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Well. It has been some time since I last made a post here on this site. It's not that I don't have anything to write. I have tons of stuff in my head. Tons of observations and reflections that are bouncing around in my head. I simply have not had time to sit down and dump out my head. I'm going to attempt to do that today.
Over the last week, my family and I did some traveling. Last Wednesday we drove to Ohio to see family and friends. It was a great time at home. Hannah got good grandparents time and slept in a big bed. That was a first for her. We were a bit concerned about her falling out of bed, because she flops around like a dead fish when she sleeps. She did ok the first night. The second night she fell out of bed at 3:30am. It's not a good thing to be woken by a screaming baby and a frantic wife.
On Friday we got to hook up with my best friend from my high school years. We had lunch with his family and my brother. Then, that evening, we had dinner with my family and waited for my sister and her family to drive into town. That evening was probably my favorite of the trip. My dad was his normal ornery self, tormenting grandkids and giving my mom a hard time. That week he had been trying to catch a groundhog. He had a trap from my uncle that he had baited with corn. About every 1/2 hour he would go out and check it to see if he caught it. At one point he thought he caught it. He came in exclaiming he had it, with a big "I've overtaken the world" type of smile. I went and checked the trap--there was nothing. We figure he got close enough when looking at the trap with his flashlight that he thought he saw something and didn't want to go any closer. He's afraid of animals like that.
The biggest highlight for me was playing Euchre. Euchre is always a loud and wild time at my family's house. When you add my brother, my dad, and me to the mix, it gets even crazier. We giggle and laugh and chide one another constantly. It's the activity with my family that really helps me realize and feel at home. I know, you may call that crazy. That's what it is for me.
My sister and her family finally arrived at 10:30pm. They had a long drive from Virginia through a tropical storm and the hills of West Virginia. It is always good to see them. We don't get to see them as often as we would like. But, that's the way things are.
Saturday we had breakfast with my family. My family knows how to eat. There were doughnuts, biscuits, sausage gravy, eggs, ham, sausage patties, and fresh fruit. No one goes hungry at a Lowman feast and there is always left over food. (I continually tell my mom that she and my family's eating habits are the main reason I've always been bigger than I should). After breakfast, I headed to Dan Johnson's Custom Guitar Works. He is currently repairing a Gibson 12 string I recently acquired and my Larrivee. He is the step brother of my brother-in-law. He's toured with numerous groups as their guitar tech. He's been repairing and building guitars for at least 15 years or more. He does great work. Plus, his shop is a guitar treasure chest. There are no less than 50 guitars in various states of repair there.
Saturday night Steph, Hannah and I drove to Detroit, Michigan. We needed some time to ourselves to relax and unwind from the last few months and to rest up for the next few. We found a hotel with a pool close to Macomb Christian Church and settled in for the night. The next morning we went to Macomb to worship with Eric and Mary. It was very nice to be a participant and not a leader. It was also good to reconnect with a couple people I hadn't seen in awhile. From there we had lunch with Eric and Mary and then headed to the Detroit Zoo. The zoo was great. It's much bigger than our zoo here in Lansing. Hannah was running on low sleep because of our vacation and the fact that we were at the zoo during her naptime. She did exceptionally well and really enjoyed herself. It was cool to see all the animals. My favorites were the bird sanctuary and the baby monkey. I definite favorite would have been the butterfly room, but they locked us out of the building before we got there. That gives us a reason to go again sometime. From there we found another hotel with a pool, got some dinner at Cosi, and relaxed some more. The next morning we hit Great Lakes Crossing for some shopping and worked our way back to Lansing via another outlet mall, Walmart, Target, and Kroger.
Though we were constantly busy, our time away was relaxing and refreshing for me. Being at another church always gives me good perspective for where I am at in my ministry at South. Driving in the car with my wife is always a fun time. We always end up driving around to find things that sometimes we don't find. It always gives us time to talk, giggle, and dream. Reconnecting with our families is always enjoyable. It helps me to remember where I came from and who I really am. It helps me to remember that I am unconditionally loved and supported by those I don't really see that often. That brings me much comfort. It also makes it hard to leave sometimes. Being in the place where you grow up is always refreshing to me. Why there is comfort in driving up over the hill and seeing the Apple Barrel, I will never know. Maybe its because it is a place of familiarity and memory. Maybe its because it reminds me of the past and the wonderful falls northeast Ohio always has. Maybe its because its only a mile or so from my home, and it symbolizes another journey close to an end. I don't think I need to completely understand. I simply need enjoy and bask in its comfort.
Speaking of comfort, I think I might have found my new office away from the office. The Dragonfly is a coffeeshop in a tiny plaza by the highway. It's small, quaint, with decent coffee and wifi. It doesn't feel stuffy like the last place I visited. The music is good and the people working here seem to be friendly. We'll see how it goes over the next couple of weeks.
Thanks for reading my ramblings.
This week has been a tough one for me. Because Ron is leaving, there is a bit more work that I am picking up at the office. It is all good work and stuff that needs to be done. The problem is it stacked up on all the other stuff that I do. Needless to say, I'll be delegating out a bit more stuff (which I should have probably been doing before). I've really been searching for better ways to use my time and not be buried under the workload I have. One example of the things I have come up with is setting my email to only check twice an hour. It might even get set to every hour next week.
I have also been searching for a new offsite sanctuary. For those of you that know the south side of Lansing, my normal office away from home, Il Bacio Caffe, closed for good on Saturday. The owner will soon be living on the beach in Mexico. He had the coffeeshop up for sale, but it would have had to move from the plaza it was in. Not that I had $150,000 to buy a coffeeshop. I wish. Yesterday I went to Panera Bread, which in itself is a great place--free wireless, good bagels, and such. However, their coffee is horrible and it is really too far away, not to mention there are too many college girls that go through there.
Today I'm trying Cornerstone Coffee--a newer coffeeshop in Holt. While the location and the layout is quaint, I'm sitting at a glorified card table. There is no atmosphere here and honestly, the mocha is horrible. It has tons of potential, but its just not what I'm looking for. As I'm sitting here typing, a regular from Il Bacio is talking about why I'm at a glorified card table. The place got firebombed (yes, I said firebombed) a couple of weeks ago. I guess the regular tables, chairs, and such are being replaced. This place labels their coffee sizes in ounces. How not cool is that?
I hope next week will provide a better coffee joint for me to hang out in when I want to hide from the phones. Just as much, I hope that my focus and diligence for work is stronger than ever. It needs to be, otherwise I'm going to drown in work and bad coffee.
I've started this post about 3 times. It never really flowed. It doesn't mean that I don't want to write. It simply means that my mind, for some reason, doesn't want to let go of what is in my head. Why is that? I don't know. I wish I did.
Each time I've started this written thought I've wanted to dote on my family history. I've begun to write about how long many of the marriages in my family have lasted, talking about my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary that I remember when I was like 4 or 5. I've talked about how my family is mostly normal--how they gave me a good solid base of life.
I've also started out talking about the different stories that I've heard from the church people I minister to. Some of their stories are great, similar to mine. Some, however, are gut wrenching and hard to hear, because of the pain they have had to endure from the lack of love in their families.
The whole point I was trying to build up to was the fact that I did not get the chance to go back to Ohio to celebrate my aunt and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary celebration, which I really wanted to attend. This post was going to be a tribute to their faithfulness and love through such a long time and to the others in my family that have done the same.
unfortunately, it has never come out the way I wanted. It has never flowed with the impact I wanted. Maybe that is the point. My family history is very impressive. Most of my aunts and uncles have stayed faithful and committed to their spouses. My grandparents both would have eclipsed 60 years of marriage had death not come. And, even in death, my grandmother continued to show her love and respect for my grandfather. My immediate family has the same run of commitment.
Here is what I've come to get out of all of this. While my family history with relationships is impressive, there is nothing flashy about any of them. Each relationship has had its share of hardship and pain. My parents have been through hardships like my father losing his job after 24 years of hard work and commitment. My grandparents on my mother's side endured losing a child and dealing with the depression while raising five kids. I could tell you about my Aunt Garnet who, though losing Uncle Chet to cancer some time ago, still has that smile and twinkle in her eye when she talks about him and then quickly she fights back the tears because she misses him so much. She is no wimpy lady either, she in her 80s and still waiting tables at the Four Winds restaurant where she's worked for decades.
My family is made of grit and character. They are true to who they say they are, and they are not ashamed of who that is. They take the good and the bad and make the best of it, no matter what the cost. That is why I believe they have such an impressive string of commitment and love. Marriage and longevity isn't made of fancy things and impressive gifts. Its made of people who are willing to love others more than themselves.
You can't really make that flashy and catchy in writing. It is what it is. My prayer is that I can continue the Lowman/Brunner heritage and love the way those who are before me love.
Thank you Aunt Kay and Uncle Claude for the example of 50 years! I'm sorry I missed the celebration.
Today was a good day. It started out with a golf benefit for Great Lakes Christian College at Centennial Acres golf course. There's nothing better that great golf with friends that benefits GLCC. After golf and lunch, I came home, mowed part of the yard, and then spent time with Hannah and Steph. It has been a great day.
Tonight Hannah was extra cute. She's always cute, but tonight it was painful cute. When we went into the bathroom to brush her teeth, she just had that, "I'm cute and I know it look" on her face. Momma had just taken her hair out of her ponytail and it was falling forward around her face. I seriously could have sat there for hours and just looked at her face, her glistening eyes, everything about her. It was the same way last night. I finally got the burn permit for my fire pit out back. Last night was our first fire of the season. Hannah went with me to help build the fire. She was there right beside me, crinkling paper and breaking sticks. After we had the fire going, I played my tin whistle and she sang along. A little bit later, the elementary kids came over during their sleepover for smores. As they sat around the fire and told stories, Hannah sat among them and held hands with Marissa and another girl as they shared one of the cement blocks they were sitting on. I sat across from her, quietly observing and watching her in the flickering fire light, enamored by her every smile, look, and giggle.
I wonder how much of now she is going to remember. My earliest memories are of things like building forts and tents under the tables that my dad set up in the living room for the garden plants he always started in March and April. I remember going outside in the front yard to wait for my brother and sister to come home from school. I remember trips to my granparents house and sleeping on the couch in the spare room. I remember watching Johnny Carson in the reflection of the door from the couch when I was supposed to be sleeping.
Yet, I don't remember any of those tender, taking in everything moments. Maybe its because I was a boy back then. Maybe its becasue as little kids we don't catch those things. I want Hannah to catch as many of them as I can. I want her to know how much I marvel at her beauty and innocence. I want her to know how much I love her, how much I will go out of my way to make everything in her life a blessing.
It is moments like these that help me only begin to understand the love that our God has for us. As I want her to feel nothing but love and hope, so our Father in heaven wants us to have love and hope. Even in our darkest hours, I think that he wants us to feel grace, love, and hope at any cost. I think that's why he's so committed to us--because he can't stop marveling at us.
Thank you Lord for allowing Steph and I to stumble into this parenting thing. Thank you for blessing us with one of the cutiest, smartes, and utterly amazing children on the face of this earth. Thank you for teaching me through her, through my love for her and her mother. May you give me every opportunity to make her life the best that it can be!
