North Carolina, Charlotte!

My little girl is going on a mission! Such an unexpected but welcome happening... And even though she wishes she could be leaving sooner than April 3rd, I have the strongest impression that there is a very good reason for her delay (and not just for my wedding either. Of that, I am sure.) 

Perhaps time will answer this question but perhaps not... Either way, my little girl is going on a mission!

"My Jonny Lies Over the Ocean, My Jonny Lies Over the Sea..."

When your Mom sings that to you as a little boy, it's amazing you turned out so well!

And he has, turned out so very well indeed!!!

Happy birthday to my no longer little boy! Even though you are now an official adult, you will always be my little buddy! And check out the 'glasses' he used to wear around the house!

And check out his real glasses now...

The more he changes, the more he stays the same! And I am so very glad of that!!!

I am so blessed to have a son like Jonathan! I think I will go enjoy a little more time with my 'child' before he turns into that adult tomorrow!

Win Some/Lose Some: But Sometimes Losing IS Winning!

Winning: Thanks to a good friend, I was able to purchase a year old washing machine to replace the one another good friend gave me in my need! And for a great price! It was a winning situation all the way around- gotta love that!

Losing: I thought I had sold this necklace... finally. I had a 'buyer' from Indiana who was willing to put money in my PayPal account... But the email I received 'confirming' the transaction turned out to be a fake- and a convincing looking one at that! It's a good thing I have had so much experience with con men- I was smart enough to talk to Paypal and check my actual balance BEFORE mailing the necklace! So, I guess this is really winning- I didn't fall for the con!

And

this little monkey holding my cell phone (which she took out of my purse!)

also 'freed' my camera and took some winning photos (because of the people in them!)

 

Jason (my baby brother) and Camilla- all the way from CA! Loved the visit!

And, of course, my personal favorite! It includes Luke!!!

There are so very many hard things in life right now... but I win because I know that I am so blessed!

And so it begins...

Charly hasn't yet received her call, but I can already feel the missionary curse- that is, when things begin to break- and sometimes for no reason. Two things:

1st (and this had a reason) the newly repaired dryer is spewing blue lint! every load, for many loads! after being vacuumed out! 

It's a very good thing that I love Jon so much! He, in his defense, was trying to be helpful by putting the freshly laundered clothes into the dryer. But you should NEVER put chenille blankets in a dryer- we now have two see through 'blankets' and loads and loads of blue fluff in the the lint trap!

Big sigh here...

2nd: The router quit! No wireless internet at this house.... so is it the power cord or the expensive router?!

You know, I never did get that ice maker repaired from the time of Eric's missionary curse...

But I am sure proud of my Charly! and so blessed to have her for my daughter! Holding our breath for Wednesday- and hopefully her mission call!

and still loving this!!!

Yes, I am very blessed!

Strange Humor...

One of the things I truly love about Luke is that he gets me- he understands my weird references and jokes without explanation! Example:

He asked if he could call me 'Gorgeous' instead of 'Beautiful'- as he put it, it's easier... after all, it only has 2 syllables as opposed to 3!

My reply: 'Unless you are from the south, that is!'

And he laughed! Right away!

You see, I know this due to my wonderful college roommate from Virginia who could call me nothing shorter than 'Dee-Ann-Ann'. Her dialect just wouldn't allow her to say 'Deanne'... spent the funniest hour listening to her try, though- I think all of us laughed so hard we cried!

And I get him too! Must be the perfect combination of nerd-iness! Our poor friends and family in a few years!

This reminds me of one thing I love about my Adilynne and Makayla: one used to call me 'Aunt Dee' (I miss that!) and the other still calls me 'Aunt DeeDandy'! I will miss it when she grows up!

But I love it now and what a blessing!

Everyday Excitement!

I am so very busy! Yet feel like I still have so much to do! Life gets that way very often around here...

So I need to stop and remember that life is exciting and fun!

This is what I received last week from Chevron- Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I had written a grant requesting graphing calculators for my classroom, and Chevron funded my grant- second year in a row that this company has helped me out... yes, I am VERY EXCITED- even though it means many hours of lesson prep to help my students figure these out. They will definitely make my class better! Now if someone would like to purchase 5 more, I will have a complete set... maybe next year.

 And here is a small part of this year's juice. I had thought I had dodged the canning duty when I discovered my own grapes had been found by the birds... (I thought, 'yeah' but then 'darn!') Then my father called: 'You know, Lee has a lot of concord grapes at his house...' (I thought, 'darn! but then 'Yeah!') Imagine my surprise when the kiddos didn't want to help pick grapes! (But of course, they both have school and a job- Char has three jobs actually) So many hours later between my teaching school and my other various smaller jobs and of course, being mom, we have grape juice (and a broken juicer- but my sis came to the rescue on that score- Thank you, Ardis!)... and yes, I hate to open the bottles after all that work!

And: 

had a party/get together with my kids, my parents, and many from my soon-to-be family! Great reason to make Challah bread- Yum! I am so grateful to soon be a part of such a wonderful family and, of course, for my kiddos and parents! 

I may be busy and over scheduled- but I am so blessed!

And did I mention?! JON AND LUKE FIXED MY DRYER!!! I can complete more than one load in the same day!!- I didn't appreciate that sentiment until the last 2 1/2 months without a dryer...

Life = Wow!

Life is always changing, but this past few weeks, life has been changing so fast!

Luke is the absolute best thing to happen to me in so very long! But not just because everything is wonderful... There are so many challenges awaiting this new adventure, and so many challenges that are already here... But that is what makes life so grand, correct?!

And Jon hopes to leave on his mission in June... Almost six months earlier than I had planned. I am so proud of him, but I will so miss him!

And then there is my Char! 

Soon-to-be-Sister Troff! Yes, she will be turning in her mission papers within the month, if not the week! Just the thought of saying goodbye to her makes me weep! And yet, I AM SO PROUD OF THIS GIRL!!!

Now just waiting to see what the Lord's timing will be...

If you haven't watched the following video, you really should! Reminds me so much of sitting on the floor with Luke and Baby Charlie this week- and of playing in the rain with my kiddos!