I don't know if it's a sign of my age or why it is that I feel like every other day the weekend is here again! The thing is, I love weekends but they never used to come fast enough. It has made me ask, where did the missing days go?
I lay awake one night, thinking of how I began my blog, expressing the epitome of being in the fall season of my life, a life full of the colors of the changes that had transpired as our kids had found their mates and grandchildren were coming along. And just as fall is a time of new beginnings, I was also basking in wonderful new beginnings and changes.
When I began this writing journey fifteen years ago today, I had no idea how much of my life would be captured, here now for my own memory keepsake. An easy way to write a book, one day at a time. I am so grateful for the treasures I find here. Precious discussions with littles, trips across the ocean to be with some of them, seeing my mom fall in love again, to walking her through her experiences with Alzheimers, family vacations, cooking experiences, fashion ideas, friendships, homemaking, reflections, spiritual and otherwise.
Looking at these years, I also see how much has changed once again! Missing days today saying something about no more weekly grandkids being dropped off, no more Mondays with Mom or planning activities around my H's work schedule, and no more recipes to publish. These changes speak of how one season merges into the next, purposely slowing us down as we enter another one.
For the first time all of our children and grandchildren are settled near us. Our retirement home is large enough to host family, enough yard work to keep my H happy and our home filled with fresh flowers. Life is good. We have so much to be thankful for, much to look forward to! But by now, I feel like I've captured a good segment of life and it is time to close this book. To call it done.
As I've had this post in draft for some time, I've come back to it many times, seeing that it is not an easy one to publish, but I need to, because I want to say thank you to everyone who has visited and kept me motivated to keep writing. I want to thank all who have mentioned to me in person, at one time or another, that you read my blog. Also, thank you to all secret readers. Those dots on the visitor map have surprised me over and over again. I really wish I could know more about you but also respect the fact that you could just come and go, hopefully laughed and cried because life has a way of connecting us.
For my last wish I am reminded of the words in a song by Scott Wesley Brown.
I could wish you joy and peace
To last a whole life long
I could wish you sunshine
Or a cheerful little song
Or wish you all the happiness
That this life could bring
But I wish you Jesus, more than anything
King Solomon, who wrote about there being a season for everything, came to the conclusion that God has planted eternity in the human heart. ( Ecclesiastes 3:11) I love that! God has given us a deep awareness and desire for more. We can try all things this world has to offer, but in the end, it is a "more" that only our Creator can fill. Doesn't that make sense? My prayer and hope is this peace for you. Until we meet.
Auf wiedersehen, farewell my friends. 🤍🤍🤍
36 comments:
A wonderful post to end your blogging season, Anneliese. I will miss your carefully written posts. Glad we are connected in other ways. You have blessed many over the years. Peace and Joy to you!
Anneliese, I first met you through Mennonite Girls Can Cook and loved all those years following that blog. Then I followed you and your beautiful family through the years. You have been such an inspiration to me in the way you care for them, and I've also enjoyed the creative side of you in the kitchen and how you decorated your lovely homes. Yes, I am 78 years old and I find the days just fly by and before I know it another month has gone by!! Thank you for sharing your ups and downs with us. Elaine
Thank you for you sharing. I enjoyed your writings and the glimpses into your life ever so much. I saw your beautiful Frasier Valley this summer. I was a dot on the map in Nebraska, USA. All the best. Gayle
I've so enjoyed your blog. You have a wonderful gift of writing. I could especially relate to your posts about your mom. I am on the same journey with my mom and was so blessed and encouraged. Thank you for sharing.
thanks for your writing and stories. I have loved following along and will miss them. All the best to you in the future and may the Lord be with you
Ellen, I'm also very glad for the connection we have outside of blogging.🤍
Elaine, thank you for visiting all these years and taking the time to comment.🤍
Gayle, it brings a smile to my face to have you tell me which dot on the map is yours. God bless. 😊
Sue, I pray for you and your mom in your journey with Alzheimers. May you remember who she was, and be comforted by how God is working in your life through this. 🤍
Anonymous 1 - Thank you for your encouragement. I appreciate your words.
Anonymous 2 - I appreciate that you shared a bit about yourself. I will leave the blog up for a long time yet. I also still look up certain events and recipes. =) Thank you for your blessing; wishing you the same.
Thank-you, and may God bless you in this next phase of life. From one of the 'dots' ��
Thank you for sharing these past years! I’ve read your blog since you joined the MGCC and have enjoyed the many delicious recipes. Your gift in writing and photography has been so appreciated. I resonated with your posts following your dear lovely mother and you. I met your mother once as she lived in an apartment on Gladwin where my own Mom lived for a time. A beautiful smiling friendly woman I recognized from your pictures. You and your sisters care for her reminded me of my own dear mom as my sister and I cared for her when dementia entered our lives. Loved your writings about her! Our mothers’ love is with us always!
Wishing you happy days ahead with your beautIful family in your retirement years!
Another ‘dot’ …
I have enjoyed every one of your posts. I will miss updates from you, but also understand. I too am in the sunset years and life is slowing down. Thank you for sharing your life. God bless you as you journey on....someday we will meet in Heaven, around God's throne, where we will praise Him for all eternity.
I have so enjoyed following your life through your blog. God has been good and I appreciate your thoughts on many things that I have also experienced - it is good to be able to share and see another's perspective. I have both of the MGCC cookbooks and meeting each of the ladies through your blog posts.
May God continue to bless each of you and you and your family in your retirement. I look forward to rereading many of your posts.
Carol in Ontario
It is so nice to come here and see some Anonymous "dots" signed in ... Thank you for your comments and well wishes. There is a unique closeness between daughters who see their mom go through Alzheimers.
It has been my privilege to share about much of life and seeing that people are gracious.
Thank you, Carol, for your sentiments.
I have peaked in over those 15 years. I had found Mennonite Girls Can Cook by accident. I truly have enjoyed you and the others, your life's and recipes.
May God Bless you and Keep you .Thank you for all the years.
Tina
Thank you so much for sharing your life, your faith and your wonderful recipes. I came across MGCC when I googled Pasca years ago and found Lovella.I have enjoyed reading all of your blogs and vicariously sharing your ups and downs. I hope the future is everything you ever hoped for. God Bless Angharad
Anneliese, you have always been an inspiration in your attitude to whatever life has brought your way. You've faced hard things with grace and found a way to see God's best in each event of your life. I feel privileged to be friends/sisters with you and all of the MGCC girls and am so glad that we continue to be part of each other's daily lives. Thank you for sharing your life through your gift of writing.
Tina, It has been one of my big joys in life to share my life and recipes. May God bless you.
Angharad, I have enjoyed hearing from you over the years .. I recognize your name, if not a face. =) Thank you!
Bev, I too am so thankful that the friendships we have made through MGCC are outlasting the years of posting recipes and will continue.
Renee. "my friend, my neighbor, my sister" ... you are so kind! Your words meant more than you know! 🤍
I have enjoyed your blog and real experiences you have shared. Your home, your husband, and your families and your mom's journey have all been what life is about with Jesus in the centre. You hosted Ambassador choir for a meal in your beach home which I also remember before I even stumbled across this blog.. Hard to believe where the years and yes I know what you mean Monday and then it is Friday... where did the missing days go. Now to sort through the many pictures (not digital) and papers and not leave them behind for our kids knowing they don't want or have time for this in their days either. Enjoy life to the fullness. You are beautiful!
Thank you, dear Anonymous, for that memory at the lakehouse. I have wished that we could have had a guestbook for all the events our extended family have been happy to host there. Sunrise, sunset, swiftly flow the years.... Wishing you God's blessings.
Dear Anneliese,
I have so enjoyed your blog. When you wrote about missing your family away in another country, it made me think of what my mom probably experienced when we were overseas. A very good perspective for me to understand.
I will miss your thoughtful posts. May God continue to bless and guide you throughout this next stage of life.
And perhaps we'll run into each other in Abbotsford sometime!
I echo what Renee said above, and even though you don't know me, I feel that you have become my friend. I would also add that over the years you have been my mentor and inspiration during times when I had no one else. Your family life especially has been a source of "I'm going to copy that"! Thank you so much for sharing your life with us. I shall miss you greatly.
Dear last Anonymous, It means so much to know that I was able to be your friend, unknowingly. Thank you for your trust and for your dear note today. It has been my honor to share life with anyone who wanted to peek in. I'm humbled and grateful.
Lorrie, I have enjoyed getting to know you through your blog! I just saw a phot recently with you when we did a book signing on the island. Such fun memories!
'For everything there is a season'... but I will miss your beautiful inspirational posts! Thank-you for sharing your gift with us through these many years...for your honesty and openness no matter what you were facing. Wishing you much peace and joy in this next season of life, where the weeks get shorter and the days go missing. I'm so thankful that our friendship will continue into this new season.
Oh Anneliese! I shall miss your beautiful writing, pictures, and uplifting "book worthy" posts!! I totally understand your desire to go on with your next season ... I too have a draft post in the works (exactly 12 years ago was my first post on my daughter's birthday). A way of reaching out to her while she was on the other side of the country. I am so thankful to have gotten to know you on this blog and having met you in person several times as well ... you are a dear and trusted friend to me. Thank you for sharing your heart on so many levels. May God bless you and keep you and your family in His protective arms of love. Hope to see you on IG sometimes ...
Dear Rosella, blogging has brought along so many new friends and how blessed I've been by you! I was like you, both daughters far away and it was such a great way to look into their lives as they blogged and vise versa. The good thing is that now we both have them near. I just wish you lived nearby too! May God be near to you in this season of life. We will keep in touch. 🤍
Dear Judy, I am so thankful for the friendship we have been blessed with and that we can continue to look forward to traveling together or having each other for dinner. Always special times! 🤍
I appreciate the impact your blog has had on my personal and professional growth.
Thank you for your comment, Frumzi! It means a lot to me to read that this public journal has encouraged readers, even while I was unaware of it. God's best to you. 🤍
Hello Vicky, yes, I've checked in on you and thought that life must have gotten pretty busy after your move and/or your mom's health. I hope all is well. Our blogging season has allowed us a unique friendship without ever meeting, but I've been encouraged by our shared faith. I wish you all the things that make you smile and God's best for our next season.
And dear Anonymous, I truly don't know where I'd be without knowing the love and forgiveness of Jesus, so I want to give Him thanks for allowing me to share my life. Sometimes it's hard to know the balance of sharing good and hard things, but I have seen that it's the hard things that grow us and the good things are often undeserved blessings. Thank you for leaving a note.
I was so looking forward to reading about your granddaughters upcoming wedding, maybe you will share about that day. Thank you for sharing your life with us.
Anneliese, it has been such a pleasure to read your posts over the years and catch up on the latest news in your life! You have truly inspired and encouraged me through your words and pictures. May God bless you and your family in this wonderful season of all living close together.
Anneliese, what a lovely place this has often been to stop by. Your creativity, sensitivity, truth and charm have made this a place to be inspired and a place to ponder, tear up, and smile.
You are still very much in the fall season of changes, closing chapters, and new beginnings.
We know your smile will always be bright, your heart tender. Enjoy where God leads you to continue to express and share His love.
Sharon, the wedding would be a very fun event to post! I will see when I get there, but there will be more weddings, and when do I stop?=) But thank you for wanting me to share. I have enjoyd sharing my life in this way.
Elsie, it has been fun to see glimpses of your life thorugh emails or comments and I have truly appreciated that. Also wishing you and yours all of God's best!
Kathy, thank you for those encouraging words! I am so glad that we will continue to inspire each other in our friendship.
I am so sad to see the end of your blog approaching. I’ve followed you since the beginning and have looked forward to every single post. We are the same age. Our lives are so similar, and we have enjoyed our family and grands as you have yours. Took trips with them, shared ordinary family ups ,downs and accomplishments. You have felt like family! Thank you for sharing your journey with us. It has meant more than you know . I will miss following your journey but wish you so much happiness in this next season.if I’m honest,it’s scares me a bit but I do know that we are heading toward Glory. God bless Anneliese…Donna
Thank you for your kind sentiments, Donna! So wonderful to think that we are friends who have yet to meet! and we will! It has truly been my pleasure to share my life. I leave with a feeling of gratefulness for this privilege and know that I will often think of a certain situation as a fun post. In fact, the other day I dreamt about it. Haha!
Thank you Anneliese for the years of this blog. I am your kids' age, and I went to school in your area, although I live in Alberta now. I think
I probably found your blog through friends of friends back when blogging was very popular. Last summer I visited Mill Lake and I am sure a few of your grands roller bladed by... so cute. I have just so enjoyed reading your posts. I have even made some of your recipes. Thank you for the honest glimpse into your life and loves. Much joy to you in the next phase for you and your family.
Dear anonymous, thank you for your kind words.❤️
I just wanted you to know I still read your blog, finding it still encouraging as it ever was. Hoping that you have had a year of refreshment and joy with your family. May the Lord bless you richly
Dear Anonymous, it felt surreal to get a "for everything a season" email after such a long time! A reminder of days gone by! Thank you so much! You gave me a special encouraging moment on a hard day.
As I write, our son-in-law is recovering from a quadruple heart bypass. It's been an intese weekend to say the least.
We have so much to be thankful for, and now the fact that the Lord has given our son-in-law and family that gift of a second chance.
I also want to say that it's been a good year! My H had a successful back surgery and our granddaughter got married. We went on a European cruise. Those are some highlights that I'm especiaoly thakful for! Again, thank you for stopping by. ❤️
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