Can you describe your current stage of life?
My current stage of life is retired, free to adventure in God’s creation, having a class B RV to travel in and to delight in our 7 grandchildren, ages 7-12. We’ve developed traditions that combines both by camping over Memorial Day with a son’s family and camping at a remote paddle-in campsite in the Tetons with our daughter’s family over Labor Day.
What are the good and the hard things about your current stage of life?
Good = having the time and ability to spend extended time with family and traveling. Bad = hard to volunteer or be a part of groups when we’re gone so much. We’ve found it works to volunteer in the church nursery and usher. We also found a small group and a Sunday morning group who welcome us when we’re in town.
In what stage of life do you feel God has taught you the most so far? Explain.
I can’t pick one life stage where God has taught me the most. Life is a journey with each stage building on the ones before. Going through my present stage would be much more difficult without the previous ones. In my 20’s I realized I had graduated from college with a degree that didn’t fit me but hadn’t yet discovered what did. In addition, after having a daughter, we experienced fertility problems. Each month I’d think that perhaps the wait was over only to have hopes dashed. Then when I finally got pregnant, I had a miscarriage. Another year of trying and another more severe miscarriage. In addition we made 3 major moves in 3 years including to two Rochesters – New York and Minnesota. (We questioned if we misread God’s leading- were we supposed to go to Rochester, Minnesota all along? After all, my husband interviewed in both places. This made us less anxious about making major decisions, confident if we kept looking for God’s guidance, He would get us where He wanted us.) Resolution to the other challenges took years: During our move here, I got pregnant with our second daughter. Then we had 2 sons, the second one a “surprise” pregnancy. God works in mysterious ways: having problems conceiving to having a surprise conception.
The “what should I do with my life” took much longer to resolve. With 4 children, mothering them became the top priority. But God gave me many opportunities to use my gifts: starting a women’s Bible study along with Barb Ruopsa that eventually evolved into Renovaré, Awana Cubbies leader, Christian Ed Director, on 2 church building committees, church leadership board, volunteering at schools and Quarry Hill Nature Center. Eventually when our oldest went off to college, I went back for a second degree in elementary ed. This led to working at the Quarry Hill where I was immersed in nature and could share my passion for science and nature. I was blessed with so many adventures including digging for dinosaur bones, putting together life sized replicas of dinosaurs and ice age mammals, holding and banding birds, biking in the summer with middle schoolers while getting paid for it!
There have also been challenging times: bringing my mother-in-law here for Mayo appointments that turned into her living her last 6 weeks with us. During this time we realized my mom had cognitive issues, sending us on the long hard journey with Alzheimer’s. In the fall of 2020 our older son developed liver failure. When he was hospitalized we went to care for our 2 grandsons, thinking it would be at most a few weeks. It became 9 months during which our son almost died, had a miraculous liver transplant, almost died again with a hepatic artery hemorrhage, then kidney failure and eventual kidney transplant. The perfect donor? Our other son, the “surprise” baby. God knows what He is doing!
This helps us through our current challenge: in 2023 my husband of 50 years was diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer. Even though his PSA number was within a point of normal, his prostate cancer cells are the “nasty” type that grow and spread quickly. His were found early and responded well to radiation and 6 months of hormone therapy. Unfortunately this spring those nasty cells started to grow again. He’s back on hormone therapy probably until it’s no longer effective. There are so many unknowns but God reminds He is in control.
What is a Bible verse, quote, or song lyric that has meant a lot to you? Explain.
I’m overachieving with 2 songs. One is “Somebody’s Praying” with lyrics “somebody’s praying, I can feel it, somebody’s praying for me”. Those words sustain and encourage me. The other is a song from our favorite bluegrass artist, Minnesota native Becky Buller. In “From Bitter Springs to Big Trees”, based on the Israelites’ desert wanderings, she sings “it’s dry as a desert but I know there’s blessings later on. So I’ll keep on praying, from bitter springs to big trees and beyond.”
What or who is helping you through this stage of life?
After the song picks, I’d better say prayer! Plus my faith, family and friends.
Just for fun…If you had a week and an unlimited budget, where would you go or what would you do?
If I had a week with unlimited budget (and the power over everyone’s schedules and needs, including our grandson’s severe allergy issues), I’d have the entire family on a tropical adventure.