Three Words ...

Happy New Year!

Kevin & I have had the most amazing Jesus Year! Our family has been SO graced with His love. If you want to have a Jesus Year {and I know you do!} then I offer this to you my dear ones ... no matter what happens, good or bad, stay in the living breathing word of God! It truly is the bread of life! Blesssings to you and yours, bring on 2010!

A Little More Picture Fun ....

HAPINESS IS:

....playing in the food pantry closet with glow in the dark sticks. ...Grandma's mustache!

... Keaton's fat lips!

... a really stinkin' cute lunch tote and photo wallet for Andrea - my favorite (only) daughter. {Note to Boys - daughter-in-laws are welcome and encouraged.} ... a book for Clayton. Any book will do. But a really good comic book kind of book is the bomb!

... Scooters for Clayton & Rhegan! Need I say more?

.... Uncle Keaton, Math Teacher Extraordinaire' is really a big kid in disguise. Probably, a daughter-in-law is not adviseable at this time, unless she has the patience of Job, and enjoys a stand up (fall-down) comic.

HAPPINESS IS a way station between too little and too much.

Colts Fans Are Crazy

We went with 40,000 of our best friends to the Colts game on Sunday. The boys were excited to see Lucas Oil Stadium. We walked several blocks in blinding wet snow to the stadium, joined the hype happiness inside and rode escalaters to the ceiling and back down again, and then we left the boys on their own to go "discovering" while Kevin & I found our seats. These pics are the result of their adventure. Do boys ever grow up??!!
Peyton and his buds gave us a good show most of the game ... until the coach took him out and THREW THE GAME!! Oh my heck, the fans were mad. Mad might be a mild word. The poor quarterback who "tried" to pull it together for the rest of the game's offensive plays was met with BOOS from 40,000 of our closest friends. Fans literally got up and left the stadium. Our undefeated season record was bombed. Trash-ola. Nix. Nadda.

Do you think we'll get over it? Playoffs --- here we come! BLUE is still my color.

Indulge Me - Holiday Highlights 2009

Church Program --- starring my favorite (only) granddaughter, Miss Rhegan!

Highland Springs Luminary Night and Santa Visit

Christmas Day Presents

Merry CHRISTmas 2009

It's THE day! Christmas Adam has past. Christmas Eve has past. And it's THE day! There is no white snow, only wet dreary rain that has absolutely no bearing on the joy of this day. Today is Jesus' birthday, and we are going to celebrate in style!

Thoughtful Christmas presents, wrappings all around, O'Malley jumping through it - tugging at the ribbon strings. Then it was Christmas omlets, al-la-chef Brandt, while Kevin's taxi went to collect Mom & Jane. Brandt took charge of cooking potatos while Math Teacher Extraordinaire' Keaton cleaned up the messes ... all that was left for me to do was take a shower! Ohhh the joys of adult children! LOL

Dinner is done and everyone is like an overstuffed pillow. Time to relax, reflect, and remember why we celebrate this day. I could not make it through the singing of Silent Night during Christmas Eve worship service last night ... it was one of my dad's favorite songs (as if the wonderment of Christ's birth isn't enough!). When I was growing up, my family always went to Christmas Eve service and dad always made sure me and my lighted candle were doing well together as we sang Silent Night in the flickering light. It's a precious memory to me.

What's a precious Christmas memory of yours?

Precious Precious Holidays

Well – I am on Christmas Holiday for 2 full weeks (starting today!) and I’m looking forward to enjoying time with family & friends! We’ve already had our annual luminary in our neighborhood --- the night when we host a get-together for my extended family and Santa comes around in a sleigh with gifts for the little ones. My dysfunctional bunch runs amuck throughout the house, while the snow falls, and there is food and fellowship in abundance! Last weekend, we also had the pleasure of attending my granddaughter’s Christmas program at church and she was the most magnificent 5 year old in the bunch (did I mention she’s my favorite (only) granddaughter?!? LOL)! Rhegan did her part in the play and sang her songs to Jesus, with the gusto of a hurricane and made Grammy and Papaw smile!

Our boys are beginning to arrive ---- Keaton flew in yesterday from Florida. I SO love that boy! He & I are somewhat kindred spirits, we’ve been through much together, and his wit & humor make every minute of everyday a picnic! He is getting his weather wish – coming from warm, sunny Florida, he always wants us to have snow so he can get a taste of winter! And God delivered on that one! We have a light covering on the ground right now, and a winter storm is predicted within the coming days. Keaton may not be so enthralled with the glistening white wet stuff when he drives 2 hours south, later today, to pick up his brother! LOL

Brandt is traveling from DC. He is riding with a buddy to Louisville and Keaton will pick him up. Then Brandt will be home for 5 days, staying through Sunday so the four of us can go to the Colts game, and then he will fly back to DC on Monday morning. We LOVE our Colts! We go giddy, along with the rest of the 40,000 fans when we are at the stadium! GO BLUE!

We will all attend church on Christmas Eve and then some friends are coming over to join our family for an evening meal. Then on Christmas day, my mom and Aunt Jane will join us for dinner. (A family can NEVER have too many Christmas meals!) LOL On the day after Christmas, we will meet up again with my daughter, son-in-law, and the grandkids. I'm praying that Child Protective Services will not apprehend my grandchildren before that day .... did I mention 2 out of 3 of them have had "mishaps" with "N"th degree burns lately? Ouch. (It's okay Andrea ... you are still the world's greatest momma, and this too shall pass!)

I’m hoping to have some craft time the week after Christmas. Lately, I’ve been smitten with a mixture of shabby chic and vintage designs! My creative streak longs to dip lace in tea, and wrap beautiful fibers around creamy white cards full of glitter and bling! I did get a chance to make some Christmas card/gift sets lately – and if you’ve seen my other blog, you saw the mini notebook journals that I whipped up for the Women’s Christmas Tea. SO very fun to do!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas! May God’s favor shine especially warm and tender in your family this holiday. May His mercy be served up to you fresh and new each morning, in just the exact amount needed for that day, and again the next day and the next in just the right measurement. All this – because Jesus the Messiah was born. Born to save us.

Grace! It's my "word" this past year. What's your word for 2010 going to be?

In Memory of Harold

My bloggin' days have suffered any updates, but I'm moving past that guilt. Praise His merciful, faithful name, God was unsparing in His presence among us at Harold's funeral!

Harold died on Sept 21, following a 3-week struggle resulting from his stroke. Jesus saw he was getting tired and a cure was not to be. So He put His arms around him and whispered, "Come with Me."

Thus starts the funeral procession before the funeral procession. It only took me 3 hours to pack up Kevin's sister Jane (who suffers with Alzheimers). Jane did okay with the travel and funeral, etc. But even as we left Kentucky, she thought we were leaving the family reunion and wondered if that was Harold/Viv in the truck ahead of us!

Kevin did an AMAZING job at giving his brother's eulogy. Everyone was blessed. Everyone. It was like being at service, and then ... oh yeah, you remembered you were at a funeral. God covered him as he spoke. He tied in the good, the bad, and the ugly as only the touch of the Holy Spirit can do. Is it any wonder? It is such a privilege to live under God's faithfulness!

At the service end, I joined my Harley Hubby at the casket to greet the line of final goodbye's. It made me do what I HATE to do in public: the UGLY cry. Geez, I hate that! Nobody looks good doing that. But after Kevin delivered the absolute best message to document and celebrate a life lived, there was no hope of gettin' out of the UGLY cry.

Kevin has burned up the highways making 4 trips to KY to see his brother. His knee hasn't had any time at all to properly heal, and Kevin has certainly paid the price. But again, I'm reminded who paid the ultimate price!

I've learned that it is no coincidence that we were dealing with so much personal stuff lately. Isn't it wonderful that God is IN our lives, and not just there at the END of our lives? He is SO worthy of our trust in every stinkin' detail! In the end, it's BLISS. Forever BLISS. But until then, we can dang' well decide how we're gonna "deal with stuff" till we get there! Dealing with stuff is just a stepping stone to holy!

This past year I have said this 1000 times and I'll make it 1001. You will never meet another face on the planet that has been graced more than me! One thing I am taking home with me from Kentucky is loss. Harold will be missed. And for this season-of-time, I am going to shout to whomever will listen to my face, there is no such thing as serving in obscurity when you belong to Jesus. He is attentive to your labor. He is attentive to your CRY. It MATTERS.

Sweet peoples, there is NO ONE on earth God notices more than you. He knows that the situation you are in is not the easiest place on the planet to serve Him, but He sees you doing the thing day-in and day-out. Thank goodness we have an example of a man after God's own heart.

Good Bye Harold. Forever BLISS is yours!

SHOPshewana Trip

I've been meaning to post some pics from our August motorcycle trip to Shipshewana, which turned into SHOPshewana after ordering a new kitchen table and chairs from the Amish Furniture Shop! Still waiting on our order ... oh darn, we will have to go back with our trailer to pick it up! Mercy me, whatever shall we do except make the drive ... sigh!? (wink wink) Here, Lynn is talking to Mr. Ed .... I think.
A 3 hour trip took 5 hours (but who's counting)! This was a necessary stop - DQ! Smiling bikers! Lynn/Bear ... Rick/Karen ... where's K&K?

Mr. K ... checking into the hotel ...

Tired and hot biker babe ...

Refreshed after eating at the BlueGate. Did anyone say Beef Manhatten, Fried Chicken, and all the fixin's? Naw ... I just heard someone say AMEN!

Lynn had a chance to visit with her bro .. who lives a hop skip and jump away. Nice little family reunion!

God's green thumb ...

Happy biker Chic's ...

Me & my honey, walking thru the "tunnel of luvvvv"!

Wordy Words and Inspirational Words

It's Friday night, and I'm ready to snuggle with my foam pillow here in a little minute so I can start a 3-day weekend fresh as a daisy! I decided to blogaroonie a bit before I hit the hay, because I love ya and my head is full of Wordy Words.

1. Today I'm reminded how much I enjoy my intimate friends. To qualify for intimate friendship you must care, for example, about very important things like whether or not she is using a new Bath & Body cream or if she wore almost the exact same shirt as you on a given day. It could just be my imagination that Karen & I showed up at work today in such a predicament. But in case you are wearing a shades-of-blue tie die shirt today, then I'm afraid we are indeed intimate friends. I'm hoping it's a two-way street here!

2. I’ll have you know that yours truly was FORCED to finish off the remaining Chocolate Zucchini Cake this week! A simple cake doesn’t even begin to say thank you for all the love we received throughout Kevin's surgery, but I offer it humbly! Mr. Stubborn continues to do too much, but we did get a good report from the doctor earlier this week. They took x-rays and showed us a before/after comparison and WOW, what a difference! I don’t let him off the hook though --- I tell him that just because his knee “mug shot” is good doesn’t mean he has free reign to tear it up again! God did not grace Kevin with a subtle wife. So the next day, he went to work. And yesterday morning, he drove himself to Bowling Green, Kentucky ….

3. I will list this one as part of the Wordy Words, but it is not light-hearted. Kevin's brother, Harold, is not doing well following the massive stroke he had a week ago. They were able to do surgery and remove the clot, but he is non-responsive and paralyzed on his right side. His heart rate and blood pressure is not stable and he is struggling to breath. Kevin wanted to get there. We had planned to leave Saturday and take Kevin’s sister (Jane has Alzheimer's and we take care of her). So Kevin went on by himself, and I will bring Jane down on Saturday. Not sure if we’ll be going to the hospital or to a funeral. Only our Heavenly Father knows. I’m glad Kevin made it.

Oh my heavenly mercy! It's almost time for me to say good-night to O'Malley the monster cat and snooze in preparation for my 3-day weekend. I know you prolly feel cheated that I can't go on, so how about a final word of the inspirational type.

1. My nose has been in the precious word of God, because me and my intimate friends (that means you too) have endured pain in our lives. In 1 Samuel 1, Hannah did this. She went through an excruciating personal journey in infertility and the relationships in her life were chaos! She prayed so hard, Eli thought she was drunk! That is sad because he judged her. Isn’t prayer the best way to react to situations in life? We should seek God’s face with passion and emotion! Well, Hannah poured out her heart – just like Kay is doing. It’s okay to ask for healing of the body against disease. It’s okay to plead with God to mend a crushed heart. Praise God that we can take our griefs to God – He can handle it! Well, God remembered Hannah and blessed her. I’m SO thankful that God included Hannah’s story, to bring us hope when we pray and cry out to Him. I have been praying and crying out for my own situations! We HAVE to remember to keep it real with our lives, just like Hannah did!

2. I am learning that worry is just another way of saying that God can't handle His job.

3. Our "Chaos" bible study begins next week and I can't wait to hang with the gang again. I'm sure God has big plans for "Finding Calm in Life's Chaos" by Becky Harling. Calm sounds good to me right now. Where on earth would we be without God and His word? Lord, have mercy! Honestly, I believe with all my beating heart that God wants us to talk about our fears, solutions, and taking chances for God. That, my intimate friends, will keep us busy and smack dab in the middle of each other’s business!!

Okay, I'm snoozing. I pray that our very big wonderful loving God of all the universe will do something very big wonderful in your 3-days of labor-rest, perhaps something with Wordy Words or perhaps something inspirational inside your sweet self!

Hubby Harley Goes To Surgery

This is my hubby on his Harley just 6 days after knee replacement surgery! And he is not just sitting pretty either ... Kevin zoomed off into the sunshine with his cane inside his saddlebag. I'm not sure if my sweet self is recovering from his surgery as well as he is!

We believe that you will never meet another set of faces on the planet that has been graced more than us! Throughout the time leading up to, during, and after surgery, a wonderful support system of family & friends showed us buckets of love. So many prayers, visits, calls, cards, emails, and help ... too numerous to count. Click here to see a little project that Nurse Kay put together for sharing with our church family this morning.

A little bit of rambling:

• Dr. VanMeter prays with his patients before surgery, and we had to hold hands "or it won't take" he says!
• Kevin tried to convince the young nurse to marry our son, but I think she's scared of being his daughter-in-law.
• Although I was technically on vacation for 3 days, suffice it to say billable hands are happy hands.
• I've been meaning to blog about attending the Women of Faith conference, it's on my radar. It was wonderful and overwhelming and full of grace.
• 3-year old birthday girl Rosalie called me on the telephone and said clear as a bell "Thank You for the gift Aunt Kay!" Can anyone say precious? I loved it!
• I'm a little bit tired, but don't plan to be 10 minutes from now.
• There are more angels carrying me than I will ever understand.
• Some of my friends in blogaroonie land will never know how much I appreciate them.
• Football season is starting - YAY! The Hood is prepared for a little thing called Super Bowl. Go Blue!
• Kevin's Sarah Palin glasses broke. So much for Alaska.
• I broke out the pots & pans recently, and remembered how to use them!
• Keaton, Math Teacher Extraordinaire', is back in full swing, only this year he's working on his Masters and tutoring kids on the side. The gift of youth!
• Good friend Debbie P. sent a singing get-well-soon card that made us laugh.
• Kevin is smokin' hot! I want to send a paper plane to my Harley Hubby and say "I Love You"!