Rhododendrons!
Variegated Solomons Seal
Peonys!
Bearded Iris!
I am so ready to get out in my garden - however today we are having one of the few snowstorms for the winter. So instead I started a fire in the fireplace, put on some tomato sauce with meatballs and I am going to make Aunt Marges "Pasta with Cauliflower" - which I know sounds weird, but it is delicious! It smells soooo good cooking. Keep warm where ever you are!
Good morning - the top picture is one that I downloaded off my brothers website in Marquette Michigan. He has a live cam mounted on the top of the Lighthouse in the lower harbor at Marquette and this is the sunrise this morning over Lake Superior - pretty cool and beautiful - huh! If you want to check out his sight - it is - www.ironbay.com/lower_harbor_web_cam.htm.jpg)
Happy 31st Birthday - Dr Dan! I remember very well the night you were born. You were my shortest and easiest labor. The nurse came in and checked me and said I was ready, I argued with her, because I did not think I was ready, but as you can guess she was right! Back in that day we did not have sonograms unless they were worried about something, so we did not know if you were a boy or a girl. I swore all 9 months that you were a girl, but again, I was wrong! We took a couple days to come up with your name. I wish I could say you were named after Daniel in the Bible - the young Jewish man, who when taken into captivity into Babylon made the statement that I would quote to you guys in your teen years. Daniel was one of the chosen young men that were to be treated specially because they wanted to train them in the ways of the Babylonians. Daniel believed God and followed Him closely, in Daniel 1:8 it says "Daniel purposed in his heart he would not defile himself." He decided he would continue to live Gods way and not accept all the Babylonian world had to give him. I always told you guys that you needed to decide where you drew the lines in your behavior before you got into a tough situation, it is too hard to make the right choice when you are being pressured by other people, so I would say "you need to decide now what your decisions will be in any situation and then when the time comes you will already know your answer.",... But as I said, you were not named after him - we were not very spiritual people when you were born. The song Daniel by Elton John was famous then, and we both liked the name, so that is how you got your first name. Your middle name is my father's first name. A family name handed down through 4 generations (my brother is Alton Fay Conrad IV). No other grandchild had my fathers name, so we decided we would give you his name. Most people want to pronounce it like "allton", but it is actually pronounced like Elton Johns name, my brothers nick name is "Al".
Even though you were not originally named after Daniel in the Bible according to us, I think God led us to that name, because certainly in your life you have chosen the same path as Daniel. You chose to follow the Lord at an early age, and have not wavered, and as Daniel - many came to know of the Lord and praise the Lord because of Daniel's witness - and so the same could be said of you. Happy Birthday son, I love you, I pray you have a great day!
I had the urge to go shopping for new fabric today, so as I was out running errands I just decided to go to Springfield to the Calico Quilt shop and peruse their selection. As you can see I found some things to add to my collection! I actually have started a new quilt, I just started cutting yesterday, I will take a picture of the first block as I start pieceing it. I normally like jewel tones, but I am becoming quite attached to browns and blacks and bright yellows and oranges, so this is a little different for me, we'll see what you all think.
What is it in us that makes us want to create? I am always anxious to start a project, to come up with new ideas. I find myself in trouble sometimes on quilts because I always have a different idea and try to change the pattern - it is normally best to stick with the plan! I think God places that desire in us, to give us hope, to know that no matter our circumstance, it can change, it can get better, we can follow His lead and He will create something new, after all, that is what He has done for me and everyone else that has a personal relationship with Him. He changed us, and made us new - II Corinthians 5:17 says "Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." Isn't He a wonderful Lord!
This picture was taken in November of 2006.
Reading books with Aunt Terry Playing, shopping, cooking and cookie decorating busy busy busy! Alot of activity - all in preparation of the day! Tonight we will go to the Xmas eve service at church - come home to eating and watching favorite Christmas movies and tomorrow morning we will start the day reading the Christmas story from the book of Luke and remember the real reason for the season - our Savior is born!!!!
Thank you Lord for family, friends, and the babe in the manger!
Some would say this is "adding insult to injury" with the ice still on the trees , but I love snow, so to me it is the frosting on the cake. It is beginning to look alot like Christmas - Lord help us to focus on the true meaning of Christmas - the birth of Your Son - our Saviour and Lord if there any reading this who do not have a personal relationship with you, I pray they would come to know you personally during this season.
Here are some shots from Louisville, Christopher did the family portrait of Dans family as well as the picture of Nick (he did not get his picture taken at school - so this is a much better option!!). The rest are random shots - we had the best time - I love being with my family !! Thank you Lord that they love being with us too!!!
This is what we came home to on Monday!! The pictures tell the story - the bottom 4 pictures are looking in different directions off our front porch - what a mess! We thank God our home was not damaged and no one was hurt!!
What a great day!! Dec 7th will go down in history for a very good reason in our family! After a bachelors degree from bible college, a Masters of Divinity from Southern Theological Seminary, being ordained as a minister of the gospel, and a Doctorate of Education from Southern Theological Seminary - he's done. Please note the great pictures taken by the photographer and older accomplished brother Chris! My what talented sons I have!!! Thank you Lord for working in my childrens lives, they have all 3 grown up to love you and serve you and lead their families to know you too! You have been soo good to us - Thank YOU.
The navity set is out, but the tree is not up. We are headed to Louisville tomorrow for Dan's graduation, so we will put our tree up when we get back. We are so excited to see everyone.. Chris, Jen, Jordan and Caylee are going to be there, we have not seen them since February! It will be a whirlwind weekend - Dan graduates Friday, April is making Lasagna and there will be others there to celebrate, Saturday is Caylees 6th birthday, so we will have a party - Sunday we'll go to church and then just relax (or shop) the rest of the day.
I decorated a bit outside and if you look close you will see it was snowing this morning!!! Not enough to accumulate, but enough to see it was white. Hope all is well in your world, we are coming into a season of celebration. First and foremost the birth of our Savior, a more costly gift was never given! A time to enjoy family and friends. Both the boys and their families will be here for Christmas - we are looking forward to a good long visit then. Hope your season is merry and bright!
Our fall color was late in coming , but when it arrived it was beautiful, as seen in here in our row of burning bushes , you'll notice the dead grass, still reminders that we need moisture so badly. I took this picture yesterday, and I think the paper said we are about 9 inches below average moisture for the year - it would be great if we would make it up over the winter - in snow! People down here hate that word, but us displaced yoopers don't!
