79 Years Ago Today

These are my Grandparents and I believe this to be upon their engagement which was announced at Grandma's parents' Silver Wedding Anniversary January 1930. Here they are, young and starry eyed, though they had been "together" already for 9 years. I used Kate McClellan's A Fine Romance kit to create this layout. Alden and Holly met at the Everett Methodist Church, originally on Colby Avenue, the summer before their Sophomore year when their fathers became friends. Soon the families were going on outdoor adventures together and attended school together. Both Alden and Holly were first borns, committed to their relationship with God and to their families. They seemed a "perfect match" right from the start.

This is the right hand side of a two page layout which I created with components of kits from Bubbly Kori, Digizines by Teri and Veronica Spriggs, all available at Heritage Scrap. The Bible is Grandma's and I have used it on another layout I shared here, but these layouts are going into her Life Book, which is an ongoing challenge at Heritage Scrap (where I work and play). Grandma always told me about the stained glass window at the church which had this Psalm written on it. In her own writing, you can read her wedding date and she also wrote my Aunt's wedding date as she was also married at the same church. Sadly the church burnt down so I have never seen the window, but "Worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness" is engraved on my heart. This photo was their official wedding portrait. Grandma said that Grandpa requested her to take her glasses off for the pictures. For some reason that has always rubbed me the wrong way... maybe because I can't see without my glasses and I don't think Grandma could either!

This is the left hand side and the page also inclues a journal and flower cluster from Jean Daugherty. These are the photos that were taken by either Grandpa's father, George Hopkins or Grandma's father, Fred Tisdale. A teacher friend, Dorothy Pease, was Grandma's Maid of Honor and Clifton Tisdale, her brother, was Grandpa's best man. The reception was held in the garden of a family friend in Everett and the pair honeymooned in Skykomish, Washington.

I always think of Grandma in June because of her wedding date and because our birthdays were 9 days apart. She's been gone 7.5 years now, but I see touches of her in my life daily... in the books we use for school, in the recipes I cook with, in her Bible notes and notes she left in books here and there. It's like having a visit from an old friend when I come across her writing. Thank you Lord for giving me an awesome Grandma!

Home

Lynette, Lori and I at the Pampered Chef party. I think I wrote a couple posts ago that the house hunt all started at Lynette's Pampered Chef party in January. So, I wanted to make sure and get a picture of the three of us together for the scrapbook on the house! :-)

Lori brought her adorable almost twosie, L, whom my children adore. L still finds my big black camera with the long lens a little odd and just stares at it! lol I thought this was a funny picture. Boogie on the left, has no problem smiling for the camera whether he is in the picture or not! And Sunshine on the right is being very careful not to get in the picture with L. Heidi, the kitten wants to escape. There's only so much "lovin'" one cat can take! :-)

Here is Sunshine with Heidi again. Sunshine is our little helper girl. She likes to learn things and DO things. So (after putting down the cat and washing her hands), she did get to help a little with the dessert making.

Heidi is the most amazing little cat. She just puts up with so much from the kids. She lets them carry her around the house, one arm under each set of her legs and she looks floppy like a rag doll. Her face always has this non-plussed expression like: It's my lot in life. It's not a lot but it's my life! :-)

Meine Mutti wants to see what the house looks like, so here's the first bit of pics. Coming in from the hallway you look toward the fireplace. Normally we don't have grain bags on the hearth but they are my recent order from Azure Standard and I have not had a chance to put them in storage. The blue blob in front of that is a blanket on top of the cats' toy. Since I haven't had a chance to frame and hang any pictures, I put up some of my Aunt Grace's oil paintings on the mantle. She taught oil painting classes for years at Boeing Arts Club and other places in the Seattle area. Most of these paintings were instructional ones she did in class. L to R, Mount Rainier, Sunset Silhouette, windmills in Holland, Rhein River Castle ruins, a still life and an autumn pastoral scene. My Aunt Grace is the one who taught me so much about color and "seeing" things, as well as photography. She also bought me my first spinning wheel. The one in the photo is "Caris", my Lendrum wheel. On the right of the photo you can see the china cupboard that was one of my Grandma Johnson's.

From the fireplace, looking back to the door you can see our table and school area. Eventually we hope to find a large dining room table that is more useful for hospitality. We are in desperate need of overhead lighting but the beams are not placed in such a way that we can center anything over a table. We haven't figured out yet how or what we will do to get better lighting. Those reading lamps are just there as a temporary solution.

From the fireplace looking towards the living room you can see our lovely bookcases, all but one were housewarming gifts from Mom and Jack. The bookcase on the left was my graduation gift when I finished technical school in 1988. The armoire is where we hide the tv as I hate having it show and we don't watch it that often, mostly in the evenings for DVDs. The love seat faces the armoire and the couch (with the blue quilt over it) faces the bookcases in an L shape.

Another shot since Mom also hasn't seen the love seat/sofa.

Maisy, finding a quiet place to rest away from the kids, on a box under the keyboard!

Our potatoes growing in wine barrels 5/25/09. After this photo we put a few more inches of soil in.

This is the left hand barrel 5/31/09. Look how much they grew in 7 days! We filled dirt up to the top rim now. No flowers yet but they are growing like crazy. We started these from organic potatoes from Trader Joe's, which they told me come from Newman's farm. We planted both red and white potatoes. I think the whites are Russets but I am not certain. Some of the leaves have some yellowish spots on them, so I have to do some research. This is my first time growing potatoes organically.

In addition to the huge black walnut tree, orange tree (we just ate the last of our DELICIOUS oranges!) and grapefruit tree, we have some type of magnolia tree on the side.

Here is one of our raised beds. It's only 75% planted. In front are all peppers and in back is a tomato, watermelon and rosemary. I'm late getting everything else planted but I'm going to try it anyway.

The kids have had a blast eating outside on the table Grandma and Grampa found for them. Princess on left and Sunshine next to Boogie.

We still have much to unload, paint, put up on the walls etc before it's really feeling homey, but it's a start. I still wander through the house at times and think, "Whose house am I in again?" In spite of already having some repairs to the AC and electrical for the W/D and our first house payment, it doesn't feel like "ours". Maybe that's how it should be; the house is really His!

True Love... Jack's Journey

If you're not from the Pacific Northwest or a beach comber, you might not recognize what these are. Any guesses? Agates! Agates are a semi-precious stone and they come in all colors, shapes and sizes. Agates found at the ocean are often unique from God's own stone tumbler - waves. My family has been looking for agates about 100 years now. Some are more obsessed than others (I think I fit in the middle). My Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Doodlebug love to hunt for agates and awhile back Marilyn told Jack that when she went on their next trip, she'd bring him home a gallon bag of agates.

True to her word - ONE GALLON ZIPLOC BAG FULL OF AGATES! Sorry to shout, but my lifetime supply of agate hunting could maybe fit in two gallon ziplocs or maybe even a gallon and a quart... but never on one trip and never did I dream of giving away all those that I found. But Marilyn did.

Love is not self seeking. That's what we read in 1 Corinthians 13. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to canonize my Aunt! But what an incredible work of love she gave to bring joy into Jack's life, which at the moment probably seems pretty weary. His goal now is to find that many himself! :-) Or at least a few beauties like the one above.

I think that the whole gift is so amazing because most collectors hoard and do not share, even if they are kind and generous people otherwise. And it struck me how we all have different gifts. We are studying Job right now in Sunday School, so I've been thinking a lot about the things we do and say when someone is suffering. Many people are gifted in ways that allow them to serve and help and some of us aren't sure what to do. Or, I think sometimes we are immobilized by thinking that we don't have the gift we should. We think we should have the gift of nursing and don't even think that giving agates is a gift. Perhaps there were 9 nurses/nurturers/caregivers (all of whom are appreciated!) and only 1 agate giver - would not that one brighten the day?

For me, the lesson learned is that there are many ways we can give and be used by God and that I should not put Him in a box thinking it can only happen in certain ways. Does that make sense? I know what some of my gifts are, but they don't always seem practical or I don't think they are like other people's gifts. They are not. They shouldn't be. God has given me my own gifts and in Ephesians, Paul tells us that He created good works for me to do even before I was born! I don't have agates to give to Jack. Well, I do, but I'm not gonna! :-) LOL And that's okay. Because God isn't asking me to be Marilyn. He's asking me to be me!

So, what's my job now? I think I'm the squeaky wheel... will you grease me? My job is to ask for PRAYER!

Please pray for Jack. Tuesday is his last radiation treatment. When I talked to him today I asked him how he felt and he said, "Like I'm in the middle of a battle." All that poison of the chemo and radiation takes it's toll on a person. And the side effects don't stop with the last treatment. Please pray for relief from dry heaves and other ill side effects. Ask the Father to be restoring his body, healing it, mending it, rejuvenating him. There will be about a month for his body to recuperate before chemo begins again. I will keep you all posted.

Thank you! Jack and Ruth thank you! We love you! Please keep praying!

Kittens, Windows, Glasses, Catching Up

Well, it has been awhile since I've posted pictures and a lot of stuff has been happening. These pictures will only represent a small portion of that. Here's Hubby sleeping (trying to) with Heidi. She is a little love bug, gentle, quiet (I've only heard her meow 2x since we brought her home), patient with the kids and very laid back. I am "her person". It's like she thinks I'm Mama... oh yeah, that's right, I AM Mama!

Her sister Maisy is a "dumb blonde". She skids into a room like Kramer on Seinfeld, has no sense to keep away from the "snarly old lady kitty who is not excited about having her domain invaded" and constantly needs the reassurance of her sister Heidi and all the rest of us that she is loved. Last night she was jumping out around boxes at Abbie (the old lady kitty). Abbie just looks at her like, "Listen kid, I know I'm not supposed to eat you because supposedly you belong to them too, but what part of this face looks like it wants to play hide and seek with you?!" lol We now are able to keep all the doors open and have integrated the kittens with Abbie. It seems to be working and Abbie seems to be happier that she is not shut out from "a big secret" behind the closed door. She actually purred today, which she hasn't done for awhile, especially me. I bore the brunt of her anger. I don't think they'll ever be "cozy" but I think it'll work.

Here's a picture of Maisy snuggling up with Heidi. I think they were taken from their Mommy and I think that Maisy is more needy because of that and may be why she is so persistent with Abbie, trying to make friends. I thought this was cute.

The cats aren't the only siblings snoozing together! This is Sunshine and Boogie - last Sunday when we came home from church we were sick and all the people and cats took a nap! These two joined Daddy in bed, so there was nowhere for Mommy to nap.

Yesterday we had our new vinyl replacement windows installed. It went pretty smoothly. One window was off by 3-4 inches and a new one has to be made, but all the rest were fine. It was a factory mistake. This is the bathroom window which has "rain" patterned glass. We still have the aluminum window frames. Yuck. Before we paint, I'm going to have to find out about spray primers for metal, tape off the window and prime and paint the aluminum white. That won't be a fun job, but should look much better.

I got new "windows" yesterday too. This is just so my Mom can see. The old were silver and turquoise. These are burgandy. There is such a huge change in my RX this time that I am still having a hard time adjusting, but I see so much better! My computer screen is really clear now! Today I have a 'normal person's headache' from the glasses though and sometimes the ground rises up to meet me and swirls around a little bit. My brain has to get used to the huge increase on the bifocals.

We went to my friend Lori's house last week to watch her little girl L, who is a 22 month old human replica of a Precious Moments figurine. The girls and I played the piano for awhile. I miss having one around. Mom and Jack found me a keyboard at a garage sale and I'm hoping to find a place for it in the living room so I can at least play that.

There were kittens about palm sized and FAST! That's why this one is blurry as it is running back toward Mama!

Boogie had fun petting this one that we nick named Skunk. He's the runt.

The girls on the tire swing. Sunshine in the orange and Princess in the pink. I thought this picture was interesting because it really portrays the differences in their personality. Sunshine is quite shy and Princess screams "look at me!" with every cell of her being! :-)

Sunshine and Sooty - look at the little feet sticking out! :-)

Poor Skunk! I thought this was a sweet pose though.

Boogie loved playing with L at her sand/water table and Sunshine was fascinated with this wind spinner.

Boogie and Princess were having so much fun in the tire swing. They pretended they were airplanes and every time L's "airplane" came near they screamed "RETREAT!"

"I got a cat! Whatcha want me to do with him now?" :-) We had to practice not holding poor Sooty by the neck! lol

Princess and Skunk

Skunk - ready to face the world!

Who could resist this face? Sooty looks pretty distressed! Save me from this orange beasty girl!

Orange beasty girl loves Sooty! Isn't he stunning with his coloring and those eyes?

Being the diva that she is, Princess got first brother and then Sunshine to pull her around in the wagon with her "parisol" After a few rounds Sunshine got tired and left her out in the yard. Princess called out, "Who's going to pull me back?" in a particularly whiny voice! I laughed, "Pull yourself!" While still sitting in the wagon, she tugged at the handle "Ugh! Grunt! It doesn't work!" Me - "Well, get out and then pull Silly!" LOL We had a good laugh over that. Just like her Grandma Ginger... there are times when she acts as though all of life were meant to revolve around her! Hopefully we can temper that trait before she leaves the nest!

Sunshine decided to check out the "parisol".

I thought her expressions were funny! They've never held an umbrella before!


Well, that's a little glimpse into our lives... not overly exciting but you know, Grandma and Grandpa need to see their faces once in awhile.

I'm hoping I find my knitting soon... I miss it!

Another Resurrection Day Layout

I love this background paper with the birds from Jean Daugherty's Easter Song Kit from Heritage Scrap. We have a lot of birds here and I thought it was fitting with the kids' green and lavender outfits. I also loved the pussy willows... reminded me of Grandma Hopkins. Auntie Grace used to cut it for her and she would keep it in a cut crystal vase on her desk or on the table in front of the mirror. It's a part of my childhood spring memories.

He Is Risen

We celebrated our first holy day in our new home today. It was so nice to be able to go out in the backyard to take pictures instead of trying to find an uncrowded spot in the house with a plain background. I created this layout using Traci Reed's Promising and He Is Risen Add-On kits from Sweet Shoppe. I apologize that it is a little blurry. It was a huge file and I had to reduce the quality to be able to post here. (The original is clear).


Left to right Sunshine, Boogie and Princess. This is just outside our back door. The Calla lillies are blooming.

I couldn't decide which one Grandma and Grandpa would like to see best so I decided to include several! You non-Grandparents will just have to endure! lol

They do adore their big brother, can you tell!?!

A vertical one so Grandma can see the dresses. I don't usually dress the girls alike and in fact, much of the time they do NOT want to be dressed alike. I follow their lead. Occasionally they insist on everything being EXACTLY alike. We try to embrace both their uniqueness as individuals and the blessing of their twinship. One of the ways recently they have wanted to be different is that Princess wants her bangs cut and Sunshine wants to grow hers out long with the rest of her hair.

Shelley, you would not believe how easy this photo shoot was! The easiest we have ever done. Five minutes and out the door to church! No tears. No screaming. It was a miracle! lol

Sunshine has two bottom teeth missing, Boogie has two top teeth missing and while processing these photos we discovered that Princess lost her first tooth, on the bottom.

It was a nice family day together, first church and then lunch. Nothing fancy as we are still settling. Just being together was a blessing.

I have so much to catch up on here at the blog, but that will take some time as well!

Life Book Challenge at Heritage Scrap

Life has been so crazy, I don't know if I have even mentioned that last month I took on a new position as Creative Team Leader at Heritage Scrap, which is a digital scrapbook store and community designed to serve the needs of heritage and vintage scrappers with special emphasis on telling the story!

My new friend Vicki has started the Life Book Challenge, which when finished will complete the entire life story of yourself or a person in your family. I chose to do mine on my Grandma Hopkins. Since I have shared so much about her on this blog, I decided I will post some of the pages here.

This page is going to be the cover or opening page of her book. I blended a photo of her taken midlife with a background paper from Jean Daugherty in the collaborative Old Tyme Rose kit, the wide lace band from Digizines by Teri's Misty Morning Kit and the narrow lace from Annie's Digital Things' Grandmother's Sewing Basket kit. Next up is the birth pages. I think this is going to be a lot of fun!

Wonderful, Miraculous News

Our friend Luanne had surgery on Monday to remove a tumor on her kidney and the kidney itself. She was told that over 90% of these tumors are cancerous. Yesterday the pathology report came back NO CANCER!!!! PRAISE GOD!!!! Yes, I am shouting! I am so excited!!!

The reason why there is a picture from my wedding (that's my Mom Ruth) is that Luanne and her husband Ron were two of the many "angels" from our wedding. Luanne did the adjustments and altering on my dress and she and her husband helped us decorate the social hall and donated some of their poinsettias which we used for decorations in the church. Our wedding would not have happened without all our angels, and it was proof that you can have a lovely wedding without spending $20K or more! (counting the dress, tuxes and photographer it was less than $2k and it may not have been the grandest but there were 300+ people and LOTS of LOVE - it cheers me just to think of all those who gave of themselves to make our wedding happen!)

Thank you God for your hand on Luanne's life.

Dorothy Larimore Johnson

This is the only portrait I've ever seen of my Grandma Johnson, dated September 13, 1946, which was my father's first birthday. I love the romantic idea that she had a portrait taken to honor that day and show her love. Looking back, I think my Grandparents had a complex relationship. Even today some family members have told me they should not have been married, but Grandpa was not going to leave his son, as his father had done to him. Maybe they weren't the perfect match, but I think they are an example of how love is a choice. Marriage is work and you grow in love. The head in the clouds feelings disappear, but as you grow in love, the feelings are deeper and richer with the patina of time.

This picture always makes me chuckle. It has been repaired in photoshop elements, but in the original there is a tear the entired length of the left hand side. Grandma "fixed" it with old fashioned Scotch tape that yellowed and aged. Apparently at some point in time she and Grandpa had an argument and in her temper (it was quick and hot!) she picked up the picture and tore it! I know it was just a gesture because she only tore it on the left hand side, not through her face, so the picture was "saved".

Grandma was quite a character and my first best friend. Her life ended in a long battle with early onset Alzheimer's Disease. You can read my tribute to her battle here on my old blog.

Dorothy Lucille Larimore Johnson January 2, 1920 to July 16, 1987.