America

I was surfing online recently, looking for the national anthem for Canada.  On Wikipedia, I stumbled on the British National Anthem, "God Save the King" (or "Queen", whichever it happens to be when the song is sung).  I clicked on the icon to hear the music to the song, and I recognized it right away.  But the words I knew to the song were the words for "My Country 'Tis of Thee" - an American favorite.

I laughed at the irony of the choice of music, knowing the history of America breaking free of British rule.
Here are the words side by side, for comparison.  After reading them, I'm even prouder of my America, and our heritage of seeing God as our country's leader and protector.  I think our country needs to get back to that, rather than looking to elected leaders to have all the answers.

Deer Season Preparation

The last two nights our kitchen has been turned into a deer meat processing factory.  Thomas is getting ready for deer season this fall.  He cleaned out the deer meat in our deep freezer in the garage.  There was still some meat that didn't get ground up and made into sausage from last deer season.

His buddy who lives a couple streets over came to help both nights.  It was a lot of work, but the electric meat grinder helped.  They ground up 40 pounds of deer meat in 15 minutes; it used to take an hour or more with the hand crank grinder! 

Thomas added something new to his processing 'factory' this year - a 15 pound capacity sausage stuffing machine.  He decided he is making links from now on, instead of patties by hand.  After a little practice the past two nights, he's got that step down.  Yeah buddy!

After mixing all the spices into the ground meat, doing the required taste-test of a pan fried sausage patty and getting the spices just right, making the links took hardly any time.  There's a wonderful aroma in our kitchen tonight of seasoned deer meat.  Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm.

Grandparenting long distance

I checked out a book at the library a couple weeks back.  It was about Grandparenting Myths, and breaking them.  The title of the book is what got my interest.  Each chapter examined a different myth about grandparents, and challenged the reader to decide if they wanted to live up to that myth, or dare to be different!  Some of the myths I remember were things like:  Grandparents should always be available to babysit, Grandparents should never discipline their grandkids, Grandparents should always be happy, Grandparents should have plenty of energy to keep up with their grandkids.  You get the idea.

Even though I am a "long distance" grandma, I found the book challenging what my ideal role of a grandma is.  It made me think outside the box, and see that it might be okay to not live up to the myths about grandparents.  I felt free to adjust my grandparent role to fit me, my lifestyle, and my thoughts and beliefs.  The primary thing is to pass some part of me onto my grandchildren.  I liked that.  So now, I 'm thinking about what I want to pass on to them, and what they will remember was important to me.  I think that's pretty cool, actually!

New baby in the family!

Little grandson, Ethan, finally arrived at 6 in the morning on Feb 16th. 
I almost missed it.  I was in the birthing room with Faith & Jason all night long while she was laboring & pushing.
When the Dr. finally arrived, I sat down in the recliner to rest for a minute. 
An hour later I woke up, and Faith was close to delivering her son!
I jumped up with camera in hand, and started taking pictures!
I got some good ones of Ethan right as he was born & wisked over to the warmer bassinet.
He cried almost immediately after being born, which is a good sign that he is doing well.
Jason and Faith both looked overwhelmed, as I'm sure they felt...like...He's here...what just happened?!"
After Ethan was checked out by the Dr & nurses, and cleaned up a bit, the rest of the grandparents were allowed to come in.
They oohed and aahed and cooed and held our little grandson, and loved on him.
Seeing all that seemed to reinforce to Faith and Jason what a miracle had just happened.
It's truly one of life's finest moments....to see a brand spanking new baby!
When the nurse took him away to give him a bath, all the grandparents followed her out of the room to watch this exciting event!
So, Ethan has his own little fan club right from the start!  We'll be front and center stage for the rest of our lives!
Thank you Lord for blessing us with little Ethan to love & grandparent!  An amazing gift!
I'm in love again...with a little boy named Ethan, 8#, 11 oz.  He has my heart wrapped around his little finger already!

Grandbaby on the way...

Just about 7 months have elapsed since my last post. In a few days or a week, my new grandson should arrive on the scene! I am so excited! I have spent the last 3 days with my very pregnant daughter, waiting for her son to make his grand entrance! She is very ready NOT to be pregnant anymore! She wants her body back!! (& her pre-pregnant figure). Soon, soon, very soon that will happen.
Today, we had fun eating lunch with Jason's grandparents at a new restaurant, The Hibachi Grill. The food and the company were both great. They were very happy to see Faith again, and find out her latest status.
Later, my daughter took me for a mini-tour of the hospital where she plans to delivery. We stopped in at the Lactation Center to look at their nursing merchandise. From the viewpoint of a prior nursing mom 30 years ago, the nursing mom market has come a long way in its offerings to new breastfeeding moms. So many more choices and new innovations are available. Very cool. We had fun looking at it all, and discussing options for her to consider purchasing after the baby comes. Her friend advised her to wait until after the baby was born and her milk came in, before buying undergarments for nursing. Good advice. So today we window shopped, but didn't buy.
So, the waiting game continues. Hopefully, good news will be here soon!

Dallas Trip

We made a trip to Dallas over July 4th weekend. We visited my engaged son and his fiance, Ben & Amanda. Picking a place to have the rehearsal dinner was on our agenda for the weekend. Also, meeting Amanda's family in the area - her mom,Linda, and her daughter, Ella. It turned out to be a great weekend with no melt-downs or family crisis moments (that I noticed)!
Linda was very generous to cook for all of us for dinner on Saturday night. She met the whole crew: Ben's mom, step-dad, dad & girlfriend, sister & brother-in-law. The only one she didn't meet was Ben's brother (Sam) who she's probably already met. We had a nice time at her home, and the food was great! She is such a great person. I felt right at home with her. She even let me copy a recipe for the dessert she served - it was sooo good! Dessert Pizza - with cool whip and fruit. MMMMMMM.
Ben and Amanda had a BBQ on Sunday afternoon which was delicious. We got to see Amanda's cozy home and the garden that Ben & Ella built. The garden is overflowing the boxed frame it's in, it's doing so well. Ben steamed the fish he caught on his outside grill. It was excellent. Amanda made corn on the cob and dessert was a red/white/&blue cake! I liked that special touch for the Fourth of July!
Later, we all went to a nice grassy park to watch fireworks with about 300 other people. That was fun to just lay on the ground and look up and watch fireworks! Someone had prepared music to accompany the fireworks. It was playing on some giant speakers they had set up on the grounds. It was very inspiring with the music. All in all, a great weekend!

The Honors Society

So, on April 15th I was formally inducted into the Delta Mu Delta Honors Society. Needed to have a GPA of 3.5 or higher to get in. I was excited about this, since I just missed being in my high school honor's society by a few tenths of a point. I didn't want that to happen again! Well, it didn't.
I will say it's easier to earn A's when you only take one class at a time. But, added to a full-time job and family responsibilities, it is still a juggling act. It helps to have patient & understanding family that support you. That actually makes the difference, I would say, in staying in school or dropping out.
I'm taking my last few classes to graduate. This is very exciting for me, to be able to see the end of this road, after being on this path for several years. When I cross the stage on graduation day, and shake hands with whoever is handing out the diplomas, I will let them know it only took me 40 years to finish college! My advice to anyone young...finish before you have a family with family-sized bills and responsibilites.
The fun part of going to college when you are old is you bring your life experience to the classroom. When a teacher says something that sounds out of line, you'll challenge them. Maybe that's why most teachers won't teach weekend college!
A lot of my fellow students already work in their degree field. They just need the diploma to get the higher pay. Some of the presentations we have had are awesome, since they reflect what's done in their work settings with professional-level skills.
I'm excited just thinking about having EVERY weekend free next year to do whatever I want - well, whatever my pocketbook can afford! One thing on my "fun things to do" list is get a ride in my husband's new boat! Like RoseAnne Roseannadanna says, "It's always something" ...for me, it's always something getting in the way of me going for that boat ride.
Graduation will solve that. Graduation and a boat ride are on my horizon for now. Who knows what will be next?!