Tagged

I was tagged by Mary of Marys Writing Nook to share 6 unimportant things that make me happy. The unimportant part messes with my brain so I'm just listing 6 things that make me happy!

1) spending time with family
2) the beauty around us in nature
3) singing along with a praise song that really touches me
4) sunshine and warm air
5) the smell of fresh cut grass
6) a laughing baby

This is a good exercise. Just thinking about those things makes me happy! I've seen several people do this, so I'm not tagging anyone but if you want to do this, consider yourself tagged!
*Don't forget to sign up for my anniversary giveaway here. I'll be drawing the winner Monday night.

Awards

I got this cute award from Brooke. It's the You make my Heart Smile award. Brooke does make me smile. She hasn't been married for too long and I enjoy reading about her life as a newlywed, making the right financial decisions and the never ending battle of losing weight. (Even though she is fine at her current weight!)

The Golden Heart award comes from Kelly of Amazing Salvation. I've enjoyed following Kelly and the changes in her life following her doing the 40 Day Love Dare. She has 2 daughters and writes about the things we all go through as Mom's and wives.

Thanks to both Brooke and Kelly for these awards. I appreciate you thinking of me and want to pass them on to any of you who regularly visit me here - you know who you are!

Ouch!

Thursday afternoon, after a long day at work, I was just heading home. Then I got the call. You know - the one every parent dreads. "Mom, we were in an accident". "We're all right, but can you come pick us up?"
Heather had been out with her friend Melissa and on their way home, they were hit in an intersection by someone who ran the stop sign. The girl who hit them was on her way to her own high school graduation.
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The green car is Melissa's. When I arrived and saw the damage, I realized how blessed we were that the girls were all right. The driver of the other car wasn't hurt either.
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This is the passenger door. There were pieces of glass all over the car.

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Here are Heather and Melissa trying to keep warm while waiting for the police and wreckers to do their work. At this point they were able to smile again.

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Melissa's car was damaged on all sides, and I'm sure will be totaled. This is the back rear tire.
Both girls had some cuts from the glass, along with bumps and bruises. Heather had to pick glass out of her clothing when she took a shower tonight. Melissa got the worst of it, as she took the impact on the side.
As Melissa's Dad said - cars can be replaced, the girls could not be. We are so thankful for God's protection today.

Happy Bloggoversary to me!

May 28 marks 2 years of blogging for me! In that time I've done 614 posts. Who would have thought I would have so much to say? Who would have thought people would stick around and read it?
I've so enjoyed meeting wonderful people from all over the world. There are many of you that I consider to be friends although we have never met in person! You are a source of encouragement, laughter, wisdom, and growth. You have laughed with me, cried with me and prayed with and for me.
To celebrate this I'm having a giveaway. I'm going to give a gift certificate for $20 to either Target, Barnes and Noble or Best Buy to the winner. To sign up, just let me know in the comment which store you would like and make sure there is a way for me to get in touch with you. You don't need to have a blog to win. Just make an anonymous comment and leave your name and e-mail address. I will draw a winner on Monday, June 1 and will post it by Tuesday.

Cleo

Tuesday was a tough day for our family. We had to put our cat to sleep. She has never been a skinny cat so when she started losing weight we were concerned. After taking her to the vet and having blood work done, we found out her kidneys were failing, and there was really nothing that could be done for her. In the past week she has really slowed down and we knew what we had to do.

Heather has always considered Cleo to be "her" cat.
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Cleo sleeping in her favorite position.
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One of my favorite pictures of her.
Cleo was part of our family for over 8 years and was well loved. She will be missed.

Answered Prayers!

I have something exciting to share with you. About 6 weeks ago I started having trouble with my voice. It started with just an occasional crack when I was singing, but gradually was getting worse. Soon it was cracking all the time, enough that people were asking what was wrong and it was getting quite difficult to speak. I was avoiding answering the phone when at work. I went to my Dr who sent me to an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist. He did a larygoscope on me and found that I had a small growth in the back of my throat and a larger one on my vocal chords. This meant I needed surgery. The one in the throat he could have removed in the office, but the one on the vocal chords would take a one and a half hour surgery to remove.
Surgery was scheduled for Tuesday (26th). After the surgery I was to remain quiet for 1 week. I asked my friends, family, co-workers and small group from church to pray about this. After a week my voice seemed to be somewhat better, and every day it continued to improve.
I called the specialist and he had me come back on Friday. After doing another scope, he was surprised to report that the growth on my vocal chords was 1/10th of the size it had been 2 weeks earlier. I told him that lots of people had been praying for me!
The small growth on the back of the throat was removed in the office and no surgery is needed! I don't have to go back for 3 months. (I also don't have to be quiet for a week!) So tomorrow - instead of going in for surgery, I'll be having a day off. I'm thanking God for answered prayers!

Memorial Day

I saw this on Mike's blog and thought it portrayed the reason for this day well. Here's what he had to say about it:
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"Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May (May 25 in 2009). Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military service. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War (it is celebrated near the day of reunification after the civil war), it was expanded after World War I to include American casualties of any war or military action.
Remember Freedom is not free,some one paid for it with their lives. If you can read this, Thank a Teacher. Since You have the freedom to read this,Thank a Veteran. "

Award

I received this award from Mary of Mary's Writing Nook. This award is to thank people for leaving comments.
"They are beautiful people who practice blogging etiquette by visiting or visiting back, and leaving nice comments. Their observations are apt and helpful. It's a pleasure to have them as commenters on my posts...."

I am to pass this one on to 5 others. I have a widget in my side bar that tells who my top commenters are so I'm passing it to the top 5. Thanks for your comments!
Kim from Scattered Stones
September Mom from My Voice, My View
Kayren from Everythings Coming Up Daisies

Kim from Just a Southern Girl
Cheryl from Cherdecor

Praise and Coffee Night

Tonight we had our first Praise and Coffee night here in our area. These were started by Sue of Praise and Coffee and are currently happening in a few states.
Some of us are bloggers, others are Christians who wanted to spend some time in fellowship with others. We had a great time!
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We started the evening just talking and getting to know each other.
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Kim, of Scattered Stones arranged this night and led us in a short devotional time on Hebrews 10. She talked about the importance of gathering together to build each other up and hold each other accountable.
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After a time of worship and prayer, a name was drawn for the door prize. My friend Nancy (In my Neck of the Woods) was the winner of some coffee, a devotional book and a journal.
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Here is the whole group.
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As our evening ended, we were blessed with this beautiful sunset.
It was a wonderful night, a great time to be refreshed with worship and time spent with friends.
Thanks, Kim for all you put into this!

Happy Birthday Andy!

I'm feeling old today. It's Andy's 21st birthday! How did that happen? Just a few days ago he was starting kindergarten.
Andy has been such a blessing to us. He is very easygoing and is a hard worker. He loves to tease and has a great sense of humor. He is currently stationed in Fort Carson, Colorado and will be deployed to Iraq in February.
Andy - we are so proud of you! You've grown into a wonderful young man, with strong convictions and faith. We hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Hooray!

If you had been at my workplace today this is the look you would have seen on may of the employees! We just had our annual state survey. Last year we had an extremely difficult team come. They cited us for crazy things and didn't really care what answers we gave them. This year we had a different team, who were much easier to work with and appeared to have more common sense than what we have dealt with in the past. They met with our residents where there were no complaint or concerns. As a matter of fact - the residents told them good things!
Today the surveyors left after giving us only a couple of citations, none of which were for the nursing department and none that were serious. On top of that they really complimented us, saying it had been a pleasure for them to be in a place where the residents were so happy and it was obvious that the staff really cared about them.
We were all happy for this report and even happier to have them recognize that we do love our residents and take care of them to the best of our abilities!

Young at Heart

My friend Kat from Justabeachkat recently posted this video of a cute older couple. Meet Marlow and Frances; he is 90 and she is 84. They were at the Mayo clinic for Marlow's routine physical. In the atrium at the hospital, is a large grand piano with a sign inviting people to play it. Marlow started playing, Frances joined in and soon lots of people stopped to listen. Someone started videotaping and shortly after, they became a YouTube sensation. Enjoy!

Remembering my Mom

Tuesday marks 6 years since my Mom passed away. I was talking to my sister Terri about her recently and we remarked about the fact that neither of us remember her ever getting really angry with us. Yes, she would punish us but she was able to remain remarkable calm in the middle of it. (We did think maybe that was because we were such easy kids!) I can only hope my kids have such good memories of me!

I grew up on a farm and my Mom worked hard. I remember all the canning and freezing she did. I remember all the laundry hanging on the line and the ironing that needed to be done. She had a good sense of humor, which was a good thing because my Dad loved to tease her! Most of all she loved her kids. I never heard her complain about bringing us to any activities or going herself to support us. She was always proud of us and when the grand kids arrived, I think they were even better than us! She loved spending time with her family.

Mom was only 69 when she passed away, but she was a Christian so I can be secure in the knowledge that I will see her in heaven!

I love lilacs

This is a picture of the lilac bush in our back yard. We planted it about 15 years ago when it was just about 12 inches tall. It took several years before it started blooming, but this year it is full of flowers and it smells so good!

The smell of lilacs is one of those scents that takes me back in time and makes me think about my Mom. When I was young we had a really large bush outside our kitchen. I remember my Mom opening the window and letting that sweet smell into the house. When it was blooming, Mom always had bouquets on the table. She would cut them and let us bring them to our teachers too. Isn't it funny how smells can bring back those memories?

What a wonderful world!

I have always liked the old Louis Armstrong song, "What a Wonderful World".

"I see trees of green, red roses too

I see them bloom for me and you

And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

I see skies of blue and clouds of white

The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night

And I think to myself what a wonderful world."

I really enjoy taking walks and looking at the beauty that surrounds us. I am amazed over and over again at the many different types of beauty that God has given us to enjoy in this world. And isn't it amazing that our God, who created all of this, loves us and wants us to spend time with Him?

Here are a few pictures I've taken in the last few weeks of some of that beauty.

Sunrise on my way to work

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Early morning light, shining through the trees

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A cool morning, with mist rising off the pond.

"You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you."
Nehemiah 9:6

Slow Cooker Thursday

Todays recipe is a different take on regular hamburgers. If you like meat loaf and hamurgers, you should like these!

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Meat Loaf Burgers

1 large onion, sliced

1 celery rib, chopped

2 pounds lean, ground beef

1-1/2 teaspoons salt, divided

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 cups tomato juice

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon ketchup

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

6 hamburg buns, split

Place onion and celery in 4 or 5 quart slow cooker. Combine beef, 1 teaspoon salt and pepper. Shape into 6 patties and place over onion and celery.Combine tomato juice, garlic, ketchup, bay leaf, Italian seasoning and remaining salt. Pour over and between patties. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 9 hours or until meat is tender. Discard bay leaf. Separate patties with spatula if necessary; serve on buns.

Serves 6

For more slow cooker recipes, visit Sandra at Diary of a SAHM.

Flying High

We've always thought it would be nice to have a flag out front, but because we have a lot of trees in our yard, we just had a small one hanging on the house. When Andy was home, he and Bob figured out a spot where a flagpole would work.

A few weeks ago Bob started working on adding a small flower bed on the side of our entrance walk. He made it wider near the driveway so there would be room for the pole. Tonight the cement base was dry and ready for the flag.

Here are Bob and Heather, putting up the flag for the first time.

Here is the finished product. It needs a little landscaping yet and Bob is going to put in a light, but I think it looks great!

Want to laugh?

Grandma's watch

This watch belonged to my maternal Grandma. I never knew her as she passed away when I was about 6 months old, in 1961. I remember my Mom having this watch repaired and made into a pendant when I was a kid, and seeing her wear it. When my Mom passed away 6 years ago I got it. It still works and keeps time pretty well when it's wound.
It's interesting to think of all the things that have changed in the world since my Grandma got that watch. It's wonderful to know that through all those years, God has been in control and He has not changed!

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven." Ecclesiastes 3:1