Busy with family!

Josh and family got moved to Minnesota safely, praise God! They are still with me, but are going to meet their new landlady as I type this. They've found a trailer house just about 1-1/2 miles down the road from us. This will be nice for visiting and so we can all help each other when needed. Jess has found a job at Subway in the town that is about 12 miles from us. Josh brought his job with him. Starry will start school tomorrow and she will be in the same class as Hazel. Nathan has had some bipolar issues and is in the hospital in Fargo where they are reassessing the meds he's on. I think he will be discharged on Friday and hopefully things will go better.

They will be surrounded by a small community out in the country. There are three other trailers, one occupied by a local pastor and his family. The landlady's husband is also a pastor and they have raised a special needs child, so it looks like they are in a good place to make some friends and have some fellowship. As soon as we move their belongings one more time (they're in a storage garage in that town 12 miles away) we hope to all settle into some sort of routine. Yeah, right. Life doesn't seem to like to let us do that, lol. But we'll get as close as we can.

Josh and the kids on their trip up from Kentucky.

Winter may finally be grudgingly releasing its grip on our area. We still have piles of snow, but the temps are rising. It's sunny and we have a south wind today. It feels kind of humid. I think that's a good thing. :)

I don't have much for new photos, but Micah's three youngest posed for these with their Paul Bunyan beard. It was crocheted by their "other Grandma Lisa". This Grandma Lisa gave up on crocheting pretty quickly, lol.

Della

Sully

Thatchy Poo

And Starry lost a tooth!

Well, y'all, I'm tired. We're all just getting over being sick. In fact, Starry and Nathan haven't even gotten to see their cousins yet, so that should happen soon. We're pretty much recovered.

I'm enjoying all of your blogs. Thanks for coming to see mine! Much love!
Shalom.

Another goodbye...

My sweet son hit the road again this morning, returning home to Kentucky. We thought he would be here a lot longer, but circumstances keep changing and his wife asked if he could come back home. So, I just saw that Josh posted this photo on Facebook. He's about 4.5 hours down the road, and I'm glad to see it's sunny and cheerful where he is.

I'm praying for him in so many areas of life. Not only the healing of the relationship with his wife, but also that his business will prosper so he can take care of his family without any unnecessary stress. Above all, that he will feel the joy and strength that come from his Lord alone.

Here Josh is enjoying an evening with some old friends. This is his old taekwondo master, Nick, who is more like a brother, and Nick's wife Flo. Sweet people and just what Josh needed. He helped with a few taekwondo classes while he was here.

Hey, I forgot to post some photos of Audrey with her new haircut! She decided she wanted her hair really short. Mama Micah wasn't too sure she liked the idea but she decided, "Oh well. It will grow back..."

Before

During

After

That's my cute, sassy little granddaughter! :) And she got a homemade cookie for being so good. Her hairdresser is a lady from our church who works out of her country home. (Country Couture, I believe is the name.)

These are Josh's kiddos, Nathan and Starry. They're excited to see their Daddy again. Starry woke up this morning and told her mom, "I just had a dream that Daddy's coming home!" God gave her a dream! I'm so glad their dad will be back with them soon. He's worked hard to keep in touch with them while he was here.

Well, back to my single way of life. I'm going to have to keep busy and try to remember Josh's happiness instead of how much I miss him. I am happy for him. For Josh's sake I pray that this little family will stay together and that what Satan meant for evil God will use for good.

My favorite fall candy! I sent a container of this for Nathan and Starrry along with a coloring book and a couple of children's books.

 I did a few more rows on this little dishcloth. It's good knitting weather today. Wet and cold.

 Here are some random ATCs. Hopefully I haven't shown these already.
The first four are for a swap called Only One Eye. Basically, draw something with only one eye showing! Plankton is my favorite little cyclops. :)

 A mushroom ATC, with and without ink outline. For future reference.

 This little owl was drawn on brown paper with a white gel pen and some colored pencils.

 This fawn was drawn on a paint chip and then cut out and pasted onto the background. The name of the paint color was Gentle Fawn. This was for a swap called Paint Chip ATCs.

And now I will visit some of you! :)

Shalom, my good friends and family!

My great blogging friends...

Thanks to all of you for your kind comments concerning my mom and my health issues. You're the best!

I did finally go to the clinic today. Woo hoo! Been threatening for quite some time! The PA I saw said my lungs sound fine, but are probably just a little irritated from the secretions they're having to put up with. He was a little more concerned with my sinus pain and low grade fever. So, he prescribed an antibiotic which I've begun to take. I expect that this will take care of my problems, and I'm so glad I decided to go in.

I haven't been doing a whole lot while I've been under the weather. I did watch a scad of movies over the weekend: Pride and Prejudice (the four hour version), Persuasion (the 80's version), Jane Eyre (the Toby Stephens version) and Night at the Museum (with the kooky Neaderthal guy).

I've been trying to keep up with my 29 Faces challenge. Here are the latest...

Maybe I can dig up some new grandkid photos. Well, here's an assortment of kids and grandkids... :)

Here's my sweet son, Josh. He's growing out his head hair a little.

And here he is with Nathan and Starry.

This is what Micah calls her Walmart Freak Show. She's wearing Sully, Hazel's sticking her tongue out, Adele is saying something, and the little boy with the brown hair is Micah's nephew, Max. Audrey is in school. Micah babysits Max a couple of days a week. She's a brave gal and doesn't mind doing this sort of thing...most of the time!

Jordan and friend Andrew, clowning around.

Adele takes her superhero job very seriously. The binky makes the outfit. (Not to mention the slippers!)

I don't remember what Audrey was so excited about, but this is the only recent photo I have of her, lol.

Yup, Sully (aka Bubba) is always this sweet. I think he's the spittin' image of his dad, and seems to have his dad's temperament. He's a blessing!

Well, that's all I have for ya at the moment! I hope you're all well and happy as a bunch of clams.
Have a shalom filled week! :)

My sketchbook is on tour!

Remember when I filled up a sketchbook and sent it to New York City to be part of The Sketchbook Project? Well, it's now on tour along with many others! The chances of anyone actually looking at it are infinitesimal, but it's an interesting happening (for me) just the same.

 Pom, the tour will come to North Boulder on July 23. You can find details here. Apparently, you have to RSVP if you want to go. This is probably the only stop on the tour where I know anybody. (I used to live just outside of Boulder, so I can almost visualize where my book will be!) If you should decide to go I think they can look up the book by my name or it's ID# which is B826081. Anyway, it's fun that mine actually made it on a tour. They don't all get to do that. (I think it's a random pick thing.) You can find more posts about the sketchbook here.

Josh and family came up for a visit for a couple of days. It was good to see all of them and spend some time with my grands, Nathan and Starry. I miss my boy, but it looks like things will work out better for them in Kentucky than here. Jess's large family offers her lots of support with the kids as the whole family faces some challenges. (I talked more about those challenges in this post. The problems with Jess's siblings that I mentioned in that post seem to be resolving themselves.) They do hope to move 10 or 15 minutes away from her family to a place of their own in the future, but for now will live with her folks and siblings. They live on a very nice farm in the country near Paint Lick, Kentucky. (Love that name!)  I think communal/extended family living is an idea whose time has come in our present economy. So many struggle financially or health-wise, and an extended family living under one roof can help to share burdens. Of course, being human beings, it can be difficult living in close quarters, but it can also be an opportunity for growth. Anyway, I'm praying that they will not only survive, but thrive!

Nathan and Starry walk in Paul Bunyan's footsteps in Pequot Lakes, MN.

Starry playing in the lake just a couple of blocks from my apartment.

Nathan having some park time. They went to a LOT of parks while they were here.

This picture popped up on Facebook. Son Jordan, skating with friends somewhere in the Fort Worth area. :)

And a few cute pictures of Micah's three girls...

Adele, with her hair blowing in the breeze, lol.

Sweet Audrey. She's trying to loosen another tooth so the tooth fairy will bring her something good!

Hazel and Audrey

Hazel aka Hazey

Ha, ha. So much fun!

Sorry! When Micah does these "photo shoots" I just have to put them all up here for posterity!

Now that the company has headed home I may settle back into some art projects and reading. I have several books going at the moment.

I came home a little early today because I was feeling kind of puny and we were pretty much caught up and well-staffed at work, for once. So, I'll take it easy and play a bit. Thanks for looking in on this rather longish post. If you made it this far...THANKS! :)

Have a great rest of your day!
Shalom!

Lazy weekend...

Hello, all! I don't know about you, but the Fourth of July weekend is a good excuse for me to stay close to home. Our little town explodes with weekend tourists, and the big rodeo that takes place here every year. When Bob was here we went a couple of times, but I'm not a fan of crowds or excessive beer guzzling, so I'm not tempted to go by myself.

There will be lots of crowd attracting events in Park Rapids, which is the town where I work. It's 12 miles down the road, so I'll stay in the relative quiet of Nevis. I believe we'll have a parade on Monday, and at the risk of appearing Scrooge-like, I probably won't go to that either, unless Micah and Adam and the kids are going. Then I might. I work on Monday, but I should be home in the late afternoon.

Downtown Park Rapids during some event.

Fireworks? I'll hear plenty of them from my apartment. (Scrooge, scrooge...)
I've been indulging and relaxing so far today. I stayed up later than I should have last night. My Aunt Dixie, who lives in Angleton, TX (which is where my folks live) posted a video of Art Garfunkel singing on Facebook. That led to me visiting YouTube and looking up some old Simon and Garfunkel videos. It was a virtual concert! I enjoyed it very much, but I'm probably more tired than I would have been. Oh well. Sometimes you have to do these things. :)



 As you can see the garden is growing. Petunias are mingling with squash blossoms...

 ...and others are bursting out of their pot!

 The tomatoes are growing, but I'm noticing some of the leaves are turning yellow, and others are getting a little curly and crispy. Okay, all of you gardeners out there. What's wrong? I'm giving them Miracle Grow every couple of weeks and trying to keep them watered. They dry out quickly in these pots. Any ideas?

 The sunflowers are heading toward the sun, but they also have some yellow leaves.

I think I'm decompressing from a couple of weeks of planning for the kids' move from Kentucky. Though their plans fell through, I feel sure they are in God's hands where they are. They are always looking for reasons to be grateful, and are making plans to better their situation right where they are.

Nathan and his dad went fishing...

...while Starry and her mom played nearby.

 I'm off to do some more reading. This is one of my current reads. I like reading people's life stories. There are a lot of good dads in my family, and I may pass this along to son Josh when I'm finished. I think he will like it.

God bless you all! Happy Fourth!
Shalom. :)