Here it is again--another father's day. Time passes quickly and we have one "child" left at home but we will always be their parents no matter their ages. I am blessed with a wonderful husband who is also a wonderful father. My own father died when I was 10 years old so I appreciate the importance of a father but especially a good one.

Bruce has always loved his children more than himself. When he was worn out with work he would still come home and get down on the floor to play with them and tell them stories at bedtime and encourage them in their hopes and dreams. He still involves himself in their lives and keeps the relationships strong. He has gone to many a game, concert, or any event that our children were involved in always cheering them on.

Know this day, Bruce, that you are well loved and we appreciate you. You have been a good partner in life for me and I still choose you over all others.

Colorado Springs Forth
Here we are getting ready for our trip by filling up iPods and posing for Photo Booth pictures. I have dyed new fabrics and will quilt up a storm upon return.

It will be great to see loved ones and cherish the wedding of our niece and her groom!

We'll be staying at the same place we did before and also where Cheryl and Jim will be. They are driving. We are flying. Yea!

The Great Gazebo

The Great Gazebo
Originally uploaded by aslandad00.

On an almost Sunny day in Cuyahoga Falls, son and dad ventured out into the Gazebo of Fame to have their portrait done by an automatic camera lens.

There are more photos from this trip available at the Aslandad Flickr" site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aslandad00

DSCF2140.jpg
Originally uploaded by aslandad00.

Here am I, a day and evening into sales and clothes for celebrating and playing in Denver, Colorado Springs, Defiance, and even Bowling Green! Get your cameras ready!

More than we asked...

A few weeks ago I helped serve lunch to the Impact World Tour people who were in town for a mission outreach. After lunch they prayed for the people who served them. I was asked what I needed prayer for and I said I needed to sell a house. The couple praying for me asked God to sell our house for more than we asked. In my heart I scoffed because we had been getting offers 10-15 thousand under our asking price. Well, today we entertained three offers at once at or above our asking price!!! We accepted the best offer. I am ashamed that I am still holding back on celebrating because a deal isn't done until it's done. However, things are certainly looking up. Keep praying that everything will work out.

We had crazy weather tonight all around with funnel clouds, hail, and drenching rain. The night is settling down now and there is a lot of standing water. The old and new houses seemed to have weathered the weather okay. We hurriedly fixed supper and ran down to the basement carrying our dinner when the siren went off AGAIN. So we enjoyed the safety of the basement to eat our grilled chicken, stuffed portabella mushrooms and fried potatoes.

BLUE NO MORE

The smaller bedroom upstairs at 1040 is blue no more. I painted it a nice neutral color by the name of SESAME. My goal tomorrow is to make the orange bedroom the same nice neutral color of SESAME.

Wairimu and I tore out the paneled wall in the smaller basement room along the outside walls so that the contractor could inspect the damage. We found an ugly red painted wall underneath the panelling that had lots of cracks, mildew and faded shades of red from the water seepage. There were plenty of spiders too.

I am so sore tonight. Wairimu said that I was in good shape. I guess she thought I could tear out a wall with gusto. Wairimu has been staying at 1156 the last few nights after spending the days in Detroit at a conference. She didn't need to be there until later today and thus was able to help me with the work for an hour or so.

We met with our new realtor and he wants us to fix the basement wall and to clean up more inside and repaint some rooms. I came home and promptly got a migraine. "His grace is sufficient." Pray that I will rest in His strength and get through this time.

Also, Pseudo had his little operation yesterday. He seems fine but woozy and a little sore. This morning he is more active but still untrusting so doesn't want me to pet him. He probably thinks I am taking him away again to that awful place.

Wairimu is here for a short visit while she attends a conference in Detroit. It is good to catch up with her again.

I speak tonight on campus about Amani. Such a busy time but fulfilling (except for that 1040).

It took a birthday to get me to blog.

I wish Justin a wonderful, fun-filled birthday. I wish we could be with you to celebrate. I'm sorry you're Edwardsless there for the day but we are with you in spirit. Pseudo wishes you a happy birthday too (he would if he could).

I have a meeting at 1040 today to talk about getting the basement fixed. Wished we had done it a year ago but it would have been hard to do before we moved. I have been stressed about this and just want the house to be sold and be done with it. Do you think I will get spammed from basement remodelers? I never notice the pop up ads so it won't do them any good.

New Joan Amani Blog

Check out this new one for Joan's Amani Blog.

Birthday greetings to Matt on this day when he was born 31 years ago. Wow! That day started out with a stomach ache (I thought) which turned out to be labor pains. I had never had a baby before so I called the doctor and said I had pains so bad that I couldn't stand up. They told me to come to the hospital. It's a good thing we did because he was born about 30 minutes after we arrived. This quickness of Matt's arrival caused his dad to miss it because he had gone back home to get our insurance papers. After waiting two weeks past his due date he was ready to come into the world. His grandparents and great grandparents from Akron had come for Christmas, hoping he would be born while they were there but alas had to go home because Matt was tarrying. They eventually made it back to welcome their first grandbaby with love and kisses.

Matt, I'm so glad to have you as my son and I'm proud of you. Have a happy birthday. MOM

MISSION ORGANIZATION. First, it is mission disorganization because you have to first sort through all the stuff and have piles all over the place before you can put away, discard or otherwise do something with all the STUFF! It's the week after new year's day and I am trying to sort through all the stuff we had left in the garage from our move. This week is big trash pickup so I am motivated to get it done and also put away the Christmas stuff. I still in the midst so there are piles of organized stuff that still have to find a place to live. I made a trip to goodwill so some of it found a home away from home. Yahoo!

We had a great Christmas break with Matt and Tracey here a few days and a one-day trip to see Grandpa and Matt and Tracey one more time before they head back to San Diego. New Year's Eve we had a get-together with about 20 people and enjoyed WII and SceneIt games.