SOMEBODY'S GETTIN' OLD

...and it ain't me!

Nineteen years ago today God blessed our family with a daughter, Taylor Grace. Where have the years gone?

Beginning on her first birthday, Taylie's dad has given her a dozen roses every year on her special day. Even though she is away at college this year, he wanted to continue the tradition. After a little consideration, I thought I would enlist the help of Kimmie, who is the Recruitment Manager and Head Volleyball Coach at Crown College where Taylie atttends. I called her to ask if she could give me the number of a local florist and some idea of when best to have the roses delivered.

Kimmie, bless her heart, enthusiastically offered to take care of purchasing and personally delivering the roses to Taylie as a surprise. She even went so far as to take a photo of Tay with the flowers and email it to us...as evidenced in the picture above. Taylie worked closely with Kimmie this year as the volleyball team manager and Kimmie shared with me how much she appreciated our daughter's help and her encouraging rapport with the team. I was very touched by her gracious words and help in carrying on this special tradition.

Happy blessed birthday to you today, "Gracie"....you have, indeed, been an undeserved gift to us from God.

GIFTS I NEVER ASKED FOR

This morning I was in town running errands and picked up an old Indian walking down the road. He also happens to be an old friend. I gave him a ride to his home and he invited me in for a cup of tea. A very delicious cup of tea...something from South Africa. When I asked where he'd gotten it he replied, "I'm a man of the world, you know." We sat on the back steps, sipping tea, catching up on each other's kids, and reminiscing. When I left, he gifted me with 3 bottles of this year's maple syrup and a new pair of moccasins.

As I drove home I thought of the unexpected gifts a day can bring. A visit with an old friend, precious pure maple syrup...new moccasins. I hadn't asked for any of those things, but they were bestowed upon me. In my opinion, these are the best kind of gifts.

My thoughts turned to how God knows what we need and He gives...whether we ask Him or not. Even whether we love Him or not. So many things we take for granted...the air we breathe...the power that enables us to move, function, work, and play. Many un-asked-for faculties...a brain that can reason; sensory perceptions with which to see, hear, smell, feel; and a heart that steadily moves my lifeblood throughout my body.

Most of the many gifts and blessings God has given me I never asked for...His Word so I might know Him, His Spirit which renews my mind and strengthens my heart to obey Him, His Son to take the penalty of my sin that I might have eternal life in Him, and free will to choose. I didn't ask for these things, yet He gave them to me. "Every good and perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no shadow of turning." James 1:17 NKJV

Thank you, Father God, for so much.

THE AFGHAN OPEN

"Specialist Ramsey Haynes is in the lead at three under par in the First Annual Afghan Open as he tees off on hole seven, a wicked 475 yard fairway with a monstrous sand trap."

Just thought I'd share this picture with you all...it made me smile. Until, that is, I talked to Ramsey on the phone this morning and he told me he was hitting the ball over the perimeter wall trying to set off land mines in a mine field on the other side. Sheesh.

CABIN FEVER

March can seem like the longest month of the year, can't it? Everyone can get a little testy, even our feathered friends at the feeder. We're ready to be done with winter and get on with spring weather activities, but this month delights in being fickle...sunshine and temps in the upper 40s to low 50s for three days and then it plummets back down into the 20s and 30s with freezing rain and snow. I saw on the news this morning that the areas of Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma and others are bracing themselves for one to two feet of snow in the next 24 hours! In my neck of the woods we'd take that with a begrudging sigh, but it's got to come as a rude shock to folks in those parts of the country.

Currently, I am on spring break with no plans to head south to a sunny beach somewhere. Instead my goal is to head deep into the dusty netherworld of my long neglected bedroom for a major makeover. First, a good old-fashioned pitch and toss, looking at everything with a critical eye and realistic expectation: "am I ever going to wear this or use this?", and organize what's left. Second, eliminate some of the furniture to free up some floor space, bring in the industrial-strength shop vac and banish all the dust bunnies, dust puppies, dust ponies, and dust rhinos.

Then the fun part begins: Down to the home supply store to purchase paint and back home to apply it. A trip to the fabric store to choose a coordinating fabric to sew curtains or perhaps just valances for the windows.

For the finishing touch: lay down the beautiful hooked wool rug and make up our bed with the wonderful new linens my girlfriends helped me pick out on our recent road trip to the Twin Cities. It's going to be quite a transformation. I will post an "after" picture but don't think for one minute you'll see the "before" shot!

BECAUSE THEY NEEDED THE BEST

...they sent the 951st Engineer Battalion Sapper Company

out of Rhinelander/Tomahawk, Wisconsin.

Thank you to Stephanie Aimone for these photos.

MAY I BRAG A LITTLE?

So I am going to use this forum to brag a little about my eldest son. Against my better judgment, I was online chatting with him on Facebook from 12:30 to 2:30 AM last night...or this morning...whatever.

Ramsey was sitting in a tent some place, not Afghanistan, waiting for the go-ahead to make the last leg of the flight to FOB Lagman, the base where he'll spend the next ten months. He sent me a photo attached to an email of him qualifying on the M4, a type of machine gun. It's kind of weird looking at a photo of your son in full battle gear intently firing a machine gun.

I asked him about the photo; what he was doing, who the other people in it were. He said it was taken on a shooting range at Camp Shelby, MS, where he was shooting targets while walking. Ramsey is the lead soldier on the right. The soldier directly behind him is an instructor. For those of you who have any experience shooting a firearm, it's difficult enough to hit a target when you are stationary, much less on the move. Ramsey qualified as an Expert on four weapons: the M4, M9, .50 caliber, and the M-240. Expert is the highest weapons qualification. It may come as a surprise to those of you who know Ramsey, and are aware of his reputation as a hunter, that this is the first time he has qualified as an Expert . Apparently, this is not an easy accomplishment.

Ramsey is a member of the 951st Combat Engineer Sapper Company, whose job it will be to provide route clearance...locating, disarming, and disposing of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), aka roadside bombs. In addition to his training to carry out this duty, Ramsey will also man the .50 caliber machine gun mounted on top of a vehicle, and perform emergency life saving medical tasks, like controlling bleeding and starting I.V.'s., as a trained Combat Lifesaver.

While it is very difficult to think about what our son may experience in the coming months in Afghanistan, I am very proud of him and his willingness to serve our country. I am proud of his accomplishments and abilities gained during his years of training in preparation for this assignment. I am thankful for the gifts God has given Ramsey and His Hand upon him shaping him into the young man he has become.

TESTING

Ok, so when I published my last post earlier today my blog spot was lost to me...all that was left was a big blue screen with about three lines of encrypted gobbledygook at the top. I tried finding it everywhich way with no luck. I called Cheri and she was able to view it from her computer. Hmmm. So I'm checking to see if it is restored after I publish another post. If not....I don't know what's up. Keeping my fingers crossed.

RED-EYE TO AFGHANISTAN

Yesterday Ramsey and the rest of the 951st Engineer Sapper Co. out of Rhinelander/Tomahawk, WI, boarded a plane at Camp Shelby, MS, for the first leg of their long journey to Afghanistan. Ramsey called us from somewhere in Maine after a 3 1/2 hour flight. Maine? I admit I know nothing about flight patterns, but doesn't flying from way down south 50 miles from the Gulf of Mexico all the way to the northernmost state of the Union seem a little out of the way? Is Afghanistan at the same latitude as Maine? Here's where my geography prowess fails me. Maybe it has to do with the fact that the next stop is Germany. Then Romania. (Romania? Do we have air bases in Romania?) And finally, Afghanistan.

All this to say, Ramsey is on his way to a dangerous part of the world to do a dangerous job. I don't know where he is right now, how long it takes to get there, or when he'll arrive at his final destination. All I do know is I have put him in God's hands and "I know whom I have believed and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day." 2 Timothy 1:12

POTATO PIZZA

A couple of you have expressed interest in Potato Pizza, a family favorite. I don't really have a recipe; it's one of those "as you would" kind of things. Anyway, here's how I do it:

Use two large pre-baked pizza crusts. I either make my homemade yeast pizza crust and bake till just starting to brown or, if I'm looking for something quicker, I buy Mama Mary brand pre-baked crusts. I know there are other brands, but haven't tried them.

Peel and boil six large potatoes. Cook one pound of bacon and break into about 1/2 to l inch pieces. Chop one meduim onion. Grate one pound of mozzarella cheese.

Spread crusts with sour cream, not too thick...about one half cup per crust.

Slice potatoes evenly on the crusts to cover all but very edge. This layer of potatoes will be more than one slice deep. Salt and pepper to taste.

Divide first the onion between the two pizzas, distributing evenly, then do the same with the bacon pieces, followed by the cheese.

Bake in preheated 400 degree oven until cheese is melting and beginning to brown, about 12 - 14 minutes. I bake one pizza at a time because they don't take long and that way the second one is still hot when served.

You can tweak any and all of the ingredients to your preference...more or less sour cream or bacon, leave off the onions...whatever. Obviously, this is a high calorie and fat pizza but I have taken to using fat free or low fat cheese and sour cream and it's just as good. We have added other toppings at times...some were good, some not. Whatever you would like on a baked potato is best. Remember, it's not a tomato sauce pizza so nix the mushrooms and oregano. I would love to hear from any of you who come up with your own variations. Enjoy!

PS - this pizza is great left over

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Just when I've made my re-entry into blogging I am forced to retire temporarily (only a matter of days this time; not years) as my computer has to go to the doctor for routine maintainence.

Think of everything I'll get done around the house without the computer luring me away!

SO SOON, WRITERS' BLOCK

You'll have to bear with me; there's a lot swirling around in my head these days but little of it alights long enough to be formulated into anything remotely blog-worthy.

I could bore you with the mundane details of my week:

Sunday: Sang on the worship team during the morning's worship service, celebrated Tessa's 16th birthday with my folks, played cards at friends while the kids had Sr. High Bible Study.

Monday: Went to visit and provide care for friend, Florence, in her home; made potato pizza and a strawberry-rhubarb pie for Tessa's birthday dinner while enjoying the company of future daughter-in-love, Mandy, and future official grandson, Damon. Celebrated Tess's birthday again, then went to church for Bible Study.

Tuesday: Mandy called at 8:30 and asked if we wanted to go swimming. Swimming! It's 8:30 AM and -35 degrees out. At the local pool, silly. Sure...why not. In the afternoon, did aforementioned favor for Ramsey and delivered roses to Mandy at work.

Wednesday: Pretty much just did school with Tess and Wy and housework. Woohoo. Mandy and Damon came over.

Thursday: Are you bored yet? I am. School, laundry, zzzzzzzzz ........

Friday: Back to visit and care for Florence. Cards and pizza at the home of Pastor Joe and Sue.

Saturday: Family Council meeting at local nursing home where my grandmother is a resident, worship team practice, errands in town, home to knit...hopefully.

There you have it. They say sometimes you just have to put your time in to get past writers' block. I've done my time...hopefully I'm rehabilitated.

SUPPORT OUR TROOPS

People ask us if we ever hear from Ramsey who is currently stationed at Camp Shelby, MS. My reply is, "Not often and usually when he needs a favor."

"Hi Mom, can you do me a favor?"

"Sure, what's that?"

"Can you go to Griders and buy a dozen red roses for Mandy and take them to her at work?"

"...Sure..." (why not?) "What do you want the card to say?"

"Just because I love you."

That's how I found myself driving into town, buying red roses, driving to the next town, delivering said roses to my future daughter-in-love, and driving back home...on a day when I had no plans to leave the house.

Funny what we do for love.

OK, SO WHERE WAS I...

...Oh, yeah! Now I remember. April 8th, 2006. Mark and Ramsey were heading to Tennessee to hunt turkeys. That was almost three years ago. I feel like Rip Van Winkle. Quite a lot has happened since then:

We've all gotten older. Big surprise to ya'll, I know.

I enrolled in college for the first time. Part time associate degree RN program at the area technical college. This spring semester I will complete the required courses to be licensed as a Practical Nurse. How practical is that?

Ramsey is deployed with the 951st Engineer Battalion out of Rhinelander/Tomahawk. He is currently at Camp Shelby, MS, and will leave for Afghanistan later this month. More on that later.

Taylie began her freshman year of college at Crown College in Minnesota. She is pursuing a BS in Elementary Education. She looks forward to spending Spring Break on a mission trip with the Crown women's volleyball team in the Dominican Republic.

Tessa turns 16 (!!) TODAY. She has grown into a lovely young woman with many gifts and a tender servant's heart. She loves to cook, bake, make jewelry, and watch movies. She spoils me with her willingness to help in the kitchen and around the house in general.

Wylie has shot up, relatively speaking, to be the tallest in our family at a whopping 5'8" and he'll turn 15 next month. A man of varied interests, he loves to duck hunt, turkey hunt, ice fish, read, draw realistic pictures of semi trucks, and avoid doing schoolwork. Wylie also has the opportunity to go on a short-term mission trip next month to Budapest, Hungary, with a group from church.

Mark left Viking Builders in April of 2007 to go on his own doing carpentry and guiding. It has been an interesting time with the economic downturn, but God has provided in amazing ways and we are growing in our walk with Him.

Well, that's it in a nutshell...I s'pose I can expound on some of this in future posts. For anyone who might happen to have been left hanging three years ago, wondering about the results of the Tennessee turkey hunt: Mark and Ramsey each bagged a bird.

AND THEY'RE OFF! ...AGAIN

Mark and Ramsey left this morning bound for Tennessee (seems to be the place to go these days). This time it's a spring turkey hunt with friends, Tom and Bill. They will have a great time whether they bag any birds or not. This is Bill's first time hunting turkeys and he has been pumped! He attended seminars, watched videos, and bought everything Cabela's had to offer remotely related to turkey hunting. He was all packed a week ago. (Mark and Ramsey packed last night and early this morning). His wife, Mary, was offering the guys $100 if they'd
get "Cabela Bill" and all his gear out of her house a week early and keep him in Tennessee a week longer.

So it's me and the Three Amigos holding down the fort for the next week. They're all sick, in various stages of some virus that just won't leave us alone. Taylie is pretty much over it, but still has a loose cough. Tess is running a low-grade fever this morning and Wylie is hacking, snorting, and spitting. Enough said.

CHERI AND LO GOIN' CAMPIN' !

The "Tater Twins" are packed and off on another excellent adventure!

I found this photo on a fellow blogger's site and it cracked me up. Thanks to the Ramblin' Hillbilly. And thanks to Taylie for her ability to figure out for me how to upload this image to my blog. Her comment upon reading the title of this post was: "With just potatoes?" My response: "I'm sure there's a little chocolate in there somewhere."

APRIL FOOL'S DAY

I originally was planning to pull off an April Fool's Day prank in my blog but, upon reconsidering, decided doing anything on the internet could get out of hand in a big way. Look how crazy things got in 1957 when the BBC news program Panorama announced that, thanks to a mild winter and elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper harvest of spaghetti. They accompanied this story with pictures of Swiss peasant farmers pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees. Hundreds of viewers were duped and called in wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti trees. It took some time, but the show's highly respected anchor, Richard Dimbleby, was eventually forgiven by his viewers.

So, in lieu of stirring up some world-wide chaos, I thought I would instead share the tale of my favorite April Fool's Day prank I managed to pull off. April Fool's Day was a big deal to my father and he enjoyed a lot of success in tormenting his wife and young daughters. By the time I was around fourteen I decided it was time to fight back. After much thought, I hit upon a plan. My dad chewed tobacco; the leaf type that came in a pouch. I replaced the tobacco with some nice fresh, moist horse poo. As we all know, the first Tuesday in April is an election day and my dad happened to be running for Town Supervisor. The first of April that year was a day or two before the election. Dad was quite keyed up and prone to expounding on the issues to his captive audience at home. As he worked himself into a froth, he pulled out his pouch and proceeded to pinch a good-sized wad of "chew" and was waving it about as he drove his point home. I had let my mum and sisters in on the prank and we all sat entranced by that chunk of "poo chew" as Dad would bring it in close to his mouth for the deposit but then pull it away, as he wasn't quite ready to pause in his tirade. Suddenly, the enormity of what I had done washed over me in a sickening wave, but I was frozen in a state of fascinated horror when Dad finally arrived at some type of ending punctuation and opened wide to tuck the wad in place. Thanks to God's marvelous design, the nose is placed strategically above the mouth and Dad caught a whiff of what he was about to put therein. He exploded with an emphatic oath, or two or three, as he examined the offending "chew" at arm's length. Mom and sisters, Tara and Nan, sat mute while I offered a weak, "April Fool's". Dad looked at me in surprise and then, much to our relief, burst out laughing. *Whew* To this day, Dad acknowledges, "That was a good one!"

The next year I tried to top that one by sewing the fly shut on his boxers and he nearly wet himself in the men's room of the law office he worked in before discovering my duplicity.

Happy April Fool's Day!

FEBRUARY FLIGHT PLAN

The month of February has flown by and brought to our home the feeling of an airport terminal. Rucksacks, duffel bags, and carry-ons crowd floor space; misty-eyed hugs goodbye and joyful bear-hug reunions.

Son Ramsey left on the 2nd of February for 2+ weeks of IRT (Innovative Readiness Training in Army lingo) down in Yuma, Arizona. Task Force Diamondback is the building of the border fence (more like a wall) on the Arizona/Mexico border. Ramsey spent his 12-hour shifts welding together steel panels that make up the 18.5' x 9' sections of the fence.

He came back to us Saturday, the 18th, tanned, peeling, and freezing. Two weeks in the desert was enough to thin his blood -- 'course, the fact that it was -25* with windchill ten degrees colder didn't help. Ramsey wasn't the only one shivering around here!

While he was gone, his dad left on the 17th to fly to New Orleans a part of a short-term missions group sent by our church to help victims of Katrina. Mark and the rest of the group will be there for eight days, returning home in the wee morning hours on the 26th. The group is spending their days mucking out houses; tearing out rotten, molded wood, drywall, carpet, etc.; re-roofing; and cleaning up all the debris in people's yards.

We tend to think of floods as water. Not so. We are talking sludge, folks. Nasty, black, and stinking. Seven months after Katrina, the devastation is still mind boggling. The mission team has set up a blog site, complete with photos: http://conovermissions.blog.com Check it out. Seeing this kind of suffering sure puts our own problems in perspective.

We are thankful Mark was still able to go on this trip after separating his shoulder in a snowmobile accident last month. God has been so good. I was somewhat dismayed though, to learn Mark is roofing down there. (see Wednesday's photos on missions blog -- white T-shirt & camo hat, for readers who wouldn't recognize him). He's supposed to be doing something like supervising or running a Bobcat. But that's typical of Mark -- expects no special treatment; gonna do whatever needs to be done. We're praying daily for the team's safety, health, rest, and opportunities to share the love of Christ with people they come in contact with.

So anyway, it's been kind of different for our household with all the coming and going. Mark and Ramsey will not have seen each other for almost a month by the time Mark gets back from Louisiana. I am looking forward to having both my guys back home and underfoot again.

"SHOULDER BONE CONNECTED TO THE..."

I've been meaning to blog for quite some time but, circumstances being what they are, I just have not found the right time. Ideally, time without interruption is best for me to write and there has been scarce little of that lately. Let me briefly explain:

January 19th, my husband, Mark, was injured in a snowmobile accident. He wasn't going fast or doing anything foolish...it was a freak thing. He was turning off the road into a driveway and the carbide on the bottom of a ski caught as he hit the brake to swing the rear of the machine, flipping the sled and throwing Mark off. He landed on the hard, icy road taking the full impact on his left shoulder and suffering a 3rd degree AC shoulder separation. In layman's terms, he tore all the ligaments holding the main shoulder bones in place -- the collarbone was shoved up and displaced by the top of the humerous being driven up into the shoulder socket. If this had happened in soft snow he wouldn't have been injured, but he hit hard on the ice and that did it.

We saw two orthopedic specialists. Neither recommended surgery and that was alright with us. Mark began physical therapy last week, is doing pretty well, but is unable to work. Being that the accident was not work-related, there was no workmans' compensation. His employer has subsequently laid him off, as they have no work he is able to do in his present condition. So we are collecting unemployment. It is about half of what he used to bring home, but we are thankful to have something steady to work with...I like a challenge.

Good thing I do, because there have been more challenges in this than just the financial aspect. It is a challenge to not worry, to be patient with a man sitting on the couch in pain and micro-managing my every move, to not get my feelings hurt when he doesn't listen to my advice or admonitions, to help our kids deal with their feelings of stress and anxiety, to find time for myself to be refreshed and renewed...to remember that our names are written on the palms of God's hands.

Through it all we have been amazed at how God is working in our lives: growing us in our faith, giving us opportunities to see His provision for our family, and proving His faithfulness. God is good -- ALL THE TIME.

DOG POOP AND COFFEE

Hah! Couldn't just walk away from a title like that, could ya?

Ever get the feeling early on in a day that this might be one of those days when you should just scrap it and go back to bed 'til tomorrow? I'm getting that vibe this morning.

I woke up before six to find dog poop tracked on every other stair going down to the basement. Lovely. The kids had been playing in the woods (which is where our dog does her business) last night after dark and someone must have stepped in a pile and unknowingly tracked it in. 'Course, beats me how they "unknowingly" walked past the stuff on the way back up the stairs.

Cleaning up dog poop before I've had my morning cup of joe is not my idea of a stellar start to the day, but nevertheless, I grabbed the spray bottle of Resolve, firmed up my inner resolve (and my innards), and sprayed and scrubbed my way from top to bottom. Done with that, coffee's ready.

Poured a cup of steaming coffee and headed back downstairs to the computer to check emails and blogs. Slipped on the second from the top step and me and joe were airborne! I have not fallen down the stairs in years...I've slipped, tripped, stumbled, and had some close calls. This was the real deal. Luckily, I kept my grip on the handrail but that was all. In a shower of coffee, I came down hard, smashing my right hip and a couple lower ribs. Ow.

If you ever want to really get your childrens' attention, this works like no other thing.

After applying a cold pack to the purpling grapefruit-sized bruise on my hip, cleaning the stairs (for the second time before 7AM) and walls, and taking a traditional shower, I am now considering renting a carpet cleaner...and watching where I step.

ANOTHER TEEN

Unbelievable, the way time passes...

Today is our youngest daughter's thirteenth birthday. Tessa Rose with the button nose. It's her birthday, but what a gift from God she is to us. Beautiful, talented, ardent in likes and dislikes, thoughtful and sensitive, helpful and servant-hearted. Her rippling, musical laugh delights my soul; her round, blue eyes spilling over with tears breaks my heart. Caught in the riptide of passage between childhood and young womanhood, she dances and stumbles.

I don't even remember my thirteenth birthday, but I do remember the ups, downs, and lost-somewhere-in-betweens of the age. Observing one's daughter travel that road brings back some of the feelings...my job now is to discern when to catch her and when to let her fall.

I saw a sign that said, "Raising teenagers is kind of like nailing Jello to a tree." My interpretation: It's a sweet challenge requiring patience and ingenuity and grace.

Last August, Taylie and Tessa and I were out picking wild blueberries. As we walked back to the car, I was flanked by the girls who each carried a full bucket in one hand and held my hands with the other. The late afternoon sun cast our shadows before us and the image smote my heart. I marveled at what God has done: given me two beautiful daughters who want to be with me, talk with me, learn from me, and teach me of themselves. How blessed I am!