I came back to my blog to reread something I wrote and realized it's been TWO YEARS since I've written anything. Does that mean that I have had nothing of value to say in 24 months? Am I just lazy? Too much TV? I've had amnesia and am just now remembering about this poor neglected blog? I'm going with I'm having too much fun living in Idaho and visiting my grandchildren in California - Woohoo!! For those who may have wondered, Steve and I are still in Idaho, but are moving from Star to Nampa in a few weeks. We have become Craigslist fanatics as we haul in the cash selling furniture that will not work in the new digs. Today we met with a painter to paint several shades of yellow/light gold on our new walls (yes, we closed the new house this week, but we're not moving just yet). We settled on a color affectionately titled Home and Hearth. Our go crazy and do something different decision is to paint our master bedroom and bath "Little Grapette". This silvery/lavendery shade is gorgeous and since Steve is secure in his manhood we are good to go. Our other kinda risky move is deciding to purchase a sofa sectional online from homereserve. The risky part is that in comes via FedX in two big boxes. We have to put it together. The fabric is all slipcovered and can be removed and washed. We chose to go this route because we couldn't find a sectional that met just the right dimensions for our new living room. This website has been featured on HGTV and in Better Homes and Gardens. One can only hope it will make our little nest a Better Home!

What do you mean I'm wasting time, I'm blogging!

I'm blogging to avoid cleaning my house. I have 16 friends coming over for Survivor tomorrow night and I should be cleaning the bathrooms and mopping the floors. Speaking of Survivor, let me digress (or waste more time as some might say). Our neighborhood Survivor group started meeting on Thursday nights three years ago to share potluck and watch the show. Now we have grown to 16 and have become friends who do all sorts of things together. Several of us went on a houseboat for a week last summer - yep we're still friends! Tomorrow night Steve and I are hosting the kick off of the new season. Of course I'm decorating with a Valentine's theme - red and white and lots of candy hearts and chocolate. We're having a baked potato bar and everyone will bring their favorite topping. Well, I better go - my mop is calling...

We're So Happy

Since I was "tagged" by my lovely daughter-in-law, I now have to confess my ineptness (is that a word?) at saving pictures on my computer. I only have one folder and it is filled with pictures from Scott and Rachel's wedding. Rachel added it to my computer and I have stuck in a few stray pictures here and there. However this is the 4th picture and I think it is wonderful. I believe it must be a first anniversary shot with the top of the cake although I can't actually remember taking it. Rachel, can you add anything about this picture?

Don't Read This If You Are Under 50

OK, I finally did it. I will admit that I was bullied into it and it took me 2 years, but I finally made the appointment and had the dreaded colonoscopy. Years ago I had a parasite which ended up making a home in me for about a year and required a colonoscopy to diagnose. I decided then and there that I would never again believe the "GO LIGHTLY" propaganda. You would definitely go (one way or another), but it most definitely would not be lightly. Add to that the gallon of dead tasting fluid to drink and...well let's just say I was done with that!
Enter my new Idaho physician Dr. Holbrook. He is a colonoscopy Nazi. Even before my 50th birthday he starts in on how I MUST get it done. Long story short, I caved and now I am glad I did. The 2 day liquid diet was tolerable and even the "preparation" was relatively easy. I used Miralax which is mixed with gatorade. I cheated however and added it to juice. It is truly tasteless and undetectable in the juice. The actual day of the colonoscopy is the easiest of all and passes in somewhat of a blur thanks to wonderful drugs.
A small polyp was removed during the procedure, so obviously it was the right thing to do. Kudos to Dr. Holbrook!! Now, all the rest of you GET OUT THERE AND GET IT DONE.

Bear One Another's Burdens

My heart is hurting this morning for a family I've never met except over a website. I have become a blog stalker and have been following the news about Mark Lamberth. I don't understand God's purpose, but I trust in His love. He holds all our tears in the palm of His hand and somehow brings us through these painful valleys.

Gobble Gobble

For those of you who know me well, you realize that I should have titled this blog oink oink. However, bowing to the overwhelming dominance of the turkey, I concede. Upon further reflection, however, I think we can all relate to the oink oink since we'll all be pigging out tomorrow.
This is the first Thanksgiving of my life that I will be observing it with friends rather than family. Yes, Steve will be with me (thankfully he is both my best friend and my closest family) and we will be joining Brianna, Ryan and Elyse for dessert later in the evening. I'm sure the dinner and the company will be lovely and I will have a good time. However, like Dorothy says, there is no place like home. In my mind I will go back to my mom's unbelievably great gravy, my dad making the potatoes with a whole stick of butter, Cindy's creative place markers and the whole Warner clan together. In later memories, I see all of us gathered around the table in the desert with my new dad saying grace. I will always treasure these times as life goes on and new memories and loved faces are added.
I am grateful to God for keeping us all healthy this year and adding two little ones to our family: welcome Brendan and Ella. Perhaps someday we will all be together again around a BIG Thanksgiving table. Until that day, know that I love you and you'll be in my thoughts tomorrow...Mom, Dad, Kirby, Cindy, Brianna, Scott, Karen, Kevin, Rachel, Chris, Holly, Elyse, Brendan, Emily and Ella.

Miriam's Story

As most of you know, I volunteer Thursday afternoons at Lifeline Crisis Pregnancy Center. As a counselor I talk with mostly young unmarried girls about unexpected (and mostly unwanted) pregnancies. Up until last year one of my fellow counselors was Miriam. Miriam and her husband Henry are desperate to be parents but have been unable to have a baby. They are pursuing several avenues to adopt. Maybe watching the anguish of casual sex resulting in babies raised by unprepared young girls or worse left dead in a sink got to be too much for Miriam. Regardless, Miriam now only stops by occasionally to visit.
Miriam had no idea that God was about to change her life dramatically when she dropped in at Lifeline on November 10th. This was the day that a scared and frantic young man called to ask if Lifeline was a safe harbor. Upon hearing that he needed to go to a designated place like a Fire Station or Police Department the man grew more desperate and insisted on bringing the baby to Lifeline. He came in with a tiny newborn just a few hours old and still not even cleaned up after the birth. He said he loved the child but that he and the mother were not able to keep the baby. He had delivered the baby himself by reading a manual. The counselors at Lifeline that day tried to comfort the man and discover any solution to help this man be a parent to his child. He insisted he had to go as he had a warrant with the police and he left his son. It was Miriam who took the little baby, cleaned him up and dressed him for the very first time.
After the man fled, the authorities were called and Lifeline became a crazy place where police detectives, paramedics and child protective services vied for space with girls with appointments for pregnancy tests. In the midst of the chaos, one of the Directors of the center told the police detective about Miriam and how she thought that God may have brought the baby to Lifeline for Miriam.
Well, the baby was taken to the hospital where he received a clean bill of health and then on to a foster home. Miriam went home and called her adoption case worker to let her know about this baby and her desire to be his mom. Over the next week Miriam and Henry prayed and tried not to get ahead of God in His plans. All of Lifeline, friends and prayer groups prayed for the baby his biological parents and for Miriam and Henry. Word came down that the court would decide the baby's fate based on whether or not Lifeline would be considered a safe harbor even though it is not technically so.
I'm tearing up as I write these next lines because I know how many tears Miriam has shed at Lifeline during the past years and how God used Lifeline to answer her prayers. Miriam and Henry were given just a few hours notice that a nursery inspection was imminent. They rushed to the store to buy everything necessary for a baby with money supplied by hopeful grandparents. Shortly thereafter, little Peter Henry was delivered to his parents Miriam and Henry after the court decided to grant Lifeline the status in the case as a safe harbor.
God is good and He is definitely Miriam's safe harbor. Prayers continue to go up praising God for his miracle of this child and asking for comfort and healing for his biological parents. Miriam's story is just one example of God's miracles. I hope it encourages you as it did me to remember that God is always at work in our lives and that His plans for us will come to pass.