Happy Birthday Honey!

Hard to believe that 45 years ago today this handsome man came into the world! He's such a blessing to so many people, I'm especially blessed to share the day and my life with him. I pray many more happy years for you, dear!

5 years and almost 3 kids!

How does one celebrate their 5th anniversary? Many would say with candlelight dinner, a night on the town, dancing............BLESS my sister-n-law Amie!! She got to spend hers with Lawrence, me, Rance, Brylie, Lauren, Creed and her two sons: Aden & Deegan!! We all went to R&B's for dinner, cards and just hanging out. She did get an ice cream cake for the occasion, though!! Amie is due in 2 months with a little girl, so I'd say that 5 years of marriage has been quite productive for the Janin Carlson's. I love you guys and HAPPY ANNIVERSARY. :)

Nature and Nurturing......

Lawrence and I just got back from a short vacation to Nebraska City, NE. We stayed at the Lied (pronounced leed) Lodge on Arbor Day Farms, and a B&B in town. The farms included a 50 foot tall tree house and many walking trails through the tree farm and the orchards. It was such a relaxing and fun trip. We toured the Arbor Lodge where Mr. & Mrs. Morton started the tree plantings, orchards and various other gardens. The weather was great! We sampled apple and cherry wines and took naps! It was truly a vacation of relaxation and enjoyment. Everyone should take a couple of days for this sort of thing, it does a body and soul good. In the photo of the thistle bloom, I managed to catch a bee in flight/landing, and didn't even realize he was touching down! The Blue Jays and various other birds were abundant, and we even found a couple of squirrels in the tree house!

SO MUCH FUN!!

Don't you just love those days where you have no specific deadlines or responsibilities? Friday was close to one of those days for me! I left home around 8:30, headed to St. Joe to meet up with Lee. We took off for KC/Zona Rosa area around 9:30 to do some quick shopping for him. He had to be back in Joe town by 1pm for class. After 2 pair of dress shoes, underwear, t-shirts, jeans, jacket and polo shirts; we were quickly headed back to St. Joe. Lee stated it felt like Christmas, as he hadn't had new clothes or shoes since then. Of course, he could have bought a few things on his own, but is scraping to save for future plans! So the continued support of our children is alive and well! :) He was more than grateful and thankful, and I am blessed to have children that recognize those things and verbalize them. After I dropped him off at his apartment, to quickly grab books and head to class, I headed to the grocery store. I had not been surprised to see he was low on food stock, but the fact is, his pantry had a bottle of cooking oil and a can of dry Gatorade mix!! No wonder he's lost 10 pounds in the past few months, that stuff will go right through you!! HEHE Needless to say, I thought it my motherly duty to fill his pantry. After dropping another few greenbacks, I went back to put the groceries away. At 2:45 I headed to St. Joe Christian to pick up my nieces from school, thought I'd save their mother getting out in the rain with the little ones. So, strategically got a visit in with the Jody Carlson clan. I then went on to meet up with Emily and we went thrift store shopping! What fun, found several items for her and a few for the little ones. Had dinner and coffee, Em bought the 4th year Office series and we headed off to her place. Lee came over after he got off work and we stayed up til about 2am. I pulled a blanket over me and drifted off to sleep. It's been a long time since I went to a slumber party! It was fun, but glad to be back home and will have my next slumber party where I can sleep in a bed! Thanks kiddos, for such a fun day.

GRIEF

I just found out about the deaths of 3 young men in our surrounding communities this past weekend, and I'm hurting deeply for those families. I only knew of one of the young men, and not very well at that. He was a twin and as a child, attended the same church we did. The family moved and then we left to attend a different church. It matters not whether I knew these kids well, I hurt so much for their families. My children are close to the same age and I believe it would devestate me to lose my kids. I know people endure this every day, but that doesn't make it easy. My prayers and heavy heart go out to these families. I do believe our acquaintance will be with God in eternity........if you are not sure about where your eternity will be spent, you can be. Contact me or any Pastor of your local church to help guide you to that knowledge. If you don't want to speak openly to someone, then grab a bible and read the New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. Romans can give you great insight as well. After that, read the rest! Then call somebody, don't spend the rest of your life (which may be unexpectantly shortened) wondering.

One of my many passions: cross-stitch.

I have stitched since I was a young teenager and find it to be one of the most relaxing things for me. I have remembered to take pictures of my projects about 1/3 of the time and these are just a few of the samplings. Most of my projects are gifts, though I have kept enough to decorate my home with. The tractor on the left is for my nephew Caleb. He just LOVES John Deere and tractors. I used to be able to keep up with the nieces/nephews and prepare something before their birth. My brothers have gotten much further ahead of me now and so this is about 4 1/2 years overdue! The tractor is currently at the framing (very expensive!) store. They are meant to be heirlooms, so the framing is worth it. I started on my first Christmas stocking tonight. It's for Deegan, he's 2 1/2. Having 3 new babies in one year is not fair, boys! If I were to just make projects for my family, I would say there needs to be at least another 20 done, and I don't like them small. A 10 x 14 usually takes me about 6 months, if I'm not busy with some of my other passions! Let's see, that's only 10 years......hmmmmm..... will probably have grandkids by then....I'd better get busy!! (Yes, the picture in the upper right hand corner is all cross stitches, except for the light blue sky........that's the color of the fabric I stitched on.) (And no, the tractor was not completed in this picture, I still had the outline to do in the hub of the front wheel.)