Five Generations

Well, it's been a busy week, but I have a few minutes today to share what a wonderful time I had in Iowa. It was so neat to sit in a room with my daughter, my mom, her mom and her mom! I asked Juju's Great Great Grandma all about the Great Depression and for tips on survival if we should go through one again. I plan to share her ideas and others from my other grandparents in a separate post. We wondered if Juju favored any of us as babies and found baby pics of all of us except Great Great Grandma.

Here's Juju's Great Grandma VN at six months

Here's her Grandma J at 15 months

Here's her Mommy at six months
Here's Juju at 7.5 months!
I loved this pic of Juju and her Great Great Grandma G. For Better, For Worse

I had promised a few of you I'd answer your questions as to why Ben and I wear our wedding bands on our right hand. We had been married one year when we decided to make the switch. We knew that many Europeans traditionally wear theirs on their right hand and challenged the American tradition of wearing it on the left because why should we conform?

It was the beginning of our journey of challenging all sorts of norms and expectations we felt. Shortly after this we stopped attending the church we had been over-involved at. We weren't being fed by the seeker-friendly messages and were becoming jaded by the performance feel of the service. We went "churchless" for six years while we roamed in the wilderness re-thinking and challenging what a church is supposed to be at all. More than that, what was a Christian supposed to be? I've written lots already about my findings on this subject in my "Zerbik" labeled posts. Like everyone, we're works in progress. Though our motives may not always be pure, I think a lot of good can ultimately come from taking the road less traveled and occasionally going against the grain.

I Already Know!

Finally, I wanted to share some pics of what my mom calls her "therapy".
She lives in Germany and her newest grandbaby lives in Ohio.
So this is what she made to cope these past few months we were apart.

...and my favorite...So, yeah, you don't have to tell me my mom is the coolest...