Your Love

Last Friday was the 6th Anniversary of our wedding engagement. He took me to a really nice restaurant called Fish House Vera Cruz in Carlsbad, California. We then took a lovely walk on the beach at sunset. When we reached the end of the walk way we went down on to the sand and the sun was just setting on the water. Rich asked me to marry him! I was so happy and immediately said yes! He gave me a beautiful heart shaped ring with a diamond in the center. It was the most beautiful ring I had ever seen. I will now include a letter I wrote to Rich and gave it to him the morning of our wedding. It sums up how I feel about him and our relationship.

My Dearest,

I have always known that the Lord has loved me with an everlasting love and that nothing will ever take His love away. But, your love has made a shelter for me on this earth, a place I can run to out of the coldness of this world. A place to be warmed, accepted and strengthened for each day. I can now face the hard things of life easier. Your love is a precious gift to me. Knowing that you love me the way you do will be enough to last my whole life through.

Sweet kisses and love always,

Elena

There was a lovely stem of paper white narcissus blooming in my yard as I left my house that morning to go to the church. I rolled this letter up and tied the stem of narcissus on it. When I arrived at the church I placed the letter in the men's dressing area right where he would see it!

From Curtains to Books

First the curtains ... I did a little face lift to Mary's room. As a tiny baby, light really bothered her and she couldn't nap well when there was light in the room. So, I covered her window with tin foil on the inside. Now that she is bigger, she naps just fine with some light coming in. The curtains that were in her room were white and did not block the light at all. So, I bought her some beige curtains that are designed to block a lot of the light. Now I can pull them back during the day and let the light in so she can play in there without the over head light being turned on. She was so excited about the change. She kept running into the room and say pointing at the window and saying, See, See and Oh, Cool! I took her picture Sunday morning before we went to church, when she was playing in her room. She is wearing a little outfit that my friend, Kathey, gave her when they came to visit last month.

Next the books ... I found a wonderful book and toy organizer for Mary. I got the information on how to order this from the website that I visit regularly called "I'm an Organizing Junkie". It is a great website for getting ideas on how to organize things around the house! Anyway Rich assembled it this weekend and I put Mary's toys in the drawers below and the books above. She loves it! She can get her books easily and put them back with a little help and instruction from Mommy:) I also went to Barnes and Noble and bought her a book on using the potty. It is the pink one in the middle shelf of her books below. I gave it to her and when it showed a little teddy bear sitting on a potty, she pointed and said for the first time "Potty!" So, I know now that she can say it. Her potty training is coming closer!

Home

I have been thinking a lot about home lately. Several things that have touched my life recently have got me to thinking about home and where I grew up. I recently purchased a CD by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole called Facing Future. If you are not familiar with him, he is an amazing Hawaiian musician and singer. I used his song from this CD "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" for the slide show with Mary in our back yard. Well, it is not his song, but it is his arrangement of it. Another song on this CD is "Country Roads" sung with Hawaiian land marks instead of West Virginia. I remember singing that song in grade school and it still brings a swell in my heart and a tear to my eyes when I hear it. It is talking about country roads taking you home. It is a song that brings thoughts of walking down memory lane to the place that you will never find again in this life, the innocence and carefree feeling of your childhood. Another thing that makes me think about home, is that a month ago I purchased the first 2 seasons on DVD of the Waltons TV show. It has been years since I have watched the Waltons. I remembered all the characters and the music but I had forgotten the stories. It is a great show and you feel good after you watch it. It is a show I know I won't mind Mary watching when she gets a little older. My favorite part is at the end when Earl Hamner (the writer of the show and who the show was about) comes on and gives his follow up on the story and sometimes what happened later to the person who the story was about. He always speaks so fondly and lovingly of his grandparents, parents and family. How they were rich in love and closeness. Times were hard because of the depression and not having much money but they had something that money could not buy. Even though Earl Hamner was grown, married and had family of his own in California, his heart always seemed close to those Blue Ridge Mountains in Virgina and the family home that he grew up in. I think one of the reasons that the show was so popular was a lot of people in America were hungry for stories of having a close knit family and community even though there wasn't a lot of money or material possessions. The show always leaves you with a message that people and doing the right thing are the most important things in our lives. I know when Rich tells of his time of re-commitment to the Lord, he told me that the Lord told him that the kingdom of God was all about people and doing what was right before the Lord. It wasn't about him and what he wanted but it was about serving God and others, even if it was to his own detriment. I am so thankful that we were able to move back to my childhood home and Mary was born in the same town that I was. It is beautiful here and the pace of life is slower and people take time for you more often. There are country roads and beautiful farm lands and forests near by. I pray her soul will be knitted with the same joys that I had as a child and many happy memories will be formed in her mind. That she will be like me, growing up with loving parents and having a family that loved the Lord. But the most profound thing that resulted in my mind in thinking about home, is that someday we who are in the Lord will all be home, when we go to heaven. Then our souls will be at rest and we will wander no more and we won't have to worry about anything, like that feeling we had as a child only better. The Lord will be our father and we will be free from the results of the fall of creation! Won't that be wonderful! What a blessed hope we have in the Lord!

The Great Exchange

We got a new TV this weekend. Well... new to us. My sister had a TV in their guest room that was too big for the room. So, they traded us sets. They took our smaller TV and gave us theirs. It was a great trade. This TV is a lot bigger and newer! Thanks sis! Here are some pics of Mary playing in the dirt. She loves playing with the dirt in the large wooden pot that our avocado tree is in, out in our yard. She also found a rock and tasted that! Everything is new to little ones and something to explore and experience!

Flowers and Friends

I have been having some beautiful visitors in my flower garden. The grapevine covers our bird feeder, so the wild birds don't come close any more. I have been enjoying the beautiful dragon flys coming and resting on the tops of my glads. They are so beautiful and colorful. Isn't the Lord just wonderful how he made so many beautiful things for us to enjoy!

Back Yard Fun

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

T.G.I.F.

Friday is here again and time to get caught up on our news. Last Saturday Rich worked all morning putting up our yard canopy. He did a great job! Now Mary can have some shade when she plays in her pool. She was a little cautious of it at first but once she ran around the yard and got hot, she really liked her pool. The other thing she did was go over to the fence and spy of big gob of dried bird poop and wouldn't you know it, she popped it in her mouth, acting like it was a little cracker to be munched! She spit it out pretty fast and I washed her mouth out as good as I could. She got a little mad at my scrubbing and then I gave her a drink of water. After all that fuss from me, she has not stuffed anything in her mouth while being outside. She loves, loves, loves being outside. We are so glad we have the yard fenced.

I also got her a potty chair at Walmart. It was so cute. It sings these little songs when they go in the potty and makes music when they push the flusher and roll the toilet paper roll. She really likes playing with it but as you can see from the picture she has not got the hang of sitting on it right! We are working on that. She is 20months now, so I will let her get used to it and then in a few months start getting her to sit on it to actually go potty.

The weather is getting hot. A few days have been over a 100 degrees but a nice breeze blows so Rich is able to survive it so far at work. I just keep praying for the weather not to be too bad. It will start to cool down by the end of August. Fortunately this summer and last have not been too bad. The winters have been colder, so too the summers:)

Well that is our news. God bless you! You are in our prayers and thoughts.

A Red Rose Day

Today I bought Rich a long stem red rose and have put it by his dinner plate, so he will see it when he comes home from work. Every year on this day I buy him a rose and give him a card thanking him for the day he called me and asked me out. Seven years ago a mutual friend told him that I was interested in him and he called me the next day! We talked for 3 hours and at the end of our conversation he invited me to come to Sunday dinner and meet his folks. I was so excited, I called my friend, Selina and my sister, Denise, after his phone call. I told them that I just talked to the man I was going to marry! I knew he was the one. That Sunday, I went to meet his folks and I just fell in love with them too! The next day I left for a 2 week missions trip to Russia. I had a great time, but all I could think about was getting back home and being with Rich. What a wonderful time in my life. I had met someone that felt the same way I did and we had a great year of dating and a 5 month engagement! I am so thankful to the Lord for him. So much joy has come into my life because of him!

Beautiful Zimbabwe

I have a friend, who I have gotten to know over the internet, that was born and raised in Zimbabwe and now lives in the U.S. Through her posts I have learned how beautiful the country of Zimbabwe is and how tragic its story. I pray for Zimbabwe whenever the Lord brings them to mind, usually in the quiet times of my day. When you get a chance visit her blog on Zimbabwe at
http://thestoryofzimbabwe.blogspot.com and hopefully your heart will be sparked to pray for the country and the people there who need help so desperately.