I know it's pushing two weeks since I wrote a blog post. Our vacation was just wonderful. When we got home we had company right away and then there was the whole laundry thing. And some other stuff, but I won't bore you with the details. You're welcome.
To jump start myself, I decided to take the month of May and post a picture everyday. Hopefully it will be relevant to something that happened that day. But if not much went on, be ready for pictures of the plants growing outside. Just trying to prepare my readers. :)
After living here for getting close to a year, I think we have finally found a church that we can feel a part of. It's a little country church. I took a picture of it as we were leaving this morning.
When we heard the winter weather was coming back to Minnesota, we took off.
Well, we really had planned the trip several months ago. We just got lucky and missed the snow. (Yes, it snowed up north. In late April.) (I know!)
We headed to Kansas to see our kids. Sunday morning these four ran a race:
This is a friend of my daughter's, my son-in-law, my daughter and my hubby!
These three ran a 10K race. (That's 6.2 miles) They were all very happy with their times.
This guy ran a half marathon. (13.1 miles) He was happy with his time too.
Me? Yes, I was there, and yes, it was early, and yes, I was tired. But I managed a few photos to document the event.
After all that excitement, Hubby and I escaped to here:
This is in the woods in southern Missouri. This cabin is called The Refuge. It is so peaceful here we may never leave. :) Last night we were outside and the woods were noisy! It was oh so awesome to listen to.
This afternoon a thunderstorm rolled through complete with some hail. Our car was sitting out in it and the lights started flashing and the horn was honking. I think it was saying, "Ow!"
It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain. Isaiah 4:6
This is another one of those songs from the CDs Megan and Zach gave me for Christmas.
I don't know about any of you, but I sure can use a reminder that Jesus' love never fails. Never. Nothing separates me His love. He has new mercies for me every day. In this world of seemingly constant change, how I need to be reminded He Never Changes. He stays the same through the ages.
The thing that makes me, me, the thing that is at my core is my faith in Jesus Christ. I cannot imagine my life without Him. I don't even want to know where I would be without Him. How would I deal with life without the Bible to guide me? I don't want to know.
I have no idea why this popped into my head tonight, but I went searching on YouTube and looked for Billy Graham videos.
(My mom came to Christ as a college student at a Billy Graham Crusade.)
Maybe this will hit home with someone reading this.
I am reluctant to say this, because I think almost every blogger I read says this at one time or another, but lately I have been having a difficult time coming up with things to blog about. So, I apologize for the lack of posts.
But, can I say I am thankful for the prompts from my blogging buddy, Joyce? (I know I don't actually know Joyce IRL, but I feel like we are buddies because we have so much in common and I think that if we didn't have 1200 miles separating us, we'd go out for lunch and have a great time.) All that to say that I am participating in Joyce's Wednesday HodgePodge this week. Thanks Joyce! Go over to @From This Side of the Pond to read some other bloggers' answers to this week's questions.
1. Would you rather talk to everyone at a crowded party for a short time or have a significant conversation with two people?
It probably depends on what kind of party it is. If I don't know very many people, I think I would rather talk to a couple of people. But if it is people I know, then I'd likely talk to more people. (How's that for a wishy-washy answer?)
2. What objects do you remember from your parent's living room?
I remember two little angel figurines that are on a bookshelf. They sit on a little bench and are kissing. When my parents were arguing with each other, I would switch the figurines around so they were facing away from each other.
My mom has a Nativity set that my grandmother made out of Plaster-of-Paris. It is plain white. I've always liked it and remember playing with it (carefully) when I was little and rearranging the shepherds and wise-men and Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus. I also remember my parents having friends over and sitting in the living room talking all night. I thought that seemed like the most boring thing ever. Just sitting around and talking? No playing outside or playing games?
3. Do you hog the bed? Steal the covers? Snore?
Yes, I hog the bed. That's why we have a king size bed now. :) (And, oh, how I love it!)
No, I don't steal the covers, that is all taken care of by Hubby. (But, then since I am you know, 50, I often don't need covers thanks to my own personal furnace I got going.)
And I don't think I want to answer the last question. Doesn't seem very lady like. ;) I will say that we do have a Sound Machine that helps mask some of the extra noisesgoing all while Hubby and I are sleeping.
4. Speaking of Easter Dinner....what is your favorite way to cook/eat lamb? Or does just the thought of that make you squeamish? If you're not cooking lamb what will be your entree du jour on Easter Sunday?
We were speaking of Easter Dinner?? :) I have never fixed lamb, but I do like it. Several years ago we spent 10 days in New Zealand (where there are more sheep than people) and I had lamb every opportunity I could. The last time I had lamb was last year in my favorite restaurant in our previous town.
Doesn't it look yummy?
A side story: When I was little (5 or 6?) I had an adorable stuffed lamb. One night for dinner my mom fixed lamb and my loving siblings (**cough cough**) told me it was my Little Lamby we were eating. I remember running to my bedroom to make sure he was okay. (He was.)
5. Do you know the whereabouts of your birth certificate and when was the last time you had to produce it to prove you're you?
My birth certificate is in the fire-proof safe in the basement. I think the last time I had to use it was when I first got a passport before we went to Switzerland to visit my sister-in-law and niece in 1995. I probably used it when we moved to Singapore,which was in 1998, so I guess that would qualify as the last time, huh?
6. As a child, how did people describe you?
My grandma always introduced me to her friends as "Clair's baby." Even when I was over 10. Sheesh. (I miss my grandma. She was great.) I think people thought I was a happy kid. But I don't really know what people said. I was cute though, huh? :)
I use the black & white picture as an example for my hair dresser of why I don't like short bangs. :) That nifty "hat" thing I have on in the picture on the far right is my mom's hairdryer. Cool, huh?
7. What do you complain about the most?
Living in this small, rural town. Ugh. Ick. Yuck.
8. Insert your own random thought here.
Random video time! Here's the best movie scene ever... from Sleepless in Seattle:
And here is the scene from An Affair to Remember:
(I can't decide which is sappier, the dialogue or the music...)
Dear Hubby, I am praising God today that you were born. (50 years ago...) (Just had to get that in there...) I cannot imagine my life without you in it. You are my best friend. Thank you for devoting your life to Christ, to me, Caleb and Megan and now to Amanda and Zach. If I had to choose one word to describe you it would be commitment. You are committed to your relationship with God, and you are committed to me and our marriage.
We've had some joyous times in our marriage and we've been through some pretty tough times. Through it all you have stayed committed. You've chosen to stand by me no matter what. (Even though I said those words in my wedding vows to you, you have done the same to me.) Thank you for being my partner in life. For being my partner in raising our two amazing kids. I appreciate your example of seeking after God. You have sat by me and read to me from the Psalms when I have been sick. (Remember those days I was in the hospital in Singapore and you read the Psalms to me? I sure do.)
A couple of Christmases ago you gave me this little plaque:
That says Commitment to me. How blessed am I to have you in my life?
This past Christmas I gave you this to remind us that even though we are done with having children in our home, that we are done with the day to day job of raising them, that our life together is changing from what it was for many years, what it had been for most of our marriage, it is still you & me. Always.
A few weeks ago we saw this video of Dancing in the Minefields. There is a line that says:
But to lose your life for another I've heard is a good place to begin
Cause the only way to find your life is to lay your own life down
And I believe it's an easy price for the life that we have found
Remember that Keith Green concert we went to back in 1982? (We weren't even dating yet. You were just my best friend.)Do you recall how we sang to each other?
Remember there's no greater love to lay down your life for a friend.
What a life we have found in being able to lay our lives down for each other! You have done that for me countless times in so many big and small ways. Thank you are such inadequate words.
So, sweetie, let's grab a hold of each others hands and go dancing in the minefields. Life with you is so worth every hard time and such a thrill to have the wonderful, joyous times to celebrate together.
I am so blessed for you to be apart of my life for the past almost 30 years. (Way more than half our lives, baby!)
Another Wednesday, another Wednesday Hodgepodge. Thanks to Joyce@From This Side of the Pond for another set of questions for this week.
1. National Read a Road Map Day falls on April 5th. Would people say you have a good sense of direction? Do you rely on a GPS when you drive somewhere new? When was the last time you used a map?
I tend to have a pretty good sense of direction. The town where my in-laws live is the only town where I have gotten miserably lost. I have GPS on my phone now and I LOVE IT! It is usually my job to navigate and sometimes I have a hard time with maps especially in big cities with one way streets, etc. GPS is a life-saver! Last time I used a map? Um, I don't remember. Probably a bit more than a year ago, since that is when I got this current phone. (April 6th is National Read a Road Map Day? Time to celebrate! Maybe I'll bake a cake.)
2. What's your favorite cookbook?
Hello, my name is Judy, and I have a problem with cookbooks. I love to try new recipes. (I am glad I can find recipes online and have quite a few bookmarked on my computer.)
This is the first cookbook that was "mine". My sister gave it to me when I was about 9. It was published in the early 1960s. It looks well used, doesn't it? It has some really good, basic recipes in it. I use it often. It's easy to find the recipes I use the most, just find the pages that are falling out or have food splattered all over them.
Another of my current favorite cookbooks is Pioneer Woman Cooks:
The recipes are really yummy and not full of "fancy" ingredients. But I think the real reason I love it is because my daughter, daughter-in-law and I are cooking our way through this cookbook and blogging about it. You can read the posts here.
3. What painting would you like to "walk into" and experience? Why?
I think this one:
Paris
Or this one:
Steamboat Springs, Colorado
Or this one:
Gryuere, Switzerland
Or this one:
Christchurch, New Zealand
Or this one:
Sydney, Australia
Or this one:
Lake Dillon, Colorado
Or maybe even this one:
Hyannis, Massachusetts
These are all paintings or photographs we have around the house. They are all places we have traveled to. We try to find a painting from the places we are vacationing in. I'd love to go back to any of these. (The picture of the cathedral in Christchurch, New Zealand makes me a bit sad. That cathedral was ruined in the recent earthquake there.)
4. What annoys you more- misspellings or mispronunciations?
Yes. Both. But I get most annoyed with mispronunciations.
Fustrated (Frustrated)
Valentimes (Valentine's)
Baali (Bali read: Bahli)
I think I'll stop now.
5. What is something your mother or father considered important?
Teaching me about Jesus. That has been the greatest gift they have ever given me.
6. Do you like or dislike schedules?
Mostly dislike. But they are necessary at times. I think I would be fine with them if there was nothing on the schedule before 10 AM. :)
7. Let's have some fun with National Poetry Month (that would be April)...write your own ending to this poem- "Roses are Red, Violets are blue..."
Incidentally if you'd like to read the history behind that little ditty you'll find it here.
My hubby has written me many poems over the years using these starting lines. (He's such a sweetie.) Let's see how I do with it....
Roses are red Violets are blue The snow is gone in our yard (!) And the lake ice too.
(Hmmm, I think hubby is better at it.)
8. Insert your own random thought in this space.
I have been addicted to watching live video of Bald Eagles in their nest in Decorah, IA. Right now there are two babies that have hatched and one more impending. Here's the link to the live feed. There are oodles of videos on YouTube of the eagles, here's just one to whet your appetite:
