So much for which to be thankful ......
Thursday, May 24, 2012
and last but not least.....
So much for which to be thankful ......
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Anna Magda (Berntsen) Thomsen
October 3, 1908, Anna Magda was born in Silkeborg, Denmark. At the age of 8 Anna (known as Magda) and her four siblings, the oldest about 10 and the youngest about 2, were left with their father when their mother went to a tuberculosis sanatorium. Madga's mother died about a year later. Grandma, who was in her 70's came and helped care for the family until Magda was about 18 when her father re-married.
Sometime in May, 1928 Magda arrived at the train station in Wayne Alberta. There to meet her with horse and buggy was a man named Karl. Karl was employed on the farm of Peter and Marie Ostergaard and was also the high school sweetheart of Magda. When Karl realized that the Ostergaards were looking for a girl to help with the housework, he wrote to Magda and sent her the money to immigrate to Canada. Soon Magda realized that Karl was not the man she wanted to marry but he was the one who had paid for her to come to Canada, he was her 'sponsor'. The dear Ostergaard family who had accepted Magda as one of the family paid Karl and took responsibility for her. Shortly after that they laid Karl off and he vanished from her life! Well, I understand she and her husband did meet him once years later.
Magda married Hans Thomsen on April 30, 1932. Her life was anything but easy right from the beginning. Mind you, life in the 30's was not easy for anyone I don't think! Magda gave birth to her first child, a son, Eric Jens, in February 1933. Shortly after that Magda spent 10 months in the TB sanatorium in Calgary.
Magda gave birth to four more children and I am her baby. Eric was 17 when I was born so raising children stretched over many long years. She had her first grandchild when her youngest child was 6 years old!
Today, May 22 marks 27 years since Mum died. For many years she would talk of friends who had cancer and how they suffered. It seemed to me that she greatly feared that disease. In January 1985 she was diagnosed with ALS, Lou Gehrigs disease. Although there may not have been a lot of physical pain the loss of speech, being unable to swallow caused such suffering. She chose to stay at home and deal with life as it came.
Unlike most victims of ALS, Mum was able to walk and she did just that the evening before she died. My sister tells of how she walked around the garden whacking at the weeks with her cane, reminding my Dad of what he should be doing!
That day in May I left the Farmer (now JD Salesman) with three young kids and went to visit my parents. Our oldest sister had come from Ontario and the middle sister had come a month earlier from Thailand at Dad's request. Dad and Chris had gone to the little country church for prayer meeting. Martha and I sat in the yard, visiting and then prayed, asking God to take our Mum to heaven. He did.
After the reality had settled in I remember leaving the house and walking into the nearby field where I screamed at God. I was so angry that my Mum had died. It was years later that I came to realize how anger us just a part of grieving, it is normal and no, God did not turn away from me, reject me, get angry back! I know He understood.
Mum loved flowers. She loved birds. One of her favourites is the house wren. The other day when I heard that noisy little bird for the first time this spring I thought of Mum.
I still miss her.
Sometime in May, 1928 Magda arrived at the train station in Wayne Alberta. There to meet her with horse and buggy was a man named Karl. Karl was employed on the farm of Peter and Marie Ostergaard and was also the high school sweetheart of Magda. When Karl realized that the Ostergaards were looking for a girl to help with the housework, he wrote to Magda and sent her the money to immigrate to Canada. Soon Magda realized that Karl was not the man she wanted to marry but he was the one who had paid for her to come to Canada, he was her 'sponsor'. The dear Ostergaard family who had accepted Magda as one of the family paid Karl and took responsibility for her. Shortly after that they laid Karl off and he vanished from her life! Well, I understand she and her husband did meet him once years later.
Magda married Hans Thomsen on April 30, 1932. Her life was anything but easy right from the beginning. Mind you, life in the 30's was not easy for anyone I don't think! Magda gave birth to her first child, a son, Eric Jens, in February 1933. Shortly after that Magda spent 10 months in the TB sanatorium in Calgary.
Magda gave birth to four more children and I am her baby. Eric was 17 when I was born so raising children stretched over many long years. She had her first grandchild when her youngest child was 6 years old!
Today, May 22 marks 27 years since Mum died. For many years she would talk of friends who had cancer and how they suffered. It seemed to me that she greatly feared that disease. In January 1985 she was diagnosed with ALS, Lou Gehrigs disease. Although there may not have been a lot of physical pain the loss of speech, being unable to swallow caused such suffering. She chose to stay at home and deal with life as it came.
Unlike most victims of ALS, Mum was able to walk and she did just that the evening before she died. My sister tells of how she walked around the garden whacking at the weeks with her cane, reminding my Dad of what he should be doing!
That day in May I left the Farmer (now JD Salesman) with three young kids and went to visit my parents. Our oldest sister had come from Ontario and the middle sister had come a month earlier from Thailand at Dad's request. Dad and Chris had gone to the little country church for prayer meeting. Martha and I sat in the yard, visiting and then prayed, asking God to take our Mum to heaven. He did.
After the reality had settled in I remember leaving the house and walking into the nearby field where I screamed at God. I was so angry that my Mum had died. It was years later that I came to realize how anger us just a part of grieving, it is normal and no, God did not turn away from me, reject me, get angry back! I know He understood.
Mum loved flowers. She loved birds. One of her favourites is the house wren. The other day when I heard that noisy little bird for the first time this spring I thought of Mum.
I still miss her.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
and three more.....
Lucy
the sparkle in these eyes reflects the mischief that is brewing...
Jackson
energy to spare! His Dad tells me the soccer shoes are being put to good use!
she faithfully waters the bean plant she has been growing since winter! Pretty in pink, right?
Friday, May 18, 2012
annual Manitoba visit
is it really three weeks ago that I took a flight to Manitoba? oh my! how the time flies....
They all did a great job!
(Lexie is the one on the left of the picture. She has a "double" who is in her kindergarten class as well as her dance class. I wasn't the only one who kept getting mixed up!)
Monday, April 23, 2012
ahhhhh spring!
The calendar 'told' us a month ago that spring had arrived but at the end of last week I KNEW it had truly come to be. The robins have been hanging around for a number of days but when the meadowlark took up his position on a fence post and announced his arrival, when the JD Salesman walked the prairie finding a bouquet of the finest for me, I took a deep breath and knew spring is here!
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
If you love me.....
"If you love me you will obey what I command." John 14:15
These words have haunted me and left me with a feeling of guilt for so many years. Have you ever thought of your parents, your friends, your spouse in terms of "If you really loved me you would ______"? That is how I read this verse and saw it as judgement, a condemnation. My mind said "You don't love God very much. You don't obey the commandments, the sermon on the mount, all the 'rules' that seem to apply to Christians."
I have come to see in recent years how frightfully wrong I have been, how I was reading this verse and others like it with a legalistic idea and mindset.
Firstly, I took the word "if" as conditional. But love for God is not a measuring stick, a scale to determine how righteous I am. My love for God is rather puny in comparison with His love. But I believe that my love, my faith, even if it is the size of a tiny seed comes from God in the first place. I don't seem to be able to 'muster up' love or faith in my own strength. Instead of the word "if" maybe "because" explains the verse more clearly. I am coming to understand the desire, the ability to obey comes because I love God not proof that I love God.
Secondly, I read a translation of the latter part of the verse as: "follow my teachings." This was a contrast to what I had believed about the list of do's and don't's with which I had grown up. I had actually come to a place twelve or so years ago deciding there was no way I could live this 'Christian' life, that I could ever 'be' what I thought people expected from a 'Christian'. But I was looking at man-made expectations and equating them to God's commandments.
It is so very much a work in process but I am learning (let me emphasis LEARNING) to listen to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, and to obey what I believe God commands, to follow the teachings of Jesus. When I first thought of 'what I command' as following Jesus' teachings, I also thought, "I can handle that". Then it hit! Wait a minute! I can no more follow Jesus' teachings than I can successfully obey all the 'rules' I once thought I had to keep. That is why I need a Saviour, why I need the Spirit of God in me to give me the capability to obey.
There is a freedom that comes with looking to God rather than myself or to other people. Some days seem easier than others: some days, some hours, some minutes. I guess it is a constant learning process that will only end in heaven some day.
These words have haunted me and left me with a feeling of guilt for so many years. Have you ever thought of your parents, your friends, your spouse in terms of "If you really loved me you would ______"? That is how I read this verse and saw it as judgement, a condemnation. My mind said "You don't love God very much. You don't obey the commandments, the sermon on the mount, all the 'rules' that seem to apply to Christians."
I have come to see in recent years how frightfully wrong I have been, how I was reading this verse and others like it with a legalistic idea and mindset.
Firstly, I took the word "if" as conditional. But love for God is not a measuring stick, a scale to determine how righteous I am. My love for God is rather puny in comparison with His love. But I believe that my love, my faith, even if it is the size of a tiny seed comes from God in the first place. I don't seem to be able to 'muster up' love or faith in my own strength. Instead of the word "if" maybe "because" explains the verse more clearly. I am coming to understand the desire, the ability to obey comes because I love God not proof that I love God.
Secondly, I read a translation of the latter part of the verse as: "follow my teachings." This was a contrast to what I had believed about the list of do's and don't's with which I had grown up. I had actually come to a place twelve or so years ago deciding there was no way I could live this 'Christian' life, that I could ever 'be' what I thought people expected from a 'Christian'. But I was looking at man-made expectations and equating them to God's commandments.
It is so very much a work in process but I am learning (let me emphasis LEARNING) to listen to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, and to obey what I believe God commands, to follow the teachings of Jesus. When I first thought of 'what I command' as following Jesus' teachings, I also thought, "I can handle that". Then it hit! Wait a minute! I can no more follow Jesus' teachings than I can successfully obey all the 'rules' I once thought I had to keep. That is why I need a Saviour, why I need the Spirit of God in me to give me the capability to obey.
There is a freedom that comes with looking to God rather than myself or to other people. Some days seem easier than others: some days, some hours, some minutes. I guess it is a constant learning process that will only end in heaven some day.
Monday, April 2, 2012
aging process
"Leave behind the chilling thought of wrinkles and the anxiety of an aging-epidermis and instead opt to add an easy-to-apply product..... " "Discover how a dab of this signature cream makes approaching your exterior wrinkle concerns a simple process..."
This greeted me as I checked my Inbox the other morning. I had not even looked in the mirror. I prefer to use the bathroom in the dark first thing in the morning, avoiding the reflection as I 'take a seat'. But I am fully aware of the wrinkles and the aging-epidemis. So I leaned into this advertisement, checking the price of this miracle cream and pondering the wonderful benefits.
Then, wait a minute! What is happening! What sort of lies am I buying into! Why should I be chilled at the thought of wrinkles! What is there about aging epidermis that should give me anxiety! Give your head a huge shake GRANDMA Karin! You are in your 6th decade. There is nothing wrong with aging, with becoming old. It is natural, a fact of life, reality.
But I realize there is the subtle and sometimes no-so-subtle implication or belief it is wrong to become old, to accept the changes that come to my body and my mind. I have bought into the belief of beauty belonging only to the young and I should do everything possible to hold on to a 'look', and 'image' that someone, somewhere has decided is perfect.
Today is another day. I have not totally forgotten the wrinkles and whatever my skin happens to be. I fret over the middle roll but I am also reminded that it is the inside, the inner me that truly wants change. My greatest longing is to be at peace within my heart, to rest, genuinely rest in the love of God for me, to trust ALL things working for my good, for the good of family and friends.
Isn't this the heart of Easter?
This greeted me as I checked my Inbox the other morning. I had not even looked in the mirror. I prefer to use the bathroom in the dark first thing in the morning, avoiding the reflection as I 'take a seat'. But I am fully aware of the wrinkles and the aging-epidemis. So I leaned into this advertisement, checking the price of this miracle cream and pondering the wonderful benefits.
Then, wait a minute! What is happening! What sort of lies am I buying into! Why should I be chilled at the thought of wrinkles! What is there about aging epidermis that should give me anxiety! Give your head a huge shake GRANDMA Karin! You are in your 6th decade. There is nothing wrong with aging, with becoming old. It is natural, a fact of life, reality.
But I realize there is the subtle and sometimes no-so-subtle implication or belief it is wrong to become old, to accept the changes that come to my body and my mind. I have bought into the belief of beauty belonging only to the young and I should do everything possible to hold on to a 'look', and 'image' that someone, somewhere has decided is perfect.
Today is another day. I have not totally forgotten the wrinkles and whatever my skin happens to be. I fret over the middle roll but I am also reminded that it is the inside, the inner me that truly wants change. My greatest longing is to be at peace within my heart, to rest, genuinely rest in the love of God for me, to trust ALL things working for my good, for the good of family and friends.
Isn't this the heart of Easter?
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