Extreme Makeover Comes to Freeborn County

Extreme Makeover knocked on the Dirk and Susan DeVries family door this morning. They are a family with 3 children. They live just a few miles East of Albert Lea. I have been selected to work on Thursday night to help with building a new home for them. I will keep everyone updated as to the progress. They live in a very old farm house and it will be fun to watch the tearing down and rebuilding. There was a rally at CrossRoads church in Albert Lea this morning and many turned out to wish the family well. The family leaves for vacation today. Tearing down will start soon!

Woman's Retreat

Tomorrow we leave for our annual Woman's Retreat weekend at Camp Lebanon. It is in Upsala, Mn. a couple hours passed Minneapolis. Camp Lebanon is a Christian weekend filled with praise, worship and reflecting on the paths our lives are taking in walking with the Lord. There will be good food, games, some time on the water and walks in the golden autumn sunshine. The speakers are always inspiring and this year I am especially looking forward to the time that we will spend with Angie. This will be Angie's first time away from Abram. I am sure she will have great stories to tell of how the weekend went for her. More to follow after the weekend.............

It's all in the life of a family ................

On September 24th our daughter (Angie) and son-in-law (Barry) will
celebrate their 3rd wedding anniversary. Last night or I should say at 4:00 a.m. when both Bill and I couldn't sleep - which might be due to the fact that our "baby" is turning 31 on Monday - Bill and I were reflecting on the past 3 years. We have had 3 marriages, (2 weddings less than a month apart)and 3 babies and 3 baptisms/dedications. On September 25th we will observe our first year without my mother, hence the reflection of life for us. It is a blessing to watch our children grown, married and having their own children to raise. To see their values and ideals, their gift of having a heart with the Lord, the laughter and love that they are passing on. The passage of time goes so swiftly and it was good to take a minute to reflect on the blessings in our lives.

This weekend my sisters, Darlene and Brandy and I are going to go through mom's things which have been stored in the shed at my dad's. I am sure that we will have some happy moments sharing stories as we go through boxes of pictures and cards.
There will be some things to devide up and some things to go to the local Salvation Army. I look forward to spending this time with my sisters!

Afghanistan Deployment.........

Our nephew Josh was deployed on Thursday, he will be going to Afghanistan. We were able to share a few memories on Thursday night when he called us. He will be able to keep in touch with us by e-mail. We will miss him and will keep him in our prayers for a safe journey!

1st Day of School 2008-09 .........

This is the first day of school for all of our grandkids and I will be making the "How did your first day go" Did you like your teacher(s)? calls. It is fun to hear about their day and they usually have a great story to share. Here's to a great school year for them!