Pines in the Prairie Weekend

This past week we traveled our way out to our daughter and son-in-laws farm. Bob was working so it took us a few days to get there so he could make calls on the way. Todd and Kim had a CEF Directors retreat so we had the privilidge of babysitting!!! We got there Thurs evening. Bob left Fri morning to go call on some more customers, and I stayed at the house. Friday morning I went out on a limb and went to work out with Kim and a friend of hers. At first I wasn't going to go, truth be told I didn't think I would be able to keep up with these young girls. Kim talked me into going and I am glad I did. Kris is a very nice, fun person. Made working out not so much a chore!! It was a challenge don't get me wrong, but I survived!! Kris designed a circuit type workout, one minute stations. That helped a lot, you can do anything for one minute....right?!?! It helped me when I wanted to quit, smile. So that is how I started my day there.

Todd and Kim left then Bob came home and our weekend was on its way. We had a wonderful time with the boys. They played a lot of b'ball in the dining room, wrestled with grandpa, kicked pine cones outside, checked out their fort and just had a good time relaxing. The boys had a good time drinking hot chocolate with grandpa. The weather was gorgeous on Sat and Sun. Hard to believe cuz now it is 14 below and dropping!!!!! The wind chill is 40 something below, pretty crazy!!! This week we are off to SD, no grandchildren there, sigh, just work. I am just so very thankful that I can go along and we can have this time together!!!

Drivin down the road

As we were driving I had a CD playing and it was Chris Rice. He is one of my favorite song writer/singers. I can totally relate to his thought process, but He has the gift of writing and putting it to music. But the song that was playing was :

So Much For My Sad Song; the chorus is: So much for my sad song, So much for my sorry attitude, Let's make this a love song instead,`Cause I'm so in love with you, C'mon let's go out and play, Save the sad song for another day, No time for tears, I'm wearin' a smile, So much for my sad song.

He was trying to write a more meloncholy song but he just couldn't do it when he gets to thinking about the Lord, and all that he has done for us. The tune of the song is very upbeat and you just can't help but smile when you hear it. It's from his CD What a Heart Beats For. Very good!!!!

"Kidsitting"

I thought this would be an appropriate title for this post...Our 4 yr old grandson was praying and he was thanking God that grandpa and grandma could "kidsit" for them. We thought that was pretty special. But as I was looking for pictures to put on here I had forgotten I had taken this picture of our nieces and nephews when we "kidsat" for them one day. Their mom and other sisters went shopping out of town, for bridesmaids dresses. So we had the honor of spending the day with them. They wanted to play out in the snow, but didn't have their own snow pants with them so we loaned them ours. Of course they were way toooo big so had to take a pic, I thought they looked pretty cute!!! They thought it was pretty funny as well. Here they are:Then we were off to our daughter and son-in-laws to watch their kids so they could go to a couples retreat. They had a wonderful time and we had a GREAT time with the kids!!!!! On the last day we took them for a treat since it was too cold to play outside we took them to the next best thing?! Mickey D's !!

Down Time

I guess thats what you could say I have been doing this week. I feel like I am being lazy...but when you get the flu it is the best to be still. So these last few days I have been spending a lot of time getting caught up in my Bible studies. They really have been sweet days of reflection, and meditating on Gods word. But this weekend I will be meeting up with my husband as he has been out of town. Really, really looking forward to that, and we will have a special time with two of our grandchildren while their parents are at a couples retreat.
And thankfully I think I am on the mend, achy still......but could that be AGE?! I think not; sigh.

The Unveiling

Before.......... After........

The bandages are off! If you don't remember my husband Bob, cut off the ends of his fingertips on his middle and index fingers on his left hand. He was using the jointer in his shop, making Christmas presents. The healing process has been going well. This is a new concern not having the protection from his bandages, because they are still very tender, but they look really good!! He has been doing really well, not that much pain. We are convinced he has been doing so well from everyone praying, so a big thank you!!!!!!

Pre Thirtieth B'day!!

The last day of the year holds a special meaning for us, it's our daughter Stacie's b'day!!! She loves to be home for her birthday so we get to celebrate with her!! It is tradition in our family to choose your meal as well as your cake and ice cream. This year she had an italian roast with potatoes and carrots, tomatoes, celery mmmm very good. We had pumpkin-rum bundt cake with brown sugar icing, she had cinnamon ice cream. Rich but good!!! We played games the rest of the night, watched the ball drop on TV from New York City, watched their home movies of the Christmas that we had just celebrated; a great way to end 2007!!!!
On a side note it is sooo hard to believe that she just turned 29!!! She was the last baby born in 1978 in Ft. Collins that year, and that was at 3:28 pm. Very unusual the nurses told me at the time. Usually they have a lot of babies at the end of the year, not that year. The first babies, twins, were born at 12:30 am, they were my roommates in the hospital. People don't have roommates so much anymore when having babies. Times have changed for sure.

Christmas 2007

Everyone was able to be home for Christmas!!!! I am sooo thankful that ALL of our children work things out to be able to be home at the same time!! We appreciate that so very much!! It was a lot of fun watching the commotion of everyone opening their gifts. There was a hum of conversation, the occasional yell from one of the grandchildren,& lots of laughter. These are times you can't put a price tag on!! We also had a special friend here for the weekend, Mike. Uncle Mike as Todd and Kim's kids call him. He is a great guy attending Forest Springs in WI training in camp ministry. He had already had Christmas with his family, and had some time, so he came here so he could see Todd and Kim. We had the pleasure of spending time with him as well.

We begin Christmas Eve by going to the candlelight service at church. That is always a special time. Then we head up to my sister-in-laws house for some Oyster Stew!! Yumm, just kidding not my favorite but I always have some, it's tradition!! (-: My husband loves it as do some of the other family members. We have a good time of visiting then head back to our house. This year everyone happened to be home on Christmas Eve, so we opened gifts that night. Normally we would wait till Christmas Day for our Christmas Eve. So Bob read the Christmas story from Luke before we open the gifts. We don't want it to be all about the presents, we are truly thankful for the birth of Gods only Son,Jesus!! When we look at this wonderful group of people gathered in our living room that is a precious gift!

We also had an unwelcome guest, the flu!!! Poor Kim was NOT feeling well most of the time. But she was a trouper and tried to keep up with all the activities. Nikki and Chad's oldest son got the flu as well, same with our oldest granddaughter.

They are all on the mend now. Three of the families are together in ND,all except our son and daughter-in-law, at Todd and Kim's place. I am sure having a GREAT time!!!