Making Lemonade!

What a wonderful day! Skies were cloudy, rain was heavy, and very windy, but all was good. Spent the day indoors, for the most part, looked out at the ocean, had a fire in the fireplace, me reading a wonderful book and Carl playing solitaire on the computer. Some may let a day like yesterday put a damper on their trip, but not us, when we are together like this, with nothing we have to do, this day too can be made into a lemonade day.

Free scrapbook design personalized with Smilebox

"50 by 50"

One of my goals to do before I turn 50, which is still years away, has been to visit all 50 states. Some of my goals have been changed along the way, some have been dropped and some have just not been what the Lord would have for me, but He has been gracious to me and allowed me to see so much of our beautiful country. I am so grateful that when God says no to some of our dreams, He allows us to enjoy other pleasures. Alaska and Hawaii will depend on whether or not Carl tolerates flying. We shall see how that goes tomorrow! .

Vacation!!!

We have got to be one of the most last minute vacation planners anywhere. Next week at this time, Lord willing, we will be on an airplane headed to Portland, Oregon. I am so excited! For years Carl has wanted to go to the Redwood Forest National Park in California and then drive along the west coast up through Oregon and into Washington. The only problem with this plan is my husband wanted to drive the entire trip. I love to travel, don't get me wrong, but that is even to much driving for me. With the gas prices what they have been in the last few years it would be much more economical to fly and rent a car to drive up and down the coast. We would have to drive for 3 0r 4 very long days across the country and then would not have to much time left to drive along the coast. The main problem was Carl, my very brave husband, who is not usually afraid of much, is terribly afraid of heights, so therefore, airplanes were not an option. Well, he has finally consented in allowing us to fly together for the first time. We normally do not plan such an expensive vacation, but this year in October we will have been married for 25 very interesting years so we both feel we deserve it for putting up with each other for that long. Just kidding, this will be our anniversary trip only early. We are hoping to beat some of the crowds before the official vacation season begins. I hope to blog about our trip as we go. One good thing about a spontaneous trip is that you don't have to wait very long before it gets here. Yikes, why am I sitting here typing when I have got plenty of things I need to do.

April Fitness Challenge!

Ok, I am going to try this blog thing again. Figuring out how to post and arrange my blog was taking me way to long, so I just dropped it. My goals now are to just keep it simple and learn as I go. Anyway, the one reason I wanted to try blogging again is Susan at http://bygrace3.blogspot.com/ issued a challenge to set health goals for the month of April and post them on her blog or comment on your own blog. This helps you to be accountable to someone and that may be just the push I need. Recently, I have not been to well and I determined if I started feeling better that I would try to lose some weight and get my blood pressure and cholesterol levels down. Thank the Lord I am feeling a whole lot better, so now is the time to try to accomplish my goals.

Week 1 goals:

Eat 5 healthy well -balanced meals this week.
Drink 3 bottles of water a day.
Exercise 3-4 times this week.

Eat small serving of sugar desserts, only on Saturday and Sunday.

I know it may not sound like much, but I really am not dieting, because for me dieting just doesn't work. I have a difficult time losing weight and have been on many diets and remained the same weight, give or take 10lbs for 20 years. My main focus is to find something I can live with that will improve my health and hopefully after consistently eating like I know I should and getting the proper amount of exercise the weight will eventually go down. I will add new goals to my old ones each week and see how it goes.

What a project!

We have done many do-it-yourself projects over the years. We have put in windows, put up siding, put in hardwood floors, and tiled floors, to name a few. This little pool project to me was the hardest thing we have ever attempted. I guess what made it so hard was that it was 95 degrees outside. If it had been cooler, I'm sure it would not have been so difficult. Now that I look back on it, the process is not so difficult, it just trying to get it done quickly so you can get inside to the air conditioning that made it so tedious. Although it was very difficult it saved us about $2000.00 to do it ourself which was well worth the work put into it. We all really enjoyed spending time in it. Next year we will add a deck and a privacy fence. I think we will do that project early spring, before it get into the 90's.

Mr. & Mrs. Benjamin Cooley

Once again God shows us his love by adding a wonderful Son-in-law to our family! We are so excited that God has sent a wonderful man to our daughter. God is so good to us to allow Ben Cooley to join our family. When Carrie was 13 or 14 we went to visit this young man's church and continued to visit there about 3 months. I was very impressed with Ben and his testimony he had for the Lord. This was the same year Ben graduated and I remember thinking that he would make a great husband for Carrie someday. I never said anything to anyone, except Carl, I figured he would be snatched up way before we thought Carrie would be ready for marriage. Anyway we started attending another church that occasionally has fellowship with Ben's church, so we did see him from time to time, and as Carrie got older I trully wanted them to get together, but still I said nothing to her or anyone else. The Lord is a much as better match maker than we can ever be. He brought these two together without any help from me. I am amazed sometimes how God seems to work things together. He is awesome! Thank you Lord for blessing our family with a godly young preacher for our daughter.