Mema's Lil' Darlings

Here are the latest pics of our gbabies. I know, I know, they are adorable...but I'm sure yours are too.

Micah - 6 mos.

Elijah - 2yrs.

Tali - 4 yrs.

Selah - 6yrs

Isaac - 8 yrs

These first five, belong to our daughter Lori & husband Dean.

Katie - 5 yrs

Nathan - 11 yrs.

These last two belong to our daughter Shari & husband Ken.

The pure joy we have stored in our hearts for these precious ones, is immeasurable. Thank you Sweet Father, for these blessings!

One very Happy Mema !

What Did You Say God?

Have you ever felt somewhat bombarded by all of the decisions in your life? Well, I have, and I do.
It is times like these that I just want God to shout out His will to me, or at least whisper it in my ear. I try to keep the lines open for communion with Him, so why is He sometimes so suddenly silent about really important, life changing decisions?
We need to know if we are making decisions based on His will for us, or if we are confusing His will with our own imperfect will (to say the least). When I consider all of the possible ways to go, I don't feel quite sure about any one of them.
I want to do what's right in His eyes, but suddenly my eyes are clouded. With what? Emotions, ego, insecurities, even doubt. How can we maneuver around these issues that seem to be so HUMAN.
I can feel a time of soul searching is ahead of me, and this not an undertaking to be taken lightly. I mean, what if I screw it up (as humans are prone to do) and it is too late to change my decision. It could affect us for the rest of our mortal life. I don't want that kind of responsibility to rest upon my shoulders.
It is all so overwhelming!
Help me Lord!

Just a weary soul.
Tess

Happy Birthday Dear Hubby!

Today is my darling's 60th birthday. I met him when I was just 16 & he was 21 and had just completed OCS in the Marine Corps. The first time I met him, I went home and told my mother that I was going to marry him someday. I just "knew" it.

A lot happened over the next three years, but on my 19th birthday we were married. It has now been 35 yrs together and neither of us is as young as back then, but we have grown to love one another more and more as time has seemingly flown by.

Was it all fun and good times? Hardly. We have seen at least our share of trouble ,struggles and illness, but what the devil meant for bad, God used for good. Our love has grown not just in spite of these darker times, but because of them and how Jesus has seen us through it faithfully.

Adversity is not necessarily a bad thing, although at the time is seems so, but if we get hold of ourselves and trust in God, knowing He never will leave or forsake us in times of trouble or need, our relationship with Him and consequently with each other grows too.

Don't get me wrong, we have had many more blessings in our life than trials and this too has strengthened our love and life together, with each other and with God firmly in place as the head of our life together. Thank you Lord for my dear Stephen.

Hope your relationships are as blessed as ours has been,

Love,

Tess

OK, I KNOW ALREADY!

Nathan, he just turned 11!

Katie, 5 and her dog Kayla

Shari, Nathan and Kate's mom & our younger daughter.

they live in IL.

Fun for Isaac & Selah in the sprinkler

Dean and Elijah (2) not happy being held at the fireworks

WELCOME to the new house

Steve, happy to eat at Olive Garden

Lori, surveying what would become the family laundry room

A beautiful double rainbow, the first time Steve and I visited the house after closing

Movie star Tali

Buddies

Pretty Selah

two of "the littles"

Hop on Papa

Fun time with "the bigs"

Flowers from the yard at the new house

The back of the new house

The front

I obviously tried to put too many pictures in this and then blogger wouldn't let me change/organize them. FRUSTRATION!!! But I think you can figure them out.

Yes,it has been forever since I've blogged...AGAIN! Sorry to all of you faithful readers who have just about given up on me.

I know you have your own hectic lives and well, sometimes blogging just has to take a back seat to some major happenings. We have been having some major happenings around here including my husband being near death after having lost over half of all his blood from a badly bleeding ulcer, while we were on vacation in MI, trying to help our daughter Lori and her family move into their new house. NO, that is not my idea of a fun vacation! I spent the first week dealing with and worrying over my husband who was in critical care. We were only supposed to be there for one week, but the doctor didn't feel we should travel the 4-5hr trip home until a week after he was released. This did salvage some of our plans, but now we have no vacation time left for the entire year! We never take 2 wks at a time and in fact we usually break it up into many long weekend trips. But fate has spoken and we will listen.

Some of you, probably most of you, don't know that when Steve retires (in about 6 yrs) we plan to move back to MI. In fact, in the meantime we are remodeling the basement of Lori & Dean's house into our own home. It is a walkout and a good size of more than 1,400 sq ft. We will have windows on two sides and have french doors at the "front" (actually it is the back of the house, but the front of our house) and three more windows in front and two others on the side.

We have a contractor and he is going to put in larger windows in the bedroom and possibly in the living room area as well.

Everything will be totally separate from the kids house. We will have our own garage stall and entry into our place. The "front of our house looks out at a pond and then wooded area beyond that. The property has 5 acres, so there is plenty of room to roam. I am looking forward to tending flowers, and growing a vegetable garden. Plus it will be so nice having our five grandkids there so we can visit whenever we wish to (or not).

We are located only about eight miles from Lake Huron, and we are in the country. In fact our next door neighbor has a weird farm of sorts with all kinds of animals like, peacocks, wild turkeys, chickens, mountain type goats lamas etc. It is fun to hear the kids "talk" with the animals.

Anyway, this is still 6 yrs away for us to get the remodeling done. I am looking at a lot of information about remodeling basements and there is a lot of decision making to be done. It is kind of overwhelming, because this is going to be where we spend the rest of our lives, (God willing) and you don't want to mess it up.

Another thing happening is that my best friend, who has stage 4 breast cancer, is going to have a double mastectomy done later this week. Having been there, done that, I know somewhat how she feels. I just want to be there for her, but not make a nuisance of myself. Please pray for Sharon and her husband and daughters as they go thru this difficult time. Especially pray for quick, uncomplicated healing.

God Bless,

Tess

DID I SAY I LOVE COFFEE?

After much trial and error, this beautiful machine is what I've settled on. In case you don't know, this is a Keurig ,one K-cup at a time brewer. It makes the most delicious coffee quickly and consistently. It brews (using K-cups), a mug of coffee in under one minute and makes up to 8 cups without having to refill or wait for more than 15 seconds in-between cups. At top left, is a picture of the K-cups, and at top right, one of how they are brewed. You just open the top of the machine, drop a K-cup in, shut the lid and hit the size mug you want...and it almost instantly begins to brew!

There are many different brands and types of coffee you can choose. I have about a dozen or so choices on hand, including hot chocolate and different tea varieties.

You can buy them on-line at many different locations, and they also sell them at our Walmart, Target, Kohl's and Bed Bath & Beyond stores. I'm sure that as these catch on, more and more stores will begin to carry them, especially if you request from the Internet site or from the store manager that you would like them to be stocked and available in their store.

Last night, my dh registered my machine on-line and we received a great 50% discount and free shipping! I ordered four new types of yummy sounding flavored coffees like Mudslide by Gloria Jeans and Southern Pecan Pie (also G.J.) and Swiss chocolate almond (Bellaccino), and lastly, Caramel Vanilla Cream (Green Mtn.)! I can't wait till it gets here.

I gotta go now since I've worked myself up to wanting another cup. Let's see...what should I try this time?

Hugs,

Tess