Cathy and the Crow

At Emily's 13th birthday party, Cathy had a little run-in with a big black crow and it got stuck in her hair!


Entertainment provided by Cathy, October 10, 2008

You Only Turn 13 Once...

I found out I still have what it takes to take part in a slumber party as Bridget & I were invited to Emily's 13 year old birthday bash Friday night. It was held at a nearby hotel where we stayed in a suite with Cathy, Emily & 4 of her other friends. Cathy had a great night planned with swimming, a carousel ride, scavenger hunt, group photo session, pizza, games, cake and ice cream all by 1 am! We were rejoicing together that our babies were teenagers, lol. We also had a huge breakfast and more swimming in the morning. Can you believe we also got sleep in there?




I had a scare when the 174 pictures that I took disappeared from my camera. I got a card reader from Radio Shack and was able to retrieve them after I was pretty much resolved to the idea that some memories are just too great to capture.

Eggplant Du Jour

Many years ago, I was so fascinated by my neighbor's cooking ability that I called the newspaper! LOL! Wouldn't you know it, a reporter came out to interview her about one of her recipes, a Tuscan soup with eggplant, sausage and tomatoes. A couple of weeks ago, this neighbor called to see if I still had the recipe and I did have a preserved copy. It's so good to make when it gets cold in the fall.

Finding Joy

Yesterday afternoon, we went to a good-bye party for some friends at church who are moving to Florida. While there, the ever-fun-loving Cathy told me that I had to pour her root beer and she would pour mine. For the rest of the day, the thought of this little thing made me laugh. I thought of how often joy is found in simple things.


Cathy doing some Lands' End modeling

J. Crew Productions Presents...

a film about peer pressure...

Fix You

Maria and her friends Abby and Marie put together this sad music video last February but they just added it to You Tube. These 3 have been creating performances together for many years - starting with Odyssey of the Mind in 2nd grade!

That's Just the Way We Roll

Maria and her friends Abby and Marie made this hilarious music video for all you Jonas Brothers fans out there! It's very cute. Really. Watch it, ok?

The Day When I Didn't Shower or Brush My Teeth or Wash My Hair

Lake Michigan, Sunday Morning


John walking throught the forest

Saturday, we went on a short camping trip with friends from church and experienced being one with nature for awhile. It was beautiful. I didn't even mind the pit pots this time. Under clear blue skies, we enjoyed music, nature, fellowship - all the good things. John and I even woke up early Sunday morning and saw a bald eagle. As my friend Gracie would say, it was fantastic. Around the campfire, we prayed for Cathy whose back problems were becoming almost unbearable. A recent MRI had revealed a bulging disc.

On the way home Sunday morning, things started to get interesting. Some of us had decided to stop for brunch at the Steak and Egger because the name of it cracked us up. Cathy told us she couldn't drive anymore because her legs were not responding appropriately. I took over her van, and with doctors instructions, drove her straight to the ER in GR which was about 2 hours away. To make a long story short, she was quickly brought in to surgery where they performed a laminectomy. Afterwards, the surgeon told me that he was able to remove what was definitely causing her problems and felt they had done it just in time. Thankfully, now she is on the road to recovery. I saw her up in her room after surgery and we still kept talking about how we were going to wake up from a dream at any minute with the sound of rain on our tents. But today, I can see how God answered that campfire prayer for real.

Masterpieces of Nature

Maria & Friends, photo by Trudy

The Very Awesome Chili Cook-off

Yesterday, we had a modified version of a church potluck in the form of a chili cook-off. I was very excited to have a good reason to make my all-American chili with a half a bottle of Merlot. Bridget & I had our friends Cathy and Emily over the day before for a pre-chili cook-off.

Cathy cut up her peppers and onions to such perfection and we stood back to admire the beauty!



When we were done making our chili, we let our daughters make their own by combining whatever they wanted and using leftovers and things they could find in the kitchen. They added 1/2 lb. of ground beef, green and yellow peppers, onions, beef broth, cayenne pepper sauce, almond-chocolate candy kisses, diced tomatoes and white cannelini beans. When it needed more liquid, they decided to add the Dr. Pepper I was drinking. When it came time to name the chili, instead of the obvious 4 pepper chili, they chose to name it "Wouldn't You Like to be a Pepper Too?"



Morning came and the next day. After our morning worship, the excitement continued as the crock pots brimming with chili were brought out to the table.



The judges were given samples of each chili and very seriously gathered with milk around candlelight.



The winner of the Family Friendly category of chili?


Emily & Bridget's "Wouldn't You Like to Be a Pepper Too?" Chili!

It was all gone!!!

This Good Day

So the day finally arrived yesterday when I needed to wear the dress I affectionately referred to as a "hot babe dress." John & I were invited by our amazing friend Cathy to a benefit down at the Amway Grand Plaza featuring my all-time favorite singer, Fernando Ortega. During the day yesterday, I remember exclaiming to my girls between the orthodontist appointments and the haircut appointments, "This day is going so good." This Fernando song was the soundtrack to my day:

If the rain clouds come
Or the cold winds blow,
You're the one who goes before me
And in my heart I know
This good day
It is a gift from You.
The world is turning in its place
because You made it to.
I lift my voice
To sing a song of praise
On this good day.

We met our friends in the Ambassador Ballroom with great anticipation at 7pm. After supper, he sang his music while playing on a grand piano. If you have ever heard him, you know what a humble artist he is. He told us these really sweet and funny stories between songs that make you appreciate how he sees the world. He sang many of my favorite songs - I think I have 11 cd's of his music.

When it was over, Pastor Henry, who was at our table, went up to him and got his autograph for me. You can't miss Henry - he's 6'8". It said - exact words - "Julia, Grace and Peace to you, Fernando Ortega" I was so touched! Henry urged me to go up there, so John & I did and talked to Fernando for about 5 minutes. John took our picture together:



So what do you talk about when you meet your favorite singer? Leave it to me - I'll come up with something! I remember at one point telling him about how John is the Chevy Chase of vacation dads and we went to the Four Corners National monument once...

He closed the night with a favorite:

Senior Pix

This past weekend, I took some pictures for the son of a friend of a friend at their home. Joe is a really nice kid who is going to U of M this fall to study medicine and I felt it was an honor to photograph him. We had fun as he changed clothes/sweaters/ties about 10 times - all his grandfather's old clothes! I also took pictures of the rest of the family and friends - we soon had a roomful of 10 people. His older brother was leaving for the Peace Corp so we did some fun group shots.

Speaking of Seniors, we just ordered Edward's cap & gown - yikes!

Homecoming

Marie, Abby, Maria, February 2008

This past weekend I was honored to be asked by Maria to take pictures of her with her friends getting ready for the Homecoming dance. It was a good time.

So I Got My Hair Cut Yesterday

Oh, it's not as startling as the headline sounds. Just my usual bi-monthly inch. Every 8 weeks, it's inevitable, my hair grows out and I need to get it cut. Thankfully, I have a great stylist, Shari, who will cut it when she's almost 9 months pregnant and then again, 8 weeks later when she has a 7 week old baby so I keep on schedule. She's cut it for probably 10 years and I love that I don't even have to tell her what to do. If I ever even hint that I ought to try something else for a change, she says, no, your hair is best this way. And I know it's true. I always have a very fun, relaxing time at these haircuts - probably because Shari has created such a fun, relaxing environment in her basement as you can see.


Now she's doing it even when she gets a haircut...

Happy 2008!

Last night went out with a bang. The snow finally was useful for something like cleaning out your pores.



John & Bridget & I went over to some friends' house at 8pm to watch the ball drop. We had a little time to kill...the kids went in the hot tub first.


It was a perfect night for doing this:


The moms had a turn, and then the dads did.


Good thing Bridget got a new camera.

Happy New Year! I hope all your challenges and adventures feel as exhilarating as plopping in a pile of snow!

The Sands of Time

A friend of mine took a trip to Israel & Jordan in October for 2 weeks. She asked me to pray for her before she left - 2 weeks is a long time to be so far away from your family - so I did. I was thinking later that I should have asked her to bring me back some dirt or something because that would have been cool to have some actual dirt that might have been around in Bible times, but I didn't think of it at the time. She brought me back something even better - colored sand in a bottle - I don't know how they got it in there like that - from the archaeological site of Petra in Jordan. I put it next to Oma's Bijbel.

Yesterday's Phenomenon

We had over a foot of snow on the ground and it hit almost 70 degrees F! It was also my friend and adopted sister Lori's 40th birthday. We celebrated by going out for lunch and then going hot tubbing. Although it was so warm out and we grew warmer in the 105 degree water, we could seek relief by sitting in the snow. On my afternoon walk, the melted snow was rushing down the street like a cold mountain stream and I felt like I was in a different country. Yes, the changing seasons are a miracle.

After supper, I went to a surprise party for Lori, so I basically partied all day because my friend finally reached 40. At this party, she played us a phone message of her 70-something year-old parents on the phone discussing whether or not she is indeed 40 this year or still 39. Fun times.

Great Expectation

John, I mean Clark Griswald, is on his way to Washington DC this afternoon for a conference, so we are on our own for a few days. The girls and I headed down to our church for an afternoon baby shower. This dear girl, Katya, was so excited when she told us she was about 1 week pregnant, so this baby seems like a long time coming. She is from Bolivia originally, and so she doesn't have her family around. She does have her husband's family though and duh, her church family.


She knows it's a girl.


Maria & Bridget enjoyed the games at the first baby shower they had ever been to.... We felt 20 brown paper bags of baby stuff and had to guess what was in them. After awhile, everything felt either like a rubber bouncy thing or a baby washcloth. None of them turned out to be either of these.

Thoughtfulness

At work the other day, Sharon brought me these flowers and now I have another living thing in the house to take pictures of!! There had been an episode in our driveway involving a cable guy and a fender and a teenage driver and a whole tumbling sequence of events, and how I wished I could take just that one second back as in any accident, and I was at work preoccupied in thinking about the meaning of the universe-type questions, why does bad stuff happen, etc. These flowers took my mind off of the sometimes random chaos of life and back to the God who is in control.

In the meantime, John seems to have fixed things so they are not SO SO bad. Husbands and friends are the greatest!

Top 12 Reasons Why I Needed to Do This

Where I actually post a picture of myself in a bathing suit (?)

12. It is 15 degrees F outside today.
11. I clean up little muddy puddles of melted ice every day this time of year.
10. I had just walked 2 miles in 15 degrees F.
9. All the broken bones I've had get achy in the cold. Come to think of it, even the bones I didn't break get achy.
8. I worked so hard this week that I had Friday off.
7. I had to catch up with my friend and adopted sister Lori.
6. If you lay in the snow and then jump in the hot water, Lori says it cleans your pores. (We really did this).
5. I dropped off 6 big heavy bags of old newspaper in the Paper Gator recycling thingy and as long as I was out and about...
4. The kids were in school.
3. After I snowblowed the driveway today, my fingers were so cold that ice cubes felt warm. That was weird.


2. The snow coming down as we sat in the hot tub was beautiful. Soon, we had an inch on our heads. I actually put the camera on the tripod and ran barefoot in the snow for these shots because it sounded like a fun thing to do and it was fun.

And reason #1. I was preparing for this on Saturday:


Saturday at noon: we are in the midst of a blizzard. This shot taken out our back window does not capture the intensity, so later I may venture out in my boots to capture some. When the blizzard unexpectedly hit, I was in Panerra Bread with my friend Annette. We looked out the window and it was completely white. I suppose it wasn't totally unexpected - I just didn't believe it would really come! And now already, everything for tonight is cancelled.

Another Blogger is Born!

Head and Heart is the name of the blog started by Annette Selden who is an editor for DHP. I used to work with her at the bookstore where we would get in trouble for having too much fun. If anyone my age should be blogging, it is Annette - she will surely have some interesting things to say. So welcome to Annette from the 60 million bloggers in the world. Relax, we're only 1% of the population!