Sometimes Steve and I wish we could remember the first or last time we did something, either for ourselves or because someone asked us. For example, Steve and I would like to know when we watched our last TV show. It was over thirty years ago, and we know approximately when but not exactly. We would like to know when we began reading our Bibles every single day and then when we started daily family Bible time. Again, we know about the time but not exactly.

We have a tradition of listening to Back to the Bible’s Twelve Voices of Christmas near Christmas while driving around looking at Christmas lights. What year did we first do that?

We can’t go back and document those special “firsts” or “lasts,” but we can encourage you to do that. When they happen, you probably don’t think that much about them, but thirty years down the road when they have become family treasures, you just might wish for that information.

There are many means you could use for this. Here are a few:

1. Keeping your calendars and making sure you have entered special events and occasions and any change that occurs. That way you could look back through them for the information.
2. Journaling.
3. Making and keeping up a simple list of special events/occasions with dates beside them. This one seems like the easiest to come up with the information from, but also could be hard to know what to write down.
4. Photographs and then keeping your photographs organized. This method is much easier now since phones have cameras in them, and we take photos of so many daily events.

What firsts do you wish you had documented? Lasts? How are you documenting them now?

Trusting in Jesus,
Teri

“They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness,
and shall sing of thy righteousness.” Psalm 145:7

Our two daughters-in-law with school-age children are busy homeschooling mommies, each with five children. When GiGi went to visit my sister for two weeks, it was a perfect opportunity to get a retreat day for both Melanie and Anna Marie—a time of spiritual refreshment. The goal was to give them a break from their everyday lives that are filled with giving of themselves in service to their families, and for them to be able to spend a day quietly with the Lord.

Melanie had her day first. She took a suitcase with her that was filled with Abby’s down blanket. It was a surprise for Melanie. Abby loves that blanket dearly, and Melanie used it all day! Bethany helped collect Melanie’s Bible and books. She wrote a note and put it in Melanie’s Bible. She also packed her lunch in a cooler.

An especially sweet part of Anna Marie’s day was the note she discovered at GiGi’s house for her from her 10-year-old niece, Abby, with Scripture verses on it. Psalm 63:1 was one of them, and when she read that verse, she spent much of the day studying and meditating on that chapter. Also in her hurry to get ready and out the door by 9:00, Anna Marie hadn’t grabbed breakfast. When she opened the fridge at GiGi’s, she found breakfast—yogurt and cheese that Melanie put there for a special treat for her. Anna Marie told me that Melanie didn’t even know those were two of her favorite treats.

Trusting in Jesus,
Teri

Ellie came over with Sarah to take pictures,
and Danny is very fond of Ellie.

On Anna Marie’s day, in the afternoon, Anna was actually
babysitting for some of Nathan’s crew too, so she combined them!

“Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the
heathen, I will be exalted in the earth” (Psalm 46:10).