Birthday Girl

On January 26, 1998 we celebrated the arrival of our fourth child ... a baby girl. Her big sister proudly named her Abigail. Following our tradition of bestowing middle names in honor of a family member, I requested that she be given my middle name of Jean, and it was only right that I finally got my way! And so it was that Abigail Jean completed our family of two boys and two girls.

Abbi, you quickly made our lives busy with your fussiness! We spent hours walking, rocking, and simply holding you. But as you grew, your big brothers and sister found that they could easily spend time entertaining and playing with you.

When you & Kevin were very small you played nicely. Soon sibling rivalry took over, and the two of you discovered that you could both "go at it" pretty well. And often there were no winners, only losers, as you both came crying!

Abbi, you always wanted to "help" me with whatever it was that I was doing. And if I was out of chores you quickly walked across the back yard to help Grandma do whatever it was that she was doing. You hung up my laundry, washed dishes, watered plants, baked cookies with Grandma, helped me make applesauce and husk sweetcorn for freezing. Did your "helping" make more work for me? Absolutely! But I wouldn't trade all your helping for anything in the world! Even today, you are a pro in the kitchen, and it's so much fun to share my space with you!

First day of Kindergarten! Sending you on the bus was bittersweet ... after many years of little hands & feet keeping my life busy, I was ready for a few hours of "alone time"!

You were quick to follow the footsteps of your big brother, Mitch. You loved the outdoors, animals, fishing, and getting dirty. The two of you are two peas in a pod!

You have an amazing way with animals. You could do anything you wanted with your first horse, Ginger. Of course she was 20+, so that worked to your benefit! At the young age of 8, you didn't think twice about riding her bareback.

And of course, you are following in the footsteps of your big sister, Alli, and developing into a very fine volleyball player! I can't wait to see the great things you will do!

You & your many friends bring so much sunshine and laughter to our home!

Happy Happy Happy Birthday to You!

What a beautiful young lady you are growing to be! God has blessed us with you in our lives, and our prayer is that your life will bless others! We love you!

February Twenty-Third

Happy Birthday Mitchell David!

Nineteen years ago today, you were born ... our first son. The boy that would save our family name! With Dave being the only male on his paternal side, in his generation, it fell to us to produce at least one male, and with you & Kevin we have an heir and a spare!

From a very young age you proved that you would not sit still for long, and would push us to "keep up" as you explored and investigated all that was around you!

At about age 6 I followed you upstairs to your room one hot summer day, because I wanted to know what you were doing with that arm full of extension cords. I discovered that you had placed 4 oscillating fans outside your window on the flat roof. You told me you wanted to cool off the outside!

You have created some really amazing machines through the years ... this one you built with the back 1/2 of a go-cart, a John Deere tractor seat, the handle bars off your outgrown bicycle, and who knows where those front wheels came from. The cool thing about this machine was that in the winter you could take off the front wheels and replace it with an old snowmobile ski that you found in the barn (or stole off an existing snowmobile). All this with the welder we bought you for your 14th birthday!

You introduced us to the fine "sport" of 4-H Animals. Your choice, with great influence from Aunt Julie, was poultry. In your first year you captured the Grand Champion ribbon of the meat pens with your gigantic Roaster that you raised. We couldn't figure out why there were so many flies in the chicken barn here at home, until we found out that you were feeding the chickens corn syrup! You misunderstood the 4-H leader when she said to feed your chickens corn oil to help fatten them up! I'm sure your chickens loved you more than anything!

Age 16 ... big trucks, mud, and fun! Lots of prayers and grey hairs for Mom!

Sad to say that your zest for life didn't leave you free from injury. You broke your leg skiing when you were in Kindergarten and at age 11 you received stitches in your finger from a cut from a stanley knife. But this injury at age 16 was the most traumatic. Your experiment with bottle rockets and muzzle loader powder just didn't go too well! You suffered severe burns to your arm and fried your hair (thus the haircut), but God spared your face and your eyesight! As your Mother, I wanted to take your pain as my own. It was a journey of recovery, but miracles allowed the journey to be shortened to about 4 weeks when the Doc assured us it would be a 2-3 month process.

And about the bottle rockets ... you should've learned your lesson when you were 12 and lit your desk on fire after dropping sparks into the drawer that hid your stash of bottle rockets. Good thing you shoved that burning desk out of your second floor bedroom window, smashing onto the ground below! The poor babysitter didn't know what was going on when she saw you running through the house with a fire extinguisher!

Your knowledge of engines astounds me! Here is a rebuilt and freshly painted engine that your friends are pretending to have helped with. :) Dad and I are proud of the different awards you have won through your years of schooling!

I followed you into town one day this past fall, we were meeting for breakfast. As we entered downtown, where there isn't much room on the two-lane highway, we met one of those dreaded double wides! You politely pulled over to let the double wide pass and for some reason it really tickled my funny bone. Luckily I had my camera with me and was able to take a quick shot. Perhaps I find these kinds of things humurous because your big red truck screams "big & bad, get out of my way", but inside is a driver who is kind, patient, caring and compassionate. That might also be why you have managed to get by with many warnings, and only recently received a speeding ticket - much to Aunt Sarah's enjoyment! I'm convinced that the burly policeman marches up to the window of your truck and is bewildered to find you with your bright smile behind the wheel of that big red truck, and in his confusion he simply gives you a verbal warning. Like you tell Aunt Sarah ... "you just have to be nice to them"!

I am proud of the young man you have become! I am thankful that you are enjoying your first year at college and have been able to exceed beyond ...

I am forever grateful that you are always willing to help me out around the house. Taking off screen doors, chopping wood, shooting wild animals that get into our barns, helping with big 4-H horses, entertaining your younger sibs, fixing my Gator, on and on ....

My continuous prayer is that God will always wrap you in His arms of protection. That you will strive to become all that He intends.

Happy Birthday to my almost grown-up and handsome son! I Love You!

Where have you been?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Yup, in case you're wondering where I've been ... I celebrated my Lucky Year Birthday - 44! (someone told me that when you are a double like 22,33,ect... it's lucky)

Because of my birthday and all the amazing electronic gadgets I recieved, I've been busy playing and learning. Let me tell you folks, back when I was a kid I used to pick up the phone that was attached to the wall and listen in on the neighbors' conversations. It was called a PARTY LINE. Today's party line is a dance called the Tush Push! In high school I learned how to type on a TYPEWRITER, with CARBON PAPER. Heaven forbid if you made any mistakes! The music I listened to came from ALBUMS when I was babysitting for Kim and Jason, 8-TRACKS when I was riding along in my siblings cars, and CASSETTES when I eventually had my own car!

Here's a glimpse of my last two weeks of amazing discovery:

I've been enjoying getting acquainted with my own laptop. No more opening up the main computer to find the screen inundated with shortcuts, that I have no idea where or what they are! I've got 4 simple little shortcuts that won't move. My new laptop also has a "fingerprint" reader for security, but it will take me the next 5 years just to figure it out. So for now I will just stick to using my password, that everyone in my family knows. :)

I received an iPod from Mitch. OK, to be honest, he got it for free when he purchased his new college laptop, but since he already had the much bigger and better version, he offered this simple little "music box" to his Mother. Ahhhhhh .... So my generous Alli bought me a cool pink iPod case and a $15 iTunes gift card. For several evenings Mitch and even 10 year old Abbi have been tutoring me on the amazing world of iTunes! Can you believe that you can go there (the website I mean) and preview any song and decide whether to download it onto your iPod for 99 cents?? Gone are the days when I spend $15 or $20 on a CD that I really only like 4 songs on. Unbelievable! When I say "any" song, I do mean any ... here's a sampling of what I'm contemplating downloading (you know I don't want to make any hasty decisions, because I've only got $15 to spend, and only room for about 10,000 songs on my cool new machine). So back to my "contemplating" list: 38 Special, Jewel, Simon & Garfunkel, CCR, Steven Curtis Chapman, REO Speedwagon. I figure some of those oldies will make me feel youngie! Abbi also helped me find ringtones to download if I wish. We giggled clear through the list, as we figured out what ring would be appropriate for which person. Can you imagine a farting ringtone. Who would want that going off in a store or a restaurant?!? I won't say who we gave that ringtone to, but the people in my family only get one guess!

Last week I took my draggy slow cell phone into my friend at Verizon (they know me well) and told her I think I need a new phone, because mine is so slow. She took my phone and looked at it, and said "maybe if I delete the 522 incoming text messages and 374 outgoing text messages, and then dial *38 (or something like that) for all the updates that you've never gotten, the phone might speed up". And guess what? She was right! My phone was transformed! I sheepishly said "thanks for babysitting me" and left a happier customer!

And did you notice I figured out how to upload a new background/layout onto my Blog? I spent one long evening attempting the daunting task that lay ahead and finally gave up. I called my blog-expert niece and left a nice pleading, woe is me, message telling her that I can't figure it out, and if she would just call me I would soooo appreciate it. She never called! So today i decided "I can do this myself"! And I'm proud to say I did! So Kim, "I don't need ya'!"

I want to end by announcing to the world, that I am 44 and am loving each additional year that adds life and love to my ever changing and evolving world! I value the old friends that I have, and have also discovered some amazing new friends! My kids treat me well, and I have a husband who will love me to the ends of the earth, even when I don't really deserve it!