The extrodinary wisdom from this side of life I have to share today is...

PedEgg (as seen on TV) works!

I have happy feet!

The Amazing 1.5 Weeks!

It is the events of this past 1.5 weeks that caused me to set up a blog in the first place. So much happened-joyous events- that, in all humbleness, took super-human tactics and strength from the "Invisible Mom" (with the positive help of Dad) to pull off! As I reflected on all that had happened, I didn't want to loose it in what I am starting to recognize as the fading of memory! May 16, 2009 marked the graduation Stephen (25) from William Jessup University with a BA-Cum Laude-in counseling psychology, Bible and Theology. When he married Michelle, one of his promises to her parents is that he would finish his education. Being man of integrity, he did just that as a married man, holding down a full-time job and is looking forward to getting a Psy-D in marriage and family counseling. He does and will touch and positively impact so many families with his insight, wisdom and guidance.

Back to the story--3 days before Carleen and Grandma Janet arrived from So Ca, the next day Michelle's parents arrived from New York and the next day we flew Deven in as a graduation surprise for Stephen. In the meantime, Mary Rose was finishing up her sophomore year at WJU and moving home! As one big happy family, we attended Stephen's Baccalaureate service on Friday night and graduation on Saturday morning and returned home for a typical Simonson celebration with friends, family and LOTS of food. We had worked WEEKS (and Rick through back pain from a recent car accident) to beautify our back yard only to be greeted with 100 degree weather and the neccessity to stay inside in our one air conditioned room! But celebrate we did!



The next day, Sunday, as we were returning from the airport and dropping off our house guests, we got a call from Sarah and Ryan. Due to concern for the new baby yet to be born (low amniotic fluid, high blood pressure, low fetal movement), it was decided Sarah should be induced that day. So home to pack for Mary Rose and I and off to SLO to help with the events of birth (mostly as Hattie's support). We arrived in SLO at 1am on Monday and Hattie woke up the Grandma and Auntie Rose at home and Mom and Dad in the hospital (a change from the homebirth plan). At 9:30am we got the call that contractions were increasing and at noon we got the call to be stand-by and by 2pm we were in the hospital parking lot at the ready and by 3:30pm Tilly Jane Miller came into the world in her very own unique way (I'll save that for another blog!) with Dad, Hattie Rose, Auntie Rose, and Grandma in attendance! A truly BEAUTIFUL little girl with dimples charmed us all from the very beginning!

The next couple of days were spent cleaning and preparing until Grandpa Rick came on Thursday and it was off to So Ca to prepare for Deven's college graduation!



Arriving at Aunt Bunny's, who generously opened her home to us, around midnight on Thursday and Friday was entirely shopping for the grad party and restocking all the decorations I had left in Sac in me rush to leave for the birth! Deven graduated from Cal State Fullerton with a BA in Theater Arts for which he gave his hear and soul and became a stronger man for it. Saturday was the event with another Simonson celebration with LOTS of food,m family and friends back at Aunt Bunny's (she is a bit sainted to allow us to invade her home). What a delight to see family we haven't seen in years and some we hadn't even met! What a celebration of Deven's accomplishments and each one was rewarded with one, or several, of Deven's infamous hugs!

But wait...there's more!
The next morning-early- we gathered at Michael C's home- just a small group- Kelly, Brittany, Mike, Dee Dee, Aunt Bunny, Stephen and Michelle, Rick , Deven and Mary Rose and me- as Mike and I were baptized in acknowledgement of our love and commitment to our Lord, Jesus Christ. We were profoundly honored to be baptized by Stephen. Having been a Christian myself since I was 18, I had never made the decision to be re-baptized as an adult who accepted Christ as my Savior. I knew this was the moment-this is what I had waited for-to be baptized with my brother and by my son. It was deeply meaningful, joyous and inspiring.

So- in a week and one half- my two son's graduated from college, my second granddaughter was born and I was baptized with my brother- each with celebrations of their own! That 1.5 weeks seemed like months - I am exhausted but profoundly grateful and humbled, and like Mary of the Bible, I will long ponder these things in my heart.

Baptism 2009

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Invisible Mom

It seems I have been drawn into this "other side" of life without preparation nor expectation. It came on cat's feet, quiet and unassuming, and left me in a daze, searching for understanding. All I poured my life into- my family consisting a wonderful, yet complex, husband, and four amazing children, suddenly drifted off on the whisper of the wind -save my husband with whom I search in the quiet which has become our home, for a focus and meaning to "this side of life"! This reading which I shared at church this Mother's Day, brought insight and understanding to what has been and what is to be for me- a mother with four grown children exercising those wings we worked so many years to strengthen. I hope to whoever may need it, this will also bring you clarity to wherever you may be in this fleeting thing called life.

Invisible Mother......
It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store.
Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?'Obviously, not.
No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all.
I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this?Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated sum a cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going; she's going; she is gone!One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England ..
Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in.
I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself.
I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.'
It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe ..
I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription:
'To My Dear Friend, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.' In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:
No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names.
These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished.
They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.
The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything. A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.' And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place.
It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.
At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life.
It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride.I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on.
The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree. When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'you're going to love it there.'As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.