New Christmas Traditions!

Tomorrow we set sail on another Family Cruise!

It seems to have become our New Family Christmas Tradition... a tradition we'd sure like to continue!

Each year since mom has passed, we gather Dad together and find our way to the sea to celebrate her life and find ways to reconnect as a family and embrace our new normal.

The first cruise without her was so very, very hard... But it led us back to places of pure grace and joy.  Mom loved cruising and visiting distant ports of call...

We felt her blessing keenly through-out the healing journey and vowed to continue the cruising tradition...

And so it was that the following year, mom's memorial cruise became a way to move forward thru the grief and truly it was a time to slow down and honor her memory in the most perfect way possible.

Tomorrow, we gather the whole family together at the Port of Houston and begin a week-long celebration that has us too excited to sleep!

And so it is Bon Voyage until next week... There will surely be pictures a'plenty to share... and stories too... Always!

Praying for Grace to meet you where you are.

Whether it's fighting the fight or embracing the cherished memories,

Pancreatic Cancer has a way of wreaking havoc with

treasured traditions.

Might you find your heart eased into this holiday season,

wrapped in the holiness of His Gift.

My Love Always,

                    Jane

Legacy Making Habits

There is nothing that will shape your legacy more than your habits. Why? Because we are invariably the sum of the choices that we make in our life. And those choices are greatly influenced by our habits...good and bad.  Aristoltle probably said it best, "We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence is not an act...it's a habit."

I heard a speaker explain it this way:

"Here's a little test to understand the power of our habits. Cross your arms as you normally would, and look down to see which one is on top.  Invariably half of you will have your right arm on top (Leroy did) and the other half will have your left on top. (I did.)  When you crossed your arms for the very first time, you might have been still in your playpen, and you've been crossing your arms the same way ever since. Now, cross your arms again, but this time put the wrong arm on top. It feels extremely weird! If I were to challenge you to cross your arms the "wrong" way for the rest of your life, could you do it? Probably. Would it be difficult? You bet it would!"

Interesting, isn't it?  (Which arm did you have on top?)

Here's the point: Habits - good or bad - are difficult to break.  And we are what we repeatedly do...

Which I'm finding out is pretty accurate.  I wondered many times after mom passed away if our family would hold together.  Not because of any discord, or conflicts, but mainly because we all knew mom was the glue that held the family together.  She was the one who made sure everyone's birthday was remembered, she was the one who planned all the special events, she was the one who coerced all the teenagers to come (and have fun!), she was the one...

But, somehow, someway, we're doing it..  I like to think it's the Legacy-making Habit that she ingrained in all of us.  We are what we repeatedly do!  And we do like to get together and have fun.

So, tomorrow we're having a Family Fish Fry at my brothers.  Just because...

My mouth is watering already!  Leroy and I are in charge of the hush-puppies and the strawberry shortcake.  It will be stupendous!

And a new Family tradition will begin.  Mom would be delighted.  She left us the grand tradition of family, fun, food and fellowship, here, and here, and here!  The list is endless... Mom loved to bring us all together.  In this, the Legacy lives on...

...beliefs become our thoughts,
thoughts become our words,
words become our actions,
actions become our habits,
habits become our character,
character becomes our legacy… 

                                                                                    ~Mahatma Gandhi


Praying your weekend is filled with Legacy-making Habits of the best kind!

Living on in Grace,  Jane

A Day Made for Rejoicing

Happy Easter!

And to make it even better, if that's possible...

Happy Birthday Autumn!

Our sweet grand-baby girl has turned 2...

Today was a celebration times two!!  It won't happen very often that Autumn's Birthday falls on Easter Sunday, so...

We Celebrated the Blessing!

With Balloons

And Cake

Young and Old...

with Smiles Contagious!

Celebrating the Beautiful Day of Autumn's Birth

and the

Glorious Day of Christ's Resurrection

An Old Rugged Cross and the Empty Tomb

give us the Map for our Journey...

And the Destination is Heavenly!!