The Deckert Side: August 11 - 24

Well, from Kansas we headed to Kansas City, Missouri to see Micheal and Michaela and their lively crew :).  Though it was only two days together they were very full days.  The fullness of laughter, of talking, or listening and of just being together.  There is nothing like a sister!  Michaela and I had a chance to get away for coffee and that sitting together as married adult women, as moms, and yet as sisters was something to add to my sentiments.  I guess because we get to do this so little and I wish it could be more.  

The direct correlation between distance and fondness I do not know, but distance and the accumulation of time does something to the heart in regards to sentiment.  It's like all that distance and all that time apart from loved ones works like a sort of sentimental microwave for the heart.  Those two days together, or two weeks, goes into that machine made from absence and distance and those two days aren't any ordinary two days nor those two weeks any ordinary two weeks.  They are the fullness of the months or years of missing pressed into the ache of the months or years to come.  They are the busy gathering up of all the details that happened without you along with all the looks, smiles, expressions, and demeaners that have stayed the same.  And so a cup of coffee over conversation, a familiar hug, a walk, the sounds of the day starting or ending, a putting together of a meal and the eatting of it, and any other ordinary event is an observation and an experience.  It's being lived while memorized for the future.  Even now as I share these pictures, the real mental photographs and videos are fresh in my mind with a beauty that only love and gratefulness can give.  And yes, you are reading the words of a sentimenal person in reflection.   Enjoy the pictures.

At Michael and Michaela's roasting marshmallows.

A wonderful Sabbath on the farm.  Hammocks and these wonderful trees made for a perfect day of rest.

Sonora working on the "settlement":  a pile of dirt Malachi and Grandma turned into a miniture town with roads and cardboard houses and "trees" (weeds).

Malachi and Grandma riding the ferris wheel at the Turner County Fair.

The Deckert and Myers cousins enjoying the haybales at John and Dena's farm.

Sonora stopping to give little Peter some attention.  Peter sure had his fill of attention while she was there.

The cousins enjoying yet another small pleasure at John and Dena's farm.  A good old tire swing.

Here is Malachi Leo with one of his "Greats' as he calls them, his Great Grandpa Leo, better known as Gros Pop.  In his young eyes, no one holds as high a place of honor for godly character and kindness as Gros Pop.  And I don't think any of us would disagree. 

Thank you family for making our time with you so memorable.  Michaela and Michael, thanks for hosting and feeding us and for the late nights you stayed up to talk and listen.  Uncle Chuck, thanks for the meal at the Cracker Barral and for asking so many good questions.  Uncle Marlow and Loraine, thanks for inviting the whole Deckert clan out to your beautiful new home, for hosting and providing a place for us to all be together.  Gros Pop, thanks for all the times you stopped in to visit, for sharing with us your missing and memories of Grandma, and for your steady support.  Karla and Harry, thanks for coming out to the airport to greet us and for always making time to see us (and for the coffee) when we are home.  Thank you Aunt Janet for coming out to the farm to see us and for the awesome meal you provided (and for the coffee as well).  Alana, thank you for making it out, for making family a priority and for being so awesome.  Thanks to you John and Dena for so many things, namely for making time for us in one of the most busy and stressful seasons of your life.  Your farm is beautiful and I know your home will be the same.  Thanks for wanting to share it with us.  And last but not least,  Mom and Dad, thanks for everything you did for us:  letting us use your car, for hosting and feeding us, for loving our kids and spending time with them, for being flexible, for all the beautiful sewing you did Mom, for taking me out for coffee Mom, for the late night talks and a listening ear anytime we needed it.  We love you.  Thanks for a great time at the farm.