We had a great time in Iowa! Hubby and I drove to Independance and Muscatine last week. I got to see my dad's grave. It was very humbling. I can't begin to describe the feeling of actually seeing your dad's name on a head stone. Later that day we drove to see where my grandmother's farm was (notice I said was) and my great-grandmother's house. You will see a picture of the original water well that I remember grandma used to send me out to get water when I wanted a bath. Ha! try filling up a claw foot tub with water you pump from a well and heat on the stove! I remember doing that once, only once!

We went to the courthouse and did some family research trying to find some info on my dad's biological dad. It is an incredible feeling seeing the actual marriage certificate of your great-grandparents and fascinating to learn what family has died of over the years. I learned my dad's dad was a blacksmith, fancy that! But he died of lung cancer. Hubby says it's part of the trade.

We spent Thanksgiving in Muscatine. That was great! I got to have my first Thanksgiving in YEARS with family. All our years in the military we weren't able to spend Holidays with family, so this was nice.

And you know, I prayed all the way there...14 hours worth, and while we were there for good weather. Wednesday it was drizzling and really cold - the day I was at the cemetary, then Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were sunny and great! I was praising God each day. Friday and Saturday I didn't even need a jacket!

One last note before I sign off. I found out my grandfather (my mom's dad) worked in the button factory in Muscatine. Now this is not JUST a button factory, they made 37% of the buttons made at the time. There is a few pictures of what I could get in the museum. The Pearl Button Museum was closed but praise God for glass windows. Then we ate lunch in the factory. It has been converted into a restaurant. How fun is that! I love buttons. Chris boought me a watch while we were stationed in NC, that is made from buttons from a Victorian dress. Each one is listed in the Big Button book. Something fun about me! :-)

Off to cook dinner and get to a meetin'. Enjoy the pictures.

Peace,

Dee

Our "Japanese" style dinner in the hotel. Two pillows and a cooler :-) With Taco salad served!

My great-grandmother's house...very renovated. Did they have vinyl and side porches in the early 1900's?


The original water well pump.


Thanksgiving..cousins, friends, family.

My Uncle and guess who?

My Aunt & Uncle.

The back side of the Pearl Button Factory.

Inside the restaurant, what used to be the factory. Plastic took over from the real pearl buttons, hence the factory closed down.
A glimpse in history of the clams racked in to make buttons.

One of the machines to make the buttons. I was told that each person had their own button cutter.


A bazillion pearl buttons in a glass case.

What you would see in the store.

I love covered bridges. This one is somewhere in Illinois.

To bad the driver of a truck didn't read this as he zipped through, almost hitting me!
An old barn on the drive home. I like old barnes too.

Geese flying over us as we drove.

God's glory in color.

And the rest of the pictures

Here are the rest of our pictures from our off road trip. These one's are of our truck. Drake's daughter took these..isn't she a great photographer.

Both trucks before inching (is that a word? it is today!) down the trail.

Dee walking over to assess the trail with the others.
Oh my...THAT'S THE TRAIL?


Working our way through the hill side.

Howdy!!

Climbing rocks.

The stinky water puddle, um no, lake. It came up the top of the truck hood, and smelled like it had been there for 20 years. YUCK! Was is fun, yep, only because we didn't get stuck and have to get out in it!!

Straddling ruts.

We'll be comin' down the mountain when we come...(insert music jingle here LOL)

We had a good time, but I don't look forward to it again real soon. I'm thinking...ice skating sounds like fun. I hear Pittsburgh has an ice rink and it's an hour from here. Anyone up for ice skating??

Have a great weekend! We are getting ready for a road trip on Tuesday. God willing we will be back on Sunday. Our first "vacation" in years. No dogs, no kids. Kind of scary, kinda of exciting. Going to be paying respects, doing some ancestry research and some adventuring.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing you Peace,

Dee

Off Road Crawling

You will never guess what we did yesterday. Chris has 4 days off, Fall Break, and a friend just got a Land Rover and wanted to go try it off road. He used to go way back when, and we talked to him about when Chris would go with his dad, and I shared when I used to go...way back when. We have gone a few times in our 17 yrs of marriage but not that often. So we packed lunches, first aid kits, sand, wood, shovels and walkie talkies and off we went. I will let you see the pictures to decide if we had fun. I will just say, I WALKED down the first hill. After aquiring wabbly legs, I rode the rest of the time. It was a bit muddy since we had rain a few days before and I didn't want to end up looking like our truck!

Chris drove down first. No, he crawled slooowwlly down.

Our friend Drake and his daughter Madison. Crystal stayed home with their other girls, and she is 5 mths pregnant. Off roading is not condusive to pregnancy, she says "more power to ya!"

Drake working his way down. If you follow the road you will see our truck...wwaaaayy down there. Yep, that's the road I walked. So, Chris walk part way up to "visit" with to forestry guys cutting back some trees. They said "these were pretty nice vehicles to be out here. That they had seen a lot of things...oh look that woman is walking it. Never seen that before!" Ha! Now ya have!

All I can say is no we didn't drive it, but I had to take a picture. Click on it to read the sign.

We went through and then I hoped out to get this of Drake. I am hoping to get a copy of the picture Madison took of us. Let me just say, that water was so STINKY. And now it's all over our truck. YUCK!

Drake got airborne with one tire. He made it over just fine. Thank goodness for 4WD.

The last bits of fall colors here.

Chris and I by our beloved truck. This truck has been all over the states. We bought it 17 yrs ago and it even, by the grace of God and lots of Angels surrounding us, kept us out of a potential nasty accident in NM. We still can hardly believe we didn't hit anyone or anything. Only God can do that! And protects us while we traps around in God's country, how cool is that!

This is our friend Drake and his daughter Madison. She's a nature girl like me so it was neat to see her have a good time. During our lunch break she made a head piece out of various flowers and leaves. So creative!

How cool! With some wracked nerves here and there, and an occasional rock that tried to prevent us from going anywher (notice I said tried) we had a great time.

Peace,
Dee

In the moment

Have you ever gone through the whole day only to find yourself looking back and wondering where it went? I do. The Lord is showing me a lot about staying in the moment and reminding me of who's in control. NOT ME that's for sure. My moments turn into hours and turn into days, all with thinking ahead or thinking of what needs to be done later...or sadly, what I want in a situation or event.

The more I am practicing the art of staying in the moment, and I do believe it is an art, the more I am seeing how much of my thoughts are "future" based. And how humbled I am that I know nothing, can do nothing, and do not know what's best for anyone or anything. That is God's area of expertise :-)

I pray for the grace to be more aware of my own motives and thinking that I may rest in His peace and freedom that I know is promised. I just have to let go.

Peace,

Dee

Tasha Tudor Day!

While I have always held a place in my heart for the Victorian type home, my true desires lay in the simple life. Sometime back I ran across a woman by the name of Tasha Tudor. Her being is what I so enjoy. Simple, creative, not consumed by the world...yet feminine. NOT FRILLY. I am not a frilly person.

Anyways, I understand this would have been her birthday and people around the globe are acknowleging her birthday. I too wanted to join in, for she stands for so much I desire but don't know how to get there. Living out of the norm and loving it.

Peace,

Dee

Coming back home

(Me with my friend Stacy)

For the past 3 months I have been blessed with the opportunity to work at the University my husband is attending. I worked full time. After 5 yrs of being a homemaker, this was a challenge. But not one to give up on. The Lord stretched me in ways I didn't know was in me, or I forgot. My job was temporary and I am now returning home. Home, where I feel the Lord has clearly defined....that is my place as a wife.

I won't get to much into it today, but I will be posting some quotes and thoughts on this soon. Yes sooner than the last post, no laughing! I have come to believe, firmly, that women are the heart of the home. If we are out trying to earn money and climb the corporate ladder, who is raising our kids, who is creating a loving warm environment for our husbands and friends, who is cooking nutritous meals and holding on to that dearly beloved money that God gives us to survive...rather then fast food chains so they can survive while our health plummits.

Think about this. As women we have the opportunity to live our vocation, accept the duties God has given us, and take care of people the best way we see fit all while living in His will for us. What a better job can you get than that!

Growing up, I didn't have this mindset. I still struggle periodically with the "have to support myself" syndrome. I don't believe this is healthy for kids, husbands or us as women. We are, by biologic nature, more feeling oriented, more caring, and more nuturining (sorry guys but true). What happens to our psycological being when we can't be home when our kids come home in tears from a horrible day. What happens when our husbands need their wife for support and companion to listen to them or provide a warm homecooked meal for them....and we are at work. Or at too many obligations we have set up for our selves.

I don't usually get opinionated, but I have been reading A LOT on marriage and the roles of men and women. The way God designed them, not the way society tells us we must live. If we remove the words of others, the looks, the "way" everyone else says we should live and look at the Truth, we will see. God has a plan, and it doesn't involve what Susy Q the neighbor says about it!


Peace,
Dee

Happy 4th of July Ya'll !

We had an eventful day. After putting back together a Woosier cabinet we bought and I painted last night, we went to a BBQ at a friends. WOW the food! He cooked up all kinds of meat and there was homemade potato salad, pizza dip, chips, watermelon (it's not 4th of July w/o watermelon), then topped off with a water balloon fight that even the "Big" boys got involved in.

Had a great time. God has blessed us with fantastic friends and good food today.

Every day I try to write one thing in my journal that I am grateful to God for. Today, it was that we have friends with LOTS of kids. It made for a fun time (and lots of memories when Kim and Danielle were little). Hmm, miss them. They grow so fast, but I'm grateful for "borrowing" the neighbor kids. It seems to always bring the kid out in us.

Peace,
Dee