Every Day Matters

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Yesterday we headed back south for home after almost two weeks on the road. I love sharing our on-the-road adventures with you homeschooling mamas. I trust you, but sometimes I get a little scared about announcing to the entire world wide web that we are out of town. So, for now, I’m doing more sharing after the fact.

I enjoyed so much meeting those of you who came by to visit with me at MACHE in Duluth weekend before last and at ICHE in Indianapolis this past weekend. You touched my heart deeply. Thank you.

Because Indianapolis is between Minnesota and home, we decided not to come home until yesterday. Our time in between the two conventions was packed with friends, family, art, and history. Brad and Nancy Bjorkman who own the Heppner’s Legacy homeschool bookstore in Elk River, Minnesota, invited us to spend the night with them after MACHE. After we got there, they extended it to two. We had so much fun with them and our respect grew even deeper.

Brad and Nancy’s children are all homeschool graduates and off on their own grown-up adventures. Like us, the Bjorkmans are now both parents and grandparents. Their home exuded evidence of their priorities. They love our Savior, they love their children, and glimpses of their vibrant homeschool experience were evident in every room.

Our new convention helper Donna stayed there, too, the first night. She got to sleep in the “fish room” and we slept in the “princess room.” Both were bedrooms that once belonged to their children. Nancy had told me ahead of time that she had not redecorated them after the children moved out and that she might not ever change them. The princess room was plastered with pictures of horses, thought-provoking quotes, certificates, and other evidences of childhood interest and homeschool accomplishments.

Before we took Donna back to the Minneapolis airport where we had picked her up the Wednesday before, we took this group picture in the Bjorkman family room and we also took a tour of their store.

One thing I love to do when we go to conventions is to visit places I wrote about in America the Beautiful. Mall of America is six minutes from the airport, so we stopped in for an hour or so (preceded by thirty minutes finding a parking place!). Here we are inside one of the biggest malls in the world.

The one above is a selfie, but for this one, I put my camera on a part of the entrance to the Nickelodeon theme park (inside the mall!) and did a run-and-get-in-the-picture shot in front of the Peeps® store.

We used Mall of America . . .

. . . as a place to hang out until our friend Helen was available for a visit. When we moved to Urbana, Illinois, in 1985, Helen was a part of our church. She was a widow whose husband had once been its minister. Helen was a beautiful example to me and a wonderful encourager to our family. Some years after we left Urbana, she moved to a Minneapolis suburb to live with her daughter and son-in-law. We five had a heart-to-heart around the dinner table before we drove back to Elk River for a late night visit and another sleep at the Bjorkmans. They were off to the store early to unload their trailer and we stopped by one more time before leaving town.

Then, it was back to the airport, this time to pick up our son John who was in the area for ministry purposes last weekend. He is helping to raise money for famine relief in Malawi. He had some extra time before flying back home so we got to go on a field trip with our son who graduated from homeschool back in 1997. What a treat!

We went to the historic Landmark Center in downtown St. Paul . . .

. . . and toured the Schubert Club Museum inside. The museum houses several historic pianos and other keyboard instruments that preceded the piano. It also has an Edison phonograph, . . .

music boxes, . . .

Asian instruments, and more.

Visitors are encouraged to play some of the pianos. This one in the recital room once belonged to Arthur Rubenstein. The tour guide told us that the organization wants people to use the recital room, so if you live in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area and have a child who plays, you might want to check that out.

I made short videos of John playing several of the pianos– once a mama always a mama!

Our times with Donna and the Bjorkmans and Helen and especially John, of course, were priceless to us, because, after all, every day matters because everybody matters.

From the rising of the sun to its setting
The name of the Lord is to be praised.
Psalm 113:3

Every day.

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