Sunday, February 28, 2010

Sunday Favorite

 This is one of my favorite praise songs. I love the words about my Savior. I hope it touches you too.



I am not skilled to understand
What God has willed, what God has planned
I only know at His right hand
Stands One who is my Savior

I take Him at his word and deed
Christ died to save me this I read
And in my heart I find a need
For Him to be my Savior

That He would leave His place on high
And come for sinful man to die
You count it strange, but once did I
Before I knew my Savior

My Savior loves, my Savior lives
My Savior's always there for me
My God He was, my God He is
My God He's always gonna be

Yes, living, dying; let me bring
My strength, my solace from this spring
That He who lives to be my King
Once died to be my Savior

That He would leave his place on High
And come for sinful men to die
You count it strange so once that I
Before I knew my Savior

My Savior loves, My Savior lives
My Savior's always there for me
My God He was, My God He is, My God He's always gonna be (x6)

My Savior lives, My Savior loves
My Savior lives, My Savior loves 

Have a Glorious Sunday!
Blessings,
Marcia

Friday, February 26, 2010

Thank you

If we post pictures of flowers will Spring come sooner? 
I guess we're all wishing for a little touch of Spring, so here's some flowers just for all of you.
 I want to thank everyone for all of the sweet birthday wishes you left for my son Ryan.  He read them all and was so touched by your sweet comments.  We both were. Thank you so much. You all helped to make his birthday special.

Have a wonderful weekend.
Blessings,
Marcia

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Olympic fever


Our family has gotten caught up with Olympic fever. I've been missing from blog land because my evenings have been filled with skiing, skating and all of the other amazing winter sports, and watching athletes from so many lands come together to compete. 

I have a reason to be interested too. I'm a former Olympian.

You're laughing, aren't you? 

I know some of you might have read here about my first skiing experience, and think that I couldn't possibly be an Olympian, but you'd be wrong. 

I even have Olympian Silver! Do you want to see it? Here it is. See the torch? See the Olympic rings? It's a silver Olympian ring.

I know what your thinking. They give medals, not rings. Well, here's another hint. See the Olympic rings on the bottom?

Yes, you might be figuring it out right now. At the high school I went to and graduated from, we were called the Olympians. In fact, there are only a couple of schools in the country that are able to use that name, and ours was supposedly the first. Before each football game we even had a runner that carried a torch around the field. That was our mascot.

During the mid 70's, the Olympic committee decided that these schools shouldn't be using their name, and tried to stop it.  Our school was the only one at the time that was able to produce a letter from the Olympic committee (dated in 1932) stating that we could legally use the name. They were obligated to let us continue :-) I believe they later negotiated and the other schools were able to keep the name too.

So you see, I really am a former Olympian. Or at least an Olympian alumni! I hope you're enjoying the Olympics and cheering for your favorite athletes.
Blessings,
Marcia

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Happy Birthday Ryan!


On February 17, 1988 I gave birth to my firstborn child. Ryan is turning 22 today, so I hope you indulge me a little, this post is especially for him :-)
 I didn't mean to blink,
I didn't mean to close my eyes,
 But life just has a way,
Of taking your todays,
And making them your past.
Why does it change so fast?
I didn't mean to blink.
 But blink I did, and you grew up. Way too fast for me.
Your quick wit keeps us all laughing. Your love for your family shows in everything you do. I know that you're called to serve God and that has already taken you around the world, so I realize you may not always live close by, but in my heart you are always with me...my firstborn child, 
the first to call me Mommy.
I love you Ryan, and I am so very proud of you.
Happy Birthday!
Love,
Mom

Friday, February 12, 2010

Sweetheart Story and Vintage Valentines

In honor of Valentine's Day, Joan at Anything Goes Here is putting on a Vintage Valentine Card Party. I'm going to share a few I have around here.
This one actually looks double exposed in person. Apparently they had printing problems back then too.These two were found in my grandmother's things years ago. They are both signed and dated on the back. One is 1922 and the other 1925. They are in frames and displayed on our piano.I received the sweetest Valentine's gift from my dear husband a few days early this year. It was a wonderful, simple gift from the heart. A letter written to our local newspaper, sharing a little about our lives, and they chose to publish it.I'm still on Cloud 9. Who can ask for a better gift than to be appreciated by the ones you love?

Feel free to copy these images to use for your Valentines Day crafts, and have a wonderful Valentine's Day.
Blessings,
Marcia
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13


Monday, February 1, 2010

Yes, They're All Ours


This is one of my favorite photos of my kids. Not because it's such a great photo, but because it captures a moment in time when they were all still little. It sits in a frame next to our bed. Here's a photo of the same kids today. Not quite the same feeling, huh?


I mentioned that they're all ours. There was some question about this last September. No, there wasn't a mix-up in the hospital. We were contacted by the I.R.S. and told we were being audited. To any foreign friends who might be reading this, the I.R.S. stands for Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. government agency that decides who owes what, in taxes.

Anyway, we were not being audited for any financial reasons. We file the simplest of tax forms anyway. No itemized deductions here. But apparently, the I.R.S. thought that maybe, during the year of 2007, these kids might not be ours. We were audited for our exemptions. Seriously. The fact that we'd been claiming each of them since their birth didn't matter. We had to prove they were ours.

They asked for blood.

Okay, not really, but they did want everything else. It's a little scary to have the I.R.S. tell you that your kids might not really be yours. Well, at least not for the year in question. Lots of things go through your mind. Should I send photos of their life, maybe photos or videos of their birth? What if they decide they aren't ours? Do they try to take them back? :-)
When I asked the nice I.R.S. lady (she really was nice) why we were being audited, she said it was strictly because of our family size. So large families out there, you might want to be aware of that.
This past week we were notified that they did agree, these kids are indeed ours! Yeah! And good for the I.R.S. too. I'd decided that if they didn't come to that conclusion, I was sending them a bill. The cost of braces alone means they owed us money :-) Could you imagine what I could collect from them if I charged them for everything else?

Have a wonderful week.
Blessings,
Marcia