28 years ago today...

...Dad and Mom were married. May 29, 1982. And 3 1/2 years ago, that bond was broken. Although to us it seems to make not a bit of sense why God would allow such a thing to happen, ultimately, God was and still is in total control.

As hard as it was that first year without Mom, I think the upcoming months and years will hold days where I wish more than ever that Mom were still here. Mom would have been overjoyed to see Krissa's wedding in a couple of weeks and mine in the months ahead!

It's on those days and special times that I could choose to ask God, "Why? Why would you allow Mom not to be here for weddings of her daughters which she looked forward to so much? Why take Mom now and leave Dad here alone?"

Why? I don't know. I don't understand. But then, God's plan doesn't always make sense to our human minds. I won't always understand or know the reason why, but I can trust. Trust, accept and KNOW that Mom's death was beyond my control and ultimately part of God's unfailing plan. And God's plan far outweighs anything else so why would I want anything different?!

The best birthday gift EVER!! :)

In and amongst daily life, there's another important part of my life that I haven't shared on my blog as of yet. That "important part" is a special someone who came into my life last November...well, maybe I should say August....hmmm...I guess technically it started 2 1/2 years ago in Chicago at a Bernina National Teacher's Retreat......

But that's another story for another time....

That special someone is Luke Nabeta. And he gave me the best birthday gift I could ever ask for - asking me to marry him! :) I could write a huge long blog post about him and the last few months, because I'm very excited about it and cannot believe how God has blessed in so many ways!! But for now....here's a few quick pics! :)

my beautiful ring!! :)

An end to Wednesday afternoons

Kid's Klub on Wednesday afternoons is over for this school year already! Erinn and I have greatly enjoyed the kids trooping into the fellowship hall each Wednesday afternoon with their smiling faces and bursts of energy! What a fun year it's been!

Sunday morning we had a final end-of-the-year program in church and the kids did an excellent job reciting their memory verses, singing and answering questions from our Bible lessons over the past year! It is our prayer that they'll keep that knowledge for years to come!

Creative clutter, right?

VBS stuff is supposed to be all over the floor, right? ;)

VERY large treasure map paper!

Creative projects; can't resist them! Remember the cooked paper? Well, this time I need a HUGE treasure map, so merely cooking 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of paper in the oven just wasn't possible.

Our theme this year for VBS is sailing...ocean...ships...treasure chest...and yep, treasure maps!

So I took 3' wide white paper and crunched it.

Then spread it out in the hot sun.

Mixed up a batch of strong tea.

And drench the paper.

Then spread it all around.

Then let it "bake".

Iron it flat.

And tape it down.

PERFECT!!

Sunday School Cupcakes

Cupcakes. For. Sunday. School. :)

Just a spoiled dog!

And obedient....most of the time! (Although, she tends to obey orders better when a treat is lurking in your hand! Which I failed to have this time.)

Lady, sit! (sorta, kinda!)

Ok, now look at me! (sure!)

Now shake! No, not yawn!

Roll over! (not happening!)

But she did lay down. Does that count?

Let's try shaking again. Nope, still not working...shaking does not mean scratching.

Now she decides to roll over!

And then she heard Dad over by the shed and decided she'd had enough of me and knew she could have more fun with him.

Bits & Pieces!

The last couple of weeks seem to have flown without getting much accomplished, but here's a little bit of what I've done!

Quilts & Projects! Our local quilt guild did a quilt display at the library and I had a bunch of my quilts and projects there for display. Just last month we took those down and now I've got to stash all that stuff back where it needs to be. All my finished projects/samples needed to be resorted anyway, so this was a perfect opportunity.

WARNING: VBS Spells Very Balanced Stack (and is at any moment threatening to fall over!) Yes! I have multiple table spaces and floor space covered with VBS supplies. That will most likely continue through the end of July.

One of the guys from church dropped by our house last week and brought me these cigar boxes. They are perfect for some future craft project!! What project that will be, I don't quite have figured out yet....but will at some point in the future. They're nice boxes with a hinged lid. I'm sure I can come up with something.

Buttons...buttons...buttons! I'm sure never to need another button in my life! :) (Saying that and knowing myself all too well, I know that I'll have ever single one except the very perfect one I need!) Anyway, someone gave me a ton of buttons..all colors...all sizes! And each organized in their very own little box. :)

Grandma's last jar of pickles! Ahhh...how I've enjoyed that last jar! Somehow this summer I've got to figure out a way to grow or obtain tons of cucumbers just perfect for pickling! And then head over to Grandma's for a day of canning pickles.

Less than 40 days!

I can't believe it - my little sister is getting married! And it's less than 40 days away! Where have the months flown away too?? Who knows, but June 11th will be here...soon! :)

This last weekend Ryan and Krissa have started painting Ryan's house...in and amongst all the wedding details they're trying to finalize! But to me it finally feels like wedding details are coming together...maybe! It must to Krissa as well as her text to me today read..."Finally making progress, I'm excited!"

I'm headed back to Kentucky this month for one of Krissa's showers and the main reason - to sew. By the time I get there, all the bridesmaids dresses should be there plus everything else on my sewing list. Since I'm flying, I'm planning on "swiping" Krissa's car for a day to do some sewing supply shopping (and if I find anything else fabric related, that's ok too!).

For all the latest wedding news, details and photos, check out their wedding website here: www.ryanandkrissa.com

Merely a skunk

Lady is notorious for finding four legged creatures...while they look kinda cute, they don't smell quite as nice. Such as the other night. She was barking like crazy in the front yard at this skunk.

Knowing Lady all too well, Dad locked her on the porch to prevent her from getting sprayed...again. She's had her fair share of skunk perfume in the past. :) As Dad and I watched this skunk out the front window, we could see it digging up something in the flower bed.

A rabbit. A half-eaten, dead rabbit that Lady buried there the day before. No wonder she was so upset at this skunk!! That skunk dug up that thing! Once the skunk was gone and it was safe to let Lady off the porch, she immediately ran to the front yard only to discover her "treasure" had been stolen. Poor thing!

Evidence of Spring!

Fluffy clouds!

Wispy clouds!

Happy cows & calves!

Blue skies!

Diminishing woodpile!

Patches of green!

Tractor tire tracks!

Mittens (before she rolled in the dirt!)

Apricot tree!

Full of blooms!

White and beautiful!

One little bloom!

Lots of wind & bad hair days! ;)

Stash of Mom's pillows...

Life without Mom has become normal. Not that there's times that I miss her more than others, wish that she could be here for certain events or just want to talk with her one more time, but she's not continually on my mind like she was several years ago. But there are times when something or someone triggers a memory of Mom.

Like a couple weeks ago as I was spring cleaning the hall closets. At the bottom of one of the closets lies a pile of blankets and extra pillows. Yes, the pillows...among the extras were Mom's "special" pillows.

You see, Mom always struggled with lower back pain, but having a small pillow tucked in behind her was a great help. She would have those pillows scattered around the house - in the schoolroom at her desk, in her rocking chair in the family room, on her bed and even in the car. They were available as she needed them.

There was one in particular that she loved the best! This very lumpy, odd looking, well worn thing was the most comfortable to her. I even made her a few brand new, machine embroidered pillows attempting to get rid of the old one, and while they were nice, they weren't "it". That one in particular and a couple others traveled with her quite a bit.

After Mom's brain biopsy surgery in Wichita, she was in ICU for several days, pretty much confined to lying on her back since her right side was paralyzed. We could tell that much of the time she was uncomfortable, but because she was unable to speak and there was so much else going on with her body, we were never able to discover what exactly she was trying to tell us she needed. There were so many other life changing issues we were facing and dealing with, that we didn't fully realize that being on her back so much was a huge problem.

Until.....that one afternoon. We walked into her ICU room carrying a couple of "her pillows". Oh! The look of relief on her face! Unbelievable! As soon as we were close enough to her bed, she immediately grabbed her favorite, small, lumpy pillow and tucked it behind her. And then sat back, breathing a sigh of relief with a slightly contented smile on her face.

Ahhh, yes...we had discovered one thing that helped. That little pillow.

So now that one favorite well-worn pillow is sitting with the others that Mom used. Do we use it for anything? No. Is it more than ready for the trash? Yes. Am I ready to get rid of it? Nope, not yet. Whenever I see that stash of pillows, it reminds me of Mom and that one afternoon when we managed to get a smile on her face in some of the worst circumstances. I'll never forget that. Never.

Life....just life.

I can't believe my last post here was a couple weeks ago. What's been happening around my house? Not much...just plain, normal, everyday life. Here's a glance at the last few days:

Saturday: Income taxes. A task I dread doing, mainly because there's so much of it I don't understand. Between my slight knowledge and Dad's help, I'm able to get there, but figuring expenses, income and making sure to get it all according to IRS rules it just....well, is just....hard. But my taxes are filed, been confirmed with the IRS and my paperwork stack is much smaller than it was last week. Ahhh....that makes me feel better!

Sunday: Have you ever had two kindergarten girls try guessing your age?! That made for a quite interesting discussion before we started Sunday School. That evening we had a movie watching event - The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, starring of all people - Don Knotts (aka Barney Fife!). I don't care what movie Don Knotts is in, the characteristics he displays in his actions and speech will forever be linked to the "nip it in the bud" deputy sheriff! A fun evening!

Monday: This week we've had 70 and 80 degree days which have been wonderful - makes flip flop wearing weather just around the corner! With the warmer weather and sun shining, I've been trying to get outside and get a slight tan. Let's just say......it's going to take a while. Although I will say my skin has turned color; it's no longer pure white, but not quite the tan I had in mind. Hopefully the "tan" will start appearing soon. :)

Tuesday: Hmmm...what did I do this day?? Oh yes, I finished up some last of the month business deadlines, stitched a couple of alterations that needed to be done and cleaned and sorted the last of my paperwork from doing my taxes over the weekend.

Wednesday: Ahhh...how I look forward to Wednesday afternoons! The kids are so sweet and it's always a treat to spend that time with Erinn and teaching and doing activities with the kids. Our Bible character this week was Thomas and how he doubted and didn't believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. For my introduction into the lesson, I had multiple objects in paper bags and asked several of the kids if they believed me if I told them that there was a green fish, $200, a quarter, a teddy bear or other various objects in each bag.

While I was hoping for a "no, I don't believe you" answer (just like Thomas didn't believe what he was told until he saw Jesus' hands), mostly what I got was a, "yes, I believe you". They continually believed me; which is slightly scary. They are watching and believing what I say and do. My prayer is that my speech and actions are reflecting Christ and bringing glory and honor to Him! What a responsibility! Whew!!

Thursday (today): I just received our VBS program, "High Seas Expedition" yesterday and am soooooo thrilled about getting started on that for this summer! Just imagine - ships, sailing, cute sailing clip art characters, fun-to-sing songs, crashing waves and spy glasses digging out truth from God's Word?!?! And yes, that's what I'm planning on spending my weekend sorting out. :)

A stuffed caterpillar, clean or dirty socks, teddy bears and a couch.

It's not every week that I schedule in a craft for Kid's Klub, but every few weeks I will and last week was one of them. Our craft project was this fun stuffed caterpillar. Little did I realize what questions this project would bring up. :)

I had long, colorful knee-high socks for each of the kids. We stuffed those with loose poly-fil, then tied chenille stems around the stuffed sock to create the caterpillar body sections, added wiggly eyes, antennas and a mouth and - ta-da! - a caterpillar! How cute is that?!?!

The poly-fil I had was in a 2 foot square box, so I started pulling it out. (Btw, the kids were VERY excited to be playing with this stuff! I knew there was a valid reason why I'd been storing that extra poly-fil for the last 10 years - now it's put to use!)

Here's some bits and pieces of our conversation from that afternoon:

Coltin (in 3rd grade) asks me, "Are we going to put the stuffing in the socks?"

I start pulling out a couple handfuls of stuffing out of the box and respond, "Ummm......mmmmm, yeah, that's what we're going to do."

As I'm pulling out mounds of this stuffing, his eyes get huge and then he asks me, "How many teddy bears did you have to take apart?" Lol!!!

WAIT....it gets better....;) Keep reading....

Smiling, I said, "Well, uh...uh...none. This didn't come from any teddy bears. " (Through the years, I've torn apart a lot of things to get what I want from it, but never a teddy bear! :))

Coltin then asks, "Did it come from stuffed animals?"

I respond, "No, but that's usually what is in stuffed animals."

At this point, I've already pulled out a couple armfuls and am reaching in for the last armful.....and Coltin asks with this amazed voice, "Did you take ALL this out of a couch?"

I couldn't stand it any longer, I started laughing and said "No, I didn't take it out of a couch."

I told him that you could just buy it like that. I have a feeling his mom may regret him knowing that information. :)

Then the youngest kids table starts this very serious sock-washing discussion. First of all, you must understand that we've had a clean/dirty sock debate before. In some of the games/activities we have played, the kids have taken off their shoes/socks and then when it's time to leave, it's quite the chore trying to discover all the sock owners. :)

On one of our previous weeks, I asked one of the little girls if the socks I'm holding were hers? Her response, "No, those are dirty socks and my socks are clean." Fairly certain they were indeed hers, I tried to explain to her that if she had been wearing them all day at school, they were no longer clean. They would be dirty. She didn't believe me; she insisted hers were clean. :)

So when I informed the kids that we were stuffing socks, you know what question comes up, don't you?

I'm going around the the tables, helping them stuff their socks and hear this question, "Did you wash your socks?"
Knowing exactly what's going on in their minds, I respond with, "Yes, I wash my socks. But these aren't mine. These are new, clean socks."

And as I moved to help the other table, I continued to hear bits and pieces about socks, clean ones, dirty ones, yours, mine and theirs. I didn't hear everything they were discussing, but they were having a serious sock-washing discussion. And from what one of the parents told me, the new-clean-making-socks-into-caterpillars conversation continued at home. :)

This is why I love working with kids! They are so refreshing and many times their questions/answers/responses make me stop and think about life through their eyes. They just have a totally different outlook on life. And honestly? I love to hear what they have to say every week; I'm constantly surprised! :)






The next craft I have planned: a butterfly. No socks. No poly-fil stuffing. Only paper. Surely paper can't bring up such inquisitive questions. Then again, you never know....!!!