Walk with me as I "Follow the Fish"...JESUS!!!

Despite our year of difficult instances and circumstances this year...I was determined to still make this a GREAT Christmas. In November I got an idea to take my husbands 130 poems that the Lord gave to him in 2003 & 2004 and make them into a book. I thought we had lost all of them because the computer they were on had crashed but I was able to find hard copies that he had in his office. I began researching free publishing software and settled on www.blurb.com - Heather and I designed the cover and I got to work typing away. It was difficult being so giddy with this awesome secret and not being able to tell him. The first order I placed I was a bit concern because after I was half way done with the book, I happened upon some pretty negative reviews concerning Blurb , I was all bummed out but decided to continue with what I was doing and to just Trust in the Lord with it. I only ordered 5 to see how they would turn out and they were PERFECT. They were delivered within 2 weeks of be...

Not sure WHO reads my not-so-much posted blog but for anyone who looks here I'd like to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas! "For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:11

After stopping for lunch in Springfield at "Lambert's Cafe" We went to Branson using our Bluegreen "points" timeshare at the Wilderness Club @ Big Cedar Lodge...we had a FABULOUS time.If you have never been to Big Cedar Lodge, I HIGHLY recommend it...it's GREAT fun! We stayed at the Kings River Lodge on the Bluegreen side Our studio room was really nice... We arrived on Monday - despite the rain that thankfully stopped about an hour out of St. Louis...we had dinner and Heather swam at the indoor pool. On Tuesday it was still slightly rainy and overcast so we played some games, watched a movie, did some shopping and ate at the Truman's cafe...it was a good day. Wednesday was the best day with the sun shining and it being 61 we hit the outdoor activities - we went on a 2 hour hike, went swimming in 1 of the 6 or 8 outdoor pools, ate at the Truman Cafe & Worman's House, we played miniature golf and went to a wagon ride/bon fire...we had SO much fun!...

We usually go over to Eckerts to get our pumpkins but this year Larry and I went to Aldi and they had them for $1.99 each...WOW - we snatched up 2 of them for the kiddos to do...thankfully we did cause with all the rain and other things going on right now, we didn't make it over to Milstadt. It's ok, we had a GREAT time carving our Aldi pumpkins!

Well - Over at Organizing Junkie there was a challenge to tackle the drawers that are hiding all kinds of "disorganization" - This has been driving me CRAZY for quite a while...since my mom got sick and died things have been "accumulating". So I took the challenge and dove in and tackled 7 drawers and 3 cabinets. I didn't really have any containers to organize the drawers and cabinets but I think they turned out ok for now. Boy did I find some interesting stuff. I forgot to take before and after pictures of "all" the drawers but I've got enough photos to show that I've been busy for a few hours this morning. I have one grocery sized bag going to goodwill, 3 grocery sized bags of trash, 7 decluttered drawers (though from the photos they may not "look" decluttered, TRUST ME, they ARE!), 3 organized cabinets, a bug and a bucket of toys. (more on the last 2 later :-) I began my endeavor on the drawers in the livingroom - nearly all of th...

A new friend from our new homeschool coop invited me to attend Rams University with her. Her husband works for a local company that supplies different things to and for the Rams and his company gave him the tickets. There were 5 of us who went. When we got there Amy told us that we had access to park in VIP parking...AWESOME. We start to get out of the van and she tells us that we get VIP seating...none of us had ever been to this or anything like it before so we weren't quite sure what to expect. The VIP seating allowed us to go into a different area to check in and get some AWESOME goodies then they walked us out past everyone to the other VIP area where we would sit...NO WAY!!! It was SO cool...we got the table that was front and center and closest to the stage/players...WAY COOL!!! Thanks Amy for asking me to go...I had an AWESOME time!!! WOO HOO - Go Rams!!!

Last Saturday we decided to go spend the day in Alton, IL. We want to try to hit a few places that are close to home that can be used 1) as a day trip away from home & 2) as a school field trip. Alton served both of those interests for us. We began our day there by eating at "My Just Desserts" . It had that country decor thing going on that I just love and they serve MUCH more than "Just Desserts"! My hubby got a chicken salad sandwich, I got a Honey Turkey, Bacon club and Heather got a ham & croissant sandwich. All of our food was SUPER yummy but Heather and I topped our meal off with a Toll House Blonde Brownie...that made the day already for me!!! We had a tour scheduled for 12:30 at The Beall Mansion - While I don't think it was worth our $25 that we spent...the lady who did the tour was really fun & friendly and shared alot of information about the 1903 mansion that donned the middle of "Millionaire Row". Our next stop was to visit th...

Well it's DEFINATELY been "SOME" year...and it's not over just yet!!! Along with the blessings we've been getting We've also had an OVER abundance of medical bills (my hysterectomy, Larry's cardiac cath, Larry's Staph infection, Larry's specialist visit for something suspicious on his prostate, Larry's chest xray that found a spot on his lungs followed by a MRI which found 3 spots on his lungs, Larry's upper GI, Larry's sleep study - all which have gotten us to his $5000 out of pocket medical deductible and my surgery was $5000 out of pocket. Larry's getting ready to have ANOTHER sleep study (because he DOES have sleep apnea but they couldn't determine it in time to get the machine on him), another upper GI to make sure the severe acid reflux is healing up, another visit to the specialist concerning his prostate, another MRI to see if the spots on his lungs have gotten larger, and he's going to have a carotoid artery ultraso...

Last night we went to a fundraising benefit for Basket of Hope . They are a ministry that provides baskets (of hope :-) to newly diagnosed children with things such as cancer, diabetes, etc. We had a great time visiting with our friends who started Basket of Hope - the Brunette's...they are like our extended family! We were so thrilled that Michael was available and decided to go with us as we don't get to do much with him these days. So our family set out to enjoy the festivities of the evening at Lafayette Square. We got a GREAT family picture... And were blessed by meeting Andy Benes - What a GREAT guy he is!!! I loved the way he shared his faith with the group when he talked. Heather gave him a book from CTA and he seemed so excited to read it. We had a GREAT time and are thankful we got to spend some family time together!!!

Well - Larry went to a new doctor a month or so ago. While there she did a prostate exam and found something that concerned her. They wanted him to have an ultrasound of the area but they don't have a code for JUST that ultrasound...the only code they have is ultrasound/biopsy. They don't have a facility that can do the biopsy side of it so she sent him to a urologist. Today was his "lucky" day and the urologist found the spot too...says it's about the size of an eraser...must be a new way to measure lumps. Says we have 2 choices - 1) do the ultrasound/biopsy or 2) wait 6 months and see if it changes in size. At the doctors recommendation, Larry has chosen to wait 6 months to see if there is any change. I pray these doctors know what they are doing and will trust in the Lord!!!

My mom was diagnosed with lung cancer March 27, 2007 and went to be with Jesus on May 27, 2009. My mom never smoked a day in her life and died from second hand cigarette smoke...so sad. My hubby seems to have some breathing/hacking coughing issues so they did a chest xray which showed some sort of spot on his lung - thankfully his new doctor is very proactive and decided to do a CT scan of the chest also - they called this morning and there are actually 3 nodules (2 upper left & 1 lower left) all under 5mm (a pencil eraser is 6mm so these are tiny) at this point there is no way to biopsy without cutting him completely open so the protocol is to wait 6 months...the medical field recommends another scan in a year but we're so thankful for our new doctor to be so caring and proactive that they are going to do it at the beginning of December to have us "good news" by Christmas. I'm telling the devil that we're NOT going to have a round two of all of this...we ...

Well - this past week has been an UNBLEIVEABLY busy one for us. It started last Friday night with Larry's niece Lauren's wedding... Brothers - 'Gary & Larry' - can you tell??? Momma June & Larry Larry & his niece/Goddaughter/namesake in German 'Lauren' Lauren & Paul...aren't they adorable!?! We were suppose to go to Relay for Life after Lauren's wedding but we never made it, we had a funeral at 10am Saturday morning for a friends husband - an unfortunate accident really...so sad. Church Sunday morning, packing and prayer Sunday night and off to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma on Monday morning to attend a Minister, Leadership & Helps conference. We had 3 days of classes and much fun... We came home Thursday night and left Friday morning with Heather to attend another Friday night (never have I heard of a wedding being on a Friday night and we've now attended 2 of them in the last 2 weekends...weird!) wedding in Quincy, ...