Saturday, December 18, 2010

For our Military, Police, E.M.T.S, Firefighters etc

Thank You! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. If you serve This country, This region, This State, This county, This township, This Street...My Family and I Thank You and Remember.

May The Lord Bless You and Keep You. May the Lord Make His Face Shine upon You and be gracious unto You. The Lord lift up His Countenance upon you and Give You Peace!

numbers 6:24-26

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Thanksgiving....

...was great! Everyone worked hard to get the house in order even though it was only for a couple of guests but it helped to let everyone enjoy themselves for the day.
It was a true "Count your blessings" day. I sat there amazed by the blessings in my life that I so often complain about. So many things can cause stress and concern and even worry, but when you take a moment to change your perspective, those worries are really blessings that I haven't been properly thankful for.
The roof on my house badly needs to be repaired yet, I HAVE a roof. In fact it often feels like this house is falling down around my ears faster than I can keep up with it; but again, I HAVE a house. There are things that are wrong (in my humble opinion) with a lot of aspects of my life that are only wrong depending on the perspective you take. Even my relationship with the Jesus isn't where I want it to be but then again, I HAVE a RELATIONSHIP with God(!) and His Son! How cool is that?? Throughout my day I can (and do) talk with Him and yes, He with me. I could be closer, I could be more dedicated and those are my goals but sometimes the strength that helps you move forward comes from seeing how far you've come. It is also part of the nature of God that the closer you get to Him the farther from Him you realize you were to begin with.

I am so very rich with a loving wife and two great kids. I have a home and not just a house. I have a job that pays well. A car, a truck, a s.u.v. and a van. Depending on what part of the world you're in, I am so very wealthy. My kids will have options when they turn 18 and were not told who they would marry or what they would do back when they were 13. I can go on and on but it's more important that YOU count Your Blessings than listen to mine. It's perspective. The Thanksgiving Holiday Is an American Holiday and the more I learn about the other countries around the world the more grateful I am for this one. Like my house and my life there are a lot of things that need to be fixed with the good ol' U.S.A. but there is still no other place I would rather live. So I'm taking a minute to be thankful and then it's time to roll up our sleeves and get back to work.

Numbers 6:24-26
Will.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Yeah, Yeah We know....

.....We haven't posted in months. With all of us on Facebook we just haven't felt it was all that necessary anymore. Still, There are a few of you who might be interested in more on this page....Maybe. YOUR RESPONSE WILL MAKE ALL THE DEFERENCE in how much more we post. Not to say we will completely abandon this page no, no, no. This is our home page and works well in that capacity but if we don't get enough of a response, then there really isn't a point then is there? So we haven't forgotten this page we really are busy and I feel this page is becoming obsolete...like my computer...;-) numbers 6:24-26.


Will.

Monday, June 07, 2010

Running on empty..

It seems that my whole life I have been one step behind where I need to be. This would be ok, except sometimes I actually try to get ahead. I have been working hours each night on the yard and the house for weeks. I am still working on my "to do list" for the year 2003. It's just not happening fast enough.

The kids are doing great. Growing..learning..making messes..eating.. You name it they're doing it. Who would have ever thought that I would have a 17 year old and a 14 year old? Wow. Time sure has flown. Next month Will and I will celebrate 20 years. At least I will celebrate...him..he might be in mourning. Something about the loss of his car (he drives a minivan now), his hair (his choice to cut it short and get rid of the mullet) his cool job (he is no longer a "personality", he just has personality.

We go on with our day to day. We look at each other now and again (actually quite often) and say that we really would like to go on another trip out west. His parents are there now on a trip to the Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore and Yellowstone. We want to go there too! Life just keeps getting in the way.

Summer vacation is just around the corner for the kids. They are itching to be done with this year of school. I'm just itching for them to be done with school period. It gets to be quite wearing-all this running around.

We took our youth group on a field trip to go and see parts of the Dead Sea Scrolls a couple of weeks ago. Amazing stuff, although I'm not sure if the kids were more amazed by the museum or the size of the burgers that we had on the way home. All in all it was a great trip.

This next weekend it is the 2nd annual motorcycle rally potluck at our church. We are really looking forward to it. I pray that it does not rain. It will ruin the day for too many people if it does.
Well, as soon as the kids get home from some school video awards, I'm off to bed.
See ya,
dea

Thursday, April 01, 2010

The wild and crazy life of "us".

Will has been after me to post because so much has been going on. I agree, it's just hard to figure out what to post about. While time has seemed to just crawl lately, I realize that it is actually moving much faster than normal and I'm not able to keep up. We have had so many changes in our lives, in just the last little while, that it is hard to know where to begin. I guess I'll take a stab at it and we'll see where it leads.

January was cold here with lots of ice. Years ago, I was the substitute on the mail route I now have. So I was not surprised by the amounts of snow and ice that cause problems on the hills. I was surprised to find out that the roads in the city were the worst. People did not shovel and the city did not plow. That in mind, Will and I made the decision to find a right hand drive jeep. Jeeps are very popular all over the world, but finding one with RHD and little or no rust is difficult since they are not making them anymore. Before you ask, the conversion kits are dangerous, with a "belt" running from a steering wheel on one side to the other. Most people would have no problem with this, but you have to take into account the "stupid things happen to Deanna rule".

We had been searching for a couple of weeks, with no success. We actually found one that looked great in Green Bay, until we actually saw it. There were lots of little things wrong with it and hidden rust all over. I kept looking...then one day I found a jeep online that he had put the advertisement up on that day. Only problem was that it was in Oregon. Still, I had to consider it, since I found it by what I thought was coincidence. We all know how God likes to work through that coincidence stuff. It turns out that it was not too far from my cousin Kent's house. I emailed Kent and he graciously went and looked at it and took pictures for me. He sent them back. I bought the jeep. Now it's sitting in Kent's driveway, waiting for me. All for less than a third of the price of the Green Bay jeep.

Mail count this year was stressful. I was worried that my route would get smaller, which means same amount of work for less pay. God was good as always and it turned out that the route was 5 minutes into the next larger pay bracket. Yahoo! I didn't have to count this year, but felt I should since the count last year was done by a substitute that had not counted before. I didn't know if it was accurate. Here I was trying to make sure everything was right and it could have blown up in my face,but it didn't. I'm thrilled.

So let's tally up the roster here.....mail count good (check), pay raise coming (check), jeep bought in Oregon with cash so no loan payment (check) life is looking pretty good, but there's more.

For the last 2 years I have been fighting with the insurance company that we had with Will's work. They kept raising deductibles etc. Then they refused to pay for 3 different visits to the tune of $1200 plus. We are still arguing about that. So, on January 1rst we changed to insurance with my work. It sounded really good on paper, but you know how that goes. About 3 weeks ago, Jessalyn suddenly spiked a fever of 102 that would not go down with tylen*l, started throwing up uncontrollably and had low right side pain. We were off to the ER.

Oh great. When we get there, I made the last payment on Jake's last visit (broken nose). I thought to myself. I wonder how much this one will set us back because she had oodles of testing and IV's etc. The benefits explanation came in the mail and I was afraid to open it.....eased it open and started reading (the last thing I need right now is another payment).....ok, hmmmm, charges are about $2700......what do we owe?? Page one.....patient responsibility....NOTHING! Page two......patient responsibility $75....ok, where's the rest????? What?? They payed the entire bill??? Are you kidding me? We only owe $75? Praise the Lord!!!!! What a shock after the previous years of deductibles. Thank you God!

The next week I was back in the Dr's office with Jake who was having chest pains and shortness of breath. In a 17 year old? You have got to be kidding me. They did tons of testing on him and drew blood, which is a hugely traumatic thing for a kid with a needle phobia. Everything came back normal thank you God, but he was still having the symptoms...hmm. I remember when I was about his age having the same symptoms. They called it Pleurisy back then. I don't know if Dr's agree that it's an issue now, but I remember how painful it was back then. I put Jake on an over the counter anti-inflammatory and it seems to be helping. Now we are waiting for this bill, but I am not as worried about this one.

Will and I are set to fly out to Oregon next week (Thursday) to pick up my jeep. This year marks our 20th anniversary, so we are going to take a whole week to come back and call it our anniversary trip. I have always, always wanted to see the Redwoods in California. It has been a dream for years and now it looks like, God willing, I will get to realize the dream. We are going to try to spend one night in a hotel on the beach and watch the sunset. I also would like to take my hubby out to eat some fresh seafood, which is something we both love, but do not get here in Wisconsin for obvious reasons. We plan on just toodeling home with a stop at Glacier. We will buy a new card for the camera since the old one is full and hopefully will share pictures with every one.

So there is the first bunch of happenings here in Donaldsonland....I'll try to post more soon.
Have a great day!
dea

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Randy's Ramblings.

Once again, here I am apologizing for how long it has taken us to post. I had really thought Deanna would have posted by now; she has had so many cool things happen to her but alas, those same things keep her too busy to post. So I have taken the initiative and .....

Stolen someone else's work. Meet Randy: A good friend of mine because I like the way he thinks. You will see why. Please feel free to comment and tell him how wonderful he is and maybe he won't be mad that I stole his work.....


Howdy folks,

Well, now it's official. We now have government controlled Healthcare in
America. I'm not really liking the whole "Let's give up on everything
America has ever stood for and turn it into Europe" mentality. I'm all
about Freedom, but what am I to do? There is no place left to move to,
right? Hmm....Or is there?

I wonder if there are any unclaimed islands left somewhere out in the
Caribbean where a guy could go. I think maybe I'll start my own country.
I could call it "The Camaro Islands" or maybe just "Oppositeland". Why
Oppositeland? Because I would do everything opposite of the way the rest
of the world does.

For example: People in Oppositeland would actually be free. No more laws
governing you against stupidity. Don't want to wear a seatbelt? That's
fine....stupid, but fine.

People in Oppositeland need to have jobs and make money, so there would be
no taxes imposed on companies willing to move there. How's that for
opposite? In fact there will be no personal income tax, either. What's
that? How does the government pay for stuff? Well, first of all, it
wouldn't spend very much. A few roads, basic police protection, not much
else. Secondly, we would have a small national sales tax on anything
purchased there. You only pay taxes on things you buy.

What about the poor? the sick? the homeless? I have faith in the
citizens of Oppositeland to take care of each other. They will help the
helpless, while building strength of character and compassion in their own
lives. Too lazy to find work? Sorry, sucks to be you. No government
bureaucracies needed.

The entire economy would be based on something I like to call the "Free
Market" system. Businesses would be free to compete with each other,
thereby guaranteeing the best prices, goods, and services available for
consumers. No overbearing government regulation here, either.

But what happens when some people get greedy and make risky investments
that affect others? Yeah....they'll have to go broke. No bailouts here.

So there's the basic layout of oppositeland. Somehow it seems vaguely
familiar to something another country set up once upon a time. Too bad
the people of that country lost sight of the vision that made it great.
It could have en a wonderful place to live.

I guess I'll start looking for islands. Who's with me?

-Randy

Thursday, February 04, 2010

It's complicated...

From Will:

...I'll explain the title of this post in a minute. It's three am on my day off and I have come face to face with my age/life once again: I am awake.

I used to live in Florida where one of the things they used to tell the tourists was: "You have to watch the sunrise (while on the beach) and THEN go to bed....
That was my lifestyle when I was a younger and much more arrogant man. Now I wake up (as opposed to "coming to") long before the sun rises; even on my days off, whether I want to or not.

I've always enjoyed listening to comedians. I used to laugh so hard as a kid to the older comedians telling jokes about getting older and the things that start to happen to your body. The best comedians simply tell the truth in such a way as to make you laugh. Now that I'm older I realize they are funny; what they're saying ....not so much.

We had friends over a few nights ago and we were talking about the changes in our selves since we were kids and all the old jokes were there. I'd heard them over and over and yet there they were as if they were new; because now we were living them: The hair on your head doesn't stop growing; it's just growing in other places instead...ears, back, uni-brow....etc.... when we were young we could sleep through the night (and then some) without having to get up to go to the restroom. Then when we finally did wake up and "went" as it were, my dad was sure if the whole world caught fire his kids could put it out - once we woke up...

When we were kids everything was simple: Eat, Sleep and quest for fun. More so for me being a certified Redneck. The people here in Wisconsin don't realize that Jeff Foxworthy does not tell jokes; I know the people he's talking about and I'm one of them. He describes a redneck as someone who is
wonderfully devoid of any sophistication. Then he gives you examples. There was a point some years ago when I did have more appliances on my front porch then in my kitchen. I have (and not so long ago) mowed my lawn and discovered a car I forgot I owned. I have and know several people who have had to move their car transmission off the dining room table before dinner...The list goes on. There is no doubt I am a redneck.

So, while I'm un-sophisticated, this getting older (insert expletive of your choice here)...just makes everything else more complicated. I don't learn as quickly as I used to. In fact, learning itself is more challenging as I deal with eyes that don't see as well as they used to and hands that are much less coordinated; that, is a bad combination I assure you.

That brings me to the title of this post. Everything is more complicated.
Evidently, it's trend that is world-wide and is starting to encompass everything.
I have Facebook friends from all over the world and while I truly enjoy getting a glimpse into their lives. I've noticed a disturbing trend: "It's complicated."

"it's complicated"? This is becoming more and more popular as an answer to one word questions: "Single? answer: it's complicated."


See, it only takes ONE word to ask that question, it should only take one word to answer: Yes or No. If the word is supposed to be yes but you can't say that because your "significant other" (don't get me started on that one) has a spouse that doesn't know about how close you are....it's time to simplify your life! Really! If your relationship status is "complicated" then you should be working to simplify it.

Now why am I going on about this? Because the latest trend for the one word question "Religion?" is to answer....you guessed it...."It's complicated"...If what religion are you has become too complicated to explain in a couple of words It is SO time to simplify your life.

Here is a tip: Try Jesus! He has a way of making the complicated simple. His Love is simple: He loves you. No one has prior claims and nothing you can do or have done will change the fact that He Loves you.

And it won't matter if you grow older, have hair growing out of your ears instead of out of your head, He'll still love you. It won't matter that you go to bed when you used to be getting ready to go out. He'll Love you. When you're waking up when you used to think about going home, He loves you. When you turn your blog into a place to rant...Yep even then, He loves you.


Even Me.

Even You.

Take that with you today.

God Bless.


Will.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

From Will.

.It's been too long between posts. I'm Sorry. With our Facebook pages, most of what goes on around here winds up there but that's no excuse. To use the vernacular: My Bad.

There really hasn't been much going on around here just the usual post-holiday back to normal routine. The decorations are down but not completely put away. Maybe we'll get to it before the spring cleaning starts...maybe not.

As I posted earlier I let Jacob put the lights on the tree and other than some words of advice I gave him free rein. Well that meant he got to take the lights off the tree; lesson learned, Don't wrap the lights candy-cane style around the tree. I had explained a better way that would make it easier to remove the lights later but he took the opportunity to do it his way. Now he discovered how much more difficult it can be to take them off. Until. Until I gave him a chance to have a little fun.

The tree was in our sun porch with our newly stained cement floor. If we had any other kind of floor I probably wouldn't have let him do this but, He was willingly helping so I told him he could....
You see, Jacob likes swords. He has collected four or five metal ones and couple wooden ones. You see where I'm going with this right? I have tree pruners but instead I gave him permission to use his swords to hack the branches off one at a time with the admonition not to hack up my lights. By the time he was done there was this intense pine-fresh cent permeating our sun porch. Hacked boughs stacked neatly on table and floor and one lone, long stick poking up out of my tree stand (that still had 40 pounds of weights holding it down). He managed to avoid blister but I believe the wrapping on one of his "nin-gata" (ninja-style) hilts looked a little worse for wear. He was quite proud of himself and his accomplishment. I was too. I mean how cool is it to have a sword and a (reasonably) legitimate reason to use it? If you don't understand, odds are against you being a guy...

Well, hopefully that will hold you over til our next post, which hopefully won't take as long at the last one!

May the Lord Bless You and Keep You and Give You Peace!
Will

Saturday, January 02, 2010

Holidays 2009-2010

Well, they're almost over; the holiday vacation days for Christmas and the New Year. I just made the unpleasant and unpopular decision to not let the kids run off today. (Jacob wanted to go see his girlfriend). Deanna and I are home today and tomorrow and we've all been running off to parties and get-togethers without actually spending much time with each other.

Below you will see some pics of our cutting down our Christmas tree. That has been a family tradition for some time that may have come to an end this year. We've been getting our Christmas trees from the same farm for almost 15 years. They've been very good to us but they are no longer planting Christmas trees and getting ready for retirement. More than that , for the last couple of years we've been putting our tree up later and later as our schedules make it more and more difficult to find the time to all get together to go cut down a tree. Dea and I have decided it's time to look for a good quality artificial tree. Recognizing that this might be a last chance I had Jacob and Jessalyn put up the lights and decorations themselves with very little interference from myself They did fine with some exceptions that are normal sibling issues. Normally I let Dea pick the tree and I only use veto power if the trunk is too twisted. We've been able to enjoy 9 and half foot trees and larger but we were so late this year that there were very few to choose from. So, the first one she picked I gave the "okay" and let Jacob have the saw. Later as I tried to put the tree into a stand I realized how twisted the trunk was. I thought I had it up okay. Really, I did. Anyway, after the kids were done decorating I claimed the honor of putting the angel on the tree; only to drop and break it. No big deal we'll put a bow or something up there later. The angel being broke really didn't bother me the next morning when we found the tree on it's side with Christmas balls scattered over the floor. We put it back up with the idea of attaching it to the wall later. Ten minutes later, it was on the floor again. Neither time did we hear it fall. By the time I was done I had put two 20 pound weights on the base and tied the top to the wall. It's not going anywhere tell it's time to put it on the burn pile! (tomorrow maybe)

for longer than we've been together (20 years), Deanna has been holding a Christmas eve party. This year the forecast was an ice blizzard for Christmas eve. We didn't have any choice, we postponed for the following Sunday. It went well, but there were a lot of faces missing and I'm still not over the disappointment. I understand they're not being able to be there but as I said, I missed them. some of them it's the only time I get to see them all year. The worse part? The storm they kept predicting right up to party time never showed. I know we make the right decision but as I started out this post, sometimes the right decision really stinks.
That said, the Sunday get-together really was fun. There were fewer people so I may have to put off my New Years resolution to diet until all this food is gone...

This New Years eve we did something a little different. Normally, Dea and I are in bed long before midnight, but not this time. Our friends Randy and Diana Fischer have three great kids Adam, Ben and Dillon (sp?). We invited them and Luke Callaway ( a real good friend of ours and our kids) and Jacob and Jessalyn's cousins : Jessica Oakes, Skylar Sutherland and Analisa Sutherland. We then gave the kids our sun porch. The kids brought an extra T.V. and took two of ours and set them up with three different kinds of game consoles. I walked out to tell them it was almost midnight (hours after they started) and they were all having a blast! They also were being good as gold! It was a really good feeling seeing all these kids having a good time playing all kinds of games and just having fun...right there in my sun porch.

Diana Fischer stayed well after midnight and we truly enjoyed the conversation! The time flew but we all needed some sleep time. The next morning some of the kids were still going strong, so we fed them some breakfast, helped them get cleaned up and sent them on their way. Deanna's parents have a tradition of cooking up fry bread and chili for lunch on new years day so we spent the afternoon with them and their family.

That brings us to last night where there was a "grown up" party at Darin and Tiffany Oakes (Jessica's parents) house. Well, it started out "grown up", with great food and nice atmosphere, but then the Fischers brought a "Wii" console and set up this game called rabid rabbits. Suddenly there was a house filled with giggling, laughing, 40-something, adolescent kids. We laughed til our sides hurt and wiggled the controls til our arms ached and had THE BEST time! Thanks to all!

This morning was almost back to normal as the temps dropped to -10 (f) and below as I jump-started the truck to begin taking the trash out to the dump. I 'm not ready for the "getting back to normal". So yeah, everyone can stay home together today and maybe watch a movie or two together.
Perhaps a meal or tow together too. As long as it's together; for just a little longer.

May the Lord Bless You and Keep You and Give You Peace.
Will H. Donaldson