I've been spending a lot of time with Dawn and Kira lately. Since they bought their house, they've been here in NJ a lot. On Monday I took some time off work and went with Dawn to Avalon Tile for her to pick out flooring: tile in the kitchen and bathroom and carpets in the 2 bedrooms.

On Tuesday, Andy spent the day there laying plywood flooring in the kitchen, then the wonderboard for underneath the tile. I babysat Kira that afternoon so Dawn could go over and help Andy with that floor project. She's a happy little girl and seems to enjoy being here with Grammy.Early Thursday morning, like 2:00 am, Andy and his Dad left for Maine. Our church is sponsoring a men's fishing trip this weekend. Dad loves to fish and wanted Andy to go with him. He was happy to do so, and I'm glad he did, too. He needs a break.

My washing machine has been threatening to stop working. Sometimes it doesn't spin and sometimes it does. I decided to call a repairman and he said the transmission and clutch were bad and needed to be replaced. Did you know that washers had transmissions and clutches? The replacement parts and labor were going to be pretty expensive, so we decided to just buy a new one. It does get a lot of use with Andy's mom and I both using it, as well as people who might be living upstairs. Dawn said I should get a front loading washer, so after checking them out, I decided to go for it. On Friday, Mom and I drove down to Johnnie's Appliances and bought it. It will be delivered next Thursday. We got in on the gov't energy efficient rebate in the nick of time. Funding for that rebate will be cut on June 1. We were able to get $175 in rebates.Nice, huh???

I've been eyeing up some roses that are just out of this world beautiful. I pass them every day on my way to work. The bushes are full and big and they bloom all summer. I found out they're called Knock Out roses. I've always loved roses but have resisted putting them in my gardens because I thought they were too difficult to grow. They have issues with aphids, black spot, etc. and then only bloom for a short time. So I was excited to find out about this variety. I called around and then went to my favorite perennial place this morning and purchased 4 bushes. It was such a beautiful day to be outside and quite satisfying to add these beauties to the garden in front of the porch.I also planted some impatiens along the driveway, then did some trimming of bushes that were looking pretty shaggy.

All in all, it was a very satisfying day. I finally was able to cross off some things that had been on my to-do list for quite a while.

Busy Busy Busy

We invited a couple over to share Andy's birthday dinner with us last Wednesday. So we had salmon on the grill, pasta salad, broccoli salad, homemade rolls and carrot cake. Yummy! Everything turned out good and we had a wonderful time of fellowship with our friends. We tried not to think too much about Andy getting another year older.

We took it easy with a couple days of "rest" before the weekend of madness. On Saturday morning, Andy and I had worship team rehearsal with our team. It's usually in the evening, but because of the activities in the rest of the day, we had to reschedule it. I played my bass this week so I was also involved in the rehearsal. At the same time, there was a ladies' Coffee Connection - 9:00 - 12:00 noon in another part of the church. Since I'm part of the team that plans these events, I felt I should stop in and eat the obligatory plate full! I don't like to miss those because those coffee connections are a great place to just relax with good food and friends. I like to think of them as an oasis of peace in the midst of craziness.

I made it home in time to change to more dressy attire for the wedding of a young couple Andy has been counseling. He performed the marriage ceremony and then we also attended the reception. That took up the rest of the day. It was a lovely wedding. We love this couple - it's fun to watch them make googly eyes at each other! - Eyes of full of love for each other.

Sunday was busy with playing with the worship team in all 3 services. After church, Dawn and Kira came over to have lunch with us.

Andy and I both left work early on Monday afternoon to drive over to C & C's. We spent 28 hours with the kids, babysitting so that Christy & Christian could go away. That was the first time in 3 years they had been away on an overnight without any children. Andy and I survived! And so did the kids! It actually went very well. I read a lot of books to the kids, and Andy wrestled with them a lot ~ their favorite things with us.
We got home a little before bedtime on Tuesday night. Now it's back to work and routine. I've been catching up on housework and laundry after work the rest of this week.

We're trying to help as much as we can with Dawn & Tommy's "new" house. Andy went over Wednesday evening to help look at the heater situation and help Tommy put new locks on the doors.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be a work around the house day for us. The lawn needs to be mowed, gardens need to be weeded and bushes need to be trimmed. Happily, the weather is more springlike right now.

Happy Birthday, Andy!

When I was growing up, my dearest wish when I was grown up was to be a wife and mother - to have a family. I often dreamed of what my life would be like. I confess it was mostly rosy with a wonderful husband who loved me and beautiful, well behaved children all sitting comfortably around a fireplace, eating popcorn and enjoying family time.

Real life often turns out so differently than we think it will, but in my case, God fulfilled my dream and gave me the desires of my heart - abundantly more than I could have ever imagined.

Today is Andy's birthday. He is my Prince Charming, my Knight in Shining Armor! He is always encouraging and building me up. He is the greatest example of love to me, fleshing out 1 Corinthians 13: love is patient, kind, not full of envy, boastful or proud, not rude, self-seeking, easily angered, or keeping records of wrongs I've done. Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres and never fails. He loves me with a sacrificial love (Eph. 5:25) and treats me with respect (1 Peter 3:7).

Here are some of the things I admire and love about him:

1. godly

2. wise

3. fun loving

4. steady

5. faithful

6. dependable

7. handy

8. sympathetic, empathetic

9. caring

10. loves his family

So thank you, dear God, for blessing me with a good and godly man.

Sigh!

So did it get too hot too soon? Are the pollen and dust too unbearable? Are we getting lazy or soft? Has Andy been out of commission too long with his bad back? Is the work load overwhelming? Whatever the reason, both of us were seriously lacking in motivation to get out and do our yard work? It's not that it isn't beautiful out there, because the weather has been "perfect" the last couple of days. So as much as there is to do, it was still there as of yesterday morning.

One thing that finally got us out there was to hire a couple of young boys (aged 14) to come help. That was a real shot in the arm. They were so glad to get outside and do physical labor (instead of book work - they are homeschooled). A lot of the work was just grunt work: lifting, hauling, digging. A tree had fallen down at the pond during a winter storm. Even though it had been cut into smaller pieces, it was still lying there. So these boys, along with Andy, hauled all the logs and branches to the street for pickup by the township. They raked up the area as well so now we'll be able to run the mower over that spot. Then there was another tree that Christian had cut down, but it was so heavy that when it fell, it made a trench. So the boys filled in that ditch with topsoil and tamped it down and evened it out.They worked for 3, almost 4 hours with us. When they finished a job we had given them, they asked, "what's next?" When we thanked them for their hard work, they actually said they were thankful to us. They love to work and can't get a job yet because they're still too young. Can you imagine! I hope we can hire them again soon. They were an inspiration.I took a turn about the yard and snapped some pictures. The lilacs I planted last summer are doing well.And the irises someone gave me are blooming.
This is a perennial geranium. I planted it last summer and it's doing very well this spring. I'm happy with it and might just get a couple more plants.I also went out Monday evening and bought some potted flowers to plant in my planters around the house. They add so much joy and happy feelings as I come in the driveway. And not to me only; two different visitors yesterday commented on how pretty they are.After all the work was done yesterday, I went out to stroll around and came across a visitor sitting in our driveway. I called Andy to come look, he called his parents and the neighbors. It was Mr. Snapper Turtle. He didn't seem to be phased that we were all gawking at him, but stared right back at us for several moments before lumbering off. We don't know where he came from or where he was going. I hope he knew, although there was no water in the direction he was headed!