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.