June 4

My day to relax and reflect didn't happen but I still have 26 days left so that will happen I'm sure. BUT the best so far is the text message I got from Jenny. Jenny is in Haiti. She left Thursday at 3am. She is there with her church on a mission trip and I was sure I'd not hear from her until she returned to the states. Tough on a mom but I was working on accepting it WHEN... I heard my phone make the ding. The you have a text message, ding. Much to my surprise it flashed Jenny Rudd. I almost dropped my phone from the excitement from seeing her name and swinging around to sit down to read the text, which turned out to be, not only a text, but a short video as well.

Now I'm sure that little short conversation will end up being one of my precious gifts both sentimentally and costly. She isn't on an international plan but well worth it.
THIS IS WHAT SHE TEXT:
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I'm doing great. Falling in love with Haitians. I love you, mom!

No bugs in bed. Lots of dirt and mud. If you can, will you check how much it is 
to text internationally? If not much I'll send you frequent updates. If not I 
should stop texting. 

(THEN CAME THE VIDEO BUT I CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET IT ON my blog. but this is the caption to it.)

Those are kids waiting for me to comeback and play. 

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Sadly I informed her not to continue to text. I think that short connection was about $50.00 but the best $50.00 that will be spent this month. Wish we had gotten an international calling/texting plan for that week.  What was I thinking??
Just knowing she was there safely and falling in love with the little children was good enough to see me through to Thursday.

Another special surprise was from Stacy. She sent me a video of Eli trying to work his way through the iPhone video she was taking. Or so I'd like to think that is what he was doing. Actually he was working on his crawling skills.  Perhaps tomorrow after church I'll teach myself how to put video's on my blog. :) after all this is all about things I want to do, right? :)

JUNE a special month. A new experiment.

 Birthdays have taken on a new dimension in my life. At least I'm going to give it a try! I have two pretty special friends (Janet and Brooke) that have told me that birthdays are for celebrating the entire birthday month. I'm going to try to be a birthday diva just like them! I'm going to practice by doing something each day of June.

This is June. June is MY birthday month! Do I get a gift each day??? Gifts aren't always things, sometimes they are time spent with friends and family or doing something for someone else. And then again they are also things. :) Lets see how I do. Janet and Brooke, you can let me know how I'm doing when the month is over or while it's going on. Maybe you have some ideas for my first year of  celebrating birth-month!
June 1  Dedication day! Good deed day! Thinking of others day! Emmaus friends had our monthly get together and since it was June I was given 12 birthday cards with money in it. I donated all the money to the Magdalena House.
June 2  Planning on buying two 9' X 12' rug for our new wooden floors. This takes some decorating expertise which I do not have. I don't even live in the same book of a decorating person. There fore I call on my personal decorator, Cindy. I hope she still likes me when and if we find a rug or two. Those suckers must weight somewhere near a ton so it's a BIG deal to have them brought here and laid out just to say ahhhhh no, sorry don't like any of them except the one that is too small. So they are loaded back up in the truck and back to the store. (courtesy of the store). Well sort of $45.00 for there hard work. My gift today is a gift of friendship. Cindy came over with Sutton in tow and helped and encouraged me. I would have settled for the "to small rug" SOOOO glad I didn't.
June 3  Today I made up for yesterday, so gifts today were: Trip to J Jill, Bath & Body Works, and Anthropologie. Lunch at Chris Madrids with friends and dinner at Carrabbas with my mom. Chesley is off fishing for the weekend so Saturday is going to be my quiet time and time to reflect. :) We'll see how that goes. It's 55 minutes from now.

Sammy Samerton

Spider man Sammy tossing his web...

 My busy little buddy today.

 Sammy telling me where everything is in the kitchen cabinets.

 Reading time is always a favorite with Nama.

 Very happy to be playing with Ryan's cars and trains in the secret closet. :) He thinks this is very funny.

 Sammy loves to watch me bounce the ball. If I could do it, he would have watched me all day long. This is Sammy trying to bounce the ball.

 Secret fun with Nama.

Smiling Sammy! Look at those pearly whites!!!

 Swinging Sammy!

 Sandbox Sammy!

 Strolling through the roses Sammy.

 Standing Sammy!

 Playing Sammy!

Tomato Update

As the storms in Ohio rage and I am continually getting updates from my brother in Ohio. The texting team passes on the info to the people in the room. In his case in the basement. Last he text: "hail storm and still tornado's in the area, Go Scotty" Really, thinking about American Idol. O yeah, there is no TV in their basement and probably no electricity. They do have a generator so perhaps they did see it. My cousin is in Indiana and we were keeping touch with her as well. Everyone was OK.
Meanwhile we of course were concerned and praying for all up north. But also took my mom outside to see the tomatoes. So here is an update on what seems to be an acre of produce in a very small space:

 Below are all different plants just filled with these fruits from heaven. They are sooo good.

 My mother told me a story. When she was a little girl they also had tomatoes growing. They were next to her sand box. She crawled under the sand box cover and would reach out from under it and grab a tomato and eat it seconds after pulling it from it's growing home. She loved the warm ripe taste of the tomato in her secret hiding place. :)

 I asked Chesley what in the world did he do different this time.?? (last years crop, not so good.) He says must be the May touch. Best crop he's ever had and he hopes to repeat it next year. Secret?? Don't know, I really think it's surprised him as well. Fine by me. HEB watch out, CEM is about to take over.

 Maddie and Mitzi always enjoy coming outside to survey Chesley's fine work on his pride and joy.

 Beautiful job on the yard Chesley! He is a happy camper today. Played golf and shot in the 90's. (good since he just started a few yrs ago) He got his fishing license today and they couldn't believe his age. He couldn't wipe the smile off his face.

Ohio... Got to love it!

I love Ohio in the springtime. I'm sitting at Rudder's, the "local gathering place" where they have free wireless internet. I'm enjoying watching the locals coming in and getting lunch and chit chatting. Local music being played and smelling the homemade soups and other dishes they prepare for this community.
Northerners have had a tough winter this year so the signs of spring are welcomed "in" with such enthusiasm and everyone is busy fixing up their yards and gardens. It almost makes the cold winter days worth it when you see the new growth, flowers blooming and birds singing. You see lots of activity going on outside since people have been home bound, pretty much, most this year. 

One day I took the golf cart out and with my camera in hand, I captured some of the new buds making a day bu of their new beginning to life.

 Pictures above and below are in my dad's front yard. The tree in picture below is what we see when we open the front door. It's a daily reminder of spring.

 The next few pictures are what I took on my journey in the golf cart.

 Tulips in all colors and sizes.

 This is a neat picture because you see mostly spring but one lone tree waiting to wake up.

 This is Saturday morning and I'm on my Dad's back deck watching people getting their boats all spruced up and ready for a summer of sun, water skiing, fishing, and sailing. First they have to be placed into the water after being winterized and nestled in their winter boat storage's. So they too will be waking up and doing their job.

 Ahhh the birds. The birds are everywhere. This is a bird lovers paradise  out here. If only I knew their names. They come flying by my dads window to their summer home after being south for the winter. REALLY I have seen so many beautiful birds pass by. I think this is the highway to the north for these delicate species that God created.    

Here is my dad reading his paper and magazines.

My dad has always said it's God's country up here. In the spring we see God at work here with there being such a difference in the seasons.

Momma bird protecting her eggs in her homemade nest. Birds can always find something to gather together to make their safety net for their young. Ummm God does always "give us this day". The birds never think twice about it in the springtime. They know God will provide for them. And He does.

Wonderful Day

The Mom's!
Jessica and Rod invited us to their home for Mother's Day. 

The Dad's

Rod, the cook. This was the best BBQ chicken I've had. Thanks Rod.

Our entertainment. Mimi aka Millie, and Ryan doing a dance for us. There has to be a reality show for them.

Auntie Jenny and Sammy making us all laugh.

The Gift of Love! Painted by Jenny with Jessica and Stacy's suggestions and help over the phone and pictures of the progress. Ahh the technology of today. I'm so touched by your expressions of love to me. It's all my children and grandchildren as flowers. Me in the Sun shining down on my children.  On each stem you'll see their names. In my name is a cross. Each flower has the personality of each child. O I love love love this and will always cherish this.  

On the bottom right corner is a flower blowing it's seeds in the wind to continue the love of this family.

Thank you girls for a perfect day.

Two of my three precious daughters.
Stacy and family in CA on Mother's Day. We're all together by way of blogging and phone. 

Featured

My daughters and I are being featured on Brooke Swallow Meabon's blog!! Really? I'm going to be featured in the same blog with such gifted and talented girls? Honored is all I can say! Love sharing with whomever will listen to me about my precious girls. Thank you Brooke.

Please take a Peek in Our World by Brooke. She has a world that will both inspire you and perhaps learn about how the young woman are changing our world and making it a better place by sharing ideas and concerns and forming a blog community.

www.peekinourworld.blogspot.com