Missy & Becky teaching Ellie a Palm Sunday song

3 Birthday Celebrations and a New Family Member

Tomorrow, it'll be a week since I returned from my trip to Pace, FL (outside of Pensacola) where Paul, Missy and their girls live. I had driven to Indianapolis and then flew to Pensacola by way of Atlanta the previous Tuesday. Ellie's 3rd birthday was a couple of days (3/31) before and Aimee's 1st birthday was on April 4th while I was there. It was so fun to spend a week with the von Herrmanns, experiencing their routine, seeing their new house, meeting their new cat, Piper and just spending time with them.



Becky drove to ATL from Augusta and then flew to Pensacola the day before Aimee's birthday, so she got to be there for Ellie & Aimee's joint birthday party.





Becky's birthday was April 8th, so we also celebrated "the National Holiday" a couple of days early.



Ellie & Aimee are so adorable & precious. Of course a Grandma would say that! It was so nice to be able to be with them in person for the better part of a week. I get to see them on Skype, which really helps, but nothing beats the personal touch. Paul & Missy are such good parents and have a nice house and good church. It was a blessing to be able to experience it all. I was wishing Rick could've been there. I hope we can get back during the summer.



It was special that I got to be with Becky on Palm Sunday. Becky is our Palm Sunday girl, because we have memories of her at age 3 or so in our background in Lake Worth, FL, waving a palm branch and saying "Honanna, honanna!" We got to tell Ellie about the meaning of Palm Sunday and teach her a song about it.





As such trips go, time flew by much too quickly. Becky & I flew to ATL on separate flights and had lunch together before she drove home & I flew on to Indy. I'm thankful for the opportunity to go and for the Lord's protection.



3 days later, Rick & I traveled to Michigan to look at a dog that had been rescued from a pound & fostered by a Boston Terrier rescue group. His name was Danny Devito and he's a year old. He's a sweet dog and we adopted him that day! Rick likes the name Mr. Bean, since he's lanky and has buggy eyes. I think Danny fits him (minus the Devito), so I guess he's Mr. Danny Bean. It's nice having a dog again after losing 14 year old Kayla 6 months ago. Rick had said at the time that we didn't need any more dogs, but we missed the companionship that they bring. Love takes work, but it's worth it!

Precious & few

In 1972 when I graduated from high school, there was a song on the radio called "Precious and Few." I have used that phrase countless times to describe family times together, since we live so far away from family. We had one of those precious times a couple of weeks ago when Rick and I flew to the Orlando area to see my parents. I hadn't seen them since last January, so I was past due for a visit. I had seen my brother & family in November @ Katie's wedding, but my mom & dad are unable to travel any longer. So, it was good to be able to see them. Paul, Missy, Ellie and Aimee also made the trip from Pensacola. Missy hadn't seen her Grandma & Grandpa since Ellie was about 6 weeks old (she'll be 3 at the end of this month) and they hadn't met Aimee. So, it was a special visit.





My mom & dad enjoyed the kids, as you can see. Ellie enjoyed playing with her 2nd cousin, Aaron, 5, my brother's son, as well as my parents' new dog, Rosie. We stayed @ Rick & Debbi's house, but spent time at my parents' house, about 5 minutes away. On the Wednesday of that week, Missy's best friend from high school, Laura Way, and her husband, Josh, came and spent the day with us. We had such a great time together. We also celebrated my mom's birthday a couple of days early, which was special and fun. I took loads of pictures, of course, so I'm going to have a hard time deciding which ones to put on here. Let me know if you want to see more.










We were there from a Monday through Thursday, leaving EARLY on the Friday. It was a short trip, but just long enough. We didn't want to leave Rick's mom by herself too long in Indiana. We were greeted by snow on the ground in Ft. Wayne and had lots of snow the next day. Back to reality after a pleasant week in sunny Florida! The wonderful memories will keep my heart warm for days to come. Now, I'm looking forward to a trip to Pensacola on the 31st to celebrate Ellie & Aimee's birthdays, as well as Becky's.

Piano lessons

I'm not sure where to start this story; there are so many facets to it. When I was a little girl, my parents asked me if I wanted to take ballet or piano lessons. I chose ballet...I'm not sure why, but maybe I was picturing pretty ballerinas in tutus and toe shoes. So, I never took piano lessons as a child.


My ballet class when I was 8 or 9 (I was on the right)

Years later, we decided that our oldest daughter would start piano lessons when she was 7, I think. I'm not sure why, but it was probably because we were a preacher & preacher's wife and church music was very much a part of our lives. We bought an old HUGE upright piano that was in the Fellowship Hall at our church in Lake Worth, FL, and Missy took her first lessons from our church pianist.


Missy's piano lesson, age 8

A few years later, we were living in Midway, NC (near Winston-Salem). By this time, our 3 daughters and I were taking piano lessons from 2 different teachers. Rick traded in the old piano on a newer Yamaha upright in 1992. I took lessons for only a couple of years & I stunk at it. I kept looking at the numbers above the notes & didn't practice enough. It's too hard to teach an old dog new tricks (which is why I still hunt & peck when I type!)

Missy had gotten pretty good by this time & even played some in church. She's composed several songs, including one that was in her wedding. Becky did pretty well for the amount of time that she was able to have lessons. She is known for her repertoire of a few select songs. :) Katie learned some & took more lessons after we moved to Port Charlotte, FL, but then decided to concentrate on voice lessons. She finally got proficient when she took several required semesters of piano in college.

One unique thing about our piano was that it made us discover that our dog was musical! When we were living in Port Charlotte, our Boston Terrier, Eligius, fathered a litter of puppies and we got the pick of the litter. Kayla was born in 1994 and we discovered when she was tiny that she liked piano music. When anyone would play the piano, she would howl! Through the years, it was discovered that she liked "Spinning Song," one of the songs that Missy would play. So, that became Kayla's song. Missy's times spent at the piano would always have to include that song & then a dog cookie at the end!


Missy & Kayla, 2006

With all of the moving that we've done, we've had to move these pianos with us. Rick has said more than once that the movers loved seeing us coming, because the piano would add a lot to the weight of our load! The worst move with a piano was when we moved to Buford, GA. We were waiting for our house to be built and were in an apartment for 6 months. Our apartment was located down a flight of stairs. You should've seen the burly moving guy taking that piano down the stairs! It took several guys to move it back out, but thankfully, they had made a sidewalk in our new apartment community by then, making it slightly easier.

By the time we moved to Ft. Wayne, Missy was married & living in Augusta, GA, Becky was also in Augusta and Katie was in college. So, our nest was pretty much empty, except for some appearances from Katie on breaks and Christmas visits from the older girls. Kayla & the piano were still with us, so I'd have to bang on it on occasion to give her some piano time. By this time, she was so starved for piano music that she didn't cared if it was chopsticks, banging or whatever! When the girls would come to visit, she'd still take her place under the piano and howl, like old times.

Kayla, 14, passed away in October. Katie moved to Nashville in May & got married in November. The girls were all here for Christmas, but I don't think I heard the piano played. Missy might have played it once when I was at work. It just wasn't the same without Kayla!

When Katie was home last winter after graduating from Belmont, she helped us put wood flooring in our living room/den. It was quite a project, but we learned a lot & it looks great. A few weeks ago, Rick & I decided to put wood flooring in our dining room. That was where the piano was and I wondered how the wood flooring would tolerate the weight of the piano. I thought maybe one of the girls would like to have the piano, but Missy already has one; Katie might've liked to have it to put in a house in the future, but that could be years from now. Rick really didn't want to move that piano again. So, I talked with the girls and then reluctantly suggested that we sell the piano. That's hard for me, because I'm very melancholy & nostalgic and am also a pack rat.


Teamwork on the dining room floor

We listed it on Ebay for 10 days. We had hundreds of people look at our listing, a few early bids on it and 15 or so watchers, pretty good for something that had to be picked up locally. 2 families and an individual came to look at & play it. It was really nice hearing it played (it almost made me cry!) Missy had said that she hoped someone nice would get it and I prayed so, too. At the end Tuesday night, the 2 families who'd visited bid on it and a young couple won it. We might've hoped for a little more on it, but it was an OK price. The husband came today to pick up the piano for his wife. While we were waiting for the piano mover to come, we became acquainted with this young man. He's a young pastor in his first ministry out of college and his wife is a nurse at the same hospital where I work! They are expecting their first child. Is that a God thing or what?! I'm so excited about where the piano is going, to become a part of another pastor's family's life song.


Piano on dollies, after moving it out of the dining room

I learned a lesson from my mother a couple of years ago. My dad's health had deteriorated and my parents could no longer live in their home in the mountains of North Carolina. So, Rick & I and my brother's family went to Sparta to close up their house there since they were going to be staying in Florida near my brother, Rick. I watched Mother give up many, many things that had been special (like her wedding gown), because she knew they wouldn't have room in the house that they'd buy in FL after their mountain property sold.

Sometimes, we have to let go of THINGS. They can become blessings to others. We still have wonderful memories. Those can't be taken away. We still have a song in our hearts.


Katie & Kayla, 2007

What's in a name?

I've been thinking for the last week about the names in our family. Missy's 30th birthday last week is probably what got me thinking in that direction. I woke up one day, after working all night, just thinking about those names. I should have written this then, when my thoughts were fresh, but I'll try to remember it all.


Malissa Cockman & Malissa Cockman von Herrmann

Missy's formal name is Malissa, like mine. I called her Rachel/Timothy for several months of my pregnancy. Rachel was a Bible name that I liked & Timothy is Rick's only sibling's name. Timothy was our boy's name 3 times, in fact, and obviously was never used! Around one month before I was due, Rick decided that he liked Malissa for a girl's name, so she became Missy/Timmy (I was called Missy rarely...mostly "Lissa"). After Missy was born, Rick said, "See, she looks like a Malissa," because she had light hair and I was very blonde when I was younger. So, for many years, when people called our house asking for "Malissa Cockman," we had to ask, "Which one?!" It means "honey bee" in Greek (though a plaque on our wall says, "pure one") and the different spelling is my mom's creation. I already had a unique name when others were changing theirs in the '60s & '70s.


My mother, Nancy, and Richard Moore x2!

This is not the first example of family confusion. "Richard" ("brave") is also a popular family name. In fact, my husband, father & brother all have that name! It never seemed to be as confusing when I was growing up, though, because my dad went by "Richard" or "Dick," and my brother was "Ricky" and then "Rick," as is the case with my hubby. My dad & brother have their mother's maiden names as middle names, "Haber" and "Greiff," respectively. Rick Cockman's middle name is "Lee," a good southern name. Since we never got to use our boy name, we used the middle name for Katie, so she is "Keturah Lee."


Keturah Lee and Richard Lee

January is a time when I like to think about our other 2 girls because of their names. I read through the Bible every year and, logically, start with the book of Genesis in January. In Genesis 24, we meet "Rebekah" and in the next chapter, there is "Keturah." Our wall plaques say that Rebekah means "earnest devotee" and Keturah is "pleasant spirit." I think some time in the years between the 2 of them, I realized that all of our first names have 7 letters, as does Cockman. The girls' nicknames all have 5 letters, too. Missy used "Malissa" for a while a couple of times through the years and Katie was "Keturah" when she started kindergarten, so some people know them better by those names. Katie has become Keturah again in her young adult years, so many of her friends don't know her by her nickname. Becky's always been Becky or "Boo," only using "Rebekah" as a formal signature. Although we gave them meaningful names, they'll always be "Missy, Becky & Katie" to us.


Rebekah April, Keturah Lee & Malissa Elizabeth

As for the rest of our middle names, mine is "Eve," like my mother's and that comes from her mom's first name, "Eve" or "Eva." Becky's is "April" because of her birth month. It would've been "Ann" if she'd come early in March. Missy's is Elizabeth, sort of reflected in her first daughter's name, "Ellie ("light")." Ellie's middle name is "Jeanne," after her great grandmother, Paul's grandmother. It also sounds like my husband Rick's dad's nickname, Gene. Both of these great grandparents have gone on to Heaven before us, due to cancer. Granddaughter #2, Aimee, has a first name that means "beloved" and the middle name of "Kate," Gene's mom's name and a variation of Aunt Katie's name.


Grandma with Aimee Kate & Ellie Jeanne

Speaking of Paul ("small," "humble"), both Missy and Katie are married to young men from Georgia with that name. So, like Missy & me and the Richards before, we have had to specify: "Big Paul" and "Little Paul" (until Katie's Paul got taller!) We've joked & wondered where Becky's Paul is!


Paul & Missy von Herrmann


Paul & Keturah Williams

So, there's a lot in a name! It says in the Bible, in Proverbs 22:1, "A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold." (NIV) Best of all is to be called, "child of God." I'm thankful that our family knows and loves God and we pray that Ellie & Aimee will join us at early ages. I hope that all of our friends are, or will be, part of the family of God, too.

2/3/09 Since I wrote, it came to my attention that my dad's dad's name was Paul and his step-mother's nickname was Kate, so the multiple name thing in our family is even worse than I thought!

Mrs. Missy turning 30!

I've been reflecting recently about my 1st pregnancy 30 years ago. We were living in Arlington, TX, where Rick was pastor of his 1st full fledged church, having been a student pastor in seminary & then an associate pastor while I finished college. I was working my 1st job as a nurse, on a Med-Surg and Oncology floor in the hospital where I would deliver our 1st 2 girls.

I was 24 years old, the same age that my mom was when I was born. We were living a LONG way from our families in the Ft. Lauderdale area. We went through Lamaze classes, very much the thing to do in those days (and I made Rick go to them with me all 3 times for accountability). My due date was January 9, 1979. The day came & went (all 3 of our girls kept me waiting!) On Sunday (an appropriate day for a PK - Preacher's Kid), January 14th, my water broke and we were off to the hospital on a COLD Texas night. I had a great labor coach and never took anything for pain (never did, all 3 times - we were au natural in the "Hippy Days," as Becky likes to say!) 12 hours and back labor later, Malissa Elizabeth Cockman made her appearance "sunny side up." She weighed 7# 4 1/2 oz., 20 1/2" long. She was born @ 12:16 P.M., just about the time that church would be out if we had been there that day! Our family expanded and we had new titles and jobs as parents, something that we're still learning as we go, but more recently as parents of adults and grandparents.



It's hard to believe that out 1st BABY will be 30 a week from today. She was with us when Becky was born and in our moves to Lake Worth, FL (where Katie was born & where Missy started school), Midway, NC (elementary & middle school, basketball, soccer & softball and church youth group), Port Charlotte, FL (high school, journalism, basketball, cross country and track and starting college @ Nyack College) and Buford, GA (college graduation, living nearly a year in Lebanon, teaching job in Gainesville, Ga while living again @ home and meeting & marrying Paul von Herrmann). Now, she's the wife of a Navy doctor and has moved, herself, to Augusta, GA, Chesapeake, VA and Pensacola & Pace, FL. She has 2 precious daughters of her own, Ellie Jeanne, 2 3/4 years old, and Aimee Kate, 9 months old. I'm so proud to see the wonderful woman, wife & mom that she has become.



I love you, Malissa Elizabeth, my precious 1st born daughter! May the Lord continue to bless you in the years to come. I look forward with great anticipation to the Lord's continued leading & working in your life. Happy birthday, Missy (now lovingly known as "Mrs.," since you're married!)
Mom OX <3

Our house in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, through the seasons

I was born & raised in Florida where they say that the only change is in the license plates (when all the "snowbirds" from the north flock to the warmer weather there!) I never saw snow till I was an adult and moved away.

We have lived in Ft. Wayne, IN for nearly 3 1/2 years now. Though Rick & I have moved a lot in over 33 years of marriage, this is the farthest north that I've ever lived. We definitely have changes in seasons here. It's hard to imagine on a gorgeous summer day that it could ever get so cold and it's hard to believe that it will ever be warm again when it seems like the arctic. Here are some views of our house that I've taken over the years.



Christmas scene, complete with a Moravian star, a mainstay of our decorations since our days in Winston-Salem, NC



Late winter, early spring scene in FW - it's nearly summer before I can plant flowers around Mother's Day



Late spring, early summer - I love planting flowers and watching the humming birds when they return




2008

2008

Sunflowers have been a part of our late summer/early fall yards in Port Charlotte, FL and Buford, GA as well as Fort Wayne.

Autumn scene

All in all, I like living in Ft. Wayne. It's a pretty nice place to live, despite the FREEZING half of the year. When I married a "preacher," I knew that our life would be interesting & it has been. We married in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, where we met. We have ministered in Birmingham, AL, Arlington, TX, Lake Worth, FL, Winston-Salem (Midway), NC, Port Charlotte, FL, and Duluth, GA (near Atlanta) before moving to Indiana. I've met lots of wonderful people & enjoy keeping in touch with many of them.

My biggest complaint is being so far from our spread out family. My parents and brother's family live in the Orlando area, Missy & family live near Pensacola, FL, Becky lives in Augusta, GA and Paul and Katie live in Nashville, TN. I'm so very thankful for all of the ways that we can keep in touch. I definitely know that the Lord is using us here in Ft. Wayne & has a purpose for us being here. But, I have asked Him more than once how it is fair that some people live in the same town with all of their family and we're apart so much of the time from ours. In that sense, I can empathize with missionaries, who live much farther away from family for longer periods of time. It's a good reminder to pray for missionary friends.

If you live near your family & they drive you nuts at times, hug them tight and be thankful. You don't know what a blessing you have. :)