Gratefulness

I saw someone else doing this. On their blog. I wondered at the numbered lists, but when I figured it out I realized what a great idea it was. Actually I read a whole book about this: Developing the habit and attitude of gratitude. I led a Sunday School class for 8 weeks where we dove into developing gratitude in our lives. It is a very appealing quality in other people. In fact, I'm quite drawn to people who are creatively thankful. By that I mean, they go above and beyond just saying Thank You. They actually ACT thankful, and tell others how thankful they are. Well, I don't want it to be too smothering or anything and really there's nothing wrong with a plain " thank you", but I do want to grow in my gratefulness. Perhaps that will keep me from my 'moodiness' (or sullenness if you will) It's a part of the 'LIVE OUT LOUD' move for me. So I have a new tool to help me. Well, not really new, just different and more fun. My IPAD. I put a journal App on it right away so it's my 2011 journal. I put away the pen and I am typing this year. So far, so Cool. My point? At the end of every day's entry I have space to reflect. I am listing 5 specific things that I'm grateful for. I may elaborate on what I mean, or it might just be a list. The point, of course, is to conciously think about all the things in my life that should make me truly a more grateful person. Then I will add one specific action that also shows more gratefulness from me. Like writing a thank you letter.... So. Want to join me???

Hands

The youngest and the oldest. How quickly time flies by. I have thought many times lately that I can hardly believe where I am in life right now..5 grandchildren? Aches and pains where I've never had them before. Married to someone nearly 40 years? Yes, time has flown by..

Christmas 2010

I see it's been months since I've done any blogging. So there's nothing like getting a Christmas letter via my blog. If you didn't get one in the mail, it isn't because I don't wish you a Merry Christmas. But Thank you so much to all for friendship, and support. Onward and upward in 2011, and we hope you all continue to be a big part of our lives.

What could be better than inviting all our friends and family into our living room and sitting with them to chat about our year! Oh wait, I do have a way-Our Christmas Letter! So come join us in our front room and listen in on our conversation:

Ron: So, Sue, I'll let you start with what happened this year. I don't remember much anymore.
Sue: Lots of things that happened this year could go in this letter. We should probably organize
things in a logical way. Chronological could work.
Ron: Perfect. So the first thing we should talk about is my garage. Just look at it. Big, beautiful, woodsy color, and we can even use it!
Sue: Yup, that one would work. However, you're not done with it yet. Aren't you still putting in electricity, putting up a ceiling or something?
Ron: Ok, I'm still working on it.
Well, I did finish putting in a new floor in our living room. That turned out pretty good don't you think?
Sue: Pretty? Yes. And it only took 3 months to do. We really should have more people over so they can see it. I don't think that's too interesting for a newsy Christmas letter, though. Good thing they weren't here in this living room when you dug those dead squirrels out of the chimney. Now that was gross. Poor Burt and Faith. They still don't know that that awful smell was right over there in that fireplace. I think we'll keep that to ourselves.
Ron: Ok, well then we could talk about my trip to the Boundary Waters. That was a pretty good trip
Sue: You didn't even catch any fish.
Ron: That hardly counts. The weather was great, the other guys caught fish and we got to canoe.
Sue: Well, take it away then! Did you bring your pictures? We could do a slide show here or something. I'm sure our friends and family will love all your pictures of water, trees, canoes, and fishing poles.
Sue: Or, hey, wait. Our biggest news was grandchild number 5! That should be at the top of our list.
Ron: You're right, April this year was a pretty big deal.
Sue: All 9 lbs. 13 oz of her. What a little princess.
Ron: As I remember that's exactly how big her father was! Oh, and her name. Her name, means princess; Sarah Elisabeth.
Sue: And here we are at the end of the year, and she's crawling and has teeth popping through. She's going to give her parents and brother a run for their money.
Ron: That reminds me, we had the other 3 grand-kids over for a few days in July while their parents were gone. That was adventure at its best.
Sue: You took them “camping” in the new garage and used them for manual labor.
Ron: They loved it, and don't tell everybody that. It sounds like we're, well, slave drivers. They did other fun things... Boat building, wii playing, picnicking days!
Sue: Ok, then, on to other things. I really think our friends and family should all hear about our one and only camping trip to northern Wisconsin. I mean after all, who wouldn't be jealous of a trip to a place filled with giant mosquitoes, no electricity, pit toilets, and bathing in the lake.
Ron: Oh, hey, that's pretty negative. You forgot that I do all the cooking. The weather was perfect. We sat around the fire ring and ate s’mores and pudgy pies, AND we were there with friends.
Sue: shhhh..I just want everyone to know how “hardy” we are!
Ron: Well, we don't have to tell them exactly where we went. That would help.
Sue: Ok I think they got the camping idea anyway.
Ron: You forgot to tell everyone about the family weekend together in Cancun.
Sue: You're right, that's because we didn't go to Cancun. We went to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha.
Ron: Well, you're the one always wanting things more exciting. It'd be pretty exciting to take our whole family to Cancun don't you think.
Sue: Yes. Though, having 5 kids, 7 adults and a dog in one house was adventure enough. It was a lot of fun. I'm so glad we enjoy being with each other.
Ron: And what was the highlight of that whole weekend?
Sue: It had to be playing “Family Trivia”. Jon comes up with some good prizes. Weird questions, but good prizes. Though, admittedly I love the zoo, and the Lincoln's Farmer's Market.
Ron: I still can't believe they expected me to know what Simeon's middle name was...
Sue: At least he didn't make you memorize “Goodnight Moon” again.
Just think, they'll all be at our house again for Christmas. I have to come up with some sort of adventure for everyone. A non competitive ‘game’ this time.
Ron: How about having them help me put up the ceiling in the garage. We could make it a puzzle.
Sue: Maybe having a White Elephant exchange will be adventure enough.
Ron: We could start on the bathroom....
Sue: Maybe here would be a good place to tell everyone that you had projects galore at Amy's new house in Michigan and it's like, your favorite thing to do. Projects that is.
Ron: I suppose. I didn't end up at the doctor's and the Chiropractor's after I was finished like I did after spending a couple hours picking strawberries in June.
Sue: Yup, I think it's time to summarize. We promised not to talk about doctor visits. We really had a pretty good year, don't you think.
Ron: We have.
Thanks for joining in on the conversation here! There's no question that we have seen answers to prayer, God's faithfulness to us and our family.
“admonish….encourage….help…be patient…But always seek to do good to one another and everyone. Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks. He who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it.”(I Thes 5:14-16,24)
We don't know what the next years will hold, but we do know that God is faithful. We wait in great hope and expectancy for 2011 and pray for you to know God's grace and love...

Cousins picture

Ok, so here I'm trying to get just one picture of the 5 grandkids together. We start with the 4 boys until we can quickly (and I really mean quickly) get Sarah in place to get a shot of them all. As you can see, the results are pretty hilarious. Well, for me anyway. Simeon is obviously not too happy with this process. Ah well, it will be funny some day! And, all 5 of them are in the picture.

Wisconsin Camping

As you can see from my pictures we had the best weekend in Wisconsin. Granted, we didn't do a whole lot, but I think that's what camping is all about! I don't think I've seen skies so blue in awhile. The tree colors? Beautiful. Hurrah for camping. Eating, sleeping, walking...oh yes, and we talked. Our conversations these days revolve around retirement and aches and pains. Yikes, it is scary. Are we acting like old people? Maybe just acting our age. That's sad.

The Sycamore Tree

(sycamore) (Basswood)

Orange City has two beautiful, huge Sycamore trees that I walk past on my morning walks. They are so splendid I decided I wanted one for myself and our back yard. So we've been looking. and looking. In my research however, I discovered that the Sycamore is a space hog. It gets so huge it should be planted by itself in a space because it takes up so much room. Since we have quite a few trees in our back yard already, we thought maybe a different tree would fit better. So we went with the Basswood tree, a.k.a. the Linden Tree. (I did not know that before) The Basswood is also known as a Bee Tree. You can guess the reason for this, Bees love its blossoms and incredible fragrance. In fact, Basswood tree honey is highly sought after. (Though it won't make much difference to us since we aren't keeping bees as well) It too, is a beautifully shaped tree and grows quite large. There are several of them in our neighbor hood as well. So Saturday, we stopped at Del's Garden Center in Spencer and found our Basswood. We are taking out a spirea bush plunked in the middle of our yard and replacing it with this lovely Basswood. Now if I can just live long enough to see it as big as the one across the street!

Is This Heaven?

Lynn and I took an afternoon and headed to the Adam's Homestead Nature Preserve near McCook Lake near Sioux City last week. We've ridden our bikes on this trail before, but it is so beautiful we had to go again. We were not disappointed. The day was picture perfect. Lynn had made us a lunch and we stopped along the Missouri River and enjoyed the afternoon. I know this is one picture I have in my head that I want to keep. Thanks friend, for dragging me out of work to go do this. It was lovely!