misc.....

our yard work never ends. NOT that i'm complaining. cuz, i'm not. we feel extremely blessed to have a yard to take care of but i tell ya, when the heavens open up, we'd rather stay inside and enjoy our blessings from our window! the hub is a die-hard lawn guy. he was bound and determined to get this done last week. but please honey, enough is enough.

no, my camera doesn't have a blurry, rainy feature. it was really was raining THAT hard. and yet, he mowed on. now that's perseverance. (ok, so he only did part of it but hey, at least he ATTEMPTED it!)

jack's 'base', under my peony plant.

max's 'city', in my yet-to-be-weeded-flower-bed.

here i am again, falling behind on blogging and my 'project 365'.

will i ever learn?

probably not.

so i will now spend the next 2 hours catching up. oh well.

such is life.

let me look back and catch ya all up....

dad likkel....

today would have been my father-in-laws 79th birthday.

6 years ago, last week, God called him home.

i wish i had the words, for those that didn't know him, to describe what an amazing man he was.

for those who did know him, i don't need to tell you. you saw it in his life.

he was one of the most gentle people i know. he was soft spoken and kind.

and funny, oh, he was SO funny.

he would mumble things under his breath that could make the room erupt in laughter.

he was a fantastic father. his children honored and respected him. he was stern when he needed to be but he disciplined kindly.

he was a good husband. he loved and cared for mom well.

he put his life into his work. i've never seen anyone work as hard as he did. he worked the farm for 40+ years. he didn't always love what he did but he rarely complained about it. he knew that he needed to make a living for his family. he had a good honest work ethic. he passed that on to his children. i loved that about him.

he was a tender man. as quick as he was to laugh, he was also quick to shed a tear. i really loved that about him. i love that he passed that trait on to rye. a good, tender-hearted man is hard to find these days. i'm so thankful that he had that trait. it was one of my most favorite things about him.

tonight there were a few tears.

rye sat at his computer, pulled up his play list, like he does most nights. tonight he had the Gaithers going. those of you who grew up in the 70's knew the Gaithers. i can still picture my family sitting in our living room listening to them. rye remembers singing their songs in the silage truck with his dad. ironic that the song he listened to tonight was called 'precious memories'.

there are so many times that we comment about how much dad would have loved to watch the boys grow up. he was an amazing grandpa. he was the first to get down on the floor with them. i wish i had a digital copy of dad carrying the boys on his back. it's precious. we wish he could see them now. we hope he'd be proud.

dad loved the Lord. he served Him well.

although we miss him everyday we are thankful for the 73 years he had here.

he lived a good life.

i know when he met Jesus, he heard the words 'well done good and faithful servant'.

that's the way he lived his life.

that's how we'll remember him.

the inventor....

spring in the fifth grade is a BIG deal. we've got the 'penny book' (more to come later)
AND
the INVENTION.

the BIG invention.
sam has been thinking about this for months.
when he told me his idea, i was in awe at how brilliant this was.
then, i googled it.
i mean, come on, why didn't SOMEONE come up with this before NOW!!???
well, someone had.
HOWEVER, since he didn't know that, we ran with it!!
after all, theirs wasn't near this cool and theirs had a weird shape.
his had more compartments and it was softer, i'm sure.
oh wait, have i even told what he invented???
sorry, i hadn't.
it's called the PILLOW POD. (dad helped come up with that name)
since sam likes to hit the hay with his i-pod on, and i was always worried about the cord getting tangled around his neck (um, yes, i am that overprotective mother you've heard about & i'm NOT ashamed of it!) he thought it would be great to create something that would allow the headphones to be buried into the pillow, cord coming out the back!
so we decided that if we are going to have a pocket to hold your i-pod, may as well have one that holds your DS too.
of course, there also needed to be a place for his book. (shocking, NOT the 5th graders idea).
sam and i trucked it down to Micheal's, picked out the super awesome camo print fabric and green dye along with 15 other things we didn't need but thought would look Great on the poster. which by the way, we never used.
my dear mother-in-law did some fancy sewing and spiffied the thing up. (thanks mom!)
a little sparkly puff paint and we were good to go.
he was so proud of this.
he had good reason to be.
"it's awesome". (his exact words)
you're right son, it was awesome.

Don't assume you know it all.....

i'm sure MANY of you are SO over seeing the title 'sunday at larabee'. sorry, i know my sister is rejoicing in a new post today.
this morning i had a 'sick' boy. so sick that i brought him to school at 10 am. um, ya, i think he'll be ok. (insert sarcasm here). that being said, i like having him home. since he was 'ordered' to go back to bed (him being so sick and all). the house was quiet, t.v. off. coffee in hand. since these are ideal conditions for good bible reading, i read. i have this great bible that has NIV on one side & right across the page, The Message. i'm a simple girl so i love this version. since sam was "done sleeping" he was able to join me JUST in time to read with me. how good of God to give us this time. i read, he listened-uninterrupted. bliss. i loved what i read and i wanted to share it with you. out of The Message...Proverbs 3:1-12....

Don't assume you Know it all (seriously, that's what it's titled)

Good friend, don't forget all I've taught you; take to heart my commands. They'll help you live a long, long time, a long life lived full and well.

Don't lose your grip on Love and Loyalty. Tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart. Earn a reputation for living well in God's eyes and the eyes of the people.

Trust God from the bottom of your heart;don't try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God's voice in everything you do,everywhere you go; he's the one who will keep you on track.

Don't assume that you know it all.

Run to God!

Run from evil!

your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life!

Honor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best.

Your barns will burst, you wine vats will brim over. But don't dear friend, resent God's discipline; don't sulk under his loving correction. it's the child he loves that God corrects; a fathers delight is behind all this.

i LOVED this chapter!

bless you dear friends.