The Grand-est Birthdays

The end of the year holds many of my favorite things........The end of the heat of summer, I know, don't hate me....... Fall color and Thanksgiving, Winter's snow and Christmas. It also holds most of my grand children's birthdays.....even my sweet Steph was born in late fall, Halloween day to be exact. My sweet Laura and her husband and oldest son, Aaron, celebrate their birthdays in the summertime. Even Mitch and Dave have winter birthdays, both were born in January.

So, here are some pictures of the grand-est Birthday boys and Girls.........and if I do say so myself.....they are the most handsomest boys and the prettiest girls on the planet!

And in case you are wondering.........Adam is 16, Bethanne and Rachel are 14, Ella Grace is 7, and Dawson is 4.

Christmas Time is Here

Christmas time is here

Happiness and Cheer

Fun for all the children call

Their favorite time of year.

Snowflakes in the air

Carols everywhere

Olden times and ancient rhymes

Of love and dreams to share.

Sleigh bells in the air

Beauty everywhere

Yuletide by the fireside

And joyful memories there.

Christmas time is here

We'll be drawing near

Oh, that we could always see

Such spirit through the year.

These are the lyrics to one of my favorite Christmas carols.......it is one of those songs where the words keep going around in my mind.

I agree with the author, I too wish that all of us could, "see such Spirit through the year." For me, the Spirit of Christmas has been and will always be my sweet Jesus......He came to the earth to show us the Father's love.....He was born to love and really, so was I. All of us have a purpose in this life, even if we may not know it today. My prayer this Christmas is that each of us would humbly fall to our knees and ask our Father in heaven just what that purpose is. I pray that as we seek His will for our lives, and as we choose to follow His plan for us, that we would see how deep the Father's love is for us. The word of God says that it will take all of eternity for God to show us just how much he loves us......sounds good to me, and I for one can't wait!

Merry, Merry Christmas everyone.......may Jesus' love wrap your hearts and lives in joy and peace.

Party On

We celebrated Dawson's birthday early this year. He wanted a Grinch party. He loves to watch the Grinch Who Stole Christmas, and he even "slithers" on his belly pretending that he is the Grinch. So, since Laura's house was all decked out for Christmas.....why not have an early birthday celebration. Laura did a great job with all of the decorations and the food. She even made the birthday cake in the shape of a "Who Beast!" She had cans of "Who Hash," green punch, and lots of candy and pizza! My grand daughter, Bethanne, made a life size painting of Cindy Lou Who......who you know, was no more than two......

If I do say so myself, I have two very creative daughters, they throw the best parties....and this one was no exception.......a great Grinchy time was had by all!

An Orphan Thanksgiving

The week of Thanksgiving we were blessed (yes, blessed!) with an unusual November snowstorm. I LOVED it of course.......Mitch, not so much.

Even though I loved the snow, it did keep us from spending Thanksgiving with our family. Well......our grand children and their parents anyway! Our dear friends from church invited us over for dinner so we weren't completely bereft of holiday cheer.

Slumber Party

Well.....here are a few photos from our time with the 4 littlest Rufflings. We had a blast having them ALL to ourselves. We enjoyed a lot of Ruff-housing and laughter, treats and TV watching. I did get in a little trouble though.....I chopped up a Twix bar and Mitch fed it to Mitchie and Charlie. We found out later that Laura hadn't been giving them treats yet...oops :). Like I told Laura, I am the Ninnie and Ninnie's get to give their grand babies treats......it goes with the job!

All 4 of them were so good, they even went to bed without a fuss. We weren't sure how Dawson would react.....he is his daddy's boy, but he did great since Papa is a close second to his parents.

We awoke Saturday morning to Spokane's first snowfall.....so pretty. It was the first snowfall that the twins were aware of it and it was so cute to see their eyes light up as they looked out the window.

Ella, Dawson, and I made place mats for Thanksgiving....aren't they cute?

"When the Cats Away The Mice Will Play"

Mitch and I are off to our kid's house tomorrow, we are going to babysit the four youngest Rufflings...our grand children. I FINALLY talked my Laura into taking her man away for a little R and R.....and we get to have them all to ourselves, for a whole night and a day.

I promised Laura that I would be good.....Not too many sweet treats or TV watching, not too much syrup on the breakfast waffles or too many donuts (that is if we can talk Papa and Dawson into a trip into town).....I am so glad that she couldn't see that my fingers were crossed! Ninnie has been known to be quite naughty when mom isn't looking!

With four little ones we should be very busy and tired, but I am looking forward to it.

I plan to craft some cool Turkey place mats with them, and we will probably play numerous games of Memory, Princess Yatzee, Hi Ho Cherry-O, and of course........a whole lot of Ruff-housing with Papa!

(PS The photos are from our trip to Disneyland......as you can see Ruff-housing happens all the time and in any place......even the older Rufflings get in on it too! I will post photos from this weekend when I get home)

Bringin' In The Sheaves

Here are some of the photos from our church's Harvest Party.......We throw a Harvest Party each year as an Outreach to our community, and we had over 1,000 adults and children attend this year's event! We had tons of fun games, like "Holey In One"........."Take Off Goliath's Head" (with a bean-bag of course)......and my favorite of all........."Throw Jonah Into the Mouth of the Whale!" Hey, I thought that Jonah came out of the mouth of the whale?? There was a real popcorn machine.....cotton candy galore......and YUMMY caramel apples.....let's just say that the scent on the air was to die for! We served BBQ Hot Dogs and of course there was candy, tons of candy.....FOUR 40 gallon barrels FULL of Candy to be exact!

My friend Melina and her band, played beautiful music for us the entire time, and the children's costumes were adorable.....even the adults got into the spirit of things. I volunteered to man the Information Booth, so I came dressed up as a Nerd.........I guess I didn't pull it off, because everyone thought that I was a Librarian. Now, I visit the library at least twice a month, and I don't recall seeing anyone dressed as I was, so I ask....What library do they go to?

We even had beautiful weather, a little windy at times, but all in all a gorgeous Fall day.

Mitch gave of himself to the Dunk Tank.....I am sure that he was wondering how he got roped into doing this, but he was a good sport about it, but hey, that's my man....he'll do anything for Jesus. Some of the other pastors took a turn too, except Zach and Matt.....party poopers, or should I say........CHICKEN babies!!

Family

My Aunty Sharon called me today, excited to tell me that she had found her long lost sister!! Aunty told me that she knew that she had a big sister.....it was alluded to during her growing-up years, but she didn't know anything about her. Through the help of an on-line ancestry site, she was able to locate her sister and her sister's son....and the rest is history....my history!
I am amazed at my Aunty's detective skills! Quite a few years back, she had "found" her father....he had been "missing" ever since my Aunty was 5 years old! I love that my Aunty Sharon was able to visit her father before he died, sharing the love of Jesus with him! And because she went to see her father, she met up with Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins that she had no memory of! I even got to meet one of my great Aunts and a second cousin, who happened to live here in the Tri Cities.....in fact, my cousin lived next door to me!! Yes, it is totally true......Kim was my neighbor for 5 years, and we didn't even know that we were related! I told Kim that I was thankful that I had been a good neighbor to her, and they to us......how awkward would that have been if we had been feuding neighbors?? I still correspond with another second cousin, Bonnie, and hope to be able to meet her face to face someday.
My family is not one that I would have picked.........there is divorce and destruction throughout, but I know the God who can make something beautiful out of something so ugly, and I thank Him daily for saving me.......so that I would not walk in the footsteps of those who have gone before me.......I thank my heavenly Father for giving me a sweet family life of my own, it could have gone the other way so easily. I thank God for my Aunty who loves Jesus and for my second cousin Bonnie, who loves Him too. I don't know if any others (of that side of my family) serve God, but I pray that they do. I know that my Aunty Sharon is going to share Jesus with her newly found sister, and so I pray that Barbara Jean will fall in love with Him too.
For in MY salvation, the chains of sin have been broken in my life, the sin that still holds some of my family in its grip. But I know my God, and I know how great His mercy is, and someday soon I will see with my own eyes just how far the Father's love reached into my family.

"What greater thing is there for Human Souls than to feel that they are joined for life-to be with each other in silent unspeakable memories."
George Eliot

Hanging Up Our Running Shoes......For Now

For those of you who have been waiting on pins and needles :) to hear how Mitch and I did in our Marathon.......well.........we weren't able to run!

Mitch was doing so good on his running, he even brought his running shoes to Disneyland. He got up early our first morning there, and headed to the gym, and he injured his knee on the treadmill.

Because of an old injury to my leg, I had already been babying my calf for a few weeks. I pulled a ligament and a muscle in the side of my calf a few years back, and it will hurt me every once in a while, but the running seemed to be ok, until I turned wrong one morning.......oops!

A friend of ours, who used to run a lot, until she injured her knees, suggested an Elliptical Trainer. She uses one, and told me that her knees don't hurt her when she "runs" on it. So we are on a hunt for one.

All I can say is.......Getting old is for the birds!!! In my 30's I used to go to the gym 3 to 4 times a week, working my buns off.......except for the usual muscle aches, I never hurt myself!

Ah well, maybe we can try again in the Spring.......Or maybe not, since I'll be even OLDER!!

Second Spring

"Autumn is a second Spring when every leaf is a flower."

Albert Camus

Fall is here........and if I do say so myself, Autumn is the BEST season of all. Most of you know that I do not like the heat of summer, and so the coming of Fall brings relief from the scorching heat. You have to admit, Fall is a gorgeous time of the year.

The changing season also means that Winter and Christmas are just around the corner....and they, are my favorite times of the year.....don't hate me, but I do love the snow, in fact, I am already praying for the Snow to come!

A few weeks back, during our usual visit to Spokane, Mitch and I went to Green Bluff with the fam. I had always wanted to visit the Bluff......Over the years, my girls had told me about how much fun it is. Green Bluff is an area of Spokane that holds orchards, and fields of produce, and grains. Each year, during the growing seasons, the Bluff is the place to pick your own fresh produce and fruit, but Autumn is the time to be there. Every year during the Fall Green Bluff is alive with people, visiting the orchards to pick apples and pears, sampling apple cider and home backed goodies, like pumpkin donuts.....YUM! There are horse and wagon rides for the kids, and we even went into a field to pick our own pumpkins. The grand kids enjoyed trying to earn a $100 by shooting a potato into a bucket.....too cute! The churches in the area hold Harvest Parties, and the locals open their barn-doors to the public. We enjoyed a meal at a sweet little shop that served the best home-made pies and sandwiches. We ate out on the terrace and listened to live music, enjoying the last few days of sunshine. I brought home a bag of apples, some fresh cut lavender, and of course.......pumpkins......best of all I brought home memories of a day spent with my sweet family, enjoying the blessings of God.

The Magic Kingdom

Disneyland was a blast........Yes, we had our moments (Cali was having a freak heat wave!), but all in all it was great FUN!

The kids did awesome and so did the adults......only a few melt-downs each, yes that includes the adults, but all in all we did well!

In have said it before and I will say it again........I LOVE Disneyland.....there is just something about the place that brings out the kid in me.

My favorite rides are the fast and crazy ones, Space Mountain and Big Thunder Railroad and Splash Mountain. I love the kiddie rides too, The Mad Hatter's Tea Cups, Peter Pan's Magic Flight, Dumbo, and Alice In Wonderland, and of course the Buzz Lightyear ride. We all were trying to beat each other's scores. One time Mitch took Charlie with him and Charlie kept spinning their spaceship in circles, yet Mitch kept on firing his space gun at the targets....too cute, and I don't have a picture of it....bummer!!

We got to see the fireworks, and Ella loved seeing Tinker Bell's flight from the castle to the top of the Matterhorn.

We spent a small fortune on Churros, and water (did I mention how HOT it was?) and a lot of ice cream and frozen lemonade.

I LOVED being able to share Disneyland with my grands. Ella and Papa had a blast together, two peas in a pod, and the twins were too cute. Charlie loved the Tiki Room, I wish I could show you how cute he was........humming and dancing to the music. Mitchie's favorite ride was Its A Small World, his head would turn back and forth so that he could see it all. Dawson was content to sit in his stroller and enjoy the sights while eating Frozen Lemonade.....his favorite rides were the Buzz Lightyear ride, and the Hungry Caterpillar ride in California Adventure's, A Bug's Life Land.

"And, Away We Go!"

Mitch and I are heading to Disneyland on Saturday next, with Todd and Laura, and their 4 little ones. I am so excited to be able to go with the newest grand kids. We had the opportunity to go with both of my girls and their families 5 years ago, and now it is time to go with the newest grands.
I loved being at Disneyland with my Steph and Laura when they were young.....they got so excited, and everything was so real to them, as it was for me when I was young.
I remember as a kid thinking that the guns in the Pirates of the Caribbean were real, so I would scrunch down in my seat or hide behind my brother, hoping to not get shot. I remember another ride that looked like you were going to be shrunk to a very tiny being, and then blasted off to Mars in a rocket ship. I really remember being scared the first time I went on it!! I still remember the magic of seeing Cinderella's Castle for the first time, and I remember trying to pull the Sword out of the Stone.
I can remember that my dad would get us spinning so fast in the Tea Cups, that my head would fall back and I could hardly pull it forward we were going so fast, and now my husband does the same thing! And who can forget Peter Pan's Flight? The town of London looks so real, as you fly over it in your sailing ship.
There truly is something magical about Disneyland........the fairy lights in the trees, the scent of Churros on the air, the music of Disney (which you will notice is playing as you read this), the Electric Light Parade, and of course, the different characters walking about (well......Disney characters, not the people kind!), even the parking lots are special.
We plan to stay at the Grand Californian Hotel that is located in Disney's California Adventure Park. With 2 babies and a toddler, it will be nice to have our hotel close by, just in case naps are in order! I have always wanted to be able to stay at the park, so it should be great fun.

"Run Marci.....Run"

You know the saying that goes something like this......"Its heck getting old?" Or....."Getting old is for the birds?" Well, I quite agree. Now don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change what I know today, with an 18 year old. Now, if I could retain what I have learned so far in life, and have an 18 year old body again, I just might go for it!

Mitch and I have packed on a few pounds over the last five years, and we both knew it was time to do something about it. So what did we decided to do? Run a Marathon!! That's right a Marathon, in October!! Now, before you say that we are crazy, please know that we will not be running a full Marathon. Mitch is training to run a half Marathon and I am training to run the one that is only 3 miles long.

I have to tell you that I do not like to run, it is not something that I have ever liked to do. My idea of exercise is a brisk walk through the woods, listening to the birds and squirrels chatter away, or maybe a nice long bicycle ride down by the river, or a hike up a beautiful mountain, enjoying the wildflowers and the view.

I lost 7 pounds last year while in Greece and Italy (even though I ate like a pig!), since we walked everywhere we went, so I know that exercise is a good thing.

Anyway.....we decided that running will be the thing to do. We began to train in June, and the first thing we did was loose some weight. I am so proud of Mitch......he has lost 25 pounds already!! He only has a few more to go to reach his goal weight. I didn't have as much weight to loose as he did, but I am well on my way to reaching my goal. And, no I am not going to tell you how much I weigh, don't you know that it is not polite to ask a girl her weight (or her age!)?

Of course, Mitch can already run 2-and-a-half to 3 miles without stopping.

I love watching him run.....he has a smooth gait, with a little bounce to his step, he makes it look so easy. I on the other hand do not have a smooth gait, in fact I keep telling Mitch that I run like a lumbering ox! He on the other hand keeps telling me that I do not look like an ox. He tells me that I have a runners body.......long legs and a shorter torso, but I can't even run 1 mile without having to walk some of it, so I will just have to trust him on this! Did I tell you that I don't like to run?

Mitch keeps encouraging me to continue on, he really thinks that I can do this. He keeps reminding me of the time that I ran a Marathon with him, and I remind him that it was 20 years ago, and that I was 10 pounds lighter.........and then I remind him again, that I don't like to run!! And, he keeps telling me to, "Stop whining like a mule?" Maybe he should change that to, "Quit whining like a lumbering ox?"

il bello Venezia

We were talking to some friends the other day, reminiscing about our trip to Greece and Italy last fall, and I realized that I hadn't finished sharing our Overseas Adventure.......so, here is the first instalment of the rest of the story.

We spent the last three days of our vacation in Italy, and if I do say so myself, these were my favorite days of all.

We spent a day in Florence, a day in Venice, and a day in Rome. Of course, only having a day meant that we could only see a portion of each city, but I enjoyed it none the less.

Of the three cities, my favorite by far was Venice......the canals with gondolas sailing up and down, and the old brick bridges that allowed us to walk over them. The ancient and beautiful buildings, with vines trailing from the roofs, and moss growing on the walls. The narrow cobblestone pathways that twist and turn throughout the city, with the scent of the sea on the air.

After a day of exploration, we enjoyed a late supper at a restaurant that we discovered was a favorite of the locals. The interior of the place was an experience I won't soon forget......dark wood paneling and stucco walls, yellowed with age......chunky wooden tables and mismatched dining chairs......the scent of wine and garlic, seafood and coffee......a family eating a birthday supper together, complete with gifts and a cake......there was even a dog resting under one of the tables waiting for its owners to finish dinner. The food was some of the best I have ever tasted........the freshest seafood and a juicy steak, with the ever present side of homemade pasta. We had a coffee and walked back to our hotel in the romantic light of beautiful wrought iron lamps.

The next morning, after breakfast, we headed to Piazza San Marco, where we boarded a water taxi (there are no motor vehicles in Venice) and headed to the train station to catch the early train to Rome.

"Why....?'

"I know now Lord, why You utter no answer.

You are Yourself the answer.

Before Your face questions die away.

What other answer would suffice?"

C.S. Lewis

"It is Good......"

Didn't Mitch do a FABULOUS job on his creation? I LOVE it and I sit on the swing, enjoying the shade each morning.......Reading my Bible and watching the robins and the starlings hunt for worms. The shade is heavenly and what is even better.........this morning we had a thunderstorm and I sat out there and stayed safe and dry! It was so nice sitting there listening to the rain fall and the thunder roll.

GOOD JOB hon! Thank you for ALL of your hard work......each time I am out there enjoying the shade, I FEEL your love for me. What a blessed woman I am, I couldn't ask for more. Well.......maybe a fire pit, and an outdoor kitchen, some patio furniture would be nice......oh and a snuggle with my honey on a new porch swing (I know that you can build one......I only have to look up and see your talent for building things!!)

Life Abundant

As I was returning home from Spokane last week, I saw a doe and her fawn dead on the side of the road. Not a pretty picture to have on my mind and yet it keeps on returning........I love how the Lord uses even sad things to get my attention about some issue of life........The sight of the doe with her fawn lying on the roadside brought a thought to mind....a little one will follow its mother, even if it means following her to death.....I know that we humans are different than animals, we have a reasoning mind and can make choices, whereas an animal has instincts, and must follow them. As a mom I have the power to greatly influence my children, and their children, and their children.......They WILL FOLLOW me. I want my children to follow me to LIFE and not to DEATH, and I am not talking about a literal death (like the poor little fawn). Jesus said that He came to give us life, and that more abundantly..........He wasn't just speaking of eternal life, but of this LIFE that I live here on the earth. My life, our lives, affect others. What I do or don't do here in this life will follow me into eternity. I am not perfect, no human is.......but I want my life to reflect what I believe, what I KNOW. Each and every moment of everyday I will affect the lives of those around me, for good or for bad. And so, I choose today to FOLLOW my Jesus....to go where He has gone....to do as He does....to love and serve with compassion and caring. And as I follow Jesus, I pray that my life will be an example worth following.........

Under Construction

I am so proud of my honey.....the Patio Cover is taking shape and it looks great, doesn't it? He has been working long hours and I am so thankful for his willingness to do so! All I know is that I am going to "owe" him BIG TIME!!