I'm Alive...

Yes, I'm still here! It's been quite a few days since I've posted and life has been pretty busy. I just haven't had time to sit down at my computer to put together a post. To be more honest, my mind has been blank...can't seem to come up with anything to write about!

Our weekend was pretty busy. It was my mother's birthday on Sunday so we went into New York on Saturday to celebrate at my brother's house. First we went to the cemetery and placed a pot of pansies at my dad's grave. They look so pretty! We had a great time, but when we got home I still couldn't think of anything to write about.

Sunday was church and we took my mom out to dinner at a nice restaurant. The Youth Group was in charge of the evening service. Olivia played her bass which sounded really good. And then she gave her short sermon...the one she gave at Fine Arts a few weeks ago and will give next week at the District level.

She was so good. She spoke on how we shouldn't be like the Israelites who wanted a earthly king...we shouldn't make other things our gods, etc. I was very impressed with her.

Yesterday I invited some ladies from church over to surprise my mom with another little party. That was so nice. I set the table really pretty, used my good china and crystal. Made quiche, salad with chicken and stuffed tomatoes. For dessert I made my delicious fruit tart.

I would love to share pictures of EVERYTHING with you but unfortunately I did something so out of the ordinary for me. I used my new tablecloth and napkins yesterday. After everyone left, I wanted to put everything in the washer to get them clean and ready to use again for Easter Sunday.

About 30 minutes later, I'm looking all over for my camera. I wanted to download the pictures and put a post together to share the past few days. WELL...guess where I found my camera?

In the washing machine!

It is still not working. And the memory card isn't working either. You would have loved the pictures...everything was so pretty.

Oh well, life goes on, right? Enjoy your day!

Vacation Plans...

Do you have vacation plans? For the past two years we have made the LONG drive down to Myrtle Beach and stayed in a beautiful hotel.

The Colonel and Michael on the balcony of our condo last summer...

Isn't this beautiful?

However this year we have decided not to go anywhere for our vacation. We're going to be doing some projects around the house instead. I say "we" but we all know that means "the Colonel."

We need a walkway. Right now we have a gravel walkway...the Colonel worked really hard putting it in, but it wasn't what we really wanted five years ago and we knew it was temporary. We already picked out the perfect pavers at Lowes a few weeks ago.

We also have a problem with our railings in the house....so we are completely changing them. We already picked out new ones and this time they will be stained to match the rest of the molding. I don't want to go into the whole story right now. Let's just say the builder didn't do as I asked. I will post pictures of the railings before we have them removed and you can see why we don't like them! The new ones should be soooo nice!

And with the possibility of Olivia working this summer, this is where we will be spending most of our weekends at this beautiful lake 5 miles down the road from us.

Now you know what we'll be doing...what are your plans for the summer?

It Just Keeps Coming...

For those of you who are "friends" with me on Facebook you know that it seems I'm forever doing laundry. Here's a clip of one of my favorite episodes from Seinfeld. It's the one where Newman describes his job of working for the post office. It's not that long...


This is how I feel about the laundry situation in my house.

It just keeps coming!

You know that wonderful feeling you get when all the laundry is done, folded, put away and then you're putting the towels away in the linen closet and you look down into the hamper...oh no, where did all that come from???

That is my life.

But lately, I've been trying to handle this situation or my feelings about laundry differently. I've come to the realization that my kids are not going to be around too much longer. There will come a day when my laundry reduces greatly in size.

I still feel as if our laundry, like the mail, "keeps coming and coming and coming" but my attitude has changed and I know that there will come a day when my children are going to be out of the house on their own and I won't have that much laundry to do...

and I will miss it...

Maybe...NOT...

They'll be home on weekends from college with tons more to do.

Happy Monday!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. The weather here was pretty nice, still a chill in the air, but the sun was out and that makes any day a beautiful one!

Olivia came home from her college days at Valley Forge Christian College and promptly told me she did not like the school for one reason...too close to home!! WHAT?? Why wouldn't she want to attend a college that is 2 hours away from free laundry service, free meals and all the love a mother can shower on you???

Anyway, she finally had a call back for an interview! She has been filling out applications all over the place and McDonald's called Friday afternoon to schedule an interview. They're rebuilding one about ten miles from our home and they're hiring! So off we went bright and early Saturday morning for the interview. They said they would call her the first week in April if they decide to hire her. We're praying!

Then off we went, Mom included, to do some shopping. With the Colonel in California, I thought Saturday was a good day to get the kids some new dress clothes. Michael has grown out of all his shirts and pants and I wanted to get Olivia a new dress for the District Competition for Fine Arts coming up in 2 weeks.

Then off to find something for me! I love Chicos. Have you ever been there? They are quite pricey, but I had a really good coupon and I haven't done much shopping for myself at all...probably since last Fall. I was able to find pictures of two jackets I purchased.

I don't think I'll wear the pink with orange, even though it looks good on the model.

I love this denim one!

I did get another jacket on sale for 33% off! I couldn't find a picture of it anywhere. I wore it yesterday to church with my black skirt, very nice.

At the church we attend, I run the Hospitality Department and yesterday was our Newcomers Fellowship. We have them twice a year and it was nice to wear something new as I had to introduce all the newcomers and say a few words. Then we had the "fellowship" part after service. It's only for the newcomers and the board members with light finger food and cake and punch.

I enjoy doing it but it is a lot of work and my back always needs a nice long rest on the couch! I hope everyone enjoys this beautiful day. I'm off to catch up with everyone and read some blogs before work comes! Enjoy!

The Fence...

Author Unknown...

There was a large group of people. On one side of the group stood a man, Jesus. On the other side of the group stood Satan. Separating them, running through the group, was a fence. The scene set, both Jesus and Satan began calling to the people in the group and, one by one - each having made up his or her own mind - each went to either Jesus or Satan.

This kept going. Soon enough, Jesus had gathered around him a group of people from the larger crowd, as did Satan.But one man joined neither group. He climbed the fence that was there and sat on it.Then Jesus and His people left and disappeared. So too did Satan and his people.

And the man on the fence sat alone. As this man sat, Satan came back, looking for something which he appeared to have lost. The man said, “Have you lost something?” Satan looked straight at him and replied, “No, there you are. Come with me.”

“But," said the man, “I sat on the fence. I chose neither you nor Him.” “That’s okay,” said Satan. “I own the fence.”

I'm sure by now you've all heard the tragic news of Natasha Richardson's sudden death. She was so young...she had everything, but one fall was all it took to quickly end her young life. Last April all it took to end my father's life was a fall as well. Both were so sudden and so tragic. My father clung to life for 3 weeks while Natasha Richardson was fine for just one hour, then gone.

Hearing the news of Natasha Richardson and thinking back to the tragedy my family suffered last April, I found the above story over at Kymber's Blog the other day and thought I'd share it with you.

We need to be firm in our beliefs. Don't "straddle the fence" any more. You either believe and dedicate your life to God, or you don't believe at all. My prayer is that we all can make the decision to be on the right side of the fence...we don't know what tomorrow holds for any of us!

Update...

Really not much to update you about. Olivia is still in pain. The doctor does not want to have her go for steroid shots...which I do not want either. He needs us to wait until after we meet with the rheumatologist on 4/7 to see what this doctor has to say. So for now we'll just continue with the heating pad, an occasional Advil and prayer!

Thanks for all your comments and prayers yesterday. It was very sweet to see how many of you cared for her! She's heading today to Valley Forge Christian College to attend their college days. It's an overnight visit and she's very excited to get a taste of college life. A few of our youth group are attending, so it should be fun for all of them.

Michael's pretty excited also as he will not have to share anything with his sister tonight...no fighting over the computer or the TV. But more importantly not having to hear me yell up to her 20 times to "Get out of bed now or you'll miss the bus!"

It's amazing what makes them happy, huh?? Enjoy your day!

Please Pray...

I posted a few weeks ago regarding Olivia and her back problem. Well, she's been having tremendous pain the past 2 weeks. The pain has now spread to her right leg and she is having trouble walking. I'm thinking it could be a pinched nerve from one of her herniated discs. I made an appointment with the spine doctor today.

Olivia is not one to complain of pain. When she was a little girl, she was running a fever so off we went to the doctor. The doctor checked her one ear and said, "Oh that's really inflamed." Then he went on to the other ear and said, "Wow, that one is really bad also. Has she been complaining of pain?" I said "Not at all; just the fever." He said, "Most kids would have been crying all day if their ears looked like hers."

For Olivia to complain, I know she is in pain. And she has been complaining lately! So if you could keep us all in your prayers today, that would be great. Her appointment with the rheumatologist is still scheduled for April 7th.

I'll keep you all informed later in the day!

Laundry...

Can you see the words to this cartoon okay? This describes my life last Friday.

For some reason, Olivia's school was closed and Michael's school was open. I have given up trying to understand this...it has happened before. Anyway, Friday was a crazy day for me. I had tons of transcribing to do and had made arrangements to pick Michael up from school at 11:30 so he could attend his Word Reader Club outing. Do you remember the award he received a few weeks ago from church? You can read that post here.

Every few months our Children's Church teacher plans a fun outing as a "reward" with the kids who participate in this reading group. And like Olivia, most of the other kids in church, who live in a completely different school district than us had off also. Michael wanted to go so badly that I told him I would pick him up from school early so he could attend.

But back to the above cartoon! I was trying so hard to meet my work deadline and do laundry at the same time and be at Michael's school by 11:30. I was doing great on my typing deadline...however, I wasn't doing too good on the laundry part.

BUT Olivia was home...she could help out...right??? Well, of course! She folded the towels perfectly. I have a thing for perfectly folded towels and will make the kids, even the Colonel, refold them if they're not to my liking.

I had one more load to do.

Half of it was in the washing machine waiting for the other half from upstairs.

I then proceeded to give her explicit directions, like the cartoon above, to please go upstairs. Pick up the laundry laying on the floor...there wasn't that much...bring it all downstairs. Put the dirty laundry in the washing machine. Please put laundry detergent in and press start. Which she did...perfect...

ONLY she first took out all the other clothes that were in the washing machine waiting to be washed...and put them in the dryer. DRY.

What can I say? At least the towels were folded perfect!!!

Enjoy your day!

Happy Monday!

Or as Becky likes to say...Joyful Monday! Here's a cute picture of what we saw on our way to church yesterday!

Can you make out what they are??? TURKEYS!

And not the usual wild ones we see around here, but the kind that probably end up on your table in November! I guess the farmer had a very busy morning trying to get them back onto the farm!

The Colonel and I finally were able to watch Fireproof on Saturday evening. It was great. If you haven't already seen it, please find a copy and watch! I really enjoyed how the husband didn't give up on his marriage, but pressed through the obstacles and won his wife's love all over again.

Hope everyone has a great day...I'm off to read your blogs! I love spending some time in the morning visiting with all of you! Enjoy!

A Great Man...

My mother had an appointment yesterday that I drove her to. She insisted she could drive, but I like to go with her. She had to meet with her accountant to give him all the paperwork so he could start working on her taxes.

I know, you're probably saying to yourself, "Why couldn't she just mail them in?" I said the same thing. But this is what my parents always did EVERY YEAR. They made the drive to see him and "visit" as my mother likes to say.

This year the drive was further...my mother now lives here in Pennsylvania. This year the visit was filled with memories...this year we also drove to the cemetery to visit with my father.

While my mother was working with the accountant, I sat in the background listening to them talk about the past 40 or so years, reminiscing about people they both knew, all the while knowing that the most important person was missing from this visit this year...my father.

At one point the accountant looked at me and said, "I hope you know how great a man your father was." I nodded my head and said, "Yes, I'm beginning to realize just how great a man he truly was."

And I truly am. My father was a great man of God who loved the Lord with all his heart. He was such a humble person. He was such a strong man, yet his heart was so tender. In the last few years of my father's life he changed so much. It was so hard for us to see him like this. It was so hard for me to see him lying on that basement floor after he fell. It was so hard for me to see him lying in that hospital bed. But the hardest was for me to see him lying in that casket.

I can honestly say those memories are slowly being replaced with the wonderful memories of who my father was before his mind began to fail him and before that awful fall. And to hear other people tell me how great he was just makes my heart swell with pride of the wonderful man I got to call "Daddy."

A New Thing...

I learned something new yesterday. I learned how all you smart bloggers out there change your font, make some words big, make some really small and even add bullet points.

• All stuff I just couldn't figure out until yesterday.

Oh, and I can change the color of my text also!

And this excites me. Really it does. I always wondered "How do they do that?" Now I know. You need to write your post in the "Compose" section, not the "Edit Html." And a special thank you to The Journey Back who also just learned this and was kind enough to share it!

Please tell me you all didn't know this and I was the only one out here in blogging world not typing in "Compose?"

I'll be back tomorrow with some pictures of what the Colonel has been working on!

Scripture Saturday...

2 Chronicles 7:14

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, 

and will heal their land.

Don't you feel like we need the above verse more than ever now? 

We as Christians need to be on our knees seeking guidance and protection from the Lord. 

 Listening to the news lately can be very scary, but we need to remember that our Lord will provide for us, will guide us and will protect us!

Let us not waiver, let us not fall on our knees in disbelief. 

Let us stand strong at the front lines of this battle and call out to the King of kings and the Lord of lords, for our help truly comes from God, the Maker of Heaven and earth.

Care to join me in storming the gates of Heaven?

Did You Know???

I had to go into the kitchen and check this out for myself. Who looks at the end of your aluminum foil box? You know when you try to pull some foil out and the roll comes out of the box, then you have to put the roll back in the box and start over and then the roll never works right...cutting crooked, etc.

Well, I would like to share with you some information that a friend of mine emailed me. Apparently on all aluminum foil boxes there is something written on the end that says...

Push end locks to hold roll.


Right there on the end of the box is a tab to lock the roll in place. How long has this little locking tab been there? And it's not just brand names. I then looked at a generic brand of aluminum foil that I have and it also has one. I then looked at a box of Saran wrap and it had one too! I can't count the number of times the Saran wrap roll has jumped out when I was trying to cover something up.



I'm sharing this with my friends. I hope I'm not the only person that didn't know about this! Please let me know if you knew about this!

Happy Monday!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I started feeling better on Thursday and spent the day shopping, running errands, the usual. My shopping consisted of Sam's Club, so not too much fun, but sure spent a bunch of money. I spent Friday cleaning the house and tackling some cleaning projects that I had been neglecting.

Saturday was a different story. I woke up feeling awful! The worse headache, fever, bone tired all over again. But I managed to get a pot of sauce going, even if it was in the crock pot and proceeded to lay on the couch the entire afternoon only getting up to fix lunch and dinner.

The Colonel and I watched a great movie Saturday evening. I have never seen an Angelina Jolie movie before. Yes, you heard me correctly! But for some reason her new movie, The Changling, appealed to me. And it was so good. It was based on a true story and I just found it fascinating!

I'm sharing a few pictures of how sweet hubby was...here he is making chocolate covered strawberries to cheer me up.











Isn't he the best??










I am feeling much better today, thanks for all your prayers!

Come Lord, Come...

When I was a little girl, I use to become scared when people in church would say that they wanted the Lord to return..."Come Lord, Come." What? I really didn't want the Lord to return until after I had experienced some things; I'm sure most of us had the same thoughts. I wanted to graduate high school, fall in love, get married, have children, etc. I didn't want the Lord to return until AFTER I had accomplished a few things.

Well, now that I'm older...won't even go near the number...I do want the Lord to come. I'm tired of all the bad news out there. I'm tired of hearing of another person getting sick and dying. I’m tired of listening to the reports on the evening news. I'm tired...tired...tired.

I'm tired of being afraid when my husband is out of town. I'm tired of the fear of him leaving the country again. I'm tired of the pain I live in daily. I'm tired of wishing my dad was still around the corner from me.

John MacArthur says:

He shall wipe away, every single tear. What it means is there never will be a tear in heaven, not one single tear. There will be nothing sad. There will be nothing disappointing. There will be nothing unfulfilling. There will be nothing lacking. There will be nothing wrong. There will be nothing limiting. There will be nothing to cry about.

When we are alone in the dark, when we are scared, when we hurt…we want Jesus to come. We need to hold Him, to see Him, and most of all we need Him to make things right.

Revelation 21:3 and 4..."Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

He will physically be with us then…we will see Him, we will hold Him, He will hold us. There will be no more pain, no more sadness, no more tears.

I am homesick for a place where there is nothing to cry about.

Please take some time and stop by Spiritual Sunday's blog to read more inspiring devotionals.