Saying Goodbye to Grandpa

My Grandpa Jake lead quite an interesting life. The stories that compile his life would make for an interesting read. He was born Dec. 27, 1915 into a "Conservative Mennonite" or "Old Order Mennonite" family. If that brings to mind the people you see at your local Mennonite Church, you're probably way off. I'm talking Pennsylvania Dutch speaking, horse and buggy, no electricity, plain folk Mennonite. In fact, to the untrained eye, a person driving through Lancaster County, Pennsylvania probably wouldn't be able to distinguish the difference between them and the Amish. They left "the Order" when my mom was a young girl, for reasons that I've never really been certain, but needless to say, he didn't live your "typical" life. He has lots of stories about his strict upbringing, his mean grandma and what it was like growing up Mennonite.

He's always been a private man, so I didn't know much about him until his later years. My grandmother, the complete opposite, was such a prominant figure in my life growing up, but Grandpa, well, "private" just seems the perfect word to describe him. All of that changed 5 years ago though when my grandmother suddenly passed away. Since he was under the care of my grandmother, he suddenly found himself dependant on his children and grandchildren, something I don't think any of us saw coming. In a matter of days, he went from living independantly with his loving wife in the desert to moving into an Assisted Living Facility in Orange County. Over the next 5 years, he began building strong relationships with not only his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, but even got in contact with siblings that he hadn't spoken to, in some cases, decades.

It's been a special 5 years with Grandpa. He loved when I would bring the kids to visit, espcially my daughter, Makenna, as he felt a special bond with her since she was born on his birthday (which was also his father's birthday). In fact, she was the only great-grandchild that he sent money to when she was born....$2. That may not sound like much to you, but that was a big deal coming from Grandpa! Kiley, with her love of horses, loved hearing about his childhood horse, Dolly and we all enjoyed the stories he would tell about hiding from his grandparents in the barn. He especially loved my husband, John, and loved to hear his work stories. We even heard him say, "I love you" as we would leave from a visit, something we had never heard from him before.

On September 2nd, Grandpa went home to be with the Lord. We all knew he was in his final days and all of his kids and most of his grandkids and great-grandkids were at his bedside in the days leading up to his death. Most important to Grandpa, his son, my Uncle John, was there. Uncle John is quite a bit younger than my mom and her sisters and while my uncle was growing up, my grandfather was living in the desert away from his wife and son due to health reasons. Uncle John and my Aunt Janet were his primary caretakers after Grandma's death and they built a special relationship, the relationship of a father and son that my uncle never knew. It was only appropriate that when my grandfather took his final breath, it was his son at his side, holding his hand as he entered into Heaven.

The following was written to me by my Aunt Janet in an email after Grandpa's death and I find it so touching that I've decided to include it in my blog (with her permission, of course):

"You could see that he was going between two worlds. While he wasn't in any pain, it would seem he would get peaceful and then be pulled back to consciousness. It seemed that while he tried to let go, something brought him back. At times he seemed surprised to see us, in fact one time he snapped open his eyes and saw John and said,"Oh it's you." He seemed confused as if he had been somewhere else and didn't expect to see John. He kept calling out "John," and John would reassure him of his presence. He wanted to hold John's hand a lot. You could tell it comforted him to know John was there. Then one time he called out to him and turned and looked at him and said "I love you" and reached for his hand again. We knew then that he realized that he was dying and we began to sob and told him to go home. Then he looked up at John and said, "Can I follow the light?" and John told him to go ahead and follow the light. Grandpa became very peaceful and we thought this is it, but all of a sudden he came to and at the same time said "no." I think he realized that his body as it relaxed was letting go of everything. From that point on he seemed very ill at ease. After that, he never regained consciousness, was very peaceful and soon after he was gone. It is so hard to believe that it happened so quickly. Hospice was surprised too, especially that he communicated to us up to the end. That is unusual. But it was nice to be able to share his final moments with him alone and know that he went home."

I love you Grandpa and you will live on in my heart until we'll together again.

Grandpa with some of his great-granchildren at Grandma's memorial

Eternity - The Greatest Choice Ever Made

My heart leaps for joy every time I see people give their lives to the Lord as I know that they have ultimately saved their lives. I will spend eternity with them with our Heavenly Father. As all Christian parents desire, I want nothing more than for my daughters to give their lives to the Lord and know that their salvation is secured and any separation I might have from them will only be temporary. It's been my constant prayer that the girls would make this decision on their own, without my "pushing" them into it. I've known for a long time that they know Jesus, but my heart's desire has been for them to have a relationship with Jesus. So, I've prayed and taught them the LOVE of Christ and waited patiently.

My waiting came to an end a couple of weeks ago when Makenna made the decision to give her life to Christ at CCV's Vacation Bible School. I rejoiced with her and celebrated the best decision she could ever make. Several days later, we were in the pool when she told me she wanted to take the next step of obedience to Christ and be baptized. As we discussed this, Kiley asked me to pray with her. She, too, wanted to give her life to the Lord and pray the prayer of salvation. Right there, on the step in the pool, we joined hands and secured her salvation too! The girls decided to be baptized together, so I acted swiftly and contacted one of the Children's Pastors at CCV. The next day, the girls were in her office as I patiently waited outside the door. Pastor Dawn and Pastor Roy wanted to make sure the girls understood the decisions they had made and that they made their decisions freely and without persuasion.

Several days later, during one of the morning Worship Services, there we were, as a family, baptizing our daughters. John and I were each able to "dunk our daughters" as they buried their former lives and rose to a new life in Christ. I imagine that the rejoicing in my heart was echoed in Heaven as all the saints rejoiced with us. Two more lives for the Lord.

As parents, we know our jobs aren't over. God calls us to continue on the path of nurturing their relationships with the Lord and guiding them through their Spiritual journey. We praise God for the gift He gave us by entrusting us with His children and now we praise Him for the good work He has done and continues to do in their lives. It's with amazing joy that we celebrate their salvation!

Our Hearts are Seeing Polka Dots

Many of you know that my home is filled with so many pets that I should start charging admission to my "zoo." Yes, I'm a pet lover! Growing up, it was cats. I had a huge heart for cats and my parents nearly strangled me one evening when I came home from a babysitting job with yet another new kitten. I believe the most I ever had at one time was 4 cats, but I can't say for sure. I've also been known to bring home birds, hamsters and fish. The one pet my parents never allowed growing up was a dog, what cruel parents they were! While John and I were dating, my love for cats spilled over on his place and soon I was bringing cats to his bachelor pad. John had no weakness to my sympathetic face and sweet kitten in my arms, but his roommate was a sucker and he took in every cat I brought their way.

John and I got our first pet the day after we arrived back from our honeymoon, a sweet kitten we named Peter. A year later, we purchased our first house together and soon after, Trapper joined our family. He was a Hungarian Vizsla and was the love of our lives, although he had to take a backseat to the girls once they arrived. The pets just continued joining the family over the last 16 years. Until 3 weeks ago, we were standing ground at 3 dogs, 3 cats, 2 fish and a mouse. We decided that was it, no more! But then........Kiley, our oldest, finally found her absolute passion in life and our lives changed....BIG TIME!

Kiley has a love for animals that reaches way beyond her mother! I do believe if we let her, we would have so many pets that we could star in the show "Animal Hoarders!" Her heart is big and she fills it with animals. Unlike her sister, who found her passion for life in swimming at the age of 5, Kiley tried many things, but just couldn't find that one thing she loved. Piano lessons failed to capture her heart, as did soccer, swimming, tennis, gymnastics and many other activities. She often found things she enjoyed, but just didn't bring her to her knees in excitement the way swimming did for Makenna. As all devoted parents do, we continued to pursue new activities for Kiley, but never finding that one thing.

John's brother happens to have beautiful horse property just up the road from us and he boards several horses at his place. Just about every time we visit, the first thing she wants to do is visit the horses. That got me thinking. I spoke to my brother-in-law to see if one of the horse owners might be interested in teaching Kiley some "horse basics" in trade for her helping with the mucking. He introduced her to a 16 year-old girl named Hailey and they formed an instant bond. They worked together twice a week and we started to see tremendous growth in Kiley. She started to develop a strong work ethic, responsibility, confidence.....all the things we pray she'd develop. It wasn't long that she was asking for riding lessons, which we did, and then her own horse. For those of you that don't know, horses are a HUGE responsibility!!! Their stalls must be mucked daily, exercised often, fed huge amounts of food twice daily and I'm not even at the part about them being a giant money pit! BUT, all that seemed to not matter when it came to the "passion" we finally saw bubbling over in Kiley. She wanted a horse and she wanted it bad! So, she set out on a journey to prove she could do it and we made an agreement with her that if she could prove to us that she could handle owning a horse, we would get her one. We made no promise in terms of a timeline, we just said "some day."

That "some day" came three weeks ago when her trainer found the perfect "Kiley horse." His name is Polka Dot and when you see him, you know exactly where he got his name! He is 12 1/2 years old, just like Kiley. With Kiley visiting my parents for a week, we quickly began planning her big surprise, her very own horse. I set out early on a Saturday morning with our trainer and we drove to Palm Springs to pick up the horse and take him to his new home at John's brother's house. We arrived "home" about 11am and got him all set up to meet his new owner. I even attached a blue polka dot bow to his halter. At noon, Kiley arrived at the barn with my parents for what she thought was her riding lesson on Hailey's horse. It was then that we took her to the stall and revealed her gift. Her initial confusion over what was happening quickly turned to excitement. The joy on her face brought tears to my eyes. The moment was captured on video as well as in the minds of all that were present.

Three weeks have gone by since that day and Kiley is building a bond with this horse that will be with her for a lifetime. Together, they are learning how to listen to each other and work together. I couldn't be happier for my first born to finally find her "thing" and I praise God for bringing us Polka Dot, even as I also pray for my sanity as we now have a HUGE responsibility!

Graduation!

"Graduation" is such an exciting word. It brings to mind things like, accomplishment, success, hard work and much more. This may only be a 6th grade graduation, but for Kiley, this is huge! Kiley didn't have a "typical" start to school. My husband had just had life altering surgery after a life altering injury from a life altering accident. To say that the Moore household was in the midst of CHAOS when K started kindergarten would be an understatement! It didn't help that I was also having some serious health issues and underwent 4 surgeries in her first 7 months of school either. Add Kiley's shy demeanor to the mix and you get a rocky start to school. Along the way, K was surrounded by wonderful teachers, great friends, close family and supportive parents, which lead to extreme growth in her life. We are so proud of the young woman she has become.

Her last week of 6th grade was an adventurous week. Monday brought a softball game of 6th graders against the school staff. The staff won 24-12 (the closest the 6th graders have ever come to beating the staff). Tuesday held a pool party at Pitzer College and a feast fit for royalty! It was games in the park on Wednesday and finally the big day on Thursday......GRADUATION!!! Of course, it had to be the hottest day of the week and no "June Gloom" for this outdoor event. My parents, "Mamaw" and "Guga," were also there to cheer on Kiley. We all beamed with pride as we watched Kiley graduate. The biggest excitement of all came early in the ceremony when Kiley won the "President's Award of Academic Achievement." Of course, I would have preferred McCain's signature was on it as President instead of Obama, but it's still very exciting, none the less. We all applauded with joy over her achievement and I teared up at the memories of walking my sweet 5 year-old to her first day of kindergarten. How quickly 6th grade came and is now gone. K accomplished so much in her 7 years of elementary school, obstacles that many other students take for granted. It is K's determination and hard work that makes us so proud and caught the attention of her teachers that they would choose her for such an honored award. We LOVE you Kiley!!!

7 Years with Mrs. Colinco

Patti Colinco first approached me about Kiley joining a new Daisy Girl Scout Troop she was starting during the first week of kindergarten. With K being so shy and weary about making friends, I thought it would be a great opportunity for her. The troop started the next month with 12 girls. Little did I know then that this group would still be together 7 years later, with Patti still the DEVOTED leader. Even more astonishing, 10 of the 11 girls in the troop today have been in the troop for all 7 years!

These girls have done so much together, it just blows my mind when I think about it. They've gone to camp together, sold cookies, ice skated, swim parties, many trips to Raging Waters, dance classes, painting, community service, 4th of July parades.....the list goes on forever. It's been such a pleasure to me as a mother to watch these girls grow from tiny 5 year-olds to preteen 12 year-olds. They've learned to work out issues with each other (bound to happen with this many girls entering puberty!) and share their lives together.
I have no doubt in my mind that Patti Colinco is the only reason this troop stayed together so long. She is beyond AMAZING at what she does. She is the definition of patience and kindness. She just happens to be a teacher at the girls' school and both of my girls were fortunate enough to have her for their 2nd grade teacher. Although her family has gone through some tough times (the death of her mother after a battle with cancer, her father's heart attack and surgery and the death of her father-in-law) she has never neglected these girls. The woman should be declared a saint!

Recently, the girls participated in a "Culmination Ceremony" wrapping up their 7 years together under the guidance of Patti. It was a beautiful ceremony, honoring the girls that have gone from Daisy's to Brownies to Jr. Girl Scouts and now to Cadets. Patti will be passing the leadership baton over to Maia West, the mother of one of the girls, but she will ALWAYS be a huge part of all of our lives. To honor her, all the girls wrote a letter to Patti and I put them in a Shutterfly book along with 7 years of pictures and presented it to her along with gift cards to all her favorite stores. It was truly not enough to pay her back for the incredible dedication and impact she's had on the lives of these girls. I know Kiley and I will never forget her! I also believe Kiley is a well-adjusted, kind-hearted young woman because of Patti's influence on her life.

True Respect is Earned

Today, as I sat at the softball game of the 6th graders vs. the staff at the school, I just couldn't believe that my oldest daughter had only 3 days left in elementary school. In the fall she will be off to Jr. High. Where has the time gone? I can't believe she will soon be done with elementary school and that my younger daughter only has 2 years left! As I walked home from the game, all I could think about was blogging!

I actually have another blog. It's where I write to my daughters and a handful of other important young women in my life. It's not necessarily for them to read now, but for them to read later on in life. I use that blog to write my desires for them, the things I pray for them, my dreams for them and much more. Today, as I'm realizing just how old they are getting, I decided to write about marriage.

Here is just a little of what I wrote:

As I've mentioned before, I have been praying for your future spouses
since before you were born. I often wonder about them. Who are they? Do we
already know them? Are they living a good life or is life difficult for them?
Most of all, I pray that they are growing to be God honoring men. I pray that
they are growing to be fully devoted followers of Christ, just as I pray that
for you. I believe that if they are fully devoted to Christ, then they will
treat you like gold! The Bible is clear on how men should treat their wives,
therefore, they'll treat you as God intends a husband to treat his wife.

Recently I was reading Ephesians 5:22-30 and focused on verse
25, Paul says, "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave
Himself up for her." Husbands are to be equally respectful to their wives as
wives are to their husbands. Marriage is to be GOD CENTERED! A
marriage is set up to fail if God is not the center. With God as the
center, it won't always be easy, but it will be good. That's because God is
perfection and will bless your marriage if you honor Him.

What I'm about to say is extremely important! If you are
dating a young man and he is not living for Christ, run! If he pressures you
about anything, run! If he says the only way you can prove your love to him is
by sleeping with him, RUN FAST! A true, good man will TREASURE you and RESPECT
you. A true, good man wants nothing more than to meet you at the alter
completely cleansed and pure because he loves God and he loves you and wants to
honor you both.

I realize that's kind of deep for today, but it was on my heart and I'm committed to sharing my heart on my blog. :) Don't worry, my next couple posts will be much more light hearted and will include everything about the end of the school year. God bless you all!

San Diego Sunshine

We are currently on the road, coming home from a 4 day trip to San Diego. To say we love San Diego is a complete understatement. Personally, I could live there, but as much as John loves it, he prefers just to visit. We stayed at a “luxury” RV park in Mission Bay. There is nothing like full hook-ups and being right on the water! We did lots of bike riding (well, John only did a little since his knee isn’t 100% yet) and relaxing. The girls are on “contract” with school this week, so they did “school” each day.

The highlight of the trip for me was joining our friends, Derek and Christiana, in their ministry in San Diego. They are friends of ours that are missionaries in San Diego that minister to the homeless, broken and marginalized people in the community along with training other leaders in missions. We have been big supporters of them since they first answered God’s call for them to go. I helped a lot as they organized, raised support and transitioned into full time missions. We support them both prayerfully and financially and are so honored to be a part of their lives. They have 2 adorable daughters, a 2-year-old and a 2-month-old. I joined them Sunday evening for church, which they do in someone’s home with other people from their missions team. We enjoyed a delicious meal of soup, salad, homemade bread and pies. After the meal, we gathered around the living room as Derek lead us in worship with his guitar while others helped with percussion. No words can describe how uplifting it was to listen to Derek do what he does best. He is so talented! I always tell them that I’m their biggest fan (Christiana has a beautiful voice too!). In fact, they released a great CD a couple of years ago titled “We’ve Got the Victory.” (Please let me know if you would like a copy.) Back to the story, we also talked a lot about prayer and its importance and what it means to us. It was a great honor for me to join them and share in just a small part of what they’re doing in San Diego. Then on Tuesday, my entire family got to have lunch with their family at my favorite pizza place, Filippe’s Pizza Grotto, in Little Italy. It was a great time of fellowship, laughter and the best pizza ever, in my opinion.

As always, the trip went way too fast! Now we’re headed back to reality with more laundry to do and housework to catch up on, but at least we’re relaxed as we reenter the “real world.”