Spring has sprung!

The weather has been beautiful here this past week. We slept with the windows open last night and listened to the rain outside. I love it. The tulips I planted last fall are starting to come up, and I'm finding that we have thousands (and I am not exaggerating) of day lily plants coming up. There are huge swatches of them alongside the creek and throughout the woods. I did not realize we had so many since last year most of them did not actually flower. I think they've been in the ground for quite a while and need to be dug and divided. That will be quite a chore!

We have been a bit busy the last two weeks with things here around the house. Mike finished packing most of Nick's things up and moved his computer into that room. It will now be his den and our guest room. I was busy last week with 3 cakes. I made a small one for Mike's Mom for her birthday and had a bridal shower and a 25th anniversary cake to do. My kitchen was full of cake layers and flowers for several days. :o)


We've also been working on the vegetable garden. We're putting in raised beds, but first we have to level off part of the hill and then fence around it to try and keep the deer out. I'm hoping to finish up most of it this weekend and get my seedlings in the ground soon. After that I'll start pruning out a lot of the raspberry patches that were the most productive last year to make it easier to get in there this year.

Mike has been going through the property with the tractor pulling out the various remains of the previous tenants. So far I think he's found a washer, dryer, fridge, field seeder, car (couldn't get that one moved), trailer frame, and miles of metal fencing. There's still a lot more. There's one pile we'll probably never be able to move unless we cut down the two trees that have literally grown through the metal and bring a huge bulldozer in to take it out. I understand those that use part of their property as a dump rather than pay to dump it, but ours is spread around the whole 25 acres and now a lot of it is half buried. At least the price for scrap metal has gone up. Maybe we can make a bit from all this work.

Our exciting news is that we were able to get a phone call form Nick on Tuesday. We've been praying to hear from him so we would know how he is doing. We did not know that they do not get writing privileges until they are there for 3 weeks. That doesn't stop God though! Nick's "flight" (that's what they call their class of recruits) did so well on their drill that they were each given a 15 minute phone call. God is so faithful! :o) It was wonderful to hear his voice and to know that he is doing fine. He's adjusting to the heat there (I'm so glad he went in spring and not summer!) and is learning to drink more water. He's learning to get up very early and eat really fast. That's about all we learned in the short phone call. We are continuing to shower him with letters, which he says he loves to get, and upholding him in prayer each day. Mike and I are making plans for the two of us to go down at the end of May for his graduation.

I guess that's about it for this week. Time to get the little one into bed and head there soon after myself. Till next week...

God's love and blessings!

What an emotional week!

My children tease me that I have "leaky faucets". I admit it-I cry. I cry when I'm happy, sad, proud, angry. Pretty much any emotion can make me cry, so, needless to say, I did a lot of crying this week. Our church held a wonderful service in Nick's honor Sunday evening as a way of encouraging, challenging, and simply loving him. It was wonderful! I cried through most of it. :o)

Monday was the big day. We spent most of the morning and afternoon getting Nick and his room all packed up. We left in the late afternoon and went out for a nice dinner at Olive Garden. After that, it was time to drop him off at the hotel where he spent the night. Thanks to my families' silly sense of humor, it was easier than we expected. :o) I hope we left Nick with happy memories and not feeling incredibly sad. Our biggest reminder to him was to remember that he is never alone. NEVER! God is always there and a much better friend than we could ever be.

He had to be up at 4:30 am to do a weigh in and last minute paperwork stuff. We heard from him twice on Tuesday, once when he arrived at the airport in MN and again after safely arriving in Texas. Now we're just waiting for a phone call to give us his address. The recruiter said the call will be short, just enough time to give us the address and let us know he's OK. I will be sure and post his address on my Facebook page for anyone who would like to write to him. Although I am sad and miss him, I know that this step will be good for him. If nothing else, maybe he'll learn how to keep his room clean! :o)

Today is another special day for us. We are celebrating Angel's 16th birthday. Actually, we did most of the celebrating before Nick left, but today is the official day. Mike is taking the girls out for dinner tonight while I stay at home waiting for that phone call and enjoying some quiet time. I can't believe she's 16 already. Why is it that the older we get the faster time seems to go by? Although we've had some rough spots here and there, I am truly blessed to have her as my daughter. I am learning to step back and watch her grow into a beautiful young woman. Of course, that beautiful part worries me tremendously!

That's about it for this week. If I go much more into detail about the week I'll probably start crying, so I should close here. Here are a couple of the pictures we took Monday night.


Till next time,
God's love and blessings.