Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Just Closed

I've been reading Murdocks Mama for awhile now, and I love when she posts about what books she's finished reading.  Now it's my turn to give it a try!


I loved the book!  It was a great, funny read!

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Where I'm From

I first saw this blog post written over at In the Trenches of Mommyhood, then at Madaline: The Magnificent Mayhem Maker, and fianlly over at Kirstin's Four Kids, and loved everyone of them.  I knew I had to write one of my own from over here!

I am from a gravel road, from Hamburger Helper and too much fast food.
I am from the a big, comfy ranch home with the smell of freshly spread manure in the air.

I am from a house with marigolds planted every year, the geranium every year from grandpa.  

I am from Christmas Eves spent at grandma's and knacks for story-telling and smart-ass responses, from Edson and Lowell.
I am from the conservaties choices and animal lovers.

From don't yell through the house and Bethany Janes!

I am from Sunday mornings in church and Sunday School and invovlement in the committes and youth groups.

I'm from a hospital birth and German descent, barbequed beef sandwhiches and hamburger and noodles casserole.

From the a dad working late on farms, the weekends and holidays spent in the service truck as a family working with dad, and the mom who worked at home and care for us kids.

I am from a shelf of memories in bookcase in the play room. 

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Rough Patch

I've had a rough few days lately. The reason doesn't matter, but hubby knows I've been upset lately. He came home last night with these last night for me to help cheer me up.



Camping

We spent the weekend camping. I think the dog had more fun than all of us.  It isn't that we didn't have fun, it is more than she just had THAT much fun!




Sunday, June 19, 2011

Things My Husband Says While Sleeping

When my husband and I first started dating, we were indignantly smitten with each other.  In a matter of months I was driving the 2-3 hours from college to his parents place where he was living at the time.

It was one of those first weekend sleeping on the couch of his parents living room, him on the floor, that it first happened.

He woke me from a sound sleep to ask me a question. That question remains one of the best to date as they are often hilarious and mind boggling!

That night, he asked me: "did you get the discount on that cheese?"

It has happened many times since then. Most of the time I hardly remember our has happened by morning.  But there are a few that stand out.

Shortly after we were married, he woke me up to ask me: "what error message are you getting?"  When I replied none, he wouldn't have it. He continued to explain to me to look at the screen in front of me and read what it said in the box.  (He used to work on a help desk answering computer questions.)

Recently though, he woke me up to tell me I wasn't qualified to be in his resource list.

The best part if it, when I ask him about it in the morning, he has no recollection of the incident at all!

I love my husband, even when he wakes me up on the middle of the night for ridiculous things.

Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Christmas Gifts

I just realized I wrote this post months ago shortly after Christmas and never published it.  Perhaps because I thought I might actually photograph those items, but seeing as it's June and I haven't, I may as well publish it photo less.  I certainly don't want to forget their delightful gifts and a little glimpse into what they think about.

This year, Keith and I took the boys shopping separately.  As in Keith took them one day and I took them another.  We wanted to give them the opportunity to pick out Christmas presents for the other.

I received some beautiful, thoughtful gifts from my 4 year old boys.

Christmas Tree Pin for my Coat

Scarf and Gloves

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Board Game

Silver "C" Necklace

Jelly Beans

Snowman Rug

Shopping with the boys for Daddy was difficult, they were too busy thinking about other things.  We left Target that day with some gift for Daddy.

Oscar the Grouch Underwear in a Piggy-Bank Tin

The Grinch Underwear in a Grinch Tin

Santa Clause Snow-globe

Christmas Tree Snow-globe

Monday, June 06, 2011

A Weekend of Laughter

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, I had a fantastic weekend!  

I've had more fun this weekend than I have had in a long time.  That's not to say I haven't been having fun, but I can honestly say I haven't laughed as long or hard as I have this weekend in months.

It started when I took the day off on Friday to host our first ever garage sale.  A friend of mine who lives out in the country without traffic, which is a terrible place for a garage sale, brought their livestock trailer over full of stuff to sell too.  It sure made our garage sale popular!  We had amazing traffic and sales on Friday.  At one point, we counted 18 people in our driveway!

The morning was quite eventful too.  We had an Amish buggy half way into my front yard parking to check out the garage sale.




We happen to live on a corner.  Not too long after that a gentlemen parked his truck just off the corner to stop at our sale.  The next thing we know, as he's shopping in out driveway, we hear a car honking from the other road, which happens to be a state highway.  Of course everyone near looks to see the gentleman's truck across the street in the ditch. 



This was all too much excitement for our poor puppy Belle.


We rounded out the evening with a small gathering of the ladies from my department at work.  We ate, we drank, we talked, and we laughed.  We laughed so hard my cheeks hurt when we wrapped up the party that evening.

Saturday was another day of garage sale, but it was much quieter and more eventful.  At least I was able to spend the day with two of my friends who were selling their stuff too.

Saturday evening, we spent at my brother-in-laws house celebrating his birthday in the form of a cookout.  I spent my time with the other ladies in the kitchen drinking wine, talking, and laughing the night away.   For once I felt included, important, and enjoyed myself.  Which I can say doesn't often happen at these types of functions!  With my lack of social skills and lack of desire to interact with many people!

As a side note, I'd like to ask for your thoughts and prayers for a baby girl, who's about a year old that has serious heart problems.  I'm not in a position to share more, but if you could keep her and her family in your prayers, it would be much appreciated!

Sunday, June 05, 2011

A Graduation Ceremony

This weekend has been one of the best weekends I've had in a long time.  I'll share more about my weekend tomorrow, and I can say that with certainty, because I've already written the post!  Today, I have something much more moving to share.  

The majority of our day was spent with my husband's family celebrating our oldest nephews high school graduation.  We headed out late this morning for our front row seats at the high school. 

It was refreshing to see kids ambitious about their future and sharing their talents.  The seniors of the choir did an excellent rendition of Don't Stop Belivin' which happens to be one of my favorite songs.


Their class had 5 valedictorians and 1 salutatorian that spoke.  I remember the first to speakers being excellent, but right now I can't tell you a thing about the first speaker's speech.  I can't get the second speakers speech out of my head. 


His speech moved me to tears.

You see, this kid, he was adopted. 

He spoke about how his biological mother made a choice 19 years ago to give her son up for adoption.  It was a risk she had to take.  He spoke about how she took a risk not knowing what kind of life her baby might have, what kind of things he would experience in life.  She didn't know if it would live up to her expectations or his life, but she made the choice.   He reassured everyone that he grew up in a home with unconditional love of two parents he admired.  He reassured us that he had teachers who reached out to him to help foster his growth and education. 

And finally he encouraged all of his classmates to take risks in their lives just like his biological mother did because the best things in life are things that don't come by following the traditional path. 

This speech here, gave me confidence back in what the future of our world looks like.  There are days when I see things happening in our world today that frighten me.  And makes me anxious about what kind of world my children will grow up in, but today, that fear subsided a bit, because there are still kids out there who are doing the right thing, sharing their stories, and moving the world in a direction that I am proud of.