Stories...

I had to smile when I heard. I couldn't help but be excited.

Some of my favorite people ever were coming for dinner.

And I couldn't wait.

They came bustling in from a busy day at the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit, all smiles, and laughter and there was pizza lining countertops and plates flying every which way.

He prayed and you could feel and smell and hear His spirit sweep through the room and I bowed my head in awe of this man who spoke with His words.

We all sat in our little dining area and dreamed as a family of bigger space to come, farming, and stories not told since long times past. We sat there as large family, three generations sitting in the same 14 by 6 foot area. And I was speechless.

We toured the newly reorganized and staged city cottage of ours. They grinned happy at my sister's and mines bright room, laughed at the couch that sucks you in, and just were there.

I sat with her for a half hour or more, just listening to the stories she told all shining and wonderful, of how a 70 year old lady like her could still change the world. Of the 160 quilts her church quilting group sent over seas, and how they pray over each and every one.

Of the bags she makes out of denim for the kids going to the first days of school of their lives in Africa, and how she loves to sit in her sewing room and watch HGTV while stitching.

Of how she loves to make quilts out of old jeans, and how none of the fabric she uses on her quilts for the quilt group are ever purchased, but donated and meant for a purpose. I could see the boxes of scraps of her fabric told to be sitting in her closet and how she could tell you what she made out of each one.

She gave me sewing tips and wowed at the quilts our Mamo had made lying vibrant across all our beds, and the clothes sister had figured out for her dolls.

She laughed at her sister Joyce and her getting in trouble when they were girls for hollowing out a round loaf of Molly bread, then leaving the crust hollow like an old log in the bag. How she hadn't thought of that in years.

Of trips to the library for her mother, of Anne of Green Gables and her favorite styles of houses, of how when she was a girl they made all their own clothes and hardly had anything new to wear because of their poverty, and what a joy it was to recieve an Easter dress every year.

How if she ever had a little black scotty dog she would name him Angus.

And what she said when walking out the door. "You have a beautiful family. Keep on keeping on."

Thank you, Great Uncle Duane and Great Aunt Jan, for blessing us with your laughter and love last night. I loved every minute of it!

"I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you."

Genesis 17:7

(kaye ann silver)