Phew!

Well it has been an interesting day to say the least. I have been wanting to post more cute stuff going on here, but other stuff just keeps happening...... like.....got a call from our fifth year college student son, who is 11 hours away in Houghton, MI that he was in a car accident. (Thank you Lord - no one was hurt, just big car damage) Learned this as I was walking out the door to meet with a bank lady to see about refinancing our home (again) so we can put a new roof over our head and pay some medical bills. (yech!) and have one friend who I visited last night, who is in the hospital, and another good friend who has a sister in the hospital in Muskegon, and now in Ann Arbor (we got to babysit her lovely dog for a couple weeks while she was with her sister), and I have a tooth ache (inconsequential-I know) and my brother just had surgery on his Achilles tendon this morning (Thank you Lord - all is well) and I am leading our Bible Study on Monday (Hebrews ch. 2) and need to go and start that! Who - whee - I hope things slow down soon. So am feeling a bit deflated myself. But I know tomorrow is Friday, and I have the weekend to recoup, not going anywhere, so hope to catch my breath. But here is a neat photo I took a few days ago, of the light streaming in (could be reflecting off our neighbor's car) through our kitchen window with the shade pulled. I just thought it was kinda neat.


And we did get to see an old friend last Saturday - Neil Culbertson - who was in GR (he is a pastor in Guam!), and was doing a seminar on a book/prayer journal he has written. It was so much fun catching up with him and learning about he and his family!


We also got to see our baby girl up at college - it was great seeing her too! It had been awhile!


So all is well, and life is never dull - give me a good nap and I will be fit as a fiddle again! Have a great day all!

P.S. - a few thrifted finds!

Oops, I forgot to show the things I got recently at a church rummage sale! - It was fantastic! It is so much fun - the hunt - for the really neat things you can find in amongst the stuff you don't care for! Look at my great bargains! I love to find these hand embroidered things - think of the time spent making them! And I love finding things with a history, and a story long before I got them.

Like look at the beautiful vintage photo album, and the pink planter, and the crock! And since my son is living in the U.P., who could pass up a Zane Gray book about it! And I love the little praying angel planter, and the two watering cans - how neat! And all for a couple bucks! Such fun! Oh, and the lace tablecloth too - wish I could find a matching one, curtains would be made!

And more lovely linens, and the "This is the day" plaque, that is what Clay's dad used to say when he answered the telephone, so I brought over to him for his wall, ahhh, such treasures!

And then there are these two lovely purses. I paid $3.00 for each, and am using the one on the left (I love it!) and the one on the right I googled it, and it sold for $130.00, so such a deal I got!

Sharing

Well - Emily and I made it through the first week of school - yahoo! I had a few pictures from the last couple of weeks that I thought it would be fun to share. You know me and pictures! So here we go. The first is a picture of the Benson's, who spent an evening with us - I am so glad they stopped in!

Then here are my hostas in bloom, and Emily standing there is the loveliest flower of all!

Then one fine day we had our Sunday dinner outside, so here we are at the picnic table, using a pop can for a tripod!

And then recently, on a lovely cool day (at last) while sitting outside, I was able to get a picture of the hummingbird at our feeder.

And I was going to quit there - but decided to add two more of bringing Emily up to Calvin. So here she is all packed and ready to go and then there she is with her roommate from last year, Lauren, from California.

Happy 95th Birthday Wes!

We were recently able to celebrate a wonderful event! Wes turned 95! We had kind of a smallish party for him at Woodland Terrace, and he was happy and alert and really seemed to enjoy himself. We started out singing hymns and visiting then we all had a chance to tell Wes what we loved and appreciated about him, or what encouragement he has given us. It was very touching, and it was great having something positive to celebrate. Of course I took tons of pictures, so will try not to share them all, but here are a few (a-hem) and if you want to see the rest you can go to Flickr.com and search for "wescarlson". I also really appreciated the comment from Barb when she said this was one of the best birthday parties she had been to. Thanks Barb! Now I am only hoping that Wes will remember he is 95, not 100 as he has been insisting when I take him to his various doctor appointments! (grin) Wes has been a great example to many people about what it means to be a Christian. You can't find too many people more generous and loving! It has been a privilege for me to call him "Dad"! I know he longs to be with his Lord and wife and daughter, but we on earth still need him as our prayer warrior! Please keep those prayers going Wes! We love you!

Remember you can click on the photos for a better view of the picture, and also would love it if you would leave a comment - you can always sign under anonymous, and then just sign your name at the end of the comment. And I only had one shot at taking the "whole family" picture so if any of you guys took that photo too, would you mind emailing me a copy of it please?

Here we are - missing number one son!

And here is a picture of as much as the family was able to make it for the event -
Happy Birthday Grandpa!