Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Happy Birthday to my brother

\We will have a birthday party when you get back home!  See you very soon!  Love you!

Happy Birthday Debbie Bock!

Click to play this Smilebox greeting
Create your own greeting - Powered by Smilebox
Make a digital greeting

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Moments - this is all we have


One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp
Review
Ann Voskamp invites us to slow down, to learn how to live the full life of eucharisteo (with grace, thanksgiving, joy) regardless of circumstances. With lovely word pictures inspired by everyday life in her family and on her farm, she writes about her struggle to live joyfully amid sin and sorrow and suffering. -- WORLD Magazine

(WORLD Magazine )
Product Description on Amazon reads:
"Just like you, Ann Voskamp hungers to live her one life well. Forget the bucket lists that have us escaping our everyday lives for exotic experiences. 'How,' Ann wondered, 'do we find joy in the midst of deadlines, debt, drama, and daily duties? What does the Christ-life really look like when your days are gritty, long---and sometimes even dark? How is God even here?' In One Thousand Gifts, Ann invites you to embrace everyday blessings and embark on the transformative spiritual discipline of chronicling God's gifts. It's only in this expressing of gratitude for the life we already have, we discover the life we've always wanted ... a life we can take, give thanks for, and break for others. We come to feel and know the impossible right down in our bones: we are wildly loved --- by God. Let Ann's beautiful, heart-aching stories of the everyday give you a way of seeing that opens your eyes to ordinary amazing grace, a way of being present to God that makes you deeply happy, and a way of living that is finally fully alive. Come live the best dare of all!"

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

The week that was quite interesting

  • Just got my computer back about twenty minutes ago.  After days of a sluggish computer, finally took it in to the Geeks and now it is running beautifully again.  I really missed this thing!  Now....I will spend some time and clean up and organize the hundred's of emails,  return to Facebook after a long relapse and last,  but definitely not the least:  do a little updating on this blog! 
  • I was furloughed!  Sooner than I expected.  A shorter season of work than I have ever had.  But quite delighted to sleep in past 5:30 a.m. Certainly will miss that paycheck though!
  • Not once....but twice my washing machine has flooded the laundry room in the past couple of weeks.  Both times the Dutchman was working out of town.  (My typical response of D...U....T.....C......H...Help! was not heard by him).  Sweeping water out the back entrance and setting up fans to dry the floor has not been my favorite thing this week.  I now have a new washing machine. :)
  • Another trip to the DMV and my frustration began to show.  Seriously.  An apology before I left.  Me...I'm the one who apologised....to the clerk and to the manager I demanded requested to see.  As I said, my frustration  anger was showing.... and I'm not too proud of that.
  • I have lost the cord to charge my Kindle!!  Groan!  It is now completely out of power and I am unable to read Eric Metaxas' Bonhoeffer which I had been so looking forward to. 
  • The Dutchman is now home and my life, as always, is oh so good. 
  • I will end with a sweet picture of this happy great-grand baby of mine........whom I get to see when she comes to visit me next month!  Just look at that smile. What a charming girl baby she is!   She is held by our precious Shannon, who is such a good mama.   And there is Snickers, their beloved cat, who has been stirrng up trouble in the neighborhood lately! 

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Creamed Salmon on Potato Chips.....

Thanks Char for making this favorite meal from our childhood!  Jayme grew up enjoying it too and it was a real treat for us when she visited last weekend! 

Jayme and I enjoying Char's cooking!  (I miss you dear daughter!  It went by too fast!)


Sunday, May 8, 2011

Today is a day of contentment.....

enjoyment, gratitude, pleasure, delight, gladness, elatedness, gleefulness....yup!  that's my day.  I am so thrilled to have Jayme here, even for a short while.  And we are having a ball!

Arriving about 11:00 P.M. after a long day of travel.  Many delays in Phoenix,  but thanks to that US Air Pilot who refused to fly the plane that needed maintenance!  And as always, Jayme's attitude is so good.   My role model.


Mother's Day Breakfast was delicious.  Sadly, we over slept after staying up 'til 2:00 a.m. and missed church.


Jayme enjoys our weather



A Few Words that describe Jayme:  lovely, compassionate, likeable, capable, strong, giving, genuine, woman of faith

Always happy...that's where Ally gets it!

Life is just better with Jayme around. 

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Feelin' some joy today!

How would you define joy?  Well, I looked it up and each definition surely describes what I am feeling today.   Definition of joy  –noun

1. the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation: She felt the joy of anticipating the arrival of her daughter.

2. a source or cause of keen pleasure or delight; something or someone greatly valued or appreciated: just the thought of time with her daughter was pure joy.

3. the expression or display of glad feeling; festive gaiety.

4. a state of happiness or felicity.

And the reason for all this joy today?  At 6:30 I will be at the airport picking up my daughter!  She's in the air now, on her way to surprise me for Mother's Day.  And since she has never been able to keep a secret.....I already know about her visit.  She told me yesterday afternoon.  And I am so glad to know in advance because I was then able to prepare some things for her visit:
  • Put fresh sheets on her bed.  It's too warm for the flannel sheets that were on there for winter.
  • Cut some fresh flowers.
  • Clean her bathroom.
  • Charge my camera battery.
  • Plan meals.
  • Relish in the anticipation of her weekend visit.  Short as it will be.  The time together will be splendid!
  • my precious daughter

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Ally Hall and Mickey Mouse

Is Mickey stealing Ally's Easter basket while she sleeps!?  Sure looks like it!  Or, he  might be  bringing her a basket.  Especially since Ally is crazy about him.  But you never know....you gotta watch that guy  mouse closely!
Actually, when I look at this picture, I see Ally's beautiful skin, long eye lashes and sweet little mouth.  We are so in love with that baby girl!  She looks like a Bessie Pease Gutman baby.  (Bessie Pease Gutman, best known as a children's illustrator in the early 1900's  and I have collected her work for years)