We all had an amazing time on our trip to Michigan! It was wonderful to be able to see my mom and dad again. It was also the first time I’d gotten to meet my brother-in-law Chad. He is a great guy. Melody is lucky! Little Grace is very cute, a really sweet girl. We also got to visit with Uncle Gary and Aunt Lorna, Uncle John, and Uncle Mike and Aunt Ida.
We did tons of exploring, including visiting Tawas Point and its lighthouse, River Road and Lumberman’s Monument, Hartwick Pines, a little zoo (slightly more than a petting zoo!), Sleeping Bear Dunes, and another lighthouse at Point Betsie (near Frankfort). We got to do a lot, but we also got to relax a lot, so it was really nice. Plus, we saw the best Fourth of July fireworks I’ve ever seen! They were amazing!
We’ve been home for a couple of weeks now, and I do miss family. But it is great to be home, getting back into our routines!
Next Saturday, June 28th, we will be making a little road trip from Texas up to Michigan to visit my parents. I’m really excited. I haven’t been up there in ten years! I will also get to meet my sister’s husband for the first time and see their new little girl! As long as the kids don’t drive us crazy, I think it will be a great trip!
Donna always says it, and it’s true… When it rains, it pours… at least in our family! Donna had surgery to have her gallbladder removed on April 24th. It went very well. Donna’s mom came to look after the kids while I was waiting with and for Donna. We were at the hospital for a long time, but she did get to go home that afternoon. After picking up some pain meds at the pharmacy, we made it home just about supper time.
There’s more. I’ll edit this post later…
Later Edit:
Well I found out that I am allergic (or something) to the Vitamin D supplement that my doctor told me to take. It makes me extremely light-headed and nauseated. It also makes me feel like I’m not getting enough air when I breathe. In addition, I can’t seem to shut my brain down (sleep), yet I have a difficult time making my body do what I want so I appear confused. Nasty stuff. Anyways, I ended up in the emergency room twice. I (and the doctors) thought I was having a reaction to my allergy meds. I only found out later, when I started taking the Vitamin D supplements again what the real culprit was… So, I guess I have to try to raise my Vitamin D levels the natural way… Sunlight!!! Ahhhhh!
Easter Sunday and everything leading up to it was wonderful, and exhausting…
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
We had a total of three Easter Egg hunts that I had to go to. Preston even had another one that Donna helped with! The City of Holliday’s hunt was a lot of fun. The Easter Bunny rode to Stonewall Park inside the Fire Truck, with its sirens blaring! Russell loved that. He also gave out free dum-dums, which Russell also loved. Preston wasn’t too sure about visiting the Bunny, even for free candy, but Russie went with him as moral support. It was very cute! Each of the boys hunted in a different ballfield, and so I had to run all over the place in order to get pictures. I made the mistake of starting in Russie’s field. I took a couple of pictures and then ran to Preston’s field. It had nearly been picked clean! I did get to enjoy watching Preston and a little girl run for the same egg at the same time. Preston ran a woman over, but the little girl got the egg! It was absolutely hilarious!
The Church’s Easter Egg Hunt was fun, and the kids found a lot of candy. We had it all gathered into one bucket, and someone accidentally took it! Oh well, the kids were going to have more candy than they needed anyway!
Church on Sunday was wonderful. Since Donna and I are in the choir, we had to be at both the early and late services. We were both exhausted, but they were beautiful services. After church, we headed off to Ardmore, where Donna’s mom made a wonderful lunch/dinner. We weren’t sure if we’d get to hunt eggs or not, but it dried out enough that our final egg hunt was on. Donna’s sister and her family all came. It was a ton of fun. I was certainly glad to get home that evening, though!
It is wonderful to get to celebrate Christ’s resurrection so fully every year. I think of how exhausted I get, and then I remember that Jesus was certainly tired leading up to the cross, but what joy awaits us in Paradise with Him! It is all worth it!
The trees are budding out. All except the mesquite, as they normally leaf out later than most. My allergies are killing me. Areas nearby have had thunderstorms. That’s right. It’s Spring! Not a lot has happened recently in our family. Donna and I have been singing in the Church Choir, the boys have been doing well in Sunday School and Preston has been doing well in Kindergarten.
After a little over two years in the Catholic Church, Donna and I have decided to switch back to the Lutheran Church (LC-MS). We will be officially joining Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Wichita Falls this Sunday. It has been a bumpy road, but I am glad for the experience. To be honest, I always liked the theology of the Lutheran Church better than the Catholic, even when we decided to join the Catholic Church. Perhaps it was more “me” leading myself to the Catholic Church than God (which is what I thought at the time). I kind of think God just allowed me to go – not that He necessarily thought it was the best place for me. I don’t regret joining the Catholic Church though. I don’t think I would have fully appreciated all that the Lutheran Church has to offer without having been in the Catholic Church. Maybe that was God’s plan after all… No matter what, I know that I love God, and I intend to follow Him wherever He leads me.
My birthday was yesterday. Donna asked me beforehand what kind of cake I wanted. Since I really don’t care for cake all that much (and since I like being a smarty-pants) I asked for a Grasshopper Pie. Well, she managed to find a recipe online and made a very yummy one! Thank you Donna! I love you!
I have received a review ebook of Learning QGIS 2.0 by Anita Graser. It is distributed by Packt Publishing and can be obtained from here. I am currently working my way through the book and will be reviewing it soon. Thank you Packt Publishing for the opportunity!
Next week it will be Thanksgiving. Today at work we are having our Thanksgiving lunch. I had to laugh to Donna last night, because everyone has been inviting me to Thanksgiving feasts! Preston is having one at school, the other two boys are having one at daycare, Donna invited me to their’s at Notre Dame, I have my work one today, and next week is the “real” one! I held my belly and asked her “Does it look like I need five Thanksgiving feasts?!? Maybe I could handle five Thanksgiving snacks, but not feasts!” I will just be doing my work one and the real one at Donna’s parents’ house.
