Daddy

I lost my father tonight to cancer. Though I feel incredibly cheated to have lost him so soon, I am very thankful to have had such amazing, unconditional love from such an amazing, incredible man. I can't sum up today in three things, and I won't be at a computer for a few days as we sort through things here. I will be back when I get the chance.

ttfn
Cath

Clean clothes, good business, party

1. After rain yesterday, the humidity was really low today. So not only did my ankle feel pretty good, but the girls and I also got several big loads of laundry done and hung to dry outside.
   
   
2. Business is good.
   
   
3. The girls and I had a successful shopping trip today, and we bought some "Vanilla and Cookies" ice cream for a party. Miss Patti called today, and my oldest got a 100% on the test she had to take yesterday.
   

Leaves, the tests are finished

1. There was a gentle rain all day today, and it seemed like we could actually watch the leaves on the trees opening up.
   
   
2. My baby passed her test today for her Missionettes club.
   
   
3. My oldest passed her test today for her Missionettes club, too.
   

More singing, hugs, vacation scrapbook

1. When we first moved into this house, it seemed really loud here. It's starting to get that way again. The frogs are back, and I think I hear more birds singing every day.
   
   
2. Lots of hugs from the girls today.
   
   
3. Finishing the last words in my vacation scrapbook, on the one-year anniversary of the last day of the trip.
   

Spring trees

1. The white flowers on the pear tree
   
   
2. The purple flowers on the redbud tree
   
   
3. The soft green of the buds on all the deciduous trees and bushes
   

Trini Lopez, popsicles, naps and scrapbooks

1. My mom is a big Tom Hanks fan, and I like him OK. She likes Sleepless in Seattle, and it's not my cup of tea. Except that I love the part in Sleepless when the guys are making fun of the women for liking the movie An Affair to Remember because I do cry at sappy movies, and I cry even when the movies are "action/adventure." Tom Hank's character confesses that he cried at the end of The Dirty Dozen. "Jim Brown was throwing these hand grenades . . . and . . . Trini Lopez . . . he busted his neck while they were parachuting down behind the Nazi lines . . ." He breaks down into lots of fake crying. But I knew exactly what he was talking about because I remember as a kid crying at the end of The Dirty Dozen. I watched it tonight with my kids, and they were quite emotional when Jim Brown was throwing those grenades. It's nice to know I'm not the only one.
   
   
2. At church today we sang the song "All Things are Possible," and it made all of us girls smile, remembering our friend Jocelyn who used to think the song was "All Things are Popsicles."
   
   
3. An afternoon nap and still some time to scrapbook!
   

More scrapping, strawberries and asparagus, fresh cookies

1. More scrapbooking today. I have everything glued down, now I just need to add a few more words. I think I can be done on Monday or Tuesday with the whole book.
   
   
2. My husband planted some strawberry plants and some asparagus today. I'm really looking forward to having both, though it will take a while for them to really get going.
   
   
3. The girls made some cookies today, and it's really warm outside, so it's feeling like summer-time in the house today. But once we turn on the air conditioning, we try to discourage baking, to save energy, so the kids are trying to get their baking in now.

No school, scrapbooking, Spain

1. The girls have all finished school early for the week.
   
   
2. I planned for a week of vacation this week, and I actually had the time today to have some fun. I scrapbooked for several hours today, and I made really good progress on my current scrapbook project: our 2006 tour of Europe.
   
   
3. A year ago today we were in Spain, and it was nice to work on the scrapbook and remember. We only went a few miles into Spain, just so we could say we'd been there, but we found some really nice things to explore.
   

Finished with work, finished with school, game night

1. I've finished three big projects for work in the past few days. It feels good to have them behind me, and I love having the money coming in, too.
   
   
2. The kids had a good week at school, even without me here for the first part of the week. I hope they can keep it up for a couple more week until we have a spring break.
   
   
3. My youngest and I are going to play games tonight while the others watch a movie we don't want to see. I love game night.
   

Wordless Wednesday #15

Songs for the ride home

From my new WOW Hymns CDs:

1. "Rock of Ages" (Chris Rice)
2. "For the Beauty of the Earth" (Bawlowgirl)
3. "Tis So Sweet To Trust in Jesus" (Casting Crowns)
   

Break

I'm away for a few days to help my mom. I will write when I get back home.
ttfn
Cath

Dude, walking, planting

1. My youngest said today, in her best British accent, "Dude, get off my blankie." Dude and British are just too funny together.
   
   
2. We've been studying Hitler and WWII in history. As my oldest was watching Hitler review his troops, she said that she was glad she wasn't trying to take over the world because she didn't want to walk that much.
   
   
3. My middlest daughter was finished with school early, and she spent the day planting seeds with her dad.
   

Dinner out, gentle evening rain, Go Dook (go home, that is)

1. My "youth" had a chance to go to dinner at their youth pastor's house. It was a nice change of pace for them, and it meant that I didn't have to cook a big supper.
   
   
2. It's raining again. I love the sound of a nice, gentle rain, especially when I don't have anywhere else to go this evening.
   
   
3. My baby and I had a chance to watch most of the second half of the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) versus Duke game in the first round of the NCAA basketball tournament. I had an interview once, 25 years ago, at Duke, and the attitude there was that Southerners were too stupid to be able to go to school there. Everyone I've met from Duke since then has the same attitude. On that day 25 years ago, I walked away from that campus before my interview, and I've routed against them ever since. And tonight, VCU won 79-77. Fox Sports says that this is the first time since 1996 that Duke lost a first-round game in the NCAA tournament. Also, the loss "ended the Blue Devils' string of Sweet 16 appearances at nine. It was the longest active streak and second-longest behind North Carolina's 13-year run." It's so nice to see the extremely arrogant fall. Go Dook!
   

Wordless Wednesday #14

Insurance cards, Chicken Dance, feels like summer

1. I found an unopened envelope with our insurance cards and put one in my purse.
   
   
2. My parents sent me a card that plays the "Chicken Dance" for my birthday. I realized while talking to my parents yesterday on the phone that I hadn't fully appreciated my card, and I hadn't shared it with the girls. So I brought it upstairs today, and every time my youngest finishes a task for school, I play the "Chicken Dance" for her and we dance.
   
   
3. It's almost 80 degrees today, and the girls had a great time down at the creek.
   

Dinner from my husband, Stars and Friends books, sunset

1. My husband cooked dinner so I could finish up some work for clients. I think I'll make it to bed early tonight!
   
   
2. We finished organizing the girls' Stars and Friends notebooks to take to church on Wednesday. It's a huge relief to have that behind us.
   
   
3. There was a particularly beautiful sunset tonight, with mostly purples in the clouds. I watched it slowly fade away with my oldest from my bedroom window.
   

Early to bed, early to rise, lunch in the oven

1. Going to bed early tonight.
   
   
2. Daylight Savings Time? Though it's difficult to be thankful for losing an hour of sleep, it was nice this morning to see the hills in the early morning light that comes before the sun is really up.
   
   
3. Coming home from church with lunch cooking in the oven. My oldest made us Mexican Lasagna last night so we could put it in the oven for today.
   

Wren house, spring, cherry tomatoes

1. The new wren house from my parents.
   
   
2. An early morning rain that smelled like spring.
   
   
3. Cherry tomatoes for lunch.
   

Crossed off, musicals, Happy Birthday!

1. I got tons of things crossed off my To-Do list! I love my To-Do list when it looks like this.
   
   
2. I spent the afternoon working on my laptop and watching musicals on tape and DVD with the girls.
   
   
3. Happy Birthday to my niece! We love you, sweetie!!!
   

Singing at the top of our lungs

My baby and I went into town again today, just the two of us, and we love singing along to the radio at the top of our lungs. Our three favorite songs we heard this evening:

1. Mary-Chapin Carpenter's "Down at the Twist and Shout"
   
   
2. Little Big Town's "Boondocks"
   
   
3. Tim McGraw's "Last Dollar"
   

Major accomplishment, free checking, songs in her head

1. My oldest daughter finished her required Bible reading for her club we do through church. She had to read through the entire Bible in 3 years, and she really just had 2 and 1/2 years because of changing churches, and then there were interruptions like crazy because of the move and all, so she's really worked hard to get this finished.
   
   
2. We went by the bank today to open savings accounts for the girls, and the lady there noticed that our accounts weren't quite right, and she refunded the $12 service charge from last month, and we're back on the "free checking" plan.
   
   
3. My youngest daughter was doing "drama queen lip sync" in the back seat of the car to the songs on the radio, which was pretty funny. But it was even funnier at the grocery store when she was doing it to the songs in her head.
   

Walking, no ice, USA

Today is the one-year anniversary of my broken leg on the ice in Luxembourg. There are lots of things that are making me smile today---

1. I can walk.
   
   
2. No ice here today---temperatures over 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
   
   
3. I'm living and working and teaching my children in the United States of America in the middle of the prettiest part of this great country!
   

Singing, math, slow-cooked chili soup

1. I woke up this morning to the sound of lots of birds singing. We've had birds around all winter, but I think there were some new ones in the mix today. What a great way to wake up!
   
   
2. I went through the sixth-grade math book today. My youngest finished fifth-grade math early, and I wanted to review the topics for sixth grade. The other two girls had very good math lessons today. I'm so proud of all my girls and how good they are at math.
   
   
3. I made chili soup today and didn't burn it, which hasn't happened in a while. I love it when I plan ahead enough to cook it very slowly.
   

On time, nap, Henry V

1. My youngest had to be at church early this morning---20 minutes before the start of the early service. We're almost never on time for church, but we made it there 25 minutes before the start of early service.
   
   
2. My husband and children let me have a nap today. I had a really bad headache and stomach ache, and the nap really helped.
   
   
3. The girls and I watched a really nice movie production of Shakespeare's Henry V with Sir Laurence Olivier. (I enjoyed listening to the French, too. It was fun to have a chance to use my French skills.)
   

Sunrise against the hills, graphs, movies

1. I woke up at just the right time this morning to see my favorite part of the sunrise. When the sun comes up, it shines on the western hills before it shines in the valley. You can see the shadows moving down the hills as more and more of the valley fills up with sun. I love that part of the day.
   
   
2. I had a chance today to make a bunch of graphs for a client. I love graphs, and it was really nice to have a reason to be using my R software again, and I love having clients.
   
   
3. Even though I have some clients, I still had time to watch movies with the girls this afternoon.
   

Frogs, sunshine on the creek, long talks

1. We can hear frogs again down at the pond.
   
   
2. The creek is so full after this week's rains that I can see it from the house. Usually, it's so far down in its banks that I can't see the water from the house. Today I could see it sparkling in the sun.
   
   
3. A long talk on the phone with a good friend.
   

This blog, my deer, my turkeys

1. A lady I know was talking to me about thankfulness last night, and how we take things for granted all the time, things like having heat in the car. I was just smiling at her. How about being thankful for the car? Or for a bed to sleep in? Or books to read? Or for this really great country we live in? I also realized this morning how thankful I am for this blog, because it helps me remember to focus on thankfulness.
   
   
2. We saw 7 deer out in the pasture. I was so worried about them during hunting season. It was nice to see my friends again.
   
   
3. And there are about 20 turkeys in the west pasture right now. I hadn't seen the turkeys in weeks. We thought that they had run out of food and left. I'm so happy they are back. I really missed being able to watch them out my office window.