Tuesday, May 26, 2009

A car wash and bake sale...

Yesterday was Memorial Day as everyone knows. Around here we do it up in style. We have the different programs at the local cemeteries and then we go and eat grilled chicken cooked by the Warrens Lions Club at the community building. This year was a little different....

Our youth group had a car wash and bake sale from noon until 4:00 pm. I woke up at 5:15 am and started baking. I baked rhubarb muffins, peach cobbler, pumpkin bars and 8+ dozen cinnamon rolls. At 11:30 we took it all in, along with all of the buckets, soaps, hoses etc that I had collected. Other people from the church came and volunteered to man the bake sale (as well as bring other goodies that they had baked to sell). The kids and I started washing cars, vans AND TRUCKS! I lost count after 26. The kids did such a crazy job on one of the first vans by completely missing the entire back end that I started washing after they had washed. They worked very hard washing and then I would wash every part again. We removed the tar, we washed dash boards off, we scrubbed tires, we did it all. My arm hurt so much last night I could not sleep. BUT, the good news is that we raised $247.00 towards their trip to Lifefest. A local huge Christian music festival in Oshkosh in July. The kids were excited yesterday and they have not even heard the total yet.

It was worth it, but I am worn out. I don't think the car wash part will be a monthly thing, but I think the other ladies in the church that participated would like to have another bake sale. They had a blast waving at all of the cars that drove by, selling the goodies and in general cutting up and having a good time. It was fun to see them acting like little kids.

Jake went out into the woods the other day without bug spray and wandered around a swamp for a couple of hours. He did not say a word about it when he came home. He just went to bed and then in the morning told us that he had not slept well. I wondered, but he said no more, so we went on. That night he asked me to look at a bug bite that was itching (he had been wearing long sleeves). When I looked at the boy he was covered with bites. He must have about 200 mosquito bites on him and never said a word. I would have been whining and crying like a baby. He has such a high pain thresh hold it's unreal. Now he is sick and says that his throat hurts and he is coughing. If he says that he is sick, I know he is sick. Besides his girlfriend is sick too, so I figure they shared it. (He's 16 and I try not to ask any questions). He's such a good guy, I hate to see him miserable.

Jessalyn leaves tomorrow for a 3 day field trip to Eagle Bluff. She gets to try repelling down cliffs, walking high ropes, kayaking, canoeing and all other kinds of neat stuff. Jacob loved it when he went in the 6th grade. They are both just itching to get out of school (bad pun in Jake's condition).

We have a very busy summer planned.

Time to head to bed.
dea

Saturday, May 23, 2009

I'll make this simple:

...stand behind our fighting forces....or kindly stand in front of them!


To the friends and families of the fallen; to our veterans and new recruits:


This family remembers!




Thank you
From the Donaldson's: Will, Deanna, Jacob, Jessalyn
(on the government watch list for believing in God and Country)

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Something from my Mom.

My mom sent me this and I thought it was too cool not to share with you. I don't know anything about the video but it's cool. If you don't like ballet, watch it anyway. Trust me it isn't too "girly" for you guys and it isn't to uppity either. Like I said, it's cool.

Thanks mom!


Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Hello again!

From Will:

Still busy as ever and still getting so little accomplished. My parents 50th wedding anniversary is happening in July and we're still trying to make it. All of your prayers would be welcome in that regard. God continues to provide in His own way, but He makes us work for it.
Fair enough.
Don't get me wrong, there is no doubt that HE is providing but we have to do our part. For example: With the economy in it's current condition, my work has been slow and my hours decreased. Until lately. Recently they brought my hours back to where they should be (most of the time) and yesterday they needed me to come in on my day off for some overtime (O.T.). O.T. money is great! And getting any at this point is clearly God! I just had to work on my day off. See what I mean? Clearly God. Clearly I had to do my part.
The line from the song in the Fiddler on the Roof musical plays clearly in my head:
"...would it ruin some grand master plan...if I were a wealthy man???" But never the less I'm grateful to have a Job and to be able to perform it. The older I get the more I'm grateful to be able to do anything.

(digressing again...sigh)

So, today I nurse my sore back and try to catch up on all my home chores and responsibilities like posting this for you!

God made it clear to me that we needed this new van and even was specific about this particular van. I still wonder what He's doing. There is this whole "debt" issue that makes me question and then why this particular van?? Deanna will confirm that God chose this particular van for us and I am very grateful to have had His clear input! Still I have to wonder "what's up?" Ya know?

Speaking of which. Here is a question I would really appreciate as many answers to as I can get:

It's been so long since we've had a vehicle that was worth trying to keep clean. Wisconsin winters are hard on paint and carpet/upholstery. What do YOU use to wash/wax your car and to clean the (cloth) seats, carpet and upholstery? And why?

I know a lot of people use different things and that they're inventing new stuff everyday to go along with the new paints/materials. So what do YOU use and why.

Please! I really would LOVE to hear YOUR opinion!

Moving on but staying on just the vehicles part of "what is God doing?" My truck is still in the shop. They might finish it today. They might not. Don't ask what the total will be but lets say that mechanically I should have different truck than what I gave them. It's in a price range that suggests I could have bought another truck for that price, but at that price it too would need work; ya know?

Deanna is still nursing her old work car. I've tried to encourage her to pick out a newer one before the one she has falls completely apart. It's done it's job and then some. It doesn't owe us anything but it keeps chugging along...dropping parts as it goes. I just don't want it to "leave her" while she's on the route but I understand her dilemma: Still need to save money for Florida trip. Still need money for (lots and lots of) things around the house and if she orders the car she needs then it becomes that much harder to take care of the other things. Pray for her. I do.

In the last post I mentioned Jacobs concert. It was very very good! It doesn't matter where we sit in the auditorium something always blocks our view of him but this time I could really hear him! He sounded great! All the choirs combined to do bits and pieces from the musicals Oklahoma! and Chicago and did it with "show choir" flair. Really good!

Well, that's all the time I have allotted for now. I need to see if I can fix my lawn mower. Grass is high enough hide small animals. Which reminds me. The bear has been back and broke the big wooden box that holds my trash bags! Jake fixed that for me but I wish I had a picture of the paw shaped hole. It was cartoon like!

May God Bless you! He surely has me! And don't forget to give me your car maintenance tips!!!!!!
Will

Thursday, May 14, 2009

(From Will) Okay, we have a second...

...not really, but I can't let this go on any further. It's Thursday and our last post was Sunday, mothers day. So:

I KNOW God has been with us all this week working in His strange and mysterious ways but I'll let you decide what He's up to.

First, Mothers day: Deanna had really been aching to go to the zoo so as her present I took her to Madison (WI) to the free zoo there. There's a bigger zoo in Milwaukee but that's farther away and costs money. We've been trying desperately to get ourselves in a position to go to Florida in July by trying to save money (like everyone else) and yet still have a fun time with the kids. Also, it would be a chance to try out our "new to us" van on the highway to see how it would be in July.

The Van rode and drove just fine and visibility is good. As long as you bother to use it. As I was driving the almost two hour drive to Madison, I was noticing a terribly dangerous trend in drivers today: Self-Centeredness. This is more than being inconsiderate but about being in the center of your own little world and not being concerned (enough) with what might be going on outside of what YOU are doing in YOUR own little world.

For example the number of people who don't think the sign that says "slower traffic keep right". Means them. I've talked to these people and I've been told they "...interpret that to mean anyone doing less than the speed limit." Last time I checked you were supposed to have the words "Honorable Judge" in front of your name if you're going to "interpret" the law. The signs says "SLOWER traffic keep right" That means if someone is going faster than you: YOU are SLOWER.

But I digress.

There was another occasion that brought home this point. I was in the right hand lane with the cruise control on. In the left lane but still behind me was an elderly man in a Lexus who was very slowly overtaking me. I didn't mind; until. We came up on an on ramp that had a steady stream of vehicles entering the interstate. The car in front of me wouldn't move over to the left lane (even though she could) to let the merging vehicles on. I was stuck with the elderly gentleman now on my side. This man "had it going on". He saw what was happening and hammered the gas to get out of mine and everyone else's way. I was then able to smoothly give lane to the other cars. He was watching what was going on. The girl in front wasn't or didn't care. Scary that. Here is the important part: The whole way there and while we were in Madison were constant, vibrant reminders to really be watching whats going on around you and in front of you.

We had a great time at the zoo. The weather was sunshiny yet cool: Perfect! We got nose to nose with large Tiger (with glass between thank you) and enjoyed the bears and all the other critters! We struggled to find a restaurant that wasn't packed slam full on mothers day but managed a fine meal at Cr@ckerb@rrel and then headed home.

The ride to Madison had made me hyper-vigilant on the way home and very good thing. The weekend of about 15 people were almost completely ruined.

I was in the right hand lane of the interstate with a semi some ways behind me and he had a small truck tailgating him badly. I commented on this to Deanna. Again, off my left rear corner panel I had a car who had been there for a while, sometimes gaining on me and sometimes not. In front of me 5 or 6 van lengths was another mini-van. As I was assessing all of this I noticed a ways up ahead two vans in the right side emergency lane.

They were parked on in front of the other but both were starting to move and merge into the right hand lane. MY right hand lane. The van in back pulled out first and was almost hit by the van in front as it pulled into our lane. Sounds bad right? How about this: The first van that is now fully in the right hand lane just stops! (??!!)

Well, I saw all this from far enough away that there should have been plenty of time to make the lane change. Here's were bad goes to worse to ridiculous:

Remember the Van in front of me? He has no reason he can't pull over into the left hand lane. I have that car on my left rear somewhere. I do a quick look over my shoulder to make sure it's safe and when my head comes back around the van in front IS JUST NOW REALIZING WHATS GOING ON! They panicked. They hit the brakes HARD. No steering, just stopping.

When my head came around from checking for a clear lane, all I could see was taillights that looked like they were only inches from my windshield.

Left turn Clyde.

I yanked the wheel hard! I can say that the van handles what Canadians call the "moose avoidance procedure" very well. The tires were screaming as I made the lane change, stomped on the accelerator, corrected and changed back into the right hand lane once past the "parked" vans on the right.

Next exit, I stopped for...er...gas. Yeah! Well, we did get...er buy gas. And we took a minute for our hearts to stop racing. My son utters the words: Nice driving dad. As I flushed with that praise I sent a loud prayer to God saying the same thing.

When I have a few more minutes we'll try to fill you in on all the other things going on right now but Jacob has a concert tonight so we have to get ready!

Numbers 6:24-28
Will

Sunday, May 03, 2009

Going to an auction..

Yesterday morning was the Tomah City Wide Garage Sale Days. For those of you who don't garage sale, you're really missing something. For one thing, it is quite amazing to me what people think is too good to throw away and what they think things are worth. It's kind of like the $100,000 house syndrome. Someone's house may only appraise for $50,000.00 but, to them it's worth $100,000. so that's their asking price. Some item may be worth lots to them, but someone else wanders in and wonders why you would want it. It's funny.

I went to 5 or 6 sales waiting for an auction to start. There was an auction at a house that had a couch that one of my co-workers wanted, but since he would be on the mail route until early afternoon, I told him I would go and bid on it for him, if he couldn't get there before it went on the block. Ok, so I really wanted to go anyway and this was my excuse. I knew the person having the auction and knew she had really nice things.

I was right. I picked up a few really neat bargains. Examples: 1 large wooden bird feeder shaped like a barn in great condition on a pole and everything for $1, a 32 piece towel set (including 4 brand new beach towels and 14 bath towels) for $15, a set of antique sterling silverware with dates on them ranging from 1918-1921, for $1, a box of 8 hand weights for excercising (which my therapist wanted me to use) for $2. All in all it was a great day spent with friends in beautiful weather next to the lake. I even didn't spend that much money and that was really great. I love it when you find specific stuff you have been looking for and really get a bargain. Oh yeah, I also bought for $2 a whole tray of serving spoons, pie servers and other food service implements for our church (they all go missing for some reason).

We have a local youth ministry here that has started and although it has specific youth leaders, the rest of us that are youth leaders in the churches around have banded together with them to start an area wide outreach. Last night was the first concert in what they hope will be a series. They had 3 Christian bands come in at the fairgrounds and all area youth were invited. My kids went along with their cousin, friend Luke and Jake's girlfriend. Jake was so proud that he could pay for her ticket. I'm proud of him for wanting to take her and Will says it's just the first in a long line of his learning to give all his money to his woman. Sheesh... that's romantic Will. Makes us sound like a coin operated washer or something.

Anyway, it went from 8:00 pm until midnight. Yes, I remember the days of just getting ready to go out at 10:00, but now I'm older and 8:00 is time to start getting ready for bed (unless I'm already in bed). I didn't go. I prayed and sent the kids. They will have some daytime stuff and I will gladly volunteer, but not that late. Will got up at 4:00 this morning. I got up about 4:20. That would have been awful early in the morning after getting to bed after 1:00 am. I really am showing my age. The kids are obviously still asleep, so I don't know how it went. Hopefully, great.
Well, time to do laundry. Have a great day.
dea