Five months...

Here's to an evening at home, awaiting the arrival of hurricane Sandy, and no school tomorrow!  It has been five months since we last posted anything on this blog.  I could give reasons for this, but admittedly, I have taken the easy way out of blogging by instead letting Facebook simply document life for me.  It's been easier to post quick Instagram pictures, quotes from my children, and do status updates that would remind me of where we were at the time rather than go into a description of all the wonderful and challenging things that have filled our lives most recently.  The fact that it has been THIS long is giving me pause in returning to it at all.  What is the purpose of all this "documenting?" Is it purely for the sake of memory keeping?  Well, I do find on-line journaling to be a LOT easier than the whole scrapbooking, creative memories route, but it's not just that.  Even sharing pictures is not as much of a reason to blog anymore as there are other avenues to do that as well.
Okay, here's the point at which I'm supposed to share something profound and meaningful about blogging....
Really, my goal here is to write, without obligation, a story about what God has done and is doing in our lives.  It's okay if it's messy and simple and out of chronological order and REAL.  I'm seeing the need in my life for some more Grace with myself.  It sure has taken me long enough.  As busy as these last several months have been and as busy as the family forecast for this year looks - we're in store for LOTS of areas for us all to grow in Grace with each other and ourselves.  So, I'm giving myself Grace with this blog and pardoning the last 5 months of family memories (since I keep a journal of them all anyways).  So, maybe this means I'll blog more?  I'd like to.  In this season of life, my free evenings are few and full of all the things I wish I could have gotten to all day, but couldn't.  Since blogging requires some level of inspiration and thinking, I am less likely to do it in the evenings - I've already spent my brain-cells for the day on trying to think of creative ways to teach my children how to love those around them well and who God has made them to be (which is a poetic way of saying, I spend a lot of time refereeing arguments and feel like I'm talking to a brick wall).
So, what's the future of this blog?  I guess we'll just have to see.  When those moments of inspiration are found you'll get a peek at them.  But this past week, there has been some inspiration.  Last Thursday, October 25, we lost a very precious family member.  Noah and Ethan's Great-grandma Nana, Michael's Nana, and Dottie's Mom, Carmen Merrill passed away from this life.  She was 95 years young and an inspiration to all of us.  When we heard that she was fading, we seized the opportunity to go say good-bye to Nana and were grateful for the chance to all be together as she passed into eternity.  As Matthew, Kerry, and Kieran joined us on Friday, we joyfully gathered around the piano that evening at Mom and Dad's house and sang her favorite hymns, celebrating the life she had that inspired her children and their families to love music as much as she did.  She played the piano even after most of her short-term memories had faded - that gift never left her and she passed it on to the generations to follow her.  We are blessed to have one of her pianos in our home and Noah is bubbling over with excitement as he just recently had his first piano lesson.  What a beautiful legacy.

Michael's Aunt Joan, Nana, and Mom at our wedding, August 2003

We are planning her memorial service, which will be in Chatham, NJ in a couple weeks and it is going to be full of some of her favorite pieces.  Thank you, Nana, for your inspiration, your legacy of music, and your love, all three of which you passed beautifully down right into our own little family.