Easter 2009

Keeping with family tradition, our family along with my brother and his wife, went to Mom and Dad's for lunch Easter Sunday. I have attached a couple of pictures that were taken after lunch. The first one is of myself, and the three girls (Trisha, Tiffani, and Tara). The other picture is of my Mom, Dan (my brother), myself, and Dad. My brother and I were laughing because I think this may be the only family picture with just Mom, Dad and my brother and I since Dan and I were very young. We've had many pictures taken with our extended families, but very few with just the four of us. This is definitely a picture that I will treasure.

The afternoon was wonderful! We ate way too much (in fact, by the end of lunch I was wishing I had worn my "fat pants"), and we laughed until our cheeks hurt -- good times I tell ya. I will miss days like this when I'm in Ireland. It will be the memories of these times that I call on to get me through the rough days. Thank you Lord for an amazing family, the gift of laughter, and pictures that make it possible to hold our memories for a lifetime.

Surprise 49 1/2 Birthday Bash

I know most people don't celebrate their 49 1/2 birthday, but those people apparently don't have friends with the same sense of humor that my friends have. You see, a number of my closest friends have recently celebrated "milestone" birthdays. Being the good friend that I am, I couldn't just sit back and let these special birthday's come and go without harassing them a little - okay, maybe A LOT! I felt pretty safe doing this because I will be in Ireland for my next "milestone" birthday. In light of this, my friends decided to celebrate my 50th birthday five months in advance so they could have their fun/revenge (depending on how you look at this).

Since my birthday isn't until September, I didn't suspect anything when they told me they were planning a surprise birthday party for one of my friends husbands. I brought the covered dish that they requested I bring and I even had my daughter pick out a funny "old man" card for the man whose party I thought was taking place that night. Even after we got into the building I still didn't realize that the party was for me until one of my friends ask me, "Marilyn, where are you going to be on your 50th birthday?" I couldn't believe they got me! I'm usually pretty good at picking up on things like this, but I honestly had no clue on this one. I have to give cudo's where their due. . .this plan fell together perfectly.

The party was wonderful. They had invited all my family and they even invited friends that I don't usually get to see very often. Of course, the room was decorated with black tablecloths. The centerpieces were made of metal coffee cans filled with dead tree branches and black balloons. They also had lots of "Over The Hill" signs, and blowup walkers scattered around the room. They were even thoughtful enough to provide a roll of toilet paper so people could write "Happy Birthday" notes for me. I must admit, this was one of the best "Over The Hill" parties that I've ever been to. One thing is for sure, when my friends throw a party it's a huge success!

I can't believe they got me, but I also can't believe they went to all that work just for me. I truly do have the best family and friends in the world! Thanks guys for all your work and effort. I will remember this one for a lifetime.

First Motorcycle Ride Of The Season - WhooHoo

Due to the bright sunshine and the warm temps today, I was forced to get my motorcycle out of our storage unit and fire it up for the first ride of the season. It took quite an effort to get her started, but once we got her running she ran like a jewel all day long. I know some of you are probably saying "why in the world do you ride a motorcycle". Well, if I have to explain why I love to ride, you probably aren't a rider, which means you wouldn't understand even if I did explain. Motorcycles are one of those things that people either love them or they hate them. I happen to love them!

Riding for me is a great stress reliever, along with a great time to pray. There's no radio, no cell phone, nothing but me, the bike and time. I've done some very valuable praying over the years on my motorcycles. I'm so thankful that God provided this beautiful day for us to enjoy. It felt good to feel the sunshine and the warm temperatures after a very long Ohio winter. Regardless of how you relax or enjoy your sunny days, I hope that you were able to get outside today and spend some time appreciating the blessing that God sent our way. Those of you that enjoy motorcycles, well, maybe I'll see you on the road someday. Until then, ride free, ride long and ride safe!

Fun With Moving Sales, and Shipping Containers

Since I've had many people ask where we are in the process of moving to Ireland, I've decided to use this post to update all of you on our progress to this point. Our target date to leave is the week of June 28, 2009. The exact day will depend on airline ticket prices, and departure and arrival times from here to Ireland. We are very excited about the knowledge that in three months we will be in Ireland beginning our ministry. However, we are also very aware of how much work lays ahead of us in order to make that a reality.

My next huge project is going through all the piles and boxes of "stuff" that we have to sell before we leave. I would like to just drag the boxes outside and stick a sign in the yard that says "Moving Sale - Make An Offer", but that probably isn't the best way to handle it. So, what I have to do is go through everything and separate it according to price. Then I'll have to start getting everything on tables that can be pulled out in the driveway. I wish there were "Moving Sale Preparers" that you could hire to do all this before hand stuff. You know, like what "Three Men and a Truck" does for people who are moving. Hey, there's a business opportunity for anyone who enjoys doing that sort of thing. You could call it "Three Women and a Price Gun", (or something like that). Just remember whose blog you were reading when you got the idea, hahahaha.

Once I get the sale taken care of then we have to turn our attention to getting our shipping container ready to send to Ireland. That will have to be sent the first of June. Right now it's taking approximately four weeks to get the container from the States to Ireland. The most difficult thing will be deciding what clothes, shoes, kitchen items and things like that we'll need over that month. We can only keep out what we can fit into our suitcases for the flight to Ireland. This part should prove to be rather exciting. I just know I'm going to send something that I'll end up really needing after the fact. Doesn't it always work that way?

Daddy's 83rd Birthday

Today, March 25th, we celebrated my dad's 83rd birthday! Instead of going out somewhere, my mom decided to cook a wonderful lunch and we were able to eat and visit with them for awhile this afternoon. Of course, we also had "birthday cake". I mean, what's a party without the cake, right? It's hard to think that I won't be in the states for his next birthday. Everyone knows that part of being a missionary is leaving family and missing family events, but that knowledge takes on new meaning when you're the one who will be missing those events. I know I can call him next year and maybe even arrange some "web cam" time with him at one of my daughters homes, but the fact still remains that I won't be there to give him a hug or a birthday kiss. Next year will be hard for dad and I both. I'm thankful for the promise that God's aware of that already, and He'll give both of us the strength we need to get through the day even though we will be in different parts of the world. I'm so thankful for the privilege of being the daughter of Dr. W. Jay Dolvin. God has truly blessed me. Happy Birthday Daddy. . .I Love You!

Florida

I always love it when our Missions Conferences take us to nice warm, sunny places. . .like Florida! We got here last Saturday, March 14th and will be here until Monday the 22nd. We have been staying with my husbands youngest sister and her family, in Cocoa Beach.

So far we've spent two days at the beach. Soaked up lots of sun, and played in the ocean. We've also done lots of running around to different little shops. . .just in case they were having sales or anything :o)

Yesterday, we were able to surprise Tiff with a trip to Disney World for her graduation gift. Needless to say she was very excited! She was there years ago, but doesn't remember any of it, so we were glad that the Lord provided a way for us to take her this trip. I have to admit, I'm a huge Disney World fan myself. I love riding the rides and watching the fireworks and the big Main Street Parade. We took our niece with us also. She had never been there before so it was fun watching the two of them enjoy all the "Magic".

We will leave here tomorrow (Saturday) morning and drive to our next church. I will be speaking for their "Spring Ladies Luncheon" on Saturday, and then Bob will be presenting our work and preaching in the Sunday morning service. After lunch we will drive to Lakeland Florida, where we will present our work to a different church during their evening service. Sunday evening we will be staying with a dear couple that Bob and I have stayed with before. They actually live right around the corner from the church in Lakeland. They are one of those couples that make you feel like your "at home" when you stay with them. We thank God when He brings people like that into our lives.

We will leave Florida on Monday morning and then it's off to Atlanta, GA. We will be spending Monday night with another missionary family that we met during one of the missions conferences we were in. Here again, it's so wonderful how God has brought such neat people into our lives while on deputation. These are people that we will be friends with long after all of us have moved to our specific countries and begun our individual works. On Tuesday, it's home to celebrate my dad's 83rd birthday, and start getting things ready for our moving sale prior to moving to Ireland the first of July.

Unwelcome Changes

When Bob and I surrendered to the mission field we knew it would bring about some major changes in our family dynamics. We also knew that those changes would come in one of two forms. On one hand there's the kind of change that makes you jump up and down, waving your hands in the air and yelling "yippie", and then there's the kind of change that makes you think your heart will break in two and you're convinced that crying has become your favorite hobby.

Well unfortunately, on Thursday March 12th, we will experience a change of the second type. I will be taking our cat, Katherine Noel (affectionately known as Katie), to her new home. She will be living with Bob's sister and her husband, and I know she will be loved and pampered. Although God has blessed us with a very good home for her, the fact still remains that she will be missed greatly. Now, I know some of you might be thinking, "it's a cat, what's the big deal". Well, any animal lover knows exactly what I'm talking about here. . .it is a big deal!

Katie and our youngest daughter have shared a room and a bed for the last five years or so. Needless to say this is going to be a hard transition for Tiff and Katie both. I know her new owners will take great care of her and make sure that her "Heiness" gets anything she needs or wants, but we will miss her terribly. Our house will feel a little less "homey" (at least for awhile), without her "welcome home" meow's and her "I love you" purrs.

Just so you know, we also have a dog that will be going to my mom and dad's before we leave. Yeah, you guessed it. . .there will be another post involving me, a pet and bunches of tears. Just so you know!

New Friends

We have just returned from a Missions Conference in sunny California. In fact, this was the first time we had been to California. It was nice! Far to much traffic for me personally, but it was wonderful to see and feel the sunshine again. Our wonderful hosts, Jeremy, Heather and Avery Mayol, (I've attached our group photo), were gracious enough to take us on a couple of very interesting and fun site seeing trips. On Monday, we went to the Regan Library and Memorial. That was really nice! I enjoyed reading all about his life and looking at all the memorabilia that they have there. We were also able to go aboard the "Air Force One" that Regan used during his presidency. I was amazed at how big it was and yet they said that three of his plane could fit inside the new Air Force One. The plane we flew home in seemed so small after seeing his plane.

On Wednesday, they took us to Beverly Hills and Hollywood. We walked down Rodeo Drive and saw all the expensive stores and saw a number of "Hollywood stars hot spots", as Heather called them. Unfortunately, we saw no stars, or at least none that I recognized. We were also able to see Kodak Theater where they have the Oscars along with the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I'm glad that I got to experience it once, but believe me, it doesn't look anything like what you see on television. The Kodak Theater and the Hollywood Walk of Fame are both in a really run down area of California. Our hosts were telling us that none of the stars even live in or close to Hollywood anymore. They have all moved out to more expensive, secluded areas. One of the highlights of our trip to Beverly Hills and Hollywood, was our stop at "Sprinkles", a fancy "hole-in-the-wall" cupcake place. The church even sent each of the Missionary families home with a box. Needless to say, ours are almost gone!

Although we enjoyed the site seeing, the best part of the trip was the wonderful way God worked in the conference itself. Their church was packed to "standing room only" almost every evening. The church staff and the congregation treated us like we were royalty. They made us feel like we were at home with family. There were a number of times during the conference that I was brought to tears by the outpouring of love from these dear brothers and sisters in Christ. These dear people truly love the Lord and they genuinely care about lost souls. They gave freely of everything that they had. Praise God for churches that still believe that it takes people to win people and for churches that are willing to give above and beyond to make sure that people like Bob and I are able to do what God has called us to do.

Please join me in praying for the people of Faith Baptist Church in California. May God bless them for their willingness to give so we can go!

Problem Solved

As you can see, I was finally able to reload my "Family" slide show on to my blog page. I would love to tell you it was because of some extremely intelligent programing talent that I process; however, that would be a complete lie. The truth is, I signed on this morning and WAHLAH it worked. I was also able to remove my "Ireland" slide show, add some pictures, and reload that one with no issues. Don't ask me why I thought it would be a good idea to try that, given the problems I had with the other one, but I did it anyway. To my pleasant surprise and great joy, it worked just like it was supposed to. I really have no clue what I'm doing on this computer. I just push buttons and hope for the best most of time.

Bob and I will be flying to California bright and early tomorrow morning for a missions conference, so I will try to post when I can, but I'm not making any promises. Of course, I'm sure my faithful blog followers are used to my posts being more, hmmmmmmm, lets say sporadic in nature, hahahahaha!

Becoming a Blog Master - yeah right!

Okay, not even close to a "blog master", but I did determine that I was going to learn how to dress up my blog today. Like anyone who is looking for information about how to do something "techie", I headed for the Google search bar and typed in "free blog backgrounds". Much to my surprise the first site I clicked on turned out to be a gold mine. I found backgrounds, blog accessories, and a truck load of "how to blog" helps. This site walked me through changing the background, changing the layout and lots of other cool stuff. If you're reading this post then you've seen my finished blog project. What do ya think?

The only issue I am having is getting my "Family" slide show back on my blog. I removed it to add some more photos, and now it will not allow me to reload it on my blog page. If anyone has any hints on accomplishing this, please contact me. I would greatly appreciate any help in this matter. The worst thing is that I had it on here and just couldn't leave it alone. Now, I know what some of you are thinking. You're saying, "why don't you just do whatever you did to get the "Ireland" slide show on here". Well, I've tried that, and for some reason it will not allow me to reload the "Family" slide show. I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually, but for now it does leave me a tad miffed.

Family Game Night

Recently our family has started having regular game nights. Nothing fancy, just lots of snacks and bunches of laughs. Those present usually include Bob and I, along with our three girls, our son in law and my parents. Everyone usually brings a snack of some sort and we spend the evening playing games and eating. Let's see, family, laughter and lots of food. . .sounds like a perfect evening to me, hahahahaha!

Last night as my parents were leaving and we were done with the normal "goodbyes", my mom turned to me and made this comment, "why haven't we been doing this all along, why did we wait so long to have a planned family night?". My response, "I don't know mom, I guess we thought we were just too busy". TOO BUSY! Are you serious? How can we be too busy to spend time with family and even friends for that matter. I look back now and wonder why I let work and other "junk" be more important than time with the people who love me the most.

I understand our situation may be different than most. Our family realizes that in four months Bob and I will be moving to Ireland. Once that move is made our only contact with our girls and parents will be through webcams, email, facebook and "snail-mail". Your family may not be leaving the country, but that doesn't mean that the people you love the most will always be with you. I think of all the "family game nights" we could have had if we had just planned a regular evening a couple of times a month to get together.

Your homework (as my faithful blog followers), is to determine to take advantage of every opportunity to be with family and friends. Don't let things that have no eternal value keep you from enjoying life the way God intended you to. . .surrounded by family and good Christian friends.

Our Amazing God!

Have you ever had one of those "duh moments", when that proverbial light bulb comes on in your head and you finally realize that God has and is answering your prayers? Let me explain! Since we returned from Ireland back in June, I have been praying that God would completely break my heart for the country of Ireland. I wanted Him to give me a love for the Irish people that runs so deeply in my soul that I would wake up every morning wishing that this would be the day that we leave. Well, the other day I was watching our missions presentation video on my computer, and I found myself crying. I'm talking real tears down the cheek and the whole deal. Now, I wish I could tell you that my reason for watching the video was to fast and pray for Ireland, but my reason was much more selfish and much less spiritual. You see, I was trying to figure out a way to change the picture that my husband used. On a side note, why is it that men always choose the WORST picture they can find of the family (or at least of you) when they are doing things like this?????? Anyway, back to the story. . .so there I am watching our video and wondering why I can't seem to stop crying. This is where the "duh moment" happened!

At this moment it dawned on me that the last couple of times we had shown our video at missions conferences I have had to fight to hold back the tears. I just figured I was having "one of those days". However, when I couldn't hold the tears back anymore the other day, I finally realized what was happening. God was and is truly answering my prayers in a BIG way. I don't know if I can explain this in a way that those of you reading this entry will be able to completely understand, but when I see those pictures of Ireland I feel like my heart will explode if I don't get there soon. There is no place else in this world that I would rather be!

Please join me in prayer for the country of Ireland and it's amazing people. Pray that God can and will use me in very special way in that country. Praise God that once again He has shown Himself amazing!

FINALLY! A new post. . .at last!

Okay, so I admit that I've been a little lazy in my blog postings; however, I hope to correct that starting tonight. So, let me fill you in as to what has been happening in my life over the last three months. We celebrated three major holidays since I've posted last. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. I've attached the family picture that we took on Thanksgiving day. As with most holidays, we spent as much time with our families as possible. Of course, knowing that we will not be with our families next year for the holidays, made a big difference in how I approached each one. I found myself spending a lot of time standing back and watching and listening to all the excitement of each day. I wanted to burn each laugh and face into my memory for future recall when we're celebrating these same holidays next year without those me call family. God has truly blessed me!

Another big change that has happened since my last post, is that we have now moved out of our house (after 26 years), and into our churches mission house. We will be living here until we leave for Ireland on July 1, 2009. Moving out the house was quite traumatic I must admit. I really had to make that a matter of prayer. Although I understand that it's only a house, the fact still remains that we had lived there 26 years and all our girls were babies in that house. Any mothers reading this will understand what I'm saying. As always though, God did supply the strength and courage needed to make the move. He also sent us a great family, complete with kids and dogs, to take our house. I pray that they enjoy living there as much as our family did.

Bare Shelves and Christmas Decorations

Okay, so as you know, I've been packing like a crazy women since I lost my job. Well, the other day (Monday to be exact), I realized that the house was starting to look like we really didn't live in it. I guess the best way to describe it was that the house no longer had any personality. It contained all the things needed to "function" in it, but nothing to show the character or individualism of it's occupants. The above observations were confirmed as accurate when my youngest daughter came home from school and said, "Wow Mom! It looks like we're moving tomorrow. . .can't you just leave some stuff out so it's not so bare?". Now, being the wonderful, loving mother that I am, I couldn't continue to let my baby girl feel ill at ease in her own home. So, I did the only other thing I knew to do to make her happy. . .I PUT ALL THE CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS UP!

Our family has always waited until after Thanksgiving before we start the long process of "Christmas Decorating". Although I never really knew why we waited, other than the fact that no one wanted to climb into the attic to drag everything out. I decided that since this will be our last Christmas together in this house, I was going to make it last as long as possible. I will say that I held off putting up the main tree (I put up a second tree in my office), and I didn't put up any decorations outside yet. That's Bob's mission each year! I will wait until after Thanksgiving to do those two things. I have to admit, the house looks great! As I sit here typing this post, the Christmas tree in my office shines brightly in the corner, and it makes me feel like all is right in the world. My kitchen and living room are filled with Snowmen and Christmas candles and other bright, shiny "Christmasy" things. I love the glow that comes from the many candles I use and also the many "light up" decorations that I have. Oh, did I forget to mention the Christmas music that is playing in the background, hahahahahaha! I know, I know. . .I'm nuts, but I'm happy, and now more than ever I can say that I'm really ready for the holidays.

Go ahead, admit it. . .you know after reading this you want to go drag your Christmas boxes out of the attic and start decorating your own house. It's okay, I promise that your head won't explode if you plug in Christmas lights before you eat that last bite of turkey. Try it, and see if it doesn't end up being your best Christmas ever.

Weddings, and Lost Opportunities

This past Saturday, October 25th, the daughter of one of my dearest friends got married. I was fortunate enough to be asked to sing for the wedding, so that meant that I got to spend lots of time with the family during all the rehearsals, ceremony, etc. It was so wonderful to be together will all of them again. When you don't see people much you tend to forget how special your times together are. I haven't laughed that much in a long time. The giggles were in abundance I tell ya. The girls had asked me to sing a special song for their mom (my friend, Brenda). It was a song that she especially liked and they wanted to surprise her by having me sing it at the wedding. I knew it would make her cry so I didn't look at her. . .besides that I knew she was gonna be mad at me for making her cry. I told her it wasn't my fault. . .the girls asked and I couldn't tell them no!

After the wedding, while I was driving home, I realized how much I'm going to miss spending time with Brenda once I move to Ireland. Although we don't see each other as much as we would like, I always knew she was there, and the opportunity was always there to get together. It hit me Saturday that although Brenda and I will always be the best of friends, the opportunity to get together whenever we want will soon be lost. That makes me very sad! I wonder why we get so busy that we let important things like spending time with family and friends take a back seat to work and other less important things? I know it's a common fact of life, but it doesn't make me feel any less sad. I've been a "weepy" mess since Saturday. I think I will probably own stock in Kleenex tissues by the time I leave the states. I wish I could take all my family and friends with me to Ireland!

Cheryl, This Blogs For You

My friend Cheryl informed me the other day that since I was now a "stay at home women" she saw no reason why my blog was not being updated on a more regular basis. Well, Cheryl, this blogs for you!

I will try, from this point on, to update my blog at least once a week. I probably will never be a "daily blogger". My life is neither that interesting nor that exciting; however, there really is no reason why I can't come up with enough information to make an entry each week. Besides that, I would hate to think that poor Cheryl has nothing new to read when she logs on to my blog.

For all of you "blog followers", if you ever find yourself in Hartville, Ohio, stop in and see Cheryl at Crosswalk Christian Bookstore. She's there Monday through Saturday. She would love your company and your patronage. Tell her Marilyn sent you. You won't get anything free (well, maybe a smile), but the conversation will sure take a new direction, hahahahaha!

Okay Cheryl, there's your business plug. . .now where's my money???????

Lost Jobs, Answered Prayers and Trips To The Dentist

A lot has happened since my last blog! I'll start with the event that at first seems to be the worst thing to happen. On Friday, October 10th, I was informed that my position was being done away with. . .I was being let go due to "cut-backs". Naturally I was a little confused as to why God was allowing this to happen. I really couldn't afford to lose my job right now and I knew God knew that! I was trying to tell myself that God had everything under control, but I have to admit, I was failing miserably in that quest. As I drove home in tears all I could do was pray that God had something better planned. Well, He did! Within two and a half hours of getting home I received a phone call that removed all doubt as to rather God was still in control of this situation. I'll skip all the details for the sake of space, but I will tell you that God has provided the money so that I am now able to stay home and concentrate fully on packing, and spending quality time with family and friends. He literally gave me what I wanted most. . .the ability to spend my last nine months in the states soaking up as much family, and friend time as I possibly can. Once again God has shown me that when we are doing what He wants us to do, He will provide everything we need (sometimes, He even gives us our personal desires). And to think I was concerned . . .silly me!

I had to go the the dentist today. Like most people, I don't find much pleasure, joy or happiness at the dentist office; however, sometimes it's necessary to make the trip. Today, was one of those necessary days. I had a crown that needed to be done prior to our move to Ireland, so like a good girl I spent two hours of quality time with my dentist this morning. . .great fun I tell ya. The really fun part was that when I made this appointment I was still working, so to insure that I wouldn't miss to much work, I made my appointment for 6:45 am! By the time I lost my job (on Friday), it was to late to change my appointment time, which meant I had to be up at 5:00 am on my first day as an unemployed person. YUCKY! Don't worry though. . .I plan on making up for it tomorrow morning, hahahahaha.

New Friends, New Key, Same Cold

I've taken a short break from packing in order to nurse my cold. Stupid cold! I hate being sick, it just interferes with everything. I stayed home from music lessons and choir last night to give myself some added rest. I do feel a little better this morning, so maybe I'm done with the worst of it.

I did get my new key made for my truck (remember, I threw my original key away, duh!). It works like a charm. The man at the Ford dealership told me had my truck been a year older they could not have made a key. Something about it missing a key code and the computer only stored these numbers back through 1999. Thank the Lord my truck is a '99. Another perfect example of small blessings that usually go unnoticed. I love the way God takes care of us despite our own stupidity.

We met new friends the other evening, which was great fun. God allowed our paths to cross with a young missionary couple who are on deputation to Ireland! The Bowman's have just started their "deputation journey", but we are praying that God will supply their support quickly. Although we had never met them before, it felt as if we were old friends just catching up again. We were able to spend Tuesday evening with them and their five sons, and let me tell you, the giggles were abundant. We talked about Ireland, about missions and shared many deputation stories. I look forward to the day when both of our families are in Ireland, and we can share our new friendship and our new ministries together. They are currently looking to start up in the County Kerry region, specifically the town of Killarney. Please add them to your prayer list, as they have a long road ahead of them. God is so good! He's already started supplying us with good Christian friends to share in our new life/ministry in the country of Ireland.

Boxes, Colds, and Thrown Away Keys

The past few days have been. . .hmmmmmmmmmm, interesting we'll say! Of course, there are the endless number of boxes that have been filled, taped, marked, weighed and taken to the storage unit in preparation for shipping. So far I have packed all the books from the living room bookcase along with the bookcase in my office, along with all the knic knack's from the bedroom, living room and kitchen. Bob and I moved a couple of bookcases along with numerous boxes to the storage unit on Saturday afternoon. Today (Tuesday), the movers came to move the piano to my middle daughters house for safe keeping. The house is slowly starting to look a little bare in places. Fortunately, it's almost time to put up Christmas decorations so that will help fill in the "bare spots". Yesterday (Monday), my youngest daughter and I were both sick so I kept both of us home for a day of rest, cold medicine and homemade chicken soup. Both of us are up and at it again today, but still feeling poorly. Then to top everything off, I couldn't find my keys this morning. So, after a frantic search of the house I remembered that while I was carrying a rather large box loaded with groceries into the house the other day, I had thrown them into the box so my hands could be free. After getting into the house I emptied the groceries out of the box and then filled the box with trash and proceeded to dump it into the dumpster in the garage. So far this doesn't sound to awful, right? Oh, just wait, it gets better! I didn't realize any of this until 7 am this morning. . .our trash was picked up at 6 am this morning!!!!!! Yep, I managed to throw away the only set of keys that I had for my truck and I was already running late for work. Fortunately for me, I was able to take my youngest daughter's car to work and my husband was in town so he was able to get my truck towed by AAA to the local Ford dealership here in town so they could make me a new key. I would like to blame all this craziness on the cold medication that I'm on, but I don't think the people who know me best are really going to believe that. Oh well, I'm still standing by that excuse. As they say, "that's my story and I'm sticking to it".

Boxes, Boxes Everywhere

My mission tonight, if I choose to accept it, is to finish cleaning the remaining Precious Moments. I was able to get approximately half of them cleaned the other night, but still have a large box that needs to be done. The plan is to finish them tonight and then move into my office and start boxing up books, knic-knacks, etc. We are hoping to have the Precious Moments and the piano moved to their new "homes" this weekend. We were able to finally find a storage unit that had enough empty space in front of it for our shipping container to set. That means that I can now start weighing and moving packed boxes out of the house and into the storage unit in preparation to ship. The hardest part right now is trying to decide what to ship, what to sell, and what to store and where! Although there are times when I don't think we will ever get all this done, I have to tell you, it's quite an exciting challenge!

Our youngest daughter doesn't like the idea of us moving things out of the house already. She would rather we just took our house to Ireland with us. She has never known any other house, and this is a lot for her to process right now. Time will make this transition easier for her.