We Will Get Through It, Because Of HIM

He will hold our hand or carry us as we move through the next two weeks of this nightmare. Yes it is a nightmare, my husband stated this the other evening and I agree.

The Christmas Season is to be a season of celebration with family, of the Birth Of Christ. Our family is devastated this Christmas season with the loss of a Brother and Father all within two weeks. Both deaths unexpected and crushing our spirits. Yet I have a firm belief that these two fine men are with our Lord and will be helping him to get us through the holiday.

My Mother in law believes that Jim and John were meant to be together and I believe this was God's will. It is comforting to know that a son was awaiting his father as he passed into the next life. OR that this father went to be with his son who had passed into the next life. This next life is with our Lord.

We wondered about John's religious strength and when his apartment was cleaned out, my husband was comforted to find bibles and religious books that John had. Yes, he believed. When it comes to thoughts of religion and Jim my father in law, there is no doubt that he believed. Last spring when my husband had some meetings with the Bishop in Katy Texas my Father in law went with Mike. I believe he was very proud of my husbands journey with Christ. Jim wanted to be a part of it, even in this small way. And when he took Mike to the airport and embraced him, Jim told Mike he was proud of him. This was the final time Mike was with his Dad in person, how wonderful it is, that this memory will be with Mike forever, thanks to God.

We carry on a photography business that was started in 1921 by Mike's Grandfather and passed on to us by Mike's Dad in 1982, we have worked diligently to continue this tradition and it was a given that we just do it, no need to be proud of that. But to watch as your son became a Deacon and very involved in the church, yes that made Jim proud.

As Jim attempted to deal with his son John's death he turned to his minister Harold and more than likely turned within, to our Lord for comfort. Jim called me and told me he had talked with Harold because he wanted to help Nancy, even at this time he reached out to God through Harold to help his wife of 58 years, get through the funeral for John.

Alas it was not meant for Jim to be with Nancy at their sons funeral, but it was his desire to help her through it. I hope she knows that.

Jim and John will be present in our hearts at the funeral but I would rather think of it as a Celebration of their lives both separate and together. We will get through it, it will be tough, but how fitting that it will occur during the season of Christ's birth. Christ who was sent to us as our Savior. It gives me much comfort to know that John and Jim are with our Savior and as the Christmas season passes they will be with us in our hearts.

Yes, HE will hold our hand or carry us as we move through the next two weeks and I am glad HE is here for us. And I know PEACE will come.

If God Had A Wallet, Your Picture Would Be In It!

The room was dark except for a light over the table at the back. He welcomed me and asked me to have a seat, thus the interview that would change my life forever began.

It was 1978 and I was a recently divorced woman without any focus for my future. I was working at a hospital as a darkroom tech in the X Ray department, I had worked at a photography studio briefly before this job and for another photography company before that. I knew I wanted to be a photographer so when the Studio job was listed in the paper I applied.

Little did I know what was in store, but I believe God did.

I got the job and became an employee of Spieth Inc. Mr. Jim Spieth became my boss, now back to the interview, this man was a quiet, somber gentleman. He hardly spoke and asked me very few questions, gave me a test and told me I had a job.....possibly, he had one more interview and would call. Once again may I say this was a very different type of job interview. But I did like meeting this quiet gentleman.

I waited to hear if I got the job and on the day he called to tell me yes, I had also received a call from another photography company I had interviewed for offering me a position with them. I told Mr. Spieth this and we did a bit of negotiating about hours and pay and I told him that I would accept the position. And again as I remember this, I do believe God sent me on this road for a reason.

I enjoyed my job at the Studio Photique located in the mall in Mattoon. I rarely saw my new employer as he was in Olney some 80 miles south. As time passed and I got more photography skills under my belt and also moved up to managing the studio I felt content. Then one day I received a call from Mr. Spieth and he told me that since the Studio was not doing exactly what he wanted in addition to my job as manager, I would begin taking pictures in schools for Spieth Inc.

Wow, this became something I really enjoyed. Children are gifts from God and being able to capture their youth in my pictures as they grew, was wonderful. As in a previous blog I call this Memory Insurance.

As time passed and the business structure changed Mr. Spieth, now Jim became my dear friend and his son became my boss. We began a new venture called SPIETH PHOTOGRAPHY and I moved to Olney.

Eventually Jim became my father in law, when God blessed me once again with my marriage to his son Mike.

So boss, friend, father in law who would ever know this would happen, but I am sure God did.

Yesterday God brought Jim home to him, we are numb as we have not even had the funeral for John, his son. But I am sure God has a plan and it is a blessing that Jim is with him and not here in a permanent injured state from his tragic accident.

Perhaps God needed a new photographer to help him take the pictures that God Keeps In His Wallet.

I will miss you my dear father in law, friend and boss. I Love You, God's Peace Always and THANK YOU so very much for bringing me into your life. You were a gift in my life.

And one more favor, would you please make sure that God has my picture is in His Wallet?

Just From My Heart

God created man and woman, in addition, he created all of our pieces and parts. Thus this enables us to have a place in our hearts for memories! Every day we are able to tuck away memories and then we can go to this place and take out a memory to help us or cheer us or just because.

In our business we state we create "memory insurance" through our photography and yes I believe we do, however it is what is in our hearts that is the essence of our memories. Our senses enable these memories with seeing a photograph or video, smelling a fragrance or even hearing a song, a verse or scripture that trigger the memories we have.

Bob Hope was famous for his song "Thanks For The Memories" and if you really listen to this song it is what it is all about.

I also think that if you ever have to be with a person that has Alzheimer's it is amazing that they still have their memories that they do refer to daily.

Recently my dear brother in law passed away and to help us, my husband and I have been retrieving memories from our hearts, of John. We can enjoy these with laughter, with tears and with much love. The loss is impossible to measure but the memories we have retrieved, cushion this loss.

Yes, I believe we should thank God, that he has allowed us to have a place in our hearts for our memories. Think about it and take out a heartfelt memory today.

May GOD BLESS You John, You Will Be Missed, But ALWAYS REMEMBERED, We Love You Dearly.

God's Paintings

Each morning as the dawn breaks, I am able to sit on my couch and watch as the sun hits the trees. This is the time of year that enforces to me that GOD is here, all around. I love the fall and the colors of fall. Many years ago I was having lunch with a friend at a State park near Charleston Illinois. After my friend left I remained and drank in all the color that surrounded me and felt very blessed that God shares this beauty with us. It amazes me that as each day breaks during the dark of the night God is busy adding more color to the trees across the lake from me. I have even observed several days, a young doe getting a drink from the lake amongst the color of the trees. Last week there was a mist over the lake and the doe appeared from the trees, now as a photographer why did I not have my camera handy? I suppose God wanted me to keep this lovely picture in my heart and I have!

Daily I await the dawn to break to see the new colors that have been added in the night. Today I was up quite early and my little Rico needed to go out, so we headed out the front door and oh my the beauty of the night hit me, a brilliant dark sky with millions of stars all around, yet another painting from God. As in a previous post I want a "simple life" but with beautiful paintings from God, would it be a simple life? I think not, I believe it would be a simply beautiful life! Look all around you and enjoy God's gift of his paintings for us. We are blessed indeed!

Around & Around

Life for me lately (Last 3 Months) has been like a revolving door and I am staying in it and just going around and around! Have you ever had that happen? I am dizzy! And I want to get out of it now. My goal is to live the SIMPLE LIFE!

But not with all the hustle bustle of hurry up and get it done yesterday! We live in a "fast food" world, do people these days really know what it is to take time to "stop and smell the roses"? What a shame not to smell the beauty of a rose.

The fragrance is soft, gentle and pure. The rose itself is the same. My Father loved roses and had many over the years in his garden. I recall when Dad would bring in a freshly cut rose and share it with all of us. There were several special vases for the roses he brought in the house. After a hard rain Dad would venture out into the gardens and rescue the roses that were damaged and bring them in and let the blooms float in vases of water, and when they opened, they were beautiful. And oh, so simple. Alas, after he passed away, the roses disappeared from the gardens.

This makes me realize that my Dad lived a simple life. He had six children from a marriage of 50 plus years, he had a job working for the city and worked a variety of shifts. Many of the holidays we had growing up were spent without Dad as he worked at the water department and the department was open 24/7. We would get his dinner ready and take it to him and jest that he was having dinner at "The Pump Room". We lived in a suburb of Chicago and "The Pump Room" was a fancy downtown restaurant. Once again, I believe Dad preferred this simple "Pump Room" over the fancy downtown establishment. It was just how he wanted it.

While growing up we had one and I mean one Family vacation, we went to a good family friend's cabin in Wisconsin and had a blast, however it was a very simple laid back vacation, just what Dad wanted.

I want this way of life, I want roses in my garden, I want a simple vacation, I want out of the revolving door!

Yes, soon I hope to stop and smell the roses and realize that their simple beauty is a loving gift from God and I am thankful.

Memories

Well it has been awhile but I am back and ready to share some more.

I was walking through the house very early this morning about 3:45 AM, yes very early! And I was thinking about my life, remembering and recalling the good, the bad, and the ugly! It is mostly good and I think I was in this frame of mind because of several things that have happened recently.

A dear friend of mine and I are involved currently with an event that is going to take place next week and she asked me yesterday just how long I have been a part of it, I thought about it and realized it had been 24 years! Golly gee, it should make me feel old but honestly it seems like just yesterday that I got involved.

This triggered my thought process as to my family, my marriage and our business through the years. My how the years have flown by.

My husband is now a Grandpa and I get to enjoy his fantastic grandsons, two really neat sons and one super daughter in law with him. I am blessed to have my Mom and Mike's parents still a part of my life and I have many great nieces and nephews. My siblings (four sisters and one brother) continue to amaze me through their work ethic, great parenting skills and the ability to survive many challenges which have been related to health, business and even horrendous family issues. I think that is a hat's off to my Mom and Dad. And daily I continue to remember my wonderful Dad who is now in Heaven, he is missed greatly by all.

My marriage is now in its 23rd year, it seems like we just went to Gatlinburg to make our vows and yes as my Dad has said marriage is like driving through the mountains; many ups and downs, some straight and some curvy roads and eventually you come out on top to a road that leads you to the future with your spouse. I think about this and find it neat that we drove through the mountains to get married. And yes we have driven these marital roads and continue through the mountains, ours is a unique marriage because we are together almost 24/7 through our love, business and our most valued involvement with God. Mike is studying and is currently a Deacon in the REC Anglican Church, with the goal of becoming a Priest eventually and serve the children of God. I am blessed and proud to be a part of this (and don't think this portion of the road has not had its curves and ups and downs).

We continue on with our Photography studio and it too is full of memories and we continue to preserve memories by capturing images that will last a lifetime! It is an ever changing business with the introduction of digital imaging and the influx of many self made photographers, it is my hope that the art of photography will not be lost because of this.

We brought to life in the past year a new entity THE McCLURE GUESTHOUSE, and it is also full of memories and will continue to make memories for the guests that stay. In the past year there has been a couple that got engaged, numerous senior and wedding portraits photographed, wedding nights for newlyweds and family gatherings. There have also been dinners, bridal & baby showers some meetings and a wonderful grand opening event. The home was built in 1872 and we restored it to share a bit of history with the community. I loved the home the minute we viewed it back in the late 90's and purchased it within 30 minutes of viewing it. After moving out we determined it deserved to be renovated for the future. And for people to enjoy and make memories.

I guess you can see why I was up and had this going through my mind,and yes there are so many more thing I could write about but it would be a book. I am looking forward to a great 4th weekend coming up, our SPIETH daughters are coming home for the annual 4th gathering, we have been getting together for about 12 years and we love it and them and all of their families which includes spouses, children and main squeezes! Yes all around us through many challenges in the past, present and future ( I am sure) you can see there are memories and yes they most generally are blessings! I challenge you to think of your memories and relish them, and have a great day!

It Is Sad I Am Not A Mom But.........

Every year on Mother's day I get a lump in my throat and wish for what isn't. As a child it was my ultimate dream to be a Mommy. Alas that dream never became a reality for me. For some reason the Lord never blessed me with my own children but I often imagine what it would be like if there had been a Beth Lynn or an Amy or even a Johnny in my life and the kind of Mommy I would have been. There would have been lots of hugs, kisses, laughter and then of course I am sure there would have been sadness, disappointment and even anger however I am certain the positive would have dominated any negative.

I am lucky to be an aunt, godmother, surrogate mom, a step mom and step grand mom but still to have been able to hold and love oh so much my own flesh and blood would have been wonderful!

It would have been great to adopt but for very personal reasons that too was not in "the cards". A dear person in my life said we are all dealt certain cards and these were just the cards I was dealt in my life.

So that being said I have to remember I have many children in my life with my family and with Mike's family and I love them all very much! In addition I have had many girls in my life with my Girl Scout troops and I hold them all very dear to me.

This past week Mike and I have been working with portrait orders of some of the beautiful children of the girls that worked for us. It is a new generation of love evolving. Today one of our "surrogate daughters" had a Graduation party and her "BFF" (another of our surrogates) was there with her son and it melted my heart to watch him with Mike. Children love Mike and he is blessed to be a Dad to two wonderful boys and the best Grandpa to two little boys. All of my nieces and nephews really love Uncle Mike and I am so glad! He is the best and it is great that he was "dealt this set of cards" for being a great Dad.

Perhaps the love we both have for children is why for the past 30 (yes 30!) years we have enjoyed being photographers mainly of children and this may just be my way of leaving a part of myself when I am gone. The smiles of many (100's of thousands I am sure) children for their parents to treasure forever.

SO..... yes it is sad that I am not a Mom, but thankfully I have had many children in my life and I can be content. I called my sister today to wish her a Happy Mother's Day and she said "I am not your Mom" and I replied "but you are my sister who is a Mom". I want to tell all my friends and family who are Mom's I wish you all a Happy Mother's Day and yes, you are not my Mom, but you are so very blessed to be a Mom!