Makeover!

Cheers and thanks to my dear friend Julia for transforming my blog! My siblings and I were over at her family's house for a few hours on Saturday and we had such a good time together. I wanted some tips on the technicalities that exist in blogger and she helped me out and more! She whipped that header together in practically no time and I love how it turned out.

We always enjoy being with them because we share a lot of the same values and love the same Lord. Oh, and they live only a few miles from us too. Double plus! Her brothers have a really neat duct tape weapon business and can make all kinds of swords, shields, etc with what i always thought of as ordinary duct tape.

More posts coming up. Gotta do this new makeover justice!
Vicki

Half a Century of Love and the Celebration Thereof

Ok, so it's really embarrassing how long it's been since I posted. There have been lots of thoughts twirling through my head but if I would have written everything down it would've been a virtual thought casserole. I keep up with a lot of blogs and there's really a lot of neat stuff out there. I enjoy all the clever DIY projects but I'm really not that creative. I did blog about a sonic drink holder that I converted into a.....ummmm......well something. You can read it here .

I know each blogger has a different style and mine is more along the inspiration/humor line.  I probably err on the side of not enough pictures so here's a post with pictures. Because I really do like people. Especially the people pictured in this picture post. Amazing alliteration abounding here. :)

So anyway, where was I? I was trying to get to my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary and I'm not sure how i was getting there. (for one thing I'm hearing 5 family members yelling out numbers from all areas of the living room as they try to calculate the cost of of a cabin for a few days.) Doesn't do much for me when I'm trying to concentrate, I'm tellin' ya.

So yeah, my grandparents have reached the golden year of their marriage. Amazing and wonderful and blessed are three words that come to mind. They are really special to me and all of us grandchildren because they have invested so much in us. Grandpa usually did his little grandpa thing when we'd come to visit. He'd get us to gather all the stuffed animals and then he'd position one or two on each fan blade. We all huddled underneath with eyes as big as saucers as he'd turn the fan on and watch them get slung off. (this all happened when we were young, please understand.) Grandma would let us comb out her hair and then put it back in a bun.

Grandpas are just plumb special!

So, the family got together for the weekend and we celebrated! Kens came from Arkansas and Davids came from Florida. And we keenly missed Jason and Melody and their family in the faraway Australia place. It just didn't seem complete without them.

Saturday was spent getting ready for the Sunday open house. Some of them worked on food stuff, we girls decorated and pulled displays together, the boys moved tables and chairs, and this young man:

just sat there, decorative-like being adorable and smiley. We love this newest member of the family pretty much :)

After all the work of scooping the melons out, this was documented.

A very special and key point of the decor' was this pencil sketched drawing of Grandpas done by my 16 year old cousin, Janae, from Australia. Her sister, Carolyn, has a few pictures on her blog as well. Carolyn is my cousin too, being Janae's sister and all. You really should hop over and check out her blog. This drawing is amazing and especially coming from someone with just a knack and no special training or anything.

Melanie, another cousin, put this display together with some of Grandpas' memorabilia. The blue thing you see on the right is a sample of Grandma's wedding dress 50 years ago. An interesting thing about their wedding is they had a double wedding with her sister Vernie and her husband Mahlon.

Back in the early 70's I think, my grandparents and some other families from their church sponsored a few Laotian refugees families' move to the States. The families here were responsible for them after they arrived here. They are all scattered now but we keep in contact and get together with them occasionally. Boonchahn, Chahn, Kahmpooey and Sahmpoo with a few of their children came down for the event. I'm positive that's not the way to spell their names but it's exactly how they sound so there! And they brought with them *gasp* some of their delectable cabbage rolls and sticky rice and suh-lod (salad). There are moments when I can't understand why I'm not Laotian.

America is just so boring. Other people/food groups have all the fun. If I could be who I'd want to be (food wise) this would be me: 30% Italian, 30% Mexican, 20% Laotian, 10% Chinese, 5% Liberian, 3% American, and 2% Oreos and milk.

That's how much I love oreos and milk.

So baaaaaaack to the open house....

During the open house there were speeches by the children. Jason's was recorded in Australia and played via projector, which was next best to him being there,I guess. We grandchildren sang a few songs, one being a song that grandpa wrote, and then the whole family sang our favorite "Jesus Lover of My Soul". The formal part was wrapped up with a speech by the celebrated couple themselves.

Another family member that we missed and remembered was my Uncle Jim, who, at age 23, died suddenly of a heart condition while enjoying recess with his students. His wife of 3 months, Lois moved in with grandpas for a year or so, and while there started courting Gary, one of Jim's good friends. Gary and Lois and their 7 children came for this. They  seem like part of the family. I guess when you share somebody you love, and walk the valley together after he dies, it strengthens, not weakens, family ties. I love how she calls my Grandpas mom and dad. Somehow she makes Jim seem a little more real. Because I was just a year old when he died, I have no memories of him. And yet I miss him. I wonder if he'd still be the fun of the family, the one with all the original jokes, the one who cared and loved his nephew and neices.

So yes, the open house/celebration was enjoyable and we wish for grandpas many more happy years together.

In between all the activities of the weekend, we enjoyed just relaxing at Grandpas.

My youngest uncle David and his wife Toni, with Kenneth giving a back rub.

We enjoyed lots of good food...

And just enjoyed being together. Isn't that what families are for?

Well,  tis very late and i should run off to bed. I had all this and more written before but then I closed it for a bit and lost pretty much everything. Blogger isn't exactly once saved always saved I guess.

I do want to write more. I'd like to start using writing as a discipline which will be very good for me.

I suppose to be professional I should do or host a giveway. Except I haven't anything really fun or extra to give away. Except for some socks. Those are extra, not fun. And everything fun that i possess is not extra. Which = giveaway.

I told you I was tired......

Vicki

Oh, and btw, I have had several page views from cool places like Germany and Poland and Thailand. Do let me know who you are and what you eat and I might replace my Oreos and milk percentage with some of your local cuisine.

Beautiful Lines~

To live content with small means;

To seek elegance rather than luxury;

and refinement rather than fashion;

to be worthy, not respectable; and wealthy not rich;

to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly;

to listen to stars and birds, to sage and babes,

with open heart;

to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely,

await occasion, hurry never;

in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious

grow up through the common.

This is to be my symphony.

-William Henry Channing

\Anita gave this verse to her girls in the Christian Womanhood class one year. It's been in my Bible ever since, because I like it so much. In a beautiful way, it portrays what a good, happy life should be.

I'm still pondering on it though, and wrestling with the line: elegance versus luxury and wealth versus riches. The contrasts seem so similar and I don't grasp fully what it's supposed to mean.

Channing uses his words carefully and beautifully.

To let the spiritual,unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common.

Wow.

I try so hard unbidden and unconscious, and wish for the mountaintop experiences grow up through the common. 

That's just plain 'ole everyday life. No mountaintops there. Nothing sparkly or rose tinted.

Just the hum-drum of life. But it can be beautiful. And that makes me happy inside.

Vicki~*~

I Think We've Grown Up

For the first time in all my life (23 whole years as of today), I finished a monopoly game. I had never finished a monopoly game before with my siblings. See, we always felt so sorry for each other whenever any of us were approaching debt so we'd just forgive each other and keep going. It always ended up like the 4 blondes at the four way stop. So when the properties were all bought, we figured it was a good time to end the game.
That was back in the days when we'd sneak our hundred dollar bills  into our laps when nobody was watching to give the impression that we had less money. Then, when we needed to purchase something big we'd smugly pull it out and everybody would wonderingly gasp, "She was hiding money!"

or something like that.

You would have thought that we'd cease to be surprised with time but we weren't exactly 500 watt when it came to bright.

That was also in the era of Lots Of One Dollar Bills = cool. 40 one dollar bills makes a bigger stack than two $20's. I think our thoughts of ourselves were fairly high with this intelligence.

So last night we pulled out Monopoly and played a brutal game. There was no forgiveness anywhere. I really smoked them..... and then too eagerly challenged them to a game tonight. Yep, that's why i'm on this blog while they are exchanging rents in increments of hundreds. 

It's sorta sad that we grow up..... but at least our games aren't never ending anymore.

The end.

Things That Made Me Happy Today

~--~ the tulip trees, adorned with frilly pink and white blooms

~--~ the newly bloomed daffodils, nodding and agreeable in the sunshine

~--~ the green grass, emerging from brown nothingness

(ie. all things bright and colorful)

~--~ the roundabout between here and Montezuma. One important fact you should know about me is that I destest four way stops. I think thoughts in Portugese when I come to any of them. And I don't even know Portugese. It's always a thing of who's there first and what if I got there only .00000008th of a second before the other car? I know there's a rule to go by in such a situation but it always evades me at that point. So, yeah, roundabouts are just great. I think warm thoughts in English whenever I wheel around one of them.

~--~ the grins I weasled out of my young cousin, Jeremy, who I babysat today. When one chirps in baby talk and whistles and coos and in all ways looks ridiculous, it is nice when they do condescend to grin at you.

~--~ the fact that I didn't have to change a messy diaper. I got a sniff of something suspicious, and girded up the loins of my inexperience and reluctance, but thankfully it was just  a *false alarm*. I was more hating it for his sake, see? :) I'm known for putting on diapers backwards and completely forgetting the protective rubber pants. I'm doing good to remember that they do sometimes need to be changed.

~--~ our big, airy bedroom in all it's blue and whiteness. Freshly cleaned up. That sentence was really the main point.

~--~ our creative old dog burying a piece of red velvet cake out by the fence. Well, it didn't exactly make me happy, more cracked me up.

~--~making taco rice that we are going to eat tomorrow. I. love. taco. rice.

~--~ the fact that nobody wrecked into Kelly on her way to the airport this morning, and that her plane didn't hit a bird and that she didn't get lost in the peanut sized Branson airport which has two gates and one baggage belt thingie. And that she's having fun with Melanie and Kenneth and Justin even though I really want to be there.

~--~ listening to my old Calvary Bible School 2008 chorus recording and remembering how it was to be 19 and at CBS. As all recordings from that dear place, the value is primarily in the fondness of memories, not the recording quality. Those were good times and good peoples.

~--~ the fact that the previously mentioned recording did not pick up the snorts and coughs of laughter coming from the back row of the soprano section. I can't remember what was provoking the laughter of me and two girlfriends but I do remember trying to pull ourselves together and stop. Because, after all, giggling on recordings is unheard of.

The last song we sang was "Homeward Bound" and today I couldn't help thinking of Casey, one of the guys there that term, who was taken Home two weeks ago by "the rough, restless tide". He had done a year or so of voluntary service at a nursing home and was in Puerto Rico on a mission trip. Minutes after taking a group picture on a cliff by the ocean, he stumbled on some shaky ground, and plummeted 70+ feet to the ocean below and after swimming awhile and fighting for survival, he finally drowned. It all seems too horrible for words, so freak and bizarre, so unnecessary. And yet we choose to believe God didn't make a mistake.


And since random is the theme of this post, I'll  wrap it up with an informative piece about the difference between the North and South. It's not original with me but I did find it highly humorous.

The difference between the North and the South - at last, clearly explained...

 

The North has Bloomingdale's , the South has Dollar General .


The North has coffee houses, the South has Waffle Houses ..


The North has dating services, the South has family reunions.


The North has switchblade knives; the South has .45's


The North has double last names; the South has double first names.


The North has Indy car races; The South has stock car races .


North has Cream of Wheat , the South has grits.


The North has green salads, the South has collard greens ...


The North has lobsters, the South has crawfish .


The North has the rust belt; the South has the Bible Belt .. 

FOR NORTHERNERS MOVING SOUTH . .. ..... 
In the South : --If you run your car into a ditch, don't panic. Four men in a four-wheel drive pickup truck with a tow chain will be along shortly. Don't try to help them, just stay out of their way.
This is what they live for.


Don't be surprised to find movie rentals and bait in the same store.... Do not buy food at this store.


Remember, 'Y'all' is singular, 'all y'all' is plural, and 'all y'all's' is plural possessive


Get used to hearing 'You ain't from round here, are ya?'


Save all manner of bacon grease. You will be instructed later on how to use it.


Don't be worried at not understanding what people are saying. They can't understand you either.. The first Southern statement to creep into a transplanted Northerner's vocabulary is the adjective 'big'ol,' truckor 'big'ol' boy. Most Northerners begin their
Southern-influenced dialect this way. All of them are in denial about it.


The proper pronunciation you learned in school is no longer proper . 

Be advised that 'He needed killin..' is a valid defense here.


If you hear a Southerner exclaim, 'Hey, y'all watch this,' you should stay out of the way. These are likely to be the last words he'll ever say.


If there is the prediction of the slightest chance of even the smallest accumulation of snow, your presence is required at the local grocery store... It doesn't matter whether you need anything or not. You just have to go there.


Do not be surprised to find that 10-year olds own their own shotguns, they are proficient marksmen, and their mammas taught them how to aim.


In the South, we have found that the best way to grow a lush green lawn is to pour gravel on it and call it a driveway.AND REMEMBER: If you do settle in the South and bear children, don't think we will accept them as Southerners. After all, if the cat had kittens in the oven, we ain't gonna call 'em biscuits. 

~Vicki

Thinkings from a dentist's chair

Sitting in a dentist's chair with enough Novacaine in your mouth to make it feel like you're harboring an elephant gives you lots of thinking time.I had a few teeth that needed filllings and two that needed extracting, per my orthodontist's orders. I blithely thought, "why not take care of everything at once." To do that, howsoever, they had to numb every bit of my mouth except for the floor. It's an incredibly odd feeling, that of having ownership of lips and a tongue, but not being able to feel them. What's worse, they asked me to stick out my tongue so I stuck out what I thought was my tongue, hoping devoutly it wasn't my tonsils or small intestine.

 

 

And you know, nothing really hurts after the initial pricking and pinching off the big, bad needle. It's just a whir of pulling and noises and lights and tools that bump and grind and an occasional, "You okay down there, honey?" ( he's allowed to say that, because this is the south and he's over 50 :) You really want to get honeyed and sweethearted, and dolled and stuff, just try standing behind a cash register and help a couple hundred of people a day.

 

The dentist left for a little after the fillings were done and I was done fighting unfair battles with forces not to be reckoned with so I said to the nurse, "ahhhhh eeeeeee eeeeeee ewwwwwww ohhhhhhh ewwwwww uhhhhhhh ahhhhhhh ewwwww." She looked at me sympathetically, remarking on how long I'd been on the chair and kindly showed me the bathroom. I'm in awe of her foreign language expertise.

 

But back to the thinking.....I was trying to imagine a numb life. A life without pain. Or suffering. Or hardship. There are times I foolishly think I could really enjoy that. It would be nice not to feel the heartbreaking pain of the death of a dear friend.To not have a heart bleeding for abused children and the pain they go through. To not have to worry and wonder over children in Liberia who are for various reasons, involved in witchcraft and things you and I have never gone through. Can you imagine life without all that?

 

 

But imagine also a life without joy. For without pain, one can not experience joy. You can't experience the good in the absence of the bad because there would be nothing to define goodness and badness. Lasagna wouldn't taste nearly as delicious if I wouldn't have baked oatmeal to compare it to. (now you know my feelings on both food items :)

 

 

 

  Imagine a life without smiles, for smiles are a result of joy and happiness. A life without laughter and kindness and thanksgiving.

 

 

I tried to find the story of the People in the land of the Middle. It's an interesting and soul searching read about a land devoid of emotion. It was never hot nor cold. The people were neither happy nor sad. Theirs was a life without color, without tears, and without smiles. I find it fascinating and disturbing all at once. Give me a life with tears and heartbreaks and questions.....because then I can know happiness, comfort and healing.

 

There's all kinds of emotional novacaine out there to rob you of feeling. Lies. Society is out to numb you of certain things to get you to experience others. I think of the many innocent young children all over Africa who are brain-washed, given a gun and told to kill. And they do, without emotion.

 

This is not a post about letting your feelings dominate you and celebrating them to the extent of not living in reality. This is just a post of thanksgiving to the One who gave me the capacity to feel love and pain. To laugh and cry. And to live with meaning.

 

~-~-Vicki

 

 

 

 

 

The miracle of life

 

A letter to Jeremy

Welcome to the world, Jeremy, and more specifically, welcome to our world! It's nothing short of a miracle, how such a little bundle can bring such great happiness. How such a little bundle can turn a household upside-down, can keep a grown woman up most of a night, and can have cousins fighting to hold it. All this to say, you are a pretty special bundle.

 

You came to your family, and to us in a very special way. God, the Creator/Weaver, pulled the strings and wove together a very beautiful design that led to your arrival. You were prayed for and cried for. Your brothers wanted another sibling very badly. Your mom wanted another armful of babyness to hold. And your dad wanted another son to trail him on the farm. And then God answered prayers, and sent you.

 

You were surrounded by love since your birth. The people who took care of you before you became part of your forever family loved you very much. Love surrounded you and will surround you through your life.

 

You will learn all kinds of things in the next couple years. You will learn about colors.....white is for cows, your dad will teach you. Green and yellow are for tractors and equipment. Black and blue is for tussling and playing with your energetic brothers. And red, for a whole lot of love.

 

You have grandpas who will give you gator rides and teach you about golf. Your grandmas will fix all kinds of good things to eat and give you horseback rides. And your cousins.... well, we won't even start on that. Because they've already spoiled you. You whimper a little, and they all come running to see what you need. We will cuddle you when you are little, read books to you when you get older,teach you to read when you turn 2, and discuss and debate with you when you grow up. Yours will be quite the life, I can already tell.

 

You came to us in a unique way and because of unique circumstances. As you grow older, you may hear you are inferior becauses of it. That's not true! We are made in His likeness and He never sends Himself down in inferior or second-best packages. Adoption is a beautiful metaphor of the Christian life. We have all been adopted.

 

 You are neither more special, nor less special because of this. You are exactly how God wanted you to be, a sweet little 8 lb bundle that could win a yelling contest, no problem.

 

We love you Jeremy.....welcome to our world!