Spring is here!

We have been having some beautiful, warm weather.  The trees are beginning to bud, and the daffodils are in bloom.  Ah!  This is nice!!

Today, we have some work to do.  We will be running the pop cans into the recycling center.  We also were able to purchase all the "Big Daddy" Dad's Root Beer (that is the gift our church will give to all the fathers on Father's Day).  So, we will drop them off at church, and pick up all the pans, knives and my Trader Joe's Insulated bag that I left there last week.

I am also hoping to cut Sam's hair, and iron everyone's clothes for tomorrow (that's a given for a Saturday).  I will be chopping up a lot of veggies for a veggie tray for tomorrow's company, as well as making a butterscotch pudding dessert.  I need to wrap up the gifts for the rescuer, and his daughter who is having a birthday next week.

Matthew went to a farm today with my parents, as the farm is hosting a sheep shearing day, along with seeing all the wool, and what you can do with it.  He messaged me that he wants to buy a lamb.  :)  They said they would cut him a deal for $25.  I'm pretty sure our village won't allow it as a pet, and rather consider it a farm animal.  He's had this all figured out since he carried around the lamb for the Easter productions.  This has been in the works in his mind for a couple weeks.

I am also finishing up the bulletin for tomorrow.  Such is life in a busy pastor's family household.
Blessings!

Our Son, the Pilot!

We are so PROUD of our son!!  He has always wanted to fly a plane--well, back in March, he got his pilot's license.  Tonight, we received a phone call, that he was going to be flying over our house.  Here he is:

So cool to see a goal accomplished in one of your children's lives.  So proud of him--it is hard to be a man, who works hard to support his family, has a job, a wife, 3 children, and still be able to work hard and acquire his pilot's license.  Congratulations, Josiah!!

Blessings!

Whew! Hoping for normal

We are hoping that things will settle down to a dull roar.  We had some busy times with the Living Last Supper productions, as well as the Easter Breakfast, and Easter Production of "He's Alive".

 This was Andrew's (he's only 16!) first year in the play--he played James the Less.  He did great!!

                                               Here is Josh, in Watch the Lamb part.  

One of the nights, Josiah forgot his contacts, and said he was worried that he couldn't see, when he slams down the money bag--he is supposed to knock over the salt bowl.  He was worried he would hit a cup of water.  Well, I had help in setting up the table, and someone accidentally filled the salt bowl with water.  So, when he slammed down the money bag, it hit the salt/water mix, and water went flying.  He kind of shook his head, and did a double take, it was so funny!!  We got it on video, and we all laugh when we see him.

Then, we geared up for the Youth Spaghetti Dinner, and annual business meeting.  We met on Saturday to get all the food cooked up and ready.  Then, we served, and cleaned up, and headed to the business meeting.  We had to keep the business meeting short, as we had to leave immediately after to go to District Meetings.

We got to the District opening night.  Matthew thought it was a dud at first, because all they had was popcorn.  He was hoping for free pop.  LOL!  Then, he found the pop, so things were good.  Hubby won a $15 gift card for Culvers, in a birthday game.

The kids got some swimming in, too! 

Then, on Monday night, I watched our 3 boys who went with, along with Josh & Brittany's girls, so hubby and Josh & Brittany could go to the missions banquet and hear Hulda Buntain speak.  They enjoyed it.  Me, not so much.  Water problems seem to follow me!  I went to use the sink outside the bathroom, and the faucet flew up in the air, and gave me a shower. I called the front desk--they sent a maintenance man up right away, but he couldn't fix it.  They offered to have me change rooms, but I wasn't up for moving all of us without too much help.

Tuesday, Brittany and I and the children went shopping, while the men went to council meetings.  We went to Hobby Lobby, and TJ Max and McDonalds to kill some time.

Later, we went to Golden Corral (Yum!), where Matthew and I had a cotton candy eating contest.  I ate 7 1/2, and he had 8.  I could have eaten more and won, but he was so intent on winning, and he was starting to get sick.  You would think he would learn to just quit, and take a loss.  :)

We also went to Jelly Belly, took a tour, and bought some belly flops.  And, we also went to Kopps--which is way better than Culvers, in our opinion.

We got home Wednesday night and were glad to be in our own bed.

Thursday, we went shopping for food, and we are getting ready for Sunday's service.  The man who performed CPR on Dan will be to our church for a dedication of the new AED machine.

Blessings!

Lethal Beauty: A Mia Quinn Mystery by Lis Wiehl

"Lethal Beauty: A Mia Quinn Mystery" by Lis Wiehl does not disappoint!!  I devoured the book in no time at all.

Mia Quinn is trying to wrap up a court case, that should have been rock solid, open and shut case, involving a wealthy businessman.  She delves into the case of the Lethal Beauty, Dandan Yee, who was brutally murdered.  Then, the unthinkable happens - a key witness goes missing, and one juror holds out for a hung jury, Mia goes looking further into the case.

What she finds is a puzzling case of more murders, prostitution, human trafficking, illegal drug use, all while trying to juggle her job, her family, and trying to deal with life in general.

This is a very good book, that touches on the topics of human trafficking, and drugs.  Although, it is not necessarily "Christian" (if you were to define a Christian book that had a strong Christian witness, that gives a direct call to salvation), but--this is a good, clean book that a Christian can read without problems.  Even though it does deal with prostitution, and human trafficking, but it does not go into great detail. This book kept me up at night to finish it!

I received this ebook free from the publisher for my honest review.

Sleepless nights

We had a string of Saturdays, where we just were not getting enough sleep.

The first Saturday, was Valentine's Day.  We hosted a very fancy meal at the church.  We had someone make prime rib.  We cooked the rest.  We made baked potatoes, a Normandy veggie plate, salad - along with my "famous" Parmesan Peppercorn Salad dressing, bread, etc.  We put out real plates, silverware, glasses, cloth tablecloths, and cloth napkins.  I folded the napkins up so nicely - lol.  Anyway, it did look very nice.  Just one problem, with all the real cloth table stuff, and all the real dishware, it's a lot of work to clean up after 40+ people.  So, we were there quite a bit later.  Then, a gal wasn't looking so good.  She thought she was having a stroke.  Do you think we could find any aspirin??  A lady, who lived right down the street, ran home to get some.  We stayed with the gal, until the ambulance came to get her.  We then brought the kids home, and we took off for the hospital.  We got home around 1:30 AM.  (update on the gal--she is doing good.  It wasn't a stroke)

The following Saturday, we received a phone call after 2 AM from the police department to come pick up a drunk young fellow, and get him to safety. 

Then, the next Saturday night everyone lost an hour of sleep because of the time change. 

Dan had an episode last Saturday, where he passed out.  We skipped breakfast, and had brunch.  We called the kids to the table, and Dan came from about 8 feet away.  He got to the table, and face planted right on the table.  I thought he was goofing off.  He had passed out. He said he was surprised he made it to the table, he had felt it coming on, and thought he could push through the dizziness.   He is doing well.  We took him to his primary care doctor, and they ran some in office tests.  They checked his blood pressure while resting, and again after he stood up.  They did the same with his pulse.  What they found was upon rising, his blood pressure drops, and his heart speeds up.  Kind of a double whammy.  The temporary diagnosis is POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome), which is just a fancy way of saying that when he changes positions, his heart speeds up, and he tends to faint.  He will be going to a cardiologist for probably further testing (he sees the heart doctor this week).  They told him it is very important to drink water!!  If he begins to feel faint, he needs to sit down, and wait for it to pass.  And, if it happens a lot, they would put him on some medicine.

Blessings!

Book Review: "Patriots, Redcoats and Spies" by Robert J. Skead

"Patriots, Redcoats and Spies" by Robert J. Skead is a fun to read book!!  I enjoyed reading it outloud to the family after eating dinner.  It really held everyone's attention!!

It starts out with the twins, Ambrose & John with their father, Lamberton Clark, running away from the redcoats.  Their dad, Lamberton, had been shot by the redcoats.  He has an important message that must be taken as soon as possible to General George Washington.  The message is written in invisible ink.  Their dad tells them to trust no one, and to stick together.  Even though the twins look alike, they couldn't be more diverse in their attitude and personality.  Will they get the message to General Washington in time??  Will they be caught and discovered as patriot spies??

We really enjoyed this book!  It was fun to see the interaction between the two brothers.  It is a fun read aloud to the whole family.  Even though the language wasn't true to that era, it made it reading easy, and enjoyable to the family.  I think the family would have cringed if it was outdated verbiage.

I received this hardcover book free from the publisher for my honest review.

Book Review: "Sabotaged" by Dani Pettrey

"Sabotaged" is the 5th and final book in the Alaskan Courage Series by Dani Pettrey.  Even though it is the last book, it can be read as a stand alone book, you do not need to read the others previous to reading this book.

Kirra Jacobs, and Reef McKenna are the main characters in this book.  Kirra is a veterinarian, who also helps out with Search and Rescue in the Iditarod race.  She has known Reef McKenna, the McKenna clan's black sheep of the family, all her life.  When Kirra's uncle Frank, one of the mushers in the race, fails to make a check point, Kirra and Reef take off to find out where he is.  They soon learn that Frank's daughter is being held captive, in order to get Frank to sabotage the oil rigs.  It's a race against time, to find out who is doing this, and where Kirra's cousin is, amidst being chased by gun toting bad guys, cars going off cliffs, and other suspenseful moments.  There is a lot of suspense and mystery in this book--like, what happened in Kirra's past to make her distrust men?  Who is her uncle Frank really??  Has Reef McKenna really changed his ways?  Will they figure out who kidnapped her cousin Meg in time to stop the oil rigs from exploding?

This was a really fun read!  With our weather here being below zero, reading about the Iditarod race, and Reef and Kirra being holed up in a cave, I hunkered down in bed, cranked up the electric blanket, and enjoyed the book.  :) 

I received this ebook free from the publisher for my honest review.