There and Back Again

Yesterday was spent at the beach on Sanibel Island. What a gorgeous day! Hit 80 degrees, sunny with a gentle breeze, puffy white clouds, and the company of my favorite person - my husband. Everyone was taking advantage of the beautiful day. At one point I counted 19 boats: Speedboats and fishing boats, boats of every size and description, and one ethereal sailboat. There were parasailers, too, and kayakers. The smell of the salt spray, the warmth of the sun and coolness of the breeze, the beauty, were all so peaceful and relaxing.

Tomorrow I'm flying up to Indiana. Gonna be cold, might snow. I'll have grandbabies to play with and a whole new type of beauty to absorb in the landscape around me. Life is good!

The title There and Back Again seems descriptive of what I'm doing. But it also reminds me of how much I am looking forward to the film coming out at the end of the year, around Christmastime 2012 - The Hobbit!!! I enjoyed The Lord of the Rings films, and I read the trilogy, but The Hobbit has always been my favorite. My uncle introduced me to Bilbo Baggins when I was 13 years old; he sent me the book, wrapped in a soft, rainbow-hued paper and accompanied by a lovely little drawing he did of the circular door of the hobbit house. I was transported in to another world! I can't wait to see what the film is like and fervently hope I will not be disappointed.

What are you looking forward to this year?

Perfect Beach Day

We took Anna to the beach today for the first time. We went to Sanibel Island on a perfect day. We saw dolphins, a parasailer, dogs swimming, and this lovely little sailboat. Anna loved the beach and we all had a wonderful time!

Happy Birthday, Anna!

I want to say Happy First Birthday to our precious little granddaughter, Anna! I am a little stunned at just how much I love this little girl. She is a gift straight from the Arms of God. Being a Grandmother is everything everyone said it was and more. What pure delight! I just spent time Skyping with her and her mother, and she is learning and changing and growing more beautiful every day.

Back to Blogging!

Hello, my old friends! I have decided to begin blogging again - I've missed you all too much to stay away! I don't know if anyone is keeping up with me at Associated Content; I enjoy writing there, but it doesn't have the intimacy blogging does. So I'll be trying to catch up with all of you in the coming days. Ok, maybe weeks.

In the roughly nine months I've been away, a lot has happened, as I'm sure it has with you all. I turned 50. I like being 50! I think it is a good, respectable age. The half-way point! Not too young, not too old. And being a new Grandma, it seems fitting that I not be in my 40s anymore. Unfortunately, my body did not like turning 50, and my heart rebelled. I started the new year out by getting fit and in shape, but right in the middle of Turbo Jam I began having severe, radiating chest pain - this was back in February - and a 99% blockage in the main artery (the widower-maker!) was discovered, and, as I thought, fixed with a stent. But it turns out stents are more like a patch. Anyway, instead of getting better, I began getting worse, and just last week I ended up back in hospital, getting a stent within my stent - scar tissue had blocked it all back up again. So now we're praying that doesn't happen again, because if it does, I'm facing open heart surgery.

I also got to go spend some time with my son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter this spring. My son was in hospital too, with pneumonia, flu, ruptured eardrum and possible cracked rib, so I went up to help out. It even obligingly snowed one day while I was there! A treat for a Floridian, let me tell you. I am happy that I avoided any tornadoes tho! My little granddaughter is the cutest little thing ever! I enjoyed her so much, and she was in major learning mode while I was there, which was a lot of fun. She's about to celebrate her 1st birthday, and then at the end of this month, they are scheduled to come for a visit, hallelujah!

Ok, that's enough for now, don't you think? I want to find out about all of you! Stop by and leave a comment, will you please?

Paradise Lost or Regained?

I live in what is commonly referred to as Paradise, i.e. Florida. After being gone for a month, I am truly enjoying being back home, even though August is not really Florida's shining moment. However, I was in another state, enjoying our very first grandbaby and in many ways that qualified as Paradise!

Our granddaughter is a calm, sweet, adorable little girl and we are head over heels in love with her. We've been doing everything possible to earn e-miles so we can fly up and see her frequently. These things take time. One of the things I've been doing is writing for pay. Unfortunately, that means I don't have much time to blog anymore, writing or reading.

I am sorry to neglect my dear blog friends, and I miss reading your posts and being a part of your lives. But I have run smack in to the old adage about there being only so many hours in a day. So all I can say is that I will do the best I can. Meanwhile, if anyone wants to, they can catch up with me a little more frequently by accessing my Associated Content articles, listed on the left top, with "clickable" titles.

As to recently, I spent a month in Indiana, 2 weeks of it helping out my daughter in law in the last weeks of her pregnancy and 2 weeks of it cuddling our new granddaughter. Another small vacation with my husband followed. Then I got sick. I am just starting to feel better, but now there are extended family health concerns to deal with.

On a good note, our youngest son went to Panama recently and had a wonderful week there, enjoying the beauty of the place and also attending a missions conference. He looks really good in his new Panama hat!

Our Precious Baby Granddaughter Has Arrived

I just got back from a very long day at the hospital, but all ended well. Our darling granddaughter is born, and she is just beautiful. 8 lbs 1 oz, 21" long and lots of dark hair, also extraordinarily long eyelashes! I appreciate any prayers that were offered on her behalf, because as it turns out, the cord was wrapped three times around her neck. But God is gracious and both baby and Mom, and my son the Papa, are doing quite well.

Any of you that are friends on Facebook can see a pic and name. I plan be in Indiana 2 more weeks, Lord willing, to hold our baby girl and spoil her parents. The baby is so, so sweet and calm. We are so blessed to have her here. Praise God, the creator of babies. 7/7/10

Waiting for the Birth of My Granddaughter

I am waiting for my first grandchild, a granddaughter, to be born. She is content to stay where she is at the moment and I am content too. It's so different with a grandchild. With my own children, I was much more anxious to hold them in my arms. Even though I long to hold my granddaughter, I am happy to wait until it pleases her to be held. I love her already, just as I did my own children. But while I just knew they would be perfect in every way, it's different with my granddaughter. It's not that I don't think she'll be perfect - it's that it just doesn't matter. She is. That's enough. She doesn't have to be perfect if she doesn't want to be.

I love that I'll get to play with her. I played with my own children, of course, but I also had so much raising and character-forming and teaching to do - I love that with my granddaughter I can just be. I'm interested to see what she will be like, but in a once-removed kind of way that brings ease with it. I even hope that her parents will discipline and guide her properly, because I know that will be best for her. But I like her just the way she is.

Even now, when the way she is, is unborn as of yet. When it pleases her to make her entry in to this world, I'll be waiting with open arms and uncritical approval. I'll be waiting, with time to play; with sympathy and a helping hand when she must work instead. I'll be waiting with pride, but not surprise, at her accomplishments. She has already brought me such joy!

I'm waiting for my granddaughter's arrival, ready to adore and enjoy her. I am a Grandmother and it is grand indeed.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend & 21st Birthday of My Son

We had a fun four-day weekend! But the above darling little clothes actually have nothing to do with that. These are from a recent shopping trip extraordinaire! I am not particularly enamored with shopping. But I wanted to get something for the new little one heading our way. So when I got not one, but two $10 off coupons (one from J. C. Penney's and one from Kohl's), I decided to do a spot of shopping. As it turns out, both stores were having huge baby clothes sales! At Penney's I got the above "romper" for "Daddy's Little Princess," as well as a deep rose colored onesie and a soft bib. At Kohl's I found the darling red sweater/jacket over a polka dotted onesie, and it included a little pair of red pants with a pink flower on the back! The original prices would have made this about $45 - the sales made it more like $23 - with my two coupons, I paid roughly $3.00!!! Now that's the way to shop.

As for the weekend. Friday night hubby was able to get tickets to the dinner theater to see "Ring of Fire," the musical revue of Johnny Cash's music and life. We had seats right down front; the food was good (particularly the warm peach cobbler over vanilla ice cream), and the show was fantastic! My hands hurt the next day from clapping so much.

Saturday I spent the whole day cooking and baking for a special celebration that night. My youngest son, who spent the day playing video games with his father, turned 21 on Memorial Day. This year we celebrated on Saturday, so we avoided the unfortunate gaffe we made a different year. I don't remember which birthday it was, but we went all out and had a Pirate theme. His oldest brother took him to the movies and the middle son helped us make the front porch look like a pirate ship, put his gift in a little chest and buried it in the back yard, and wrote clues that sent him all over the yard to find it. In our enthusiasm, we even ran the Jolly Roger, procured at the flea market, up the flag pole. It wasn't until later that one of us realized it was actually Memorial Day! Oops! Anyway, this year we had a quieter dinner and party on Saturday. Sunday was nice, church and a quiet afternoon, while the son went to a party with his friends. And Monday, his real birthday, we all went to see Iron Man 2. Quite spectacular. I kind of liked Iron Man 1 better, but this one was definitely worth seeing on the big screen, and the guys liked it just as well as the first one.

I've also been exercising and losing weight (although this weekend was a bit off the reservation, what with the desserts at the dinner theater and the fried chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy and biscuits and apple pie and ice cream for the birthday party) - and oh, that reminds me, if any of you live far enough south to have a Publix, then you ought to know that for a limited time only they have brought back Tin Roof Sundae Premium Ice Cream, which is their best flavor EVER and which they inexplicably discontinued a few years back. I am also cleaning the outside of the house (and even, on occasion, the inside!), so that's what I've been up to, among a bunch of other stuff... how 'bout you guys?

Let the Happy New Year Begin!

(I see they have changed the way they do images on here, and it is messing me up! But I'll soldier on.) Christmas was warm and my roses were blooming their little hearts out. It is cold now, supposed to be between 30something and 50something all week. They said we haven't had 12 consecutive days below 70 degrees since 1935, but we might break the record over the next two weeks.

My head cold is nearly gone, for which I am grateful. I didn't get bronchitis this time, but I couldn't sing Christmas carols without coughing. My husband sings so beautifully, though, that I just enjoyed listening to him instead. (See my Schnozz, up above? Isn't he a hoot? He was a gift, and I love him to pieces.)

Christmas was lovely. I still have the poinsettias across my table, but I am trying to decide whether or not to plant them. I keep hoping I can keep one growing long term. I have a new location in the yard to try out. As for the previous post, all the things say Merry Christmas, obviously, in the following languages: Spanish; German; English; French; Hebrew; Swahili; Russian; Thai; Slovak; Bulgarian; Greek; Italian; Estonian; Portuguese. No, to my regret I don't speak all those languages. Only English, and a smattering of Spanish. I borrowed these from my youngest son's Facebook page. He's a missionary. No, he doesn't speak all these either, although he knows some German, and has been to Greece and Bulgaria.

Christmas was lovely and full of family, beauty and good food. And good news! Thanks to our oldest son and his lovely wife, I am going to be (or rather, as my husband pointed out, I already am!) a GRANDMA!!! The baby is due in late June. And we are EXCITED!!! I've been practicing on all the babies at church.

Our middle son sent us to see Avatar at the movies as one of our gifts; we saw it in 3D, naturally. Although I did not care for some of the language, other than that I loved the movie! It was beautiful, actually stunning, to watch, and an entertaining story as well. Pure escapism with a visual element that was amazing!

Well, for some reason I always do spring cleaning right after the new year, so I gotta get busy. Also, I didn't make resolutions this year as I have not yet gotten the good out of last years' so I will be Gardening, Exercising and Writing. Oh, one more thing. My hubby set up a google reader for me, so I can read all your blog posts in one central location a lot sooner. The only down side is that I can't comment there. I am reading your things, and as soon as I can, I will swing by and say hello. May God Bless us this year and I ask that He give me an even deeper love of and obedience to His Word.