Old Friends

Bible Study Fellowship has enriched my life in many ways. It has deepened my knowledge of scripture. It has provided a place for my children to learn about the character of God and His Word. I’ve been blessed by the teaching of wonderful godly women. I’ve had years of excellent small group leaders as well as times with poor ones. I’ve grown and studied and learned under all of them.

One precious treasure BSF has given me is some dear, dear friendships. This week I was able to visit one of these friends. Amy and I met in our BSF class years ago (I’m afraid to add up the years). We lived near each other, had similar backgrounds of growing up in the church, and were both in the beginning of raising our young families. I had two small children and she had one. Now I have five and she has four. Where have the years gone?

amy and kathy

Every year we return to Michigan for a visit, I always carve out the time to see Amy and her sweet family. It is such a joy to be with an old friend (not that either of us are old, of course not). The conversation is natural and nearly without pause. The only interruption comes from the children. After we had been there for some time, Amy’s oldest asked her, “How long have you been talking?” I’m sure in his mind we couldn’t possibly have anything left to say. Silly child. :)

Amy’s new home is beautiful, relaxed and comfortable. Amy is just the same herself. It was delightful spending the afternoon with her. The children played inside, went for a walk to the park, had popsicles, came inside, watched tv, played games, and then went back outside for more fun. I tried to borrow Amy’s set of clippers to do Daniel’s hair. She got it out and then remembered she needed to use them this week. At the last minute (literally the children were all getting into the van) I decided to cut Daniel’s hair. I can’t believe I forgot to ask Rachel to take pictures. We all went to the back yard (except Joshua who thought it would be more fun to wilt, swelter and melt in the van, waiting for us) and I cut Daniel’s hair right there on the patio.

bunch of cute kids

You know it’s a true friend when you can borrow hair clippers and give your son an impromptu hair cut in the back yard. Tim teased me and said we sure like to go a long way for a hair cut. First it was the girls, and now Daniel’s got his Michigan cut. Who’s next?? The only downside is it’s going to be expensive to continue flying to Michigan to keep up with my highlights and the rest of the family’s trims.

Thankfully I have good friends that are always ready with an open home and welcome smile.

Thanks for the lovely visit, Amy!!

Kathy
Project 365 – Day 170

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Family Visits & Blogging Secrets

The problem with visiting family who also happen to read your blog is that they begin to discover your secrets. There you were, happily blogging along, 1000 or so miles away. No one (except your dh and children – hard to get rid of that bunch) knew whether you blog early in the morning (::snort::) or late at night or perhaps, oh I don’t know, let’s say the wee hours of the morning. Readers were ignorant of how many pictures it took to get “just the right shot.” They didn’t know about posing or staging or even the glories of Photoshop Elements. Not that I would ever edit my photos. Much. I don’t even have Photoshop (yet).

Now when I casually walk outside with my camera in hand, the blog is the first thing people mention (or shout). As if a mother wouldn’t want to take a picture of her sweet darlings just because she can. I mean, look at this group.

water balloon crew

This is Joshua’s water balloon crew for VBS.

“Oh, it’s your mother, getting ready for a blog,” my dad said this afternoon when I went outside to capture the water balloon team in action.

Harrumph! I’ll show them. I won’t post the other 8 (totally funny and cute) pictures of them filling up balloons. People will just have to wonder who was in charge, who tied up the balloons, who carried them back and forth between the hose and the bucket. It’s won’t end up in a blog, no sir.

Later in the day my brother Thom and his wife, Jenn (one of those beloved sisters-in-law I mentioned the other day who is WAY better than a kitten) came over for dinner. I casually decided to take a few pictures like this one:

thom and jenn

Uncle Thom and Aunt Jenn

What does the aforementioned sister say, “It’s a blog in action. We’re creating a blog moment.”

Seriously people, I get no blogging respect.

How is an innocent little blogger supposed to handle such harassment? Oh, yes, by by taking lots of pictures and posting them mercilessly. What was I thinking?

thom and jenn and kiddos

I usually just blame it on the relentless pace of the Project 365. Then I do my best to ignore Tim who repeatedly tells me I only committed to taking one, a single picture, each day and I could stop at any time.

happy father's day

If you had such a good looking family, would you stop with just one picture?

Plus, I have an obligation to the rest of the family who are still far away and waiting with bated breath for blogs and pictures. Well, I can dream can’t I?

More family arrives this weekend. No doubt they’ll be prying into my blogging ways as well. Soon they’ll be no mystery left at all.

Get your own blog, I tell them. Or I would tell them if I wasn’t too busy trying to sneak my camera into the scene and then getting everyone to smile pretty. Sometimes I even manage to work myself into the picture.

the girls

Happy Father’s Day!!!

Kathy
Project 365 – Day 168

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Strawberry Picking and Boating

We were invited to go pick strawberries this weekend at the home of some friends. Mom graciously (waiting to chortle gleefully after we left) agreed to stay home while Dad and I took the children off.

strawberry garden
Oh yeah! We have our ‘official’ strawberry bags and are ready to go!

The children LOVED picking strawberries. They thought it was great fun. One of them even said something like, “This is really fun!”

strawberry pickers
The younger team of strawberry harvesters, working hard to fulfill their quota.

Joshua helped Sarah find berries and, when we realized David’s bag was a little “juicy” we encouraged him to avoid the rotten strawberries. It’s so hard to find good help these days. Have to train, train, train.

joshua and sarah
Joshua’s management style is a bit ‘hands-on’.

Boy, they just LOVED picking strawberries.

For about 20 minutes. Maybe even a full 30 minutes. Then the allure of the little pond in the center of the yard was too great to ignore. The next thing I knew, Dad was the only one picking strawberries and the children were loading up in boats. I was, er, checking on the children.

daniel and rachel
Rachel and Daniel embark on their perilous paddle boat voyage.

The rest of the crew waited for their turn. Dad continued to gather strawberries. He is definitely a man who sticks to the original mission. He wasn’t side-tracked by a little ole paddle boat.

Joshua, David and Sarah
Look at that waiting stance. These kids are ready for their turn.

After a little switching around, everyone found a place in a boat. Except Dad who (yes, you guessed it) continued to pick strawberries.

paddle boat
Look at that protective arm Daniel has around Sarah. He’s not going to let her fall.

rachel and joshua
Lewis and Clark had nothing on these two!

After I dragged the kids away from their boats, and Dad from the strawberry garden, we returned home. (For a ‘small’ berry patch it was LOADED with strawberries!) I think I spent a good part of the rest of the evening coping with the abundance of our harvest. Yum! These strawberries are absolutely delicious and taste just like a little bite of summer.

strawberries
Table full of strawberries! Not a bad haul for an hour or so of picking. Of course, Dad did most of the work. :)

After freezing several bags of sliced berries, I decided to make up a batch of strawberry muffins. Since I wouldn’t dream of traveling without my handy breakfast recipe folder, I quickly flipped to my mega muffin recipe and called imperiously for an assistant chef. Joshua did all the measuring, mixing, stirring, and tasting (basically Joshua made the muffins). I cut up the strawberries and poured the mix into muffin pans. And so, breakfast is ready for tomorrow morning.

muffin
I think Dad should get the first bite.

Kathy
Project 365 — Day 167

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Anyone have time for a computer saga?

This weekend my parents celebrate their 41st wedding anniversary! Wow!! Four decades together, four children, eight grandchildren (so far), years of ministry and faithful service to the Lord. Many, many lives touched. And God chose to place me in this family. Grace. A gift. A rich Christian heritage. Undeserved. Treasured.

sarah and grandad

Sarah and Grandad snuggle after dinner.

What better way to celebrate 41 years together than with the purchase of a new computer. Being married to a computer geek myself (albeit a totally cool one) I know without a shadow of a doubt that a computer is the ultimate gift. It speaks care and love and thoughtfulness. It says I want you to have fun (movies, games, blogging, digital camera wizardry). I want you to be connected to friends and family (e-mail, Skype, more blogging). I want you to be able to work efficiently and easily (Excel spreadsheets, Publisher newsletters or brochures, Word documents, blogging – really for me it’s all about the blogging these days). I want you to have room for plenty of pictures and music.

Obviously a computer is the ideal gift for any occasion. So Tim and I were eager to help Dad pick out a new computer for Mom. Isn’t hardware the gift for the 41st year?? Tim did the research and put together a great package, even timing the delivery just perfectly. The only problem is that the UPS guy didn’t drop Tim off as well. As much as I love my computer(s) and can find my way around things proficiently enough, I am NOT a computer geek. That’s pretty much why I married Tim, so I would have a live in computer techie guy.

I won’t embarrass myself by revealing how many times I’ve called Tim in the past two days, trying to work out the details of the new computer and high speed internet. This morning, when I asked him how to put the new computer together (“Where do I start? What do I do??? Why are there so many cables?”) he blithely said, “Let Daniel do it. He’s done it lots of times.”

Um. Daniel is 10. Is this a sign of the times? I help my parents get a new computer but I need my child to help put it together? Look how the generations care for each other. Maybe while he’s at it Daniel can program the DVD player.

Daniel was wandering a bit aimlessly around the house at the time of Mom’s Great Computer Assembly of ’07. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to hit David WITH the ping pong ball or play ping pong WITH him. It’s a tough choice and both options offer tremendous entertainment possibilities. He abandoned both at my cry for computer assistance.

daniel's computer assistance

The next thing I knew he was opening up boxes, pulling out cables, making space on the bed and lining up everything neatly. He grabbed the basic instructions and started connecting cables before I could say, “Now is there a red and blue wire on computers?”

opening a box of goodies

I guess Tim was right. Maybe I have more than one computer geek living in the house. That might be more than my fair share.

The computer worked beautifully. The high speed internet, however, was another story. When I made the arrangements with Comcast, I didn’t think to request a wireless modem. Tim (leave it to Computer Geek #1) suggested I go with that approach but not until AFTER I had already scheduled an installation date. Of course, the Comcast dude (dude seems to fit) didn’t have that kind of set up in his truck. Right, we wouldn’t want to make things easy. He was very helpful and patient with my dithering (should we reschedule? Should we go with the basic cable and have Tim figure out a wireless solution later? Where is the nearest Starbucks when you need it?). Tim, the rascal, was on a conference call (trying to get some work done of his own between my calls, the nerve) and couldn’t be reached. Mom and I made an executive decision to reschedule.

Wouldn’t you know it, they don’t have any more installation dates available until next week.
Tuesday. So much for having high speed internet this weekend. Yes, I’m blogging on dial-up here. Does that make me quaint or pathetic (please don’t answer that)? Hey, we have a tree house, creek and lots of mud, you can’t have everything.

Well, at least not until Tuesday.

This left me in a bit of a computer installation dilemma. I had a beautiful new computer with a gorgeous monitor, wireless keyboard and monitor ready to go but no internet. Since e-mail is very important to my mom (our family writes nearly every day, maybe more than that), this was not acceptable.

daniel is the MAN

By this time Daniel had abandoned me. His technical services were obviously no longer in demand. I’m pretty sure he went to find David and some ping pong balls. In his absence, I came up with a great solution (I might have a little bit of computer geek in me after all). I decided to hook up the new accessories (monitor, keyboard and mouse) to the old computer. Now Mom can still connect with friends and family and play that occasional game of Solitaire (gotta do something while the dial-up connects and SLOWLY gathers mail), but she’ll do it all in the luxury of her settings.

Whew! Not quite the hero but close.

Kathy
Project 365 – Day 166

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A simple rose

Life is a bit more sedate, now that the family is off vacationing. I find myself deliberately making lots of noise just so the house doesn’t feel so empty. I even sat down on the floor in the garage and had a short (and rather one-sided) conversation with Matthias, our guinea pig.

I’ve been working from home most days, since I have so much work to do, as the end of the quarter approaches. Although I really like having quarterly goals to spur me on, it gets a little stressful when I try to pack three months’ work into two weeks’ time. Still, it has been good to be free to work as many hours as I can.

A rose in our garden

I did take a moment today to snap a few shots of our roses outside, because Kathy sounded very tired when I last talked to her, and I was afraid that we wouldn’t have a picture for the day. It would be a real shame to come to the negative attention of the Project 365 Police, and so I offer this simple picture to express the peace and serenity and, as a consequence, the loneliness of the day.

Project 365 — Day 166

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