Weather turning nice

Ok so it's almost June. May has been a really busy month with Awanas. We had Awana Sunday at church and it went awesome. The kids said verses in front of the church and Brock at 3 and Bella at 5 yrs old did great!  I was very proud. Then we packed rice and beans for kids around the world and that was really cool and then the last Awana for the summer and the store night is Thursday. We have over $1000 worth of stuff for the kids and praise God I was able to purchase over $600 of it myself. Checking the balance in our account we have $1700 so I will get reimbursed for my purchases. Just in time to get the money back for our trip next month. I had the two burley kids stay the night and that was really fun. We did a project and sang with the wiggles and watched Benji the movie.  We also had two families from church come over for lunch after Sunday service. Valerie Rojas and her girls Olivia and Caitlyn and then Pastor Bud and Holly and Jordan. It was perfect weather both times and a wonderful feeling to serve others. Our yard is beautiful. We got bark dust and prepared all the flower planters and I love the feel of being amongst the flowers in the front and back yards.

Mothers Day 2015

Well tomorrow is my 38th Mothers Day.  Both my girls are Mothers now and so it has become a holiday for them and my son's wife.  I guess I cant feel to bad, I don't do much for my Mom anymore either.  I did send her a card but she is living with Susie and really doesn't want or need anything.  She doesn't even really care if I was to go up to Seattle and visit her.  I was just there for Susie's birthday and we only had a few brief moments together.  I did get a nice card from Shannon and Eli that said she cant believe that all these years I have loved her like she loves Eli.  Wow, cant believe it?  That is kinda sad.  I wish it would of said she was so happy to feel the love from me that she feels for her son.  I hoped I showed them Love.  I certainly meant to and tried to.  Kevin wanted to spend some time with me for mothers day but while he was here he answered two questions and watched his phone and then had to go to meet some friends to get Sarah another present. ( which he didst find and wasn't able to get anyway).  So much for time with Mom. They did bring me a beautiful fushia (which I love) and a nice card from the kids, but we just talked about how things shouldnt mean as much to us and the kids as much as time together, enjoying the moments.   I hardly ever get to spend real time with my kids anymore.   Seems like when I do they don't want to talk about what I want to talk about so they keep changing the subject.  I am so on guard when they are around because I don't want them not to want to come and be with me that I am afraid to say much.  Dawn Marie is definitely all about her.  She told me she wasn't planning anything.  If I don't ask her to do something with me she never asks me to.  If I didn't visit her and help her and call her, I probably wouldn't hear from her at all.  I'm sort of invisible around here anymore.  Except when I'm not available for them, then I'm selfish and they can't count on me.  Anyway, I am sad that Mothers Day is just another day for me and not a special day when my children want to tell me how much I mean to them.  They sure don't change their facebook profiles to show their Moms picture or put a picture of us up. At Shannons there are all these pictures of Angies family and they always post how much Eli loves Amy etc.  But boy when I am there the camera almost never comes out. It is me taking pictures and then they might say "send them to me."  They will all be sorry someday when I am not here and they are wanting pictures of me and their kids and there wont be any.  Well except the ones I take.  Now I am just feeling sorry for myself but I realize how close I am to loosing my Mom and My Grandma being gone and it is really sad and really final.  I know Angie has learned how precious life is and she captures every moment she can with her family and I am so glad for them and Eli that he will have those memories.  I wont be young enough when Eli is 13 or 14 to take him on an adventure like I am going to take Kaytee and Konnor on this summer.  I might get some precious grandkid time with Brock and Bella because they live closer, maybe a train ride or something but they are pretty tight with what I can do with them right now.  All I want is to be remembered as someone they all loved so much and miss everyday like I miss my Grandma.  I hope she knew how very much we loved her and how much we miss her!!

Visitors for lunch

God has placed it on my heart to invite folks over for lunch after church. Our first family was Valerie and her kids. The girls said I was the best ever!! Hot tubs get them every time. We had hamburgers and hot dogs and beans and chips and soda and snicker doodles. It was so nice.
Next we had Becky and Terri Woolbright and her Mom and neighbor Min. It was relaxing and visiting. I served white chili and. Ron bread and they brought a green salad and desert. They left around four. Super nice people. We have invited Bud and Sheila and Holly and Jordan to come next. I really want to keep this up. It gets me motivated to keep my house clean and my yard blooming. Our yard was gorgeous today.

Social month

We had Valerie and her daughters over for lunch after church and it wa a really nice time. The girls sat in the hot tub and did some swinging. We barbecued and I sent home snicker doodles.

The pinewood derby for Awanas was totally awesome. Kevin and Sarah and the kids came and everyone seemed really happy. We had 34 cars race and about 60 people there. Other than the track showing up late it was perfect.

Our solar is all ready to go but PGE hasn't done their last part so we can turn it on. So it's just here but not active yet. They did take the tree out in our yard and what a difference. So much light and no more mess everywhere. The squirrels don't seem to mind to much.

Last Sunday of the month today. We have Olivia this weekend for her 13 th birthday. We took her shopping and out to dinner. We also gave her Joes old iPhone so I hope she takes care of it.

Easter 2015

 Me and Eli on Easter at Kevin and Sarah's house. 2015. He loves his Mimi!!

 All the Grandkids and me. Konnor 14. Kaytee 12. Bella almost 6 and Brock 3 1/2 and Eli 2 1/2

Our family selfie. Only missing Dawn Marie who had to work. It was a beautiful day.

So I have managed to get almost everything done on my list for the spring. The NW Ministry conference was awesome and I was able to put my notes together and do a presentation at the staff meeting. Palm Sunday was hard because Joe was singing and Cindy didn't come to help so I did it all myself and a lot of kids came late and then they didn't want to holler Hosanna so I was the only one yelling. It was dumb in my book. Easter was a smash hit. Lots of kids and lots of sunshine. Everyone had a great time. Bella's birthday was at Out of this World Pizza and she had an exhausting time. The men's breakfast at the church was way over done because John told us 48 and there was 19. Needs investigating. But I decorated and it looked awesome. A few things left to do on my list but I'll get back to those. Eli did come and go "fishing" in my pond but sure don't get much time with him.

End of March

as it gets closer to the end of March 2015, there are a lot of fun things starting to get rolling. Last weekend Joe and I went to Roseburg to his nephews wedding ( John and Paige Forrester). It is always nice to see all the new little ones in his family.
This weekend is the NW Ministry conference in Seattle. I am going up Friday morning and coming home Saturday night.   Training is always good for me.  I need to learn how to manage my ministry from different people. Then. Next week is Kaytee and Konnors spring break and I promised Kaytee I would take her shopping for her birthday. Then Palm Sunday the children will be doing a walk through in costume and waving palms. Easter Sunday we hold a large egg hunt at the church and then I have all my kids over for dinner, egg hunt and hot tub. I hope to have fish in my pond for Eli to see. Then it's Bellas birthday. I hope to get her a buggy for her dolls. Then things get going for our Grand Prix at Awanas and the Awana store after that. It is a busy time. We do need to get bark dust for our yard and sawdust for the community garden soon too. Busy busy. Joe is busy too. Not much help these days. I'm hireing help. We are having solar panels put in this week and we will be taking down the big fir tree in our back yard. Glad to see that messy tree go.

Gravelle wedding/Montana trip

Wednesday afternoon I boarded the Empire builder for an overnight train trip to Kalispell. I was able to occupy two seats so the trip was fairly comfortable. Not a lot of real sleep but I did rest and listened to all of Acts on my Bible recorder thing. I've been staying at Dads and it's very nice here. Very clean and comfortable except I don't like his driving. I took his pickup and drove to Nunies to see her place. It's very cute and spacious and just right for her.  She is lucky to have Dad for her support group. He helped her find just the perfect place to be by herself and feel safe. The wedding was super simple. The only flowers were her bouquet.  I'm glad I came and met Sarah and Nunies grandsons Braxton and Isaiah.  They are sweet babies and Nunie is a loving Grandma. Patti and Nunies and I hung out today and went to an antique store. Cool stuff there. I'm ready to go home but not looking as forward to the train ride.