Sleepy Dreams

The night before last I was snoozing away.

As I was dreaming, I wanted to move this bundle of whatever to a different place.

I carried it out of the bedroom and dropped it in the music room.
Back in bed sometime later I woke up chilled and sleeply sat up reaching for the foot of the bed where my sheet and quilt must have been. Up not easily finding them I reached further and began waking up a little more.

It was then that I recalled the bundle I was dreaming about early was real. I vaguely remembered stepping over the box fan in the doorway and deciding the the music room was far enough for the sheet and quilt as I wanted to be back in bed.

While I am not sure what caused me to wake up enough to remember having the sheet and quilt in my arms, yet not enough to know that they belonged back in the bedroom, I am thankful that I did wake up enough to remember. As when I was groggily searching for the blankets later in the night it would have been much more of an ordeal and I would have woken up Nathaniel in my searching, lights would have been turned on, and an all out confused search would have begun. Still, I think about what a funny conversation my husband and I would have had over  which one of us was the culprit who had carried the blankets out of the room!

I am wondering if  I woke up a bit while stepping over the box fan, maybe it took a little more conscious effort alerting me enough to step over it, but not enough to fully wake up as I do not remember leaving the bed, or getting back into to, only dropping the armful of bedding. Although while I woke up enough that later in the evening I knew where the blankets where, I did not wake up enough to realize that my sheet and quilt belonged on the bed, not in a different room.

Today is Nathaniel's Birthday

Today is Nathaniel's birthday! His schedule for the day: work, Softball practice immediately following, and home around 8-8:30 tonight. So no birthday meal today, I hope to make a appetizer or something else light for him to have when he gets home from practice. We celebrated his birthday on Saturday going to the Phillies vs Braves game in the evening, and while we lost we had a great time! Nathaniel is the best and so while I wont see him until late tonight he does enjoy playing softball with the church so he will have a good birthday!

On another note, it has been not, humid, and dry here. That seems to be the pattern for most areas in the country right now so that may not be news. We have gotten a few light showers along with lots of wind and heat lightening; however, like many places the rainfall does more to increasing the humidity and not enough rainfall to feed the ground. Here is to hoping for rain for the crops.

YA 2012 Service Trip

For the Young Adult (college aged) service trip this summer we went to Camp Luz! 22 of us (including my parents who joined us for the week) did all sorts of camp prep work. My mother and I helped Rochelle in the kitchen most of the day; however, we usually had a couple of hours in the afternoon to help with the work projects around camp.

Some of the work projects:
Insilating the garage
Landscaping & weeding
Mulching...lots and lots
removing the old dock
painting
staining
and more...


It was great to be back on Camp property and be able to share a bit of my favorite place with a group of people who are great!

Making a house a home

This spring I spent quite a few hours hand digging up around my & Nathaniel's brick porch so that I could create a small flower bed. After a few big roots, many many small trailing roots, grass and weed clods it was finally dug up and ready!

If you look you can see a few tulips on the left that I bought on sale last year and planted in a small dug up space last December. On the Right under the bay window I planted Ferns, Iris, Hostas and a bit of mint all collected from extras my Grandma Andrews had in her flower bed! Thank you grandma!

Now after some shopping I have this! 

What is the big empty space for? Well I am glad to let you know that my wonderful mother gave me Zeni and Cosmos seeds that I planted in that space! They are just starting to sprout now and I am excited to watch them grow!

Now the chives in the front middle there have little purple flowers on them! The chives were another gift from one of my grandma's flower beds!

I am so proud of this hanging basket I designed! I think it looks fantastic.

 I do want to move my Trusty Rusty plant (the red leafy plant in the top picture), and I have weeded it already, the hard part of making the bed is done! This touch of color, while it is a small bed, helps make this house a home. I am so glad God created these beautiful plants for us to enjoy!


On a similar note: I noticed the all to familiar "popcorn flowers" on the ground today around the farmhouse apartment and looked up to see a Catalpa tree here, and as I looked around again tonight I saw another Catalpa tree! I am so grateful for these trees as they remind me of the home I grew up in! Thank you God for that wonderful surprise~

Profit & Faith?

What does it mean to work for a business that exists to be profitable AND is owned by persons who claim Christianity?

A missionary of several decades calls a local business to get information on having some products shipped to him across the country (as he is back in the USA for a bit). Shipping products across the country is expensive for customers and is very profitable for the company. After speaking with the customer service personnel who loves Jesus too the missionary learns some about the employee and prays for the employee during their conversation. This phone call comes to a close with the employee having the information he needs to look into the next step of shipping for the customer. Excited about this phone call the employee shares it with a coworker or two. It is obvious that the phone call encouraged, and fueled the fire in the employee's vigor for Christ. The employee proceeds to relay the phone call that enlightened him to his employer who responds with a quote about like this "Just make sure you charge him a lot, I don't see a red cross on your back."

True Story.

Will you Marry Me?

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Time: 3:00pm

 Today was the Detweiler (Nathaniel's mother's) side of the family Christmas, and Nathaniel's immediate family Christmas. Sharon had a few presents she needed to wrap and asked that Anna, Nathaniel, and I disappear. I was going to play piano where I was out of the room and thus out of sight of Sharon's work when Nathaniel asked if I would like to go for a walk. At this I was quite surprised because it is usually me asking if he would like to go on a walk and often being declined.

I responded with a "Really?" and after him confirming quickly got up to get on shoes, my coat, and mittens to keep warm before he could change his mind.

We walked down his parent's drive and up a tractor path towards a woods. We had not gotten any lasting snow yet, but there was plenty of iced puddles to jump onto and crush. I even managed to scrape up enough snow to attempt the first snowball throw of the year; I stress the repeat because as soon as the flakes left my mitten the loosened into a snow dust cloud. 

Upon reaching the edge of the woods we discovered a smooth 12' frozen puddle which provided us with a perfect place to skate around on our shoes and enjoy the outdoors. After I plummeting to the ground after a miscalculated slide I quickly got up and ran down the path a bit more and hid behind a sapling to prove to Nathaniel that I was just fine. Playing along Nathaniel pretended to search hard for me before approaching my simple hiding place and catching me in a hug before I could escape.  

Nathaniel proceeded to tell me that I was going to be mad at him and after my inquiry as to why in the world I would be he went on to explain that he had purchased a gift for me even though he and I had agreed to spend a day in Lancaster together instead of buying gifts for one another. After genuinely reassuring him that I was not going to loath him for doing something kind and thoughtful I began to turn toward back up the path towards his house where I presumed the gift was in order to assure him that I was ready to go retrieve the gift from the house and show him my joy in place of where he seemed to think I'd show frustration. Nathaniel stopped me and asked where I was going. I passed him a confused look and replied that I wanted to go and get the the gift at the house. When he told me he had the gift with him I smiled, enjoying every moment of this adventure.

I did not expect his next step to be down on one knee, nor for his hands to hold up the beautiful ring he had picked out himself just for me. "Will you marry me?" He asked with a smile on his handsome face. Astonished and surprised I replied "NO WAY! YES!" as we burst with smiles, laughter, and pure joy.

Filled with excitement and thankfulness to God for one-another, we heading back to his parents house laughing and talking ready to share our joy with those inside.

Oui, I agree with the Frenchman

"He who does not live in some degree for others, hardly lives for himself."
~French Essayist Michel de Montaigne

Thank you Michel de Montaigne