Josh's 5k and some odds and ends...

Bless his heart. Josh got to run a 5k this morning. With all of his caregiving responsibilities it's so nice to see him have the chance to just do something he loves for a bit. Jess and Nathan stayed home and watched a movie. (Nathan can get bored waiting and you can't predict how he might act. Better not to take him to this type of thing.) I couldn't bear to stay home and not cheer him on. I think he would have been  fine with going alone, but in my late 40's we ran these together, and it's kind of a sentimental thing for me. I don't mind admitting that I teared up when the lady blew the air horn and the runners took off. This was in a tiny neighboring town as part of their Paul Bunyan Festival. It was a small group of runners and lots of walkers. Josh came in a mile ahead of everyone else, ha ha. I think he's the only one who trained at all. This was their first year doing this. It's a fundraiser to help local people battling cancer. Everyone got a t-shirt and a finisher medal. Anyway, it was a nice little morning jaunt.

My farmer neighbors got their hay baled. I hope it was dry enough! I wanted to take a picture of all the bales in the field. It was so picturesque. I made the mistake of taking my daily walk first, and when I got back they had already removed about half of the bales! They are busy little bees! I suppose they have to make room for that second crop!

Here are the second four cards for the #6 Altered Playing Card swap. The theme of the first four I showed you was "Birds". The theme for these is "Stamps".

I was prowling around outside in my yard a couple of days ago. Kind of looking for flowers to press, but mainly enjoying being outside in the beautiful weather.

A mingling of oak and hazelnut leaves.

The hugging trees. :)

Josh made me aware that I have ferns growing in my underbrush. I pressed a few of these to frame.

Yarrow leaves also make pretty things to press.

I imagine these are some sort of phlox? I picked some of these to press, too.

What's on my desk you ask? Well, my current swap theme is "Inspired by Vincent Van Gogh". We can paint something original, but do it in his style. Or, we can try to copy something of his. Always the copier, I'm attempting his self-portrait. I don't know if I can create something that looks even vaguely like his painting, but I'm trying to lay down solid base colors, and then I'll go back with a pointy tool and add in some of the lines like he does. It should be a mess! But I'm going to try.

This was my first attempt.

The children look on in this 25 year old picture. Josh (10), Micah (3), Jordan (12).

I'm currently reading The Remnant from the Left Behind series. I think I read the first three books of the series many years ago and then realized there were going to be tons more and kind of gave up. So, now I'm leapfrogging over a bunch of books and reading this one. Maybe I'll go back and fill in the rest later, but my library only had this one and Armageddon, which I also got. I'm aware that end time events are a controversial thing, and people can disagree on how it's all going to go down, but let's face it; none of us really knows. I trust God will take care of it in His own way and in His own timing. But this series of books gets me excited about Jesus coming back and keeps my mind on Him, and I think that's a good thing. The world can seem humdrum, or too challenging, and sometimes it seems like it will just drag on forever this way. It's good to have a reminder that things are happening in the heavenlies, and we have to keep looking up! Anyway, that's my take on things. :)

Looks like I have some blog reading to catch up on! Thanks for stopping by!
Shalom!

Happy Easter, everyone!

Have a blessed Easter!

I'm waiting for Josh, Jess and Nathan to bring me home some Thai takeout. I've never eaten Thai food...as far as I remember. (Update: It was really good! We got the Scandinavian, not-too-spicy version. This restaurant is located in a tiny town about 20 miles from here. The wife is Thai and her husband has been to Thailand. You get to choose how spicy you want your food.)

A  couple of photos I haven't shared yet.

Yesterday, on the way home from the hospital, Nathan and the family stopped off in the town of Detroit Lakes. He went hunting for shells on the beach and found some really big snail shells. There's still a lot of ice on that big lake.

Josh and Nathan visited our local Nevis lake beach today. If you look at the photo right about where Josh's hairline is, you'll see white stuff in the lake. Yup, that's ice. They waded around anyway! It was about 70 degrees today. Yay!

Adam's grandmother is making quilts for all of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Micah got this photo of some of the kids trying out Hazel's new quilt. Hazel picked out one quilt square that was her particular favorite. I'm not sure which one it is.

And a few more of the pack...

Audrey is such a good big sister!

Can you tell they had been eating chocolate chip muffins?

Finally! A smile from Mr. Serious!

I actually went for a one mile walk today. The trail is finally all clear. Unfortunately, I tried to be macho and didn't wear socks. I ended up with bloody heels. I'll know better next time! But it's a start! (I would have walked farther if that hadn't happened. Really. I would have.)

I went to the thrift store yesterday and picked up some summery tops. I'm about ready to switch my closet over from winter to summer. Woo hoo!

God bless y'all for stopping by! Happy Easter and Happy Birthday, Glenn! :)
Shalom!

Nathan's coming home temporarily...

Sorry to keep talking about this, but I have family who look here for updates. Josh and Jess decided that a week was long enough in the ER. They figure Nathan can wait here at home while the hospitals decide where he can be taken. Hopefully, there won't be too much excitement in the meantime. Josh will be present at all times in case Nathan has problems. This is why he can't hold a regular job and works online. (Please pray for more online work! He's getting some, for which we're thankful, but he needs more.) A psychiatric nurse practitioner saw Nathan yesterday and is trying a change of meds, but Nathan still needs a more thorough examination. He's also going to try going to school with lots of special ed help. I'm quaking in my boots a bit, but trying to keep my focus on the Lord Who is our help at all times.

This grandma just needs energy and to acknowledge that it's not all up to me AND it's not all up to Josh to shoulder the burdens. Jesus said to give our cares to Him. We just need to learn to really do that. He is faithful!

Saw my first robin yesterday, you guys! He was taking a bath in the ice water puddle in my front yard. Brave soul! I guess that means it's spring! Remember this Hazel quote from a few years ago? I superimposed it onto someone else's art, hee hee.

That's all for now. Trying to keep up on everyone's blogs. You guys light up my life! :)
Shalom to all my friends and family!

A little art...

It's an overcast morning here, but no snow or precip expected in the near future. Maybe with the warmer temps we'll melt a little of this snow!

Josh and family are still settling into their new place. Nathan has joined them and they are still working through some behavioral issues. School placement is still up in the air. Hopefully, within the next week they will decide where he will attend.  He will probably need to be bussed to a neighboring district where they have better resources. Their internet is so bad (slow, dial-up?) that Josh will probably drop in here each day to upload his work. He's figured out something he can do with his smartphone involving a hotspot, but that will only be useful to a limited degree. They plan to find a more satisfactory place to live in a year when their lease is up, but this is workable for now. And I love having Josh drop in. I feel blessed to have them all near!

I've been dabbling in ATC's as I get the opportunity. Here is a group I just mailed off for a swap called "On the Other Hand". They were to be done totally with our non-dominant hand. The little fox and house were copied from two children's books illustrated by Jared Lee.

Another swap was called the "Library Card Catalog" swap. One of our ATC people works as a librarian and he has a pile of old card catalog cards. As host he mailed each of the players some catalog cards and we were supposed to use parts of the cards to make an ATC.

 Then there is the ongoing Altered Playing card swap. We're working our way through the deck. Well, actually, two decks. We do one group of postage stamp cards and one group of bird cards. The bird cards can be drawn or collaged. I don't usually post collaged cards just because it's not really "art", as with drawing. But it's nice to keep track sometimes. :) I think I already posted the birds for #9.

 

Here are the #8 cards. I have several bird identification guides and, yes, I'm actually cutting up one of them for these collages. It's a small paperback that is missing its cover and has been scribbled in and bent up by grandchildren. So, I didn't feel bad using it. I do have a couple of nice ones that I keep out of reach of kids, lol. (Unless I'm supervising the bird watching.)

I sometimes put my art aside, thinking it's kind of a silly waste of time. In other words, I could be using that time for more important things. But I really do think it's necessary as a little bit of color and creativity in my day. It's my little happy pill, lol. The real waste of time for me is just staring at a computer screen. I do a LOT more of that than I do working on art. I'm hoping to cut back so I have more time for prayer and reading the Bible and books that surround me with thoughts of Jesus. The difficulties of life only come into perspective when we turn toward Him and really grow closer to Him.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Here's a little something from Rend Collective. (I just love to listen to Gareth talk! Ha ha!)



God bless you all for stopping by! Hugs and shalom!

1984 was a very good year...

Happy birthday, dear Josh! Josh and Jess took a little road trip to Tennessee in honor of his birthday. Here are a couple of pics.

I don't care what George Orwell says, 1984 was a wonderful year! Josh is a real blessing to the world! :) The shirt, mug and book are Jess's gifts to Josh. I want to read that book again, too!

Had to get a good video shot. They took a walk in the mountains of Tennessee.

And here's little Sully/Bubba napping, after Micah sat by his bed for 20 minutes, lol. He's the Everready Bunny.

My wifi is still not working, so I'm at the library. Please forgive me if I fall behind on viewing blogs for a bit. Once I move out to Micah's I hope it will work better, but for now I'm getting weaned from the computer world a bit. Maybe a good thing. But I'm not gone!

I'm finally having a slow week after so much busyness at church.  Singing practice resumes on Saturday. This is one of the songs we're doing.


I just finished reading Villette by Charlotte Bronte. I think it's one of my favorite books of all time. This is the third time I've read it, and I chose the happy ending. You'll know what that means if you've read it, lol.

I've just begun Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell because my son Jordan is reading it. It has to do with success. He's reading it as inspiration for being self-employed eventually. I saw Malcolm on one of those ads for Master Classes you see at the beginning of YouTube videos. ("I'm Malcolm Gladwell, and this is my Masterclass.") I liked his style in the ad, so I'm trying one of his books, lol.)

Thanks for stopping by!
God bless all and shalom!

Howdy!

Yay! A photo loaded! This is a painting I made for the monthly RAK (Random Act of Kindness) for a gal who had a surgery last month. These galaxy paintings are fun and pretty easy to make. If you want to give it a shot just type "galaxy painting" into the search box on YouTube. ;)

I've just been doing a lot of hanging out with Micah and the kids since last I visited. Babysitting and helping with housework. I'm blessed to have her nearby!

First and last day of Pre-K for Hazel.

Last day of 1st grade for Audrey!

Sully, sampling the ice cream.

I don't have a more recent photo of Adele, but this is cute, right? Grocery shopping at Walmart. :)

Adele just started a month of summer gymnastics, so I should have new photos of her soon.
The girls all have gymnastics and swimming lessons this summer, so Micah will be busy shuttling kiddos around. She loves to keep them involved! (They're blessed to have such a great mom!)

Did I show you this photo Micah made to announce her "expectancy" on Facebook?

She captioned it, "One of these things is not like the others."

Jordan and Brooke are traveling to Colorado at the end of the month to celebrate their first anniversary. Wow! That year went fast! They will stay at an AirB&B near Denver and will get in a visit with Jordan's older brother, Bob, who lives in Longmont. They're looking forward to just being tourists and seeing some of the places they've heard of from us older folks who used to live there.

Josh, Jess, Nathan and Starry seem to be doing well. Nathan was having some problems at school because of his bipolar/ADHD issues, so they are doing some summer homeschooling. If that goes well they may continue homeschooling in the fall. Josh and Jess are doing the Goodreads challenge along with me, and they just decided to read some classics such as Tom Sawyer. They're sounding positive, praise God!

Some ATCs I've finished lately...

This one was for the "House Shaped ATC" swap, so the card has to be shaped like a house, but otherwise you can do just about anything.

 Here are a few more house-shaped ATCs.

Yeah, I'm really into the galaxies lately, lol.

The gal I talked about in my last post, who wanted to minister to widows, never called and didn't show up this Sunday. SO, I decided to be a big girl and strike out on my own. I stayed for the business meeting after the service. That was a great way to learn in-depth just what the church is involved in and where they need help. I'm really glad I went. Afterwards I visited with some of the ladies and volunteered to help with vacation Bible school and with the ladies' missions group. I'm especially excited about the ladies' missions. It sounds like they are very active all year long with lots of projects that I would love to be a part of. This is such a hands-on church. A majority of the congregation seem to be very involved in helping. I learned that the pastor and his wife are trying to retire. Aw! But the Lord can bring someone else along who will carry on. Something to pray about! His retirement is contingent on selling their house. They will then move 15 miles down the road to live closer to their children. Can't blame them for wanting to do that! And maybe they'll be around for a while yet.

I think that's all the news for now. I did laundry and took a 30 minute walk down the trail while the clothes were washing. I've got to get better at doing that. Too much sitting! The weather was beautiful. We're having a nice summer so far.

You all enjoy your summer weather! I'm off to read blogs. ;)

Shalom and love!