Animals edition

I told my granddaughters about {pfhr} and that I was looking for pretty, happy, funny and real things to post about. We came up with the idea of focusing on some (not all) of their animals to cover the bases this time, so without further ado:

{pretty}

This is Banana, one of several parakeets the girls have. When I suggested that we take a picture of one of the parakeets, the youngest granddaughter opened the cage and let out a couple of them, but wasn't able to get one to stay on her hand. She's got a lot of energy and the birds get nervous around her. Her older sister, however, is a whiz with animals. She's very calm which all the animals can sense and it makes them feel safe. So we got a photo of Banana next to the painting by the bird cage, since Banana's color goes so well with the painting.

{happy}

The youngest granddaughter just got a new kitten, Ivy Rose, because her other cat got squooshed. Both she and the kitten are happy to be together.

{funny}

This is a breed of rabbit called a Lion's Mane. This particular rabbit's name is Mr. Tumnus. This is the only photo of him where you can actually see that he's an animal and not just a disheveled clump of fur. My granddaughter (the calm one) has rabbits of other breeds which she can show at the county fair (she's in 4H, as are all her sisters), but for some reason the Lion's Mane breed doesn't qualify for showing. Maybe it's because it would be hard for the judges to tell which end is up.

{real}

This is Toby. He's 16 years old. We joke about our daughter-in-law running an old dog's home because they have 3 very old dogs (the other 2 are labs), and no young dogs (at least not currently). Toby is the oldest of the bunch.

For other {pfhr} posts that have nothing to do with animals but are interesting just the same, click over to Like Mother, Like Daughter.

5 Favorites, Forest Edition

We're up at our original homestead with the forest part of our family, and there are so many things here that are long-time favorites, it's hard to pick out just five. Plunging right in, here are five things that I'm always blessed to see when we get here:


[1] THE FOREST. Redwoods, everywhere. They may be rare in the rest of the world, but they are the main species around here. Our property is in prime redwood forest, and our son does a wonderful job of managing it and doing selective logging (which is necessary to keep the trees from crowding each other out).


[2] THE OCEAN. When our boys were young, my mom would come visit and take them to the beach. One time when the ocean came into sight she asked them, "what's the name of the ocean?" (thinking this would be a good teaching moment). Our oldest son answered "Joe!" so from then on the Pacific has been known to this family as Joe Ocean.


[3] THE COMMUNITY. One of the nearby volunteer fire departments had a barbecue fundraiser on Father's Day, which is typical of the sort of community gatherings that happen around here. The entire county is rural - forest, vineyards, and other agriculture - and the events that happen regularly around here are low key gatherings that draw people from the many small communities in the region.



[4] OUR CABIN. We built this for my mom when she retired, and she lived here for over 20 years. When she died a couple of years ago, the Pirate and I fixed up the interior and turned it into our "home away from home". It's about 30 feet away from the main house which the Pirate built when we were newly married and which our younger son and his family live in.


[5] OUR OLDEST FRIENDS. Wherever we've lived, we've made a special place for our "first friends" - the stuffed animals and dolls that we had from infancy. They watch over our cabin while we're in Mexico and are comforting presences to come back to when we come to the forest cabin.

For more Favorite Things, visit Hallie et al at Moxie Wife.

Sing a Song

Sing,
Sing a song
Make it simple, to last your whole life long
Don't worry that it's not good enough for anyone else to hear
Sing,
Sing a song.

Our years in the forest were lived with Sesame Street songs in the background. These were the songs from the early years of Sesame Street, and we had ALL the cassette tapes that were produced by CTW. We played them in our home and in the car. We sang them when we weren't playing them. They were a fundamental part of our lives.

The Pirate and I are flying up to the States tomorrow, to spend three weeks with the forest branch of our family. One of our granddaughters won't be there because she's on a mission trip to Africa with Teen Missions. But we'll get to hang out with the rest of the forest family, including miscellaneous goats, chickens, rabbits, dogs, cats and birds (I don't think I've forgotten anyone).


This is the first time I've had a chance to just BE there without having to spend a good portion of my time working at my profession. Now that I'm fully retired, I can do the things that have always been most satisfying to me, the things I learned as a young wife when we lived in the forest. Knitting, crocheting, cooking, sewing, as well as hiking around in the forest and seeing dear long-time friends. For the first time in a LONG time I have nothing that I must do there and I can simply settle in and do what comes naturally in that place that will always be our family home.

Beatitude Attitudes, vol. 7

Yes! Gratituesday is here! After you're done reading this post (I hope you read it!) head on over to Rakhi's at Pitter Patter Diaries for more.

[1] Blessed am I that God communicates with me in pictures. He knows how thick-headed I am and is faithful to make sure that I understand Him by embedding what He wants me to receive in images I can understand. Come to think of it, that's how Jesus taught when He was here on earth, and that's how God so often spoke to Israel through the prophets. I'm grateful that He's so intent on communicating with us.


[2] Blessed am I to be able to see, and to live in an era when doctors can eliminate cataracts. Today's Old Testament reading was from Tobit, where he describes his blindness due to cataracts. My grandmother had cataracts and it was only when she was VERY old (she lived to be over 100) that a procedure was developed to replace the clouded lens of the eye. So for many years she was blind due to something that, for me, will require a simple outpatient procedure.

[3] Blessed am I that we can afford to eat out several times a week. I remember how poor we were in the first years of our marriage; eating out was never part of our reality. On our 10th anniversary we set aside enough money to go to a renowned local restaurant owned by friends of ours and have dessert. We couldn't afford a whole meal, but just being able to go there for dessert was such a treat. Although eating out is a regular thing for us these days, I don't take it for granted - it's still a treat every time we do, whether at a taqueria or an upscale tourist restaurant (we mostly go to the taquerias - we love the local food!).

[4] Blessed am I to have developed friendships with people who live far from me, but whom I can encourage and share my thoughts with via the web (hey friends, do any of your toddlers have a cute way of saying "world wide web" or "internet"?)


[5] Blessed am I to have the muscular strength to knit and crochet. About 15 years ago I got carpal tunnel syndrome in BOTH wrists - and we had just moved to a place that required me to drive a mountain road to get home every day! Suffice it to say it's a miracle that I managed to do that without having an accident, since I had to wear braces on both hands and didn't have any flexibility of the kind needed to turn a steering wheel. This problem also meant that I couldn't use my hands for other things requiring wrist strength or flexibility - like knitting and crocheting. However, one of the members of our (Presbyterian) church was a chiropractor (the best I've ever been to) and after a couple of months of regular sessions with him my problem was completely gone and has - thanks be to God - never returned. I can hardly imagine my life without fiber craft, so I am deeply grateful that I didn't have to give it up.


[6] Blessed am I to have the resources to serve. Last night our Bible study met at our house. Padre had encouraged all the groups in the church to study the booklets on the sacraments that were put out by our diocese, which could be downloaded from its website and printed out. However, nobody that I know here has a printer except us, so I was able to print copies of all the booklets to hand out to the members of our group. A small service, but one that was appreciated.


[7] Blessed am I to have gotten a ripe mango from our own mango tree and shared it with my DH the Pirate - our first home-grown mango!

Five Favorites - held in my heart

We went to the nearest city today (it's an hour away) and then went to evening mass and the Pirate's worship team practice, so I didn't have time to write anything earlier. However, I got inspired as I looked through my photos and want to share some of my most deeply held favorites with you.

[1] These guys. The males in my family - one husband, two sons, one grandson. There's definitely a family resemblance, don't you think? Thanks, Jordan, for the great collage!


[2] These angels. They stand on either side of the tabernacle behind the altar at our church. That's how I want to be before Jesus - barefoot and kneeling! Well, actually prostrate, but just being able to look at these kneeling angels stirs up a sense of awe in me.


[3] This man. I chose this image of him because he looks so very ordinary. I know he thought of himself as pretty ordinary, but consider how many millions of people he continues to influence to seek a deep and true devotion to Christ. I am one of those - I was set on the path to Christianity by reading The Great Divorce which my ignorant and unconverted heart knew described Truth. Thank you, C.S. Lewis!


[4] This window. This is behind the altar of our church, so it's the main thing we see. Our church is Nuestra Senora del Pilar - Our Lady of the Pillar - and that's her in the niche of the window. Soon after I entered the Catholic Church I read that the pillar on which she stands is a reminder of her solid and unshakeable faith. What an encouragement and comfort to have that image and its meaning present before us as we worship God!


[5] This place. This is one of many views from the homestead in the forest where this family started. It's now home to one of our sons, but we have a little cottage there as well, which is our home base when we go to the States. This place has been our anchor and foundation of our lives for 45 years. Those are redwood trees, by the way - our property is located in prime redwood forest.


For more favorites, scoot on over to Moxie Wife, and Dios te bendiga (God bless you)!