Roman

We first met you almost 6 months ago on March 1 in a Kansas City Airport. You were a little apprehensive, confused and tired. We had no idea how resilient you were and how much we'd love you in such a short amount of time.

You had just arrived from Russia via Atlanta. Although your orphanage looked like something from a horror movie, your caretakers did a great job preparing you for the challenges that were ahead of you.

You were greeted by 5 cousins, 4 grandparents, 2 aunts and a host of friends. We expected you to cry, but you just look bewildered and tired. Your first night at home was a big indication of what we could expect. Undoubtedly jet-lagged, you woke up in the middle of the night, but didn't cry at these new surroundings. Instead, you climbed out of your crib and headed down the steps. When your parents heard a noise in the hall, they opened the door releasing two huge golden retrievers who greeted you on the steps. Again, you were not afraid, but reached out to touch them.



You quickly made new friends with people of all ages and showed us more of your personality. Your confidence, affection and intelligence have blown us all away. Roman we love you and are so happy you have become a part of our family.

Congratulations Todd!

Todd, we are so proud of you---not just for passing the CPA Exam----but, for persevering. You spent endless hours studying and preparing, having to stay home from social activities, family events and probably a Cardinal's game or two. We are so proud that you never gave up!

I Thought I'd Never See

Last week I was talking to a friend of Iranian descent. She shook her head and said,"I'll probably never go to Iran again---I'll never see my grandfather's grave." I shook my head and said, "When you live as long as I've lived, there are a lot of things that happen that you thought you'd never see."

Several have happened the past few weeks with the Olympics in Beijing.

First, I thought I'd never see China open the doors to the world for an event such as the Olympics. During Mao's rule, the door to China was shut to journalists from almost all countries. Click here for a brief summary of Post-war China. To allow European or American journalists in was unthinkable much less allowing the world in for the Olympics.

Second, I thought I'd never see the Russians being dominated by Americans and Chinese in gymnastics (I'm not counting Rhythmic Gymnastics). Click here for more details on Russian dominance of the sport. OK, technically Nastia was born in Russia, but. . . While speaking of gymnastics, we will never see the truth about the Chinese gymnasts' ages. Anybody who has seen as many 12-16 year olds as I have (many of Asian descent), could see that these were not 16 year olds. I spotted the missing baby teeth immediately on one of the girls. It's not about the medals, but I hate to see these children exploited.

Third, I thought I'd never see the Russians so far down on medal count. As of Sunday AM, the United States has 110, China 100 and Russia just 72. But, wait a minute, how many would the old Soviet Union have? Ukraine had 27, Belarus 16, Kazakhastan 13, and the other 9 republics had 38 making a total of 166 for the old Soviet Union---wow! There's a lesson in that for the United States and China.

Fourth, I never thought I'd see Mark Spitz record broken. But, Munich was such a traumatic Olympics with the Palestinian terrorists killing the Israelis (another thing I never thought would happen). When Mark Spitz won those medals, it was the much needed ointment for that pain. Click here for more details about the Munich Olympics. Reading that article, I had never realized that Spitz (who is Jewish) had to leave the Olympics early because officials were afraid he would be a terrorist's target. Congratulations Michael, but we still love you Mark for restoring our faith in humanity!



Finally, I don't think I'll ever see a more beautiful opening ceremony than in Beijing. Click here for a YouTube slide show.

Tag Sale

My daughter and an "Etsy Friend" are having tag sales on their art and crafts this weekend. Great deals---you don't have to pay for shipping. Plumtreestudio has onsies and T-shirts appliqued. Createbyret has painted bags, plaques, canvases. Be sure to stop by. Click here or go to--

http://www.createbyret.com/TAGSALE

Next Blog

OK, I'm relatively new at this Blog Stuff and I do have some time on my hands, but I really think my natural curiosity is more to blame. I really enjoy hitting the "Next Blog" button. At first, I thought it would get me to another page of my daughter's. I was quite shocked the first time when it put me on another continent---Asia, I believe. I became something of an eavesdropper, snooper and just enjoyed seeing what people were putting out there. So, it is part curiosity, but it is also part research to make mine a more interesting Blog.

My daughter says that leaving comments on people's pages when I don't know them is a little "over the top." But, I just had to set the record straight on a visitor to St. Louis who thought we still hadn't cleaned up the flood debris from FIFTEEN YEARS AGO! Hello, we just flooded again this summer.

Then, there was the woman who lived in West Palm Beach and was soooo lonely. She wrote something about waving at a car from Missouri and no one in the car waved back. So, I had to write her a cheery note to let her know that not everyone from Missouri was unfriendly.

So, whereas my daughters have regular features on "Flashback Friday" or "10 for Tuesday", I'm going to have an occasional post on fun stuff I find on "Next Blog."

Please leave a comment if you are a "Next Blog" Spy, too.

ABC Sale Part Three

We originally started having the ABC Sale for a little extra money to give to various charitable organizations within and outside our church. But, one year we had such beautiful furniture that we were inspired to improve on our own church decorating with some of the furniture and use some of the money for paint, window treatments and some art.

The benefits of a Rummage Sale are not just financial, though.
First, we are doing a service to our elderly who are trying to down-size---it gives them an excuse to clean out those closets and the basement.


Second, we are doing a service for the middle-aged--it gives them something meaningful to do and it's a great fellowship occasion.


Third, the youth become involved helping us with heavy loads, sorting and setting up and the big job of clean-up.


Fourth, we give all of the left-overs to charitable groups ranging from the Assistance League to Room at the Inn.


Fifth, we have funds to donate to our charities and to church groups for mission trips.


Sixth, it gives local people and families an opportunity to get great bargains and stretch their dollars.


Seventh, it helps us all recycle goods.


Eighth, it brings all sorts of people into the church. Some may be looking for a church home; some may come a few days later for some pastoral counseling and, yes, some my steal our soap dispensers. They will all get our prayers.

ABC Sale Part Two

The ABC Sale started on Sunday when we started taking donations. Donations came in through Thursday with the Sale beginning Friday at 7:00 AM. As usual we had so much stuff, we wondered if we'd ever get it all sold and ultimately given away to local charities before worship on the next Sunday.











Our Narthex (our older sanctuary) was filled with furniture, but it was difficult to photograh. This area did also house lamps and pictures, too. Then a room off this area is the Boutique--for more expensive items.

Then, our Library houses the books (duh!) with the children's books in the hallway.

The hallway to the kitchen is tools, garden and pet supplies, followed by our Gym (Gleason Hall) which has clothes and holiday items.


Sunday school rooms have knick-knacks and toys which over-flowed into the hall. "Action toys" blended in with electronics, phones, and records.

At 11 AM on Saturday we have half-price, Clothes by the bag for $1. By the 1 PM on Saturday, the Sale was over---as you can see we didn't really have that much to pack up. Compare action toys at 1 PM with how it looked the day before.

By 1:45, things were pretty well packed up and cleaned up---another miracle! Here's the Gym pretty much cleaned up. See ABC Sale Part Three for the benefits of this Rummage Sale.

ABC Sale Part One

We had our church rummage sale last week---the ABC Sale (Attic,
Basement, Closet) Sale. We had a few interesting items. In the pictures/mirrors section was this picture. My grandsons love trains, but I wasn't even tempted to buy this since it sparkled with glitter and sequins.


Then there was this "dawg" who was made out of some foam-type substance---he was at least 3 feet long, so, close to life-size. I actually saw the person who bought him---she looked normal enough. But, my big disappointment was when I asked the people in toys to show me the oddest thing they had and they showed me something I bought a number of years ago and ultimately donated. Chewbacca---how could anyone think you were odd or strange. Funny how you were gone the first day and the sombrero was still there when the sale was over.




But, for me the oddest thing was this---a ceramic platter with rubber/plastic fish and lemons glued on the platter. Then, the whole thing was covered with several layers of saran wrap.






There were also some very nice items---all donated by members of our congregation and community. I think we decided that the mirror was "married" to the bottom washstand---it wasn't original, but looked very nice---both pieces seemed to match and were walnut with a marble top.


We knew this piece was old because it had no belts to strap a tot in, but it was in excellent condition and sold fairly quickly.

We also had a few nice quilts that I wish I could have examined better---but, they sold early in the sale.

Apple Tree Part Two

I looked out my kitchen window the other day and saw all sorts of "action" around my apple tree. So, I went out to investigate. There were two rabbits at the base of the tree gnawing on apples. But, there was a lot of commotion IN the tree, too.

At first I thought it was just birds, pecking at my apples, but then I noticed a furry body,too. There was a squirrel in the tree pulling on the apples making the green apples shower down to the ground for the rabbits to gnaw on.


His furry head (looking down at me) is arched between the first and second branch from the left (where the white sky meets the leaves---double click for close-up). Wow! They were a team almost as effective as the grandchildren. The squirrel (like Brett) was bouncing the limbs sending the apples down to the rabbits (Davis and Libby). While I may have taught my grandchildren a lesson about green apples, I give up with the animals! Maybe we'll have red apples to eat "regular" and maybe we won't!

Cooking "Fried" Apples

Once upon a time, Grandma took the Great Apple Pickers into the house to cook up some "Fried Apples". First, the apples had to be washed. Oh, the grandchildren loved that. Here's Grandma showing Davis why they have to cook the apples---the apples aren't ripe until they are red. When, they are green, the apples have to be cooked.
After Grandma sliced the apples, she put them in a big skillet with some apple juice (Dave's grandmother undoubtedly used grease to fry apples, but. . .), cinnamon and a little sugar. A few commercial red apples were tossed in to give them a little color.


Grandma: OK, Davis, what do you think? "Grandma, I think I just want to wait until they are red so I can just eat them regular."


Grandma: Do you think they'd be a little better with some ice cream? Libby squealed with delight at the thoughts of ice cream (forget the apples).


Brett is thinking, "I hope the apples didn't ruin the taste of the ice cream."
Grandpa says, "They are just right---like my grandmother used to make". And he ate the ice cream AND the apples all up.


The End. . . .almost.

Apple Tree Part One

When we first moved here, we planted two apple trees, a peach tree and a cherry tree. Thirty years later we have one apple tree. We get a pretty decent crop every other year. But, sometimes eager hands can't quite wait for the apples to mature.


Brett was tall enough to tug on the branches---green apples fell!
Libby enjoyed picking them up and putting them in the basket along with her bigger brother Davis. They collected quite a few green apples before Grandma Meany told them they had enough. We needed to "cook up" what we picked. Then, if they liked the green apples cooked, they could pick more.