Tagged............and tagged again! :)

I've been tagged for the first time and tagged for a second time before I even responded to the first one. LOL :)





I'm such an awful person who tends to kill recipe trees and I've never done a chain letter. Oh I take that back. I vaguely remember doing one in 3rd grade or so. (They probably told me I'd get cooties if I didn't send it on. ) I think everyone I know has just gotten tagged, so I will be killing yet another chain. However, I think they are fun and interesting and will gladly answer them. :)


Here's one from my sweet friend Carin. I'm pretty sure I have well over 7 weird/random things about me.

1. I don't like my food to touch. I'm so much better at this than I used to be! If I had more than one cold salad...it could touch. But never a hot veggie and a cold salad, etc.

2. Totally random and not weird..........I'm adopted. Twice actually! Once by my parents...and then by God. Okay, so 'technically' he didn't adopt me, but I love being part of his family! :)

3. If I had to choose between chocolate or fresh salsa and chips..........it would be fresh salsa and chips EVERY TIME. yum

4. I love to cook! I love to bake. I love having people at my house. Sometimes I complain that I can't keep up with all the meals around here when everyone is home all summer, but I do love it!

5. I'm married to the most awesome man in the world, who just happens to be a dairy farmer! Ironically I teased a friend in high school who dated a kid who worked at a farm....and never in a million years believed I'd ever marry one.

6. I *love* flannel pj's and wear them 9 months of the year (but I DO live in Michigan!!!). In the winter I always sleep with footie socks on too.

7. The first album I ever bought my dad thought was too 'worldly'....it was Barry Manilow!!! LOL He took it and got rid of it. But I got to keep The Carpenters. ;)

Okay and now to Linda's tag (who is also a sweet friend!):

What was I doing Ten Years Ago?
Working....I think I was at The IceHouse Quilt Shop in Grayling. That was the year we were in a magazine about the top 10 quilt shops in the United States (I think I have that right).


Five Things On Today's "To Do" List
Wow! Um, laundry (what day is that NOT on my 'to do' list???), make dinner, wash dishes, make some cards, have coffee on the deck with friends who are staying with us. Actually a very fun day!!!


I'm addicted to...
coffee...or is it diet pepsi? I dunno. Either way it's decaf, so it's not the caffeine I like. :)


Things I Would Do If I Were a Millionaire...
Probably not a lot different than now in all honesty. I'm pretty satisfied with life. But I would 'give' more because I'd have more to give. I'd like to do it in secret though, but I'd love to just bless others.


Places I have Lived...
Lincoln, NE; Kearney, NE; St. Louis, MO; Chicago, IL; Chicago Heights, IL; Port Huron, MI; Cadillac, MI; Omaha, NE; back to Cadillac, MI; Falmouth, MI

That's all folks! Happy friday!

Weekend Fun

We spend saturday with good friends at Sleeping Bear Dunes. Sooooooo very relaxing! A leisurely drive up there, then we found a great spot for a picnic. :) Our salads almost blew away, but it was a fun adventure!

I just love the dunes. I love looking at them and I love climbing them. We took a scenic drive to an area that we didn't 'have' to climb to get a great view and that was fun too. But I just couldn't resist a 'little' climb down and back. Not too far.......just a bit.

We also hit Cherry Republic in Glen Arbor.........and they had cherry everything! Cherry salsa, cherry trail mix (dried), chocolate covered cherries, cherry chocolate chip cookies, cherry wine, cherry soda, cherry jam, cherry ice cream topping........well you get the picture. They also had a little ice cream shop that had lots of flavors........all (or at least most) had cherry in them. YUM! My treat for the day was Cherry Ginger Ale.......and it was super. That was after sampling most of the above cherry treat samples. *wink*

Thanks Luke and Carin for spending the day with us!

And Lyn....don't faint! I know, I know.........two days in a row. :)

THIS Is What 70 Years Looks Like

of Marriage! :)

My Grandpa Del and Grandma Helen have celebrated 70 years of marriage. He's 90 years young and she's 89.

Think of the changes they have seen. From the depression years...working for 17 cents (yes, cents) a day to today's $4.50 per gallon gas (they can't believe that one). When Grandpa was young he was a baseball player and local factories would come to the door of his home and offer him jobs with great wages if he would please play ball for their company team. :)

About the time I remember them, they were middle class yuppies. Well I suppose that was before 'yuppie' was a word, but they were. Two professionals, two incomes. A cabin 'up north' that they spent weekends at. I remember Grandma doing her nails a lot. :) And they had cable tv! They lived 4 hours away, but I remember going to spend a week in the summer and had so much fun. Even if we had to watch Hee Haw. ;)

They've been fiercely independent. Right up until they could no longer be. The last two years have been hard. Diabetes has taken both of Grandpa's legs in the last year. A bad fall has done irreversible damage to Grandma's neck. And they no longer can live alone and care for themselves. Most of the friends and colleagues are gone.

And so with a sigh of resignation they agreed to move to my family's home town. 4 hours from their place. And live in an assisted living center. It's really quite nice. A little apartment with privacy, but help whenever they need it. Meals prepared. The apartment cleaned for them. Someone to make sure they are always taking the right medicines (how many times did we hear "I don't know if I took my medicine today").

It's been a change. After 90 years, change is hard. But it was good to hear them say, "I think I can be happy here." And we can visit them every day, which certainly could never happen any other way.

Two days after arriving at the new place (which is really cute, each apartment having it's own house front and a main corridor that has street lamps and flowers and reminds me of Mackinac Island).......they celebrated their 70th Anniversay. We had a little party and had a few friends and family come. It was so sweet.

And it really was a celebration! Grandpa's sharp as a tack...........Grandma not so much LOL, but boy did we have fun!

Happy Anniversary to the best Grandparents in the world!

It's a Big 'Un

What could be exciting enough for a 17 year old to call his Momma after dark when he is just minutes from home? Catching a whopping bass! This is Wes' prize fish that he caught last night. He's getting it mounted even (secretly hoping he keeps that in his room). :)

It's not very often the boys WANT their photos taken any more, but we both had fun with these photos!

Growing, Changing, Yet Staying the Same

Wow! As of last week I only have one teenager left. *sigh*

I had a moment one day that was kind of surreal. As though everything else in life were moving very fast, but I was looking, watching, and observing life is slow motion. I began to watch my boys very carefully and just wondered where time had gone and when these "men" showed up. When I look in their eyes and see their smiles, I see my little boys. When I take a glance at them as a whole.......they are fully grown.

I love that even during their busy, grown up lives they still love the things that brought them joy in their childhood. I often wonder when we still stop hiding Easter eggs for them (I thought I'd give that up a couple years ago but they wouldn't hear of it). Or stop doing the special birthday day where they choose all the meals for the day.

And then I realized......people never stop wanting to feel special. Life can be hard. Decisions weigh heavy sometimes and people at college or at work just don't affirm you any longer. But home is where you can always be special. Where someone can say that they love you and that you did great! Where love can be shown in the big and little ways. Where you can still make green eggs & ham for your 20 year old son on his birthday because that is what he asks for. :)

The man you've become is so amazing. The son you've always been is so loved.

**photo circa 2007 because I didn't get a pic this year*

Just Checking........

I thought I deleted my blog by accident. I guess that's what happens when you don't post often enough. ;)

Be Still and Know......

Wow. I can't believe my last entry was November 19. I've had a lot to say. I've 'thought' about posting. I'm not even sure why I haven't.

Christmas was crazy working a couple different jobs and volunteering at church. Then after the first of the year I took a step of faith and took on a larger commitment to Women's Ministry at church. All in all life has been full. Not busy in the sense of crazy or out of control, but full. There is a difference. :) And to be honest I continue striving for balance in my life daily.

One of the most wonderful things was a trip to the Philippines that I took at the end of February. Our church sent a team of 19 people on a mission trip. It wasn't the typical mission trip where you drill a well or build a school or church (although those are AMAZING things), but it was to be whatever the growing Philippine Christians needed. There is a huge move of God happening in the Philippines as the Christian church is emerging. They face tons of opposition...and yet they persevere. They are evangelizing their own country and we went to assist them. To help them hold crusades where people could come and hear about Jesus for perhaps the very first time. To present the gift of God's salvation to them. It was so amazing and so humbling to see their eagerness for God's most wonderful gift! Well over 6,000 people came to know the Lord. They also were offered the opportunity for prayers for God's healing. It's amazing to think of how willingly they believed what God had for them. And God did so many marvelous things there!!!

One of the things I really loved was that they didn't offer the gift of salvation and leave people hanging with salvation, but no direction. Now please understand that the gift of eternal life is incredible and I am not downplaying that at all. But so often people make that decision and no one follows through with discipling a new believer. They were given a small Bible study pamphlet that really took them scripture by scripture on what the decision they made really was...to make sure they understood. The next day a Bible study was held at the same location as the crusade and the pastor with the closest proximity to that baranguay (village) would ask people to host a Bible study in their home. Those Bible studies will turn into local churches. Praise God that over 70 Bible studies were started!!! And not only that, but there will be follow up for that as well. Within 3 months Philippine church leaders will go back to that area and check with each and every pastor, and each and every Bible study.

I saw so many amazing things while I was there. Sometimes I'm still overwhelmed by it all. In such a good way.

I want to leave you with.........God is doing amazing things! He's doing amazing things in the Philippine people and he's doing amazing things in me. I hope you are letting Him do amazing things in you as well. He wants too and is waiting for you to surrender your 'stuff' to Him.