Susan Boyles

If you have not seen this yet, you have to go here and see it. Remember Paul Potts? Well, Britain's done it again!

I do not know how to put youtube videos on my blog, so for now, I have to just give you the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

This video brought Husband and me to tears.

Thanks, Emilie, for telling me about this.

Enjoy!

ps -
Things I'm thankful for today:

105. Beautiful music that moves hearts
106. Crying because it's so beautiful
107. Not judging a book by its cover

Eggs

On Monday, I finally colored eggs for Easter. The years when I color eggs are the best! I was late this year. But I'm glad I did it. I love coloring Easter eggs.

I love the colors. I love mixing the all the food coloring into hot water and watching the cups all light up with the intensity of the hues.


There is such anticipation, such suspense in those cups. I love seeing all those vibrant colors lined up on the counter, waiting. I love dipping plain white eggs into my old teacups, full of brightness, and waiting to see how those eggs transform.

And what a transformation!! Those which went in white come out sky blue, deep purple, blood red, soft pink. Some are green, some sunshine yellow. There are brights and pastels, solids and patterns. So many colors, so many variations! They look so good, I always wonder why we only color eggs once a year... why not enjoy them the rest of the year, too?



We love the process. We dip, or we color with a crayon and then dip, or we dip part of the egg in one color and another part in a different color. We make Humpty Dumpties, and night sky scenes, and simple landscapes. We stripe and we polka-dot. There are never enough eggs to satiate everyone's creativity, but always more than enough to satisfy our hunger, for what seems like forever. Sometimes I have to finish off the last few eggs with a multi-colored egg salad, with speckles of red, blue and green where the color seeped through the shells. At that point, it's less than appetizing.

But it's worth it for the fun.

I also love the symbolism: we dip a plain egg and it comes out different, beautiful, changed. Like resurrection. We too, will be changed one day when we are resurrected. We will have new bodies, and they will be wonderful. Coloring the eggs makes a nice analogy.

So - did you color eggs this year? How do you celebrate Easter? Do you have a big Easter dinner? We forgo that because the day is full enough already, and I prefer to simplify it. When it works out, I serve hard boiled eggs (colored, of course) and hot-cross buns for breakfast. That's all. How about you?



Gratitude list additions:

98. Coloring eggs for the sheer fun of it
99. Pretty food
100. The truth of the resurrection of Christ
101. Looking forward to our own resurrection
102. and the reunion we will have with people we love who have gone on before
103. Seeing Christ himself then!! Face to Face!!That will be something amazing!
104. Sensing His immense love for us as we stand before Him

New Picture

Sweet daughter, lover of nature, shows her precious
niece the tiny ants walking along the crack in the sidewalk.

There is such joy in sharing what you know with one you love.

~

Today, I am incredibly thankful for:

87. A daughter who loves

88. A grandgirl who is so adorable

89. The unique love of family

90. Ants (as long as they are outside, and they don't bite)... fascinating little creatures.

91. Sunshine

92. Being blessed with Daughters-in-law who are so easy to love

93. Busy days full of life

94. Quiet evenings at home

95. Errand running day (Thursday, each week)

96. Having a friend come with me on errand-running day, just for fun

97. Being of help to someone when I didn't expect to be.

"Malling" with the girls

We went Malling, the girls and I.

Two daughters were gonna go out. Walk the mall, browse, whatever. I though that sounded fun too. They let me come along... and we had the best time!!

We tried on prom dresses. I'm seriously going to try shopping the junior department next time I need a "Mother of the Bride" dress. They tend to be much cuter than traditional "Mother's" dresses. And less expensive. One of these with a shawl or jacket over it would work really well, I'm thinking.

Of course the best fun was in seeing daughter try on things she would never think of buying. Well, maybe she would now that she tried it on once.

Beautiful! Fun, interesting things way out of our price ranges. But no matter... we weren't buying anyway, just getting ideas.

We got sweet snacks at the food court to hold us over till supper.

We shopped the shoe stores and found all kinds of things we liked and lots that we didn't. Funny how I got to thinking of all the things I need that I didn't think I needed before.

But we got out of there without buying a thing, except for the snacks. (Yay, us!)

We walked the mall till our feet were tired, and low blood sugar made us realize we needed supper but also made it hard to think where we wanted to go.



We finally decided to go to a Mexican place right near the mall.


Endless chips and salsa for all, endless enchiladas for the younger, and guac to share for the other two of us. Plus beans and rice... a full meal for us all. They made guacamole right at the table, and it was delicious!! We were having such a good time we even succumbed to the desert menu.

The Mayan chocolate cake is delicious. I had a tiny bite and am wishing to go back when the diet I'm on is past.

It was husband's idea for us to go out for supper. He's cool that way. He likes to see us happy. He said, "Just bring something home for us"... so that's what we did. We stopped at Wendy's on the way home and got the guys Doubles and Frostys. They thought it was wonderful!

I love having fun with my kids. Sometimes I have to be all serious and act like the responsible party. I can do that. It's important. But other times it is good to just relax and have a good time with them. They are great people to hang out with, and I'm glad we could do it.

(All these pics were taken with my cell phone. Yeah really, I know.
Not recommended, but I wasn't going to bring a big camera along.)

Seeing AmyLou

So, yes, we did go visit daughter AmyLou last week. What a treat!!
She goes to school very far from home and we don't see her during
the school year. I miss her.

A Lot!

(Even though I don't usually let myself think about it too much.)

But!... Her singing group was traveling for spring break, And while they were traveling one direction, the rest of the fam piled in the car and started off the other direction!

We met somewhere in the middle!! Ooh!! So fun!! So great to see her!!



We met in a little town called Eureka, Ill.


Turns out this is where Ronald Reagan went to College! So we visited the
tiny but well-done Reagan Museum.

Husband studied the history.

And we caught up with her group right there!

A student at the college (Left) gave us an impromptu tour, with lots of historical tidbits and stories. Two of my daughters are there on the right, in the baseball caps.

And AmyLou, whose orthodontic treatment was recently finished
out at school, showed us her new mouth...

This is the first time in a long time I have seen her smile a full smile. Well, sort of a smile... more like a "see my new teeth?" kind of expression. I thought she was already beautiful. Her new smile only adds to the charm, in my opinion.

It was spring there. We are still waiting for the flowers here, so this was encouraging...

Do you see those tulips?? Pretty cool, huh? It's a big deal to us who wait for the beauty of warm things. Oh, and all those people around her -- that is her singing group.

Flowers!! Beautiful!

The siblings were glad to see her, and it was good to see them together.
Yep, those are three of my offspring right there.

The beauty in the middle is my oldest daughter.... ok, the two blonde curly girls are mine... can you tell they are sisters?? The others are friends from school who are in the ensemble. Older daughter went to the same school so it was great for her to see old friends, too.

Sound check ... I was loving their sound already.

And it was fun to see them goof off just a little, even as they all did their jobs: setting up the equipment, ironing the shirts, etc. They are all good friends and work together well. They have a sense of humor, too. Fun! Made me happy that my girl could be part of it.

Once they got in their outfits, they were serious and did a great job! I loved the music they made. Very beautiful, very worshipful, very fun, too. Good concert.

(Maybe I can get you just a little sample in a minute.)

After the concert, we visited a little. My girls with a friend from school, Betsy from Georgia.

It was great to just hang out with my daughter for a little bit
before we went back to the hotel.

Oh my goodness!! We DO look alike! I was surprised when I saw these pictures.
(Her director said he saw that family resemblance. I don't think she believed him at first.)



The other kids had a good time just being with their sister, and oh, yeah,
just being who they are...

It's the closest to roughhousing they could get in shirt and tie.


We said our goodbyes, and left each to our own place. She, as did all the students , stayed with a host family from the church where the concert was held. They were starting early the next day and had many miles to cover. We had to go get supper...

where the family waited patiently for the pizza to get done...


and then...

We went back to our hotel and relaxed.

Yes, we sure did...

ya gotta savor the hot tub...

and youngest took a break from the pool to try out the equipment.

Here's where we stayed:







This was right across the street from our hotel. I think it's an interesting little barn
... and a pretty scene to wake up to.

Which we did the next morning, and after some breakfast and some more pool/relaxing time,
we headed home.

Along the way, we traveled into farm country. Clusters of houses and outbuildings scattered on acres and acres of brown earth. And wires!! So many power lines!!

It was a good trip, and I was glad to be on a road trip without fear, since the last one didn't go so easily. And it was so great to see the daughter for a bit.... she'll be home again in just a few weeks now. It'll be good to see her.

OK, now let's see if I can find that little clip of them singing that I promised.
It's not a whole song, but you can get an idea...

I wish the quality were better, but it's the best I've got, so here y'go.

Nice, isn't it?

Trip to see daughter...pics coming

So, last week we went to see the daughter. We went five hours in one direction while she came some kind of long way (I didn't measure it) from the other direction. She's been on tour with a singing group from her school during their spring break. We met up with her in Eureka, Illinois. Turns out that Ronald Reagan went to college there! We visited the Reagan Museum, tiny but well done. It was fun.

It was so good to see the girl!! I really miss her; we haven't seen her since Christmas break.

I will post pictures as soon as I can, but I wanted to tell you that it was a very good trip. We stayed overnight, and it was like a mini-vacation for our family. We got to hear her sing with the group. They have a beautiful sound. We met her friends, and our older daughter, who came with us, visited with friends she had made when she went to that same school a couple years ago. Very, Very good trip for all!!


I'll post pics soon.

Happy April

Today is April Fool's Day. Have fun with it! And BE SURE to listen to NPR today at noon for the "news"! (See how quickly you can spot the story of the day!)



Please share your fun April Fool's Day Stories - give me a link, or just tell me about it in a comment, ok?