Lys and Logan

We are having fun watching those two develop their relationship. They are good kids. The time that he was deployed wasn't easy but it seems to have deepened their commitment to keep each other in prayer and heightened their awareness of where their strength comes from.

It is nice to know that our girls are finding men that seem tailor made for them. Yay for the best son-in-law, fiance and boyfriend ever!!!!

Anniversary

Yesterday was Harlan and my 26th Anniversary. It was tiring. We spent our morning and a bit of the afternoon getting packed and out of Kid's Camp. Then we went to the Enchanted Forest in Salem. It has been years since we've been there. Courtney, Hayden and Cameron have never been there. Joylynn, Jess and Wyatt were able to come with us. The hiking up and down the hills up there wasn't too cool after having hiked up and down the hills at Kid's Camp since Sunday but we survived.

We enjoyed our involvement this year at camp. Have a ton of pictures. I needed to run out and get ink and photo paper this a.m. to be able to print some of them.

We also have the pleasure of having Logan (Lyssa's fiance) home safe and sound from serving in the Middle East.

God has been so good to us over the past 26 years. He has given us so many blessings. Our desire to serve him has only increased.

No time to think.

Isn't chaos a weird looking word. Weird is also a weird looking word. But chaos is the prevailing noun in my life at the moment.

Synonyms confusion, disarrangement, disarray, disorder, disorganization, havoc, hell, jumble, mess, muddle, shambles
Related Words anarchy, lawlessness, misrule; knot, snarl, tangle; labyrinth, maze, web; maelstrom, storm; clutter, litter, mishmash, shuffle; hodgepodge, medley, miscellany, motley

Near Antonyms method, pattern, plan, system
Antonyms order, orderliness

It's interesting to me that there are 30 synonyms and related words to this state and only 6 antonyms and near antonyms.

"Peace be still." I guess HE has it right all along.

Seize the Day

How does one go about living in the day? So much of my time seems to be spent lamenting the fact that I "coulda, should, woulda..." or anticipating upcoming events that I really think I am missing out on all that God has for me today.

Scripture says "whatever your hand finds to do." Seems to fit in with my ADD type of personality. But it is followed by "do it with all your might." That requires focus.

Priorities? What is the definition? How do you go about getting them in line when bombarded at every side with meeting the needs, wants, whims of others?

Calling? Do I have one?

I think I need to spend some serious alone time with God. Where can I go to be alone?

Marshmallows

Smores, Rice Krispie Treats, Fudge.

Food, family & adjustments

We had a couple of friends over for dinner the other night. Thanks for coming guys! Alyssa was working and Krystle was at church for YC. Courtney went to Jr High. So here there were only 6 people eating with food for around 20. Three desserts. We have had 3 more meals from the leftovers. I'm not doing so well with this semi empty nest thing. It is rare that all of us are home for a meal together. :o( And I don't know how to "do" small food.

This fall is going to be weird with only 3 kids home for the days. I guess Wyatt and the new baby will more than make up for the lack of Hilmans proper in residence.

Adam is moving :0\ He is going to have a spiffy new room though. It used to be scary orange. Kinda like being swallowed by a giant gourd. Now it is the color of smooth ripe avocado a serene light green. He is not going to be lonely with the mouse and possibly mice that live in the window well. Also there is a nice closet that Cherise fashioned out of pipe and fabric.

Harlan and Hayden will be camping overnight tonight. Alyssa went to the beach with Megan. Krystle has to work tonight. So that will leave me alone with Cam and Courtney. More adjustments.....

I wish my life fit some sort of norm. But it doesn't and that's going to have to be OK.

Boundaries, blogs, reality checks

I have never read the book "Boundaries". I think I need to. Life is hard. Choices are hard.

I have learned a ton from peoples blogs. I am just like them. I don't feel at home here. I can't embrace any of the world's solutions as much as I'm drawn to them. I must remind myself that I am not living for myself. I have been bought.

I want to start being more real. Except for my nails......I like them acrylic.

I need to learn more

I'd like to post a photo every now and then. How do Chris and Robin make their posted pictures look like polaroids? That kid of theirs is sure a cutie. I have a cute little guy here multiple days a week that I'm sure many of you would love to see.

To change the subject. If a headache goes away when you drink coffee does it imply that it was a lack of caffeine causing it? If that is the case I'm in trouble.

Birthday Boy

Harlan's birthday is Monday. He "forgot" to take the day off so he'll be working from 6:30 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. He does get an hour and a half for lunch so I'll have to think about where to take him out to lunch. Most times he just comes home.

I don't like having his birthday and father's day so close together. I suppose it could be worse his birthday could be in June. Guys are hard to buy presents for. Especially if you have a limited budget and everything that he would really love is in the multiple hundreds of dollars.

I have a few ideas. A new picture collage for his office at work. Perhaps some organizational stuff for his shop. I'd love to get him a comfy recliner type chair that he could just chill in.

In any case "Happy Birthday Har!" You are one of the good ones.

Mother of the....

I am going to be the Mother of the Ring Bearer! Cam is going to be in our nephew Justin's wedding on Jun 4th and I'm excited. For him and me. I like weddings a lot! I like the decorating and such. None of it seems like work to me.

Justin called yesterday to see if Cam would do it. He initially said no but after seeing some pretty nice tuxedos online and getting the book "10 Cool Things about being a Ring Bearer" he is pretty pumped about being in the wedding.

Mom and Don are coming on the 31st. As much as decorating and wedding stuff isn't work. Cleaning and dejunqueing is a major pain. I have not even 3 weeks to accomplish something. I think maybe we'll move and not tell anybody.

It's Mother's Day!

I need to call my mom before it gets too late. It is 3 hours ahead in Michigan. I had a very nice day. We had our traditional "Mother's Day/Molly's Birthday" party at Zywicki's. I got to talk to all my kids and see most of them.

I hope all you kiddettes and kiddoes got to spend some time with your moms. Or at least thought of them.

Next month we get to celebrate all over only with a more masculine theme. It's hard to decorate the breakfast room at church for Father's Day. There are so many things that guys are into. With Mother's Day it's like duh! Flowery stuff. I need to get votes on this June decor. I have 3 tables that need something on them. The choices I've come up with are: sports such as Football, basketball, baseball. Then there are sports such as golf, and various recreational sports horse shoes, badmitton, tennis.... Then there are the fishing and hunting themes. Then there are the handyman type of stuff. Then there are the pipe, cigar and classic literature types. How about the computer guys? Camping, hiking and other outdoorsie activities. Then there are the car and truck guys. What about the musicians? What about the Starbucks and Jazz, Berkenstock wearing dads? How about the kite flying beach dudes. Surfing? Snow, water, web? Men are so multifaceted. One theme doesn't fit all dads. HELP. I need suggestions.

What a drag.

We are enduring a day without a sewer line. Yippee. It should be done by the end of the day. I'm thankful that we have such nice and experienced men doing the work. What a messy job!

Read a few blogs this a.m. Watched Wyatt. Made coffee for the plumbers. Still debating on whether or not to get my hair cut. It is lacking style in a big way. Yesterday I looked like Albert Einstein for most of the day. Only fatter.

I may give myself another couple days to think of all the options. Perhaps I'll jump on the Whipple bandwagon :o)

Rylan has another picture of a cute cat on his blog. I wonder where his cat, Sabre, is with all this activity going on downstairs and outside. I'll have to try to find him later.

Just in case you didn't know. My girls have the best husband, fiance, and boyfriend in the whole world.

News and not so

For those of you that wondered. Frodo was adopted within a couple of weeks of being at the Humane Society. We only reduced our cat population by 25% here but it seems like a 75% reduction in stress levels pertaining to petdom.

Sick and Tired:

That pretty much describes most of the occupants of the house at this time. Har has been trying to get rid of a nasty chest cold. Cam and Hayden are coughing now :o( Wyatt seems to be doing pretty good. He is walking around more and more. Constant motion that one. But he does crash for a couple of hours every morning and around an hour in the afternoon so even little guys need to recharge.

Taxes are pretty much done for everyone here. Rylan's federal return is the only one left to file and he has an automatic extension for being overseas. Gotta get some help to decipher some of the requirements and exclusions. I like doing it though.

I'm doing a little bit of sewing for MJ Wallace. I like it. Makes me wish I had everything in order around here so I had a space to do some projects for myself. If I have anything spread out in the dining room it has to be shuffled away by Friday evenings when Young Adults meet here.

I think that is about it for any update. I have been bugging Mr Relational to update his blog and he recently did so now it was my turn to give it a whirl.

Until next time....

There there-apy

Does it imply overload if you want to just sit in your vehicle in a parking lot and watch rain run down the windows because it's quiet. Even those few brief moments of solitude were refreshing. It seems as though I have constant audio and visual stimulation from the time my feet hit the floor in the morning until the 3rd, 4th or 5th time Cam comes back into my room at night for a hug and a kiss. But it's the "Goodnight, Have a good sleep." that comes from his lips and heart just before he shuts the door that is kind of a benediction on the day signaling that everyone has shuffled off to their beds. All is calm.

Being a mom is not easy

I want to smack somebody. I hate when life happens to one of my kids. Tonight Hayden was so happy to have set the VCR to tape "Survivor" while he was at church. The swine VCR didn't prompt him to turn it off in order for it to record at 8 o'clock. He was sad to find that it didn't record and there was only the tribal council vote left to see. He did manage to tape that but was planning on watching the entire taped show with Cherise and Adam this weekend. Hopefully we can find someone that recorded the thing successfully. We will know better for next week's show.

Anyone out there in the TV biz know why they are playing it on Wednesdays this week and next?

Like anyone in the TV biz is going to read my goofy blog. Yeeeesh :-}

Goodbye not so old friend.

Krystle had to make a very hard decision in the past couple of weeks. She decided to bring Frodo (her cat) to the Humane Society to be adopted by another family. He is a wonderful loving companion but thinks he needs to be the only male cat in the home. Frodo has attempted to mark "His" territory to keep Sabre (the one true King) from enjoying the years he has remaining with us. We weren't about to put Sabre out so the only thing was to allow Frodo to claim a new domain somewhere else. Anyone want to adopt a great kitty that needs to be the one and only male cat in residence? His profile should be on the OHS websight shortly.

I'm going to miss the stupid thing. But just think, I now have a grandchicken!

OK Maybe YOU'RE not

Harlan happens to be "on call" this week. Not only is he on call in his rotation he is also manager on call for the guy he is standing in as manager for. I was sort of thinking about what being on call means. Isn't it being there for somebody when they have a need that you can meet or try to help them figure out how to solve the problem on their own. Isn't it putting down what you had planned, to do something for another. But it's not just sitting anticipating the phone ringing or a pager going off. You must still be about your business. Doing what it is that you have purposed to do. We all have that sort of stuff. Purpose stuff. Hopefully when we get the "call" to reach out or help we are available and not wrapped up in our own pursuits. I think we all should be ready and willing to come along side a fellow human to help illuminate the path they are traveling when they have need of vision.

Sounds almost Biblical.

I don't see it.

When did Starbucks start putting cutsie little quotes on the side of their cups. Har and I happened to read ours by accident when we happened to both pull the sleeve off of our cups. Don't they know that if your beverage is hot more than likely the cute little quote is going to be covered up by a sleeve? Are there a lot of people going around sleeveless? What is the percentage anyway? I'm sure there are stats somewhere. Also I don't get what the bottom box labeled "Drink" is for. Do they serve other things besides drinks in these cups?

Coffee People used to be the trivia kings of the coffee world. I guess in the great melting pot of coffee companies nowadays what works for one is going to be tried by all. Especially since they are all now one.

Have you seen the new Coffee People logo? The "People" are GONE! What in the world?

Is it soup yet?

I have weird children. I've known that for some time. Each quirk just makes me love them more. However I think this caboose of ours is going to be entertaining us with his wit, creativity and dance skills for some time to come. He was just break-dancing for me. He invents food. At least he believes he has. He has a pancake spread that he concocted consisting of peanut butter and sopapilla syrup. It is mixed together in identical quantities and is very yummy. He also believes someone stole his invention of microwave oatmeal. He has made microwave oatmeal from scratch since he was 4 years old. Someone has had the audacity to market a new product. It is kinda like instant oatmeal but you have to cook it. Adding hot water isn't sufficient. Cam thinks "someone" was watching him and is now marketing "his" idea.

Interesting hey? You never know when you are being watched. So be circumspect at all times.

Spring has Sprung

Something near miraculous has occurred. I certainly don't know how it has come about. I don't know what to make of it. Aside from a couple in times in recent weeks, I have managed to have a least one of my kitchen sinks dish free (if not both of them) for the better part of a month. Now for those of you who have experienced our home. You must also be awed by that fact. Usually any phrase with the word "clean" referring to actually doing something to attain said state is followed by the question "Who's coming over?". Is there a law against having a somewhat pleasant environment for just those humble souls who dwell here?