Janet's Blog

For several months now, I have been walking a couple of miles around the neighborhood almost every day, snapping a few pictures along the way, and marveling at the beauty of God's creation. On the warmer winter days, and even in the spring, I walked in the early afternoon, as long as the wind wasn't blowing too hard. But now that summer has arrived, sunset is definitely the best time to walk. Sometimes, the clouds almost upstage the Monument. Jackson, our 10-year-old Shih Poo, looks forward to the walks as much as I do. In fact, he comes running to my side as soon as I quietly slide open the curtain to take his red leash from the closet hook. It has almost become a game for me to see if I can grab his leash without him noticing, but so far, he has always won. Jackson, ready for a walk. Jackson loves to make the neighborhood dogs bark, and strains at the leash as if to join them in their fenced-in yards. But we both know that he is really a scaredy-cat at heart. That...

It was my second trip to the hospital to see Meagan and Grandbaby #4. As I entered the room, two-year-old Lydia yelled at me, "Out, out!" I looked to Meagan for a translation. As it turns out, what Lydia really meant was, "The baby is out of Mommy's tummy!" During the three days since then, I've heard Lydia tell several people, "Baby out!" She holds that new baby as often as anyone will let her. When she is playing, and looks up to see him, she starts giggling, pointing at him, shouting "Baby!" or running to give him a hug or kiss. It's obvious that Lydia loves her baby brother. Evie, too, loves to hold the baby, and pat his tummy. Tobin doesn't seem to be as excited as the girls, but he keeps bringing one of his favorite stuffed animals, laying it close to, or even on top of, the baby, before running off to play, not stopping even long enough to have his picture taken. This newest Stobel baby is already cherished. ...

I was speed-walking my way through the neighborhood last night, just at dusk, with my little Shih-poo, Jackson, in tow, thinking about some long-lost sights and sounds, and even smells, and it occurred to me that I've experienced countless things that my grandchildren will never encounter. Oh, I know, they will undoubtedly be faced with a wealth of experiences, throughout their lives, that I can't begin to imagine. Just think of the stories they will tell their own grandchildren someday... But today, I wonder if Tobin, and Evelyn and little Lydia, and the newest grandson, due any day now, along with any of their future cousins, will ever get to milk a cow by hand, as I did, with limited success, when I was three or four. And, I wonder if they will ever get to hold a newborn piglet, or hear the eager snorts of a dozen little pigs as they crowd together to nurse from a patient sow. I don't remember bottle-feeding my little lamb, Lola, but I suppose there is some chance ...

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone I can see all obstacles in my way Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind It's gonna be a bright, bright, sun-shiny day. I think I can make it now, the pain is gone All of the bad feelings have disappeared Here is the rainbow I've been prayin' for It's gonna be a bright, bright, sun-shiny day. Look all around, there's nothin' but blue skies Look straight ahead, nothin' but blue skies... Johnny Nash, 1972 It was a few months after my last eye surgery, the transplant that replaced the damaged layer of corneal tissue in my right eye. I knew I was seeing better than I had in a long time, at least in that eye; my ophthalmologist assured me that my distance vision was 20/20 without glasses, and my close vision was nearly perfect with reading glasses. But that day, as I was driving south, from Scottsbluff to Gering, I noticed the snow dusting the Wildcat Hills at the end of the road ahead of me,...