A Sweet Reunion

I have known my sweet husband for 45 years and we have been married almost 43 of those years. Since I very first met David, he talked about his 1st grade teacher. He said he remembered her as the most beautiful, young Indian woman he had ever met. He was totally fascinated with her beauty and kindness as a very young boy. David's elementary education was in a two teacher, two room school house with grades 1-8. Mrs. M was a newly wed and this small country school was her first teaching job.

David saw a picture in the paper five years ago, and he believed it might be his beloved teacher. The article and picture was of the couple's 50th wedding anniversary. David looked up their phone number and called. Mrs. M was delighted to hear from him. Five years passed and recently there was another article of the death of Mr. M. David just felt he was to attend the funeral. I know he thought he might be able to see Mrs. M. He did attend the service, but his teacher was not there. He spoke with her son, introducing himself and asking about "the teacher". It seems she was in a nursing home and not able to attend. After the service and with approval from Mrs. M's son, David went to the nursing home. David stepped into Mrs. M's room, after a few seconds she said, "I know I am suppose to know you". David responded, "no, you really shouldn't remember me, it has been 55 years"......and she quickly called out his name. What a blessing....she was thrilled to have him visit and especially on that day. Her mind remains sharp and she recalled enough about teaching him and others in his class that David was sure she knew him.

I had the privilege of meeting her a few weeks ago too. She is a very sweet lady. We have both been to see her now a couple of times and David has visited again alone. She insists that the Lord sent David to be with her the day of the funeral, otherwise she would have been alone......I think she is right. He is often busy and does not often take time to do things like that. He feels so "called" to visit his teacher now. He took Mother's Day flowers to her. How many people get the chance to spend time, just when it is needed most, with someone in the nursing home who happens to be your first grade teacher. Things like this don't just happen.

I wanted to share this picture of them together taken near Mother's Day. The quality of the picture is lacking due to the bright sunshine in the room. But, it is so special!

I received the flowers below from David for Mother's Day. They are the same orange flowers that Mrs. M received from him. I transplanted my little root bound flowers and I bought a big orange flower pot and transplanted her flowers, as well. She knew they were "Orange Stars" right away. She obviously knows her flowers and enjoys them.

A close up of the flowers.....just beautiful!

All About Gracie, aka "Ellie Mae"

Gracie, is our only grand-daughter out of five grandchildren. She loves animals, hence the alias. She will approach almost any animal, pick it up, hug it, name it, and want to take it home in five minutes.

She donned her pink boots to go out and ride the pony and check on this baby lamb. Of course, she wanted to pick it up. She made several attempts at approaching the Mama ewe and new baby, but the ewe was insistent on stomping her foot to keep Gracie away. A stomping ewe with a new baby will try to keep anyone or anything away.

Daddy entered the picture and was able to move the ewe around the panel, but Gracie was still a little nervous about picking up the lamb.

Awe, she did it......I knew she would.

Oh no, she loves it!

But, she leaves the baby with her Mama, and I think she felt proud of her accomplishment of being able to pick the lamb up to hold. "Now, let's go look at those cats & kittens."

The Beauty of a Rose

My roses came out with a bang this year.....just beautiful. Unfortunately, the rain has brought the ugly yellow leaves with dark spots early. I know they are supposed to be sprayed regularly, but in the past it did not seem to make much difference.

You can see some of the ugly leaves appearing here, but oh isn't the rose pretty?

In the mean time, I will just enjoy the beauty of them.

This one is special, and holds a little funny about David. He came in bringing this lovely pink, long stemmed rose to me....I thought, "oh he is so thoughtful", and he is, but he finally had to admit that he was the 100th customer at "Chick-Filet". He said bells started going off and people started looking around. He received the brownie free that he was going to purchase for me and this rose...he didn't have a clue what was going on. Actually, I wouldn't have known either.

Family Retreat - Part IV - REALLY!

Ready to ride!

See, I did too ride that train.

The lineup.

Okay, this may be overload, but I wanted to continue with the Family Retreat pictures. I could probably have a Part V and VI, but I will stop here. Katie took these pictures....yes, even the ones where she is in the picture. Katie with her favorite niece ...just looking cool below.

Josh with his "look a like" Mom

Katie and her favorite nephew, Gillan

Andrew and Mommy

Gracie just hanging out in the woods!

Swinging Andrew

They are ready for the big horse back ride.

Rudy, did that short ride make you that sore?

What ya'll lookin' for?

Andrew's horse was a little thirsty.

Ride 'em cowboy! Yippee!

Accounted for and ready....let's go.

Are you sure we want to do this?

Nice horse, Josh.

What a cowgirl....it was Gracie who wanted to go on the trail ride so much.
It looked like at one point it would not be possible.

Craig with little tired and sleepy Nathan.
Boo....not enough horses for everyone to ride.

Seven Months Already?

Boy, I have been lacking in the blog department recently. I wanted to add this picture of Nathan. He is 7 months old today. Where does the time go? If you can read the small orange print on the picture.....I sent this in for a baby who has been hospitalized for over a month. He has been critically ill and he has more challenges to meet. There have been many ups and downs for little Stellan. I sent the picture in for "Wear Orange for Stellan Day". If you are interested, you can learn about baby Stellan's difficulties at: http://www.mycharmingkids.net

This family's situation has really tugged at my heart strings. The Mom is a great blogger and the family is beautiful. They have faced many struggles with their youngest baby. Stellan reminds Katie and I of Nathan. I have found Stellan to be on my mind often and I have been in fervent prayer for this family.

We have been so blessed to have such healthy and happy grandchildren.

We LOVE each one of you......
Gillan, Gracie, Joshua, Andrew, Nathan

Happy "7th month" Day Nathan!- April 25, 2009

Oh, did I say?..........."I love this pot and the daisies in it"!!

Happy Easter!

We anticipated today's Easter Sunday weather and jumped into coloring and hiding Easter eggs on Saturday.
Below are a couple of pictures of Josh taken by his Mom several days ago.

Nathan was really kicked back here.

The boys were seriously in to coloring "real" eggs.
As you can see the eggs did not all take the color well.
I boiled the eggs early in the morning and put them in the refrigerator...mistake.....
it has been so many years since I colored eggs.....you know, we now have those wonderful plastic ones....anyway, I didn't remember that the eggs needed to be warm. Oh well, it was the experience and making memories that counted.

The Easter Bunny!

On the Hunt!

Nathan enjoyed the sunshine.....

And the beautiful blue sky!

Get it Andrew....get it!

Nice rubber boots....the boys helped with cattle earlier.

Happy Baby!

Brothers in their blue Easter shirts