Happy birthday Hayley and Abby!!!!

So my big girl turned 6 on March 30th!!! Hard to believe!!! In 2 months she will be in Grade 1. YIKES!! full time school now. This week, her artwork was chosen to represent the Kindergartens from our school for the county! I have no idea where she gets the artistis talent from. Must be her aunty. We're very proud of her. We went horseback riding for her birthday. They played games like red light/green light, what time is it mister wolf etc...on horseback. They had so much fun, and now I'm told that she'd much rather take horseback riding lessons than piano lessons. Can't say I blame her. Sure wish we could afford a few horses. Here are some videos of our bubble fun. Shoot. Can't get the videos to work. Will try later. Here's a few pics of the birthday.

Then today Abby turns 4!!!! She is starting preschool this year and I am so excited for her. I am hoping she breaks out of her shell. She's so shy in a group setting. We are having her party at 'lets play', a big indoor playground. She was ripped off that we have to wait a few weeks. Oh well....that's my Abby. Hormonal already:)

I better get off here and lock up the dogs. PLaygroup is in half and hour.

Hugs and Kisses

Jen

Time to say goodbye

How horrible it was to watch gramma break down in sobs before she walked in to see grandpa in his casket. How does a person possibly say goodbye to someone they've shared 61 years of their life with? My heart aches for her and the lonely days she has ahead.

Grandpa looked spectacular by the way. He looked so peaceful. Hayley said "Why were his hands a funny color?" but I didn't notice! I could just picture him taking it all in and rolling his eyes:) A Tingley trait that was most definately passed down through the generations. Not to me of course. I am a gentle Johnson/Krapu. (See....there's my dad rolling his eyes. HA!)

My Hayley is having a hard time with granpda being gone and it just blows me away because I didn't think she'd have a good grasp of the concept of death. Poor child. My Abby was crying all the way home until I figured out that she didn't think her picture got put in the coffin. I reassured her it did, and it would be buried with grandpa. She said "So he can see it when he isn't dead anymore?" So she doesn't quite understand but that's ok. We have lots of pictures to show her when she grows up.

On the bright side of life, Steve brought a guy to meeting last week who said he had been reading the bible, and was "sick and tired of the churches that were all singing and dancing, and he just wanted to learn about the bible!" so today he says to Steve "Hey have a good weekend. Can I keep coming on Sunday afternoons!" So that is exciting for Steve. Our workers are having a prosperous year! Too bad we only have a month left of meetings. Maybe he'll come to convention. He's a nice guy. Our age. Not married.

Well the shower is calling me and the bed is looking inviting so I am signing off. I will need my rest for the busy and emotional day tomorrow. Pray for grandma, Dad, Al, and Jan (and their spouses) to have strength for the day.

Love,
me

ps. Thank you for the comments.

Positive thoughts from the Valley

I feel a bit like I am going through a 'valley experience'. Perhaps the good part of that is there is no where to go but up!! I can look around and dwell on the things that I don't have that everyone else in life seems to have, or I can focus on what I DO have that few other do.
1. Hope
2. Praying parents....the reason I am where I am and have what I have.
3. A husband who loves his family more than anything and works very hard to support us. Who still has the time and energy to give his kids airplane rides, or push them on the swing, or build them bunk beds even when he is tired from work. Who can have a spiritual conversation with you. Who doesn't laugh at you when you start a 'dream house' folder and get all excited about the house you will likely never have anyhow. Who lets you stay home to raise the kids. There is no husband like mine ANYWHERE out there.
4. Four of the most gorgeous daughters ever created.
5. A roof over my head, food on the table, and clothing (we're all grateful I have this one!!).


I hope no one actually reads this blog because it's been a bit of a downer lately and I promise I'm not normally like this. I just need to vent. I am so very very very very tired. I am up at 4 every morning to get Chelsea a bottle, which may seem fine since I can go back to bed, but I only went to bed at 1 in the morning since I have to type all evening, and am up again at 6:30 on Hayley's school days to get her ready and off, and by then the others are up so I'm up for the day. That makes 5.5 hours of interrupted sleep a night. I cannot function like this much longer. I find things are bothering me that absolutely SHOULD NOT be bothering me, and my little feelers hurt way too easily.

That being said.....I am going to bed. I wish for all 'mountain top experiences' and perhaps one day I will be able to join you.

*kiss*

Ponderings

Well I guess I am a little behind in the blog world. I think that perhaps this is a better way to express ones self than facebook. I have no problems with FB, in fact I will probably keep my account to snoop at what others are up to, but how many of those people really care about my life? I know I don't care about half of theirs, and the ones I do care about, well....we can email or phone each other right?

Today my little girl came home from school with a butterfly to color and decorate. So she's sitting there at her little desk and she says " Mom how do you spell grandpa?" So I say "G-R-A...." Well you get the picture. Then I say "Hayley what are you doing?" and I look over at this butterfly and it has "grandpa" written across the middle and big blue tears coming from it's eyes. If I had known how much understanding a 6 year old could have about never seeing grandpa again, I could have better prepared her for his death. Alas, I failed in that regard and will rely on God to help her have better understanding and comfort.

My peanut Abby was saying grace today and she said "Amen. Oh wait...." and then she whispers "Pray for grandpa. Amen." Ahhhh the sweetness of a child.

I've had a hymn going through my mind. Not sure why this one in particular, but it says "Sometimes you sit and ponder, over your life so vain. Knowing the God who gave will one day require it again." Food for thought in those little verses. Grandpa didn't have much in a natural sense.....not piles of 'stuff' really. But he had 3 professing kids, all 6 professing grandkids, and 10 little great grandkids with hopeful futures. What more could a person want. I often have to remind myself when the bank threatens to dip in the negative and my dream house folder gets dustier with the years, that "I (will) have no greater joy than to see my children walking in truth." Even if I have to live in the house where the ants love the downstairs bathroom forever.

Well it is now 1 in the morning, and frankly I'm quite sick of typing since I have been doing it for 5 hours, so I am going to go drink more of my laxative syrup, go to bed, and pray for a big bowel movement in the morning. Now aren't you glad you read my blog?