Hilltop View

Roots and Wings

At my age, it's a given that more days lay behind me than before me. Yet I smile at the future (Proverbs 31: 25), cherishing each day God allows me.

My husband Jeff and I have three children: Bethany, Jill, and Nathaniel. But in just six years, our family of five has doubled as two handsome young men stole our daughters' hearts and they began having families of their own. We are blessed with three grandchildren -- and another on the way.

Weddings and births -- celebrations of life.


Celebrating the Hilltop View

In August 2009, our only son headed off to a college more than a thousand miles from our home. The dreaded empty nest was upon me.

But I had too much to do to dwell on the silence of our home. A publisher wanted to see my manuscript before the end of September. Writing consumed almost all my time and attention. By the time I finished, I was used to a childless home.

Fast-forward to summer 2010. Bethany is expecting her third baby. Jill and her family moved from the Midwest and live only a few miles from Bethany. Now all our grandkids are only a couple hours away. And Nate is home for the summer.

Assuredly, these are God-blessed and dazzlin' days!


Genealogy

My mom and I spent several hours entering our genealogy at the My Heritage website. We now have a family tree with hundreds of names that reaches back in time to the late 1700s. True, many of the entries are only names -- we know little or nothing about the individual.

But as we sorted through our files, Mom shared anecdtoes, memories, and family lore. I feel more connected to several of my descendents than I ever had before.