Lyryn’s Beauty Ever Grows

August 1, 2009 at 10:54 pm (Family)

Jesse and Lyryn

Jesse and Lyryn

I am very proud of all six of my children. But let’s face it, they have issues. Everyone (including me!) has issues. Lyryn, my oldest daughter (who turns 27 on August 15th) was not an especially easy child to raise. She was not a cuddly kid. She was independent and sensitive to the point of fragility. She was an emotional roller-coaster, just as I was myself during my own teen years. She battled feelings of low self-esteem, despite the fact that she was beautiful, funny, talented, smart and loved. 

Lyryn may not have completed a college degree, but she paid for her own wedding when she was only twenty-one. She has been working since she was sixteen, and she was the first immediate family member to buy her own home, pre-dating her parents’ first house purchase by a year.

Lyryn married her childhood sweetheart Jesse. After the birth of Jayden (10/16/07) she suffered deeply from post-partum depression. She no longer recognized the body that had gained sixty pounds during pregnancy, she felt conflicted with her role as a working mother, and she and Jesse had inadvertently become emotionally distanced from one another in a fairly short period of time. That distance ultimately led to a crushing betrayal. Lyryn chose to confront it and acknowledge her role in it. With conviction, she and Jesse chose to recommit to their marriage covenant.

While I am an open book, I never discuss things about other people on my blog without their permission. Lyryn has given me permission to share her story; however her words say it so much better than I ever could. They come from the depths of personal experience and are spoken in her own true voice. I encourage you to read about Lyryn’s journey through her blog. The title of the post is “One Year of Healing” and I am praying that it will encourage you.

I am proud to say that the teenager I once begged God to let me “like,” has become one of my very best friends. I not only love her, but I also like her very, very much. I am so very proud of the woman she is becoming. With each year her wisdom, beauty, humor, compassion and talent (for writing and photography, among other things) seem to grow exponentially.

At her side is the young man I suggested (at the age of twelve) would one day be her husband. I knew he would never bore her. He has earned my deep love and respect for his re-commitment to my daughter, his family, and his God. He remains my beloved son-in-love.

God has used an unbearable situation for good. Lyryn and Jesse have sought Him in crisis, and have been rewarded with mercy and grace. May we all have willing hearts and open minds to whatever it is that God has in store for each one of us. I pray that we will cling to Him as to a bungee cord when leaping off a bridge. We can only enjoy the view if we trust the cord that holds us.

2 Comments

The Cat Came Back

August 1, 2009 at 8:38 pm (Family)

I am officially stupid. I just posted a long, detailed account of finding a cat in my office early one morning this past week. I actually “bought” the concept that it had snuck in when the back door was left open from bringing in the materials for our current renovation project.

But I just heard that tell-tale mewing sound again. Leigha told me it was Brittany’s cell phone and quickly closed Johnna’s bedroom door. I knew better. I opened the door and screeched when I saw that THE CAT CAME BACK!

Does anyone else out there know that old song? Way back in the previous millennium we learned it in Girl Scouts. Recently I have been singing it over and over in my head, thinking the song reminded me a little of Attila, because apparently you couldn’t kill him if you tried. (Not that anyone wants to!)

For the uninitiated, here is an excerpt: 

Old Mister Johnson had troubles of his own
He had a yellow cat that wouldn’t leave his home;
He tried and he tried, to give that cat away,
But it always came back the very next day
Oh, the cat came back the very next day,
The cat came back, we thought he was a goner
but the cat came back; it just wouldn’t stay away
away, away, yea, yea, yea
The man around the corner swore he’d kill the cat on sight,
he loaded up his shotgun with nails and dynamite
he waited and he waited for the cat to come around
ninety seven pieces of the man is all they found
Chorus
He gave it to a boy with a ten pound note
told for him to take it up the river in a boat
tied a rope around it’s neck, must have weighed ten pounds
now they’re draggin the river for a little boy that’s drowned
Chorus
The ”A” bomb fell  just the other day
The “H” bomb fell in the very same way
Russia went, England went, then the USA
the human race had perished, without a chance to pray
BUT
The cat came back the very next day
Oh, the cat came back, they thought he was a goner
but the cat came back; it just couldn’t stay away
away, away, yea, yea, yea

Okay, so the song is a little dark. And at least one of those countries no longer exists. But I am feeling a little dark now that I have discovered that Leigha has been hiding that cat in my house for a week! 

I feel betrayed. She knows how allergic I am. I assumed that the itchy-horrible-allergy-feeling was due to the spackle dust and open insulation on the second floor. But noooooooo. I was apparently in possession of a cat the whole time and didn’t know it.

I feel fairly certain that the previous squirrel visitation was not “Leigha inspired.” But apparently that kid will do nearly anything to have a pet. Perhaps I should re-visit the whole turtle concept? As far as I know I am not allergic to animals who live in aquariums.

I am going to call Freedom Village RIGHT NOW!

Leave a Comment

You Can’t Scare Me! Or Maybe You Can.

August 1, 2009 at 3:55 pm (Musings)

At the ripe age of fifty-one, I find that I am no longer a person who scares easily. Once-upon-a-time I did react to certain events with a significant display of drama. Just ask my siblings about my periodic episodes of childhood histrionics. But over the years, as my life has unfolded, I have become 1) numb, or 2) strengthened by my belief that God is in control.

I have survived a terrifying ten minutes when we ”lost” our beloved three-year-old son Brent on a crowded Atlantic City beach in the height of the summer season. Some kind soul found him wandering through the masses of bodies lying on beach towels, and delivered him to the lifeguard stand. When we joyously discovered him there, he petulantly exclaimed, “You losted me!” Yes, we did - but never again.

I have survived the police at our door, informing us that my beloved father had taken his own life on the steps of the Emergency Room entrance of a local hospital. Compassionate to the end, Daddy did not want a family member to forever hold the gruesome memory of finding his body. After a life-long battle with bi-polar disorder, my father was at peace in heaven with Father God. I knew this because my father knew Him and believed in His gift of eternal life.

I have survived my beloved husband Attila waking me up at 1:00 a.m. (on his own birthday!) with the news that he just might be having a heart attack. Of course he was having a heart attack. Once the projectile vomiting started I was on the phone with 911. I woke Brent up and charged him with the responsibility for the household while we were gone. 

I have survived watching my beloved foster daughter (of two years) return to an environment where we knew she would not be happy and we knew she would not be safe. This same daughter has been returned to us and we anxiously await termination of parental rights, and her legal adoption some time in the next year.

I have survived seeing my beloved grandson (up close and personal) burst through the birth canal, and watching my beloved daughter Johnna literally leap for him with a face full of wonder and joy. Two days later she kept her promise to another couple - a promise that they would be his “forever” parents.

Through all of my life experiences I have been changed. I do not look for trouble as I once did so long ago. Back then, my biggest fear was that the cute boy who sat next to me in my 5th grade math class would not acknowledge my existence by saying “Hi!” to me.

My favorite t-shirt in my closet is the one that states: “You Can’t Scare Me: I Have Children.”  This is especially true of my children. But on Thursday morning, I found myself momentarily TERRIFIED. Hair-standing-on-the-back-of-my-neck terrified (okay, so I am being a little dramatic here).  

From the opposite side of my office came a rustling noise and a creepy   ”meewwwing” sound.  Since we have already had a squirrel in our house (a previous post describes that event in painful detail) I was open to the fact that any creature at all could be in the room with me at that very moment – any creature at all!

The creature had many wonderful places to hide, since the current renovation project has forced all the objects out of the hall closet and into my office. The room has become a veritable hide-and-seek heaven.

I gingerly tiptoed over to the piles of closet-contents and scanned the area as far as my fear would allow. That was not very far - not very far at all.  A second “meewwwing” sound startled me into the hallway, where I called down the steps for Johnna’s sometimes-sleeps-in-my-living-room boyfriend to come rescue me from the unknown. Attila usually handles this stuff for me, but he is currently incarcerated at Freedom Village with a bum leg.

Henry came rushing upstairs as Johnna, Leigha and Brittany poured out of the second floor bedrooms, simultaneously converging on the mystery room. Teens voluntarily becoming vertical at 7:40 a.m. is a miracle by itself. Leigha (who sleeps like the dead) was the first to find the four-legged creature and foist him ceilingward in a gesture of triumph.

“Can we keep him?” she asked. What?!? Had the stork delivered a kitten during the night? Leigha stood there holding an adorable gray and white kitten/cat. He was sort of a teen cat, I guess – not quite an adult and not really a baby anymore.  Apparently we have a neon sign over our door (invisible to adults) that states “All teens welcome here!”

My nose was already beginning to tickle from my allergies. The fur ball was wearing a collar, so I informed Leigha that he obviously has a home where he is loved, and he probably had been extremely missed overnight.

How did said cat get into our house? Leigha admitted that she had left the back door open during the day. To be completely fair, in the midst of bringing in drywall, etc. for the renovation job, it would have been easy for a cat to enter our abode undetected.

What is so darn inviting about our house that makes the creatures of the night want to enter and explore? We have now had one squirrel and one cat check in for an overnight stay at the Balla Hotel. Not to mention all those teenagers who return again and again!

I am just wondering if Freedom Village might let me stay with Attila in his room for a few days. The very name implies freedom from teenagers Am I right? Of course I am.

(Note to Attila: Don’t come home until the toilet works)

Leave a Comment