Good Friday

The boys are on Spring Break this week. We didn't really have a staycation (don't you have to actually go places to do that?!) But staying home day after day has been really nice. A couple of sweet neighbor boys came for a couple of the days and caught frogs and salamanders in our pond. Just boys being boys. Those are the kind of Spring and Summer days I remember from my childhood. You know; bike riding, running around in the sunshine, kicking back with the dog, relaxing with a book. Sometimes in our video-game, movie-watching, "entertain me" culture, it's easy to forget the simple things in life. I'm so glad one of the boys accidentally destroyed the Playstation 2 years ago. I don't know if the great outdoors would have the appeal that it does now with such a tempting distraction.

I'm happily plugging away learning all I can about my new business venture. I'm an independent meal planning consultant with Homemade Gourmet. www.homemadegourmet/BWMcNeely
I haven't received my food kit yet, but I'm waiting for it to arrive. It's supposed to get here April 14th, but I've scheduled my Grand Opening/Ribbon Cutting for April 16th! Just under the wire! I'm praying it gets here today :) Of course, UPS will have to drive up into these mountains, and it seems like it takes 4 extra days to get all the way across America. (Homemade Gourmet is a Texas-based company)

I've been having lots of fun on Facebook, so that's why I haven't posted here. Hopefully, I'll get back to blogging. Anyone out there?!

Welcome 2009

Where does the time go? We are in the midst of a snow fiesta. We feel totally unprepared, without the right tools or knowledge. Thank the Lord for neighbors! One has plowed our driveway a couple of times, and one came and got the van unstuck last night. (We missed the gravel path initially, so we got stuck in the snow/mud). This Texas gal can't get over how the snow has literally stayed for over 3 weeks now. Apparently this is an unusual phenomenon for this area too.

Zucchini Festival

Hopefully, I'll remember to take the camera to the festival and get some pictures of all the zucchini potluck dishes that are coming! Jonathan and I will be performing some Johnny Cash, Elvis, and Patsy Cline today. It's a 20 minute set, but most of the golden oldie songs are so short, we can get in at least 8-10! Jim will hopefully join us on a couple of songs; but he likes to do our acapella songs (ok, the computer won't let me spell that any way, so sorry if it's misspelled:)
The boys are LOVING school! Their teachers are exquisite and everyone is so friendly. I'll probably be helping out with the PTO. In fact, I might actually be the President or Vice-President :) I'm pretty good at delegating.

I'm praying for all of my Texas friends and family who are under flood watches and evacuations. JW (James) didn't have classes on Friday at Texas Tech because of all of the water. (He said 2 1/2 feet on campus!)

It's been so incredibly sunny here for DAYS, I even forgot what rain feels like. Strange, isn't it?!

Blessings on your day!

Here's a picture of Jim and his friend Liege on a hike when they went on the Men's Retreat from our church. AWESOME!
The Retreat I just went on was at Cedar Springs and it was wonderful and refreshing.
Somewhere in my earlier posts are pictures of Cedar Springs, I think :) Well, off to Coffee and Conversation!

September Already!

Wow. Has it really been 5 months since my last post? We had lots of visitors over the summer. It was a wonderful, busy time! I guess the latest news is that Jim went to start the riding lawnmower and it exploded and caught on fire. The image of him trying to douse the flames with the cat's water has kept me in stitches for almost a week. We went out that day and got a fabulous Husqvarna since it was a John Deere that blew up. Actually, Husqvarna has quite a good reputation, even amongst the Lowe's employees.
Come see our lawn; it looks great!

Hello Again

OK. So I've realized that I don't like to post unless I have a picture to go along with my words. I think I'll just have to get over that. There will be no illustrations today. Only updates.

I'm completely enjoying working at Kid's Place at our satellite campus in Nooksack. (It might be Everson, but it definitely isn't Sumas). Anyway, we meet at the Nooksack Valley High School. We have between 17-20 kindergardeners through 5th graders, and usually two to three different high schoolers who help out each Sunday. They are all so fabulous. I'm hoping when JW comes in the summer, he can help out too. I get the high schoolers to lead small groups when it comes time for that, and some have even acted in the skits, etc. I hear through the grapevine that they think it is "awesome." Well, I think THEY are awesome. Jonathan leads worship. He is getting so good on the guitar. He really amazes us with his talent. Joseph and Joshy help out too, getting the place set up and cleaning up afterwards. Joshy wants to be called "Mr. Joshy" on his nametag, and that is fine with me.

I've been singing a lot lately at different venues. I got to actually play the guitar and sing "How Great Thou Art" at Coffee and Conversation last week. Yes. I actually accompanied myself on guitar. Thank God the hymn writers of old only knew three chords. I'll be singing at a gal's birthday party in a couple of weeks. I think she will be 90. (My personal belief is that you aren't getting "old" until you are 110. Even 109 is spry; but you get up to 110, and you can start getting your senior discount for sure).
She wants me to sing "I left my Heart in San Francisco," "Over the Rainbow" (my new signature song), "You are My Sunshine," and "On the Wings of a Dove."

Jim will be flying to Texas the first weekend in June for JW's graduation. The boys will still be in school, so we won't be going. (Besides the fact that flying us all down there would be monetarily prohibitive, especially because I would need to take the train or bus since I'm not a good flyer)

Well, that's enough for today. Make it a great one!

God's Fabulous Creation

Yesterday, a bald eagle swooped down and landed in our pond. He sat there majestically, taking a drink every once in a while, but mostly just eyeing the surroundings... not in fear, mind you, but with absolute confidence that he was at the top of the food chain. After about 20 minutes of having me completely mesmerized, he took to the skies and flew to one of the huge trees that line the road of the properties here.
Today I happened upon a blogger's site who had posted this video. Apparently someone from her church had set Brian Doerkson's song to clips from the BBC production of Planet Earth or something like that. Click on the rectangle above (or whatever is showing above the text here :) ENJOY!