It was a quiet week in Lake Woebegone

After the drama of last week, it was nice to have things somewhat quiet & low key this week.

Andy worked on his shed on Tuesday. He took the old, falling-apart doors off and built new ones. He still wants to paint them - another day.

I worked on cleaning the house and doing laundry on Tuesday. I also did some baking and cooking. We weren't able to mow the lawn because the mowers are being repaired. Even though the lawn could use the mowing, I'm not going to fret about not being able to do it. Be thankful in all things...right?!

I took a turn about the yard with my camera the other day. The berries on the beautyberry bushes are turning purple, looking like little skittles on a stick. They are aptly named:

Beautyberry Bushes

I was somewhat concerned because the crape myrtles in everyone else's yards were blooming away, all during the month of August, while mine didn't even have buds. Finally, a week or so ago, I saw some buds, then flowers. Whew! They're ok, I guess, although I'm wondering why they were so long in blooming.

So that's the news from here for now: where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking and all the children are above average!

Life is fragile

Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. James 4:14

This week turned out a lot differently than I expected. Oh, it started out normal enough. I got up on Monday morning (Labor Day) and decided since it was such a nice day, I would go outside and work in my gardens. The weather was perfect and I worked with great contentment and joy for 3 hours. I only quit then because my upper back was hurting from bending over that long. I came in the house and took my shower and since it was only mid-morning, I was delighted to have the whole rest of the day to do some housework because we wouldn't be home on Tuesday.

But as I was finishing up my hair, I started feeling extremely tired. Tired enough to lie down and sleep. Hmmm ~ very unusual. So I lay on the bed and actually fell asleep. When I woke up, I felt no better, in fact, on top of being lethargic, my skin hurt to touch, and I was getting cramping in my intestines. So the rest of the day, I lounged on the couch and even slept again.

While I was feeling poorly, Andy was working on his current project. He had decided to build a new ramp into our shed. It was getting pretty rickety. He did get it finished. He also plans to replace the doors. As you can see, they look pretty bad.We had planned to go to C & C's on Tuesday for Andy to help Christian put in a new countertop in their kitchen. I was wondering if I should stay home, but I felt pretty good when I woke up so I decided to go along. It was a good day, seeing everyone again. Amy, Chase & Joanna came down, and so did Dawn and Kira. The girls and I had lively conversation, the kids enjoyed seeing their newest cousin, and I read books to Grace & Naomi and even got a couple of games of Dutch Blitz in with Grace.

Andy and Christian made good progress on the countertop. It's in, along with a new faucet. Grace & Aiden were good helpers, and I mean that. I'm not saying it tongue in cheek. As an example, Andy was trying to read the instructions that came with the faucet, but the words and numbers were much too small, and he didn't have his reading glasses along. So Grace wrote out numbers on another piece of paper large enough for him to read. Then she also went next door to her other grandpa's house and got his reading glasses! What a helper.
Christy served us all lunch and we all stayed until around 3:00 pm. I felt fine all day.

Well, that night was a different story. I had only been asleep about an hour, when I woke up with sharp abdominal pains. I spent the next 5 hours or so visiting the bathroom (that's as graphic as I'll get here). I estimate I had about 2-3 hours of sleep the whole night. But I got up and went to work because I hadn't been in the office on Monday and it was a busy Sunday coming up.

Around 11:00, I got a call from Tommy to say Dawn had been rushed to the hospital by ambulance. She had been at the doctor's office for her 6 week check-up, but started hemorraging during the exam. He asked if I could go to the hospital to take care of Kira. Of course, no question about that. I closed up my computer and as soon as he got to the church, I followed him in my car to the hospital.

Oh, poor Dawn. When I saw her, I couldn't believe it was her. She was hooked up to tubes, with a bag of blood and another of IV fluids being pumped into her. Nurses and doctors were bustling in and out of her room. So there I sat, holding her baby and looking at my dear daughter in such agony, wondering what would happen to her.I was reminded of Psalm 103:13 ~ As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. But here's the difference: my own compassion and love is finite, God's is infinite and perfect for his children. What a comfort. I really was incapable of helping Dawn in this situation, but God is the Great Physician and chose to heal her and bring her through.

You can read all the details of Dawn's ordeal on her blog. I stayed with her until after she came from the recovery room at 5:00 pm, then left and came home around 7:15 pm. Believe it or not, I felt fine all day.

Thursday and Friday were crazy at work, playing catch-up. But amazingly, I got everything done. Friday afternoon, Andy and I bought 4 salads at SaladWorks and took them over to Dawn & Tommy's. We ate dinner with them and visited just a little before coming back home.Now today, Andy's not feeling well. What next!

A Wedding & A Visit

What makes a wedding extra beautiful? I think it has to be one that honors God and is fun, too. What a great combination. It's easy to get enjoyment from something that is so right. And Mike and Joanna are just such a couple. Both are fun loving, spontaneous, out-of-the-box thinkers, adventurous and, on top of all that, they also love God whole heartedly and unreservedly. Joanna grew up as the best friend of our daughter, Amy. They played together constantly as little girls. Her mother and I are very good friends, as well as neighbors. I love Joanna as a daughter, and it has been a pleasure to watch her develop into a beautiful young lady. I also love Mike, the young man she married. He has recently joined the pastoral staff at our church as an assistant youth pastor. I have been so blessed to observe his interaction with people and obvious love for the Lord and others.

Yesterday was a beautiful day, weather-wise. Perfect for a wedding.Mike & Joanna had a lot of special things that happened for them, one of which was their "get away" car. The Jaguar dealership had loaned them a white convertible Jaguar to drive from the wedding site in the park to the reception.While Andy and I were on our way to the reception, we passed them and they were game enough to let us take their picture as we drove in the lane next to them.Today was another special day as Christy, Christian and all the kids came down to visit. They attended our church's 11:00 service, then came home with us for our regular Sunday brunch: waffles & omelets. They didn't stay real long because the younger ones were tired and needed naps. Patrick was already strapped in his car seat by the time I got the camera out and wanted a picture of the kids.Isn't that Naomi just the cutest little thing you ever saw!
Andy brought me a bouquet of roses one day last week. I love roses, almost as much as I love him! (he, he)

Biking Buddies & Beach Bums

Is it fall already? It's only September 1 and this morning it was in the 50's. Brrr. Did we even have a summer?

Andy and his biking buddy rode their bikes to the shore this morning - 45 miles.They left around 9:15, I left with biking buddy's wife in our car about an hour later. We were almost to the shore when we passed them, they were still going strong. We met up in a shopping center, they hopped in the car, then we drove on to Long Beach Island where our friends have relatives who live there. So the guys were able to change before heading out to the beach.

We had packed our lunch and ate on the beach. The wind was blowing so hard, though, we were getting sand-blasted and trying to not get sand in our mouths. The sun was warm and we got some color, but the breeze was cool. After getting a little color, I covered up with my fleece the rest of the afternoon. It was so nice sitting there, though, looking at the water and just relaxing with hubby and friends. A nice break in our busy lives, especially considering the rest of the week is likely to be on the stressful side putting in long hours.Dawn came to visit with Kira on Saturday. Tommy had some work to do at the surf shop nearby, so he dropped Dawn off to stay with me while he did his work. In between holding the baby and visiting with Dawn, I spent the day in the kitchen making different dishes and desserts.

We had a dinner at church on Sunday so I made a tex mex lasagne, blueberry cream cheese pound cake and homemade rolls to take to that. We also had our small group meet at our house on Sunday evening, so I made a batch of cookies to serve there.

The work on our solar system is almost finished. We'll soon be hooked up and running entirely on solar power - in another day or two.
Quite an impressive back yard monument!

Last weekend was really busy. I made a cake on Saturday so we could take it with us on Sunday when we celebrated Andy's mom's birthday. His brother, Dan, had a party for her at his house in PA, so we drove over there after church on Sunday and spent some time there.

When we got home, there was enough daylight left so we thought we'd better mow the lawn before we got more rain. And because of all the rain we've had this summer, the grass is growing like crazy. It was so high that it looks like we could have made hay with all that was cut.

I only worked 4 hours on Monday, then spent the afternoon grocery shopping and making cookies. Andy had a meeting at church that evening, and so did I - separate meetings. I took the cookies along to my meeting - a hit! I had brought them to the last meeting we had and then was nominated to bring them again to this one.

We thought it was going to take all day Tuesday for Andy to finish his sidewalk project. But he received a nice surprise when a couple who like to bike with him brought over their 16 year old son to help him. He had done other brickwork with his dad and was actually very good at making the cuts on the wet saw. So he and Andy were able to finish by 10:30 Tuesday morning.

Zach making cuts

Working together

filling the cracks with sand

Mr. Strong Man

The finished product

After finishing the work in such good time, we decided to spend the rest of the day having fun. So we drove up to see Amy and her family, and took her birthday present with us. I also took the remainder of the cookies along, then left them for Ricky. Mothers-in-law have to make points anyway they can.

Last week when Amy and her kids were down, Joanna seemed to be afraid of Andy and wouldn't go to him and hardly even looked at him. But this time (only a week later), she went to him as soon as she saw him and let him hold her and play with her the whole time.
We went out to eat together before coming back home.

Our solar power installation is progressing. They say they'll have us hooked up tomorrow. I'll post pictures when the panels are up. I'm excited to watch the electric meter run backwards!

Lots coming up:
1. Dawn coming down again on Saturday with Kira?
2. Dinner at church on Sunday
3. Small group at our house Sunday evening
4. Bike ride to the shore on Tuesday? (Andy - not me, I'll need to drive the car down to bring him back)

One last picture: our tomatoes are very prolific. It's amazing how much you can get from one tiny seed. We are enjoying fresh ripe red tomatoes on our salad, and also had a cucumber from our garden tonight, as well.

Happy Birthday, Amiable Amy

28 years ago, Amy entered our family. She brought us lots of joy and happiness through the years. She is fun and fun-loving, friendly and easy going. We love you, Amy. Happy birthday.
She has grown into a beautiful young woman with children of her own now.

Kids Say The Funniest Things

Andy and I were cleaning out some files in the basement file cabinet the other day, and I came across files I kept on each of the girls when they were growing up. So there are swimming lessons certificates, report cards, and other kinds of mementos in those files. I also came across some of their funny sayings that I wrote down, otherwise they would have been lost forever.

I'll start with Amy, the youngest.
She had a few funny words when she was little; she called a Toyota - a coyote. She called a suitcase a soupcase, and I don't know if I can spell how she pronounced a hamburger, but it was something like - hangaber. When she was 5 years old, she told her Aunt Judy: "the moon's a night light for all the dead people."

And then there was an exchange she had with Christy when she was 6 years old:

Christy: "Amy, stop chewing, you sound like a cow!"
Amy: "moo."

Later ~
Christy said again: "Amy, stop chewing, you sound awful."
Amy said: "Christy, we've been over this before."

Then there was Dawn:
When she was 4, she said: "I know what Jesus' other name is ~ God Wallin."
When I asked her to forgive me, she said, "Ok, I will, but just a little."
Dawn & Christy were in the bath tub. Dawn gave a testimony when Christy baptized her: "I just have this friend at preschool and she just helped me praise God and in the Son."
After explaining to Dawn that Grandma and Grandpa Wallin couldn't come see us because they had to pay a $4,500 tax bill, Dawn told her preschool teacher: "Grandma is so sorry she has to pay taxes."

Then there was the time Dawn wrote an encouragement card to Andy and me. Here is what she wrote:

Dear Mom and Dad,
I must say that you probably must have had a hard time raising us. So that's why I am writing this encouragement card to you. Keep going. Keep trying, you won't fail if you try hard enough. And one more thing...can we have ice cream tonight? Please! Signed, your beloved Dawn

I didn't write down anything for Christy, but I well remember one discussion we had when she was 12.She was expressing her opinion that she didn't see why she couldn't drive because she was sure she would be good at it. When I explained to her that she was only 12 and the law said you had to be 17 to drive, she started giving reasons why she could do it: she could reach the gas pedal, etc., etc., etc. I thought, why am I arguing about this. She was persuaded she was ready to drive and I was not going to convince her otherwise.

Another time, Andy and I must have told her she couldn't do something, and we ended up having a heated "discussion" about it. We were not giving in, and finally in frustration, Christy blurted out: "rules are for fools." We all burst out laughing and the ice was broken!

The good old days, right???

In looking through pictures to post, I found this one of the girls in dress up costumes I made for them one year. Captain Hook, Peter Pan & Tinker Bell. Fond memories.