ANTICIPATION

As the kids try to sell their house in Kansas before they move across several states, I find myself thinking about all that they are going through. The endless stream of people who have traipsed through their home looking to see if it would be the perfect place for their families, their trying to keep the house relatively clean for those coming to look while taking care of 3 small active children. Hoping each time that this would be the person who would buy their home. Knowing that the tax credit would be running out at the end of this week --- will it sell in time? If not, how much longer will it take when there is not a tax credit? We all know that everything will happen in God's time, not ours. We can handle whatever happens --- but the hardest part of all is the not knowing what's going to happen or when.
Then my mind goes on to plan for their being so much closer to us. Thinking of family times that we will have together. Places we can take the grandchildren to make wonderful memories for them (and us). Being able to spend more time with them, maybe even without their parents. Having the opportunity to attend special functions at their schools or year end programs for gymnastics, or dance, or sports. We'll even be able to go to their birthday parties. Since their birthdays are so close, there is no way that we could make a trip to Kansas for every birthday -- we would've spent the month of October burning up the interstate between here and there.
I can't count the prayers that have gone up concerning the new job, selling their house, the move, and finding a new place to live. I am anxiously waiting for them to be back on this side of the Mississippi River!! And I know that everything will work out just as God has planned for them.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Today was my first day this year for club audits. We stayed at the cabin last night so I'd be a little closer to my first school and not have quite as far to travel today. It didn't take me too long to get to Kentucky Tech - Green County Area Technology Center. I got through their books and then headed to Lebanon, Ky. I stopped and had lunch at Wendy's before I went on to Marion County Area Technology Center where they're undergoing a huge renovation. They started working on it last summer and aren't scheduled to finish until November. They're all looking forward to more space (and new offices).After finishing there I traveled to Danville where I had reservations for the night at the Holiday Inn Express. They had cookies when I got here!! YUM.


I went out shopping at Penney's, Peebles, Lowe's and Cracker Barrel after I ate my supper there.

When I got back to the motel they had set out Sloppy Joes & Potato Salad. I passed on that, but did grab a cup of coffee.
The weather has been gorgeous, the traffic has been almost non-existent out on the highway, and the day has gone well. Tomorrow I have to hit 3 schools. It would be ridiculous not to get them all in one day since there is only about a 45 minute distance between the two farthest apart with another being in between about 30 minutes from one and 15 minutes from the other one.
I'm looking foward to finishing up and heading back to the cabin for the night. Then Wednesday morning it's back to the office!!

DOGWOOD TREE

Our dogwood in full bloom

See the honey bee gathering pollen...

LEGEND OF THE DOGWOOD

In Jesus' time, the dogwood grew
To a stately size and a lovely hue.
'Twas strong and firm it's branches interwoven
For the cross of Christ its timbers were chosen.
Seeing the distress at this use of their wood
Christ made a promise which still holds good:
"Never again shall the dogwood grow
Large enough to be used so.
Slender and twisted, it shall be
With blossoms like the cross for all to see.
As blood stains the petals marked in brown
The blossom's center wears a thorny crown.
All who see it will remember Me
Crucified on a cross from the dogwood tree.
Cherished and protected, this tree shall be
A reminder to all of my agony."

SOLD

I have been a “camper” since I was five years old.

My family started out with a 9’ X 9’ umbrella tent back in the 1950’s. We progressed to a larger tent and when I was in jr.high school we got a 12’ camper where four of us slept on three different levels.

Then while I was in sr. high school we got a fully self contained camper. When I married, we had to go back to a tent for a while, then a popup and finally a full size camper. When the kids left home we bought an even larger camper that had a bedroom with a queen size bed.

While I enjoy camping we had always dreamed of having a place of our own at the lake that we could go to any time of year and not have to make reservations six months in advance of all the major summer holidays.

Just by coincidence last November we came across a small cabin for sale at the lake. We went to see it the first day it was listed. It was small (16’ X 16’ – 2 story) and not in very good shape, but we both loved the place.

We bought the place and handyman husband has been renovating it ever since.

Now that we've been able to spend a few nights up there, we decided it was time to sell our trailer. We put it on Craig's List last night and had one call a couple of hours later and then another call early this morning. Handyman met with the second caller a little while later and they decided to buy it!!!! All the paperwork won't be completed until tomorrow but it sure didn't take long to get it sold. Now we can go ahead and put the new siding on the cabin. YEAH!!!

CHANGES

There are always going to be changes in our lives. Some changes are rather traumatic, such as the death of a loved one. That one is always permanent. Then there are other changes -- a child's move further away. Although I wasn't thrilled with this one, now that the plans are on track for them to move closer to home (about an hour away)I am sooooooo looking forward to it. There are some stumbling blocks here -- the sale of a house, finding an acceptable place to live, getting everything moved--but once those are past them I am hoping to be able to spend more time with them. I want to take the grandchildren to different places, have them spend time with us at our cabin on the lake, perhaps fish with their paw paw when they get a little older, be able to attend their birthday parties, have them come to celebrate our birthdays with us, and maybe even attend some of their school events when they get a little older. Family has always been important to me and it's been rather ironic that, for the most part, my family has lived quite a distance from me. As a child my dad's job kept us about 6-7 hours away from my grandparents and then when I was in college, his job moved him again. This time it was only 2 hours away, but then before I had kids, he was transferred again and they were about 6-7 hours away while I was raising small children. Finally my dad retired and they moved back to within a few miles of us. Unfortunately, my dad passed away at the young age of 69. I wish we had had more time to be close. We've tried to stay close to our grandchildren even though they've been living 9 hours away. We talk on the phone and try to visit as often as we can. Things are different from when I was young and phone calls were just too expensive -- if you called, you stated your business and got off the phone. You wrote letters instead of having conversations on the phone. Now we have Skype where we can talk to the grandkids and they can actually see us and it's free. They get to see the dog and know where we are in the house.
Since we've had to be apart for a few years, I'm hoping we will appreciate being closer together again and enjoy being able to get together more often.

MOVING FLOWERS

Today has been a beautiful Saturday. Before lunch we went out back and dug up flowers that we wanted to take to our lake lot. Then after lunch we drove up and planted the flowers from our garden. We took quite a few varieties over -- creeping phlox and lily of the valley that originally came from my grandmother's garden, asparagus fern that came from my Aunt Martha's garden, and lilies, hostas, lamb's ear, and lirope. It'll be nice to have familiar plants around us up there too. The trees at the lake are beginning to green up. I would have liked to just stay there but we didn't take Toby with us so we had to head back home.

Here is my bleeding heart that has some beautiful blooms on it this year.
This is some of my Honesty (Money Plant) that re-seeded itself. I had tried for years to start some from seed. Finally I have lots of it coming back each year. I probably need to move some of it to the lake too.

LAST TRIP TO KANSAS?

We just got back from a few days in Kansas with daughter #1 and her family. It's always such fun to spend some time with them. The girls are always a hoot!! They are so different -- Kate is so intelligent, never still and never quiet. Gabby is smart too, but she is very quiet and loves to sit in my lap and snuggle. It's hard to believe sometimes that they're sisters because they are so different. Nate, at almost 5 months, loves attention but is beginning to be more content laying on the floor and playing with his toys occassionally.
Things are a little crazy out there right now since our son-in-law has accepted a new position in Nashville, TN beginning the first of August. They've been working on things at the house getting it ready to sell. They've packed up everything they think they can get by without until the move takes place. They've been pleased with the number of showings the realtor has gotten for them so far and are hoping that just the right person will come along and find the home of their dreams. We are so anxious to have them join us in this part of the country so we can see them a lot more often and spend more time being able to help out whenever they need us.
We're hoping that was our last trip out to Kansas -- it's a long nine hours for us (although for the kids, it's more like 11 hours with stops to take care of the munchkins). So, I guess I shouldn't complain!!

HAPPY EASTER

Today has been a bit unusual for our Easter. The day began as usual, off to church at 6 am for our Easter Sunrise Service, followed by breakfast at church. After eating we decided to come home for a while before returning for the regular 8:45 service. After Sunday School we came home for about an hour and then headed back to work at the Resurrection Dinner that our church was hosting for homeless or needy members of our community. The pastor had made contact with the Salvation Army and BRASS asking for their help in getting the word out. Our church van was to transport people from the Salvation Army to our church and then return them from where they came. We were excited to be a part of this new ministry of our church. But things didn't quite turn out as we had hoped or expected. The meal was cooked -- 5 large hams/large trays of hash brown casserole/roasters full of green beans/hot rolls in the warming tray/lemonade/tea/desserts abounded. But where were the people we wanted to serve? We had 3 people show up --- 1 man and 2 women. I'm not sure where they came from as they arrived on their own. They must have seen the notice in the paper. We spent the afternoon fellowshipping with other church members who had come to help out with the dinner. The associate pastor had some meals packed and delivered them to the dispatchers working for the BGPD (unfortunately Holly wouldn't be working until later tonight) and invited police officers & fireman although none came. Since we were among the first there to help with the food preparation, we left before 4:00 (when it was to end). I don't know what they were going to do with all of that food -- cakes had been sliced and put on individual little plates, drinks had been poured, and food warmed in the ovens & roasters.
We really tried to serve our community today, but evidently, it just wasn't meant to be. Hopefully your Easter celebration turned out to be better attended than ours.