We're Still Valentines

People might think that Steve and I are a little delusional but after all these years we're still in love with each other. Well, I think Steve is lupie anyway, he still tells me I'm pretty, haha. Along with all the years of happy and loving memories we've had our share of fights and sometimes long periods of distancing. But it seems each time we've make the choice to tough it through taught us to prove the amount of love that was there to make a vow on, and seemed to produce some kind of a glue. I know that toughing it through doesn't guarantee to make your love and gratitude for the other spouse grow, in some cases it can cause repressed bitterness. That requires a hard think, a changed mindset. Paul said he had come to a point where he could do all things in Christ. Through God's strength he could adjust to any situation he found himself in. I've heard of tortured Christians adjusting their mindset to where they could thank God for their situation and serve Him there joyfully. That is really putting to the test "In everything give thanks", but it also shows it is possible. I don't know why our Father even bothers to be so merciful with our marriage. There is no promise of having good without taking the bad as long as we're in this ol' world.

Along with those romantic candlelight meals we also have to learn to eat crow and swallow pride and unfairness. Sometimes marriage can be a battle ground (battle of the wills anyway) and making the decision to stay and care about the person God chose for you has brought us a closer friendship and a comforting assurance of our love, knowing what we can expect and hope in each other's commitment. Marriage is more than giving your word to someone, which doesn't seem to be as highly honored as it used to. It is more importantly a vow made to your Father (who wants to help you keep it, and Who will hold you to it) and trusting the outcome to Him. I know, easier said than done. Like I said I don't know why He let's our marriage slip on through.

My heart goes out to those who have a lot more hardship in their marriage than we've had. My previous words don't imply that God won't tolerate divorce within His described guidelines because we are imperfect people, but there are consequences for rebellion, and blessings for obedience. Although we like to give God a deadline for receiving those blessings, He brings them in His timing, which is more perfect than whatever time we are expecting. He created time and He created what He wants time to bring with it. The ultimate end and blessing? Our time of eternity with Him.

True Happiness

"God cares more about your obedience than your happiness" Warren Wiersbe

A lot of people say God just wants us to be happy. He does of course but it's not His priority for our life.I think He expects us to attain it through a different route than is commonly thought. True happiness and peace is the result of being in fellowship with Him. So I guess that means our obedience is His main concern since we can't achieve (true) happiness without it. After all, would you be experiencing the true meaning of happiness if you hadn't obeyed His call to repentance? And that was only the beginning of the "obedience = happiness" blessings.

I remember this song being popular back when I first became a follower of Christ, and I still love the words, maybe if just for the sake of reminiscing.

37 - And Counting

For my Steve - always in my corner, assuring me that you'll be here no matter what. Thanks for being my #1 fan, my comforter, encourager, buffer, my leader and "hang-out" buddy - and just whatever I need for whatever I/we are going through. You've made me your #1 fan, too! Another happy anniversary Honey.



And of course I have to add OUR song.
I guess we relate to this so much because being immature (and against counsel not to), we got married after only knowing each other for 4 1/2 months. I'm sure people thought we wouldn't last, statistics really are against it so we are against doing what we did, except for some situations. Shouldn't that be our view for all our mistakes? But in spite of ourselves, with determination and with the Lord's grace, for His own reason He kept us together.

God Has Blessed Our Love

As with many couples there's been a few times that we haven't always thought that we were there for each other, who hasn't had those rough waters, but when the fog clears it proves if we really are still willing to be there, and still willing learn how to hang on through God's grace.
His mercy has been the only thing that has kept us as the only ones for each other ever since we were 18 (37yrs). Never throwing in the towel on each other is indeed difficult without the help He has for some reason bestowed on us, and is a whole lot to be humbly thankful for. Having a life partner who is also a soul mate is no small blessing. We spent a lot of years figuring out compromises and tolerating quirks to make it work, so thanks for staying the course with me Steve, and thank you Lord for the gift of our marriage.




I like thinking about all the good stuff.


THE GOOD STUFF
Well, me and my lady had our first big fight So I drove around till I saw the neon light
The corner bar. it just seemed right so I pulled up.
Not a soul around but the old bar keep down at the end lookin' half asleep
But he walked up and said, what'll it be? I said the good stuff.
He didn't reach around for the whiskey. he didn't pour me a beer.
His blue eyes kinda went misty. He said you can't find that here.
[Chorus]
'Cause its the first long kiss on a second date, Momma's all worried when you get home late
And droppin' the ring in the spaghetti plate 'cause you're hands are shakin' so much
And its the way that she looks with her eyes and her hair.
Eatin' burnt suppers the whole first year and askin' for seconds to keep her from tearin' up
Yeah man that's the good stuff.

He grabbed a carton of milk and he poured a glass, I smiled and said I'll have some of that.
We sat there and talked as the hour passed like old friends.
I saw a black and white picture and it caught my stare. It was a pretty girl with bu-font hair
He said that's my Bonnie, taken 'bout a year after we wed.
He said I spent five years in the bar when the cancer took her from me.
But I've been sober three years now 'cause the one things stronger than the whiskey
Was the sight of her holdin' my baby girl
The way she adored that string of pearls I gave her the day that our youngest boy Earl married his high school love.
Its a new t-shirt sayin' I'm a grandpa, bein' right there as our time got small
And holdin' her hand when good lord called her up
Yeah man that's the good stuff.

He said, when you get home she'll start to cry.  When she says, I'm sorry, say so am I.
Look into those eyes so deep in love and drink it up 'cause that's the good stuff.

Eating / Testing Snow

I got a snow ice cream recipe from Sharleen, right when I was about to look into if it is okay to eat snow, in large quantities that is.

We all probably ate snow as a child (and a lot worse things than that) and were told to watch out for the yellow stuff. nowadays there is more pollution in the air but it is still fun to catch the flakes on your tongue or even grab a handful to melt in your mouth.

Most sites I visited said just be careful if you live around large cities or industrial sights. We live near the bottom curve of Lake Michigan, outside Chicago and a few nearby steel mills. So I tested the snow according to instructions on one site.

Fill a large bowl with freshly fallen snow, let melt, strain though a coffee filter fitted over a glass.
If you can't see any debris on the filter, check with a magnifying glass. In my case I could clearly some see tiny dark, and lighter, specs.
It may not be a good idea for folks in my area to eat more than small amounts of fresh snow at a time. But you can make your own judgement. After all, our immune system takes care of some amount of pollution every day, in our foods & water, breathing, etc... The FDA allows a certain amount of rat droppings/hair, as well as other items to be in our food when tested because they cannot keep it all out of our food supply, so I don't think a little pollution is any worse. I once watched a medical show describing all the yucky stuff we live with every second of every day, yet we have no idea because our immune system either gets rid of it or helps our body accommodate it. We need to be exposed to a certain amount of it in order to build resistance. Depending on your age, health, the amount of pollution in your area and your portion size, it's up to you. I think I will make the snow ice cream recipe as a fun thing to do. There are recipes all over the internet.

SNOW ICE CREAM made with fresh milk
1 gallon fresh clean snow
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups milk

When it starts to snow, place a large, clean bowl outside to collect the flakes. When full, stir in sugar and vanilla to taste, then stir in just enough milk for the desired consistency. Serve at once. Serves 4.

SNOW ICE CREAM made with evaporated milk
1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
1 gallon fresh clean snow.  - Slowly combine first 4 ingredients in large bowl until smooth. Gradually stir in snow until mixture reaches desired consistency. Serve at once.

Homemade Bread

Butter sandwiches for lunch.
That's like a ham sandwich without the ham.


Deliverance gave us some yummy wheat bread she made with crunchy bits of millet all through (it made the house smell heavenly).

I decided to make sandwiches for lunch so I could have 2 slices. Then I thought, "forget the meat, it might take away from the bread".

Stevie, my bread-lover, was happy to discover the warm "butter sandwiches" I invented, open face, with a cup of hot chocolate.

Movie Date

Stevie has known Charlie for many years, and ever since she was his high school prom date I have chaperoned them on a couple of dates each year. It's usually a movie and dinner.

This time they went to see the movie Tangled, a funny version of Rapunzel. I laughed as much as they did.

Then off to The Chocolate Cafe. After all that popcorn, we only got a cup of hot soup and dessert. The "Fondue For 2" was just enough for the 3 of us.Yummmm!

Christmas Eve

Our family had Christmas dinner and gift exchange on Christmas Eve this year because Deliverance had to work on Christmas day.


Well, she had to work on Christmas Eve too, but not in the evening.

Deliverance and Josh hosted downstairs with a cozy fire in their fireplace and mellow Christmas music.

As usual there was lots of good food and sweets. I think the star of the show was this chocolate cake Deliverance made with peppermint mousse filling and ganache coating.

Stephen received some karaoke games and microphones. He loves to sing, mostly alone in his room.

(Oh, btw, Steve requested I cut him out of the photo on the internet)

Poor Scooby, why do we torture him so?

Stained Glass Sugar Cookies

While we were art my parents house I found myself with nothing planned one day so I made my grandma's sugar cookie recipe,
only I altered it slightly by adding a pane of stained glass in the centers.

This takes a lot of extra time but is pretty easy.
Just crush a hard candy (Jolly Ranchers are best) to fill into each center cut-out just before they are done cooking.

It is easiest to get them off the cookie pan if you bake them on baking parchment so you can slip it off the pan to cool before you peel the cookies off.


I also made my mom's cream cheese cookie recipe. One of my all time favorites.

Michigan Family Pre-Christmas Visit

We took a few days to run up to Michigan to visit my family a few days before Christmas since Steve managed to actually get this time for one of his vacation weeks..

Besides my parents, this also included seeing my brother, sister, niece and her husband.

We don't often get to see them around the holidays so it was a special treat.

Mom's Nursing Home Christmas Party

The Alzheimer's unit sponsored a Christmas dinner for clients and their family.


There was plenty of food and gifts, songs, and cute children to give the clients lots of joy.


Barb, Stevie and I had a memorable time with mom. As for mom, she forgot about it the next day,


It was worth seeing the joy on her face, because she thought it was all for her birthday, which is 2 weeks later.

Being the good hostess, she had to play the social butterfly and visit each client and visitor to ask them if they were having a good time.

Thanksgiving 2010

Deliverance and Josh invited us downstairs to their place for Thanksgiving dinner, and Josh's brother Chris was there too.

It is the first year they have their own completed kitchen. I welcomed it gladly, since it would mean a lot less cleaning up for me.

I decided to try a recipe I found on line for sausage stuffed mushroom caps. They went over very well.

Deliverance's chipotle-augratin potatoes are always a big hit, as well as her sweet potato casserole with pecan praline topping, and pumpkin cheesecake.
Sooo easy to partake in the traditional Thanksgiving over-indulging.


It was also too difficult to choose just one of the yummy desserts, so I allowed Stevie to have a sample of each one. His favorite course.

Survival of the Fittest Flower

Petunias are pretty hearty. When I forget to water my flowers for a few days in a heat wave, most of them don't survive, but after a while my petunias will make a comeback.


When I don't dead-head them they tend to loose all thier leaves and die back, but if I cut them back short they may take a month but will come back to their former glory.

Our first real snow that stuck around for a few days before the weather warmed up again, snuffed out my other flowers for the rest of the year, but this amazing pot of petunias don't seem to be phased a bit.

Nursing Home Halloween Party

If Steve's mom leaves the Alzheimer's unit someone has to be with her.
Her unit was having a little celebration but more fun was to be had where the singer and visiting children were.

So Steve, Stevie and I helped mom attend the party in the larger common dining room.

She loved watching the little ones go trick-or-treating from table to table where the patients could give them something from the bowls of candy on each table, and then watch them dance to the songs the visiting singer sang throughout the hour.


She wanted to hang on to the cat ear headband I made for her costume. The aids said she played with it for days, putting them on her as well as any client who would let her put it on them.

9th Anniversary

So proud of our kids Deliverance and Josh. (and Stevie too of course, but it's not his anniversary)

They have been through a lot of hardship and experienced a lot of blessings packed into the 9 short years they have been husband and wife.
A lot more than Steve and I probably ever have.

The Lord has blessed us by giving us them.

Stephen's 27th

Of course he had to have a double fudge cake with chocolate ice cream.

He asked for balloons and streamers this time.



He still gets a kick out of the trick candles that re-light themselves.







Enough super soaker water guns to have a war.





Power Ranger multi-function weapon.






Deliverance & Josh took him to see the play Pinocchio.

Brookfield Zoo With Friends

I haven't been to one of the Chicago zoo's for many years, so when my friends Linda and Pat wanted somewhere to go together that's what we decided on.


A zoo is about the only place you can get a good look at God's wonderful creations that live in other parts of the world that we will probably never experience. I don't like animals to be caged, but these all had nice habitats to roam around in.

Despite it being a scorcher of a day, we had a good time seeing as much as we could before the heat would stop us. So we cheated and took the trolley around a lot of the areas and then picked out a few areas to take a closer look at, including the dolphin show.

While we ate a late lunch in the shade, the younger of the 4 of us, Stevie and Linda, went to a couple of the exhibits that Pat and I weren't up to pushing ourselves to, before we made the trek out to the car and head home before rush hour.

Happy Birthday To My College Sweetheart

Steve - you have never given me cause to wonder about your love and devotion to me.


...and by the way, you have a great smile

Berry Picking Season

Look at the pretty sky, this farm is called Blue Sky Blueberry Farm.


I picked the biggest ones I could find, but most all of them were big and delicious.

I put one on a penny and one on a nickle to help you see how plump these beauties are. I'll only need a few for each blueberry pancake or muffin (but I like more than a few in them). Enough for fruit salads until Easter.


The bushes were so full and ripe you constantly heard all the little thump sounds as berries just fell of the bushes. I didn't know whether to pick the bushes or pick them off the ground,


Stevie and I got to the red raspberry field at Grandma's Berry Patch just as they were dwindling out but managed a few pints, the black raspberries were already gone. The blackberries and blueberries are still going good for a couple more weeks.

A few days later to Garwood orchards for blackberries, the blackberries at Grandma's were a little sweeter.


You can tell Stevie wasn't too happy to be there. The days we picked were extremely hot, so we didn't stay long. the hottest day was 95f but heat index of 105.


After we eat a bunch I freeze them on sheet pans and bag them to use throughout the year.

Being Content Doesn't Come Easily

When our heart breaks because our plans are shattered, peace can only come from trusting that the One who created our life is controlling it for His own magnificent plans. His ways are much higher than our ways. This has always been hard for me, because I tend to be a bit controlling, Each time He breaks our plans we can try to go it alone or save time and get on the path He is preparing for us.

 This song is about Romanian hymnist and pianist, Nicolae Moldoveanu. He served 5 yrs for his Christian faith. While in prison and without pen and paper, he composed over 360 hymns. He's credited with 8000 songs, they are still sung throughout Romania today.




verses on being content, at peace:
2Co 12:10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
Php 4:11 Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am
Heb 13:5 Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,"

lyrics to Break my Plans:
The praise songs of a nation flowed from his hands
and in a world of dark repression he made a stand
they told him to be silent and led him away
ten years was the sentence, a prisoner of faith
as he waited for God's timing another winter chilled the air
and as he thought of his own family he was filed with despair
so he cried out for justice "was there any other way?"
but then he gave it all to Jesus as he began to pray

"break my plans, shape my heart, take my will to where you are.
Move my mind through your Word, til all that I am
lives to love you, Lord."

I know I'm called to suffer and to take up my cross
but sometimes I grow so fearful when I count the cost
still my heart wants to follow and to walk in Your ways
to be counted with the faithful, Lord guide me today.

with all my heart, my strength and my soul,
I will love you God, so use my life and take complete control.

"break my plans, shape my heart, take my will to where you are.
Move my mind through your Word, til all that I am
lives to love you, Lord."

Romanian hymnist and pianist, Nicolae Moldoveanu, served 5 yrs for his Christian faith. While in prison and without pen and paper, he composed over 360 hymns. He's credited with 8000 songs, they are still sung throughout Romania today.