Hallelujah

Hallelujah: to express praise or joy. Yup, that is what I feel. Last night my sweet daughter gave her heart to Jesus. She has been thinking about it quite a while and went to the class last summer at church but just wasn't ready. Last night, she took her Bible out on the balcony to read before bedtime and came in and said "Mommy, I want to give my heart to Jesus and be baptized." She wanted to listen to her favorite Christian song, read the Bible about the Crucifiction and Resurrection and then she said she would be ready. I left her to herself. She called me in about 45 minutes later and we prayed and she asked Jesus for forgiveness and asked to be saved and promised her heart. Awww! She said she wanted to be babtized this Sunday. I asked her if she remembered that was the anniversary of her Daddy's death. She thought for a minute or two and said that was ok - she wanted to be babtized. So this Sunday, I will be Babtizing her at our church. We will get to celebrate her new life on the same day as Jim began his new life. Pictures to follow.

Just Checking In

It's been a while since I updated this blog. April has been busy. I went to California to look at houses, almost bought one but they found termites. I am going to look one more time with a trip planned in May. While I was in California, I stayed with my Grandson. Awww..he is just too cute. I have updated pictures. Emily stayed with my friend Joni who was her kindergarten teacher. She got a new pet while she was there - a hermit crab. We now have 3 pets - a dog, a fish and a crab. I am not a pet person but.. Emily had a blast and came back so happy to see me and feeling so special to get to stay with Joni. Joni is one of our angels that God has put in our lives.

Easter was busy for hairbows so my little fingers were working night and day. On the 19th, I did the Claremore Triathlon - first time in probably 12 years. It was fun training for it as I have had a couple friends to train with. We even took swim lessons. I really think they helped my swim. Anyway, the triathlon was fun and I think I may do some more in the future. That's it for now.

Funky Picture but look at those leg muscles. :-)

More Angels!


XOXO

My sweet little grandson. Yummy!

Is it really spring?

Bob called and asked if we wanted to play. He and Jim would always play in the snow when we got a good one. So he and Emily built a snowman and a fort. I think they met a friend along the way. It has been snowing all day. We have 5 to 6 inches at the moment and it is still coming down pretty strong. I-40 West is closed. Anyway, it is absolutely beautiful snow. I don't like cold but I do love the snow.

Here is Bob and Emily in the completed fort with snowman.


Emily is done playing in the snow. Soaking wet with ice in her hair, she is ready for a nice, long bath.

A Trip to the Omniplex

We were planning to go to Silver Dollar City but the weather showed a 90% chance of rain so we decided to go to Oklahoma City to the Omniplex for our last spring break fun event. We went the previous weekend to Chris and Elaynes - always a blast. Emily was not ready to leave. You can see Elayne's blog for more details on that.

The Omniplex was absolutely wonderful. I don't have pics yet because I forgot my camera and purchased a portable that needs to be developed - so more later.

Living on the Streets

We sold our house and are now official apartment dwellers. It all happened so fast. Emily says we don't have a home anymore - that we are living on the streets. We will certainly miss our home of the last 10 years but it was definately time to move on. We have all those memories in our hearts and they will never leave. The yard was too big for me to keep up with and we really need something where Emily and I are on the same floor. We have been in the apartment a week and Emily has slept in her bed every night. She has not slept in her own bed since Jim got sick. I am, however, glad that this apartment living is only short term. We miss our home.

I feel so blessed with having such a wonderful church family and great friends. I had so much help during my move. I know I could not have done it without them. Moving from 2600 sq. feet to 1050 sq. feet has been challenging. I have a lot of stuff in storage. I got rid of a lot of stuff also. I hope to continue getting rid of things. I'm also on the third floor so I am really feeling blessed with so much help.

Here are a few updated pictures of my grandson. What a cutie! Can't wait to see him again.

California Trip

Emily and I went to California to visit Tony, Rikki, and Kru. While we were out there I saw my twin brothers - Dave and Dan and my Mom. I also got to visit with Greg who is staying with my brother. The weather was unbelievable -80s durning the day and 50s at night.
About my grandson, oh my gosh! He is just too darn cute. He is now 3 months old. He is giggling and cooing. He is beginning to sleep all night. When he is hungry, he wants it right now. He is a very good baby, very adaptable to going places. What a joy it is to hold and play with him. It just melts my heart when he smiles at me. He has this favorite toy that is a cow dressed up as a farmer. He just looks at it and smiles.
Anyway I have been contemplating moving to California and looked at houses while I was there. I don't know that I would move there - it is certainly a different lifestyle. It would be a very big step for me and I am not so sure I want to. It would be nice to be there for Tony and Rikki to help with Kru when they needed me. But anyway, there are a lot of houses for sale and the prices are really reasonable.
I got to run with Tony for 4 miles and Rikki for 2. It is always nice to get to run with them. Rikki and I have our favorite little pastry shop we like to go to. She is a great daughter-in-law.
We had a great time visiting but were really happy to be home.

Sweet little Kru having a bath. 'Tis one of his favorite things.
Emily and I took pictures of each other at the lake.
Tony at work. I blanked out some things for privacy purposes.
My brother Dan.
My brother Dave. He had Leukemia (CLL) at about the same time Jim did. A different kind but still pretty rough on him. He ended up having a bone marrow transplant.
Love the clouds.

Disney Christmas Cruise

Emily and I went on the Disney Cruise again this year. This time we did the 4 day cruise to Nassau. It was absolutely wonderful. Disney does such a great job. We watched some good movies, made a gingerbread house, swam, watched a hypnotist, ate wonderful meals and even went to a towel folding seminar. It was bunches of fun. We went to Paradise Island to Atlantis. Several famous people have homes on that island. It was quite a site - very lavish and lots to do. Great aquariums and sea life. Beautiful art work. The beach was nice. It was a very fun trip. I left my cell phone in the seat back pocket of the plane on the way to Florida. That was a bummer. I really like my cell phone. Anyway, I survived and hopefully Southwest will find it. We have a ton of pictures but here are a few.
Here is Emily posing in front of a real live gingerbread house.

This is the beginnings of making our own gingerbread house. We did this last year also. Tons of fun to do it together.

When we got to Disney's Castaway Cay Island we went bike riding and played on the beach.

You can see Atlantis in the background. We are on a ferry going across. A local guy that 'works for tips' gave us a great history of the area on the way over.

As you can see, Emily loves Pikachu. She got a big stuffed one for Christmas.

Sitting on Santa's lap. A 10 year old girl sitting at our dinner table tried to convince Emily there was no Santa. Emily asked her if she got presents at Christmas and the girl said no and that she celebrated Hanuka and didn't believe in Santa. Emily told her "See, Santa doesn't give presents to those who do not believe in him. I get presents from him". Anyway, I thought it entertaining.

This time we got a 2 room cabin with a porthole - well worth the upgrade. Here you can see Emily's orcas napping as we pull into the port at Nassau.

We stayed in a great hotel before we left the port. Emily enjoyed the pool.