choices, church, Chicago...

Wednesday already!!! I was having trouble remembering what day it is again today... for some reason I want to think it is Thursday, but then I got so excited to remember it is Wednesday & I get to go to church tonight!!!! We have a great Wednesday evening service... the last few weeks it has been packed to capacity +... good worship, great message... what more could you want???

I was reading this morning & came across this verse that I wanted to share...
"Congenial conversation—what a pleasure! The right word at the right time—beautiful!" Prov. 15:23 (The Message)

Wouldn't it be great if we could always follow that in our daily conversations... we can... it is a choice (so they tell me)... I keep reminding myself that some things just don't need to be spoken... the difficulty is knowing when to speak it & when to shut it!!! Why rehash things that make you angry, hurt or agrivated... why do we do that to ourselves? We can change it one choice at a time!

Exciting news... at least for me... our ladies ministry at church is taking a trip to Chicago in November... yes, I know it is still a ways off, but I am so excited... I have never been to Chicago, just through it very quickly. Do you have any suggestions of "have to see" places? Can't wait!

Plenty to do today, so make a choice to live today with a grateFUL HEART, carin

Happy Anniversary... (day late-dollar short)

Ok, I know it may be a day late (our anniversary was yesterday-11th), but I was so busy yesterday... the day came & went & I never did get this posted... I have been receiving a little grief from a couple people about not posting since Thursday... anyway, with that all out of the way I will get to a post for my loving hubby on this our 18th anniversary... (I am going to get mushy now so if you don't want to see that you better skip this part!)

In so many ways it seems like we have been together forever... I don't remember my life without you, but there is still that moment everyday that seems like it is all new... I still "twitterpate" when I see you come in the driveway or just come in to a room and I pray that feeling never ends. God gave me more than I could imagine when He brought you into my life and I thank Him for you everyday! I couldn't have done any better than you... or is that you were the best I could do? (wink) I love you with all my heart, my sweet, sweet Luke.

Ok, now anyone that had to turn away from all that lovey stuff can read on... let me explain about this picture ... my cousin from CA that stayed with us for a couple days wanted a picture of us with our cats... the cats were all on the bed so she said let's just take it there, so no we don't normally take pics of ourselves on the bed! *Ü* Aren't the kitties cute? and I guess we don't look too bad either. Thanks for sharing this moment in the life & times of me...

with a grateFUL HEART, carin

another tidbit...

I was peeking at some of my favorite blogs once again this morning... I came across a gorgeous card on http://www.amazingpapergrace.com/ with this quote:

Though we travel the world over
to find the beautiful,
we must carry it with us
or we find it not.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Isn't that another great quote... it is deep, but it is what I wish all women could realize especially the young ladies in the world.

I have company coming today... so no time for stamping only cleaning, but for the company I do have a grateFUL HEART, carin

posting post-its...

Here are a "few" things I worked on yesterday... these are match book style mini post-it notes for some special ladies. It is very simple, but I think all 36 of them turned out good! (if I do say so myself) What do you think?

with a grateFUL HEART, carin

just a lil' tidbit...

I came across this on another blog today & I wanted to share because it touched my heart...


"True love is neither physical, nor romantic.
True love is an acceptance of all that is, has been, will be, and will not be.
‘Life isn’t about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain.’ "


If you have that... you should have a grateFUL HEART, carin

what's in a title???

I just noticed this morning that I never put a title on yesterday's post... ooops! I guess it should have been "Fun? in the Thumb". Well, today will be a continuation of the "fun".

My parents & Luke & I went out for supper last night to a local place that is known for its fish fry on Friday nights... I wonder if Friday night fish fries are all over the country or is it just a Michigan thing??? Anyway, the place has a lot of character or is that characters??? It is an old hotel/saloon that has evolved over the years into a "family dining" establishment... although there are a lot of old patrons who don't really fit into the family dining pattern... um, my husband calls them "bar flies"... I am not so sure they might like that description. The food is good and let's face it... it is a good place to "watch people" which is one of my favorite pass times.

We are off to the 31st Annual Fish Sandwich Parade this morning... should be interesting as always... people will ask Luke & me why we bother to come home for such a small town thing, but we enjoy coming to the Thumb, if for no other reason that we get to see people that we use to see all the time when we lived here but now they get to tell us what is going on with them & how much they miss us *Ü*... it's always nice to be missed!

with a grateFUL HEART, carin

Yes, I am still at my parents... and having a good time (mostly)... I can tend to be a little obsessive compulsive about clutter & organization & my parents -- not so much... which after 5 days can start to wear on one a little... not sure if it is wearing on me more or am I wearing on them???? that is the question?????? *Ü* love you, Mom & Dad!!!

My mom & I have this thing with playing Scrabble ... whenever possible we try to get a game in... which isn't too often now that we live so far apart. Yesterday we played a game, it is Super Scrabble so it has more tiles & more places to play so a game can take hours... we also invited my mom's oldest sister to play with us (she needed to keep her mind busy yesterday). So here is the scenario -- me playing a 68 year old woman (my mom) & a 77 year old woman (my aunt)... may not sound like much of a competition, but they fought to the very end. I won, but my mom really creeped up close in the end. I don't believe in letting little kids win just because they are little & I don't believe in letting older people win just because they are older... OK, does that sound a little harsh???? What do you ever learn if someone lets you win???? By the way the last time Mom & I played was in May and she beat me!!!! Way to go Mom!

We had a gang here for supper -- 11 adults + 3 babies... I made spaghetti & fresh strawberry pie for dessert (yummy! thanks Ruth). The 3 babies belong to friends of our family... twin girls born in January 08 and another baby girl born in Oct. 07... they are so precious & very happy babies, but what a handful. How this couple ended up with 3 babies 3 months apart is a long, long, long story, but it is a story that has a happy ending! *Ü*

Here is a picture of the "happy ending" ... from the left is Skylar, Sarah & Sadie (Skylar & Sadie are the twins). They are so cute & they smell so good... you know that baby smell!

and today these are the things that give me a grateFUL HEART, carin