A First Visit with New Granddaughter, Esme!

Isn't she a sweetie? I just got back from my five days in North Carolina. Terry and I drove down and Terry stayed for a day and a half and drove back and I stayed for a couple more days. Esme is just so precious! She is still under six pounds and just perfect! Her little hands and feet are so cute and soft. She has very dark brown hair, but light eye lashes and eyebrows, so she may end up with lighter hair. She looks very much like Shari looked as a baby. Shari says she thinks Esme has Mark's mouth, and she may. She has a very expressive mouth - very nicely shaped and cute. She still sleeps much of the time - except at night!

I LOVE this picture! It shows just how little she is and how expressive! Mark and Shari are so proud of her. 

Here is Esme with her proud grandma.

What a little angel!! So innocent and sweet.

Mark is very good with Esme and likes to cuddle with her - she likes it too, and falls right to sleep! Mark actually gave her a sponge bath one day while I was there because Esme had messed herself up and needed a bath. She was so funny! She LOVED it! She never made a peep, but was awake the whole time and really loving all the attention. She got her hair washed and fluffed and baby lotion and baby oil rubbed into her hands and feet - a real spa treatment! She knew she was in the right home!

Here is Terry holding Esme. Notice the ice cream cone on the T-Shirt? This is a shirt that Mark found for Terry to wear in place of his own. Terry picked up Esme for the first time and sat down on their couch - Esme immediately pooped and it went through everything she had on and all over Terry's shirt! It was so funny! But he just took her back as soon as they were both cleaned up. Grandpa's are like that.

Shari looks great here! She is actually very tired. Small babies like to nurse a lot all day and all night and it does take its toll on a new mom, but she is so happy! Esme actually had her eyes open here and looks all content. I hated to leave - I love her already and will miss holding her and feeling how soft and warm she is! Granddaughters are just wonderful!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CAROL!

A TRIBUTE  TO A LOVING SISTER

My sister is a wonderful person! She is godly,

 loving, caring, and sweet! 

She loves her family and lets them know it

 in so many creative ways.

Her grandchildren mean the world to her!

She is a talented photographer and makes beautiful,

 meaningful cards with her pictures.

She wants to serve the Lord with all her heart.

Anyone would be fortunate to have her for a friend

 (and she has many!)

She is a precious sister and friend to me,

and I love her dearly!

5TH ANNUAL SISTER GET-AWAY!

Carol and Ruthanne

OLD MISSION POINT LIGHTHOUSE

August 2008

I am very late in posting about this trip with my sister. My daughter Shari had our first granddaughter as soon as I returned and I have been in a fog of excitement and anxiousness. (Wanting to be there and waiting to go) 

For the last five years my sister and I have taken a trip together to reconnect with each other and relax and enjoy the state of Michigan. We have stayed in Frankfort, Charlevoix (twice), Manistee, and this year in the Traverse City area. I say area because we actually went to Mission Point, drove around and shopped the whole Leelanau Peninsula, shopped in Traverse and went to the sand dunes this trip. It was so beautiful and we had a great time! 

The weather was absolutely beautiful and the scenery was breathtaking. We shopped, took pictures of lighthouses and the lakes and beaches and the sand dunes. Carol had never been to the sand dunes before. We took the scenic trip by car and stopped whenever we wanted to spend some time at a certain place.

I have always loved being by the water - it isn't a vacation otherwise! Isn't Lake Michigan so beautiful? It is calming and peaceful to me to watch the water!

We stayed in Traverse City which was central to the spots we wanted to visit. I could actually live in the Leelanau Peninsula - no problem! At night we walked along the marina in Traverse. I love to see the beautiful sailboats. There were a lot of them to see this trip.

We actually had time to spend on the beach this trip! It was relaxing to sit and talk and just hear the sound of the water and the birds and be with each other.

We went to see three lighthouses. (Carol's passion) We have actually thought of being lighthouse keepers for a weekend or a week. We met four ladies who were doing just that at the Traverse City lighthouse in this picture. That would be a great experience! Anyone interested?

We had a little trouble finding the lighthouse at Mission Point because we used a Mapquest map that showed it to be on the west side of the island right in the middle! Well it wasn't! That island had a lot more roads than the map showed also! Don't trust those maps. We finally found the lighthouse up at the very top of the island. It was a bit overgrown and it was not a currently working lighthouse, but it was a beautiful area!

Doesn't this look peaceful and happy? I love this picture. The water was so clear and the day was just beautiful! It was great to be with Carol and I will always remember this time away as a wonderful, happy time. We had good fellowship and friendship. Who could ask for more? We are blessed by our heavenly Father with each other and a beautiful state to explore and enjoy!

Esme Arabella Fields

Welcome to our new granddaughter! We can't wait to actually see you and hold you! You look like a sweetie!

This picture was taken shortly after her birth and sent to us email by Mark. Thank you, Mark! It felt surreal knowing that we had a new granddaughter, but not knowing what she looks like. Can't wait to know her - we already love her! I decided to choose a verse for her:

I Timothy 4:12

"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity."

She is a little young to live out that verse yet, but I will pray that verse for her that her life will be an example of this verse as she grows up.

I am going to NC this weekend. I will take lots of pictures to post! 

A GRANDDAUGHTER!

Today is special because it is the day our new granddaughter is born! We haven't seen her yet, but have heard all about her. Her name is Esme (with an accent over the e) Arabella. She was born in North Carolina at 11:45 a.m. on this beautiful Sunday morning, August 17, 2008. She is tiny - only 5 lbs. 11 oz. and 18" long. Shari says that she has about 1/4 to 1/2" of hair on her head and Mark says that she looks like Shari. 

I won't see her until this coming Saturday night when Terry and I are driving to North Carolina, and then I will be staying there for a few days to get to know her and help Shari and then flying back on Wednesday. Her birth seems surreal because we can't see her yet. Hopefully Mark will send some pictures by email this afternoon. What a happy day!

A Glorious Day!

Today was just a gorgious day - sunny skies, low humidity, beautiful clouds, a nice breeze, and I

had Matthew today! :)

We had the whole day to play and we started out using play dough for over an hour! We made this little train and Matthew was in charge of making all of the wheels. He did a great job! Trains are his favorite thing, so that is what he asked for us to make. The picture below shows his thoughtful determination in stamping the holes in the wheels.

Then we decided to make his new baby (coming in December) drinking a bottle. He thought the blanket was pretty funny, but was excited to put it on the baby. He told Shelley that the baby will probably just mess up his trains!

After we cleaned up the pay dough we worked on giving Mr. Potato Head some funny faces. These were empty pictures of Mr. Potato Head's face that we put stickers on - like eyes, nose, ears, mouth. It was fun.

One of the most fun things we did today was play with my beanie babies. I have a huge bag of them and Matthew knows all of their names. (I always have to look at the tags) So we used the table leaf that we had been using for play dough and put the beanie babies around it for a party.

We decided to use the blocks for their food and drinks. We spent well over an hour feeding them, talking to them and having a great party. Several of them had a birthday and we sang to them and had special cake. We had a great time doing this - Matthew loves to pretend and use other voices making the animals talk.

We also spent a lot of time outside today. We gathered up peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, some chocolate milk and water, some apple slices, and some cookies, a ball and bat, a playground ball and Matthew's hat and headed for the school playground down the street. The playground equipment is  a little old for him yet, but we used some of it and then played ball. Matthew doesn't like swings for some reason (My favorite thing!) so we didn't use them at all.

But we sat under a shady tree like last time and had a nice time eating lunch and then we played for a long time. I think Matthew's favorite part was kicking the playground ball around the parking lot and on the grass. Grandma was very tired after all that running and kicking! That is when I really feel that I am getting older - don't have the stamina as much anymore. I was tired!!

When we got home we got out the bubbles and blew some big ones in the backyard. Then Matthew asked to use the hose (he thinks this is great fun!) and squirted the bubbles as I blew them. He had so much fun using the hose that we ended up playing with that a long time.

Back in the house to get Matthew in some dry clothes and rest a while, we watched a program about some sextuplets for a while and America's Funniest Home Videos. He fell asleep on the floor one time while coloring and watching TV. It was so cute - his hand started slowing down and he was lying on his side and his eyes kept closing. But he forced himself to sit up and got a second wind.
We ended up the day by drawing and coloring with markers which Matthew LOVES to do!

He would sit there an hour and just use all different colors. He makes a great picture of fire works! I was impressed! Then when Mommy came, we went to meet Grandpa and Great Grandpa at the Beach Grill on Jefferson for dinner. That was our day - I loved it!

Mommy's Working

Shelley needed some time to get some of her drawings done yesterday uninterrupted. Not that she minds the interruptions by Matthew; she can just get more done in a shorter amount of time when she has some alone time. She is working on deadlines for two books that she is illustrating. So Grandma got to spend some time with Matthew! We had fun - but I was exhausted!

I decided that I wouldn't even bother him with pictures yesterday, so I went about the day and tried not to even think, "Wow! I wish I had a picture to remember this by!" It worked most of the day, but when he was running through the sprinkler with pure joy, I couldn't help myself and he was so busy running and laughing that he didn't really care that I was taking pictures.

We started the day by coloring in a big coloring book of Thomas the Tank Engine pictures. Then we used an assortment of markers to do some drawing. Matthew loves anything having to do with art, so we had fun drawing many things. He watches very carefully when we draw things and tries to copy them. By then it was time for lunch, so he climbed up in a chair and watched while I made us some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, bagged some grapes and cheese cubes, and got some napkins and something for us to drink. Then we packed it all up in bags and took off with the stroller to the school playground down the street. We laid out a tablecloth on the ground under a nice, shady tree and ate our lunch. It was a hot day so the shade tree was nice, and we had a nice time talking and eating. We cleaned that up and then played on the swings, slide, and threw a ball around for awhile. We were going to run around the bases on the ball field, but there were several gigantic hornets flying around home plate, and if you know me - I hate hornets and won't go near them! So we scratched that idea!

When we got back to the house, we went into the backyard and blew some little bubbles and some big bubbles for about an hour. Then I asked if he wanted to run through the sprinkler and he was enthusiastic about that, so we got everything ready and he did that for about 45 minutes just running and giggling the whole time. When he got done and we had dried him off and changed clothes, Grandpa stopped by for a few minutes to see some new golf clubs that he had purchased on ebay. They had come with the mail earlier. So Matthew watched Grandpa hit some balls into the pool and thought that was very fun. But Grandpa had to go back to work, so we built with blocks and made up stories while building things to go along with them. Then we played with play dough on a big table leaf on the family room floor. We used little plastic knives, forks, a huge wooden meat pounder, toothpicks, etc. to make all kinds of things. When we tired of that we decided to use watercolors at the family room table. We had just gotten started when Shelley walked in. She stayed for a while so Matthew could paint and then they went home! See why I am tired? But it was a very rewarding time spent with a grandson that I love very much! I love days like this! 

What could be better than spending my day with such a sweet, innocent little boy who loves doing so many things? I offered him some watermelon yesterday because I was going to have some and he said, "No thank you, Grandma." I wanted him to try it, but what could I say to that sweet answer? Kids are fun.

All Church Picnic/Community Fair/VBS Closing

Sunday afternoon was our annual All Church Picnic on our church grounds. This year it was decided that it would be a picnic combined with our VBS closing. All the kids from Bible School along with their families were invited. Then the community around the church was invited along with the Mayor, Fire Department, Police Department, etc. and then the armed services representatives in the area were invited. We rented a covered platform for music also. It turned out to be a HUGE undertaking that turned out very well!

Instead of everyone bringing dishes to pass and having a sit-down meal, we sold tickets for hot dogs, chips, drinks, watermelon, and cookies. There were tents and tables in different areas for eating and talking. VBS ran a very well done game fair for the kids and their families that went over big. The kids got tokens in VBS for doing various things and could use them to play the games. Visitors from the community and elsewhere could also get tokens. Here is a face painter that was hired for the day.

Shelley and Bob came and brought Matthew. He was very happy with all of those people around! He loves to be around people. (I think he comes by THAT honestly!!) The weather was just beautiful and, we had a great time.

Matthew got to get up on this WHITE fire truck. What ever happened to the red ones? Matthew likes the red ones better also. I actually had a better picture of him sitting on the step there with a fire hat on, but I couldn't get it to load!

We had a great turn out of people from church, VBS parents, and people from the community.

I saw lots of people whom I didn't know. Hopefully, some of them will come to church to check it out! We actually had over 150 visitors who were not from our church at VBS this year.

Here is Matthew trying out the fishing game. I think this was his favorite. He had to pick up magnets on the bottom of the pool with a fishing pole that also had a magnet. If the magnet you picked up had a certain color, you could pick a treat. There were also goldfish swimming in the pool! He loved it!  :)

Matthew is following in the family tradition of bowling here. He is being told what to do and is listening intently. He actually has bowled before and talks about it sometimes. He really liked doing it. One time we were in a restaurant with Shelley, Bob and Matthew. Matthew was in a very congenial mood and turned around in our booth to talk to an older boy in the next booth. He said, "Hi! I'm Matthew. Did you ever go bowling? The ball knocks down the pins..etc." That was one of the first times I remember him just starting up a conversation with a complete stranger!

When we went to Florida in June we went miniature golfing and took Matthew. This was the second year that we took him. He had a ball and also went golfing again with his parents when he got home. I love the way he holds the club! :)

This is the entrance to the games. The kids got tokens called Sand Dollars all week in VBS. Our theme this year was Outrigger Island.

                                                     No, the pop wasn't Matthew's! 

This is Amy Jaquomotte and her little girl Avery with Shelley. They live only a couple of blocks from Shelley and Bob, and Shelley and Amy have been friends for a long time. Now Avery and Matthew are good friends and play together really well.  Amy and Dave go to Cornerstone.

We had snow cones, cotton candy, popcorn and lots of things to do. The National Guard brought this big blow up deal and someone else brought the climbing wall. There were lots of blow up jumping things, lots of old cars to look at, and even some parade horses that were beautiful!

Here are the hot dog cooks! Mike Herhuth, Joe Asaro, Jim Alvaro, Troy Grogan, and Joyce Griffin. They were having a great time and probably cooked about 2000 hot dogs.

There was a little train that was motorized for the little kids to get rides in. Matthew loves trains and automatically says "Too-toot!" when playing with trains or riding in one. (That's what he is saying in the picture.) It was a fun day - lots of work to put together and a lot of clean-up, but a very successful "picnic"!

A Visit with David and Carol

While we were in Orlando last week we got to have a visit with my brother David and my sister-in-law Carol. We hadn't seen them in a year and it was great to have this time with them. 

We started out by going out to eat. David and Carol picked us up at our hotel (in the pouring rain) and we went to eat at the Bahama Breeze on International Drive. It was a very nice restaurant with good food and we had a great time talking and getting caught up. Then we went back to the hotel and just sat and talked a while more. We got to hear about what their kids are up to, about their grandchildren (they just took two of their grandsons to Disney World) and about their jobs. It is a shame that we can't get together more often - it was fun!  Thanks, David and Carol for taking the time to drive an hour just to see us!

International Christian Retailer's Show 2008

Terry and I had the privilege of going to the Christian Retailer's Show in Orlando this past week. It was amazing! All day long there were Christian author's signing their books and giving them away! We met so many people and it was very fun! Here is Terry with Ben Stein who was there because of his movie Expelled. Terry stood in a long line to have this one taken!

                    The information desk at the show.

Here I am with Terri Blackstock. She writes Christian novels that are a mixture of mystery, romance and just good writing. I have read all of her books. She is just a beautiful person. She is much more beautiful in person - this picture doesn't do her justice!

The vendor floor was just huge! Every big and small Christian publisher and supplier was there.

All of their products were on display with special deals just for ordering at the show. I really learned a lot and found some new suppliers for the book store. There were many suppliers of gift items for stores also - some beautiful stuff. (to keep in mind for the future)

We were given so much that we had to ship it home! We bought boxes and kept coming back to fill them up to send home. We sent home four large boxes! Can't wait to get them!! It was a good four days - wish we could have stayed longer. The last day all of the vendors give away their products that are left over to avoid shipping them home. We had to leave Wednesday and missed that part! :(   I also attended some training classes for bookstore managers and an idea exchange luncheon. We won't talk about the plane trips - flying is not fun for me. When we returned to Detroit (on time, I might add) we were waiting for our luggage for about 30 minutes when they came over the loud speaker and said that they had lost our flight's luggage. They couldn't find it! They said that everyone had to go to the baggage claim office and give their address for the luggage to be delivered when it was found! What really happened was that the shift of workers who unload the baggage walked off the job at end of shift and just didn't unload the plane. No one told the other shift and they didn't know that it hadn't been unloaded. When someone figured this out, we got our luggage! That was only an hour and a half after landing! What organization!