He Leadeth Me

Some friends from church and our neighborhood discovered unexpectedly that they needed somewhere for their kids to stay while they went to a play. So last Thursday night, we had eight "big" kids at our house. We are used to pre-schoolers, so having these kiddos around was great fun!   Games of Twister and Hide and Seek in the freezing cold (not pictured because I was too wimpy to join them) Watching a crazy movie Lots of general silliness What a fun night! Thank you Katayama's, Jones', and Arthur's for sharing your very polite and fun children with us.  

Stillmeadow Seasons by Gladys Taber My rating: 5 of 5 stars I'm not really sure how to classify this book published in 1950 and written by Gladys Taber.  It is beautifully written with passages that you just want to stop and savor.  The whole book is about a Connecticut farm family as they go through the seasons in a year.  It was recommended to me by Patti who said she found the Taber books when she was in high school and has loved them ever since. View all my reviews I would like to share a passage.  This quote, found on page 39, was obviously found beautiful by another reader because it was marked in pencil. "It is good for us, I think, to keep as much joy in life as we can.  We busy ourselves with so many things that are not of the heart and spirit.  We worry about money, we agonize over the terrible state of the world, we fret at household duties or business minutiae, we work, we argue, we squander our strength in a million ways." "...

It seems that these days, I am blessed to be the Nana  or the friend of young parents with small children.   A precious friend, Allison, shared this excellent Blogpost on  parenting in Facebook. Because she was kind enough to mention that I had once encouraged her when she was a young single mother,  I thought I owed it to her and to other young parents to make a confession. If you haven't already clicked on the link above, please click below Blogpost:  The Actual Pastor , and then read on. I confess, I have said the words “You should enjoy every moment now! They grow up so fast!” I now know, and should have remembered from when my children were little, that this is a  terrible thing to say to parents who are working hard  to do the very best job possible of raising children who love and respect God and their fellowman.   I also have had some actual experience knowing that alth...

 At last year's St. Patrick's Day Grandchildren Party , Caleb asked if next year we could invite his neighbors and friends, Luke and Sophia. What a sweet idea from a sweet boy. So this year we expanded our party a little.  I hope you enjoy the (MANY) pictures. For a party to be a success, you must have balloons, and if you think the balloons stayed in this pretty bucket, you don't know children. The slips of paper were used to play the Treasure Hunt Game.   Here comes the food! All of it nutritious and delicious. Well, at least delicious. Skittles for the colors of the rainbow. Grandma's Green Sugar Cookies. Mint oreos--a much bigger hit than my homemade cookies. Peeps!!! Grapes--one of two nutritious items. The other was Kiwi, but alas, no picture.   Green Twizzlers--who knew??? Lucky Charms--Get it??? Each child decorated a sack to take their goodies home in. Imagine having a girl's name at one of our par...

Aaron is my Stuffed Animals Grandson so it is only natural for "Big Clifford" and "Little Clifford" to oversee the baking of cookies. I'm ready to bake Nana. I have my Chef hat and apron on. If this face doesn't melt your heart, I'm not sure what will. I LOVE cooking at Nana and Ducca's house.   In fact, I think I'll deliver some cookie dough to Ducca. Nana has been treating Ducca (previously known as David) to cookie dough (yes raw) for 40 years now. I know, I know, it's not safe, but does he look worried?

As promised, here are the pictures of our new kitchen.   It was a challenge first of all, to find a red sink. The back story is that when I was in chemotherapy and feeling pretty miserable, David and I went to Lowe's one day. I saw a red sink and said, "When we redo the kitchen, can I have a red sink? Remember that my sweet husband is a realtor and his most famous line is "What will that do to the resale value?" However, this time, those words didn't come out of his mouth. Instead, I heard, "SURE". That was pretty much his response to everything I wanted when I was sick. Come to think of it, that has pretty much been his response to everything I have wanted in the last 40 years of marriage. Yes, I am spoiled. But even after I got well, and there was no longer a red sink to be found in Colorado Springs, my sweetheart moved heaven and earth to find me my red sink and the granite to match. You cannot tell from these pictures, but the ...

Here Is New York by E.B. White My rating: 5 of 5 stars My favorite Children's Book of all time is Charlotte's Web.  I noticed a little book on my daughter's bookshelf entitled HERE IS NEW YORK by E. B. White, the same author.  It was published in 1949 (before Charlotte's Web but after Stuart Little).  I knew White was an essayist, but I had never read one of his essays.  This one was fascinating and somewhat prophetic.  Here is a quote from page 51, "A single flight of planes no bigger than a wedge of geese can quickly end this island fantasy, burn the towers, crumble the bridges, turn the underground passages into lethal chambers, cremate the millions." The book is not all pessimistic, on the contrary, it is pleasant reading about our largest city, but this certainly caught my eye. View all my reviews