An Update Post

Two posts in one day! I have much to share, but with all these updates, I may not have much to say for a while!! Here are the updates from around our home....

Homemaking:

I have really gotten off track here. My house has that "ick" feel to it. You know the one, don't you? Please tell me you do! Since I had the cooties here for a whole week, it has not gotten a clean feeling. I read on a friend's facebook status about a Lavender Pine Sol....I plan to grab some of that. Have any of you tried it?

Laundry has been done and that is a plus!Gardening:I am not meant to garden. Sad to admit, but so true. My tomatoes are bursting with lots of green plump tomatoes, and my 2 pepper plants are straining with the weight of all the peppers..........but my cucumber, lettuce and onions died! UGH! Oh, well. Plus I have not kept my end of the bargain. Not that the garden is not weeded and watered regularly, but it is not me doing it....no, it is not Sweetheart either...it is Charlotte and Zach. They are anxious to enlarge the garden so they can grow pumpkins! I think I will give them the other end of the space we have. Maybe I can convince Sweetheart to put clotheslines where the garden space would have been........

Spiritual:I am reading the Sermon on the Mount. It begins in Matthew 5. I love these verses and I can imagine what it would have been like to be there......I may have to spend a week or more in this section of scripture. It is speaking to me.

"Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men." Matthew 5:13

The Kids:The kids are all doing well. Sickness has left the building!!! Kyle worked on this piece of "art". He wanted his Grandma Dianne to see this picture...make sure you tell him you saw it Grandma!

Charlotte......Charlotte has been Charlotte. What can I say. She is great one day and the next she is struggling. Still, I am so amazed at what she can accomplish. Debi sent her a gift card to Michael's and asked her if she would use it to purchase yarn of her choice and make a Project Linus blanket for a child. Debi will donate this in her name. She finished it yesterday and and I think it is beautiful!!!! I was surprised at the amount of yarn it took to make this....crochet is as costly as quilting!Such pride in a job well done. I think it is her best work yet!

Zach Attack.....he is a pistol and I am grateful It is better than that lethargic little boy burning up with fever last week! He slept alot.....and anywhere he landed. Here he is half on and half off the couch.Quilting:UGH!!! This is not fun. I have made myself work on it and prohibited myself from basting the sailboats until the center blocks of this quilt are done. I just want to get through it and move on.

Grandchildren:

Let's talk about that mohawk....Personally, I do not like it. He is my baby. My TJ Stinky Pants. My sweet little guy who loves to collect rocks, just like I did as a child. (note his few new additions in front of his dirty little feet) However, he is still a dolly and I find it growing on me. *sigh* One day he will be doing stuff to himself that his parents will HATE....it will serve them right! HA! A rite of passage for ALL parents.

Emerson will be the one to put them through their paces. You can be sure of that!!Tomorrow (Wednesday), their Mommy has a birthday. Happy birthday Rachel!!!!!

Sweetheart:

I usually do not update on Sweetheart, but he needs prayer. He took a very big beating today. Yes, I WHIPPED HIS BEHIND in Phase 10! He thought he had me for most of the game, but I came from behind and WAILED on him! He never saw it coming. The winning hand......Zach thought it was "mean" that I was taking pictures of Daddy's failure and Sweetheart told him, "Don't worry Zach. We will start our own blog and take pictures of Mom losing next time!" I don't think so......Sassy:

I think Sassy is a bit upset.People keep saying she is "fat". I think she looks just fine! Look at those lines....she is sleek!Or maybe it is the lighting, cause in this one her butt sure looks BIG! Sorry Sass!Those are the updates. Have a blessed week!!!

Reunion

Sweetheart's family reunion was held last Saturday and what a beautiful day it was! There are 5 generations of family in that picture!
Sweetheart's sister's came from Oregon and Colorado. Here they all are...Sherry, Jim (Sweetheart's brother), Cindy, (from Oregon), and Kim (Sweetheart). One sister is missing....:(Shane (baby # 5 from the womb) was a dolly! Here he is with Emerson....Emerson is 20 months old and Shane will be 4. Look how tiny he is. I think he wears a size 18 months clothing.Rachel was thrilled to see him. She was his foster mommy for almost 6 months after he was born. It was hard for her to give him up, but she knew he always belonged to Sherry. Sherry came in to town on Thursday night and she spent Friday evening with us. I love my time with her. She is the reason I am a quilter....among other things. Do you have someone in your life that was so big in it, that it changed who you are? That is Sherry to me.She will be 60 in September (I know!!! She looks amazing) She is a Mom to 8 (4 bio, 4 adopted), a foster mom to countless children who still call her mom to this day, I think she has 5, maybe 6 grandkids. She has buried 2 husbands, both at young ages and in tragic situations, and she is still raising an 8 year old and a 3 year old. See what I mean? Amazing.
Ok, on to more pics.....Bud and Rachel look very happy!My son and his children. Sweetheart and his cousin Scott....handsome men, eh? It runs in the family.My niece April Ann and her husband Mike. I met April when she just turned 3!!! I was her nanny when I was 17. She is in her 30's now!Here is Sweetheart's 4 generation picture. I love it! My mother in love looked beautiful that day!!!!We did not take Kyle, Charlotte or Zach. They had an incredible day with my mom!
It has been almost 10 years since the last reunion. I hope they do another one soon!
Thanks for sharing my pictures with me.

Church

I should have known that church was going to be excellent when it was such a battle to get there this morning. First, my Kyle, who always wants to go to church, decided to be stubborn and refused to go. I knew I could convince him, which I did, but it was an obstacle to start my morning. Then Charlotte....well Charlotte is slow in the morning. I woke her up and she rose with a smile. I hurried her along and went about my business. 30 minutes later she sauntered down the stairs in her robe, hair all a muss, wiping the sleep from her eyes. NO WAY!!!! Zach was a wild child. Running at super speed and accomplishing nothing but the build up of irritation in my gut! And then my sweet little Emerson, who spent the night with Grandma (who she calls SpongeBob, thank you very much!). Emerson was a pill. She did not want to get dressed, did NOT want her shoes on and thrashed around until her freshly done hair-do was a total loss. A hair-do that took forever in the first place because she shook her head the entire time I was doing it. Most people would have given up! Not me. My family was going to church this morning...ALL OF US. Yes, that means Sweetheart too. We actually made it out the door on time and picked up TJ on our way...he had gone to the Monster Truck Rally the night before so that is why Emmie was with us. So, we arrive at church, (Sweetheart's first time at this one....it is still on a trial basis, but so far, so good) and we get the little kids where they are suppose to be. We are seated and heaving a sigh of relief as the first hymn begins.

Praise and Worship was amazing as usual. Sweetheart is very musically inclined, so he was quite impressed....think Grand Ol Opry mixed with contemporary....it is very good and full of amazing talent, which is not necessary, but nice all the same. Pastor Maynard begins his sermon on the 23rd Psalm.
I will admit, I was a tad disappointed.....I have heard the 23rd Psalm preached on more than any other text of scripture.
" The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever"
I use to link it in my thoughts to a funeral or deathbed scripture, but it is really for the living! Lots of good meat in there to chew on, but I was doubtful I would hear anything new or challenging. I was blissfully wrong. I am not going to give you the sermon that Pastor Maynard gave, but I sure did learn A LOT from his teaching of it. One small section of the passage, I do want to share with you. The insight into this was something I had never heard before, nor had I considered. In verse 2 it says, "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures....." Lot's of people focus on the "green pastures" part, which he covered also, but I want to look at the "He MAKETH me to lie down" part of that verse. According to Pastor Maynard, a wise and caring Shepherd must make his sheep lie down in order for them to rest. First though there must be 4 things in place.Some of you may have sheep....I know Niki and Cheryl do....and may already know these things. I was not aware of them at all and when taken in context with the scripture, there is a life changing lesson there.....what 4 things must be in place for a sheep to be made to lie down? Here they are....

1.) The sheep must not be hungry....he must be full.

2.) The sheep must be unafraid.

3.) The sheep must be content.

4.) The sheep must have harmony in the flock.

Wow. Think about those things in your own life.Are you lacking spiritual food, or are you daily feasting on the Word?

Are you in fear, or are you trusting God?

Are you content in the state that God has you, or are you wishing you had something else?

Are you peaceable, or are you sowing or partaking in discord among your flock (family, church, neighbors)?

Lots to chew on there, eh? If you look closely, like I did in writing this post, you will see that the first thing in this passage that our Shepherd does for us is to make us lie down....I wonder if He can/will even do the following things in this passage unless the first is done (my own thoughts). I don't know about you, but I want Him to "maketh me to lie down..."Thanks for coming to "church" with me. If you want to hear some of Pastor Maynard's sermons click here. Today's sermon should be there soon.

The Plague

That is what it has felt like in my home for the last week. 7 days....a 7 day plague. Last Friday Emerson arrived with a 103 fever and by evening TJ had it too. It was a long night of temps that were resistant to fever reducer medications and needed tepid baths and ice packs to bring down. Sore throats were a major complaint even for little Emerson who cried with each sip of juice. A trip to the immediate care brought a strep diagnosis. We later found out that all cultures were negative, though 2 doctors agreed it sure did "look like strep"...sores in the throat and high fevers....no appetite, and low energy levels. Regardless, it was a NASTY ordeal!!!!

By Sunday morning all was well. We had ONE good day where there was no fever, but only some complaints of a sore throat from TJ who basically refused to eat much of anything that was not cold or soft.

Monday the grandkids left and it hit again! Charlotte spiked a temp, which was also resistant to Motrin or Tylenol. Another long night. Thank you Jesus for that Sunday night without concern! An oasis in the desert. Zach had heard "somewhere" that lemon juice helped a sore throat, so he squeezed a few for his sister.....She was not impressed.Tuesday we headed off to our doctor who also said "strep" and ordered an antibiotic. 3 down and one to go. Zach played hard all day Tuesday outside with his friend. I called him in several times to feel his little head....always cool. Maybe he would escape! I hoped so because he is my high fever runner and meds don't work on him at any other time and I knew this strain of "plague" would not be merciful to him. By bedtime he was raging hot. Yep. Everyone else had a 24 hour fever. Not my Zach.....3 nights....2 days....104. I am tired. God bless our doctor who phoned in a prescription so Zach did not have to be seen. She knew it was exactly as Charlotte had. Finally, 7 days later, all seems well in the world. All the adults here seem immune. Today, Sweetheart is at his mom's. I am doing laundry and airing out the house to rid us of the cooties. Lots of hand quilting and relaxation are called for today.

Tomorrow is the family reunion. I am looking forward to seeing Sherry and Sweetheart's cousin Suzy. Lot's of family to visit with and lots of pictures to take.

Have a blessed weekend!!!!

31 Years

Today Sweetheart and I celebrate 31 years of marriage.

Gosh time does change you!

It has been a wonderful 31 years.