Part I: a really, really fun week!

On Memorial Day last week one of my best friends, Betsy DeFord, had her graduation open house at her home in Iowa. It was a great party!! All the usual "Omaha" people that always come out to DeFords and visit for any excuse like Jake and Miranda Shudak, Dan and Anna Beasley, Ben and Ellie Stangl, Liz Brown, and me and Isaac. This time few fun extra people came on out too! Lesley and Ashley Hoover, Miranda and Jake's cousin Cassie, Esther Beasley, and Zach Stangl were the fun "extras". My whole family decided to come on out and see Betsy too, so we drove separate cars because Betsy invited me to stay at her house several days after the party. Here are A LOT of pictures taken at the party and then pictures from my stay at their house.

Isaac D, Jacob S, Dan B, Caleb Weikert, Caleb D, and myself on the left.

Rita, Nate Allan, Marlys, Colin, and Emily Carris on the right.

AWW! I love this picture of Lesley and Miranda. ; )



Leah (Betsy's 8 yr old little sister) was being camera shy...she usually isn't. for real!

Anna B. took this lovely picture...

Caleb being Caleb

Kendra on the swing! See! there are some benefits to being adorably petite! : )

uhh...

Honor (Betsy's 11 yr old sister), took this picture. too pretty, huh?!

This is Daniel, Tim's (Betsy's dad), cousin. He is about 40, I think and has Downs Syndrome, but he is so funny! He always has everyone laughing so hard! This time he was mad at Jake S. for standing next to his sister Miranda, because Miranda was his (Daniel's) girlfriend and he was afraid Jake was trying to steal her away from him. hehe! We all laughed and laughed!

This picture is him reading a certificate that Betsy gave him which allows him to get hugs whenever he might need one. : ) (he didn't like that idea though....lol)

Me n' Marlys. I love her!!

uh oh, this seriously is a bunch of trouble....these two together, I mean.

Goodness! I had to spend the rest of the week with them two!

oh Anna, you're so adorable, it's not fair!


Betsy and Kendra with the soooo happy cake that Kendra made for her

Trouble, again.



Uncle Doug, and "angelic child" (Gavin) with "Daddy" (Nathan). :-P lol



Too cute not to post. Caleb and Marlys have to be one of the cutest couples ever! They are adorable together all the time. : ) and Caleb is a hoot! It's really crazy when he and Caleb D. are together. Things can definitely get interesting! :-P

Leah. April, and Aaron on the See-Saw. Adorable kids!

Grace and Alyssa. Men in Black. :-P

This is a much better picture of us.

I love you Rachel even if you are blond inside!

jk jk!! totally jk!

This is after mostly everyone had cleared the eating area.

Can you spot Rachel's lovely Chinese lanterns hanging from the trees?

After almost everyone else had left but us "Omaha people", we headed down to the town park and played volleyball. It was quite fun! We had four teams, but we did not play speed. We played that a team stayed on the court until beaten, the losing team has to leave and is replaced by the next team and so on. My team is the one on the far side of the net. We never moved. : D

Me and Ashley. : ) I'd have to say she hits pretty high on my list of favorite Ashleys!! ; )

I love her!!!

Beautiful Anna and Sunburned Dan

CASSIE!!! She is so much fun!!!

Me and my adopted big sister. : )))

Alyssa, Rachel, Anna, and Betsy watching v-ball

My team (I'm not playing at the moment, obviously.

Dan wouldn't let me take pictures on the court :-P ).

One of the losing teams. : D

this is prolly like the 101st picture we've taken of us two. ; )

adorable person!

Honor was taking odd pictures of people all afternoon...

Alyssa, Rachel, and Anna looking so darling.

Esther dear.

Liz and Betsy. I love you girls!

Gorgeous! lol hehe

Cassie looks so cute here...

Jake and Dan waiting for the girls to gather themselves and get in the van

Part of the van load of "Omaha people" headed back to Nebraska.

Betsy and I were soooo sad to see them go!

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After party pictures:

The whole DeFord family Left to right

Back row: Rachel, Isaac, Caleb, Colin, and Tim

Front row: Leah, Honor, Rita, Betsy, and Titus

The silly picture. I love Caleb's nose thingy, Colin's whole tongue "Phhtt",

and Betsy's "muscle man" imitation. lol

Betsy opening her gifts.

On Tuesday, Betsy, me, and the kids all went to her dad's shop so that she could work for a few hours. Tim owns "Lord's Clothing", it's like a Men's Warehouse, so he sells like suits, ties, etc. and Betsy and Rita tailor the suits according to orders.

just keep smiling, just keep smiling, just keep smiling....

Honor's unique hand writing...

ya, we'r go'n for da hole gangsta luk

(Titus)

Yeah, after listening to a few Odyssey episodes (on Honor and Leah's plea),

we found other things to occupy our time. ; )

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Later Tuesday afternoon, Betsy and I headed to DesMoines to stay with Rachel at her apartment and hang with her and Colin for the next two days. It was a lot of FUN! I'll post pictures of that later. The rest of these pictures were taken after we got back from Rachel's.

Eating Sardines. Did I like them? Well, I finished that whole can. : D

Betsy and Leah tried some too...

and Betsy also liked them. It was the first for all three of us.

Leah sweetie.

My minature boss and me. : D

My little maids! They were so sweet to me all week. Every time I come to visit, they spoil me rotten! This time Honor did my hair (blow dried it, and curled it, and both Honor and Leah gave Betsy and I foot massages in the foot tubs and then rubbed lotion on our feet, etc!) In return, I usually sing them a song or two and scratch their backs while they go to sleep at least one night when ever I come visit. :-P They love it... (I don't know why!)

Titus in his hunting garb. Hunting starlings, that is. ; )

But don't get me wrong, Titus has also shot a few deer in his days as well!

Isaac and Rita during lunch time on Thursday

Titus out a-hunting. : D

I think he's completely cleared his neighborhood of those pesky birds for a while!

THE END.

P.S.

Now that I've bored each one of you out of your minds, please forgive!!

I had a blast last week and I wanted to share it with you all. : )

This might be fun....

Ok, so I found this really cool house and property hidden away within 2 miles of my house and I thought it would be fun to put up a picture of it on my blog and see if any of you can find it.

If you want a map of where to look, you'll have to leave a comment on this post and let me know and I'll e-mail it or get it to you somehow. If someone is actually successful in finding this house (I am betting no one can find it), you will receive $10.00 in a gift card of your choice. You will have to have your picture taken with the house in the background as proof you actually found it.

For those that this may help:

The boundries that this house can be found in are like a square.

30th St. from N to S is the Eastern border on one side, Beasley's house is the Northern border, my house is the Western border, and the Larsen's house is the Southern border. The house to find is somewhere inside these borders. Good luck!

God's Promises

Today I was reminded of God's promises and the joy of knowing that He will always keep them. The particular promise that I was thinking of is the one from Psalm 37 "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." Lately, I have to admit, I've not been finding all of my delight in Him. If you go to my church and heard my pastor's message today, you might remember his Valentinos analogy. I won't go into that right now, but it just helped things hit me the way they needed to. I just need to remember to claim Christ's promises throughout each day. What joy comes from following close to Him! Nothing can compare...especially not a loaf of old crusty bread (from the Valentinos analogy).

The rainbow that I saw this evening on the way home from a friend's graduation. : )

YAY!!!!!!

WOW! What wonderful, happy announcements today! : )

Josiah and Abi

After the message in church today,

Josiah Wissmann held up the hand of his new bride-to-be and announced their engagement!

What a shocker! I never saw it coming!

You guys did a fabulous, record breaking job at keeping this a secret. : D

So, after I bent over and picked my jaw up off the floor,

I couldn't stop smiling.... YES!!!!! happiness! Save the date......September 20th! : )))))))

Will be praying for you guys!!!!

Praise the Lord!

for more pictures check out Josiah's blog

or his family's blog

Alicia and Justin

There was also another equally exciting announcement.... : )

Pastor Larry asked his oldest daughter Alicia to come and stand up front with him.

He then shared with all of us how he and Mrs. Nelson had given Alicia a heart locket with both of

their pictures inside representing how her heart was theirs until a very special young man came

along and gained her father's permission to win her heart. Next thing ya know....

that young man by the name of Justin Enquist walked up front

and Pastor formally gave him permission to court his daughter. : )))))))

I am soooo excited for you, Alicia and Justin! You both look extremely happy.

I will be praying for you as you start this exciting journey together!

To God be the glory!

(your ring is absolutely lovely, Abi....*sigh* lol)

Great things HE has done!

The Day I Almost Missed Tomorrow

I just thought it would be fun to post an old essay that I wrote

last year for my English class at Metro.

I got a 96 on this!! : )

Grace Waldo G. Waldo 1
ENG 1010
05 April 2007
Essay 2 Final Draft
The Day I Almost Missed Tomorrow

My family and I were on vacation in western Wyoming when we decided to go for a swim in the Snake River. We drove to an isolated spot and after the boys grabbed their fishing poles, my family headed out. I stayed behind for a moment, totally engrossed in a book, but that didn’t last for long. The lure of a river swim was too much to resist and I soon left my book to join my family.

As I carefully scrambled down the sharp incline, I lost my footing several times and slid to insure my safe landing. Finally, I made it to the bottom and scanned the view. Small, smooth river rocks stretched over the entire ground reaching up to the waters’ edge. After the spring meltdown, water had flowed over the stones, but now the river was much narrower. I looked down at my bare feet and hoped I could make it across the expanse to the water without completely bruising my feet on the rocks. As I took a careful step forward, I knew right away that it was going to be a long tedious journey to the river. A sharp pain shot through my feet as I struggled to keep my balance. Finally, after what seemed like ages, I reached the edge of the riverbed. I carefully sat on the uncomfortable rocks and massaged my sore feet.

The stream looked cool and inviting. After my feet began to feel normal again, I stood up and stepped out into the freezing water. To my dismay, the very same stones that I had just injured my feet by walking on, covered the bottom of the river! I quickly decided that I if I planned to walk on my feet the next day, I had better think of another way to enjoy the water.

First, I tried crawling on my hands and knees, but that only made it worse! Then I figured out that if I lowered myself onto my stomach, I could float, gripping the stones with my fingers. I pulled my body into deeper water and let current take me with it. My brother Isaac joined me as I floated lazily downstream, head first, with legs behind. It was all fun until I tried to stand up and found it was impossible to touch the bottom! I knew right away that I had better get out of the current as soon as possible.

However, when I tried to swim toward the shore, I got no closer. We both began to swim as hard as we could, but we were only being swept further downstream. The current was much stronger than either of us and my arms were getting tired. There was no use trying not to panic, I was terrified. I screamed for help with all I had, but no one could do anything for me! If I did not get out of the current within the next 10 seconds, I knew I never would. Many terrible thoughts and emotions ran through my head in that instant. “What will happen to me if I don’t get out of this? Where is Isaac? He is going to die too! Is this the last time I will see my family? Am I ready to meet God?” When I was sure that I was done for, my feet hit bottom. A surge of hope rushed through me! With some fast maneuvering, I was able to get a grip on the rocks with my feet and escape the current. I looked behind me, and saw that Isaac had also found safety.

The flood of relief that washed over me did not last for long. I heard my parents screaming and yelling; I looked 100 yards further down the river and saw my two youngest brothers
struggling to stay above the surface; the current was successfully carrying them away. I was horror-struck! This couldn’t be happening! I could not be losing my little brothers!

Two fishermen who had witnessed the scene unfold, began to run down alongside the river with my dad. They yelled at Nate and Micah to swim closer towards shore, but they were not able to break away from the powerful current. I knew that they were goners and I began sobbing. I felt utter anguish that reached way down inside, tearing my heart in two! As I was thinking about how I would never see my brothers in this world again, a miracle happened.
They somehow were able to swim out of the current and into shallow water!

I don’t know how it happened and I don’t know how I suddenly found safety either, but I DO know that God was in complete control of the situation. He had protected our lives! God was there with our family and did not allow anything to happen to us that day.

Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,

Even the Most High, your dwelling place,

No evil shall befall you,

Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;

For He shall give His angels charge over you,

To keep you in all your ways.

In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

Psalm 91:9-12

Alrighty!

Sorry for taking forever to post again. Blogging isn't really enjoyable for me. I mostly do it because I know there are a few people out there who enjoy looking at my pictures and seeing what's going on in my life. So, it's hard to force myself to sit down and upload a ton of pictures. It takes forever and sometimes I feel like I'm just wasting a lot of time. But since I seem to have a whole bunch of blog viewers who are screaming for pictures, I'll post a few.

Just a warning....they could be terribly random and not at all related to each other.

(and maybe someday in the future like next month or next week or so....I might just post some NCHEA pictures......)

There, the best way to start off with is an adorable face! Love you Nicole. : )

Brittany, Esther and I using up our tiredness in strange ways...

Don't ask! (this is at the Oklahoma City china painting museum)

To our horror, we discovered that we had successfully ended up yanking

the poor old lady's arm off with all of our shenanigans!

Thankfully we were able to semi -relocate it into it's socket!

************

A few ice cream inspired moments....

Matt...

Kelsey. : )

Christy

Yep, there's Jacob!

And of course my favorite one of all saved for last..... Micah and Jon. : )