Milestones

What a Week -

In the span of 5 days we have 3 family members reaching significant milestones...

Our youngest grandchild, beautiful Alexis Collins Richards, reached her 1st birthday yesterday. As she is the true 'baby' in the family, we are reluctant to let go of her infancy and yet marvel at her achievements, giggles, kisses, and words 'nigh-nigh' as she waves on her way to bed. Through these days and all those to come, I thank God for the blessings that are our grandchildren.

Our youngest son, Christopher Scott Wiren, with the ticking of the clock, leaves his childhood behind...shedding its outgrown attire for the new, better-fitting wardrobe of the teenager. He is such an interesting, fun, smart, and kind young man. The years leading to this point have been filled with joy...almost as bright as his smile when he shares a vision he stored in his mind and relays in gread detail to anyone who will listen. Almost as bright as the sparkle in his eye when he's being mischievous or enjoying something witty or funny. Words are inadequate, but through these days and all those to come, I thank God for the blessings that are our children.

Our middle daughter, Elisa Kiley Wiren Richards, beautiful in every way, turns 25 this week. She's shrugging off the last lingering bits of the teenager without losing her sense of fun. Easily fitting are the coats of Wife, Mother, Career Woman, Deans-List Student, Daughter, Sister. That's not to say she won't pull out the old prom gown to see if it still fits (and it does), or pulls out the high school yearbook, only to marvel at how far she's come since then. She's on a road that is difficult, to say the least...then again, she knows that taking the easy route rarely gets you where you want to go. The days are long yet the hours too few, the responsibilities great, but the reward...priceless. She's chosen an excellent partner to travel with and they make the load lighter for each other. Just keep going a bit longer and the view is Spectacular! With a mental slideshow playing; snippets of the days and times gone by, while looking forward to the ones still to come, I thank God for the blessings that are our cihldren.

For the blessings that are my life.

Thank You, Lord...

The Power of Kind Words...

Every now and then we come across a story that speaks to our heart. The type of story you tuck away to be retrieved again and again. The following story has been one of those to me. I heard that the author is Elizabeth Silance Ballard but have not verified that. I'm also posting this without the appropriate copyright recognitions. That said, I share this story here in the hope that it touches you as it has me.

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One day a teacher asked her students to list the names of the other

students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between

each name.

Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could

say about each of their classmates and write it down.

It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment

and, as the students left the room, each one handed in the papers.



That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each student on a

separate sheet of paper, and listed what everyone else had said about that individual.

On Monday, she gave each student his or her list. Before long, the

entire class was smiling. "Really?" she heard whispered.

"I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!" and, "I didn't know others liked me so much." were some of the comments.

No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. She never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents,

but it didn't matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with themselves and one another.

That group of students moved on. Several years later, one of the students was killed in Vietnam and his teacher attended the

funeral of that special student.

She had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before.

He looked so handsome, so mature.

The church was packed with his friends. One by one, those who loved

him took a last walk by the coffin. The teacher was the last one to bless the coffin. As she stood there, one of the soldiers, who acted as pall bearer, came up to her.

"Were you Mark's math teacher?" he asked.

She nodded: "Yes."

Then he said: "Mark talked about you a lot."

After the funeral, most of Mark's former classmates went together to a

luncheon. Mark's mother and father were there, obviously waiting to speak with his teacher.

"We want to show you something," his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket. "They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it."

Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notepaper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times.

The teacher knew, without looking, that the papers were the

ones on which she had listed all the good things each of Mark's

classmates had said about him.

"Thank you so much for doing that," Mark's mother said. "As you can see, Mark treasured it."

All of Mark's former classmates started to gather around.

Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, "I still have my list. It's

in the top drawer of my desk at home."

Chuck's wife said, "Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding album."

"I have mine too," Marilyn said. "It's in my diary."

Then Vickie, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group.

" I carry this with me at all times," Vickie said, and without batting an eyelash, she continued: "I think we all saved our lists."

That's when the teacher finally sat down and cried. She cried for Mark and for all his friends who would never see him again.