Nancy Holte

A Girl and Her Dream

2012-01-24T11:22:00.004-06:00

Five years ago my husband, John, suggested that we go, with a group from our church, on a mission trip to Swaziland, Africa. I suggested he was crazy. All I could think of were bugs, snakes and heat. But, the Lord go a hold of my heart and sure enough, three months later my heart was wrecked with a love for the incredible people that we met. Since that time, our church has taken many more trips to Swaziland although we've not yet returned. We've been on other trips, including one to South Africa, but haven't been back to Swaziland. And yet, there is a part of me that will always have a heart for the Swazi people.

What I want to share today though, isn't about me, it's about a sweet little 9-year-old girl and HER dream to do something for the people in Swaziland. Sophia is the daughter of a friend of mine from church. She has never been to Swaziland but has heard about the Swazi kids and their need. I can assure you that Sophia's heart to help the hurting is either directly inherited, or learned, from her mom, Kirsten. What an amazing thing to pass on to your children.

Sophia didn't just talk about wanting to help the kids in Swaziland, she came up with a plan to sell hot cocoa to raise money. I could tell you the whole story but last Sunday it was aired on our local FOX news station and I think it's just best if you watch it yourself. I'm so proud of Sophia. She may be little but she has dared to dream big and because of that lives were changed. Incredible!

Lakeville Girl's Cocoa Stand Builds Home for African Family: MyFoxTWINCITIES.com

One Little Word - 2012

2012-01-11T16:57:00.015-06:00

In my last blog I told you that I had more to share about my New Year’s Day planning and dreaming session. It’s finally here – the next installment regarding my dreams and plans for 2012. Yesterday, after reading my New Year’s blog post, my friend asked me what I was doing, specifically, to put myself in the “ready position” for all that God has for me. (She has a knack for tough questions!) When I talked to her today I told her that besides being more intentional about spending time reading my Bible, I’m also trying to be ready to say “Yes” to the things God asks me to do instead of “Let me get back to You on that” which, if I’m honest here, is sometimes my response.

I started 2011 by choosing one little word instead of writing down a bunch of resolutions (or goals) that would most likely be forgotten by January 15. I liked the one little word idea and clearly it’s becoming quite the trend because I’ve read numerous blogs about it already this year. Here are links to a few that I enjoyed reading:

Usually, I’m the last person to the “trendy party” so the fact that I got on board before the ship sailed is pretty exciting to me.

You’ve probably already guessed that my word for 2012 is Trust. It’s funny . . . that isn’t what I was planning on it being. I was sure that my word was going to be Celebrate. Celebrating sounded like fun. But on January 1, as I was writing in my journal, I prayed that God would help me learn to trust Him more. I had been encouraging a friend (who may or may not have asked for my advice) to completely trust God with her life situation by saying “Who do you think is better at planning your life; you . . . or God?” (That may not sound all that much like encouragement but, believe me, that was my goal.) We all know that the correct answer to the question I posed is God but how does that play out in our everyday lives? It occurred to me, that I might lack a bit in giving God free rein in planning my life which, it seems, might possibly stem from my own lack of trust in His ability. And thus, my word for 2012 is Trust.

Pastor Lindsay Willis gave a sermon at our church on New Year’s Eve about choosing a Bible verse for 2012 – throwing it out like a fishing line – grabbing hold of it – pulling it taut – and not letting go! I like having a verse to go along with my one little word and believe me, there are a plethora of verses about trust in the Bible, but the one I chose for this year is from Psalm 143:8. "Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk for I give myself to you." It's been thrown out, grabbed hold of, pulled taut, and I'm not letting go!

Did you pick a word for 2012? I'd love to hear what it is.

A Fresh Start

2012-01-01T18:14:00.006-06:00

I can’t remember a time when I’ve been so excited to welcome a new year. I have spent much of today thinking, dreaming and planning for 2012. This is not typical for me. I’m more of a “let’s see what happens” kind of a girl. But, not this year. This year, I am placing myself in the ready position (as our pastor, Rob Ketterling, calls it) for all that God has for me.

The first thing I did this morning was pull out the new Bible I bought last summer. I know it seems odd to buy a new Bible when you already own a perfectly good one, but I had two reasons for doing so. First off, my current Bible has been written in for many, many years and while that is comforting to go to when I’m looking for something specific, it also allows me to get kind of lazy when I’m reading the Word. With a new Bible, I can see things with fresh eyes.

The second reason I wanted a new Bible is that I specifically wanted a Bible with pink on it. I know; crazy right? I mean, who chooses a Bible by its color? But, that’s what I wanted; either pink and brown, or pink and black. And, it had to be the New Living Testament because that is my favorite version. Someone once told me that if you find a version of the Bible that is easy for you to read, buy it. You’ll read it more often if you can understand it. Once I found the version I like, in the color I wanted, I bought it right away and tucked it away just for today.

I also pulled out a pink pen for underlining and writing in my Bible this year. (I love pink in case you can’t tell.) I use a different color ink to write in my Bible each year and note the year on the inside cover. It’s just one of my little quirks. As a side note, I use my Creative Memories fine-tip markers in my Bible. They don’t bleed through the pages and come in a plethora of colors.

The last thing I pulled out for my devotional time was a new book (to me at least) by Sarah Young. Last year I read her devotional book, Jesus Calling. Since I loved it so much, I bought her book, Jesus Lives, for this year.

There is so much more to tell you about today; my word (see last year's blog) and verse for the year, and goals set, but it will have to wait for another post. I know that my firm foundation is in the Lord. He has great things planned for me, and for you. I am ready! I am excited! Are you?

Ordering Well

2011-12-22T12:09:00.006-06:00

John and I go to the same person (Annette at the Family Salon) for our haircuts. Well, he get his haircut; I get haircuts, colors, pedicures and whatever else has to be done to keep me looking presentable. As I like to say, the maintenance just gets more and more expensive the older I get – kind of like a car.

Last night, John was in for a haircut and I was in this morning for “maintenance.” Annette told me that she asked John if I’d been busy baking in preparation for Christmas. I don’t bake. I used to, but when I discovered that most of the goodies I prepared went straight from the cooking rack into my mouth I decided that it was probably best I didn’t bake. I don’t mind eating other people’s goodies, mind you, and being as we have a fabulous bakery in town, I’m not afraid to call them either.

So, what did John say when asked if I’d been busy baking? He said, “No, Nancy’s more of a buyer than a baker.” Cracked me up! Though, as my friend Debbie says, “Knowing how to order well is important, too.”

36 Years of Communication

2011-12-13T13:13:00.006-06:00

Wow! Another blog lapse. It seems I’ve got a lot in my head but not enough time to write it all down. So, today’s blog will be short, and somewhat unimportant, but perhaps a fun little glance into the Holte household.

I had a friend who told me recently that he reads my blog posts, and likes them, but well, “they are kind of long.” So for Chris, this one's for you.

Today, after months and months of procrastination and lack of planning, our plumber is at the house installing a couple of new faucets. Our kitchen faucet broke, oh probably a year ago, and my family has been not so patiently waiting for me to get a new one. This is the new kitchen faucet. The birds seemed very excited about it.

As is often the case, when shopping for household items, you start to notice that some other areas in your house could use a little help, too. And so it was for me when, after looking at new kitchen faucets, I wandered over to the bathroom faucet area and got to thinking, “You know, our bathroom faucet is getting pretty gross. These aren’t terribly expensive. Why don’t I just get a new one for the bathroom while I’m at it.”

I’m sure I talked to John about it before I placed my final order for both faucets, but he seems to have forgotten that. Thus, we just had the following conversation:

John: “What’s Leroy (our plumber) doing in the bathroom?”

Me: “He’s replacing the faucet.”

John: “Oh, you should have talked to me first.” (Really, I’m sure I did.)

Me: “Why?” (Not asked in a “why would I do that” kind of way but more in a “why, did you have another plan?” kind of way.)

John: “Well, I was thinking that we should just do the whole thing over.”

Me: (somewhat amazed) “Really? The whole bathroom?”

John: “No, just the sink.”

Me: “Well, I was thinking we’d re-do the sink when we re-do the whole bathroom.”

John: “Oh, well, that’s not going to happen anytime soon.”

Me: “And that’s why I just got the faucet.”

And that’s how communication works (or doesn’t) after 36 years of marriage.

Jesus Calling

2011-11-03T21:20:00.003-05:00

I’ve been reading the devotional book Jesus Calling since the beginning of the year. It is truly the best devotional book I’ve ever read. It seems like every day the message has been written specifically for me. I jokingly tell people that I think the writer, Sarah Young, slips into my house at night, figures out what’s been going on in my life and then writes the devotion that I’ll read the next morning. I can say without a doubt that the Holy Spirit is using this devotional to change the way I do my life as a Christian.

In October the focus of the month has been living in the presence of Christ. In other words, instead of trying to do everything myself I should be calling on Him more often for strength, wisdom and peace. I woke up the other morning and realized that the previous day I’d spent much of my day frustrated and overwhelmed with way too much on my “to-do” list. I couldn’t remember calling on the Lord even one time during that previous day other than during my morning’s devotion. I felt like a failure at this whole “living in the presence of Christ” concept and confessed my sorrow and frustration to God.

I kid you not, when I opened my devotional that morning this was the first line I read: DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED by the difficulty of keeping your focus on Me. You see what I mean about the author sneaking into my house to write just the perfect thing for me to read the next day? It’s happened time and time again.

It’s easy for me to think that God is always just a tad bit disappointed in me and the way I live my life. I think the Enemy does his best to keep Christians discouraged so we feel unworthy to share the gospel. But, in truth I know that isn’t the case. One of the Bible verses for this day was Romans 8:33-34, “Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.”

God doesn’t want me (or you) living in discouragement and frustration. He wants us living in the freedom of Christ. That is where we find the victory. That is where we find the peace. That is where we find life itself.

Last Day in Switzerland

2011-10-13T12:29:00.001-05:00

My sincere apologies for the lag in my blog posts about our trip to Switzerland. A case of the shingles has slowed down my writing substantially but there was one very exciting thing that happened our last day in Switzerland that I want to share with you. There aren't, however, any pictures of the best part of the day so I'll share a few others with you that I took that day. Feel free to skip the pictures and move to the bottom of the post, if you'd rather.

Our plan for Tuesday evening was to go into the "Red Light District" of Switzerland (yes, they too have a "Red Light District") to minister to the prostitutes, most of whom have been brought into this position through human trafficking. In the morning we bought some small gifts to take to the girls and put them together in cute little bags in hopes of making them feel special.

At 2:00 we met up with Pastor Desmond, the pastor of the church we were working with, at the downtown Zurich train station. Maybe it's because I don't spend a lot of time at train stations that I was fascinated by all the activity. Busy place. Also, this is where the good pretzel stand was located so, of course, we had a pretzel snack to tide us over.

After leaving the train station we did a bit of shopping to stock up on chocolates or any other trinkets to bring home. After finishing up our shopping we went to the top floor of a store called Manor for a coffee break. (And yes, I do realize that it appears that all we did was eat on this trip but it didn't really feel that way at the time - though my scale might disagree.) One thing I noted about Manor is that they have the exact same logo as Herberger's has here in MN. Hmmm . . . makes one wonder. The following two pictures were taking from the little deck right outside the eating area. We were in full on tourist mode as we stood out there taking pictures. (As if my white tennis shoes and mega-camera hadn't already alerted the locals that we were tourists.)

One funny story is about the clock in the background of this next picture. You can see a closer up version in this blog post but as we were walking today I was told that this particular clock has the largest face in all of Europe. A couple hours later we were walking past it again and I heard a man tell his friend that this clock has the SECOND largest face in all of Europe. If Wikipedia is to be believed, it is in fact, the second largest clock face in Europe (by .3 meters) but the largest clock face on a CHURCH. So, now we know. Oh, and it's St. Peter Church in case you are curious.

Pastor Desmond knows the owner of the local watch shop and suggested since we had some time before beginning our ministry that we go there and visit the museum in the store's basement. Wow, fascinating clocks! This first one is just one that I found interesting. I can't really tell you much about it.

This huge clock has seven faces and dates back to the 14th century. I didn't catch what all of the seven faces do but besides the one that tells the time there is also one that shows the movement of five planets. Here's the incredible thing; ALL seven faces are powered by one big weight. Crazy huh?

The last clock here is one of four, I believe, that are still in existence. I believe one of the other ones belongs to the Queen of England. I wouldn't mind having it on my mantle.

After our tour in the clock/watch museum we were waiting outside and John decided to take a picture of the actual storefront. The man on the left coming out of the store is a security guard coming to tell John that he can't take pictures! (We'd been given permission to take photos downstairs.) Let's just say that this isn't the store you'd want to go to in Zurich for a cheap watch.

Around 7:00 we headed over to Starbucks to meet up with the women who would join us (actually lead us) into the red light district for our ministry time. To be clear, it was just the female members of our team who visited the girls. The men stayed at Starbucks (or outside of Starbucks actually because they closed at 8:00) to pray for us.

I have to admit I was a little apprehensive about going into the red light district. I had NO idea what to expect. Well, I had some idea, but to be honest, it was much less offensive than I was anticipating; at least from the street view. Our "guide" had a bit of a "route" that she usually takes. She said she rarely sees the same girls because they are moved to and from other countries every few months to comply with visa requirements. We spoke with a number of girls; some in windows waiting for their evening's work and others just sitting outside of bars. The amazing thing is that all of them were so grateful for the gifts we brought and welcomed the information we had to share with them about Christ. The one girl whose face still sticks in my mind was from Romania. She appeared to be no more than 17-years-old. It made me so sad that she was forced into such a nasty way of life. Tragic!

There was a moment in the evening that was totally unexpected and one I will never forget as long as I live. We were outside of a bar talking to about four girls. We were probably there for about 15 minutes but before we left one of the girls prayed for US! For real!

Let's say you gave me a list of things I would never anticipate happening in my lifetime that looked something like this and told me to pick the one I would least expect to occur:

1) You will go sky-diving.
2.) You will adopt a child from a foreign country.
3.) You will have twenty grandchildren.
4.) You will be prayed for by a prostitute.

I would put "being prayed for by a prostitute" at the top of the list of things least likely to happen; and, by the way, I don't much expect the other things to happen either (with the possible exception of sky-diving, but shhh. . . don't mention that to my mother . . . or John.) It was the most surreal and humbling moment. You can be sure that I had to wipe away a few tears.

And thus, an amazing moment capped off an incredible trip.

Enjoying God's Creation

2011-10-01T20:37:00.002-05:00

I apologize for the lag in my blog. I’ve been sick. I’m writing this on Saturday, October 1 about our time in Lucerne on Monday, September 19. I figured I’d better hurry up or my brain will get a little fuzzy.

We didn’t actually anticipate having a lot of touring time in Switzerland but that is how things worked out. Nothing was really planned for us on Monday so we took a vote as a team and decided to do a day trip (at our own expense) to Lucerne. What a stunning place!

We started with a train ride through the Swiss countryside, from Zurich to Lucerne. After we arrived in Lucerne, and spent $2.50 to use the “clean” toilets at the train station (a marvelous example of free-enterprise), we had a little time to walk around and see the city before departing on a boat ride across Lake Lucerne.

The 669 feet wooden Chapel Bridge over the Ruess River has been a landmark in Lucerne since 1333. A large portion of the bridge was damaged in a fire in 1993 but has since been rebuilt and is still beautiful. I wonder whose job it is to water the flowers that line each side of the bridge? From a distance they are so perfect you almost think they are artificial flowers; but they aren’t.

You’ll be able to tell by most of my pictures that it wasn’t a warm, sunny day for our visit to Lucerne but we did not allow the clouds and rain to dampen our spirits. Views are always different when it’s raining but there was still plenty of beauty to go around.

After our 1½ hour boat tour we got off in Alpnachstad to board the world’s steepest cog railway. Basically, the cog is a gear on the underside of the train that hooks into a rack on the track allowing the train to scale heights at a steeper grade than a normal train would be able to. The cog train from Alpnachstad up Mount Pilatus climbs, at some points, a grade of 48%. Mount Pilatus by the way is named as such because local legend teaches that Pontius Pilate hung out there after he sentenced Christ to death and was later buried there. Who knows if that is true or not?

Although it was raining the views up the mountain were spectacular until it started to snow. I will confess that I would have preferred a bright, sunny day offering plenty of vistas to take in but I wasn’t the only person to consider in this expedition. Sitting across from us on the cog train was a girl from Brazil. She had never seen snow before and the look on her face when she first spotted the beautiful flakes was priceless. She was SO excited and thus we cheered with her.
By the time we reached the top of the mountain I was either sick from altitude or from turning my head so many different directions trying to “see it all.” But, thankfully, I recovered in time to have schnitzel for lunch, which I found out is basically a piece of pork pounded flat and fried. YUMMY!

There are two hotels built on top of the mountain; one built in the 1890’s. I am amazed at how they were able to build such a huge structure on top of such a tall mountain so many years ago.

Going back down the mountain provided another type of experience. We started off in a aerial cableway which is different than an aerial panorama gondola; although other than the size and seating, I couldn’t explain the difference to you. In the cableway we stood and the ride only took us a little way down the mountain where we then boarded the gondolas. Both were the smoothest gondola “type” trips I’ve ever been on. It was as though we were gliding through the air in hot air balloons.

This is going to sound strange, I know, but the highlight of the day came as we were gliding down the mountain. John and I were alone in the gondola and all of a sudden I heard this beautiful melodic sound. I know John can’t sing like that and I didn’t see any speakers in the gondola so I wondered where it was coming from. I glanced below us to see a field of cows munching on the grass, all of whom had bells around their necks. That’s what was making this beautiful sound. Apparently, each cow’s bell has its own tone so, when they are all moving about, the combination of the sounds creates a little concert. The lady in the gift shop at the bottom graciously answered all of our questions about the bells which I’m sure she answers a hundred times a day.

After we reached the bottom of the mountain we took a bus back to Lucerne (as we’d ended up in Kriens a few miles away.) There we did a little shopping, walking around (sometimes in the rain), and enjoyed a fabulous dinner before heading back to Zurich.

We saw lots of little ones on scooters like this one. So cute. I found it interesting that this mom led this little guy over to some steep steps. How she was planning to get down those steps with a stroller, a scooter, and a toddler I'll never know. Pastor Lindsay went over to help them out.

What a great day of enjoying God’s amazing creation!

Doing One Thing

2011-09-28T09:00:00.004-05:00

This blog was written on Sunday, September 18.

Most of our day today was spent at church. The church is helping with the building of a transition home in Moldova. Of course, many of the members haven't had a chance to get to Moldova so the church basically had a "mission Sunday" to share about the work there, and about human trafficking in general. If you recall from my blog about Moldova you'll remember that the transition homes are just one way to prevent "at risk" girls from being trafficked.

A couple of us shared about our time in Moldova and how God worked in our lives while we were there. Since I only have one other thing to tell you about today I thought I'd give a brief summary of what I shared with the congregation.

As a little girl I grew up thinking that all children had parents that loved them. Now, of course, I know that isn't always the case but in Moldova I was overwhelmed by the reality of that fact. The more you hear about human trafficking, the more you want to "fix it" but the problem is too big for one person alone. In fact, it's pretty much an impossible problem. But God is the God of the possible and he kept reminding me over and over again of the quote that says "no one can do everything, but everyone can do something." The transition home allowed me so see the hopeful side of things. For this congregation to build such a home may be the "one thing" that will help make a small bit of difference. Pastor Lindsay also shared Andy Stanley's quote "Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone." What we do may not seem like much, but in God's hands it is multiplied just like the loaves and the fishes.

I met a girl at church on Sunday, Tabea, who God is using in a big way to minister to women who have already been trafficked and forced into prostitution on the streets of Zurich. Tabea is a young mom with three kids and was praying for a way to minister to these women using the gift and talent God has given her as a therapeutic massage therapist. With the help of another organization in Zurich, and a miraculous opening in the building adjoining theirs, she goes into the red light district once a week, during the day, to offer free therapeutic massages to the prostitutes. These young girls are so abused and mistreated that they basically set up a stiff wall within themselves as a means of protection. To receive a loving, healing touch is something so rare, Tabea says, that as she starts to massage them their bodies feel like boards more than people. Eventually, as they begin to relax and trust her they will often cry and let down their guard a bit. Because the girls speak so many different languages Tabea's touch, and ultimately God's, is the only way she can show them love. To say that I was impressed with Tabea would be an understatement. She is doing the "one thing" that God has called her to do.

Good job, Tabea, good job.

Powered by Chocolate

2011-09-27T08:05:00.002-05:00

Well, we've been home for five days now and I'm just getting around to posting my blogs from the trip. I'll try to post one each day for the next few days until you've "heard it all." Since I'm posting these from home and not during our trip I'm able to post the pictures along with the story. It takes a bit longer to add the pictures, having to choose and edit the pictures; thus the delay. This blog is about our first day in Switzerland - Saturday, September 17.

800 miles - that is the approximate number of miles that we walked today. Thankfully, there was plenty of chocolate to keep us energized. We were met this morning by Joel, the son of the pastor that we will be working with here in Zurich. Due to a scheduling mix-up, we won't actually see the pastor until church tomorrow. So, Joel, and his fiancé, Nicole, met us and showed us the city.

We started off by taking a train to downtown Zurich and then a tram (similar to our light-rail in Minneapolis) to Uetliberg which, according to the sign on the building there, is "The Top of Zurich." Granted, the hike to the top was, shall we say, challenging, for some of us but it was well worth it, The view was beautiful despite the fact that it wasn't a very clear day. Pictures hardly do it justice, but as you might guess, I tried.

Of course, all that walking wore us out so we needed to stop and have something to drink before catching the tram back into the city.

By the time we got back into the city it was time for lunch but instead of spending a lot of time at a restaurant we all voted for pretzels - the giant kind that you can get at sporting events only WAY better. I know you may find this odd, but as good as the chocolate is here, I think the pretzels are my favorite. They even make sandwiches out of them, with pretty much any kind of sandwich meat you could imagine.

After "lunch" we did a little shopping, focusing our efforts on getting some yummy Swiss chocolate because, as you can imagine, we were starving at this point. We hit up the expensive chocolate store first and later went to the "grocery store" for some more reasonably priced chocolate. I say "grocery store" but in reality it was a department store with a "grocery" department. Come to think of it I don't recall ever seeing what I would consider a "real" grocery store.

As we were walking through the streets I saw this beautiful clock. Later in the week I heard that it has the largest clock face in Europe - even bigger than Big Ben. About two hours later we were walking by the same clock and I heard some guy tell his friend that it has the second biggest clock face in Europe. Who to believe?

With chocolates in hand we continued to window shop on the Zurich equivalent of Rodeo Drive. At one point we ran into a full concert band performing on one of the streets and as we finished up our "shopping" some of us sat on a bench by a fountain to wait for the whole group. I was aghast when I saw a woman hold her son up so he could get a drink out of the fountain "spout." Apparently, the water in the fountains is safe to drink. I however, have not tested that personally. Pretty sure I won't.

We saw two churches that were right across the river from each other. FrauMünster Church was built in 853, and was beautiful. At one point a fire destroyed a part of the church so it was renovated and some of the stain-glass window were replaced by more modern windows designed by artist, Mark Chagall.

The second church we visited, GrossMünster, has quite the intriguing history. It was built by Zwyngli Platz during the days of the protestant reformation in the 1600's. Unfortunately, Zwyngli was a bit nuts and, in an effort to eliminate the corrupt Catholic priests he'd take them up in the bell tower and throw them out the window. I can say with pretty much 100% certainty this was NOT how Jesus would have handled corruption in the church. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful church.

After a stop for dinner at a fabulous Italian restaurant we headed down to a park along the waterfront. In the background of this picture you can see both FrauMunster church and the giant clock.

There is a little pond at the park with stepping stones across it. Most of the stones are placed so that anyone, really, can walk across them without much effort. But some of the stones are placed further apart either for design or so that one 20-something man (say, Joel) could dare another 20-something man (say, one of our team members, Heith) to jump across them. (You know where this is going, don't you?) It appears that it's difficult for a 20-something man to say no to a dare such as this and once the jumping and momentum got going, well, it couldn't be stopped . . . until Heith landed in the pond, just shy of the fourth stone. I know it's wrong, but it still makes me laugh. Thankfully, his injuries were minimal, and we expect his shoes will be dry sometime before we leave.

Our return to the hotel consisted of three forms of transportation - four if you include our feet; boat to tram, tram to train, train to hotel shuttle from the airport. It's a great system which would be even easier if only I knew German. So far, I love Switzerland.

Moldova

2011-09-17T16:39:00.004-05:00

I am posting this on Saturday night in Switzerland. There is so much more to tell you but I have to get to bed. Following is a recap of our two days in Moldova. All I can say for now is that Switzerland is amazing and I will probably have to post the rest of my blogs when I return home as internet use is incredibly expensive.

I could write a book on our two days in Moldova. If you've been checking for my blog update you have probably guessed we did not have internet access in Moldova. But, we did have ducks and chickens; grapes and tomatoes right outside our door. Oh, and a rooster who obviously has not been schooled in the proper crowing hour.

We arrived in Chisano (pronounced Kish - ah - now) on Wednesday afternoon and spent most of the day getting to know our host and being briefed on what we'd be doing there.

The goal of the group we worked with is to help prevent kids from becoming victims of human trafficking therefore the majority of our time was spent going to schools distributing pamphlets with information on how to avoid getting caught up in the trafficking web. It's a huge problem in Moldova because of the low income level. When a person is desperately poor and can't get a job, he/she is a prime target to be trafficked. The unemployment rate in Moldova is nearly 65%!

Every week there are 22,000 victims of human trafficking worldwide. Only 1% of the victims are ever rescued so keeping them from being trafficked in the first place is key. It's an overwhelming problem with no easy solutions. The things I learned would make your blood boil - at least I hope it would - but it's too much to share here.

One of our stops on Thursday was at a state run orphanage. The young children came right over to meet us as soon as we got out of our van. What amazed me was that when our friend in Moldova pulled out toothbrushes for the kids they flocked to get them as though he were giving away gold bars. While at the orphanage we gave a trafficking prevention presentation to the older kids - probably the most at-risk group of teens for trafficking.

There was one little girl at the orphanage that reminded me of a little girl we met in Russia two years ago. She was quite eager to talk to us when we first arrived and loved having her picture taken. As we left I went to give her a hug and she kind of pulled away from me. I realized later that she very rarely has any kind of loving touch, or really any kind of human touch at all and probably didn't know what to think when someone touched her in a kind way. (Either that or she just didn't like me.) Heartbreaking.

It would be easy to get overwhelmed with the sadness, and vastness, of the problem but fortunately we were able to see the upside of things also. After leaving the orphanage on Thursday afternoon we drove to a transition home for girls. That is another project that our hosts support. The transition home was amazing. There are eight girls living there, along with "parents." It isn't a big house but it is filled with lots of love. In this home, and all of the transition homes that are built, the "parents" are a local pastor and his family. When asked how living in this home has made a difference in their lives the responses were things like, "I finally have a family," "Now I have hope," "Now I know what it feels like to be loved."

In the transition homes the girls are taught basic skills such as tailoring, cooking, gardening, etc. These skills not only help them learn how to care for a household, but also enable them to get jobs so they can successfully support themselves. And, if the girl has a dream to go to college or to get some trade school training they try to find scholarships for them. I didn't really notice it at the time but one of my team members pointed out that the home for the girls is probably a bit nicer than the conditions of the homes of those who actually built it. I think that says a lot about the care they offer the girls.

If you read my pre-trip blog you might remember that I had some concern (translate as "scared to death") about the home we'd stay in during our time in Moldova. I was even more concerned as we were being driven there on Wednesday night. It was dark and we were driving on dirt roads better suited for a four-wheeler than a small sedan filled with four people and 150 pounds of luggage. I looked over at Pastor Lisa, who was going to be staying at the same house with us and said, "I think this would be a good time to break into the chorus of 'I Surrender All.'"

I have to say I've stayed in worse places - and better places. Our hostess didn't speak a lick of English but, despite the fact that she cares for a husband who as far as I could tell is basically dying and hasn't left his bed in three years, was incredibly gracious and cooked us a huge breakfast every morning. She has so very little yet offered us so very much. Before we left she gave Pastor Lisa and I table runners made her grandmother. It was incredibly humbling. The picture here is of Nadia, our hostess, and me in my anti-trafficking t-shirt.

Well, I have rambled on long enough and yet only touched the surface of all that happened during our short Moldovan visit. Despite the lack of creature comforts that I am used to I would do it all again if it just keeps one girl or boy from getting caught up in trafficking.

I Refuse

2011-09-12T23:09:00.002-05:00

In a few short hours we will board a plane bound for Moldova. Well, actually, we’ll board a plane, and then another plane, and THEN the plane to Moldova but eventually we’ll end up there. Where in the world is Moldova anyway? I will have to say that with our recent surge in traveling my geography skills have reached new heights and may now be at least at a fifth grade level. Moldova is located east of Romania and is surrounded on the other three sides by the Ukraine. I’m sure it’s perfectly clear for you now. We’ll be in Moldova for just a couple of days and then we head to Zurich, Switzerland for five days. As you might guess, this is a mission trip, or as we call them at our church, a Global Project. I wonder if anyone really goes to Moldova just for fun?

I love going on Global Project trips but if I were to be totally honest I’d have to say that most often, before I leave, I am scared to death. Do I fear harm of some sort? Not at all. Here’s what I am afraid of; the food and the accommodations. I know it sounds silly but it’s the truth. I’m not a huge fan of foreign foods. There are even a few, quite a few really, American foods that I don’t like all that much. Basically, I’m a fussy eater. Add to that a couple of food allergies and eating can sometimes be a challenge. As long as I don’t need to worry about offending anyone I’m o.k., it’s just that sometimes we are fed by a host family/missionary/orphanage cooks and you really don’t want to offend them. So, I try. I’ve already started praying that I won’t be faced with anything that’ll make me gag. Ha! (I also have a suitcase full of high energy foods to “tide me over” until our return.)

As for the accommodations, well, let’s just say you never now what you might end up with but you can be fairly certain that it’ll never be The Hilton. But, I’ve managed to live with some pretty nasty places and as long as I have my own travel pillow along, I usually do o.k. This time will be a little bit more interesting in that we’ll be staying at someone’s home in Moldova. I’m trying to think of it as a short-term Rotary Exchange program.

Why then, do I go, you might be wondering? Because I feel that God has asked me to do this for Him. When I consider all He’s done for me, it would be foolish really to say no. And, as a missionary friend once told me, “If God asks you to do something and it makes you fearful, do it afraid.”

There is a song that I’ve been hearing a lot on the radio lately. It pretty much sums up my feelings about this trip. It’s called, I Refuse by Josh Wilson. Click on the song title if you’d like to hear it in full. It’s an amazing song! Below is the chorus.

‘Cause I don't want to live like I don't care.
I don't want to say another empty prayer.
Oh, I refuse to
Sit around and wait for someone else
To do what God has called me to do myself.
Oh, I could choose
Not to move but I refuse.

So, that’s why I go. Because I refuse to say no to God. Would He find someone else for the job it I didn’t go? Of course. But then I would miss out on the adventure and the blessing.

I was encouraged this morning by a verse I read in my morning devotions. In Psalm 139:5 David says to the Lord, “You both precede and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head.” Even though I may be fearful, I can rest in the knowledge that God has his hand of blessing on my head. Why then, should I be afraid?

I know I’ll have more to share as the week progresses so check back. I’m not entirely sure of my accessibility to the internet; that’s part of the adventure. I’ll post when I can. And, when I come to mind, I wouldn’t be at all offended if you offered up a prayer for our team and the people to whom we’ll me ministering.

Addendum to Sunday's Blog Post

2011-09-12T23:07:00.001-05:00

Apparently my memory isn’t as good as I think it is. Actually, I don’t think it’s all that great so I guess what I should say here is, once again my memory has failed me.

I said in Sunday’s blog that my son, Paul, was not in the air on September 11, 2001, but I was wrong. He landed a plane that morning right about the time the events of that day started taking place. I guess that since I was able to contact him later in the day I just focused on the fact that he was safe and at home and not that he’d been in the air while other planes were being hijacked.

Paul wrote a great article about his perspective from that day that was published in Sunday’s edition of the Star Tribune. I’d invite you to read it by clicking here. I have to admit, it was a proud mommy moment for me yesterday.

Ten Years Later

2011-09-10T23:27:00.001-05:00

Ten years. And yet, just yesterday, it seems, that the world heard the shocking news that our nation was systematically being attacked. I’m sure anyone over the age of ten remembers where they were when they first heard the news that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I had just finished drying my hair when the radio announcer told of the “accident.” It looked, he thought from his first glances, that it was a small commuter jet. By the time I arrived in the bedroom and turned on our television images of the second plane hitting the Trade Center were on the screen. Only I didn’t know it was a second plane. I figured they had somehow captured the first plane’s hit and were replaying it. The whole scenario still seems unreal somehow; unless of course, it was your family member, friend, co-worker, or city that got hit.

It seemed strangely unnerving, that life in Minnesota was going on as usual. That morning I left the house and picked up my friend’s dad to take him for a radiation treatment in St. Paul. As he received his treatment, I sat in the waiting room hearing more news. Two more planes had crashed – all others had been ordered to land at the nearest airport. He and I, of course, talked about it on the way home though I’m sure I had nothing profound to say.

I arrived back at my house to a phone call from my dad – knowing I’d be safe, but wanting to hear for himself. He was actually on a plane in California, buckled in and ready to take-off, when everyone was asked to return to the terminal and then out of the building. My brother, too, had recently landed in Salt Lake City where he was to meet up with my dad to fly out east for a golf tournament. At that moment, on the phone with my dad, it all seemed too much. I lost it.

At some point I checked in with my own kids. Adam was at college – I assumed he was safe. Scott was in high school – not much danger there; at least not from suicidal terrorists. And Paul, well that was another story. He is a pilot and I never really know where he is unless I’m with him. Thankfully, he wasn’t flying on that fateful day.

I also called my nephew to wish him a “Happy 3^rd Birthday.” Like I said, life seemed unnervingly normal.

I had it easy on September 11, 2001; I knew, or could find out quickly, that my family was safe. For others, there would be waiting; some would wait for hours, some for days and others for weeks. And many, too many, would never see their family members, or friends, again.

There are two images from 9/11 that will forever stick in my mind. Of the thousands of images that have been shown over the years, I find it odd that only two have emblazoned themselves into my brain. The first image is that of President George Bush sitting in the classroom reading to a room full of students and hearing the news from an aide. What should have been a fun morning for the president quickly turned into a nightmare. I’ve often wondered how the horror of that moment was explained to those young students upon President Bush’s quick exit.

The second image that stays with me is of a man I’ll never know, running for his life away from the Trade Center, so covered in ashes that he was nearly unrecognizable. The terror on his face is one I hope never to know.

I’m sure you have your own memories from that Tuesday morning. It’s a day that changed the world and how we function in it. It was a day filled with loss. But, it was also a day when heroes were born; strangers became friends and neighbors helped neighbors; people discovered a strength they never knew they had, and we all realized that regardless of income levels, race, or status, every person is important. It’s a lesson I hope we don’t forget, but fear we already have.

To those who lost family or friends ten years ago my heart still hurts for you. I am praying today for your hearts. To those who still live with nightmares, I pray for you, too. And for those who, like me, were relatively unscathed that day, I pray we’ll never forget.

The MRI Experience

2011-08-11T22:36:00.005-05:00

This morning I went in for my first ever MRI; Magnetic Resonance Imaging. I’ve had a sore shoulder for a few months and after trying chiropractic and acupuncture treatments, along with physical therapy, all with little or no success, it was time to pull out the big guns and see exactly what’s going on. My doctor suggested a MRI and thankfully, she suggested an open-sided MRI. Her exact words were, “You wouldn’t catch me inside one of those capsules.”

Now, I’ve had a few friends tell me about their MRI experiences and I must say I wasn’t too excited to follow in their footsteps. There are two main things that everyone mentioned; the extreme noise and having to lie still for an extended period of time. Well, we already know I don’t lie still very well. After my last little foray into a scan that required stillness I informed the doctor NEVER to do that to me again without a sedative. Though a different doctor ordered this MRI she was sympathetic to my restless leg syndrome issue and prescribed a Valium to be taken 30 minutes before the procedure.

Next, I needed to prepare for the noise issue. My friend who’d recently had an MRI said it’s VERY loud and that they had offered her headphones with music. She assured me that I’d want the volume up quite loud to help drown out the noise. I thought to myself, “Well, I have an iPad. I can add some of my favorites songs and use that. And, I own some noise reducing headphones so I’ll just bring my those along. Easy peasy.” Except, it’s been so long since I loaded music onto my iPad that I forgot how to do it so staying up late to accomplish that goal was a total waste of time. Thankfully, there was already some music on there so I decided to just go with that. With that issue under control, I headed out the door at 8:45 this morning. (Do people just not work in the afternoon? Why do my appointments always require a wake-up time earlier than my norm?)

At 9:30 AM I took my little happy pill thinking that with a 9:45 AM show time the MRI won’t actually start until 10:00 AM. (A good guess, by the way.) Five minutes after taking the Valium, my friend who drove me (because they won’t let you drive yourself when you’re “under the influence”) and I visited the restroom before heading into the Imaging Center. After washing my hands, I wiped the excess water off of the counter with my paper towel and then THREW IT INTO THE SINK! I’m sure they’ll be happy I “tidied up” for them. Fortunately, I figured out the error of my ways and moved it to the trash can. Only five minutes in and I was already loopy. I looked at my friend and said, “Oh, this could get fun!”

Soon enough the technician called me back to start the procedure. I explained that I’d heard the machine was very loud so I brought my own music and headphones; would that be o.k.? She then explained that the magnetic field on the MRI machine was quite strong and would, in essence, turn my iPad and headphones into worthless pieces of junk. Hmmm. . . good point. BUT, she also assured me that the open sided MRI wasn’t as loud as the closed capsules, and I could choose any FM station I wanted or choose between a couple of CD’s. I went with the local Christian radio station. The way I figured it, if there was ever a time I’d need a little encouragement, this would be it.

I got ready and laid down on the table as the tech explained to me everything that would happen. Now here’s the great part; the whole thing was a piece of cake. She got my shoulder all lined up and told me to try not to move that area, or any part of my body while the machine was running, but she’d give me time between “pictures” to move my legs and scratch my nose (which ALWAYS seems to start itching at the exact moment I hear the words “don’t move.”) The longest period of time I ever had to hold still was 6.5 minutes. Had I known that I could have skipped the Valium.

There was some noise to be sure. When it first started I’d hear this sound which mimicked a rock band warming up and then a “boing” or two followed by something akin to a jackhammer working in the distance but none of it was so loud that it was bothersome. I actually found the “boing” a bit humorous and almost started laughing, but that would, of course, cause movement.

During the last two rounds of pictures, I actually fell asleep. Thankfully, the jolt I experienced as my snoring woke me up didn’t blur the picture.

After I was all done, and putting my shoes back on I asked the technician how this whole MRI deal works. She started talking about magnets, radio frequencies and hydrogen protons at which point she lost me. Maybe without the Valium it would have been easier to concentrate – but I doubt it. We both agreed that whoever invented it was both very smart, and is now, most likely, very wealthy.

And, of course, I got a picture.

If you ever end up needing an MRI, do not fear; but ask for the open-sided one, and leave the earphones at home.

Perfect Minnesota Night

2011-08-08T11:34:00.020-05:00

When it's not blazing hot and humid . . .

or raining bucket loads of water . . .

Minnesota is a pretty nice place to live. Saturday afternoon John and I decided that we should do something . . . anything really . . . to get off our keisters and out of the house in which we've been held captive this summer. So, after great discussion, a nap, and more discussion we decided to pack a picnic dinner and go to the Lake Harriet Bandshell. Oh my! The "people watching" was comparable, and way cheaper, than at any airport (which always presents with some amazing people watching opportunities.) It might have even been better since no one was particularly stressed, which can often be the case in an airport.

We arrived around 6:30 PM (all that napping and dinner packing kind of delayed our start time) and sat on the edge of the sidewalk overlooking the marina.

As soon as we sat down the ducks and fish were right at our feet begging for food. I don't believe I've ever had a duck actually look up at me before. Once they realized that John was the only one throwing food, they left me alone. I'm not sure ducks and fish like Larabars and yet, they were fighting over them. I suggested to my generous husband, who isn't all that fond of Larabars, that said bar might not be appropriate duck food, but then again, the kids down the way were throwing them popcorn and how much better can that be?

As we sat there enjoying our dinner (the parts we weren't feeding to the ducks) John looked at me and said "Isn't this fun?" When I agreed he said, "Happy Anniversary." That man sure knows how to get the most bang for his buck . . . or thinks he does.

There was lots to see around the marina. We watched families sailing. Personally, I think sailing looks like a lot more fun than it actually is, but John was soon dreaming up ways to rent a sail boat.

I love the buildings at Lake Harriet. John is particularly fond of the fact that there is ice cream available inside.

And, even in the shade, the flowers were beautiful.

But the real fun began once the music started in the bandshell. The band was called Marimba Africa. They produced some pretty decent music which got the more ambitious in the crowd up and dancing. The ability to dance wasn't a prerequisite. People of all ages were dancing. School age kids . . .

Babies . . . though this one was escaping from her mom as much as she was dancing.

And, the not so young. (Dance partners were optional.)

And then there were those with hula hoops. (And pretty decent at it.)

Everyone was having a great time. Even the dogs.

Lots and lots of dogs. (These two were deep in discussion - let's assume.)

You see what I mean - great people (and animal) watching. Oh, and best of all, other than $1.50 for two hours of parking (and heaven knows how much for John's ice cream cone) - it was all free. Which, at the end of the night, left us happy.

I hope you enjoyed our little "Saturday night date" photo tour. Probably not my most exciting blog ever, but then again, what else am I going to do with all the pictures I took?

Great Way to Start the Day

2011-08-03T09:50:00.003-05:00

Do you ever have moments where something from the deep recesses of your past pops into your mind? This morning I had one of those moments. I was just waking up, noticing the glimpses of sunlight peeking around my window shade when the words to an old hymn took over my thoughts. “When morning gilds the skies my heart awaking cries: May Jesus Christ be praised!” What an absolutely fabulous way to start the day – praising God!

The early (or not SO early) morning song in my head sent me to the computer to be reminded of the rest of the words from this 19^th century hymn. I actually found many versions; not all with the same lyrics but the general theme is the same through all of them. In every situation, good or bad, praise be to Jesus Christ. What a great truth.

Just as the song had popped into my head this morning, another memory poked its way into my brain as I read the words to this great hymn of faith. I recalled being at church, standing next to my grandfather who was, by then, quite a bit along in years. Like this hymn, the one we sang in church that morning had several verses. As I stood there, holding my hymnbook, Boppa leaned over to me and said “I don’t sing songs with more than three verses.” With that he closed his hymnal and put it back in the rack. You don’t have to dig very deep in the gene pool to figure out from whom I get my forthrightness.

Just read the words to this beautiful hymn. What a beautiful reminder to offer praise to the One whom it is due; in everything . . . at all times.

When morning gilds the skies my heart awaking cries:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Alike at work and prayer, to Jesus I repair:
May Jesus Christ be praised!

Whene’er the sweet church bell peals over hill and dell,
May Jesus Christ be praised!
O hark to what it sings, as joyously it rings,
May Jesus Christ be praised!

The night becomes as day when from the heart we say:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
The powers of darkness fear when this sweet chant they hear:
May Jesus Christ be praised!

Ye nations of mankind, in this your concord find,
May Jesus Christ praised!
Let all the earth around ring joyous with the sound,
May Jesus Christ praised!

In Heav’n’s eternal bliss the loveliest strain is this,
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Let earth, and sea and sky from depth to height reply,
May Jesus Christ be praised!

Be this, while life is mine, my canticle divine:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Sing this eternal song through all the ages long:
May Jesus Christ be praised!

I found a sing-along version of this song on You Tube; a hymn karaoke, if you will. There were loads of versions to choose from, but I picked this because of the pictures. As you know, I'm big on pictures. And, Boppa would probably put up with this one; it only plays four verses.

News that Lifts Your Spirit

2011-07-30T11:41:00.002-05:00

It has been over 10 years since I quit watching the nightly news. I did so deliberately. Simply put, it was more than I could take. I’d find myself depressed after hearing stories of children being kidnapped and tortured, tsunamis wiping out entire villages, crazy men with guns going on a rampage and the like. When my mind was being filled with that kind of news on a constant basis it gave me a grim outlook on life.

I’m not totally uninformed, mind you. I do hear the news stories on the radio (somehow it’s easier to hear them than see them), and of course there is Facebook. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen breaking news hit Facebook almost faster than it hits the local news websites (which where I go to check out the Facebook scoops.) So, I’m not uninformed, I’m just probably not as informed as say, my husband, who is a news junkie.

The other issue I have with the news is that I believe it incites copycat behavior. It’s the old input/output thing. When you fill your mind with bad, bad is most likely to come out. When you fill your mind with good, good is most likely to come out. Call me naïve but that’s what I believe. (Rhyming unintended.)

So, I’ve come up with what I believe to be a million dollar idea. And, because I can’t do everything myself, I’m offering it free to any producer that would like to run with it. Why not have a news program filled with news that lifts your spirits? It could focus on stories such as a church group traveling to Haiti to help victims of the earthquake; or kids taking their Saturday to paint a house for an elderly couple in need; or someone getting a group together to pack care packages for our soldiers. The list could go on and on. There are tons of people doing some incredibly amazing things; many of which go unnoticed.

This type of program would obviously not be free of news about bad things. It would be hard to show people caring for those devastated by the recent bombing/shootings in Norway without mentioning the incident. But that’s all it would have to be – a mention. Most people will already have heard about it and if they need more information on a situation all they need to do is tune into ABC, CBS, NBC, or FOX and they can get their fill.

I recognize that most every news show has a segment of two of “uplifting news” but it’s not enough; and by the time they show it, most people have fallen asleep, or moved onto other things. What we need is a program that will incite copycat behavior of the best kind. Give people ideas. Tell them how to hook up with a group to help. Promote kindness.

There you have it. These are the kinds of ideas that pop into my brain on a regular basis and try to tempt me into “doing it all” thereby leaving me exhausted and my family ignored. I’ll let you know when another idea comes up. In the meantime, someone run with this idea – please!

A Few of My Favorites

2011-06-30T15:56:00.021-05:00

My mother called the other day and was wondering why there hadn't been any blog updates. Short story; I've been busy. So finally, I'm sitting down to write a quick update.

Here's the deal; I'm no longer going to be uploading my 365 Project photos to my blog. It bores me. And, if I'm bored, there's a good bet that you, my five readers are also bored. Uploading pictures is time consuming and it's not really why I started my blog. I hope you understand.

If you are interested in seeing my daily photos you can go to my 365 project site as often as you like. The web address is 365project.org/nana. Tip for my mom - mark it as a favorite and you can just click on the link each day.

But, I thought you might like to see some of the pictures that didn't make it to my 365 project. I've taken over 60o pictures in the past month or so. I'll try to narrow it down to 10 or less in this post. You're welcome.

Amelia met Charlie when she was about three months old, but I don't think she remembered. She seems to be wondering who this new kid is and if he could possibly steal a bit of Nana and Boppa's attention. No worries, baby girl, we've got plenty of love for both of you. (And many more - just saying.)

My Mom and Dad came for a visit in June. We celebrated two birthdays, their 60th wedding anniversary, Father's day and Amelia's baby dedication. It was a wild, busy, fun weekend. If I look like I'm crying in this picture it's because I was having trouble holding it together. The whole babies meeting their Great Grandparents thing had me a bit overwhelmed.

Two of my favorite guys.

Who could resist Charlie's smile? Certainly not his Boppa nor his momma, though I believe John is the bigger sucker. (Don't tell John that I posted a picture of his bald spot!)

Amelia is intent on grabbing the flowers for her baby dedication. She was moved to dad's other arm right after this picture was taken and before she could grab them and start eating; and before dad went into fits of laughter. He's famous for that.

The last weekend in June we went to a Swedish Festival with Erin and Amelia and bought Amelia her first doll - a Swedish doll. She loved it. She already has her Boppa wrapped around her baby finger. I could have told him I wanted to buy her a horse instead of a doll and he'd have said yes.

I have absolutely no idea who this little girl is but I think she is absolutely adorable. She was so proud of her doll with her same color eyes and same color hair. We met at Svenskarnas Dag - the Swedish Festival. I hear there is an Irish Festival later this summer. I suspect it's not quite as tame.

Amelia and Erin spent the 4th of July with us. We had a blast and in the evening we took Amelia out for a swim in her little pool. Let's see, a few gallons of water lovingly warmed by Boppa, changing a baby into a swimsuit, applying sunscreen, putting on the cool shades, all for 20 minutes in the pool - priceless! I titled this picture "Too Cool for the Pool." Love those legs!

Speaking of the 4th of July. The neighbors seemed to have spent a bit on fireworks this year. We thank them (although I'm not sure Erin appreciated them while she was trying to get Amelia back to sleep.)

Earlier this week, I went to a friend's cabin outside of Cumberland, Wisconsin. I love this photo of a water lily that my friend pulled out of the water while she was canoeing. Is that legal? If not, I know nothing, absolutely nothing!

O.K., I know I promised you only 10 photos but I just couldn't leave this last one out. It was my first attempt at the moon on the lake. It's not perfect, but was worth swatting the mosquitoes so that I could capture it.

As you can see, we're pretty smitten with our grand babies. Who knew it would be so much fun? As always, make some memories, take a few photos (you don't have to do 600) and enjoy the simple things in life. They are the best!

Do You have the Hand Grenades?

2011-06-24T13:09:00.003-05:00

Sleeping can be very entertaining. Well, to be honest, I guess this falls under the category of “not sleeping” or “trying to sleep” but still, when a person is in bed, and not sleeping, it’s good to have entertainment. On occasions such as last night, my husband is the entertainer.

There I was lying quietly, somewhat regretting the food I’d had earlier in the evening, when I hear a very stern, commanding voice call out “If you’re up there you’d better come out or we’re going to throw a ‘b . . . b. . . “ up there.” “What did he say?,” I wonder? Was it a Bible or a bomb? He must have been saying bomb, I reason, because a Bible doesn’t seem like much of a threat and his voice indeed indicated he was threatening someone. I suppose if the people he was threatening were say Buddhists, a Bible would have been a bit of a threat, but if someone was threatening me with a similar type book it wouldn’t cause me to throw my hands in the air and surrender.

Soon, I hear similar words being thrown out again, “o.k., if you aren’t going to come out we’re going to have to throw the bomb up.” Yes, I’m fairly certain by now that he’s saying “bomb.” At this point, I’m still wondering why in the world he’s threatening people with bombs and suddenly, my sweet, wouldn’t hurt a fly husband, lifts his body up off the bed, turns to me and says “Do you have the hand grenades?” Rats, I knew I forgot something in my pre-bedtime routine!

Clearly, I need to more closely monitor the things he’s watching on television before bed. Then again, entertainment at 2:00 AM has its merits.

Friends

2011-06-07T21:25:00.002-05:00

Well, this is the last in my series of catch up pictures; friends. Now technically, some of people in here are more acquaintances than friends, which is why I like the quote above. It reminds me of one of my favorite songs from my Girl Scout days. You all know where I'm going don't you? "Make new friends, but keep the old; one is silver and the other gold." I apologize to you if you now have that song in your head and will struggle to think of anything but that song for the next four hours.

My first picture is of my friend, Roxanne. She had patiently been waiting for a part to come in for her water heater and had just about enough of cold showers so I invited her over to use mine. Of course, had her water heater held out until today, with our temps reaching 101° she might not have been quite so desperate, but this was taken in the end of April. I can't have my friends freezing to death!

You may have heard me talk, in other blogs, about Bridging the Gap, the women's ministry that I work with. At our conference in April I had the incredible privilege of working with Paulette Kutlzer (on the right) from Praise FM radio doing a couple of interviews with the conference speakers. The truth is that PK is FAR more qualified than I am to do interviews but we always have a blast together.

Our first interview was with author and speaker, Shaunti Feldhahn. Shaunti's newest book is The Male Factor. If you want to understand men, I'd highly recommend it. And, truly, it's not a slam on men. Turns out, they just don't think like women do. Go figure!

Saturday morning I ran into my friends, Beth and Deanna, at the conference. As we were moving to a good spot for a picture I heard them whispering and laughing behind me. Normally, that isn't something you want to hear when someone is behind you but I quickly realized that they were wondering if perhaps they would be the subjects of my picture of the day. So, of course, they were!

Anthony told me early on in this 365 project of mine that it was his goal to be a subject one day. On May 1, I thought it would be fun to include his sweet wife, Beth, and son, Park. Hopefully, next year Park won't need a winter hat on May 1. It's hard to believe this was just over a month ago!

I suppose it had to happen eventually. Paul and Erin were bound to need a sitter on a night I wasn't available. I was, however, in the area and stopped by for a picture of Amelia and her first babysitter, Emily.

These are the girls that I used to teach at the Mom's group at our church campus in Faribault, MN. Well, technically some of them are new since I was teaching. I made a surprise visit on a Wednesday morning because I knew it would be one of the last times my friend, Lisa (lower left), would be teaching before she moves to Texas. Getting a good picture of six moms and four kids is quite the challenge!

I met Pam at the Bridging the Gap conference. Something (or Someone) told me that we should connect. I happened to have a meeting in her neck of the woods just a few days after the conference so we met at Caribou and hardly had enough time to fit in all we had to say. Imagine that!

My friend, Joanne, is the pastor at a little church in Wisconsin and invited me to speak for their Mother/Daughter brunch on Mother's Day weekend. Joanne and I have been friends since 1992 when she came on staff at the church we were attending at that time. I had hoped to get a picture of Joanne with her daughter because I was a labor coach for Joanne when she was born 16 years ago! But, as it goes with teenagers, she slipped out and went home before I remembered to pull out my camera.
My daughter-in-law, Erin, had clued me into the fact that Hannah had it as her goal to be part of my 365 project. She's not always easy to find at church because she so often helps in the nursery or in one of our many kids areas. She even lovingly takes care of my little granddaughter some days. She's the best! Not only is Hannah "super-volunteer" at our church, she also works and goes to college. And, she is one fine photographer! I get exhausted just hearing about what she's doing.

Tania probably had no clue how special she is to me (until she read it on my 365 project page.) She works at the Food Co-op where I started shopping last year after finding out I have a soy and lactose intolerance. Tania was there on my first visit and not only did she not laugh at my tears (yes, there were tears) but she also found the perfect person to help me find things on the approved food list. Because of our schedules, I don't run into her very often anymore but it was fun to see her today. As it turns out, her husband is one of the band directors in our town (16 miles from the city where the co-op is) and her mother-in-law was my son, Scott's, high school German teacher.

I took this picture of our Global Project Switzerland team after our first team meeting. We are excited to be a part of the team going to Switzerland in September. Since that time the girl next to John had to drop off the team but another one has been added. And, there's another couple going on the trip, also, so John won't be the only guy. I think he's relieved by that!

I first met Jackie when we were in Russia two years ago. This picture was taken at their going away party. She and her husband, Matt, have now moved, with their three Russian born children, back to Russia to offer hope to orphans there who are "aging" out of the system. When a Russian orphan reaches the age of 15 or 16 they "graduate" from the orphanage but really have nowhere to go. Ten percent of them will commit suicide in their first year "on the streets" and another 80 percent will get involved with drugs and prostitution. Jackie and Matt plan to help more of the orphans succeed by providing a place for them to live and the opportunity to get a job or go to school. If you are interested in reading more about their hearts for the orphans or watching a powerful video go to http://change30.org/. I'm very proud of my friends.

Every year our church has a volunteer appreciation night. This year's theme was "Back to the Prom" with somewhat of an 80's theme and we were to dress accordingly, if we so desired. I desired, but didn't really manage to pull it off. My friends, Cindy and Martha, made themselves prom queens for their respective graduation years. So cute! They are pictured here with their husbands, Mark and Allan.

Laura falls into the "acquaintance" category of my friends' post but she is a girl with a big dream. Laura was one of the Rotary exchange students in Japan when the earthquake/tsunami hit there in March. Though she wanted to stay after the earthquake Rotary Club International pulled all students out once trouble arose at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Since that time Laura has made it her goal to help purchase Shelter Boxes for the people of Japan. She is pictured here inside the tent included in a typical Shelter Box. Great cause! Check it out.

I am blessed that my daughter-in-law, Erin, is not only family, but also a friend. And, it goes without saying that Amelia is always the best part of my day when I see her. She's just so kissable and lovable!

So, this catches me up to May 28. Wow, I'm already behind again. Stay tuned for further updates! In the meantime, as always, As always, keep making memories, taking pictures, and most importantly, spend time with the ones you love.

Worms from Hell

2011-06-02T16:30:00.001-05:00

There was an article in the paper today that caught my eye. It was titled They’re ‘worms from hell’ – or close to it. Personally, I think all worms, and really anything creepy and crawly are from hell, but I’m pretty sure that’s not what the writer had in mind with this title. (Technically, I believe editors are in charge of titles, but does it really matter?) I decided to investigate further, which translates to “I’m actually going to read the article.”

It seems that scientists have found “complex, multi-celled creatures living a mile and more below the planet’s surface” in South Africa and have subsequently named them “worms from hell.” So, THAT’S where hell is located! In my mind, that would really be a more significant discovery.

I have to admit, I’m not terribly “scientific” by nature. Sure, there are plenty of scientific types of things that fascinate me, but I suffered through an entire year of Spanish in college just so I could get a B.A. instead of a B.S. and avoid any more science classes than were absolutely necessary to graduate. The fact that there even are scientists looking for “life” below the surface of the earth just baffles my brain. Do our tax dollars go towards paying for this?

Apparently, the fact that there is “life” below the surface of the earth is BIG NEWS! If I understood the article correctly (and it’s entirely possible, I didn’t), here is why finding these worms, or nematodes, as they are referred to, is important. It seems that if complex beings can be found so far below the earth’s surface, in an environment that was formally deemed uninhabitable, it has “important implications for extraterrestrial research, or astrobiology.” What? We’re looking for proof that E.T. really could exist? Borgonie (one of the scientists) said “that if life did originate on Mars and if it had sufficient time to go underground deep enough to survive worsening conditions” (atmospheric changes and harmful radiation) “then evolution of Martian life might have continued underground.”

In other words, there may well indeed be an entire underworld of Martians out there somewhere. Come on, people! Seriously? Maybe I’m missing something but how does this affect me? Wait, that could be construed as selfish; allow me to rephrase. How does that affect anyone? Are they thinking that we’ll all move underground when conditions on this planet get too dangerous? Or, is the concern that the Martians may someday emerge from their underground world and invade the Earth? Someone, please help me understand why we’re spending money on this when people are dying from starvation all over the world; real people, people we can actually see!

Like I said, I’m not the scientific type, and perhaps all of this research is going to benefit us someday, but right now it seems to me to be the stuff written about in science fiction novels. Who knows though, maybe they’ll find the cure for cancer digging around down in “hell.” I doubt it, but I guess it’s possible. Personally, I think that if they’re really that close to hell, I want to stay away; far, far away!

Flowers Make for Easy Subjects

2011-05-27T09:00:00.001-05:00

Again, I'm catching up on my blogs about my 365 project. Today's feature is flowers. I love photographing flowers, especially following the longest winter EVER! Flowers are great subjects; they don't squirm, cry, close their eyes right as you push the button, or complain. And, as an added bonus, at this time of the year, they are as close as my backyard (or front yard as the case may be.)

In April, this crocus showed up unexpectedly in our yard. What a fun surprise!

O.K, this isn't a flower. It's a picture of the buds on the maple tree in our front yard. It was taken on a very rainy, nasty day and I was desperate for a picture that didn't require a lot of effort.

We usually have some interesting flowers blooming in our woods this time of year. On May 3, I took a little walk to see what I could find. I discovered this plant that had taken over some huge areas in our woods but I had no clue as to its name. I called my horticulturist neighbor who was unable to identify them from my description. Though he'd promised to come check the next day to see what they were, I decided to investigate a little further. I saw an online ad for a book about Minnesota Wildflowers and then it hit me; I HAVE that book! So, about one minute after picking up the book I was able to identify it as a Cut-leaved Toothwort. I should have been a detective. Oh wait, I'm a mother. That's probably where I honed my skills.

I was once told that a weed is simply a wildflower out of place. Well then, this violet would qualify as a weed. A pretty weed, but a weed nonetheless. It's growing between the slabs on my back patio. I'd prefer moss, I think.

It's easy to miss the blooming of the bleeding heart in the spring, but since I'm on this "picture a day" kick, I'm always in search of a subject, and like I said, flowers make such nice subjects.

It has been fun to watch my Coralburst Crab tree bloom this year. It's the first year we've had it. Here it is as it's just starting to bloom.

Though this picture didn't make it into my 365 project, I though I'd share it with you anyway. Think of it as a bonus - because I love you. It's my crab tree in full bloom. Is it not gorgeous?! But then again, the blooms haven't fallen all over my yard yet.

A visit to the garden center gave me a few minutes to click a few quick shots of some very cooperative flowers.

Lilacs are always in vast supply this time of year so a picture of a lilac isn't really all that special. BUT, this particular lilac is the first bloom to grow from a shoot I planted over 10 years ago. I'd given up hope.

And now, to conclude the flower series (and most recently - purple flower week) . . . a wild geranium. We transplanted this into our yard from the woods behind our house about 15 years ago. Technically, it's a wildflower but, since it's not growing in my patio, I don't consider it a weed (though it does have the tenacity of a dandelion!)

Spring is my favorite time of the year. I'm always amazed at how flowers just come shooting out of the ground after a winter with temperatures dipping below zero. Good job, God, is what I like to say!

Take some time to enjoy the flowers in your corner of the world. Spend time with the ones you love, grab a camera, and gather some memories; especially if you get a dandelion bouquet.

Catching Up

2011-05-25T20:58:00.010-05:00

Well, clearly my mother and my friend, Leslie, have not been bugging me about my blog. There's a lot going on (when isn't there?) and I realized tonight that my most recent 365 project update was over a month ago. So, instead of putting all 30-some pictures up at once I'll break them down by types. Tonight, surprise of surprises, I will focus on my two sweet grandchildren. I try to make them my picture of the day as often as I can without being totally annoying. This could get to be more of a challenge once they catch on to my craziness.

Easter Sunday - and little Amelia was over-the-top ADORABLE!

Amelia, again, (thank God they aren't dressing Charlie like this) all dressed up for her daddy's birthday. We got to babysit while they went out for an evening alone. Love the tutu!

Amelia's first time with a sitter. I had my small group that night otherwise I'd have been there. As it so happens, my small group meets about a mile from Paul and Erin's house so I was able to stop by for a picture before my meeting. Amelia is looking at her parents with an "I hope you aren't planning to leave me with this person" kind of look. Emily took good care of her and she did fine.

28 hours with Charlie - certainly not enough time but I made a quick trip to Wisconsin because I simply could not go another day without seeing him. Oh what fun to kiss those sweet cheeks!

Don't you think he looks like the Gerber baby; perhaps with an Elvis kind of smile?

Sadly, five pictures is all I have of my adorable grandchildren in the past 30 days. Wait, that's not right. I have many more pictures than that. These are just the ones that made it into my 365 project. There will be more soon. If you want to view my entire 365 project, click here.

As always, keep making memories, taking pictures, and most importantly, spend time with the ones you love. If you don't get them up on your blog - that o.k., I'll totally understand.

Smart Boy

2011-05-10T21:18:00.014-05:00

Personally, I think all of my boys are smart. I am, after all, their mother so what would you expect? Last Sunday, however, we experienced a first in the Holte family. Our youngest son, Scott, received his Masters Degree; specifically a Masters of Science in Mass Communication. So, we have documented evidence that Scott is indeed, smart. As you might guess, we are very proud, and thus, I decided to share a few of my pictures with you. And yes, this is just a few.

First off, we headed to the Student Center where there was a reception and hooding ceremony for the College of Fine Arts Masters students. As you can see, Scott is VERY excited about getting his hood. Um, Scott, maybe next time you could give your professor a break and lean down a little. Hopefully, no shoulder surgery will be necessary.

The interim department head explained to everyone the significance of the colors on the hood. The red and black are the school colors and on Scott's the gold signifies his specific degree. Intriguingly enough, not all of the students getting the same degree had the same color hoods and one man had clearly forgotten to even pick his up. I'm sure his mother was thrilled.

I decided if I ever get a master's degree, it'll be in music. Their hoods have pink trim. Enough said.

Congratulatory handshakes from the department heads. (I think that's who there were.) Scott told me later that they had put the hood on upside down. He fixed it before the graduation ceremony. Apparently, he'd watched the video about the "proper" way to wear a hood!

Angelina and Scott after the hooding ceremony. The logo is for St. Cloud State - the college from which he graduated.

A quick picture with his proud parents before heading over to the commencement ceremony. I'm feeling very short!

Scott thought the quickest way to get to the Hockey Arena was to walk . . . in the rain. Hmmm . . . By this point, Scott had "flipped" his hood so it's facing the right direction. It is kind of pretty, isn't it?

After the two-hour ceremony, we emerged from the building to a beautiful, sunny, afternoon. We headed over to the Munsinger/Clemens gardens in St. Cloud. They are always beautiful. The rest of these pictures were taken there.

Not graduation related, but pretty nonetheless.

Angelina wasn't sure how she felt about pictures of him by himself. As she pointed out, he couldn't have done it without her. :-)

Their future looks bright!

In Appreciation of Mrs. Black

2011-05-05T23:50:00.003-05:00

Do you ever have things pop into your head from many, many years ago? It happens to me all the time. I refer to them as “A Blast from the Past.” Tonight, I had one such “blast” and being as it’s Teacher Appreciation Week, I just had to share it.

When I was a kid, every August we’d get a postcard in the mail telling us who our teacher was going to be for the next year. It cost about 3 ¢ to mail a postcard back then so I guess the school considered it a good use of their funds. Anyway, when that fateful day arrived right before the start of my 3rd grade year the news wasn’t good. I was assigned to Mrs. Black’s class. There were stories about Mrs. Black and none of them were good. She was very strict (which is probably why they’d put me in her class) and I just knew from the get-go that this was gonna be bad.

I remember a little bit of a crying/tantrum session in the backyard. Such sessions are always so helpful yet never seem to change anything at all. But, that was not the worst thing I did in regards to my upcoming tour in Mrs. Black’s classroom. Oh no! I actually went to school on the first day (or so I’m told) and said to Mrs. Black, “I told my mother if I got your for a teacher I was going to kill myself.” My girlfriend says I am forthright but the truth is, I don’t always have a very good filter between my brain and my mouth! Well, in fairness to me, it’s better than you might think.

Anyway, once I declared my disdain and suicidal thoughts to Mrs. Black, I’m sure what she wanted to say was “Well then, what are you doing here because clearly you aren’t dead?” but she took a somewhat kinder route. She said (again, this story has been passed down as I don’t recall my rudeness), “Well, Nancy, I might not like having you in my class either.”

You may have guessed this by now, but I loved Mrs. Black. She was strict, but she was also kind and a great teacher. The one thing I do recall of third grade (without my mother’s help) is sitting inside during recess on the last day (or perhaps the second to last day) finishing up some reading assignments that I’d slacked off on. But, I don’t recall being bitter about that - probably because I got to be with Mrs. Black - who really was pretty cool after all.

So, as teacher appreciation week comes to a close I’d like to thank all of the teachers out there who work so diligently even when they might not feel very loved. And, a special thank you to Mrs. Black.

And Life Goes On

2011-04-26T19:15:00.019-05:00

Here we are. Another two weeks have passed since I last updated my 365 project pictures for you. My apologies . . . again.

April 9 - If you remember, my last 365 project post included a lot of pictures of our newest grandchild, Charlie. And, while I wouldn't give up ONE minute that I spent with Charlie, it did mean that I hadn't seen Amelia for a bit. Erin must have sensed my intense need and desire to see her and offered to bring her down. It had actually been two weeks since I'd seen her and the change was dramatic. Wow, they do grow up so fast! Smiling and adorable!

April 10 - On Sundays we often go out to lunch with Erin and Paul (and Amelia) after church. On this particular day, Paul was working so couldn't join but we still had fun with Amelia and Erin. It appears that Amelia is keeping close track of her mom's whereabouts as Boppa holds her during lunch. She makes some of the best faces!

April 11 - Every year this Lungwort plant in our backyard is nearly done blooming before I even notice it's spring. This year, I was prepared. I started checking early. I love the purple and pink blooms. Turns out it's called Lungwort because it is believed to cure some lung illnesses. Crazy, huh?
April 12 - As I was taking the Lungwort picture on Monday, I turned around and caught a glimpse of some purple in an area I'd never seen it before. It seems that during our major re-landscaping project last summer, my scilla plants hitchhiked to new destinations all over the yard. Good thing I like them so much! I'd been inside all day and hadn't realized how nice it was, so,after taking this picture I put on my summer clothes and worked in the garden for two hours. It was fun at the time! Later, I was a wee bit sore but I think it was worth it!

April 13 - One of our favorite pastimes is babysitting sweet Amelia. And, being the full-service babysitters that we are, on this particular night Boppa brought along some equipment to give Amelia her first eye exam. It only lasted about three minutes - long enough to know that she has great eyes. If you want to know how John does eye exams on babies, call him. I know he'd LOVE to explain it to you.

April 14 - Sooner or later, the car has to be washed. And yes, I did feel stupid taking out my camera for a picture; but, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

April 15 - I titled this photo "Pokey Woman." Not because Fiona is slow, but because she is the doctor who administers my acupuncture. I willingly admit that I was VERY skeptical as to whether or not acupuncture would work but I'm happy to say it has, along with a major diet change, changed my life! I highly recommend it!

April 16 - Remember that picture just a few days back of the scilla? Well, this is Minnesota and as you can see, the weather can change in an instant! I took this on my way to a breakfast at our church on Saturday. Beautiful, but crazy!

April 17 - It seems like just a few short months ago I saw this sweet girl put her hand on her teeny, tiny, tummy as she helped lead worship during church. That instinctive touch that mom's do when they are pregnant was my first indication that Liz might be expecting. I can't wait to meet her little guy in a couple more weeks. (Maybe he'll make it as one of my "pictures of the day.")
April 18 - This has got to be one of the lamest pictures in my 365 project. I had a busy day and kept forgetting to take a picture so I quick grabbed my camera on my way out of Nordstrom, where I'd stopped to return a couple of things. I ALMOST made it out of the store with a net gain on my credit card. Maybe some other day.

April 19 - I met my good friend, Debbie, at her office in downtown Minneapolis on Tuesday. We needed some time together to share pictures and stories of our new grandchildren. Her granddaughter was born on March 31 and our grandson was born on April 1. I absolutely love going downtown, but not as much as I love spending time with my friend.

April 20 - Julie has been my hygienist longer than I can remember. She's the best! The only problem is that when I go there, we get to talking and I'm sure she has to allow extra time to clean my teeth! A few days after my visit I got a handwritten note from Julie telling me how it's always nice having me on her schedule. How sweet is that?

April 21 - This picture was sort of an experiment. I'd read on this blog about the blue hour. It seems there is a time, about an hour after the sun sets, that you can take pictures and the sky is this amazing deep blue color. You need to use a tripod to get a good shot and I'd started by going to the lake but ended up with some rather drab photos. It seems a key component to a "blue hour" picture is some sort of lights, of which there were none at the lake. Once I got home, and realized how bad my pictures were, I quickly went out to the front porch. It was raining at the time so my vantage point wasn't exactly what I wanted; but it was dry. Thus I ended up with this picture, which I titled "A Rainy Night in the Hood."

April 22 - I love watching my garden bloom in the spring, even on a rainy day. It always seems like a miracle. I transplanted these Blood Root plants from the woods behind our house into the garden a few years ago. This seemed a fitting picture for Good Friday.

And so, here it is, the end of April already. Keep making memories, taking pictures, and most importantly, spend time with the ones you love.

Because He Lives!

2011-04-23T22:08:00.004-05:00

Easter is by far my favorite holiday. Not because of the jelly beans, cute little bunnies, or the chocolates (though I like all of that) but because of the meaning behind it. Without Easter, celebrating Christmas would be pointless. Without Easter, we'd be living in a hopeless state. Without Easter, there would be no promise of eternal life!

There is an old, song that I think sums up our reason for celebrating quite well. The words are written by Bill & Gloria Gaither. I'll just put the chorus in here but if you'd like to hear the whole thing, click HERE. It's worth the few minutes!

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.
Because He lives, All fear is gone.
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living just because He lives.

Happy Easter, friends! May your day be filled with joy . . . because HE lives!

Flash Mobs

2011-04-19T22:49:00.004-05:00

This morning I saw this video on You Tube and subsequently shared it with my Facebook friends. I love it, and I'll let you in on the same secret that I told my Facebook friends this morning; I would LOVE to be in a flash mob someday. I mean really, doesn't it look like fun? I would, of course, need to be somewhere in the middle of the group so that people wouldn't notice as much when I mess up, but still, what a blast!

I remember when I saw my first flash mob video of people singing at Central Station in Belgium. I was actually wishing I'd been there when it happened so I could have joined in. The funny thing is that when I first saw it, I actually thought random people had done just that! I thought they just joined in the dance and followed along with whatever the person in front of them was doing! Clearly, I was having a blond moment! How it happened that all those children came down the steps so spontaneously, never crossed my mind! I scare myself sometimes!

Even though I like the song better in the newer video, I think the Central Station one will always be my favorite. Perhaps because I think I could have joined in the fun! Let me know if you, too, want to be in a flash mob. You never know when I might decide to put a group together! It'll be just like putting together a Cheerleader Routine back in high school. Oh wait, I never did that.

Catching Up

2011-04-13T09:45:00.001-05:00

With all the excitement of adding a new family member I didn't get my "365 project" post done in a very timely manner, but well, I don't care. Grandbabies are WAY more exciting than 365 projects, even though said projects include some grand baby pictures. Anyway, here's what's been going on.

March 26 - John and I took a Saturday drive to see what we could find. The rivers in the area were swollen from all the snow melt and rain and had produced some interesting sights as a result. This "ice seat" was found in a field - not a river - where the water had apparently been quite a bit higher than it was when we found it. Crazy out the ice froze and stuck to the side of the tree like that. And, this wasn't the only "seat" we saw!

March 27 - Every year the Como Conservatory in St. Paul has a magnificent spring flower display. Being as this winter was particularly challenging it drew quite a few visitors. Going on a Sunday probably wasn't our (o.k., my) brightest idea because the crowd was immense but I think everyone was so excited to breath in some spring that they were on their best behavior. In other words: no one annoyed the daylights out of me. I had too many good pictures to choose just one so I made a collage.

March 28 - As it so happens, Trader Joe's is right on the way home from the Conservatory so I wasn't about to drive by without making a quick stop. And, well, Trader Joe's always has some great flowers at some pretty decent prices so I was forced really, to pick up some red and white tulips. And, since they were sitting there still on Monday looking so pretty they became the "photo of the day."

March 29 - Tuesday night our local Rotary Exchange student shared about her country (Sweden) at a special evening function. Generally, Rotary Club meets at 6:45 in the morning which always leaves me wondering how they get any members. But, apparently some people like that time of day. God bless them. But, I digress (so unusual for me.) My friend, Karen, was one of the host moms for the Rotary student this year so, of course, was at this Rotary event. I've been wanting to take her picture for my project for a long time because not only is she my friend, she is also the person who cleans my house. I LOVE Karen. And yes, I know I'm spoiled. I figured she'd rather have her picture taken when she's dressed up for an evening out rather than when she's dressed for cleaning.

March 30 - If you read this blog post you'll know that Wednesday was the day I headed to Wisconsin to await the arrival of our new little grandson. I took this picture as a "back-up" in case he didn't arrive before the end of the day. (Good thing, since I needed it.) This little lake (which is actually a dammed up river) is right behind the hospital and accessed from the lobby by a little path. It's quite a lovely area, really.

March 31 - At 10:10 on Thursday night I told Jane (mother to my daughter-in-law, Heidi) that we needed a picture of the two of us at the hospital as we headed into our second night of waiting for baby to arrive. It was another "back-up" picture even though we were still expecting a baby by midnight. Please note, if you are ever planning to "wait things out" in a hospital think about packing a toothbrush - at the very least. I don't really think it's fair that Jane, who had even less sleep than I did, looks way more rested.

April 1 - If you read my previous blog about Charlie's birth, you've already seen this picture taken shortly after he was born at 4:29 Friday morning. But really, it's worth another look I think. In fact, pretty much the rest of the week belongs to Charlie. I knew I'd have to go home eventually, so I dedicated the week to pictures of him. Besides, he is pretty cute, don't you think?

April 2 - On Saturday, John was able to drive over to visit his newest grand baby. As you can see, he's a proud Boppa!

April 3 - I decided on Sunday that it was Nana's turn to be in the picture with Charlie.

BUT - I have to throw this "3 Generations" picture in as a bonus. It wasn't part of my project, but it's just too precious not to use.

April 4 - Charlie and I were hanging out on the couch together on Monday while his Mom and Dad slept a bit. Clearly he was NOT tired and who can resist those big blue eyes?

April 5 - During my first week of 365 pictures I posted one of this bear waiting for his buddy to arrive. Well, buddy is finally here but, on this particular day, wasn't in the mood to play. Don't worry Mr. Bear, he'll come around. If John had his way, I'd never post a picture of a crying baby, but hey, they do that sometimes. In general, Charlie is a pretty easy going guy.

April 6 - On Wednesday, I knew my time with Charlie and his parents would soon be drawing to a close (for a while at least.) I was not going to leave without a foot picture and I stole the idea of adding mom and dad's wedding rings from my friend, Renee Johannesen. It's just a good thing their rings aren't any heavier or poor Charlie's toe might have been dragging the floor!

April 7 - When I came upstairs on Thursday morning I found Adam, Heidi and Charlie hanging out in the living room. Heidi didn't really want to be a part of the whole photo shoot that day (poor girl had hardly slept in a week - I can't blame her) but I loved the way Charlie was laying on Adam's legs. They'll have some fun family times, I'm sure. To say that this Nana was sad to leave that morning is an understatement. Were it not for that "middle of the night feeding business", I might have tried to sneak him out of the house!

April 8 - Friday night we went to a wedding reception for our friend's Jesicca and Matt. Matt is the son of one of my good friends, who also happens to be named Nancy. (How could we not be friends?) We had a great time celebrating a great couple.

One thing about doing this project is that it sure brings home the fact that time is flying by. As always, I encourage you to make some memories, take some pictures, and spend time with the ones you love.

Birds in the House?

2011-04-11T21:09:00.000-05:00

Yesterday morning when I got up I emerged from the bedroom and instantly noticed the sound of birds chirping. Odd, I thought, since I was fairly certain all of the windows were shut when I went to bed Saturday night. John was already up, but I usually find him downstairs on a Sunday morning if he gets up before me. As I walked further down the hall the bird chirping got louder. "This can't be good," I thought. "What if there is a bird in my house? Oh, that's going to be a mess."

Soon, I noticed that the chirping seemed to be coming from my office. I hesitantly stuck my head in the door expecting to see a bird. How they would have gotten in I hadn't quite worked out in my sleepy head. I was preparing to call for John to come and help with what was already in my mind a "bird situation" when, to my surprise, I found him sitting at the computer - watching baby eagles on the computer screen.

The very fact that the computer was turned on was a bit of a conundrum since just a few weeks ago John told me that, search as he might, he couldn't find the "power" switch on my new Mac. Anyway, back to the eagles. It seems that the Sunday paper had mentioned a link to an eagle's nest in Decorah, Iowa and John decided to check it out. I was just relieved not to find birds pooping their way around my office.

This particular nest has three baby eagles (or eaglets as the case may be.) And, I have to say, that it is rather interesting to watch what's happening there - in short 1 - 2 minute visits. John has a longer attention span for things like this so could literally sit here for an hour to watch it. I suggested he might switch it up a bit and take a chair outside to watch the grass grow.

I must admit, that eagles are great parents, taking turns caring for their young, getting them food, and keeping them warm. Did you know that they even mate for life? Tonight while both parents were looking at the newly caught fish, I was adding commentary to the "movie." It went something like this. "Really? It's my turn to make dinner again? I thought it was your turn. I hate making dinner." (You can see how I've imposed my personal feelings about cooking onto the eagles.) Eventually, the parents started ripping that fish apart and enjoyed the reward of their labor.

As I watched the parent eagles care for their young today I was reminded of a Bible verse that compares an eagle's care of it's young to God's care for us. Check out this description in Deuteronomy 32:9-11 “For the people of Israel belong to the Lord; Jacob is his special possession. He found them in a desert land, in an empty, howling wasteland. He surrounded them and watched over them; he guarded them as he would guard his own eyes. Like an eagle that rouses her chicks and hovers over her young, so he spread his wings to take them up and carried them safely on his pinions."

Now, go to the website by clicking here, and think of yourself as the baby eagles. I think you'll feel loved. I know I did.

Announcing Another Blessing!

2011-04-09T15:23:00.004-05:00

Wow! What a week! Most of you know by now that we have welcomed our second grandchild into the world. Charles John Holte was born on April 1, 2011 to his very proud parents, Heidi and Adam. He was 8 pounds, 12 ounces and 22” long. As with our first grandchild, I was able to be at the hospital and hear Charlie’s first little cries on the morning of his birth. What an incredible blessing.

But, I’m just sure you are going to want to hear the REST OF THE STORY. Tuesday, March 29, was much like every other day, except I needed to get into the doctor to deal with a persistent kidney stone. Somehow, when I tell people I had a kidney stone it feels like I’m informing you that I need to use the little girl’s room (as my mother would say) and it just may be too much information for a blog, but it is what was going on so I apologize if it’s TMI for you. But, there is a reason I’m telling you this part of the story. I called the doctor that day and said, “Maybe I should come in because really, this is making me nuts.” They agreed and offered an appointment for Wednesday morning at 8:30. Clearly the girl at the desk doesn’t know me very well because I try to avoid being anywhere before 10:00 AM, if at all possible. So, I questioned her to see if there were any openings left on Tuesday and sure enough ONE spot was left at 3:30 which gave me just enough time to get there. Fabulous! (Who knew, I’d be busy at 8:30 AM on Wednesday.) So, I went to the doctor, had a CT scan, and followed that all up by going to a Rotary Club event with John.

Adam and Heidi had invited me to be at the hospital when their baby arrived so we could see him right away and perhaps, if all worked well, to hear his first cries from the hallway (though we didn’t know it would be a “he” at the time.) After that, the plan was that I’d stay a few days and help them in the adjustment at home. So, on Tuesday night when I got home I determined that I really should pack up a few clothes so I could quickly leave when the time came. It is, after all, a 4.5 hour drive from here to the hospital where Charlie was born. I would have to say that perhaps God was giving me both the energy and the inclination that packing would be helpful at that moment. In fact, His hand was clear to see from the making of my doctor’s appointment right up to the moment of Charlie’s birth.

In another “amazing coincidence” or “God-cidence” as I like to call them, I got up on Wednesday morning full of energy (which isn’t always the case), threw in a load of laundry, unloaded the dishwasher and was just about to sit down when our phone rang at 8:15 AM. It seems that Heidi’s water had broken earlier that morning and it was “GO time” for their baby. Adam assured me I didn’t need to rush because this was their first baby and well, labors with first babies are notoriously lengthier. While I know that GENERALLY first babies take a little longer, I also know that it isn’t always the case. As it turns out, I DID have plenty of time – more than enough, actually.

Without going into every single detail (which aren’t really mine to share) suffice it to say that Heidi’s mom, Jane, and I are pretty well known at the little hospital in Waupaca, WI. We are the ones who camped out in the hospital lobby for two nights straight. Our first night there, one very diligent nurse made us get visitor badges so, as she put it, they’d know how many people were in the hospital. The comical elements of the badge requirement were 1.) We didn’t need to check out when we left, 2.) The badges lacked in stickiness so never really stayed on, 3.) NO ONE ever looked at us, or the badges, for the rest of the night, and 4.) (This is the best part) We were the ONLY ones in the hospital that night that weren’t employees or patients. On the second night, no one questioned us. Good thing – I was NOT going to participate in that charade again.

So, finally, after more hours of labor than any one woman should have to endure, it seemed that Charlie decided that he’d waited long enough and would indeed make his April Fool’s day appearance. We like to call it Charile’s March 30 and 31 Fool’s day joke. At 4:29 AM, Grandma Jane and I heard “It’s a boy!” from the hall. A few seconds passed as we waited to hear his first cries and once he let out that first wail, we joined him with happy tears in the hallway and a prayer of thanks to God!

Charlie is adorable and this Nana is smitten once again. What a blessing it was to be able to be there last week and sing to him, shop for him (who can resist), change him, swaddle him, snuggle on the couch with him while mom and dad got some rest, and have him stare up at me with the biggest, dark blue eyes you’ve ever seen. I’ve heard it said, and now I can concur, “If I knew having grandchildren was so much fun, I would have done that first!”

Two More Weeks

2011-03-26T22:50:00.001-05:00

First off, I have to explain something. I have two people who I know faithfully read my blog. I know this because if I go too long without writing something they bring it to my attention. My mother (being one of these two people) has been telling me of late that I hadn't put anything up since March 5 (this comment was before I posted last Thursday.) I assured her that I had and she told me that was the date above my most recent post of pictures was March 5. That seemed odd since I knew the post included picture from my trip to Boise which didn't end until March 13.

All of this is really unimportant unless you receive my posts directly to your email via RSS feed. That being the case, you may have gotten an "UPDATE blog" this afternoon. Don't bother reading it. I only updated the date, which somehow was posted incorrectly in the first place. (I know how, but don't really want to take up another paragraph explaining that.) So, let's move on. By the way, Mom and Leslie, thanks for being faithful readers.

March 12 - This is by far my most favorite picture of the last two weeks. I was still in Boise when I took this. These flowers were found in my friend's neighbor's front yard. When I was over there taking pictures someone showed up to visit the young man who lives at that house. I asked her to tell him that I was out front taking pictures (lest he call the police.) When I saw him later that night I asked him if his friend had giving him my message. He said "Yes, but I couldn't figure out what you were taking pictures of." I told him I was getting shots of the flowers in his front yard. His response cracked me up. "There are flowers in my front yard?" Such an observant boy!

March 13 - When I first arrived in Boise we drove past the Library (or should I say the Library!?) on our way home from the airport. I just cracked up at the exclamation mark at the end of the title. Apparently, the people in Boise are serious about their libraries! My friend, Diane, drove me past the Library! on our way back to the airport so I could get this picture.

March 14 - My picture for March 14 was a no-brainer. I mean, it was National Pie Day. Or is it National Pi Day? Get it? Pi = 3.14 (and so on.) Truth be told, I would have totally missed this most amazing day on the calendar were it not for my son, Adam, who is both a cook and a brainiac. In other words, he understands why a person would use the mathematical formula for pi and might actually use it himself. I on the other hand, just barely know that Pi equals 3.14 . . . Oh, and the picture was taken at our deacon meeting that night, at which we had pie, thanks to a well-timed suggestion to the person in charge of ordering dessert.

March 15 - Yes, it's true. There is (or was) still a Christmas decoration in my front yard. Note to self: do not hang Christmas decorations in the middle of the yard where you might have to wade through two feet of snow to remove said decoration! Thankfully, it's down now. Phew! Just in time for Easter!

March 16 - I titled this picture "Ahoy Mate - I See Land!" I think winter is making me a little stir-crazy!
March 17 - I had this hair-brained idea to make cut-out shamrock cookies for St. Patrick's day and make it my photo of the day. I added to the idiocy by deciding to make them gluten-free, trying some new flour I bought. Let's just say that this is the best of the bunch and by the time they hit the cooling rack most of them had lost their stems. By the time they were frosted, most were broken in half. BUT, I sent a few over to my neighbor who has Celiac disease and he thought they were quite tasty. Goes to show, if you go without a food product long enough the replacement will taste pretty decent.

March 18 - Jami has been patiently waiting to be a part of my 365 project. So on this day, she and I both fulfilled our goals! She is such a sweetheart! And beautiful!

March 19 - On this particular Saturday I went to a Wildtree Party (healthy food sold party style) at my friend, Katie's house. We've been friends for a few years and it's always so fun to see her. Doesn't her little guy just look like he's too sweet to ever do anything wrong?

March 20 - Amber heard about my 365 project and asked me at church about it on Sunday morning. After I explained it I took the opportunity to invite her to be my "subject" for the day. I'm so blessed to have so many sweet friends!

March 21 - It's true, there are days when I don't know what in the world to take a picture of but on this particular Monday, I decided I'd measure the snow left in our yard. (I told you winter was making me stir-crazy!) It seemed like there was still so much left! I figured, why not take a picture of my measuring stick in the snow. For the record - there was deeper snow in other areas of the yard. And then it snowed again after this picture! Enough already!!!!

March 22 - Yes, this was another "what shall I take a picture of" day. I was taking something out of the cabinet when one of my dolls fell into my hands. I figured it was some kind of sign - and I was getting desperate! When I was a little girl my grandparents would bring me dolls from the places they visited. This one comes from Switzerland and since John and I are thinking about going on a mission trip to Switzerland this fall, I decided it would be the perfect doll to choose for the day.

March 23 - O.K., I lied earlier. The flowers were nice but this is for sure my favorite picture from the past two weeks. I had the chance to babysit sweet Amelia on Wednesday. Is she not the most adorable baby? We think so!

March 24 - Rachel is a young woman who goes to my church. She asked me about a year ago if I would just hang with her sometimes and mentor her a bit. I was honored. We had a quick dinner Thursday night so I could hear all about her recent mission trip. She may not know this but she encourages me as much, if not more, than I encourage her. I'm blessed to have her as part of my life.
March 25 - There is an intriguing phenomena on our area rivers right now. I don't think I've ever seen it during the 33 years I've lived in Minnesota, but it could just be because I wasn't looking. Our snow had started melting and the rivers were getting higher when a new storm developed on Wednesday. We got a little snow and the temps were right around the freezing mark. Since that time little ice "pods" have developed around the tree roots in the river. It's hard to describe them (which is why pictures are so handy) but they look kind of like those worm-filled nests that trees sometimes get in the summer time. Only the ice pods aren't nearly as creepy.

If you've made it this far, you deserve a medal! I was a little wordy tonight as I described my photos. I have to say, this project can be overwhelming some days but I'm glad I'm doing it. I'm learning a lot about my camera and taking the time to find beauty in my every day life. Whether you are doing a similar project or not, I hope you'll find the time to make some memories, take some pictures, and spend time with the ones you love.

Living in a Hopeful State

2011-03-24T13:23:00.003-05:00

I was talking with a friend this morning who recently returned from a trip to South Carolina and Georgia. The woman who hosted her in Georgia commented to my friend that people from Minnesota say "yet" a lot. Personally I've never noticed this but it makes perfect sense to me. I explained to my friend that the reason we say "yet" a lot is because we are a hopeful people.

Let me show you some examples of our hope. "I'm not skinny, YET." "I haven't been to Hawaii, YET." "I haven't eaten at that '$50 a plate' restaurant, YET." You see, hopeful! This kind of talk encourages us to get up every day because you just never know what's around the next corner.

I say embrace it! Today, I'm going to embrace the word YET in a way every Minnesotan can relate to - "Spring has not come, YET." It will though - there are rays of hope. Maybe next week, just not yet.

Time Flies!

2011-03-15T11:28:00.000-05:00

Well, it seems that time flew by again these last two weeks. Oh well, I try my best. Here's a quick rundown on what's been happening.

Feb. 26 - Rachel and I are both deacons at our church and had a meeting Saturday morning. Well, you can't let a perfectly good opportunity for a post-meeting lunch go to waste so we planned for a little time together at Old Chicago. We had a great time except for the part where I slipped on the wet floor (caused by my wet shoes) and landed my arm into the corner of the greeter's desk. Hopefully, the bruise will heal before spring.

Feb. 27 - I first met Jackie when she came to a small group I was leading a couple of summers ago. Every time I'm with Jackie, she makes me laugh.

Feb. 28 - I titled this picture "Desperately Seeking Spring" because well, because I am SO ready for winter to come to an end. The branches you see here are from the crab apple tree in our front yard. I think those little prickly looking things sticking out are new in the past few weeks. Is it a sign of spring? I sure hope so!

March 1 - I love sunsets. I'm sure you'll see more this year in my "365 project" photos. This particular sunset picture was taken at Lake Byllesby which isn't technically IN our small town but it's right outside the city limits. I must have taken over 50 pictures while I watched the sun set Tuesday night. The sky was a never-ending array of beauty for at least 30 minutes! I don't often take the opportunity to watch the sunset. I should.

March 2 - On Wednesday I had to run up to the MN Assemblies of God district office in Minneapolis. This is the home of MN Bridging the Gap women's ministry. Kelsey is the administrative assistant for Bridging the Gap and I talked her into being my "subject" for the day. She wouldn't do it without me and in all truth, she took the picture because I still haven't mastered the whole "holding my arms out and pointing the camera at myself" technique.

March 3 - I was a bit desperate for a subject to the day. It's been so long ago now, but I'm pretty certain I spent the day writing which means, I don't get out or see anyone. So, I grabbed my little winter birds from the coffee table, went outside and took a picture of them in the snow. John thinks it's my best picture so far this year! I'm a little concerned about that.

March 4 - Friday afternoon I had to run out to my favorite spot to buy meat, Ferndale Market. My friend, Dawn, works there and I persuaded her to let me take her picture. Dawn always has such a sweet spirit.

March 5 - Saturday we celebrated John's birthday with Paul, Erin and Amelia. It was Amelia's first visit to Nana and Boppa's. She is just starting to smile and coo. We had so much fun!

March 6 - My friend, Nancy, and I are leading a Lifegroup for young girls at our church. These girls are simply amazing and it's so fun to see all that God is doing in their lives. I love spending time with them!
March 7 - I first met my friend, Marcy, many years ago when I was trying on shoes at Nordstrom. I have challenging feet, shall we say, and Marcy always knows what will work best for me. She's amazing. I've bought shoes from her for so long that we are now friends and it's always fun to see her.
March 8 - Tuesday I flew out to Idaho to visit my friends, Diane and Greg. As you can see, they are very much in love after 29 years of marriage. It is always fun to see them.

March 9 - Diane and Greg have three sons and one daughter. I didn't get to see their daughter but was so excited to see the boys. Aaron had us over to his house for dinner on Wednesday night. He is a great cook! He also taught me a little trick for diffusing the flash a bit when taking indoor pictures. In this one we used a translucent cover from a bar of soap. While there is still some "flash shadow" this technique was a huge help.

March 10 - Paul is the oldest of the three boys. He is the same age as our middle son, Adam. I still remember coming outside one day to find he and Adam having a contest to see whose pee could shoot the furthest across the yard. Fortunately, neither of them do that anymore; I don't think. I used Aaron's flash diffuser trick in this photo but instead of a translucent cover for soap I used a Kleenex that I doubled. Easy and generally accessible.

March 11 - Philip is the "baby" of the family, though as you can see, he's not even close to a baby anymore. He's a great young man with an infectious laugh and when you get the three of them together, it's hysterical.

I'll try to get this week's pictures up in a more timely manner. One of them just screams Spring and I look at it on a regular basis just to remind myself that Spring is, indeed, making it's way to my little corner of the world.

The days go by so quickly. With that in mind; make some memories, take some pictures, spend time with the ones you love.

Remembering My Sweet Friend, Betsy

2011-03-04T21:40:00.001-06:00

It started with a phone call in 1978. Me: “Hi, this is Nancy Holte calling. My husband met your husband at an optometric conference and well, I’m sorry, but I don’t even know how to pronounce your last name.” There was a hearty laugh at the other end of the phone line and I knew I’d found a friend in Betsy Slapnicher. You can see why I had trouble with that name! Of course, once you break it down, it’s quite easy: “Slap – ni – cher.” Well, maybe not. But, I did eventually learn how to say it.

This morning, my sweet friend, Betsy, woke up in heaven. And really, if you have to wake up somewhere new, you can’t do any better than heaven. I am thrilled for her. Betsy has been fighting cancer for something like four years now and she’d grown weary in the battle. Nonetheless, she will be greatly missed by the many, many people who loved her.

I’ve spent most of today thinking about Betsy and as you'd expect, I did a little bit of crying, but also some laughing. We had some great times together. Betsy and Joe have four boys. Their youngest is just a little bit older than our oldest so when we'd get together (usually at their house) there would be this whirlwind of activity that we just never saw with our one little guy. But we always had fun, and we always laughed. Betsy had a laugh that would spread across her face and light up a room. She and her husband, Joe, were Paul’s godparents.

One summer, Betsy and Joe bought a little cabin on a lake just outside of the Twin Cities. Shortly after they bought it, we went to spend the weekend with them. By then we had two boys and combined with their four, well, let’s just say it was busy! The door to the cabin was rarely closed, as they ran in and out, having a fabulous time while we yelled, “shut the door!” The vast amount of mosquitoes that entered the cabin through that revolving door wasn’t really noticeable until after it got dark.

Once all the kids were settled into bed we sat in the living room (which later that night became their bedroom) and suddenly found ourselves swatting at all the mosquitoes as we talked. Eventually, we made our way to bed and ours happened to be just on the other side of the living room wall. This particular wall was more of a dividing wall that didn’t go all the way up to the ceiling, which meant the pesky little biting insects had made their way into our room, also. So, what happened was we’d be almost asleep and then one of us would hear a mosquito buzzing in our ear and “slap” we’d try to kill it. It wasn’t all that funny at first but as it kept happening over and over again, we just couldn’t contain our laughter and sleeping became nearly impossible. As annoying as the mosquitoes were, the deep belly laughs that ensued were remembered long after the plethora of bites faded away.

Betsy loved her cabin; mostly, I think, because it gave their family an excuse to escape from the city for a bit and spend time together. And Betsy loved nothing more than her family.

Betsy also loved Cape Cod. She would share stories with me about the Cape and one day convinced me that I really needed to go. So, a couple of years ago my friend, Debbie, and I traveled to Massachusetts to visit Betsy's favorites spot. But don’t think I left Betsy out of the trip! This was after she got sick but her number was on my speed dial and whenever Debbie and I didn’t know what to do next, or needed a suggestion for dinner, we’d call Betsy. Betsy kept her little Cape Cod tourism book by her side and when we’d call she’d search through it to remind herself of where all the good places were; then she’d tell us what to do. It was the next best thing to being there with her.

Cape Cod is indeed a fabulous place to visit. There are even a number of songs written about it and I’ve included one in this post. It's the song that Betsy and her son danced to at his wedding two years ago. She was all smiles that night as she danced with Eric, grateful that she hadn't missed this big moment in his life. I, on the other hand, watched and sobbed silently. If you have the time, watch the video and listen to the sweet song; you’ll get to see some beautiful spots on Cape Cod.

But, as beautiful as Cape Cod is there's something I know for sure; it pales in comparison to heaven. Betsy’s going to like it there. And, one day, when I join her, I’m sure she’ll give me a tour, and tell me about all her favorite spots!

A LONG Two Weeks

2011-02-26T23:07:00.000-06:00

I have not posted any of my 365 pictures for the past two weeks so I figured it was time to catch up. There is a reason for my absence which basically boils down to the fact that I was being slowly poisoned by some medication that was supposed to keep me healthy. Oops! On the bright side we figured it out and I'm headed towards normal (whatever that may be.)

I'm going to TRY to keep my comments brief during this post because otherwise, well, you'll never get to the bottom of my post. That plus, some of the pictures are just so lame that to say more than a sentence would be fruitless.

The first two pictures and the last two pictures are pre and post-illness shots.

February 12 - Baby shower for John's sister's son's wife - Jen. Fun was had by all as we tried to guess what she's going to have. Some said boy, some said girl, thus some of us will be right. For the record, I'm guessing girl, but I'm really clueless.

February 13 - Met with our small group. This sweet girl joined us for dinner before our Truth Project video. She always cracks me up!

February 14 - This bottle of Dr. Pepper (which John left work to buy for me) was pretty much the entirety of the sustenance I took in during the day. My Valentine's gift (other than the Dr. Pepper) was a fun-filled trip to the Emergency Room. That John, he sure knows how to show me a good time.

February 15 - I was well enough on Tuesday to go see my chiropractor. His assistant Shirley agreed, somewhat begrudgingly, to be my picture of the day AND told me, once she saw it, that it "wasn't a bad" picture of her.

February 16 - I reached a new low in my "picture a day" quest when I took a shot of the clean laundry drying on the shower rod.

February 17 - I was still hanging around the house and my big activity for the day was working on a baby blanket for an upcoming shower gift. This one rates right above the laundry but below the sign that you'll see in a couple of minutes.

February 18 - I actually got out of the house on Friday and found my friend, Carla, working at the store. She too, was a bit reluctant to have her picture taken, but I promised her I'd make her look good.

February 19 - I was so happy on Saturday that I felt well enough to go to a baby shower for Renee. She is the daughter of one of my very best girlfriends and I would have been sad if I'd missed it.

February 20 - Sunday was John's (and my mom's) birthday but the blizzard we drove home from church in that day preempted any birthday photos I might have planned. The rules are that there can only be one picture a day and it should be taken on the day you post it on the 365 Project website. Some people cheat but I'm hoping I won't have to (thus the laundry photo.) So, I had to actually post the blizzard on the day it happened and I saved John for the next day.

February 21 - I was back to being quite sick again on Monday but on the bright side, this was the day we determined the root of the problem. Since this was the picture I had planned for John's birthday, I made him don his new camouflage Snuglee for the picture. I bought it as sort of a joke, but I heard talk about him taking it hunting. He keeps me entertained, that's for sure.

February 22 - I half expected to find a friend at the grocery store to use as my subject for Tuesday. It's a small town and generally when you go to the store between 4:00 - 6:00 PM there's a pretty good chance you'll see someone you know. I did see a girl I thought I knew and waved from five aisles away only to find out it wasn't her when I got closer. (Seriously, I was hunting her down to be my photo subject!) But, not to despair; on my way out of the store I found this sign which cracked me up when I really needed to laugh.

February 23 - I was back at the chiropractor's office on Wednesday and since it was my only activity of the day, Dr. Pat McIntee became my "subject."

February 24 - I finally felt almost human again and knowing that I was at least not contagious allowed me to go visit my friend, Betsy, who is "walking towards heaven." It was a tough day and this church along the way stood as a reminder that she is not walking alone, nor am I.

February 25 - Though the baby showers were fun and going to the ER in the midst of the hospital's changeover to electronic records was um, interesting; Friday was my favorite day of this past two weeks. Friday night John and I got to babysit our sweet granddaughter. We had so much fun and it's clear that she already has John wrapped around her little finger.

There you have it. You are now all caught up on my life (or lack thereof) for the past two weeks. If you want to read more about the pictures, or see them each day as they are posted you can visit my little corner of the 365 Project website at http://365project.org/nana.

Until next time; make some memories, take some pictures, spend time with the ones you love.

On the Mend

2011-02-13T23:04:00.013-06:00

If you'll recall from my previous 365 project blog, I ended the week fighting a stubborn virus and I'm happy to say that I'm on the mend. Phew! That was a tough one but when I read other friend's status updates on Facebook I come to the realization that I had the "easy" version, if you will. But, on Saturday, February 5, I will still in "will I ever get better" mode. So, I decided to make lemonade out of lemons, as they say.

I have loved scrapbooking for years and recently have moved towards doing digital scrapbooks, primarily because it's easier to tote around the materials needed (just one laptop) and they take up significantly less room on the bookshelf. At first, I wasn't a huge fan of doing my books digitally and then having them printed, but just as I grew to love digital cameras, I'm learning to love digital scrapbooking. My illness gave me some time to watch some technique webinars which has increased my enthusiasm immensely. So, my first picture of the week is of my computer, because pretty much all I did was sleep, eat, and watch digital scrapbooking webinars.

On Sunday, I woke up for the first time in four days without a sore throat, which meant I could go to church. Yahoo! It also happened to be our little granddaughter, Amelia's first day at church AND the first time I'd seen her in over a week (which was really more annoying than my virus) so she, along with her parents were Sunday's picture of the day. As you can see, she was very excited to be the "star" of the show.

This next picture may seem a little lame, but still, it represents my day on Monday - the day for my yearly blood tests - cholesterol, chem 8 panel, etc. All the fun stuff they start testing as you get older. The lab was full of interesting things to take pictures of (not the least of which was the wall painted to look like a Caribbean beach complete with a sign that said "Cabo san Labo") but I decided on the vials for the blood. They are so pretty (in an odd kind of way) and organized sitting there waiting to be filled. Fortunately, I only had to fill one. (I actually thought about taking a picture of the needle in my arm but I didn't want to upset the squeamish ones who might be reading this.)

Tuesday I was so excited to get to spend some time with two of my good friends, Leslie and Nancy. Leslie's birthday was in January but Tuesday was the first chance we had to get the three of us together to celebrate. We had a fabulous lunch at the Lake Elmo Inn. If you've never been there - go. You can thank me later. When the three of us get together it's hard to get us to stop talking. Let's just say they were setting up for dinner by the time we left. What great friends!

On Wednesday, I had big plans for a picture and well, it just didn't work out. The temps were in the sub-zeros so once I got back home I didn't especially want to go out "looking for a picture." Once again, I decided to look outside my back windows to see what I could find. The sun shining on these beautiful icicles and even though I had to open the window to get the shot, I did so quickly. I love icicles but you really should read what a fellow "365er" has to say about winter in general and icicles in particular. She presents a pretty convincing case that winter is trying to kill us.

I actually forgot to take my 365 picture on Thursday and was pulling into town at 10:00 PM when I realized my mistake. I took a few other pictures of our downtown area at night but this one of the car thermometer really summed up my day the best. It was just plain cold and I was ready to be done with it. The next day it warmed up to the 30's (a real heat wave.) Actually, in the early hours of Thursday morning my computer said it was -18° so one could make a case that -5° was just the beginning of the heat wave. In the meantime, I'm praying that I don't see this number again for awhile; many, many months . . . or even years.

We ended the week by going to "Marriage Night" at our church, thus it seemed only appropriate that we get a picture of the two of us together. And yes, our church has a fireplace in the lobby, which was handy because even though it had warmed all the way up to 30°F, it was still cold. I have to admit also, that, having been married for 35+ years I wasn't convinced that I'd get much out of "Marriage Night" but I was wrong. Peter Haas from Substance Church gave a great message. Considering the fact that I got married about the same day he was born, I was pretty impressed. Only goes to show two things. 1.) You CAN teach an old dog new tricks, and 2.) It's always a good thing to spend time investing in your marriage.

There you have it; another week of memories. Hope your week is filled with some fabulous memories of your own. Look for them - make them happen.

Define Sweetheart

2011-02-11T12:40:00.006-06:00

It’s February – the month of LOVE! The month of hearts and flowers. It would be hard to miss the fact that this is the month that we celebrate Valentine’s Day. Even television networks are eager to promote the romantic holiday. In December, immediately after Christmas had ended, I started seeing little pop-ups on the Hallmark Channel that said “Only 50 days left until Valentine’s Day.” Seriously! We didn’t even have all of our Christmas gifts unwrapped yet!

It came as no surprise, then, when Wheel of Fortune started the month with “Sweethearts Week.” Yes, it’s true, at times we do watch Wheel of Fortune at this house, which is really quite remarkable considering I abhor crossword puzzles and Wheel of Fortune is basically a giant crossword game that comes at you one phrase at a time.

Here’s how Wheel of Fortune’s “Sweetheart Week” works. Instead of having just one player at each position they have a man and wife working together as a team. So, the other night John and I are watching the show and he has apparently missed the fact that it is “Sweetheart Week” because suddenly he says to me “Why are there two people answering the questions? Are they married?” “Because it’s “Sweetheart’s Week,” John. Haven’t you been paying attention?” I replied. I kid you not when I tell you his response, “Oh, so they’re not married.” It wasn’t a question.

I’ve got three days until Valentine’s Day. I’m thinking I’ll go out and buy heart shaped post-it notes and start sticking them around the house as a reminder. Maybe I’ll even stick one on myself that says “Your Sweetheart.”

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Beauty in Every Day

2011-02-10T11:41:00.016-06:00

Well, this week is almost done and I've not yet posted pictures from last week. Somehow, I thought these pictures would be my "easy" post of the week, not my only post. Well, bear with me. There have been some extenuating circumstances this past week. At least that's the excuse I'm using for now.

So, a million years ago, on January 29, I threw a bridal shower for my friend, Nancy Nylin's future daughter-in-law, Jessica. I have to say, Jessica exudes excitement as she opens gifts. She was so fun to watch. It didn't matter what the gift was, she loved it. I do think however, her favorite might just be the Espresso Machine that she talked about wanting even before she started opening gifts.

Sunday was a tough day because I had to say good-bye to two couples. First off, it was the last day that our Creative Arts Pastor, Jeff Kerr, would be leading worship at our church. I tell Jeff that he has ruined me for worship with other people; he's just that good. And, his wife Kristie, has been such a great friend to me. Now, the good news is that they aren't really leaving the area so I'll still see them, which allowed me to get through the service without dissolving into a weeping, hysterical mess. Kristie and Jeff are starting two new ministries and I've linked their names to those so check it out. They are amazing people.

By the way, the other couple I said good-bye to was Krista and Steph Prince who are heading to Swaziland, Africa tomorrow. They too, are amazing people and the only reason they weren't the picture of the day on Sunday is because I have to pick just one and Krista was my picture of the day a couple of weeks ago. Read all about their journey on their blog. It'll encourage you in yours.

It had been a busy week and Monday it was time to get back to the old grindstone and workout. I've been going to a Women's Workout Center here in Cannon Falls since 2006. Seriously, you'd think I'd be skinnier by now, but let's just leave that issue alone today. Lora owns Fit of Fourth (which coincidentally is located on 4th Street) and was busy on Monday sprucing it up for Valentine's day.

Tuesday dawned as a gloomy, gray day. Winter, it seemed, was bound and determined to stick around for a bit. I was short on energy and long on boredom so finally, in an effort to find some beauty in the dreary day, I went for a little drive out in the "country" as I like to call it. The "country" is the area that surrounds Cannon Falls and is filled with wide open fields, horses, barns, cows, and the like. There are lots of beautiful things that could be photographed but I chose this close up of an evergreen bough; mainly because I could take it from the car with my telephoto lens. To be honest, I did get out of the car a couple of times to take pictures, but they weren't as good. It's hard to get a good "nature" picture on a gloomy day.

Wednesday I was planning to bring dinner to some friends from our church. Their little guy is three weeks old (well, four by now) so he got to be the star that day. I titled this picture "Packer's Fan" because he really won't have much of a choice. His dad is a HUGE fan and could be quite obnoxious now that they've won the Super Bowl.

And then there was Thursday, the day I realized that that slightly annoying scratchy throat was here for the duration. I went nowhere and basically did nothing; thus I had to get a little more creative with my pictures. So, despite the bitter cold, I opened my bedroom window and captured the view. The best part of this view was the sun. You can't really see it, but you can tell it was shining. Somehow, it made being sick a little bit easier.

I was still sick on Friday and though I did get out for a haircut (because I'd have to actually be dying to skip that) I didn't get any pictures. So, I walked around the house with my camera to see what I could find. There were some flowers on my table (that were already a week old) and I took a few pictures. Daisies are always cheerful and believe me, I needed some cheer. But, the pictures I got just weren't all that exciting so I decided to play around with my photo-editing program a bit and this is what I came up with.

I think the lesson, if you will, from the photos this week is this: find the beauty in every day. Even in the challenges, there is beauty to be found - in nature and in the lives of others. Watch for it and be amazed.

What a Week!

2011-01-31T19:43:00.001-06:00

What a week! I can't believe it's been only eight days since our little granddaughter entered the world. In some ways it seems like just yesterday but when I look at the pictures taken since her birth I'm amazed at all the life squeezed into those eight days! Of course, I'm pretty sure I didn't feel this way when I was the one who had just given birth. So, here we are on week four of my 365 Project. Though most calendar weeks go from Sunday to Saturday, my 365 Project pictures go from Saturday to Friday, primarily because January 1 was a Saturday.

When I started week four, I was at a scrapbooking retreat. I was zipping through pictures, getting so much done. Lee Anne, pictured below, was the consultant who organized the retreat and answered my 42 gazillion questions about digital scrapbooking. She told me later that she was glad Amelia had waited until Sunday to be born so she didn't lose her spot as my picture of the day!

I learned so much at the retreat and went to bed on Saturday night with plans of finishing up a few pages of Christmas pictures in a traditional album before heading home. BUT, our little Amelia had other plans. So, I left the retreat at 2:45 AM, Sunday morning to take Amelia's mom to the hospital. As I mentioned in a previous post, it was an interruption of the very best kind.

To be on the safe side, I took this picture as a "back-up picture of the day" for Sunday just in case Erin had one of those 36 hour labors you hear about. It is a picture of the view out of Erin's hospital room. Not a bad view but I don't think Erin appreciated it as much as I did.

I was much happier to be using this picture of Amelia as my "picture of the day" on Sunday. Amelia has stolen our hearts to be sure.

Of course, Amelia made it as picture of the day on Monday, too, because, well because she's adorable, that's why! Don't you agree?

On Tuesday, it was time for my annual check-up so Tuesday's picture was of my doctor, Alice Suchomel. Dr. Alice took full advantage of my new grandma status to guilt me into a pertussis shot. Ouch! Well, getting the shot was not painful, but it took a few days for my arm to recover. It's all worth it though. I'd feel horrible if I ever gave pertussis to Amelia - or anyone else for that matter, though I have heard that some people lose weight when they have pertussis. No wait, that wouldn't be worth it.

On Wednesday it was "life as normal" again and time to get back to the workout center. My friend Mary was there who I met shortly after I moved to Minnesota over 30 years ago. These days we see each other most often either at a Rotary Club function (our husbands are both members) or at Fit on Fourth (our workout center, which coincidentally, is on 4th Street.) The limestone walls you see in the picture make it "not your average" workout center. Mary and I like to think that we solve the world's problems as we work out though on Wednesday the conversation seemed to revolve around babies; specifically, my new granddaughter. Imagine that.

Barb has been my massage therapist for over 10 years. She's simply the best! Before you go thinking I'm all spoiled, let her give you a massage first! I feel better when I leave but let me tell you, she knows JUST where to poke to make you squirm. She keeps me moving, though, so I'm grateful. We decided to have a little fun with her picture on Thursday. She's been watching me post my pictures on Facebook and was afraid it might be her turn to be the "picture of the day." She was right!

The last shot of the week was of Pastor Alan (and me.) Alan is the Youth Pastor at our church and all the kids love him! On Friday, Alan celebrated the big 4 - 0 in style by throwing a benefit birthday bash. Instead of bringing gifts for him we all made donations to an organization working to stop stop human trafficking. You may recall that in August 2009 John and I went on a mission trip to Russia. Alan was the pastor who lead the trip. We had such a blast getting to know him better and working beside him at the orphanage. He has such a huge heart and we were so honored to be part of his 40th birthday celebration.

And so, another week is already underway. One thing is for sure; life is an adventure!

A Million Years Ago - Earlier this month

2011-01-26T22:23:00.019-06:00

I realize that I haven't posted pictures yet from week three of my 365 Project (a picture a day.) And, since week four is nearly half over with, I thought I'd better hurry or I'd have to post week threefour. (It's a new word - not in the dictionary yet. Maybe next year.)

So, we ended week two with my long drive in the snow to a Women's Ministry Leadership meeting in Dassel, MN. Well, my first picture for week three was taken on the way home from that meeting. I found this church and thought the architecture was quite intriguing. An added bonus was that the sun was shining on it at just the right angle. I would have been satisfied just to see it shining, but this was like a little reward from God for not giving up the day before. Getting to the church was a bit harder than I first anticipated but I thought it was worth the trip.

On Sunday afternoon we had a baby shower for Erin and Heidi at our house. I titled this picture "Guess Who's Due First?" but I suppose, in light of my last post, (the one about becoming a Nana!) it's pretty obvious by now. O.K., I suppose it's also obvious from the picture. Perhaps I should have titled it "Comparing Bellies One Week Before Erin's Delivery." Hindsight is so very helpful.

Angelina is married to our youngest son, Scott. She went out Monday morning excited to shovel the sidewalk (bless her heart, she hasn't lived in MN very long and still considers this fun.) Part of her shoveling involved working on a snow "amphitheater." When I came out to take her picture she said, "I bet I'm more what you were expecting in a first grandchild than in a third daughter-in-law." As long as she's willing to shovel, I say, "have all the fun you want out there."

On Tuesday (1/18) I had a bittersweet lunch with my friend, Krista. On February 11, she and her family are moving to Swaziland, Africa to work as missionaries with Children's Cup. She has the biggest heart and I know she will do great things for God in Swazi BUT, I'm going to miss her so much!
If you know me at all, you know I am by no means a morning person. But when I woke up at 6:30 on Wednesday morning and saw this view out my bathroom window I just had to get a shot. I've always loved the view out the window in the early morning hours and was apparently feeling more inspired than I usually do at 6:30 AM. So, instead of going back to bed, I went in search of my camera and tripod. I think the moon's shape is a bit distorted by the glass. Perhaps I should have opened the window but it was way too early for me to think that clearly. Plus, it was -5 degrees outside!

I'm really wanting this project of mine to represent my daily life which includes people we meet along the way. Almost every week I make the trek to the health food co-op 15 miles from my house. Kathryn is one of the many kind cashiers whom I encounter there. She doesn't know this yet, but she's one of my favorites; always ready with a smile.

And before I knew it I was at the end of the week three at a scrapbooking retreat with one of my best friends - Debbie. We had so much fun working on our albums and talking, and eating, and talking and eating. But, don't think that means we didn't get anything done. We are great at multi-tasking!
All of this seems so long ago in light of the recent arrival in our family. Any guess what one of the subjects will be in this week's photos. Hint: you've already seen one.