Reminders

I am still getting caught up from the holidays. It is a comfort to know that many of my fellow bloggers are behind in their blogging also.

I will post more in days to come of my lovely holidays with my family, but wanted to take this post to notice all the reminders I have in my house of dear family and friends. This picture is not in my house but my youngest son's. Over his bed headboard is the longhorns that my dad picked up for him while we were in San Antonio, TX few years back at my nephews wedding. In my house I have a "Don't mess with Texas" coffee mug, lazy susan on my table with Texas on it and other reminders of my dear sister and her family in Texas. I also have my depression glass and quilt that reminds me of my grandmother, a quilt that Dave's mother made us, my boathouse row and fancy lamp that my dear sister got us, plaques in my kitchen that were my mothers, my refrig magnets that remind me of my special trips, and of course at Christmas I have many reminders in homemade ornaments from my grandmother and my children while growing up. I won't take the time to list everything. However, I do love surrounding myself with reminders of those in my life (past and present) that have touched my life. Many of you know how much I enjoy my pictures on display. My great Aunt Pearl also loved her pictures to look at daily. I cherish these reminders for the memories they bring me.

Give Thanks, Live Thankful

As I reflect on the last few busy weeks getting ready for Thanksgiving and now getting ready for the next set of holidays, I am conflicted about truly giving thanks and then living like I am thankful. We live in a world where we are struggling to keep up with what others expect of us materially, financially, physically, mentally, etc. I am always comparing myself to others and find I come up short. I am truly thankful for my health, my home, my family with me over the holidays, my job, living in America, my husband, my God and church family, my freedom, my Bible, music, my daughter playing the piano, my husband and son playing the guitar, my granddaughters. But I need to do a better job in living like I am thankful and give of myself to others.

Now thank we all our God, With heart and hands and voices

Who wondrous things hath done, In whom his world rejoices

Who from our mothers' arms, Hath blessed us on our way

With countless gifts of love, And still is ours today

O may this bounteous God, Through all our life be near us

With ever joyful hearts, And blessed peace to cheer us

And keep us in his grace, And guide us when perplexed

And free us from all ills, In this world and the next

All praise and thanks to God, The Father now be given

The Son, and Him who reigns, With them in highest heaven

The One eternal God, Whom earth and heaven adore

For thus it was, is now, And shall be evermore.

November birthdays

Today is my niece, Christine's, 15th birthday. She is becoming a wonderful young lady. She is a good student at PW high school. We have lived away from most of my nieces and nephews, but Chris and her brother, Andrew, have always lived near us. I have enjoyed watching them grow and attending their school events. Chris was always my ice cream girl. When we would go to North Wildwood no matter what we were doing, we always had to get ice cream at 3:00! What was her favorite? Was it party cake ice cream? Have a great birthday, Chris!

Remainder of October birthdays

We had my son-in-law, Phil's, birthday on Oct. 22 but will celebrate by taking him to see a Flyers game on Saturday, Nov. 10 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. If you know Phil, you know he LOVES hockey!

Naomi, our first granddaughter, turned 5 on Oct. 26. We are having a family gathering at Brian and Sarah's on Nov. 3, but I took her with me to my dad's in Williamsport last weekend. The weather could not have been more perfect for a corn maze, hayride, and roasting marshmellows over a campfire. We even shopped for a birthday present together!

Birthday, Birthday, Birthday!

This is a busy birthday time for our family.

First birthday is my sister Debbie's birthday on Sept. 30. We are 19 months apart. I wish I could help her celebrate her birthday but she lives in San Antonio, TX. We did get together this summer when they came to visit.

Next birthday is my dear hubby of 31 years. His birthday was on Oct. 2. We went to Shady Maples in Lancaster for his "free" birthday dinner. It was seafood night!

Then my daughter-in-law, Melody's, birthday was Oct. 4. We had cake and ice cream at our house to celebrate these birthday's and played games. It is always fun getting together. We still have two more October birthdays at the end of the month so stay tuned to see their pictures.

Happy Birthday to You!

Appointments, Appointments, Appointments

I had my physical last week at my doctor's office and now have a list of appointments to make like:

• Mammogram
• Dexascan
• Upper GI
• X-ray
• Orthopedic doctor for back
• Eye doctor
• Come back to have ears checked
• Hearing aid doctor
• Dermatologist
• Already been to the dentist -- yeah

When you get older, the list of doctor's gets longer! But for the most part all are routine, for which I am thankful. Since I have such good health insurance, I can't complain. I am also thankful to be back working out at our fitness center at work. I was not able to go until after I completed my 3 epidural injections into my back. Now I enjoy reading my book (Jane Austen currently) and listening to my MP3 player while on the treadmill. Taking it slow to start. I have a tendency to overdo. Don't want to have more appointments to make!

Dancing through Life

I went to see the musical, Wicked, for the second time this summer. I loved it so much I bought the CD of the music. There is one song that got me to thinking. It is called Dancing through Life. Some of the lyrics go like this,

"Dancing through life, Skimming the surface, gliding where turf is smooth, life's more painless, for the brainless, Why think too hard?, When it's so soothing, Dancing through life. . . . Dancing through life, Swaying and Sweeping, and always keeping cool, Life is fraughtless, when you're thoughtless, Those who don't try, never look foolish, Dancing through life, mindless and careless. . ."

Glinda (the good witch) and Elphaba (the wicked witch of the west) were friends and that theme is prominent in the musical which is full of contrasts like pretty and ugly, love and hate, pride and humility, etc. I noticed more things the second time I watched it.

I don't know about you, but just hearing those lyrics above makes me reflect on my priorities and actions -- what is important to me. What is a life worth living, what about death, how do you treat your friends and others. Do we judge what is only on the outside. Everyone in Oz longed for something: for a heart, for a brain, for courage, for pretty red shoes, for a way home. The two witches friendship was sorely tested and changed but in the end they sang, "Who can say that I've been changed for the better. Because I knew you, I have been changed for good."

It was a very thought provoking and yet enjoyable musical even though it is only through our triune God and the work of his only son, Jesus Christ, on the cross that we have real meaning to life.

Crawford County Fair

You can see my dad in the back with the green cap on which if your eyes are really good you can see it has a 4H clover on there. This stands for 4-H clubs. Each year my dad goes back to our hometown area to attend the Crawford County Fair and present the Ralph DeVillars award to the best 1st year girl and best 1st year boy in the 4-H clubs. They enter and show a cow into the fair but have to take care of that cow all year long. The girl and boy who won this year are in the front row. The others are also winners in dad's book. You see, he encourages previous winners to not give up being in the 4-H club so for those who continue each year he recognizes them also with a monetary award. This means a lot to my dad since he was in the 1st 4H club back 60 years ago to show a cow and there were only 3 boys back then. He informed my sisters and I that when he is gone, it is our job to continue this award and presentation. The fair was a highlight of our growing up on the farm each year. Ironically, none of us ever entered anything in the fair (cow, any animal, fruits, vegs, homemade clothes, quilts, etc.). My grandmother usually entered her garden produce, including flowers and won many a blue, red, or white ribbon.

My sister and I travelled back with dad this year (we don't always go, been 5 years since we had been there). We visited many relatives including an aunt who will be 99 this month. We always drive by the old farms (ours, grandparents, and great grandparents). We also visited with our youngest sister who lives in our old home town. She is the one in the light blue top.

It is fun to touch base with your roots, but I have definitely become a city girl (or rather suburbanite). My sister in the middle (who lives down here) and I were tip-toeing around the dairy barns at the fair, not only because it had rained and was muddy but for other reasons not so pleasant if you step in it and we had flip flops on! YIKES!!! We had a hard time with the smells also.

It was really fun though to spend this time with dad and see how much he enjoys it and what a huge impact he has on these young folks. He has been doing this for over 10 years and it seems everyone knows him. The parents expressed how much they are thankful for our dad and how he encourages and recognizes the kids. It made us proud!

Dear Diary,

So here we are at Daisy's Diary. How did I come up with the name, you ask. Being a country girl, daisy's were the flowers at my wedding along with ivy. Anyone who knows me, knows I love my ivy, you should see my kitchen. So can you guess my colors? Right, yellow and green. Then many years later, I was given the nickname Daisy by my boss and co-workers which was from a "daisy" sun-dress with little yellow jacket that I wore that day. Well, the nickname stuck and to this day, some of my co-workers still call me daisy including my current boss. I even get calls from those who no longer work with me and say, "Is this daisy?". It has come to be a term of endearment. I even have a daisy tatoo and a daisy license plate on the front of my car. As for diary, I kept a diary for many years as a child which turned into many journals from which I have derived many a story to pass onto my children and now my grandchildren. Computers have definitely made it easier to document my stories, memories, my thoughts and feelings. This should be fun!

Welcome to my blog!

Let me hear from you and I hope to be entertaining and informative.