Daddy: "I think we'll cut this tree down over here." Sophie: "Fine, Daddy, whatever you decide. I'm your little helper, you know."

"I'm a hard-workin' girl, but I clean up pretty well when I go to the mall with my mom and our friends."

Here's a picture from earlier this summer when Jeremy babysat Sophie. Lisa said that she and George were "chopped liver" as soon as Uncle Jeremy arrived. In fact, when they returned and it was her bedtime, she didn't want mommy or daddy to do the bedtime routine, it had to be Uncle Jeremy. Is he lucky or what??

Thank you, Lord, for the rain!

All week long we have been teased by the possibility of rain, but here in our corner of Lancaster County there were a few sprinkles at best. Until late this afternoon. I had already picked Destiny up and we were here at home. I heard thunder and looked outside at an ominous sky. I needed a few things at the nearby grocery store so we hurried out to the car, got our few things at the store, hurried home, and just as we were getting out of the car the rain started. It really, really rained! Now it smells so fresh and wonderful outside. Unfortunately it knocked a lot of blossoms off my geraniums and made my petunias hang their weary heads, but they'll recover. I think we're to get more thunder showers tomorrow and then a chance of a good, steady rain on Sunday. So I think next week I'll be out there pulling weeds.

Tomorrow we'll be going to Hershey Park for the day. Dick's place of employment gave us the tickets, then they'll provide a meal for all of us in one of the pavilions at the park. A ticket to Hershey Park can also be used the prior evening, so Dick used our three tickets this evening, took two teenage boys from church who live without their dad, and went to the park to ride all the roller coasters. That way it will be out of his system tomorrow when he has to be a good grandpa and ride the tamer things with Destiny and me!!

We got RAIN!!

A cute little message and a cute little boy

I left home early to go to my weekly prayer meeting at my pastor's wife's house (actually, it's his house too, ha, ha!!) . Again, what a precious time, even though this time it was just Cindy and me. She is such a prayer warrior for me, and I just love and appreciate her so very much.

From there I went to school to do some work in the costume room, then to my hair appointment, then to the gym. When I got home there was the sweetest message on my answering machine. It was Destiny telling me that she and her siblings had found a tiny, baby bird, and she was wondering if I could bring some little, tiny clothes to put on it and a little, tiny blanket to cover it with because it was shivering! If things go as planned I'll be picking her up tomorrow afternoon. I can hardly wait. I miss her so very much.

Today is the 3rd birthday of J'von, Frank's son. We don't get to see him very often anymore because he and his mother now live in York, PA, but he was here at Easter. He is about the cutest little boy I've ever seen, and he has a really sweet disposition.

Happy 3rd birthday, J'von. You are just as cute as a button (no, much cuter than a button, actually!)

Happy Anniversary, George and Lisa!

Sorry, I discovered I never did take a picture of just George and Lisa when they were here a few weeks ago! If I had photo shop, I'd cut Anthony and Lori out of this picture just for today, but oh well, they're pretty good-looking too, right? So I guess I'll let them there, lurking in the background of Lisa and George's anniversary picture. Ha, ha!

A special day in Tampa

Today Lisa and George are celebrating their 9th wedding anniversary. As I said last year, I miss the times when it seemed so much easier to have all our children together. I think I have much fonder memories of that day than Lisa does! You know how it is - the bride is worried about pleasing such a vast diversity of people. That's an impossibility, but we still try! Look at the picture below. Were Katrina and Bjorn adorable, or what?? You should have seen them walk down the aisle, hand in hand. They just stole the show! We weren't sure until that very minute if Bjorn would actually cooperate or not. Sometime throughout the ceremony he decided to do somersaults, so Kris (his daddy) decided to save the moment and remove him. Bjorn wailed loudly all the way from the front to the back of the sanctuary! Oh well, what can you expect from a two-year-old, anyway?!!

Once again, to read more about their wedding, especially the musical variety, check out the Lisa label on my sidebar.

Happy Anniversary, Lisa and George!

Our family on July 25, 1998. (Back row) Ray, Sam, Dick, Lisa, George, Jeremy, Kris, Frank, Anthony. (Front row) Katrina, Jean, Bjorn, Miki. (Remember, this picture is clickable - you just gotta see those adorable little faces.)

Come on over!

This seemed like a long day. I hate to think that I'm a person who needs people in order to be happy, but the truth is, I get very bored with myself. This is Dick's evening to work at Advance Auto Parts, so I'm still in this quiet house. During the crazy busy spring I had at school, I would have been so delighted with a day like this, but not today. I did go to the gym and ran some errands. I also made a big pot of spaghetti sauce and arranged the music for a song that Jeremy wrote back in 2000 so I can use it with our worship team at church. It's an awesome song. If you all want to come on over I'll play it on the piano and sing it for you. (Do I sound desperate, or what??) Oh well, I'll just post the lyrics for you.

You Are Lord of All

Chorus
You are Lord of all, You are Lord of all,
You are Lord of all.
You are Lord of all, You are Lord of all,
You are Lord of all.

I will rise from these depths again,
I will learn to walk with You.
You will take me where I have never been before,
A place where eagles soar.

I have been through the fire and the flame,
I have walked through many storms,
And all have led me to this simple prayer,
That I would see my Lord.

Dick especially loves this song because before Jeremy moved to Florida in the summer of 2004, he and Dick spent Father's Day together with Anthony. That morning at Anthony's church the three of them did two songs together - Jeremy sang and played the piano, Anthony the guitar, and Dick the bass guitar. This was one of the songs they did. When they were finished, one of the "sisters" decided it wasn't time to be finished, and she got up and started the chorus again. Apparently it went on and on. Jeremy would sing a verse, then everyone would join in on the chorus, over and over again the way African Americans do it best! Dick was tremendously moved and blessed that morning.

Below I posted two pictures from yesterday. When I was taking Destiny to Lancaster the traffic suddenly stopped - all four lanes. When I saw the reason why, I whipped my phone out and managed to get these pictures! Destiny was so excited as we watched them join their family on the other side!

Here they come!

There they go! There was a huge flock of them in the field on the other side of the highway.

Special days in Sweden

Today it occurred to me that last Friday was July 20th, and it completely passed me by without a thought of it being Dick's dad's 82nd birthday or our daughter Miki and her husband Kris's 16th wedding anniversary. I guess I never looked at the calendar where those things are marked.

So anyway, Miki and Kris, I hope your anniversary was a good one. For my readers who are interested, the story of how Miki became our daughter, how she met her Swedish husband, and their lovely wedding picture can be found under the Miki label on my sidebar.

There is another important event in their household tomorrow. Their daughter Katrina will be celebrating her 14th birthday. How I would love to be able to spend the day with her! She is beautiful inside and out. You can read more about her, as well as the song I wrote for her when she was a baby, on my Katrina label.

Happy Birthday, Katrina. I hope your day is as special as you are.

This evening I took Destiny back to her mommy's. I will have to keep busy this week so I don't miss her so badly. On Saturday she'll go to Hershey Park (an amusement park) with us. Dick's company is taking the employees and families.

Katrina, Miki, and Kris. This picture was taken by Anthony when he and Lori were in Sweden recently.

I don't feel so bad

I decided that this week I will "clean up" my computer - delete old emails, pictures that aren't all that great, etc. Just a while ago I was about to start on the old emails when I came across this story about "senior moments" sent to me from my sister Mary Ellen. Now I don't feel so badly at all about my senior moment last evening!

A woman I know who is a real estate agent was multitasking while she was driving. She was talking to her husband on the phone and she said, ‘I can’t find my cell phone. Let me hang up and you call me back so I can find it.’”

A lovely evening

This evening my sister Mary Ellen and I spent a most unusual evening together. We went to the Mount Gretna Tabernacle to hear a Celtic concert by The Brandywine Harp Orchestra.

First of all, WHAT A PLACE!! The tabernacle was part of a Methodist camp meeting from the late 1800's. Surrounding it were camp sites on which eventually cottages were built. It is now an incredibly beautiful little community of quaint houses and huge trees and beautiful flowers. In other sections of the town are the Mount Gretna Playhouse, a lake, an old fashioned roller skating rink, a famous eating place called The Jigger Shop, and - tourists!! I forgot my camera, but took a few shots with my camera phone.

Secondly, WHAT WEATHER we had - again! Mary Ellen and I got there early enough to stroll about the community. The warm, non-humid air made our walk even more enjoyable.

Thirdly, WHAT A CONCERT! All the girls and ladies in this harp orchestra were exceptionally talented, not only on the harp, but vocally as well. They added humor also and a wonderful variety of songs - from old traditional Irish folk songs to Irish dance songs to classical to Christmas to Irish hymns tunes to American patriotic songs. Every minute of the concert was absolutely delightful.

We got a good laugh before it started. When Mary Ellen and I got back to the tabernacle from our stroll and sat down, there were many people already seated. We had saved ourselves seats with our water bottles. I picked up my cell phone to silence it. I said to Mary Ellen, "Boy, it's a good thing my phone didn't ring while we were gone." Mary Ellen gave me a blank look. Then I remembered that I had carried my phone with me - in fact, I had taken pictures with it. My senior moment just struck our funny bones and we had to try hard to behave. Besides, there were so many old people there that we felt quite young. We didn't want them to think we were young AND silly. Ha, ha!

One of the many beautiful views as we walked through this quaint, little community.

The Brandywine Harp Orchestra. (I took this from my seat with my phone camera, so it doesn't do justice to the size of the group or the beauty of the setting.)

Such a gorgeous day

What an absolutely GORGEOUS day we had here in our area today. I think we've had more than usual of these low-humidity days this summer and I just love it. (But I still want to move to Florida some day so I can have these lovely days in the winter. Ha, ha!)

This evening I was called back into Destiny duty until Monday, due to Enid's work schedule and her mother's church activities tomorrow (Enid's dad is a pastor.) After I picked her up we stopped at the local park for a while. It was just breath-takingly beautiful there this evening. Plus I had the pleasure of meeting a fellow blogger for the first time, Mama Roar. What fun! I recognized her children from pictures on her blog!!