Another Niece Gets Married

Yesterday I was privileged to attend the wedding of yet another beautiful niece. My sister Hope's third daughter, Adrienne, married a young man from the far northern land of Ontario, Canada. I fear this is the best picture I have of the happy couple. They looked very happy indeed. Ah, young love.

(I am really annoyed because the room was kind of dim so the pictures are dark. I lightened and cropped some of them, but none of my editing carried over when I imported to the blog. Grrr.)

I made sure to get a picture of myself with the bride, because I have failed to do so at the other weddings of my nieces and wish I would have done so for posterity. Her dress was gorgeous, sewed by her grandma, Barbara Troyer.

Her beautiful younger sisters Janelle and Camille, are far too young to walk down the aisle for a few years yet! This day was especially bittersweet for them as they face the reality of losing their beloved older sister's daily presence in their lives. I feel their pain, but least they have each other!

My adorable niece Serena's purple polka dot outfit with matching polka dot tights and purple sandals was so cute. She was not inclined to stand still and pose! The photo that I cropped and edited looks really great.  Grrr.

Adrienne's older sisters Brianna and Jenna came from the east with their husbands and babies. Brianna's miracle baby, Janae Hope, was being held by a nice little old lady so I just put her picture in the picture! Jenna's two little girls are absolutely adorable, and she is expecting a boy in August!

I was so delighted to hold sweet baby Janae!

More sisters - Jenna's little girls Hannah and Phebe are cute as can be.

And here are two of my own precious sisters. I wouldn't let my baby sister Jean be photographed with us because she is too young and pretty. (I was 17 when she was born!) No, I'm not really that vain, she just wasn't in the area when we took this spur of the moment picture.

I am so thankful for all my wonderful sisters, nieces, and great-nieces! I pray Adrienne and Graham will have a long and joyous marriage in their igloo in the far North. Oh, wait, I heard they were going to get to live in a house after all. And the story continues.....

I Love my Lucy Shirt!

My dear old friend Lou, who has had the pleasure of working with me for many years on our women's retreat team, thoughtfully blessed me at this year's retreat with a bag of gifts, ostensibly for my friend Barb (who has loyally been my roommate there for at least the past three years). This bag contained various items for Barb to give me just in case I forgot to bring them. For some reason, Lou has this unreasonable idea that I forget something every year. (Possibly she's getting forgetful, did I mention that she's a very old friend?) 

It's true that last year, Barb provided our other roommate Cindy with a new toothbrush after I accidentally used Cindy's toothbrush. (She really shouldn't have left it out on the counter because it looked just like mine.) And I didn't forget my underwear last year, my dear roommate Cindy stole it and hid it from me, so I temporarily thought I had lost my mind and forgotten it. If I forgot to bring anything else to retreat over the past few years, I have forgotten what that might have been. I am getting old too.

I certainly have never forgotten to bring clothing, but apparently Lou had doubts that I could be trusted to bring even this basic necessity. Among the plethora of useful items in this bag was a unique t-shirt. It still had the tag on it, with a red "Clearance" sticker and the price of $4.99. I bet Lou thought I would have to be pretty desperately shirtless to wear it. It was also a size Medium and too tight for me back in February. (Barb was kind enough to give it to me anyway.)

We had a Ladies Bunco night at our church this week, and I thought it would be a perfect place to wear this special shirt, if only it wouldn't be so small. Oh joy, I tried it on and it fit!

Lou begged to have her picture taken next to me in the shirt, so I graciously acquiesced.

The back of the shirt has another full size picture of Lucy. It's pretty special to wear a shirt that is so all around cool, especially when it was given to you with so much love! I may have to wear it the whole weekend at our next retreat. Or maybe I could give people turns at wearing it if they are nice and don't steal anything from me or play other practical jokes. Possibly people would even pay me to have a chance to wear it. It must be getting late because splendid ideas are popping into my head like crazy. I better quit now!

Love My Country Walks

I love living in the country and taking walks. The weather and the seasons cause the view to constantly change. The past month, I have enjoyed viewing floods that turned the fields into lakes. I have watched flowers bloom, then peek out of a blanket of snow, then emerge and rise again to meet the sun. I have walked in gentle sprinkles, driving downpours, hail and sleet, in spite of trying to choose times between precipitation. Oh yeah, the sun came out once also! 

An awesome benefit of a flooded road is that there is very little traffic. You pretty much have the whole road to yourself and other walkers (and their dogs).

Where this sign says "Road Narrows" they occasionally need a one that says, "Road disappears". There have been many days during the past couple months that I have to turn around after about 1 1/2 miles if I want to walk instead of swim.

When I walked on March 22, the snow had completely changed the landscape.

It was especially fun to follow the footsteps of my husband and his dog, who had walked a couple of hours earlier.

I didn't even need boots I just walked in the tire tracks.

It was really sad to see the damage to trees. These had to be cut down.

The "lake" was especially scenic one day when the sun came out.

The hyacinths were just as beautiful as ever after the snow melted.

It is a joy to watch the progression of buds to blooms of magnolias, a variety of different daffodils, hyacinths, and tulips along the way. The sweet fragrances are splendid as well.

I do have a few spectators as I journey on.

 You never know - sometimes a whole herd of sheep will turn and run away as I approach. Other times they stand and stare. I would like to say they stare inquisitively, but it appears to me that it's more of a stupid stare.
 
I suspect some people may take a blue sky for granted. Not me. I marvel at the amazing beauty blue sky and sunshine!

I thank God for good health and a strong body that allow me to get out and enjoy the beautiful place I live, for the changing weather, and most of all, for the anticipation of a sunny weekend with temps in the 70s!

March: Commitment

Commitment. It's the difference between success and failure when you want to change something in your life. I am currently enjoying the results of a commitment I made in November last year. I had joined Weight Watchers in October 2010 when it became a health insurance benefit. In a year's time, I lost 15 pounds and gained back 5, because although I wanted and wished to lose weight, I never really committed myself to following the plan.

In November 2011, I was inspired by watching the Biggest Loser show. I wondered how successful I could be if I stuck to the Weight Watchers plan (tracking and eating only the allotted points per day, with healthy foods) and exercised 6 days a week for an hour (or more)? I weighed on on Monday, November 7th and started a Word document on my laptop called "Biggest Loser". At the top of the page, I put this quote:
"Satisfaction does not come from indulgence; satisfaction comes from achievement." (Calvin Coolidge)

I open that document every morning to record my weight and any other pertinent info. I track my food and exercise on the Weight Watcher's eTools site each day as well.  I joined a gym, my church started hosting Zumba classes, and exercise became really fun! My niece's wedding date was almost 6 weeks away (Dec. 17) and my first goal was to lose 20 pounds by then. I didn't make it, but I lost 18, so I didn't feel too bad!  It's amazing what happens when you have a good plan and are committed to sticking to it! I have lost 37.8 pounds since November 7th, and am committed to following through to my goal, 12 pounds away. I feel absolutely great!

So it was time to commit to improving my spiritual health as well. I had been challenged to a more committed prayer life at Helen Sannan's funeral in January and prayer was especially important as we prepared for our retreat in February. While there, I was challenged to spend more time reading God's word. Mim Schlabach shared how she had made a commitment to daily Bible reading many years ago, saying that since she found time to eat food every day, surely she could find time for spiritual food daily as well. After talking to her before retreat, I had made a commitment to daily Bible reading, but not a specific amount of time. I have always had the desire and intention, but some days were just "too busy" to open my Bible. Our awesome retreat speaker, Jenna Silva, also challenged and inspired me to spend more time in the Bible. So that became a part of my commitment for March.

I started another Word document and committed to spend 10 minutes a day this month reading the Bible. Each day I typed the date, the time, and the chapters I read. I also typed (or cut and pasted) passages that I really liked or that really spoke to me. Like this one:

"Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this." (Psalm 37:4-5)

After I read through some of my favorite New Testament books, I started a 61 day reading plan on Bible Gateway.com that takes you through the key stories of the Bible in chronological order. (That website has lots of different reading plans.)

I love my time reading the Bible. I especially love reading all the scriptures that I were my favorites last month and are now all on one document for me to read!

"O God, you have taught me ever since I was young,    and I still talk about the miracles you have done.Even when I am old and gray, do not abandon me, O God.
   Let me live to tell the people of this age
      what your strength has accomplished,
         to tell about your power to all who will come." (Psalm 71:17-18)
 (That whole chapter is one of my new favorites!)

In April, my theme word will be "perseverance".  My weight loss has really slowed down this past month, and I need to persevere and not be discouraged. I also want to use a Bible study book this month along with my reading.

By the grace of God and through His strength,  I will persevere in my commitment to spiritual and physical health!