The sweetest sound

The sweetest sound in all the world is a telephone call from someone in my family. I love talking to each of them. My children call me about once every couple of weeks. I talk to my husband at least twice a day. But I had a great phone call last night. I answered the phone and heard, "Hi Nana." It was my granddaughter, Izzy, calling just to talk. She had just taken a shower and had her jammies on. I asked her about preschool and she told me about all the friends she had made there. Then she asked me, "Nana, is a spider and insect?" I said yes, and she said, "No, Nana a spider is not an insect. Insects have 6 legs and a spdier has 8." Then she asked, "Nana, do you know what and Inuit is?" To which I replied, "No, what is it?" She answered, "An Inuit is an Eskimo. Nana, do you know what the seasons are?" I was sure I knew the answer to this one.
"Spring, Summer..." "No, Nana. The seasons are Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer."
My granddaughter is amazing. I told her that I didn't like it that winter was coming. She told me that she likes winter because she can go outside and play in the snow and build snow forts and throw snowballs. And in winter you can ice skate.She also likes winter because her birthday is in December. We had a great time talking.
Later my daughter-in-law got on the phone and said that Izzy hadn't used up her daily quota of words yet, so she wanted to call me.
After talking to her, my grandsons wanted their turn so first I talked to Andrew and then to Jake. The sweetest sound in the world is having someone (especially your grandchildren and children) say "I love you!"

Guatemala is too far away

I just talked to my daughter, Carrie, and she's on her way to the doctor. She got a burn on her leg from a motorcycle (??? what's the story behind that???) and it sounds like the burn is infected. I know she has people to take care of her there, but it's so hard to be here when she's there. My momma genes kick in and I want to be the one taking her to the doctor. I guess I better just start praying my worries away and let God take care of my daughter because she is His daugtherand He loves her more than I do, and, He can take care of her better than I can.
The hardest part of being a mom, sometimes, is letting go.

Choices

It seems that this world is just full of choices - too many choices. Last weekend my refrigerator died. So I went to buy a new one and I could not believe the choices.Did I want a top mount freezer or a bottom mount?Or maybe a side to side refrigerator? White, Bisque, Or stainless? what size - 30 inches minimum width to very wide - 60-75 inches tall? Icemaker? Water in the door? And on and on. What brand is best? Amana, , LG, GE, Whirlpool, Maytag, Jenn-Air, Kitchen Aid, to name a few. Then I found out that Whirlpool makes Maytag, Jenn-Air, Kitchen Aid and Amana. I came home the first night with my head in a whirl. So I got online and did a little more research, read some reviews, and tried to narrow my choices. I looked at what each store had to offer in terms of delivery, pricing and financing.
The next day I went back and visited a big box store and a smaller appliance store. At the end of the night I had bought a Whirlpool white top mount freezer refrigerator. It wasn't my first choice, but my first choice was just too expensive. I decided that basically I needed something to keep my food cold. I bought my fridge from the smaller store because the salesman was friendly, patient, and offered to match prices of other stores. He gave me free delivery and haul away, and 12 month no interest financing.

This week I am shopping for a wood stove for the cabin. And I'm confronted with more choices - style, size, material it's made of, BTU's, and on and on.

I think it was easier to buy things when the biggest factor was cost - not millions of choices.

Big Iron Rig Classic

Last weekend we went to the Big Iron Rig Classic Truck Show in Kasson, MN. Craig drove his semi and was part of the show. You wouldn't believe how many semis there were in the little county fairgrounds of Kasson. Last year there were over 600 - I think there were even more this year. Most of the trucks were working trucks - guys and gals use them every day for their jobs. There were cabovers and conventionals, old trucks and brand new ones, day cabs and trucks with sleepers, fancy trucks and plain ones, wreckers, tankers, flatbeds and vans, trucks pulling campers, and trucks geared for truck pulls. The Chrome Shop Mafia was there, and so was the star from Ice Road Truckers. The show had the atmosphere of the state fair. There were mini doughnuts for sale, pork chops on a stick, and food in the 4-H building. There were vendors - all selling truck-related items, of course. And then there were the people. Young and old, some drive trucks, some know someone who drives, and some just love the big rigs. I heard that the trucks started rolling in to Kasson last Monday, even though the show didn't start until Friday. On Saturday there was a truck parade through the town. People lined the streets to see the rigs and hear their air horns. Some of the truckers even threw candy to the kids. There were lots of people with cameras too. But the highlight of the show was the Truck Pull Saturday night. People waited in line for over an hour to get tickets to the Pull. The stands were packed, as was the pit area. And people were not disappointed. It was quite a show. A lot of truckers just wanted to see if their rig could pull the weighted sled, but there were also some "professional" pull trucks. A couple of the rigs had flames come out of their smokestacks (just for the effect) before they pulled. One truck did a wheelie all the way down the track while it was pulling. (I wonder how he did that?) Craig's friends, the 3 Sailor brothers, all have pull trucks - and we really enjoyed watching them pull.

Lots of people stopped to take pictures of the mural on Craig's truck. Some had seen pictures of it on the Big Iron Rig Classic website, others had seen it in a book by Betty Garber, and others were seeing it for the first time at the show. It was fun to talk witrh everyone who stopped by the truck.

We really had a great time at the show - but the best part of the weekend? The kisses we got from our grandchildren when we stopped Sunday to visit them on the way home!!!

I want to be an electrician!

This past weekend Craig and I were at the cabin. We had wonderful weather - warm days, cool nights. We ate our meals in our picnic house, had some great campfires, and went biking. Craig got in some time at his shop too. But my favorite part of the weekend was working with Craig on our mudroom. Our furnace is finally complete, so we were able to build a wall to separate the mudroom from the hallway. We framed in the wall, complete with doorway, and sheetrocked it. We created a coat closet. And, we wired in two lights and three way switches. Using a wiring book I was able to figure out how to wire the switches so that we can walk in the door from the hall and turn on the light, then turn it off as you go out the door to the garage. It's so cool!
I really wish I had taken shop classes in high school. I really like working on the cabin - using our compound mitre saw, laser level, and nail gun. I like figuring out how to do each of the projects we've done. Of course it's even better when Craig and I do it together!

What kind of animal are you?

This morning when I was driving to work I saw a hawk sitting on top of a dead tree. I almost didn't see him becasue he was the same color as the tree. I started thinking about that - being the same color as his surroundings allowed him to hunt without being noticed. I began to wonder, is that what people are like? So similar to the world around them that they blend in? As a Christian, I shouldn't blend in, look the same as the world.
Are they predators, just waiting to attack someone else?
I thought of other animals, and other people... some are like peacocks- beautiful, but proud. They want to look bigger than life, and they are definitely noticed.
Then there's the chameleon - he changes colors depending on his surroundings.
I finally decided that I want to be like a dog. I want to be loyal, loving, teachable. I want to follow my Master (God) for my whole life. Just like people, there are many breeds of dogs - different shapes and colors. Some are more trainable than others. Some are more loving, some are noisy, some work harder than others but most all are loyal to their Master.
Can you think of other animals and characteristics that both people and animals have?

Life is hard . . . but God is good.

Work has been really, really slow for Craig. In fact, it has been so slow this week that he hasn't worked yet this week. Finally he will haul a load tomorrow and one on Friday, but that's it for this week. We are starting to look at our finances and make some decisions on cutting back our expenses. This is certainly Not what I expected to be doing at this time in our lives. With our kids done with college and supporting themselves, I thought we would be working and saving for retirement. Right now we are working to live - not much saving is going on.
But God is good! He provided a job for me, with health benefits for both of us. We have our health, each other, our wonderful kids and grandkids, good neighbors and friends. We have His Word to guide us and comfort us, to encourage us and teach us. And He lives in our hearts - we feel His presence and His peace in the midst of these uncertain times.
We are choosing to trust Him. God IS good.