Goodbye, Grampa....

Varrell Wakefield
10/23/17 - 12/26/08

My grandfather was a great man! He was selfless, generous, outgoing, kind, and always putting everyone else first. And his mood was ALWAYS upbeat, with a wisecrack that would make the grouchiest person crack a smile! I love you Grampa, and will miss you so much. Thanks for being the best grandfather ever, and for making my life so much more special. I am so blessed!

Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Our children are loved by so many... a million thanks to all who made this Christmas special for them this year! We are extremely grateful. Our friends and family are the best of the best! We love you all more than you know!

Our Christmas eve was such a nice time. We spent the morning/afternoon finishing up last minute shopping. Our candlelight service at church was great... I played Christmas eve service for the first time in my life, and I gotta tell ya... CHRISTMAS CAROLS ARE HARD TO PLAY!!!! Lord have mercy! I made it through, but it was not without a large share of mistakes! But it's okay. After church, my brother came over for our traditional Christmas eve gathering, complete with bacon wrapped scallops (a tradition for us, started by my mom). Sandy was here also, as was a new friend of Jason's from the fire department, Steve Pettite. Our neighbor Chris came over for a little while too. It was funny to watch Tim and Jason boxing on the Wii! LOL! We had a great time hanging out!

The presents are now wrapped and under the tree. It is 2:30 am... I can't sleep. Not sure if it's the excitement of the evening, or the medication I am taking (probably both). But nonetheless, I am not sleepy at all. Bad. This will surely catch up with me tomorrow........

My oldest son is currently awake and trying to sneak a peek at the tree... uh-uh!

Speaking of tradition, here is a picture of our traditional "first ornament" on the tree...

It is a spike, symbolic of the nails that pierced the hands and feet of our Savior. The red ribbon is symbolic of His blood that cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Really, the miracle of Christmas is only the beginning of the story. The stories of Christmas and Easter are inseparable. We never want to forget the real meaning of this special season.

Well, I should really head to bed. I love you all! Have a great time with your families and friends! God bless you, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

First day of winter

Winter arrived today with all the pomp and circumstance that winter brings....
LOTS OF SNOW! Check out these pictures of my family in the white stuff...








Yeah, they're dark. I waited too long to get out and take pictures. I mean, here in Vermont, winter means it's dark as night by 3:45 in the afternoon! However, take heart, Vermonters!! Today is the SHORTEST DAY OF THE YEAR! Starting tomorrow, the days get LONGER each day!! YAY!!!! Bring on the daylight! Those of us with SAD (seasonal affective disorder) crave the sunshine........ the snow I could DEFINITELY do without!

New Rank in MGD

Well, here he is! Sporting a new RED belt! Woo hoo!





This picture shows all the belts (starting at the bottom) he has progressed through, up to the red right on top of the brown. He has one belt left (the top red belt, or 1st red) and then the black belt in CA.

Our son has given us so many reasons to be busting with pride! He received the Holy Ghost in June of '07, he is very close to obtaining black belt status in a martial art, he is an amazing trumpet player in the band, and he is an Honor Roll student in Middle School! Add to that - he is just so pleasant to be around... kind, responsible, respectful, happy, etc etc. I LOVE YOU ADAM!!!!!

Bustin' proud mama!!

I have no words to tell you how I'm feeling! I'm so proud of my son, I could just bust!

End of year "catch up"

So, as we approach the end of 2008, there are a few very random pictures that I MEANT to get on the blog, but never managed to. So.... here in no particular order, are the random, non-related pictures....

Pumpkin carving contest.... one family night just before halloween, we had a contest... Nick and Mom vs. Adam and Dad.....
Cross and Bible ....................................... Storm Trooper


Adam's new suit.... VERY sharp!




Adam's 12th birthday party with A-Train and Ian... they had a blast!




A beautiful sunset out in my backyard.


So there we go... I feel like my "loose ends" are all tied up now. I know they aren't so exciting, but they are part of my "northern apostolic mom" existence!

Christmas traditions... the stuff memories are made of.

I love the Christmas tree farm in our town. It brings back such great memories of my childhood days when MY family went and "tagged" a tree at a tree farm in Maine. We are passing that tradition down to our own children... they couldn't wait for this day! Here are some pictures from the "2008 Christmas Tree" experience!


Trees, trees, everywhere!

Nick proudly points out the winner!

Dad does the honors...

Adam, working on his manly skills, uses the saw to cut off bottom branches.

Adam and Nick carry the tree to the truck.

More manly skills... I would have no clue how to attach the tree to the roof of the truck... that's what guys are for! LOL!

This is a favorite part of the tradition... the hot chocolate with candy cane!

Adam is totally into the Christmas spirit!

Adam putting the ornaments on "just so"...

Nick putting ornaments on....

Voila! A beautiful tree! Thanks for sharing in our special day!

God is...

Okay... I haven't posted a praise/worship video on here in a while, but I found one (thank you Jason) that is just way fun to praise God to! I do believe I will be introduing this one to our church! Click play, turn up the volume, and praise Him at the top of your lungs!

4 years....

One week ago, on Nov. 22, marked the 4 year anniversary of my first blog post.
Wow. I've covered a lot of ground in 4 years. Also, in just 20 more posts, I will reach the 500 posts mark. Wow again. I must say that I have met lots of nice people in my four years on blogger, and have become quite close to some in prayer. I love this blog!! And I love my readers! Thanks to all of you who make this little project of mine worthwhile!

Crazy Friday

Proverbs 17:22 says, "A cheerful heart is good medicine". Tonight was one of those magical family nights that only my husband can create. He has a unique sense of humor, and once he gets on a roll, your gut hurts from laughing so hard. We were on our way to Friendly's Restaurant to meet Aunt Carol for dessert... she is over visiting from St. J to do the "Black Friday" shopping thing. Anyway, on our way there, a commercial came on the radio for a store that we happened to be driving by at the time. The main line was "You can feel good about Lenny's". Yeah. That's what did it. As we drove past Lenny's, Jason rolled down his window and HOLLERED, "WOOOOO! I FEEL GOOD ABOUT LENNY'S!!!!!!! WOOOOOO!!!" It was all over. The boys were cracking up so hard, and the poor waitress at Friendly's just had no idea what hit her! We left her a really good tip, because she put up with our craziness, and even joined in! There was Christmas music playing in the restaurant, and we started singing... we even got some people to join us! Good grief... I'm sitting here at the computer STILL laughing as I recall it all! Sorry I can't explain it better.... it's one of those "you had to be there" kind of things. Anyway, my husband is the great "memory maker" in this family. My boys will have LOTS of interesting things to pass down to their children about their crazy grampa! LOL! I love you honey!!!

Great Christmas card!!

I must thank my good friend Bekah for this one... LOL!!!!


Click on the image to make it larger.

Thankful for family!

I love my family! And today, we were blessed to spend the day with this wonderful family! My brother and his awesome girls! Tim hosted our dinner and cooked the bird... *sniff sniff*... mmmm! Smelled so good at his place!

We had 7 people, and enough food to feed about 20! Holy smokes! Anyway, I inherited a long-standing "title" today from my Aunt Judy... of "weird aunt". Yup. Aunt Judy was always the weird aunt in our family growing up. And one thing she did to earn that title was to make purple mashed potatoes one year for Easter dinner (which is very "interesting" looking with brown gravy on it, btw). So Tim threw the food coloring at me and said, PURPLE.

You should have seen the kids' faces when they looked at them! It was hilarious! Sarah says, "Are these supposed to look this way???" Adam refused to eat them! ROFL! It was priceless. We shared the Aunt Judy stories with them at dinner, and they assured me they would tell their children about Aunt Michelle... the "weird aunt". :) I called Aunt Judy later on and told her and she laughed so hard! It was great!

Now...... for more "thankfulness".... my dear grandfather in Maine fell yesterday and broke his hip (on his and Nana's 66th wedding anniversary). I was so worried, knowing that his surgery was this morning, and he was not the best candidate for surgery at age 92 with a very weak heart, etc. Well, he came through the surgery with flying colors.... he is tough as nails, that guy!! Thank you Jesus! Here he is, just 6 hours after his surgery... getting ready for some turkey with the fixin's! Amazing!

I am so thankful!!!! I know I will be traveling to Maine soon to visit him and Nana. But today, I am just thankful he is still with us!

That is all for now. I hope you counted your blessings today! I know I did! Have a great weekend!

Not to be outdone!

Well, a couple posts back, I bragged on my oldest nephew in Maine about getting his first deer. Well... little brother Mark has followed in big brother's footsteps and gotten his first deer as well! It was 10 days ago, and I apologize for not getting this post up sooner. Here are pictures of Mark and his deer (and proud Papa as well.... who has yet to get a deer this season!) *update! A call to my sister's house Thanksgiving Day revealed that Dad did in fact get his deer that morning... the last day of deer hunting season in Maine! He got a 5 point buck... way to go!*




Mark.... Uncle Jason, Aunt Michelle, Adam, and Nick are very very proud of you! Wow! 11 years old, and got your first deer! Way to go!

Lost

Where have I been? Well... I don't have an answer for that. I have been lost in thought... my mind ever wandering. I have much on my mind... much on my heart. And every time I log in to post on my blog, I have nothing to say, because I can't seem to organize my thoughts. My heart is aching.... only prayer relieves the burden. Only worship gives my mind and thoughts order.

I was going to write that only worship lifts my spirits, but that is not true. I spent time with my family this evening, and my sons made me laugh so hard! They are a tremendous blessing to me. And my husband?? He treated us to dinner, he helped clean the house, and he is just the most amazing husband a woman could ask for! We watched a movie last night with our next door neighbor Amanda, and it was a very emotional movie (yes, of course I blubbered like a baby). But my husband is very sensitive and shed tears as well. How many women can say their husband does that???? The sensitive type is hard to come by, and I SOOOO lucked out! I love you honey!

Anyway, I am trying to get ready for church in the morning, but I'm having trouble staying on task. I sat at the piano to worship, and it felt soooo good. I was hoping it would put me in the frame of mind to put together a song list for the morning, and help me put the finishing touches on my Sunday School lesson on holiness for tomorrow, but alas..... please pray for me.

Hope all is well with you all. I have been keeping up on other people's blogs. HI BETH!!!! You haven't posted in forever, either. Also, to Henry's family, I am so moved by your strength! The post about Henry's magical day of fun and laughter made me smile! HI HENRY!!!!! :) Julie.... you are turning out to be a more faithful blogger than me lately! LOL! I miss you so much! Thinking of you every day! Sister Sunshine..... VERY COOL video of you in the car! How did you do that??!!??!!?? You are amazing!

Love to all of you! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

MY AMAZING NEPHEW!!!

Congratulations to my amazing nephew ALEX for bagging his first deer this morning!!!!!!!! It is a 118.5 lb. doe.... not bad!

Here is the proud dad.... about ready to bust!

Alex, we are so very proud of you!!!! Looking forward to hearing the story of the amazing first deer!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADAM!!!

Just sending a shout out to our fabulous son Adam, who turned 12 today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ADAM!!!!!!

There will be pictures later, but I had to get the wish out there!

I gotta tell you, though... we went to Sears today to buy him a suit (pinstripe) for his birthday, as that was what he wanted, and he had to be with us to get it. We found one for $64.oo, marked down to $44.95. Sweet price for a suit. Fit him perfect, so we took it to the register....... guess how much it rang up for?????

$16.99!!!!

Yes, you read that right. He got a beautiful pinstripe suit from Sears for $16.99! God is good! This morning, we took him to Libby's for his annual birthday breakfast. He got his annual strawberry belgian waffle, and the entire restaurant sang to him! Tonight is a pizza party with two of his best friends. One more year.... he'll be a teenager. Yikes.

Urgent prayer request

Please be in prayer for Henry and his family. Go to www.henryschallenge.blogspot.com for details of how to pray. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much! May the Lord's will prevail.

New Pictures of the guys

Ladies and Gentlemen, Here are the latest school pictures.....



Original photos for family will soon be in the mail, but I just couldn't WAIT to show them off! Aren't they great??

Also, tonight was Nick's football awards ceremony, complete with pizza, popcorn, soda, and ice cream (can you say "healthy"?? NOT!) He got a really cool football trophy and we received the team photos tonight... here is Nick's..... (click on image to see it larger).

Again, the individual photo of him we got in wallet size, and family members will be receiving theirs in the mail soon.

Now that football is over, we can focus on NORMAL life again. Phew!

Have a great day y'all!

Technology makes for a "small world"

I am excited! I love technology! When my mother-in-law and her husband moved away to Denver 3 weeks ago, I was really bummed. Now, I know that they are in the Lord's will and that makes me happy. But I miss them!

So, Julie and I can easily keep up on things by cell phone and email, and we also both have a blog... hers is on my sidebar... Grammie Betimes! So we can share pictures and such. I just posted wedding pictures for her to see, and she has been posting pictures of her new apartment, the Denver area, Jack's sister, etc. It's been really cool.

But the very best thing was tonight! The church they attend has a live stream webcast of their services. SO... being 2 hours behind us here on the east coast, we came home from our evening service, and found an email from Julie with a link to the church's website. We clicked on it... it's only 7pm out there.... LOOK!!!! Service is going on RIGHT NOW! They have a fantastic choir, and the preacher is preaching along similar lines to the message we heard in Vermont this evening! The Holy Ghost is MOVING! Then suddenly, THERE'S JACK! Where's mom? THERE SHE IS! It is like being in service with them! It was exciting for us. :)

Back before the invention of the automobile, families stayed close. Now we are spread out all over the globe, but technology has made a way for us to "be there" nonetheless! It truly is a "small world". Thank you Lord for affording us the opportunity to worship you with the saints in Denver! YOU ARE GREAT, JESUS!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN!

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH, MOM! HOPE YOUR DAY WAS GREAT,
JUST LIKE YOU!!!!!!

Goin' to the chapel and we're gonna get married!

What a fun day! Our longtime friend Ruth King got married today to a dynamite guy named Ben, and the wedding was so wonderful! Here are some pictures of their big day.

The wedding was co-officiated by our pastor and Ruth's uncle from Missouri.

The bridesmaids were beautiful... Kelly was emotional...

Dad made it down the aisle with Ruth on his arm, but the tears flowed after he sat down. :)

This picture of Ben and Ruth doing the unity candle is blurry because I zoomed in too far.

You may kiss the bride!

I LOVE this picture... it is the true Ruth! She looks soooooooo happy!!!

Ruth's mom Karen looked absolutely beautiful as well!

They did an excellent job decorating a gymnasium for a wedding! It was very nice!

Kissing after sharing the wedding cake.....

Don't they look terrific????

Here's dad... chillin' now that it is all over. A very proud papa. :)

And the coolest thing??? For their honeymoon, they are going to GENERAL CONFERENCE in North Carolina! That is totally cool! I'll be watching online in my living room... maybe I'll see them....? Or not... :)