Chatting with God this morning........

Where are we going and what does it mean?
It's a new part of the journey.
Your path is always so much more than I imagined...
What causes my hesitation?
You've always proved yourself faithful.
To equip.
To uphold.
To always see your plan through.
I'm yours.
I'm in.
Whatever you ask----yes, Lord!

The journey continues---
it's so easy to look back and realize the plan.
But every day is a new opportunity to go where you are going
and be a part of your plan.

Patience.......

So I know you are wondering "have you started building your house yet"? That's a great question! :)

It's been planned, details have changed many times, but we are getting so many decisions made. However, we are STILL waiting for our 'tree removal man'. We have a few acres of spindly, ugly pine trees that need to be gone before we can dig a basement. A few too many to do ourselves.

Unfortunately Mr. "Hacker", whom I now refer to as Mr. "Slacker" is apparently still unavailable. Three weeks ago I was patient. Now............well not so much. I feel like we are dealing with Larry......and his brother Daryl............and his other brother Daryl.

He was supposed to be here last wednesday. Then he was supposed to be here today. Ugh! I suppose in a very weird way he is saving us money..........because we sure aren't spending money building our house yet! :) I know that someday we will be laughing about this. *wink*

Blessings

So.............what do you get a lady who is turning 90? We've done so many photo's framed over the years there isn't room for one more. She's pretty comfy in the clothes she already has (and more than a little fussy). She doesn't need jewelry. She can't really see to read or do crafts. It's amazingly hard to find something. But in all honesty, the only thing she wants is spending time with us.

So Happy Birthday to my Grandma Helen who turned 90 this week! She really is a card! She cracks them all up at the assisted living center. I teasingly told them her middle name was "Trouble" and it is. She jokes and kids around all the time. And by the way..........she's 10 this year she says. She got to 40, went backward for the next 40 and then started on her way again......which would make her 10. You just never know!

I got to spend time this past weekend visiting a local art fair with friends and today was able to take a quick trip to Houghton Lake to visit Arnie's Arts and Crafts. I realized how nice it is to have friends to just do spur of the moment stuff with and feel so relaxed and comfortable! :) God has really blessed me.

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!