Some Very Special Celebrations

Happy 50th Birthday Dennis!!!!! We were thrilled to be able to celebrate with you this last weekend. Only sorry that we couldn't stay for the whole weekend. Blessings to you in the coming year! You are loved.
Dennis was the reason for our quick trip to Colorado the beginning part of Easter weekend, but we were also able to rejoice in other special occasions and people. Saw both sets of my parents, and visited my grandmother in the nursing home (a first). We hadn't been to Colorado since July, so it seemed like forever since seeing her. The last week of December (during the week of our move), Grandma had a heart attack, and I literally left out funeral clothes when we were packing - it all looked that grim. Our visit, while short, was great. So glad to see her and love her. We didn't get to see all my family - but will look towards this summer's trip to do that.

I'm shooting myself for not taking more pictures. Absolutely didn't get my camera out. Took what few pictures I had with my phone finally. Mom was great and had boiled eggs all ready for coloring Saturday morning before we left for home, and even let me take them with me as I was hosting Easter dinner the next day. Thanks Mom!
On the way home, we stopped by my sister's house in Western Kansas where our sweet Bella had finished celebrating her first birthday just a few hours before. Oh how we love our dear nephews and nieces, and a quick visit is better than no visit. Bella is all smiles and such sweet contentment walking all around in her lovely birthday/Easter dress!

And what a special holiday Easter is. I have such fond childhood memories of celebrating Easter with my family. Russ' parents and one of our new neighbors joined us for church that morning and lunch following. Mom brought this very festive Easter cake which we all loved!
After lunch, we enjoyed a few moments of sunshine before it turned dreary, and the boys had fun hunting for eggs and wrestling around.


I am thankful for these special moments in my life and the love of family. I missed everyone so much on Easter. That afternoon and these days following, I have also been sad to not have my brother and his girlfriend with us. They were to follow us home from Colorado and stay until this afternoon (Wed). Due to some health reasons, they were not able to, and what a loss that has been. However, everything worked out to what was best for the circumstances. We are grateful and will focus on another trip in the future!

Yard Work

We have been working in our yard. Luckily, the previous owners had things in pretty good order, but there has still been several items on our agenda. Last week, was our town's city clean up week, so we pushed to have everything trimmed, and leaves raked up and out to the curb for the convenience of the city taking it all away.

We were also able to pick up free mulch from the city. It is not fancy; just plain ol' mulched up tree limbs, etc., but it works for us! And we feel quite resourceful. The boys were good helpers with the mulch one night.

I've planted two honeysuckle plants to climb over our archway that is placed in one of the corners of the backyard. I wanted to try something different. The lady at the nursery said the honeysuckle would attract hummingbirds, and they may even build their nests in the branches. How fun would that be!
This morning, Dellen and I went and shopped for the garden area and planted when we got home. He was a fantastic helper while planting in the wheel-less-barrow that the family before us left. His enthusiasm wained about the same time as mine; he was able to go inside while I pushed on.
We planted: two kinds of tomatoes, green pepper, jalepano pepper (this was suppose to be another green pepper plant - but it is not worth returning), cilantro, onions, romaine lettuce, broccoli, snap peas, canteloup and pumpkins. Again, much too ambitious, but when the little guy was picking out vegetables I went with it. He wanted cantaloupe and broccoli and snap peas, and I thought they sounded good too.

It is always exciting to plan and anticipate the harvest. Hopefully, this year's efforts will be more fruitful than last year.

And So It Begins

Russ is leaving within the hour for San Antonio, where he will be attending the Mennonite Brethren National Youth Conference. (Have fun exploring the sight, and reading the "about" section for history on the conference.) This event is the largest gathering of Mennonite Brethren in the world, and happens once every four years. Last time, it took place in Anaheim, CA. As part of his new roles as District Youth Minister, he will be on the planning team for the next youth conference held in 2015.

We've said our family goodbyes, and made a special point of spending time together last night and this afternoon. That has become a family ritual we have before he leaves for any extended amount of time. The boys and I will head over to the church in about thirty minutes and see the group off.

And so it begins, a little prematurely; the summer travel season for Russ. We will all have to get in the groove of being apart again. In the coming months, Russ will be gone for three camps, a mission trip, and a district conference. I'm glad we are not trying to move in the midst of all these events now.

Marbles and Q-tips

Marbles and Q-tips and paint. These two letters are part of some preschool work that Dellen's teacher from the fall has sent him to work on this spring. When we checked him out of school in December, we were given this awesome three ring binder of monthly signatures and self portraits, as well as, alphabet art. I hated that he wasn't going to be able to finish with his class. I asked if there was any way to get copies of the sheets from January to May and the rest of the alphabet, and his teacher has been so obliging. Just love her! And Dellen has loved his "homework".

I feel very guilty at times that I haven't done more with my precious little guy this winter and spring. My last months home with him before he starts school, and it feels like part of that time was simply robbed from us with the move. But, even without that transition, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been disciplined to teach him to read. Could he? Probably. Do I need to? Not really at this point. Pressure sets in when you meet with other parents whose children just months older than my guy are reading at "a 6th grade reading level". I could share all that he is able to do at the moment, but that isn't necessary either. I think my children are exceptional. Me and many other parents regarding their own marvelous children. We should believe in them and invest time in them. Oh, to be able to do as much as we would wish to and feel joyful in doing so.

We went to kindergarten pre-enrollment last night at his school. Sam and him will be attending the same school for the next two years. If we are in Newton for their graduations, that will not happen again until high school when Dellen is a freshman and Sam a senior.

Dellen was very excited. Everyone met in the cafeteria and when it was time for the teachers to take the students to the classroom, he went very confidently. The parents went through orientation and paperwork (which was a breeze for us. Seriously, how many times have we done that in the last year?! Three schools in one year!). When we rejoined Dellen, he was excited to show us the ducklings that he was able to pet, and tell us all about what their beaks felt like.

Dellen and I went back to the school today to bring fruit and help with Sam's class pizza party. One of the kindergarten teachers passed us in the hall and said hi to Dellen by name and pronounced it correctly. That was above and beyond! And I welcomed the feeling of it. Our transition to this school has been much harder than to Weatherford last fall, and that was much bigger. (During this last year, Sam went from a class of ten, to seven 2nd grade classes with over 20 students each, back to two 2nd grade classes. I think he has 23 in his class now.)

We appear to be set. We can hunker down and settle in to a school again! Now, I just need to deal with both my children being in school full time come fall. Where is the time going? These snuggly baby/toddler/preschool years have flown by entirely too quickly!

Spring Snow

I wish I had been taking pictures of all the beautiful flowering trees in our neighborhood, as the blooms are about done and green leaves are emerging everywhere. There were several Oklahoma Redbud trees blooming with purple flowers. Plentiful numbers of Spring Snow Crabapple trees, yellow Forsythia bushes and some other red blooms on trees; not sure what they are though. We have a medium sized Spring Snow in our backyard seen below. The drive into the neighborhood has been beautiful. Unfortunately, come fall there will be smashed crabapples everywhere.

Corn Reunion Week

Shortly after posting that last entry, the start of our Corn reunion week was upon us. Papa and Mema came up for two nights. We enjoyed games, a trail, and a trip to the Etc. Shop together. And they enjoyed seeing several of their friends up in the area while they were here also.

Tuesday morning, another friend, Mark, came through and brought up Russ' motorcycle that had stayed back in Corn for painting (my Christmas present to Russ). It looks awesome! Finally one color instead of three. Russ and Mark were able to spend the day together and we enjoyed his company that evening.
This week was also Spring break for us, and we spent Wednesday afternoon with Gramps and Grams. Over lunch, Gramps asked me about my last blog entry and the sadness I felt. I assured him I was okay. That night, I was talking to Russ and actually said I couldn't even physically or emotionally grasp that feeling that we walked through in January. I could tangibly sense how far we had come. But a bridge reminder to that would come on Thursday evening when we went to see the Corn Bible Academy choir sing in a nearby town. I was (much to my surprise) overcome with grief and cried again through most of the concert. There were so many friends of ours; and we knew the 40 choir members, and received such love and hugs. We had relationships and history with people, and knew their names! Oh, how I remembered and felt our heartache that night. And couldn't imagine the irony in that I had said what I did the very night before. There is such a fine balance of living what seems like two lives and feeling like it is two different worlds in time. Oh, how I wish we could merge all that we love from the two of them!

Friday, found us reunited with yet another dear friend from Corn, Amy, who had gone through the youth group and now serves as a World Impact missionary. We joined her at the zoo. It was a crisp day, but a lovely one nonetheless.







We rounded out the week seeing yet another friend, Ginnie! Blessing upon blessing. And I might mention here, that a few weeks before we had our Corn neighbors stop by one afternoon. Lovely! Dear friends, keep the connections coming. You are all welcome anytime!