Sweet Little Girl

With permission from her mommy,

sharing a picture of Birthday Girl! 

Last night after she left  my intent was to make a little 

mommy's helper (or Janet's helper) apron,

which led to a tiny apron for Dolly

as well as a book-bag and dolly-blanket!

Her delight is the sweetest thank-you I could ever wish for💝

This morning she saw a picture of a donut and she remarked

"I like donuts!"

which inspired the birthday treat...

Sputniks/Timbits! (recipe at the end of this post)

The sparkle of a sunbeam

The blush of summer’s rose

The pleasure of a daydream

Goodnight-kiss on the nose

The gladness of a giggle

The treasure of a pearl

The best of all things beautiful

Is you, sweet little girl

The joy of June in winter

The awe of innocence

Your pure and carefree chatter

Teaches the heart to dance

You fill the world with Happy

Rainbows and stars unfurl

In the delightful company

Of you, sweet little girl

...a frilly, bitty bum-kin

A silly-me-oh-my

Princess without a pumpkin

A pretty butterfly

Tea-party guest of honor

A ballerina twirl

Life is such a charming wonder

With you, sweet little girl

You bring a bit of heaven

To earth; you make hope sing

And each day worth the living

With the loveliness you bring

You are a darling angel

Halo of hugs and curls

We are most blessed and so grateful

For you, sweet little girls

© Janet Martin

A frilly-'bitty' bum-kin...

Princess without a pumpkin...

Sputnik Recipe 

  

The Lily-Garb of Innocence...

Last night we celebrated Grand-sonny's 5th birthday!

We have been blessed with five swift years of cute,

curly-headed curiosity and sweetness,

and once again as I marvel at the way

moments meld into years before we know it,

it sure makes me want to make the most of here and now!

Eager little sister, watching on the sidelines, suddenly leaned in with a hefty 

(greatly unappreciated) huff to snuff the final stubborn candles

 (you can imagine the response from Big Brother)

while we adults heartily assured him that his huff got there before hers. 😅

Checking out the next Lego project

(the ice-cream truck)

 Reminiscent of sweet summer days

Childhood’s pure garb of precious, carefree innocence is brief

Soon human nature starts to test sweet darlings with its grief

As moments mete the tide that ebbs and flows, composing Time

Across four-season shorelines rolls the rhythm of its rhyme

Ahoy, the joy of boyhood bliss must soon become a man

We who shower their cheeks with kisses should do all we can

To train and equip hearts and hands for childhood’s aftermath

As morn imparts momentous sands pouring to life’s footpath

To make the most of here and now is all that we can do

To waken senses to the ‘wow’ of Today, always new

To take our thankful place in the embrace of common task

And trust God for the grace that He will give us if we ask

The lily garb of innocence we all wore in our youth

Is handed down to those who trust us to teach them the truth

Then pray we look to He who is the Way, the Truth and Life

Before the Child must leave sweet play to face time’s tides of strife

© Janet Martin

Deut.11:18-20

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; 

tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

 19Teach them to your children, speaking about them 

when you sit at home 

and when you walk along the road,

 when you lie down and when you get up. 

20Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates,…

Ephesians 6:4
Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath; instead, 

bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 4:9
Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, 

so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen,

 and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live.

 Teach them to your children and grandchildren.

Deuteronomy 6:7
And you shall teach them diligently to your children

and speak of them when you sit at home 

and when you walk along the road, 

when you lie down and when you get up.

Psalm 78:4
We will not hide them from their children, 

but will declare to the next generation the praises of the LORD 

and His might, and the wonders He has performed.

Psalm 78:6
that the coming generation would know them--

even children yet to be born--

to arise and tell their own children

Proverbs 22:6

Train up a child in the way he should go, 

and when he is old he will not depart from it

I Do Not Want To Grow Too Old...

blink-blink and another day is in the books!

My youngest sister hosted our annual Mom's Birthday Tea this morning!

(Photo used with her permission😀)

So, from this...

 to this one below

in a matter of a couple hours

Caramel Apple Dessert Pizza

The highlight; tasting everyone's contribution!

Every day we all have one thing in common; getting older!

I pray I may never get too old to lose the wonder of it all!

I do not want to grow too old to thrill when morning’s rose unfolds...

(or dusk's purple and gold)

I do not want to grow too old to thrill when morning’s rose unfolds

To miss the grace-kissed joy unfurled in a four-season wonder-world

And find no kind delight that sings from life’s most sweet and simple things

Or lose the spark that lights the fire that keens the flame of love’s desire

Or in seasoned consistencies walk blind to fresh discoveries

Where life’s Orchestrator instills and fills each day with miracles

I do not want to grow too old to cherish what no one can hold

But learn to love as if today was the last mile on life’s highway

And treat time’s tip-o’-hat and nod for what it is; a gift from God

That grants no guarantee but one; eternity when life is done

Thus, in this very sacred flit I want to make the most of it

To stand beneath the poetry of God and glimpse His majesty 

I do not want to grow too old to lose the sense of moment-gold

I do not want the circumstance to drown the music in the dance

But, pray each day life’s happiness begins and ends with thankfulness

Where fellowmen are fellow friends weathering whatever life sends

For we are altogether bound for that immortal common ground

And no one knows how near or far to that last steppingstone we are

I do not want to grow too old to marvel at Mercy's 'behold'

Behold the day the Lord has made, behold the debt that he has paid

Behold His everlasting love, His Word's abundant treasure trove

Behold the promises we claim if we have trusted in His name

Behold the beauty He bestows to crown life's thorns with hope's red rose

I do not want to grow too old to grow wonder one-hundred-fold

© Janet Martin

A copy of this Psalm was in one of mom's birthday cards...

I do not want the circumstance to drown the music in the dance...💖

For Mother, Sweet and Kind

Between the bustle of keeping up with 

wife-mother-grandma-and childcare-giver duties/beauties

I often find myself drawing from a wellspring 

rich with sound teaching from my mother. 

Today my mom turns 79!

So thankful for my sweet and gentle mother💖

The green pastures of childhood soon turn gold with echo-song

While we reap the rewards of a kind mother all life long

How often we remember in the thick of living’s care

The memories of childhood and a loving mother there

Now often as we look back on fond scenes grown soft and dim

We thank God for the gift of a mother who honored Him

For as a child we could not see what the years strew behind

The precious, priceless memories of mother, sweet and kind

How swift the carousel of seasons spins and spills and twirls

And soon its eager children are no longer boys and girls

But men and women, moms and dads, so thankful to recall

Their precious, loving, faithful, gentle best-mother-of-all

...it doesn’t sound like much to tell it; how moms undo days

Cook-clean-laundry-scolding-holding-praying-playing-haze

With admonition for the wrong and kind praise for the right

We pray we too will leave behind a gentle guiding light

© Janet Martin

This Little Bit of Time We Have...

Last Sunday we celebrated today's milestone,

Dad's 80th birthday!

Happy 80th Birthday, Dad

To us, much or somewhat younger, 80 years seems like a long time,

but it's a blip on time's screen, isn't it?!

Before refreshments we had an opportunity to share memories and words of appreciation.

Lots of laughter and a few tears too.

 

The verse below stands out as one my dad strove to live by, 

(and a few mentioned their thankfulness for his kind and wholesome habit of speech.)

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths,

but only what is helpful for building others up

according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

Eph.4:29

The memories re-impressed on me

the little bit of Time we have in light of eternity

no matter how long/short life is!

This little bit of Time we have 

before Soul’s husk falls to the grave

Compels us to fine-tune want’s quest 

and strive to give each day our best

For it will not be long until 

the shoes we leave behind to fill

Will be worn by feet still so small, 

while we go on to That Last Call

Then, with this bit of time life grants 

we do not want to leave to chance

The calling and election of 

what soon is stripped of mortal glove

But pray each day, God will equip 

us with tools for good stewardship

His Word directs and edifies 

to feed the soul that never dies

His grace forgives, His love sustains 

us through whatever time remains

He helps us do the best we can 

to love Him first, then fellowman

So, someday when this race is run, 

we’ll hear hope’s glorious crown ‘well done!’

Where, when time’s veil is rent, we’ll see 

intangible eternity

© Janet Martin

On behalf of the whole family I also shared this poem My Dad

 written a few months ago but saved to share with him till this celebration.

 We also sang one of his favourite songs; 

Bringing Home our Sheaves by

Elizabeth A. Allen  and Henry S. Rupp

Happy Birthday, Melissa

 

Happy Birthday, Melissa💗

In spite of this past winter and spring's thorns (aka lockdown)

we cherished its rose...Melissa living at home for a while!

We miss you and love you

and also are so thankful that life is feeling a bit more normal

and you can get your city-life fix again😊

So many precious moments enjoyed...

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Rejoice always, 

pray continually, 

give thanks in all circumstances;

 for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Wishing you a wonder-full year ahead filled with happiness!

Happiness is life’s lovely prize

Not hiding in what money buys

But in contentment’s treasure trove

In trusting God, in faith and love

In cherishing the day in hand

As it washes across the land

Like waves that wash across the beach

In the sweet pleasure of a peach

In tasting fully every drop

That sparkles from yon Mercy-cup

Happiness is a job well done

Not found in wild-goose chase of ‘fun’

But in the awed awareness of

The One who grants life's work-pray-love

And gives us Hope no matter what

Perplexes us with ‘if’ and but’

It fills time's mist of highs and lows

Not just with thorns but with the rose

And as we trust God with each need

We will be most happy in deed

Happiness is love’s ‘welcome home’

The joys that turn into a poem

A willing-to-help attitude

A second-to-none gratitude

A hug, a smile, a love-you wave

Making the best of what we have

Embracing who we are because

Of Who created each of us

His one-of-a-kind works of art

Happiness is a thankful heart

© Janet Martin

SO thankful for sweet, determined beautiful you!

Thankful for God's faithful provision for you.

God bless and keep you well and hope to

See you soon!

Life's Kind and Sweetest Years of All...

 

Today my husband's mother turns 90!

Yesterday, surrounded by her greatest joy, family, 

we celebrated this milestone.

Once again we were blessed by the talents of sister-in-law Lucille

with a beautiful cake to celebrate this momentous occasion!

(front row is Mother with remaining sisters & brother-in-law and her children)

Mother is the one with a blanket over her lap. 

It was very cool for August!!

In the afternoon a drive-by birthday greeting shower

allowed over 100 extended family and friends

the opportunity to bring birthday blessings in person.

Dear mother, as time passes by

And strength and energy decline

May love bear fruit in rich supply

Where years hang heavy on life’s vine

May you be blessed without reserve

And honoured as long as you live

Because dear mother, you deserve

The very best love has to give

We pray that Motherhood’s reward

Begins on earth, by what we do

To show you that we thank the Lord

Dear mother, for the gift of you

Then, as the love of family

Brings joy where twilight shadows fall

We pray your sunset years may be

Life’s kind and sweetest years of all

© Janet Martin

Her children arise and call her blessed;

Prov.31:28

Lyric About Life

 

Happy Birthday, Emily💗

Twenty-nine years ago you made your dad and I parents!

Thank-you for its journey of joy, 

however unconventional joy's footpaths may be!😉😊

Last week as I chatted with a young mom she asked how it was

to have our second daughter home for a while

(she moved back to the city a week ago)

'It's so great' I replied.

 'While they grow up the focus is on parenting, training, etc.

With adult children it's friendship/relationship.

They know what we believe and support and what we don't.

(of course, it will always be friendship

under a mother's watchful eye and words of caution etc.

and a ton of prayers; those seem to increase, not decrease with the years)

but what a precious privilege to relate to our children,

adult to adult and stand with them

through life's highs and lows

by the grace of God.

Dear Emily,

God bless you on your special day

even though your son wailed and wailed last night,

begging you to skip your birthday because he doesn't want you to change😂

Unfortunately he is wishing for the impossible!

I pray for you, God's guidance through 

all the challenges and changes life is bound to bring!

Life leads us by the hand sometimes

In flowered nooks it bids us sit

A gladsome thing that makes us sing

And dance for the sheer joy of it

Life grabs us by the scruff sometimes

And sets us firmly in God’s grace

A heavy hand of reprimand

To remind us of our place

Life takes us in its arms sometimes

In kind, parental sympathy

To dry our tears and calm our fears

As we rest in God's sovereignty

Life is a teacher all the time

We never grow too old to learn

As highs and lows and joys and woes

Fill Bygone’s sheaf of no return

Life makes us older day by day

Pray that it makes us kinder too

As we embrace the Hand of grace

That every moment-gem runs through

…to forge the weight of wisdom’s crown

Then pray as yester-years increase

Beauty unveils what never fails

Love’s holy, humble Masterpiece

Life takes us by surprise sometimes

In spite of its muddle and mess

It fills the heart with life’s best part

Wild, unorthodox *thankfulness

© Janet Martin

* I first used the word 'happiness' instead of thankfulness

but changed it because without genuine thankfulness

genuine happiness is impossible!

“this is my prayer: 

that your love may abound more and more 

in knowledge and depth of insight, 

so that you may be able to discern what is best 

and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 

filled with the fruit of righteousness 

that comes through Jesus Christ

—to the glory and praise of God.”

 Philippians 1:9-11 

For We Who Tread The Thread of Numbered Days...

 

The ice-cream truck was such a special thrill last night

to celebrate a whole bunch of family birthdays!

I kept saying 'ch-e-e-e-ese' to try to get their attention, but, well...

they were deliciously distracted! 😋😄

So much birthday-joy already

celebrating so much to be thankful for

to the Giver of life's gift!

Meal cooked by one daughter and son-in-law...(last night)

 

Cake baked by another daughter for double celebration;

both parent's birthdays...

We get stretched out of comfort zones with or without approval’s nod

We start to feel in joints and bones the impact of life’s tug and prod

Futile to wish we could turn back the hands of time taking its toll

But take stock of this skin-bone rack; it is the Chariot of the Soul

We start to feel the subtle keel as scales of age begin to tip

Toward a stage, once so surreal, before our wheels began to slip

The stern command and upper hand of Father’s Time’s insistent gait

No matter how craftily planned, nobody can manipulate

This gift that always steals the young collects itself in numbered years

It peals from daybreak’s golden gong then rolls westward to join its peers

And takes us by age-old surprise; Time is both gentleman and brute

He tames the tiger in our eyes with Wonder’s sweeter substitute

How common day-to-day appears to we, aboard time’s teeming barge

Where one-by-one we disappear as death collects its chosen charge

Where none can order or predict who will be next to disembark

And meet the Giver of life’s gift as time flies upward like a spark

Cherish this gift but bear in mind the fugitive flight of its toll

This dust-to-dust we leave behind is but the Chariot of the Soul

An essence that remains concealed until that solemn, sacred day

When the gift’s Purpose is revealed as mortal wrapping falls away

Because life is a gift from God we do not authorize or choose

The why or wherefore of its rod, the tender tenure of its hues

The precious part of you and I is to revere with grateful praise

The One who grants the grace whereby we tread the thread of numbered days

© Janet Martin

Job 14:5

A person's days are determined; 

you have decreed the number of his months 

and have set limits he cannot exceed.

Of Season-Spectrum

Timothy 4:12 ESV /

Let no one despise you for your youth,

but set the believers an example 

in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.

Happy 23rd Birthday, Matt!

We love the laughter your sense of humour brings to our home

 as well as your conscientious attitude to life!

Wishing you God's guidance and blessing in the year ahead!

Photo Credit; Brittany Ruppert

The spectrum of a season swiftly sweeps from now to then

The boys and girls of Good Old Days become women and men

The dreamlands of sweet childhood clash with brash reality

As fruit begins to emerge on green branches of the tree

Accountability begins to replace innocence

What was footloose and fancy-free now demands diligence

And where the air once wore the cheers of ‘no more school, hooray’

The student starts to learn that lessons take no holiday

...where shoes too large for little feet to fit, suddenly do

As boys and girls of Good Old Days shoulder life’s ‘Nothing New’

‘Remember your Creator then, in the days of your youth

So that you may be able to discern well what is truth’

Because the spectrum of a seasons soon loses its sheen

Branches become set in their ways, that once were limber-green

And harvest that seemed far off starts to render its return

Where a new age of Innocence waits eagerly, to learn

© Janet Martin

From a Fount That Forges Memories...

Happy 2nd Birthday, sweet grand-daughter!

...though without a doubt the celebration is bittersweet this year!

This is not quite the poem I had in mind but

 circumstance sort of moved the heart in this direction today!

Details here on

Divine Design

From a fount that forges memory’s fond mementos, mercy-lent

Pours the future to a suture that weaves pictures, echo-bent

Who knows what will flow from heaven to bestow laughter and tears

Where dawn kindles what dusk dwindles until ‘lifetime’ disappears

From the hand of God (no other, lest we confuse hierarchy

And forget the One who numbers days before one came to be)

From His hand, (the fount of mercy) time’s momentous stream runs rife

Until the will of the Giver returns to Himself, each life

Sacred is the surge of seasons, slowly reeling farewell in

Holy is the toll of twilight, siphoning the soul from skin

Precious is each gifted hour, arranged step-by-steppingstone

Faithful is the loving Father drawing his dear children Home

© Janet Martin

Your eyes saw my unformed body; 

all the days ordained for me were written in your book

 before one of them came to be.

Psalm 139:16

More Than a Birthday Poem...

Twenty years old!

How can it be?!

No more teenagers in the family!

We are all blessed by your kind, sweet and sunny personality!

God bless you, Dear Daughter, as you seek to honour Him

with your choices, hopes and dreams

This is more than a birthday poem

To wish you happiness

More than a toast to hopes and dreams

And their smiling success

More than sweet sentiment’s flourish

Of tender, loving care

This is more than a birthday wish

My dear, it is a prayer

A prayer, that He who has begun

His lovely work in you

Would always be the Faithful One

You trust to see it through

A prayer for God’s grace to bestow

Faith enough to proceed

Knowing for all we cannot know

He knows just what we need

This is a prayer for joy and peace

(for this is happiness)

A prayer that wisdom would increase

And with it, thankfulness

A prayer that life returns to you

The loveliness you give

That God will shine His face on you

For as long as you live

© Janet Martin

The Lord bless you and keep you;

25 The Lord make His face shine upon you,

And be gracious to you;

26 The Lord [a]lift up His countenance upon you,

And give you peace.” ’

Num.6: 24-26

A Love Poem (for parents)

 We celebrated Mom's birthday yesterday, a little late...

I tucked this poem in her card and hope

she will read between the lines...

for things words wouldn't will.

Sometimes the heart is full of art that cannot find a way 

To spell in ink the things we think but don’t know how to say 

’I love you’, ‘I am sorry’, ‘thank-you for all that you do’ 

Seem far too small to convey all that I would like it to 

The things we learn where living’s no-return is running rife 

Often humbles opinion with stumbles and facts of life 

But we are not so quick to pick up stones in self-defense 

As we begin to gather in the sheaves of recompense 

The past is a vast book we should look at, but not retrace 

Except to see with clarity the goodness of God’s grace 

And where we lack the perfect knack to spell our utter thanks 

We trust in love to be enough to fill in all the blanks 

© Janet Martin

“‘“The Lord bless you
    and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face shine on you
    and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord turn his face toward you
    and give you peace.”’

Num.6:24-26