Trip to Nebraska in October

Gary and I decided that because the church junior high trip to Chicago was canceled this year over MEA that we would make a trip to Nebraska to visit with Dad and see his new "digs". We got up on Friday, October 16 and headed first to breakfast with the pastor and his wife. After breakfast Gary had a couple of jobs to do (which was a good thing since he has finally begun to get back to work after breaking his leg) and I decided to have the car washed. I found out it pays to read all of the information before you tell the carwash people to go ahead. About an hour after we had said we were going to leave we headed out on our trip.


We had decided that we would make a little side trip to Lafayette to visit my brother, Rick's grave. It had begun to rain as we pulled up but it didn't matter -- I had a rose to place on his grave and it could have been pouring cats and dogs or turtles and rabbits for all I cared. The cemetary is a Swedish Methodist cemetary and sits out away from town in a field. A beautiful small cemetary but was a time of reflection and remembering all of the wonderful times had with my brother. It has been 30 years this year since he died.

Then it was on to Connie's, my big sister, to visit with them and a place to stay. We had a great time of talking and sharing while we were there. On Saturday, Connie and I headed out on a wonderful drive to Plainview to visit my mom's grave and place some carnations on her grave. It was a beautiful fall day and was fun to be able to walk around and locate my grandparents graves, a couple of aunt and uncles graves and my aunt and uncles children's graves. Mom is buried in a Danish cemetary that was established in 1880. It's always fun to walk around and I always get to chuckling as I read all the Nielsen, Nelson, Petersen, Johnson, Johanssen names and then find the ones that in some way don't sound like they belong like Lee, Davids, Walton, and so on. It was a great time spent with Connie and being able to talk about lots of different things.



Then it was off to Norfolk and a visit with Dad. He is currently living at the Meadows and seemed to be fitting in quite nicely. He mentioned several times that he was feeling better and was enjoying being in a comfortable location. It's always fun to be able to sit and chat with dad and learn things that I never knew before. What a treasure to have a dad that still remembers so much and loves to share the stories with us.

Sisters Night

So Melanie and I have decided that Mondays this fall will be a time for us to get together for "sisters" night. We decided that we would spend time together doing whatever we felt like doing. So tonight was the big premier event!! And Oh What an Eventful evening it was. Melanie gets off of work at 2 and I get off at 3, and we are co-managers of lockers at school. So here was the agenda -- work on lockers for about an hour or less, head off to dinner, and then back to my house for a little Wii Resort action. Sound good? Did to us too.

Well, here is how God stepped in and took over and showed us how to really have fun. Took about 45 minutes and spun the lockers (we accomplished the first step -- next week we clean out and check combos); then I had to leave for a dentist appointment (which should have been about 30 minutes to 45 minutes -- not so much -- more like an hour and fifteen minutes); then as I was heading home I received a phone call from Eme -- she was having a nosebleed that wouldn't stop, could I take her to urgent care; phone call to Melanie to tell her to meet me at my house so we could go to get Eme. We meet and head over to Eme's to take her to urgent care. We get pick her up (by this time her nose had pretty much stopped bleeding); we get her to urgent care to wait for about an hour (along with several coughy sick, crying babies and adults). She goes in and the doctor tells her it is just because she has had a cold and probably her house is too dry. Okay, so now it's about 8 pm (if you hadn't noticed yet, we have yet to have dinner) and we take Eme home and decide to go to Red Robin for a burger before Melanie drops me off and heads home. We have our burgers and get flashed (well, not really but he did forget to zip his pants -- just a good thing he had a flannel shirt on to cover up) by a guy coming in to eat.

Now we head to my house to drop me off so Mel can head home. Whew!! What an adventure. We are just too darn excited to see what our adventure will be next week. Thanks Eme for helping to make our first "sister's" night exciting and special.

Things you wonder as your kids grow up . . .

Over the past few years, I often wondered what kind of things that my daughters remember doing, hearing, or participating in. As they raise their own children, I have often wondered if there is anything that struck them as worth filing in their memory banks for later. Well, this week I discovered that there are things that they remember.

When I was talking to Laura this past week after she and Danya dropped off the gift for the NICU in Hawaii, she said to me that she most vividly remembers buying a gift to give to another kid at Christmas time (i.e. Operation Christmas Child or Toys for Tots). She told me that she wants to instill this love of giving in her daughter so not only did they drop off the outfits for the NICU but they had purchased a gift to be given to a little girl who was hospitalized. She wasn't sure if they would be able to deliver it themselves but thought if nothing else they could drop it off. Well, they did get to drop it off and she said she hopes that as Danya gets older she herself will be the one to initiate the gift giving.

Then I read Margaret's blog and she adds a note at the end of the blog about her dad praying with them at night when they had all been tucked into bed. She now has begun that same thing with her Little Man O.

It is so fun and heartwarming to listen to my daughters talk about what they learned from their dad and I and how they are putting them into practice. I can't wait to hear more as their kids grow and then to hear what Michelle and Eme would offer as well. I am certain there are a few things that they will choose not to do with their kids and that's okay. I just pray that all the things that I tried to do with my girls will somehow come in handy for them.

I love all my girls and their husbands and children and children-to-come.

School (meaning work)

After the first week of school (work) things are finally settling into a sort of routine. We have fewer students but seems to be students who want to be at Arlington. Those that wanted them, have received a very nice messenger bag to carry their books in and I have begun to absorb jobs that were currently done by another clerk whose job was cut because of budget. Hopefully, with fewer students things will not be as busy. But, as always, time will tell.

The one thing I know for sure is that I am very much missing my time with Oliver. I enjoyed the time we spent together this summer and can't wait until next summer when we can do it again.

The Many Adventures of Mormor & Oliver

This summer has been a fun time to hang out with my grandson, Oliver. He has been a joy to have around and play with. I have been able to watch him grow and hear his vocabulary increase. I only wish I could have Danya close so we could do the same. Summers always seem so short when August gets here and I know that in a few short weeks I will have to return to work. But I thought I would share a little glimpse of what Oliver and I have been doing this summer. Enjoy the little slideshow presentation.