TOLD YOU SO!   See?  I told you we probably wouldn't have time to post all year !


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Til next year!

From Will:

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY ALL YEAR!
Seriously, I mean that. Merry Christmas and Happy ALL YEAR! All Year? Yes, ALL year! Because our last post was in February and here it is December; with consistency like that odds are it could be ALL year before we post again. Here is the really silly thing: WE LOOK AT THIS BLOG EVERY DAY! Several times a day! You would think we would make more of an effort to change this more often but that really is a testament to how busy our lives have been.

Update School: Problematic. Having the Same issues I had the last three times I tried to go to school...only worse; much worse.  The last three times were 30 years ago.  I got good grades but even with working full time I couldn't afford to pay for it.  Fast forward thirty years and it's the same thing all over again.  Only now I have to pay for school, plus support a family of four.  My wife has an awesome job and that helps a lot but just like most families it becomes difficult to make the money last until the next paycheck.  When I was a young single guy, it wasn't a big deal if I wound up sleeping in my car but the thought of any member of my family having less is a much more painful reality.  Don't get me wrong here, we're not "hurting" financially, but our budget is stretched a lot tighter than we realized back in February and now we have TWO kids with health issues we're not sure the doctors have diagnosed correctly...Well, finances for school have taken a back seat.

The worse part, isn't the money though.  The worse part is that thirty years ago it was a lot easier to remember the formulas.  Did you ever have the "I'll never use this!" conversation about certain subjects in school?  Well, for 30 years I haven't needed those math formulas and I have completely forgotten them!  What is really irritating is back then I actually LIKED learning them.  Now I remember squat and worse, My ability to memorize is NOT what it was back then.  Can we say "Rude awakening"?

So now I'm using the internet and a few other resources to study and take CLEP tests.  School has become sort of a hobby now.  Something I can do when I have the extra time and money.  The CLEP tests cost about a hundred bucks and require an 80 mile round trip.  Not too big a deal; but when the truck has a brake line that leaks fluid....spending the 100 bucks on a test doesn't seem as important as being able to literally stop a truck...

As I mentioned earlier, both kids have illnesses.  I won't embarrass them or bore you to tears with all the details but it may be another year before Jessalyn is healthy.  Sadly, she may be dealing with these issues for the rest of her life.  We're NOT confessing that and we're certainly praying and hoping against that but the Boy Scout in me has to consider all the possibilities.  Jacob (whose 21st birthday is today! whoop!) has been out of work for a month and it may be much longer before he is well.  The doctors are pretty sure of what his condition is but...don't understand why he has it and why his body is resisting treatment.  It's one of those "...he should be better by now..." things.  More doctor visits coming!  (Thank You Dear Lord and Savior for my wife's awesome medical coverage!)

Deanna continues to make me proud with everything she does.  President of Cranfest, Organizer for the Warrens Community meals, United States Postal Worker, Mother, wife; the list goes on and on.  That list is pared down from what it used to be and finally she admitted she just might have too many irons in the fire.  I worry about her doing too much but worrying about her is my job; it doesn't necessarily mean my worry is justified...  She's pretty awesome and quite capable.  So yeah, I'm proud and thankful for her.  (by the way if you don't know what Cranfest is, here is a link: http://www.cranfest.com/   )

So our days are full and we're surrounded by loved ones.  We can look at our adversities and despair or we can see the opportunity to watch God work; guess which one I choose.  It is in that vein I repeat: Merry Christmas and Happy ALL YEAR!

School again...

Things have been even crazier around here lately. With me working for the Post Office, Christmas time is a busy mess. We are still finding little stuff from Christmas to put away. My tree actually was taken apart last week and made it out of the dining room although it's not entirely put away yet. Because.... Will has decided to go back to school. I think it's amazing. He has decided to get his Bachelor's in Business Management, a second degree in Business Marketing and hopefully a third in Business Communications (time allowing). They are all close enough to each other that with an addition of 3 or 4 classes you can get the other one added. I am all for it. I just wish that I had pushed him a little harder to take at least one class a semester for the last 10 years like I had wanted him to. He would be almost done by now. No going back though.....we are just looking forward. With the knowledge that he will need to devote all of his spare time to school...I have started a major overhaul of our house. I am dumping, pitching and sending to Goodwill. I am also starting a small side business with my daughter. She's 16 now and can be learning some life skills. We are start a small selling business on ebay, selling some of my antiques, cook books, odds and ends and my Mom's hand painted china. We will work it together from the beginning to end, create a plan, a business account, inventory, computer program, the whole nine yards. This will teach her things that will help her in the future, get rid of stuff here, help Mom out financially and in general be a good thing. I'm looking forward to it, but it only starts after the house is mucked out. We are creating a classroom/desk area for Will...devoted entirely to his schooling. He will have everything he needs to study. No working around the rest of us. His own devoted computer, printer, desk, chair, files, book shelves, lighting etc. I'm even lining his shelves with snacks to that when he gets the munchies....they are right there at hand. Prayerfully, this will enable him to finish class after class quicker each time. This first one is going well, but it's a refresher course and the first one he's taken in 30 years. I think he'll go even faster after he gets back into the groove and gets into the communication stuff that he loves. I'm praying God's blessing on my husband and our family during this busy time. I'm also praying for lots and lots of energy for me!

Forgive us our Christmases...

I heard a story the other day about a family that was stressing out over Christmas. There was this party and that party. Gifts to buy. People gave gifts, so they were upset that they HAD to return the gesture. The little 4 year old daughter knelt by her bed to say her prayers that night and said...."Jesus, forgive us our Christmases as we forgive others who Christmas against us". That statement really got to me. In this season most of all, especially with my job as a mail carrier, it's too easy to forget the real reason for Christmas. I'm so happy to be delivering Christmas packages to all of my customers and seeing their smiles AT FIRST. By the time the day actually gets here, I'm worn out by weather, stress, last minute details and all of the extra stuff that I put on myself at this time of year. We do Christmas big around here. I don't mean fancy, but I do mean big. So this year, in spite of all of the hustle and bustle of Christmas, I am determined to get things done early and keep CHRIST in Christmas. I am determined to remember the reason for the season and not let circumstances bog me down. I am going to strive to do as much as I can as early as I can, so that my family can enjoy their holiday and hopefully remember the reason that we do the Warrens Community Christmas meal, and also our own Christmas Eve open house. Christmas is about Jesus. He came to earth just for me (ok and for you too). My point is. I could feed people peanut butter sandwiches on Christmas Eve and we would still be together. We could have no gifts under the tree, but do we need them to have Christmas? No, the truth is Jesus is the only gift we need in this world. He came, was born in a stable, lived and loved and then died a horrible death. Knowing the whole while that it was me and my sin that put Him there and He still did it. He still came. What a wonder. I stand amazed at His love for me (and you) and truthfully that's all I need. Thank you Jesus for Your gift that night so long ago. and....forgive me my Christmases as I forgive those who Christmas against me.

Why I moved back to Warrens

Knowing how much I love my friends in Wakulla county Florida, it was hard at the time to explain why I wanted to move back to Warrens Wisconsin, my home town. I told them that I wanted the small town atmosphere. Back then it was the heat for the most part. I cannot stand heat and humidity. There are only so many clothes a person can take off and not get arrested. I love to be outside and when it's 100 degrees out, that's not fun. I was a major factor. Most of the Wisconsin summer it is under 90 degrees and since I'm a mail carrier...that's a good thing. Nothing like driving around in a jeep letting the sun bake you through all of the windows. As it is I have a mail carrier's tan. Just my right arm and leg. My friend who is a truck driver only has a left arm tan. We look pretty goofy comparing tans. I digress. After we moved back, I became involved in the Warrens Cranberry Festival. It is a huge undertaking put on by mostly a few people (up until the actual festival which requires 100+ people). This festival is a non profit that is designed for the sole purpose of bettering the village of Warrens. Over the years we have donated over 2 million dollars back into the local community. Just this year alone, we donated over $94,000.00. This goes to local youth, civic groups, organizations, the village for street and gutter etc, we built a major portion of the community building, the ball park, the local hockey rink and almost the entire Wisconsin Cranberry Discovery Center from Cranfest funds and hard work. I am now President of the festival board of directors and find it a hugely rewarding position. I love making people happy. Onto my next endeavor. Times are tough all over, but especially here in Warrens. A couple of years ago the local resort went bankrupt due to mismanagement. Without warning 200 people in the area were without jobs. Warrens only has 360 people on a good day. You can see how this would cause a huge impact. People had spent hard earned money building vacation villas for the resort and suddenly any income at all for those villas was impossible. Many people lost their life savings all in a couple of weeks. It divided the community. Those that had been against the resort expansion were very vocal. Those that had lost everything were too. It was a royal mess, but the interesting thing is that through it all the community started coming back together. When I was little and growing up here. If I was naughty, it wouldn't have been odd to get in trouble with any person in town. They all knew me. I knew them. That was Gramma's house or Aunt's house. We were all family. It's starting to feel like that again slowly and in my opinion, one of the reasons is our Community Dinners. A few of us were talking one day a last year and thought that a free community dinner would help out people who are economically challenged, but also would get people together to talk and spend time with each other (something that used to happen often when I was young). We approached it from a youth group point of view and decided to start it as a youth project learning service to others. I started asking for donations. One of the local churches added their support, the local gas station/convenience store added in the milk to serve, Cranfest added supplies and we were off. The first year was a little odd. It was tough getting the word out so the first one only had 40 or so people. Slowly it grew and by the spring we had 90+. We stopped having them over the summer because folks are so busy. This year people could not wait for them to start. We have had over 70 each night and for the Thanksgiving meal, we served over 150 meals. Not bad in a town of 360. Now we are planning our Christmas meal on the 12th. It's going to be BIG. We are doing it the old fashioned way. Lots of food, cookies and singing. I am looking forward to it. So many people have stepped forward to donate and are hoping it makes a huge impact on the local people. I'm hoping it gives them a taste for what Warrens used to be. The community of Warrens may not be huge. It may not have much to do with the way things go in the scheme of things, but what it does have is heart. We are a community that in 5 years will celebrate it's 150th birthday. I moved back because I wanted to raise my kids in a place that they could ride their bike to a friend's house and we didn't have to worry. I want them to know their neighbors. I want them to be able to see that effort on your part to help out your neighbor is so worth it. I want them to see that working together for a common good is what the founding fathers based this country on and it's working here in Warrens. I want my children to see the best of America and I think a lot of it is here in Warrens. All of us working together to form a common bond as Americans.

Where did the time go?

I cannot believe how long it's been since I last blogged. That just goes to show you how busy life has been around here. The Warrens Cranberry Festival is over and gone for 2012. What a blast! It was our 40th anniversary and boy did we have a party. I loved each and every minute of it. The weather was wonderful and the crowds were HUGE. They estimate attendance at over 140,000. I love the chance to see that many people smiling and happy. Things around here have been busy too. Jake is now almost 20 and working at the company his Dad works at. It's a temporary job, but it's a great learning experience for him and gets him a steady paycheck. He's looking into some classes at the local college too for the winter. He really seems to want to do something mechanical, like welding etc. We'll see where he ends up. He loves cars and motorcycles. Jessalyn is in 10th grade now and is very musical. She is in choir at school, which reminds me...I need to check on her next concert date. She is also in the Worship team at church and enjoys learning the harmony that goes with that. She's always singing or humming. Will is still working at the same place. I am so proud of him. He has had perfect attendance for almost every one of the 20 years that he has worked there. He is a real trooper. It is a very physical job and for our 48 year old bodies, that is a hard thing. He does a wonderful job and is a great example for his kids of being committed to your job and doing it to the best of your abilities. Jake says that he has more respect for him now after seeing how hard he works. We have started having the Warrens Community Meals again this year. So far attendance has been growing. We served over 70 meals the first night and almost 150 this last one. Of course, it was the Thanksgiving meal and it was quite the feed. Tomorrow night is another one and I don't know what the crowd will be like, but we are having breakfast for supper....pancakes, eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy and banana stuffed french toast with banana caramel cream sauce. It should be lots of fun. Time to head back to daily life.....until next time.... God bless.

Don't worry about tomorrow... (part I)

We've all read the Bible verse that says (Deanna version)...don't worry about tomorrow because today has enough worries of it's own. I am taking that verse to heart lately. I thought things were crazy around here before, well they are insane now....I feel like I'm a tv with someone else running the remote and boy are they channel surfing!!!! Jacob finally graduated after being made completely miserable by the weirdness of his teacher (note to self finish the announcements and talk to the school superintendent). We are very proud of him. That last couple of months were an emotional drain and I'm very sure that it was hard for him to persevere and not get discouraged and quit. About 2 months ago, he up and called a cranberry marsh for a job and got one. He loved it, but knew it was seasonal. Well, since weather wise we are way far ahead of schedule, they finished all of the summer season work they had for him, so he got laid off. He took it in stride and now starts work at Cardinal tomorrow, working the same shift as his Dad. This is seasonal too with the possibility of continuing on in the fall if he works out. With Cardinal you are either good at it, or not. Who knows what will happen tomorrow, but for now he's working and I'm proud of him. So many kids just quit when it gets tough. He's keeping on... This year has been a struggle for Jessalyn. She hates school. Now for me to still be saying those words is shocking. My daughter, up until this year, loved school. She's finally getting the hang of it, although she still hates it. The only problem is that now schools almost over. I'm praying that next year will be wonderful for her. I don't want the light to go out of her eyes when she talks about learning. She has such a wonderful mind. I don't want her to give up. That being said, she has now joined the Worship Team at our church and is doing great things musically. We are so proud of her. This last weekend was the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive. I'm the coordinator here in the Tomah area. It was a blast and I had lots of help from my friends which was such a blessing. It's great knowing that I can depend on my friends no matter what. In our local area we collected 7300 pounds of food to go to our local food bank. Let me tell you that's a lot of lifting. Not made any easier by the stupid things happen to Deanna rule. First thing that morning, I jammed my pinky on my left hand. Then I almost fell out of the truck because without thinking I tried to use that hand to balance myself. Thank you God that you take care of me, even in my stupidity. It's now 135 days until the 40th annual Warrens Cranberry Festival. Since I am now President, my duties during meetings have changed, but during the festival itself, it just means that I am "chief gopher". I love this festival. I love making 150,000 people smile. I love my Farm Market and it's vendors. They are such a fun group of people to see each year. Things are now starting to pick up as far as the process of putting this big puzzle together. It's one of those hurry up and wait things. You wait until this day and then you hurry and do what needs to be done and then you wait for it to be time to take the next step. I love it. Work has been really busy, which is good since I work for the Post Office. Being a rural carrier I never know what each day will hold. The other day I must have been stuck behind at least 4 tractors waiting for them to make their way to the next field. Then I got stuck waiting for 3 different military convoys. More hurry up and wait. The youth group is still going, although we are more of a young adult group now. Such an age difference, but God still has me there plugging on. They are typical kids..one night interested in learning and the next interested in anything but learning. It makes it difficult to know where to go next. The motor cycle potluck is coming up on June 3rd. I'm really looking forward to seeing all of our friends from Minnesota. They are a great bunch and we have a blast! Will's parents are going to be coming soon from Florida. Mom is not feeling too great right now, so they are waiting for her to feel better before making the trip. Hope she gets better soon. It's always fun when they are around. Will has been working on tilling the garden and I am hoping that gets done soon. I am so ready to get planting. I want to try a combination of vertical and lasagna gardening this year. Hoping to have less in the weed category that way. Also hoping it will make it easier if I don't have to crawl around so much. Planting all the climbing things on trellises and teepee type things. The tomatoes even get staked differently. Time to go to work again....part II soon.

From Will:

I've been trying to get Deanna to take over this thing but she's even busier than ever with Youth Group at church, community dinners and now being President, Board of Directors for the Warrens Cranberry Festival. It looks like posts on this blog might just become a quarterly kind of thing; more or less.

Easter is on it's way around again and as a right-wing, conservative Christian who has openly, willingly proved that I don't mind being "a fool for Christ", I am very excited to celebrate it. Yet, I'm a little uh, er, well...dreading it too. I don't mind traditions, depending on what they are and some things definitely need to be remembered. Some people certainly need to be reminded. Some of us don't.

Some very dear friends of ours have invited us to go see a "Passion Play" in Minnesota. I want to make this very clear: I WANT to go. I love my friends and families and us spending good "Christian" time together is very uplifting for me. I WANT to see THIS passion play to support the friends involved. I believe my family NEEDS to see this passion play. Now that I've made that clear, I er, well, kind of, (this is so embarrassing) don't like passion plays. I really, really, really don't like them. Let me explain.

I love Jesus. He IS my Savior and I have a daily, moment to moment relationship with Him. I try to "pray without ceasing" and I treasure that relationship. I was raised in a Christian home and myself, in my mind have been "saved" all my life, but officially since I was seven years of age. I am acutely aware of the life story of Jesus. I've read the whole Bible more than a few times and each Gospel specifically probably dozens of times. I've probably seen so many recitations, plays, musicals, movies etc. that I have lost count. I know how the story ends; but that's not my problem either.

Jesus, the Son of God left the wonders of Heaven to live in a barbaric time for 30+ years. That is bad enough but he then allowed Himself to be betrayed by the very people He loved to be tortured brutally and then to suffer a horrible death because we are too weak to follow two simple rules: Love the Lord Your God... and Love your Neighbor as Yourself.

See, for me it is personal. I know I'm no better than Adam, Eve or the disciples. I'm no better than Pontius Pilot or Judas or the soldier who hit Him in the face. Jesus died for them too. Just like He died for me; it's my fault, I put Him there. The worst of it: I didn't do it just once but almost every day I put Him back on that Cross because I'm too weak and too selfish. I am acutely aware of it. I don't ever forget it. I also don't really enjoy being reminded of it, especially in public. I understand some people do need that reminder; I don't.

Yes, I know the ending. I know the Victory. How the Son of God made the perfect sacrifice. So much so that His one Death and Resurrection was sacrifice enough for everyone. All my sins, yesterday, today and tomorrow are covered by His Sacrifice. I do celebrate that victory and not just at Easter but everyday. Someone once suggested that the Revelations verse about "...all things will be made new..." meant that we will forget this life. I SO hope that isn't true because I don't ever want to forget everything that Jesus has done for me; back then as well as now. It's important to me that I don't ever forget all the victories in my life because of Him. I just don't need to be publicly reminded of the horrors perpetrated on someone I love so deeply because of something I did. Some people do need to be reminded but not me; I remember every single day.

This time I will be surrounded by family and friends and I'm sure it's going to be great so I'm looking forward to it...mostly.

May you all be reminded daily of what Jesus did for you, because of you.

Pray without ceasing.
Will.

It's the most Wonderful time of the year!

Most of the time....

Things are pretty crazy with us right now. Ok, so I don't know that they are "never" crazy with us, but right now it's true.
I work for the Post Office and love my job. Yesterday was a little hard though. We had terrible weather on the weekend and it left a layer of ice over everything. With it being Christmas there are tons of packages, for which I am very grateful. I love delivering Christmas to people. The looks on their faces when they get a card or a gift from a loved one is a blessing to me. Especially the older folks when they get pictures and cards. They love it and I love delivering them. Yesterday was hard though. That ice really caused lots of problems for me and it slowed things way down. It's hard to stay "happy" when everything seems to go wrong repeatedly.

When I finally got home after a quick stop at the store, I made the mistake of just sitting down. Big mistake for me at night. If I can keep standing, I can keep going. If I sit down, I'm done. I sat here at the desk staring at the screen, but I'm not sure that I actually did anything. I think I might have just stared at the screen. I went to bed after I realized that I had been asleep sitting up with my hands on the computer keys. Pretty sad.

Today hopefully will be a better day. Jessalyn is going to run off and do something with her Aunt. Jacob is working on projects around the house. Will is off to work and so am I. We have a busy week planned too. Wednesday will be youth where we are composing a letter to our child Ashaba that we sponsor each month. Thursday night I'm sure will have something going on. Friday is blowing insulation into our attic and then the youth are coming over to have a pizza party and work on our huge Christmas project that is a present for the whole church. Saturday Will and I are going out with our friends for a shopping and lunching day. I'm looking forward to it. Sunday will be church, potluck, a funeral for a great friend of ours and then a pampered chef party that my friend and I are giving.

We were blessed with a way to get Will a new lawnmower and snow blower. Things have been really tight financially, but there was a little extra and he was in need badly for equipment that actually worked. He really did his homework and we traipsed around and found just what he was looking for. He got a huge discount on a 42" deck lawnmower and found a 28" snow blower. I hope that they both last as many years as the last lawnmower did. He's a happy camper. He has power tools!....insert Tim Allen man laugh here (he has been).

As I said...it's a wonderful time here. Things are busy. Jacob decorated the entire house inside and out with lights. Our ugly/beautiful fiber optic tree is lit and there is now snow on the ground. If we can get this week out of the way....we are on the home stretch for Christmas. I hope you all are having a great time too!

An Almost Free Christmas Tree

For years Will has talked about using an artificial Christmas tree. I love the real ones, but we are terrible at having them. If it's not the cat climbing through the inside knocking all the ornaments off, it's the leaving it without water for days. Not to mention forgetting to "do away" with the poor thing until February or March. By then when you throw it out, it is naked as it goes out the door. The needles stay on it fine until you take the lights off...then woosh...they all fall down.

A couple of years ago, my Mom and Dad bought this beautiful fiber optic tree. They don't have to put lights on, because they are already on it. It's great. Will saw that and his "lightbulb" went on and that's what he's wanted ever since. Since then we(meaning "me") have watched for after Christmas sales for an artificial tree that would work for us. This is not a cheap endeavor since our ceilings are tall and we usually have about a 9' tree. Still I just couldn't find the right tree.

I have been shopping on ebay and found one that I thought we could try in our entry way. It was 7' tall, but thin. I didn't think that it was anything great and wonderful, but depending on the price would be worth $10 and people would be able to see it from the road. Yahoo...easy Christmas decorations. No standing out freezing my butt off stapling lights onto the fence etc. I bid my $4 to start and let it go. The price jumped in the next couple of hours to $50....way above my cheapskate limit. I thought "ok...we don't need that tree" and went on with life.

Low and behold I get an email with a second chance offer for the same tree at $4.00!! I bought it and figured what the heck...try it. It arrived 2 days later and when the lights are not on it is an ugly, and I mean ugly tree...but turn the lights on and it's beautiful. It's sitting in the middle of the living room where they tried it out and my hubby has to turn it on each and every time he's in the room. The strobe lights in it are painful and I'm sure would cause seizures after any amount of time, but you dial past those and it turns beautiful. Now they (the rest of them in the house) want to use it as our family Christmas tree this year. I'm not so sure that I'm willing to be outvoted on this one...you know if the mama ain't happy.....

However it works out...my hubby is happy...he plays his mafia wars each morning by "tree" light and I got to find a "deal" and an almost "free" Christmas tree (even the shipping was free).

Have a great day!

Getting ready for winter

I am never ready for this time of year. I'm just now getting into the swing of things for summer and fall is already over. The leaves are still turning colors and many are still on the trees, but you can feel winter in the air. Yesterday even had that dreaded word "snow" in the forecast. I'm not ready. Truthfully, I'm never ready.

With so much of my fall devoted (lovingly) to Cranfest, I seem to miss the every day stuff that other people see. It feels like I go from hot, hot, hot to freeze. There is no in between around here. It's hard to get into the get ready for winter mode for me and then suddenly it's here.

In less than 2 months Christmas will be over. I don't even have any shopping done. Usually by now, I've at least bought a couple of presents...not this year. I'm running behind...

It's time to put plastic on the windows, put up the snow fence, cut and stack wood, start collecting my stash of emergency supplies, placing emergency kits in all the vehicles etc. Time to get serious about the cold even though my mind is still trying to deal with fall.

Will and I, along with kids and our friends will cut and stack wood next weekend. Hopefully enough to get us and my parents through the winter. The two fireplaces going really help when heating this great big house. I have them both going today and it's comforting somehow.

I hope you are all having a wonderful fall and will continue on and have a blessed Christmas filled with the wonder of God's love for us all. I say that because Christmas might be over before I get a chance to post again. I hope not, but you know me.

I remember.......

I would imagine that there are so many blogs out there that are remembering September 11, 2001. I will have to join their ranks. Undoubtedly, I will probably disagree with many of them. As an American that is my right. Thank you God.

In my opinion what happened on 9-11 was a tragedy in more than one way. Americans died. Those people can never be brought back. It was and is a horrible thing. We lost them, but for a while there we Americans seemed to find ourselves.

We all pulled together and people prayed. Now....not so much.

As a nation we seem to be headed down a road that feels more and more like a nation not "under God". The government and other confused individuals have forgotten the principles that this nation was built on. They have forgotten the Declaration of Independence. They have forgotten the Constitution. There is a reason that the founding fathers mentioned God so often. They believed in Him. They knew that they only had this nation because of Him and they wanted to make sure that the world knew it too.

In arrogance people have started thinking that we have what we have because we earned it. We are a blessed nation because God made us that way. We said we were a nation under God and believe me, God takes care of His own. I live my life under Him and know that all things come from Him. If we had what we deserved it would be terrible....like maybe a falling economy, jobless rates that are on the rise, hatred and violence abounding, murder....you get my drift. We've forgotten where we came from, who we owe it to and what we should be thankful for.

My generation the 40 somethings and 50 somethings are not pulling our weight. We raise our children to lie, cheat, hate and in general expect everything to be given to them on a silver platter ....because they deserve it. BOLOGNA!!!!! We should be ashamed of ourselves.
Of course we were raised by that enlightened bunch of individuals from the flower children era.

People don't teach morals any longer. They are not taught in the schools. The schools teach rights. I have this right and that right. Give me a break. People try to take the 10 commandments away saying we shouldn't be forced to live by them. Tell me how would it be so bad to not lie, cheat, steal, murder, have affairs? What would be so wrong? Even if you don't believe in God, how can you say this would be a bad thing?

The greatest tragedy to me is all of the people in this world that do not know God. Especially those poor wretched unknowing, unloved, pitiful people that think that Jihad is the way to live. I have friends who are Muslim who are wonderful people that do not believe that way. Do I think all Muslims are evil? No I do not. I think that they are deceived and do not know God, the true God. That is a tragedy. They have this distant god that they pray to not knowing if he even answers their prayers, for that matter, if he even hears them. They have no hope. That to me is a tragedy.

As for the others. They are crazy sad people that are trying so hard to be someone special. Someone looked up to for something they've done. They are terrorists. No other way to put it. I'm really tired of the government trying to smooth things over. Let's not call it what it is. I can't help what they are. They mean to hurt people. It makes me really, really sad. What a way to live your life...

Let's remember where we came from. Where we were and who we owe it all to. I can guarantee that it is not our President who seems to be one of those lost people trying to be special. It's not our government who can't seem to find their own nose in the dark. It's all owed to God, the Creator, the Founder of this nation.

GOD bless America. Please.

Where did the time go?

Things have been on warp speed around here lately. It seems like I just posted last week and it's already 2 months later. Part of it could be that I have been working 6 days a week for 5 months now. That seems to put damper on most things. Oh well, it needs to be done. The good news is that I can now take all the time that I really need at Cranfest time and not have to use up my regular vacation days. I am pretty much using comp time. A winning situation for me.

Jessalyn is back in school now. HIGH SCHOOL! It's hard to think of my baby being that old, yet she has always been so smart that it kind of feels right in a weird way. Jake still has not officially graduated, but very soon. He had a few assignments (mostly due to his surgery last year) that he had to finish. He was going to do them during the summer, but then his teacher went away for a month or two, so now he's gonna finish up. I'm hoping to have him done by Cranfest.

We are now entering one of the favorite stages for me in my life. The count down to the Warrens Cranberry Festival. Once again this year, I am in charge of the Farm Market and am having a blast getting it all ready. It's like this huge puzzle with moving pieces that needs to come together each year and I love the challenge. With the economy, I was a little worried about vendors being able to come, but we are filling up slowly. There is always a push for people that insist on sending their applications in at the last minute. I am hoping for wonderful weather. This week should start all of the paperwork on the other vendors and then we go out and spray paint each and every one of the 1200 booths onto the ground, so that they know where to set up. I love it. It's a blast for me.
That being said I am not ready for fall. I had so hoped to have the house ready to list for sale and move into a smaller one in Warrens. The kids are getting older and this is just too much house for us. It's too much room, too much to clean and too much upkeep. We just don't have the time. Work schedules excluded, we just do not want to spend what time we have here on earth always working on the house. There's going on 2 acres to mow and no matter what we do the mower (any mower) keeps giving us trouble this year. It seems like every time we turn around it's something. I'm sure someone would love to move in here and work in the 8 or so flower gardens, the fenced in veggie garden, the 3 car shed, the mother in law apt, the back patio etc. I do not have time and the older I get I do not have the inclination. I am so ready to downsize.
We found a house that would be perfect for us in Warrens. The upstairs is perfect for Jessalyn, the down stairs is perfect for Jake and the main floor is good for Will and I. It has a nice sized, no hassle lot and a 2 car garage for Will. There's even a nice back yard to fence in for Will's parent's camper. The only trouble is that we need to sell this one to buy that one. Better yet, it's right across the street from my parents, so we would be close if they needed anything etc. It seems like a win, win situation. So far God has not given us a way for it yet, so we keep trying to get this one ready for sale and praying for diving intervention. I am so ready to be done with working on this house and I never thought that I would say that. I'm just tired.

Yesterday was a 65 degree 62% humidity day around here. We went with our friends the Fischers to Wildcat Mountain State Park down in Ontario. What a blast. I've lived here so long and I'm ashamed to admit that I've never actually been in that park. I've driven by it several times, but never stopped. It was great fun. We cooked out, the kids hiked, we played botchi ball and in general goofed around and laughed. Man, did we laugh. We just love hanging out with that family. The are great people.
Well, time to get busy around here. I have the day off for once, so there is of course too much house work to get done, so guess what I'm doing today?
Have a great one!
dea

Wait where did June go?

It seems like I was just dealing with snow and here it is July already. We've already had the fireworks and they feel like just a blur. Life is traveling very fast right now. Most of it is caused by the lack of substitutes at work, due to one factor or another. I am working 6 days a week now, most of the time and that does not leave much time for anything else.
Our summers are so much cooler than the ones we had in Florida, yet I find myself not being able to take the heat. My comfort zone seems to be in the 70's now and anything above that really throws me for a loop. I guess I'm getting old.
Our lawnmower died a very painful and long death. The motor kept going, but it's poor transmission...well it has issues. Our friend Randy and Will tried taking it apart and fixing it. No go. So, we found one on Craig's list and Will and Randy are on their way to pick it up now. Randy is going to put our engine into his mower with no engine and that way something good will come out of all of this. The best part is that prayerfully, we will have a mowed lawn that did not require hours of walking behind a small push mower.
I am still having minor health issues. I call them minor in comparison to some people I know. My main frustration is that there is no rhyme or reason to when mine will strike. Usually, it is at the least convenient moment. I will go on though.
We leave Wednesday to take my youth group to Sonshine. A Christian music festival in Minnesota. It's for 4 days and they are really looking forward to it. Of course now is when my stomach decides to go crazy. I stayed home today because I've been awake almost all night for 3 nights now in pain. It comes and goes, but it's very frustrating. They want to do exploratory surgery, but until I get a sub at work (it's in the works) I'm stuck.
I'm praying that this will be a life-changing trip for each and every one of us that are going. I am looking forward to basking in the love of Jesus and hopefully being able to put everything else to the side and just letting God's love be my main focus. It sounds pretty refreshing.
On the upside/downside...Will and I are trying to make major life changes here. We are downsizing. We even found a house that we would like to have that would enable us to hopefully become debt free in about 3 years or less. The main problem we are having is this house. It's a wonderful house, but we would need to have that house, paint it and do some minor repair, move in to it and then sell this one. It pretty much needs to be in that order.
We will see what God has in his plans for us. We would love that house. We would love being debt free. I would love being closer to my parents, church and Cranfest and would love having less of a work load, but I don't want it, if it is not what God wants for us. Meanwhile, we wait on his plans...

No complaints here.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the weather here in Wisconsin lately. While the rest of the nation is suffering from extreme heat, we are basking in 70 degree temps. I appreciate it greatly. There is nothing quite like being out on a mail route in a car with black interior driving in the sunshine with your window down...no cool air there. I associate it with being kind of like making "sun tea".

Yesterday was one of those days that you wonder....What's the plan here God? I woke up and got everything in order for my work and Will's getting the van taken care of . Gave him a list of what he had to do during the day (I had made the appointments while he was at work just like he asked me to). I went to work and he started off on his adventure. We have been dealing with a shimmy issue and didn't know what it was, but with 3 different places looking at it yesterday, I figured someone would find out the issue.
Place one-tires rotated. No shimmy.
Place two-new brake pads...then they found the issue. It was the caliper. The only problem is that I had taken it to the mechanic, not once but twice to get them checked because that's what we thought it was in the first place.
This day was turning out to be expensive. It seems that lately we have not been in the $100 here, $100 there mode. It's been $500 here $1000 there for months....it can wear a person down. When Will called I was at the point that I was just waving money goodbye. You can either get upset, depressed or just take a deep breath and know that God is going to take care of it somehow. You might not know how, but you just have to leave it to Him. Well, I took a deep breath and let go...
Will called back. They put the caliper in. Said it was under warranty, waived the deductible and only charged us for the oil change. Thank you God!!!! We still had to pay through the nose for the brake pads (which I understand cost twice as much for the van as they do for my jeep) and the labor for putting those on, but much, much better than paying for the other.
Even better...no shimmy. New brakes and a smooth ride make Will a happy camper.
God came through. I just keep breathing deep and hanging on.

That wandering bug....

I don't know why, but lately, I have been just ready to hop in the car and go. I've always had a wandering bug and a desire to see what is around the next corner. Both of my parents have it (especially my Dad), so I guess I come by in naturally.
While I'm on the route, I listen to a lot of Bible studies, preachers, music and do a lot of praying. Not as much as I'd like to, but some days I cannot find the focus (I know, shame on me). I wish that I was much more disciplined, but some days when the sun is shining and the animals are out for me to watch, I just have to pay attention to the world. I do say thank you God many times on those days and thank Him for His works. He has done and is doing great and wondrous things.
On other days...
My mind will wander and I mean WANDER. I plan trips. I even have an atlas in my jeep to use when I need to check the geography in my head. I have trips to go almost every where in the US and another one to take in the countries that I would love to see in Europe (there are not too many of those). I have to laugh though because although most of my trips are designed around scenery, there are a couple that are designed around "food". Who designs a trip around what you will eat???? I guess I do.
For our retirement plans ( you think about this stuff when your kids start graduating), Will and I plan on selling everything, packing up what we need to keep and storing it, and then we are going to hit the road traveling in some type of RV for at least 5 years. That sounds like heaven. I figure in 5 years we can spend about 3 weeks in each state (for the most part) and never have to see snow again, unless we want to. I would love to spend at least another month on the Oregon coastline, or just plain in Oregon itself. Then there's the trip out east for the fall color. The trip down to the keys during some winter, just to see it. A trip to the Grand Canyon and of course I want to see the Hoover Dam. I don't know why I want to see the dam, but I'm thinking it could be pretty interesting. I want to see Gettysburg again (it was one of the most memorable occasions in my life when I first saw it). Go to Maine for lobster, Boston for chowder, Texas for BBQ, Memphis for BBQ and pretty much any where that has wonderful food, great scenery and new folks to meet.
My traveling bug is hitting quite hard right now. If Will said "let's go" I think I could have everything packed and taken care of in less than 1/2 hour. Kind of funny if you think about it. I drive for over 4 hours a day and I'm still ready to hit the road running and take off. Oh well, back to the real world. 100 degree heat, dirty dishes and peanut butter.....hmmm.....
Calgon...take me away!!!

Hail from the storm

Update on the storms

I drove around my route yesterday feeling like I was in a war zone. You'd be driving along and everything would be fine, turn a corner and the trees were all down. It's not a very wide destruction path in the scheme of things (about 600 feet), but to the people that it demolished it must seem gigantic.
Some friends of ours lost almost every tree in their yard and too many to count in their pastures. They have sheds blown apart, a barn with a caved in front, huge trees down on their sheds and damage to their house. It could have been much worse. Thankfully God held the roof down so they have a place to live.
A neighbor of theirs went into his basement and when he came back out his roof was gone. Then he noticed that his entire attached garage was missing...completely. They found his garage door a mile away.
Other parts of it were scattered all through the woods around his house. His pole barn is hanging in the trees around his house.

Barns and houses are missing roofs, trees are down in a path that looks like a big bowling ball (600 feet wide) just ran through the woods (except there must have been a spin on that ball because the trees are all twisted).
The eagle baby must have died. The parents were gone. I don't know if I will ever see them again and that makes me so very sad. I love eagles and having them on my route, to see each day, has been a huge blessing for me. This was the 4th family I had watched them raise. I've watched as the babies learned to fly, hunt and then spread their wings and leave. It's like the chapter of a really good book is closing. I didn't want the chapter to end, let alone the book.

Yet life goes on. Every day there are new blessings, new issues, new things to learn. I hope that as time goes by, I learn a few things along the way. Things like keeping my mouth shut and not telling the truth "in love" when really it's just criticizing or complaining. Things like remembering to put the coffee filter in before you make coffee. Things like taking the time to call that person you just thought of, even if you don't really have the time, because you never know if it will be the last thing you get to say to them. Even then, sometimes just calling them and showing them you care might be the most important thing that happened to them that day.

All of these things that happened are really, really sad, but in all of this you see the important things come to light...people. I'm going to try to be a little more about "others" from now on. I know that helping others has always been important to me, but I think as I get older it seems to be gaining ground as a main focus in my life. So much suffering, so many lonely hurting people. So little time.........

Tornado 5-22-11