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

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!!!