Fires and School

Tomorrow the house will be empty for most of the day. I'm exhausted and I think it's not because of the kids, but because there has been a fire burning near my brother's apple orchard for the last 2 days and I have been constantly tracking it's progress and hoping they got "blossom" the pig to safety. What a stressful couple of days! As of right now, they got back to their house and it is ok. Thanks God.

Now, Isabel is starting 6th grade and Sam 4th. This year seems to be starting out really well. Good teachers, good friends in each child's class. I'm excited about the possibilities of a great time for them both.

But now I'm going to bed.

16 Mile Lake - Munising

Munising 2009

 
 

Another wonderful year in da UP. Good Food, Friends, Kayaking, Camp Fires, Pictured Rocks, Snapping Turtles!

I grew that beautiful purple flower

just thought everyone was wondering.

Very Excited

Steve Carter is coming to visit tomorrow, he was one of the first people to come up to Northern Wisconsin when we first moved here. He is such a good man that if he was less than 1000 miles from us he would stop to say hi. He is a joker, and he had a big part of this blog from the beginning. He came and stayed at Uncle Art's cabin and we were attacked by bats. Fun Times.

We are gearing up for school to start, we want to pace ourselves with shopping, school supplies, going to bed early, because even more so than CA, you really need to enjoy summer. I'm hoping the treehouse is close to being finished before the first snow. Last night Mike and Isabel went out and watched the meteor shower in the Treehouse it scared me because there is no railing yet, but they were fine.

Blue Moon Emporium is doing well, what you don't see is the sales I make at the Fire and they are up! I'm gearing up for Fall and Winter. Frankenstein Pendants, Turkeys, Christmas Fun. Keep checking out Blue Moon Emporium on Facebook for new things, I tend to put more stuff on there to see if people like them.

Hope you are all doing well, I love hearing from you and hearing stories from others how people are hanging in there in CA with hard times. They say these times create the best innovation and the people I know in WI/CA are the most creative.

More Culture

This weekend had so much to offer culturally in Northern Wisconsin. I wanted to go to 2 main events; Catfish Races in Greenville and State Tree Climbing Competitions in Appleton at Erb Park. The night of the Catfish races there was a great lightening and thunder storm so we didn't go, but Saturday was the Tree Climbing competition.

On a scale of 1-10 in excitement it was probably a 3, but I was very impressed with the skill and the determination of the people climbing those trees. The kids watched one guy climb a tree and they were through. Mike and I at least watched 3 guys climb trees before we said "ICE CREAM" and we were off to Van DeWalls.

Today we spent the afternoon at a beautiful Waterfall near Crivitz, and then a little drive around and found those cool old cars.

Speaking of trees, Mike got the final board into the treehouse floor, now we just need the walls, ladder, tree swing, trap door and railing. Actually the railing is going up next, I still get a little queasy going up there it is really high. I'm so proud of Mike for working so hard on this.


I've not blogged for a very long time, well, not here. I've posted notes on facebook. I think I'll rekindle the blog for a while.

I have been selling my pendants, owls and softy things at The Fire and also started on online store called etsy.com. I'm not too sure how this is going to turn out. Could be a time waster. I'm grateful for the sales that I have made.

Every once and while I need to emote

Well, to start with I empathize with all humans who have to start a new job, new life, move after they have been a grown up for a long time and re-established themselves. Starting over and making new friends, job contacts, etc. is especially difficult, because their is a whole life that is not spoken of again. It is a death, a funeral needs to happen, a memorial service, and much grieving.

Then you get born again, I think I've been born again hmm hmm about 4 times. The only one that really made a difference was my spiritual birth, but the other 3 are almost as earth moving.

I care a great deal for all my new friends in WI, who have tried to make me feel welcome and included our family in their lives. But, lifelong friends as you will attest when you live long enough are stronger when they have watched you transition through so many changes. I've only got 3 years under my belt here so I've got my children's accomplishments now to focus on, they have things to learn about friends. I need to teach them.

I watched this movie the other night called "Outsourced", it was once of those movies that God uses to speak to me. I'm sure if you watched it won't impact you as much as me, but it was a great movie. Main theme, blend.

July 14th

I tweet, fb, blog, but I can't seem to get all my life communicated correctly. I think I'm going to write a book for the next few years about my life. I'm middle aged, with young children, still unsure of myself, still trying to find my path. Maybe it's a mid-life crisis, maybe it's because we never have enough money so I'm constantly tryin to make things happen. I sometimes wonder if we were more financially stable if I would be a calmer person, not bouncing from one thing to another. I actually don't think I'll ever know.

I have a new idea, this is for a small business in Appleton. (I don't know why I don't think bigger either) So I want to start a variety store, something downtown, that has a little bit of everything, but the look and feel of Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. Kids would want to come there and it would be a place they remember when they grow up. I need financing, maybe I should go talk to someone.

More later....I'm taking the kids to go see Harry Potter.

Dance Recital

Today was Isabel's Spring Recital for her Dance lesson she takes every Tuesday, it usually includes a trip to the bread store for some special bread. Our neighbor Trish is the kind soul who carts these girls (Elena and Isabel). The recital was about 3 hours long TWICE, yes she had two performances.

As I sat and watched these wonderful girls, there was a group of younger girls with a girl who had blond hair, glasses and was a bit stout. She wasn't at all graceful, she was just trying to keep up. It just struck me, THAT IS ME, even to this day, just trying to follow the rest of the girls. As I watched her, I could feel her emotions.

I'm so glad I have an Isabel, she is unique, she never looks around to see what everyone else is doing, she just moves forward, at her own pace. I don't know what she is going to be someday but she won't be like me, she will be something great. If you have a girl in your life who doesn't look at others for the queues, be grateful. She will stumble and bumble through life but she won't spend as much time as I have on questioning my every decision.

You were great today Isabel.

Deena

Deena Stirling

My first memory of Deena was about 1981, she was walking around Dana Point Calvary Chapel organizing a Christmas play, she was always laughing.

A few years went by and I saw her in the parking lot of Capo Beach Calvary after we had moved into the new building, she was kind of shaken, she had just found out she was going to have a baby, the doctors told her it was a bit sketchy having a baby after she had had so many back problems. She was running the children's ministry with Dave Taylor. She really needed to be on bedrest near the end, so I eventually took over her job while she raised her small children.

Deena is wonderful, she and I were a pair, we would laugh at tragedies, cry during joyful times, we both had radar...radar to spot talent, giftedness, danger, etc. God blessed us with 20+ years dragging our old tired bodies to Indian Village to have the times of our lives. Years of week in and week out, working with wonderful volunteers, a great staff and congregation. One of our mutually favorite memories is going to Indian Village and having a little boy Tyler get something in his eyes, he is screaming at the top of his lungs that he is blind he can't see, so Deena and I get in the car to drive him to the hospital...when we get to the hospital parking lot I said "Tyler do you want to go in the hospital and cost your parents tons of money or do you want to go to McDonalds and get some ice cream?" and Tyler pulled his hands away from his eyes and said "ICE CREAM". We laughed and laughed about that.

I always admired Deena's parenting skills, I try to be like her when I deal with my own kids, she used to say, "I always have a treat for the kids after school", she was always the softie with her kids and I am with mine. Her heart is pure gold. She would walk over hot coals for you if she thought it would do you some good. She loved my children when they had no extended family to show them love, for that I will always be grateful. She has always been the best representative of Jesus Christ, the real Jesus, who loves, understands, accepts, reaches out to, I love you Deena.

If you ever get a chance to have a friend like Deena, congratulations, you are blessed.

See you soon