Airports

Airports. I'm thinking of this because tomorrow Amy is heading off again. She's flying out of Omaha, though Ron is taking her down in the morning. I have spent a lot of time at airports either sending her off or picking her up. And she claims that she hates to fly! She really is the one with all the stories when it comes to travel. Me. I just watch the monitors, check the time and wait. Some times she's on time. Sometimes late. There was the time she flew into Madison via Chicago. Her flight was cancelled after it was much too late for us to do anything but get a hotel room and wait til she came in the next morning...with a nose ring! Ok. not really. I've said goodbye to her from Minneapolis, Zurich, Omaha, Seoul and Phoenix. I've said hello to her in all those places too. She's mostly adventured on her own. It's the goodbye factor I really don't like much at all.

Holiday Blizzard

We are at day # 2 of our holiday blizzard in Sioux Falls. Not many dull moments that's for sure. We have had plenty to eat. And books to read. And DVDs to watch and games to play. It has been undivided attention on our family. This afternoon, during a lull in the snow, or, well, there really wasn't a lull we were just getting antsy, we went outside to play some snow croquet and take pictures and watch the boys slide down the hill. I also watched Nate as he did some shoveling. The house smells wonderful right now. A Christmas dinner is in the oven. Ham and scalloped potatoes and crescent rolls and a cranberry/apple tart for dessert. Other than not having Ron here we have been very contented with this blizzard.

Home

We picked up Amy last night at the airport. Her flight was quite late so we weren't home until, well, today. So I am sitting here at home feeling exhausted. But no worse than the other two. They are both sound asleep. And the dog is snoring. On top of that we have to decide if we'll go to Sioux Falls tomorrow instead of Christmas day since it sems there is a 100% chance of a blizzard. Eeeek. I want to get snowed in with my grandkids. On the other hand I promised myself during a nasty blizzard years ago, that I would never ever never drive in a blizzard again. That was a christmas eve blizzard and we just needed to drive 6 miles from my in laws to my mother's. We drove the distance south in the north bound lane praying that no one else was out there driving in the other direction. Who should be so foolish?
So...a deep desire to enjoy movies, cookies, opening gifts, the enthusiasm of little boys on the one hand. And an even deeper desire to wrap up in a blanket and hunker down...

Sunday Morning

It was a beautiful Sunday before Christmas service this morning. There was an amazing hoar frost that lasted well into the morning, and the worship at church was wonderful. We sang Chris Tomlin's "Glory in the Highest". It fits so well with the Luke 2 passage, "And suddenly, there were with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts, glorifying God and saying "Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth, Peace. Goodwill among men." And a reminder from John 3:16 about the height, and width and depth and length of God's love for us. How high? "FOR GOD..." How deep? "SO LOVED THE WORLD" How wide? "THAT ALL WHO BELIEVE" How long? "Might have EVERLASTING life..." Which of course brings to mind another favorite song by Phillips Craig and Dean that especially seems to fit on a beautiful morning like this. I can hardly say the words without singing the melody in my head:
"You paint the morning sky
With miracles in mind
my hope will always stand
For you hold me in your hand.
Lord I'm amazed by you.... how you love me...
How wide, how deep, how great is your love for me..."

Reconnecting

I've had several very long days this week. Frustrating. Discouraging. Disappointing. Not because of the amount of time I've been spending at the job, but because of my relationships with colleagues.
So today, I get to join some friends for coffee at my (our) favorite local coffee place. De Koffie Hoek. Hurrah! Did I mention that I have friends? I don't really need coffee, but I do need some small relationship time. Phew. So just in the nick of time. I doubt I'll be able to fix the other things that are going on, but at least I'll know that I'm NOT a bad person. Well, at least I hope that's part of what I'll figure out. Here's hoping.

No pictures

I just spent the whole weekend with two of my grandsons, doing all sorts of stuff from making cookies, to doing a craft, to going to Disney on Ice, to rolling in the snow, to walking in the mall during the Christmas rush (never again), and I didn't take a single picture. Good grief. I was so busy I didn't even think of the camera. Well, not until we were half way to the Disney on Ice show when I remembered. Bother. So, no pictures. But I can tell you this: I am exhausted. I don't think we could cram in one more thing. I did learn that the boys liked the Meteor Trucks video that I brought home from the library. I can yell at them for not listening, and they will still want to hang out with us. And, I'm sure I've said this before, but I can't believe how their parents can parent no less than 3 boys at one time. Phew, it makes me tired to think about. I know I did this, but I'd forgotten...well, lots.
Back to "normal" here in a few hours.

Blizzard and Work

This morning I am sitting calmly with my cup of coffee and Good Morning America and the storm rages outside. I am calculating how long I should really wait before I try to get to work. The forecasters have promised that it's a 'whiteout' and no travel is recommended. (travel? I'm going to work, I don't really consider that travel. Travel is when you go on vacation and go somewhere that you've been planning for months. You know, like Phoenix or Hawaii.) So shall I wait til noon? Should I leave early to give myself plenty of time?? After all, you know, they can't survive at work without me!! Ok, so I am sounding compulsive again but I just have to tell you that I didn't get up early and head to the wellness center, or insist on walking outside anyway. But ask me how that feels!!

Family moves

Jan and Loren came from St. Louis for Thanksgiving. It was fun to have them. Jan even joined us for our book discussion group. As for the two being brothers, well, I guess there's a resemblence there. I've always though Ron was more like his mom and Loren like his dad. Don't the guys look like the happy excited pair??I think it must just be the reaction to seeing me with my camera yet again. But it's fun to have the two of them together for these pictures if nothing else.

Christmas Pageant

So we got to enjoy the grandsons christmas program tonight. I haven't laughed so hard since, well, the last time I was with them. As you can see,the boys enjoyed being on stage! They weren't naughty, just funny. I thought Phin might lose his pants at one point, though I might not have noticed that if he hadn't felt the need to put his arm up his shirt. (thank goodness there was no dress to pull over his head) Funny though, I'm sure they were singing songs about Christmas and the baby Jesus but I don't remember a single song. I was way to busy getting the pictures and enjoying the antics. That first picture of Phin there is just so you can see that he actually did stand still for a minute!

Book discussion

Last summer the girls got together at a Lincoln coffee house and talked about a book we'd deliberately decided to read. We read Lorna Landvik's Welcome to the Great Mysterious. At our family gathering this year, we got a coffee and a table at the Koffie Hoek in Orange City and sat down together to talk about Kathryn Stockett's best selling book, The Help. The book was such a fabulous story it wasn't too hard to have a whole discussion about racism, prejudices, the south in the 60's and today, even though two of us didn't have time to read it. Of course, just being able to get away from the house together was a big part of the fun. Now we need to come up with another book for the next time we get together, which probably won't be til next summer. phooey. Anyone else have some suggestions for us?

grandchildren

This is our youngest grandson. Simeon Eugene. I have to tell you what an amazing little boy he is. Already he loves his grandpa (as you can see) Grandpa will be even cooler as the other grandsons have discovered as he's the one with the tools, the pick-up, and endless patience with little boys. After all, what could be more fun for a boy than pulling the string of the clay pigeon thrower, or hauling wood in a lawn mower!
This boy is already showing signs that he will not be a follower-he has no early teeth like Isaiah, he will suck his thumb unlike his brothers. And his name is powerful. It means "The Lord has heard" and Luke tells us that Simeon was "righteous and devout and looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him..." Wow! I love watching them grow.

An Amazing Race

This was year two of a treasure hunt through Orange City. It was closer to an "Amazing Race" than the year before, but there was no snow on the ground either. Last year the girls whipped the boys big time, but, I will report here that the boys won this year! They had a slight advantage, Ivan(our international student from NWC) was with them and he has been living in OC for the last 4 years so some of the more obscure places he was able to pick up on. And a slight problem was that I had taken a picture of the OC Dutch wooden shoe that was in windmill park a couple of weeks ago to use for this game, and when I put the clues out the shoe was gone. Ooops. So When they played I got phone calls from both of them because they couldn't find the shoe. Go figure. The boys were bummed because I didn't have real prizes for them either. Sorry, no million dollar winning. But it was funny. I had to finally call them and say, "come back. come back. Thanksgiving dinner is ready." And the boys came back first and they actually had the winning end.

Blitz, Offensive, Assault...Onslaught

Ok, so tonight we get the beginning of the Thanksgiving, well, I don't want to call it an onslaught because I'm really looking forward to this, but for lack of a better word.....onslaught it is. Fortunately I had enough time to get supper into the crock pot before I left and when I get home I expect to see 3 grandsons and their parents. And Melissa. And Buster. Hopefully Ron. The plan is this: supper. Meeting at the OC library. Get the family Amazing Race game set up. Make a Pumpkin Cheesecake. I should be able to get all that in right???!

Library Roots

My route to the library world was one of those totally unexpected things for me. I was actually quite happy being a teacher, and education was where I always planned to stay. But of course, plans have a way of changing. We made a move across the state and I was suddenly without a job. Being an elementary teacher with a master's degree and no coaching background was a huge liability.

I found a small ad in the local advertiser for a librarian in the neighboring town. 25 hours a week. I was as surprised as anyone to actually get hired. Surely not on the strength of the fact that "I loved to read." But my library career was born there. In the little river town of McGregor. What an education I got!

The thing was, I discovered with the library I got to do everything and more than I had ever done as a teacher. One day I was in a 5th grade classroom and as I stood talking to the teacher, a boy, whose desk was right next to the teacher's desk, stood, put his desk chair on his head and demanded to have his "dart gun" back. He sidled right up to me and stayed in my space during my short discussion with the classroom teacher. When I left the room I found myself with a sudden realization "You see, Sue you can leave this kind of problem far behind. You are walking out of the classroom...she has to stay and deal with him...."

I did everything I never would have been able to do as just a teacher. Designed programs, ordered books, planned the Summer Reading for kids, wrote grants, planned budgets(I even got to read)...oh my, I was in love.

I know that I have complained that I have been in "obsession" but this accidental discovery was the absolute best thing that happened to me. Couldn't find another teaching position? It no longer mattered. I have often said that the library job in McGregor was the best job of my life. The people of McGregor have been my favorite. Since then I have been in 3 different libraries and have gotten to know hundreds of people all through their love and support of the library. I know that though I spent 11 years in teaching and truly enjoyed that, these past 16 years as a librarian have been the best of my life. I think I've found my niche!

Being Productive

We have a homeless man "living" at the library these days. He occupies a chair in the reading room for the most part of the day. He doesn't read either. He just sits there. Someone offered him some money when they gleefully discovered he was homeless. The guy didn't take it. He comes in at opening bell and stays til we close. He carries sleeping gear around with him and one meal. I wonder how long he'll stay.
There was someone on my listserv complaining about 2 kids who had dropped out of school staying ALL DAY at the library. They just sat in chairs taking up space that someone else could use more productively. How to get rid of them? Isn't there some rule about taking up space unproductively?

Family In-

I made a trip to Omaha last night to pick up sweet sweet Melissa! It will be such fun to have her at our house. She will help balance us all out, and increase the ratio of girls to boys. (7:10) Melissa serves with Agape Europe (Campus Crusade) and so we are really looking forward to hearing her stories. She gets to move to Rome in January. Imagine! Living and working in Rome. (Imagine! Living and working in Le Mars. Sometimes I think I have "the-grass-is-greener" syndrome)
I have an awful lot of baking to get done, so unfortunately I have to give up a trip to Minneapolis to see the Pioneer Woman. Seriously, What am I thinking?
Amy arrives at the beginning of next week. The grandsons(and their parents) will be at our house by Tuesday. I have to work Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.Invited guests are here by Thursday...I have a menu to plan...
Fruit.Cereal.Oatmeal.Pancakes.Baked Oatmeal.Yogurts.
Chili. Pizza.Turkey.Pork Loin.Sloppy Joes.
Leftovers.Chinese Carry out.Tacos.Tortellini Soup.
Take home movies.
Put up clues for family game. Have other non competitive games ready.
Get discussion questions and a 'next book' list put together for the girls discussion group
plan ahead for family pictures.(do it on the first day not the last)

Wow. I'm exhausted already.

Preparations

Company is coming and I am in a flurry. I am so excited about having everyone here! Our first 'guest' actually arrives this Tuesday! We get to have Melissa with us for Thanksgiving. I spent time with her and Amy in May when I was in Europe. It was the best time ever! So getting to share our home with her is extra special. She works with Agape Europe (Campus Crusade here) so we will be delving deep into what she's been up to, and how God is at work in Western Europe. I can't think of anything better for Thanksgiving than that.
We will have 17 people here for actual Thanksgiving, but less for spending the nights-Ron's brother will be up. Ivan gets to come. Then all those grandsons! Can I say, that will be soooo fun. I love spoiling them.
But of course, I can't just let them walk into the house looking the way we live in it. We are slobs. We are getting our carpet cleaned this week. I have to cook up a storm. (What do you think? Should I make cheesecake for the visitors?) Our bathroom is almost usable. (this is the one we remodeled last winter. The only problem was, that while it was beautiful, you couldn't use the tub in there for any reason, so Ron is fixing that. It's been more involved than I thought it should be, but the results will be nice)
Ron is planning to get the back garage done, the bathroom finished and ... well, I'm sure there will be a thousand other things that need doing if 17 people are descending on the house in a week or so.
I will keep you posted!

Observations from the road

Rain and dreariness do not slow people down.
Friday afternoons are crowded days for shopping
turning left without a light can be a pain.
Christmas shoppers are out in force
being in the same city with grandkids isn't quite the same as seeing them..

A Walmart Philosophy

I took an outing to Walmart this morning. I had to buy a printer for 3 un-printer machines here. The machine was $32.00 and the printer cartridges were $31.97. Now, I have a philosophy about Walmart in the first place and this type of thing only emphazies it. Here's the philosophy: Walmart robs us blind, even when we think we're getting stuff "cheap". It is not worth it to shop in Walmart. Walmart is a steamroller offering us the worst of everything and using its employees in the worst possible ways. Can I say that I HATE shopping in Walmart. I hate being forced to get cheap things cheaply/that cost me in other ways. I feel like I'm being tricked, and manipulated. What makes me think that because I buy X at a lower price I am doing myself or anyone any favors? I know, this doesn't make a lot of sense but there it is.
Here is a blog that just emphasizes EVERYTHING that I feel and think about Walmart. I won't totally boycott the store, but for the most part I stay as far away from the store as I would from H1N1.

Work in the morning, work in the evening, work in the afternoon ...

I've been stuck these last few months. I have been obsessed, compulsed (is that a word?)and totally preoccupied by work. From the time I open my eyes, til I close them in the evening I do nothing but think about work. How to get funds from unpaying towns. How to have a conversation with other P county librarians. What cooperative ventures might might be possible? (none, so forget it.) I am silently at it when carrying on a conversation. It is running through my mind when I am walking, or listening to a book (like chewing gum and walking at the same time). I am calculating it as I eat and trying desperatly to shut it off so I can sleep. So I have had nothing to write about here because there is too much complication and explanation that I really can't give anymore. This morning I complained to Ron about all this work obsession. This spending of 9 or more hours at work, never getting out of the building even at lunch time (what lunch time? The most I do is use the bathroom) So what does he do? He drives all the way to Le Mars and takes me out to lunch. Cool, blessed surprise. And in honor of the occasion, I even wore some of my lunch back to work again. A reminder that there are other things going on in the world that are worthwhile, too.

Home Again

I just got back from a great library conference in Des Moines. Time away from the office but yet still doing stuff that I love! You know: "computer tech on the fly" by a nationally known tech person, "County Cooperation" (oh yeah, that one's right up my alley) a technology petting zoo (isn't that a cool name? it's just playing with all the latest techie gadgets. fun) Talking to your city,county, etc. officials (Now they tell me)..... Fun stuff, right? Not to mention chances to buy books, eat eat eat, and re-engage with other librarians. AND Ron let me use his GPS thingy to drive down. That worked pretty slick, especially in the confines of the one way streets of downtown Des Moines.
BUT I am home sick now. I am only planning on doing this sick thing today, because I really have a lot going on at work tomorrow. I can only imagine what waits for me there. The sick does not appear to be H1N1, only a nasty cold with all the coughing, nose blowing, achy body feelings that go along with it. UGH.

Simeon Eugene's Dedication

"Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." The little child has no part of deciding what family he is a part of, or whether he will have parents who raise him as a christian. In turn, we are humbled by all this child can teach us and show us about faith and trusting. All we who have influence of any sort over this child have great responsibility as we share our lives with him. .
This dedication was a blessing. For us. For Simeon.

Just One Day

So the guy that spews and drools when he's near the computer was in today. (We have plenty of Lysol disinfectant this season). I know why I don't get out of my office much ..And there was the lady who wants the address for Area 51, my local politician library supporter who's making me so discombobulated these days was in once and called twice. The guy who's really a woman/no wait a man was in, but I'm getting the hang of him these days and sadly, he doesn't disturb me so much now. I skimmed through 2 YA books and I think they belong in the smutty romance paperback section. Why is it that the middle of the book, the first page I turn to makes me blush? I think I need a rest.

Fun at grandma and grandpas

The boys were at our house last weekend. First we had some snow. But believe me, these boys were up for it! Then Grandpa got them hooked up with a marshmallow cook out. Then they were good sports about the group picture too. Look at how that Simeon is growing!

Friends Friends Old Friends

We have camped together for more than 10 years. We were just talking about how old "little" Scotty was when we started. He was probably 5 years old and now he's off to college. Even Katie, who is graduating from college this year was pretty little when we started. But now it's just the 6 of us. We are grandparents. 11 grandkids between us. And we can still have tons of fun together. We also eat a lot. Next time we're going to have to do something more strenuous than sit around and laugh ... we'll have to ski or something. eeekkk.

Brunet Island State Park Wisconsin

We spent a very cold, wet, dreary, delightful, wonderful weekend camping this past weekend. The weather was not all we'd hoped for, but it didn't really matter. We ignored the cold, endured the rain and had so much fun in the company of good friends. We hiked (doing some geo caching) hiked, biked, enjoyed the leaves turning color before our very eyes, ate... Lots! laughed, watched movies, talked, shared and prayed together. I was so glad I'd taken some time off. I wish there was a way to do this full time...

From Michigan to Milwaukee as the Crow Flies

Ron got home from a weekend with Amy almost a week ago now. He took his own camera along and got some nice shots. I almost feel like I got to go along...almost. Well he did bring me back a taste of Michigan anyway, so it was almost as nice. But here he is on the ferry from Michigan to Milwaukee. He had to get a reservation a few days before and homeland security had to do an inspection so he had to be there 45 min. ahead of time, but I think he enjoyed the trip. It actually saved him quite a bit of time in the end. It was a 4 hour boat ride with no traffic. He didn't have to go around the end of the lake and through Chicago. So he made it home by 9:30 the same night- 14 hours!

Sioux Falls Bike Trip

Bike trip to Sioux Falls on Sunday. One very windy day. CAn't say too much about our planning. I guess if we could predict the weather then plan for our activities we'd be the weather men. Oh well. I did 12 miles. But my ride wasn't the longest, that went to the 14 mile trip. Now next weekend we'll be doing another biking round and we'll see if I do any better. But it's fun to be with friends.

How's this for a resting spot? Downtown Sioux Falls. The day was beautiful for sitting in a chair at the edge of the water.

Plymouth County

I got some early fall pictures in this morning. These were taken near Moville. Perfect examples of Iowa. The Loess Hills. It was a "Picture Perfect" day. as you can see. Can we somehow postpone winter? Can we stay in this spot awhile longer? Fall is such a grand time of year.