87 Grove Avenue

This is the house my Grandpa built about 60 years ago.  This is the house where my dad grew up.  This is the house where I have so many special childhood memories.  Most of my holidays were spent here.  I would guess we traveled to Cranston about once a month...sometimes more, sometimes less...for most of my growing up years.  I spent every Christmas here that I can remember.  I spent almost every Thanksgiving around the table in this dining room.  I can recall many shows that my brother/ cousins/ friends and I put on in this house for the entertainment/torture of many an adult.  It seems strange to even start recalling all the memories because it was such an integral part of my life into my adult years.

Eleven years ago this month Grandpa B. passed away.  About a year and a half ago my Grandma B. had  a stroke and has since not been able to live in this house.  This month (barring any last minute glitches) the house will belong to someone else for the first time.  I'm so glad the house sold and that there is someone to buy it who will appreciate the uniqueness of this house but it is always hard to let something go that holds so many special memories.

It's not the house that is hard to let go of...I have been there but a few times in the past few years.  It is what it represents.  Everyone who has lived here, stayed here, visited here, ate here, celebrated here...we all have our own special memories of this place.

These are the memories of
the youth group that met in the basement for many years,
the extended family that came for many a Christmas Eve, birthday party, bridal/ baby shower,
the church members that have held meetings and gatherings in the living room,
the many many guests from near, far and very far who have dined at the dining room table,
the wife and mother who raised a family, entertained, showered hospitality to friends, family and strangers,
the 4 boys who grew up in this place and who called it home, each with their own bed still in it's place,
the grandchildren who have had a story read, built a fort, been pulled around in a cardboard box, played ping pong in the basement, slept on a cot or on a foam mat between two built-in beds,
and we who have walked into the kitchen to be greeted with bear hug (even if it meant having your head pressed against the pocket with the glasses in it).

These are just the surface of the memories that have been flooding my mind as I remember...

This house has been a resting place for the weary, for those who had no place to go.
This place has provided food for many who needed it.
This house has held fellowship for any who desired it.
This house was crafted with love and commitment.

Many drive by this place and see a green single level house with white shutters...but this house has always been and will always be much more than the materials it was made from.  I'm glad that when the house sells the memories don't have to get packed up with the boxes.  I'm so thankful for all the wonderful memories I have here and for the love that I feel when I think about all the time spent here in these walls.

The Island Life

When Ben's parents moved to Islesboro, ME last July it was very bittersweet for us.  Sweet because God was calling them to this island and providing a place for them to live, work and minister.  Bitter because living close to family for us was such blessing and Islesboro is a 4 hour drive and a ferry boat ride away.  When they were in Deerfield I had visions of Tobi growing up visiting the farm, making friends with goats and chickens, etc.  But now the farm and the animals (with the exception of 2 dogs and a cat) are no longer part of the family.

After our first visit to the island (and every visit since) I now have new ideas about what visiting Grandma and Grandpa R-B means for Tobi (and us of course).  This past weekend we did the drive and the ferry ride to make that special trip to the island. Now that Tobi is becoming more active, involved and vocal in regards to the world around her I could see all that this change in location, although more difficult to get to, provides - so many great new experiences.

Here is just some of the fun we had on this visit.

Breakfast at the new cafe at the brand new community center across the street:

Fun and games in the Kid Zone:

Spring day fun at the shore.

And, of course,  a ride on the ferry:

We are thankful to have such a beautiful, unique place to visit...but mostly we are so thankful for our family and the joy it is to share time and life together.

(For a few more pictures you can look here if you so desire.)

Not Me Monday- Easter Style

 

Here's my Easter girl!  She looks comfortable, right?

So... there is NO WAY I found this....

tucked into the front of my daughter's bloomers of her Easter outfit...

...AFTER we had already gone to church!

She had been playing with them on my bed.  And I did get her dressed there.  I, and several others, did hold her...SO there is NO way I would have missed that as I put her in her car seat, then in her stroller, then put her in the nursery (where I guess no one noticed either), then put her back in the stroller, back in the car seat...and then, perhaps, 4 or 5 hours later, discover that somehow the curler had attached itself to her diaper while I slipped on her bloomers.  Not Me!  I'm way too attentive for that and never find myself getting ready in such a hurry that something like that could possibly happen.

Other things that did NOT happen on Easter:

I did NOT leave the house with Tobi wearing 1 shoe and put the other in my hand...throw it in a bag...discover, when I got to the theater where church was being held, that one shoe was missing, then look for the other shoe...not find it...run back out to the car...still not find it...ponder the idea that I would have to drop her off at the nursery BAREFOOT! ...only to find (actually Ben found it) that somehow the shoe had gotten stuffed in her stroller seat under her!  Not me!  I am way to organized to loose a shoe right in front of my face!

See?  Two shoes.

I did NOT announce to the a theater full of people that our church usually meets at 20 North MAIN Street...when actually it is located at 20 North STATE Street!  I'm WAY too composed in front of a live audience to make a mistake like that.

CenterPoint Church ... Located at 20 North State Street, Concord, NH (that's better!)