A TEENAGER

Happy 13th birthday Valla Dalla!!

SUNNY AND 60+

I have been MIA--it's been a busy week:

Happy Birthday Mom.

Dear Mom,
Tomorrow is your birthday. :D Here are some reasons why I think you are the best mom.

EVER.


1. You've never stopped loving me. Ever. Thank you.

2. You give and give and give. You never take. Thank you.

3. You have provided one of the best homes a girl could have ever grown up in. Thank you so much for everything that you do and have sacrificed so that Valerie and I can live in such a wonderful home.

4. You always take the time. You're always there when I need you the most. Even if it costs you something. Thank you.

5. You have the best sense of humor, HANDS DOWN. I have learned how to laugh and enjoy life because of you. How to have a sense of humor and see something funny in all situations. Thank you.

6. You appreciate the little things. You have taught me to be observant to the people and places around me. Thank you.

7. You take care of those you love. Whether it be through a surprise lunch on a busy day or one last, " are you sure you have everything?", before we go out the door, you make sure your family is taken care of. Thank you for all the prayer, the meals, the late nights, the rides, the help with homework, the advice, the critiques, and so many more things that would take me a long time to name. You are so appreciated for all that you do.

8. You are the best teacher I know. You home-schooled and taught me from the 3rd grade to my high school graduation. Thank you for taking the time to explain things over and over and OVER again. Thank you for staying home to teach me, that is a sacrifice I cannot thank you enough for. You gave me an opportunity that has given me a different outlook on life and has helped make me who I am today ( you tell me if that's a good thing :) ).

9. You appreciate God's creation. For as long as I can remember you have always been in awe and stood in wonder of the beauty around you. Whether it be standing on the beach viewing the ocean or driving through the city and admiring the flower baskets; you have never disregarded an aspect of God's creation. Thank you for instilling in me the same wonderment and appreciation of the beauty around me, no matter what place or situation I may find it in.

10. You always point me towards Christ. As I am getting older I cannot even begin to tell you how thankful I am that you started me in a life that has led me to Christ. You have always pointed me towards the path that He has for me and encouraged me to live and love my all for Jesus. Thank you for being an example of an imperfect person living their all for Jesus Christ. For showing that it can be done. Thank you.


Thank you Mom, for all that you are and for being my mom. You are the best. I thank God for you and the fact that He made you my mother. Thank you for everything you do for me. Thank you for teaching me how to drive. For not giving up on me when I killed the clutch several times in a row in the lane with oncoming traffic. I know weaker souls would have called it quits but not you. :). Thank you for showing me someone who lives full throttle, as best she can, everyday of her life. You are my inspiration for living a life sold out for God, no matter the daily hardships. I hope your birthday is one that you remember and is a special day. God has got great things for you in your new year.


I love you,
Elea




P.s. TO all those reading this, YES, I did this without her permission or knowledge. So if you never hear of me OR from me again....... This is why. :D.

OUR NEW CABIN

Naw, just kidding. We went out last week and looked

around the cabin my husband is going to be doing

some work on. The minks have pulled all of the

insulation out from underneath and new insulation

has to be applied up under the whole cabin.

It was a beautiful, sunny day and the whales were

all around us stuffing themselves with herring.

So where there are whales there are fish! I didn't fish, I

just sat back in the sun and breathed in the fresh air.

Literally the only sounds are the beeping of the fish

finder on the boat, the water lapping quietly, the

eagles screeching and the whales blowing.

Do we HAVE to go back to town?

The scenery sucked, but I tolerated it:

Here is the cabin. It is going to be fun staying here for

a weekend because it is fully furnished and has a large

woodstove, refrigerator and comfortable furniture.

I didn't get to take any pictures of the inside because

there are quilts over the windows and we didn't go in.

I am hoping we can stay here when the Herring Fishery

starts. One year they were right in front of this cabin!

The owner told us they were out on the dock once and

2 Humpback whales came so close to the dock they

could have touched them. They just kind of hung out

there, swimming around, 2 ton fish.

The gun, always with the gun.

There is a nice view of the north end of town from the

other side of the dock too.

Heading back before dark.

ANOTHER PROJECT COMPLETE

The hallway.

This was all changed last year when the kitchen

was added on. The wall to the left was added,

which created an extra room for us. The doors

at the end of the hall are French Doors that

lead into the master bedroom and my new

kitchen is to the right.

This last weekend my husband finished the

sheetrock and texture, painted, added the

sconces on the wall and put in the whole

new floor. The color on the walls is a soft

beige, which is difficult to see in this photo.

I love how it turned out, now I just have to

remember not to come bombing down the

stairs full speed when I hear the timer

going off down in the kitchen--the floor

is slippery!

We are hosting a small group at our house

for the next 6 weeks to study this book:

I highly, highly recommend this book to

everybody, even if you have already gone

through a class to discover your spiritual gifts.

It is written in a very user-friendly format

with quizzes and questions that pertain to

everyday life, not just life in the church.

It will help you discover what makes

you tick and why you act and think the

way you do. It is amazing how accurate

it is and I am surprised at some of the

things I didn't know about myself. It

answers questions you have about

which direction you should turn in

a career, relationships and yes,

serving in the church, all in

accordance with your spiritual

gifting.

We are having a great time with this class

and the people that came last week said

they could hardly wait to come back and

find out some more about themselves.

I love doing dessert for baby showers! I don't know

if you can see it from this angle, but the cupcakes spell out

ITS A BOY.

The flowers, leaves and baby feet are fondant with

chocolate cake and buttercream frosting. To make

these extra special I filled these with the same fluff

that is inside of a Hostess cupcake. YUM.

My mom is doing much better, she is home and feeling

pretty good other than the surgery site, of course.

Thank you everybody for thinking about her and

praying for her. I am hoping she is on easy street

now, with healing ahead and maybe even a trip

to Alaska could happen in there somewhere...

BRRRRR....

This is what we woke up to this morning. The herring

are coming in and what do you know, the snow showed

up. Just an Old wives tale? hmmm...

Freecycle does it again! I have been wanting to get a futon

or couch with a fold out bed for the area we have in our

living room behind the couch. I have all of our books set

up so you can look out the window and read, but I thought

it would be neat to also have a place where someone

could sleep if we needed extra beds.

This futon was placed on Freecycle and I was the

first person to call. We flew over there and grabbed

it--things go very fast when you live on an island!

It folds easily down into a nice queen sized bed and

the best thing is the mattress is very thick and there

are no bars underneath to poke you in the back

like a fold out couch does. It is very comfortable

and roomy enough to stretch out on.

I washed the cover before we even brought it in

the house and after church I will go through my

blanket stash and see what looks good on here.

I think when it gets nice out we will take it

outside and paint the metal a different color

that matches our living room better, but for

right now it is terrific!

So come on up everybody, now we have

2 queen beds for people to stay over.

My first special order cake:

The customer remembered a cake from growing up

that tasted of spices and lemon with lemon frosting.

I had to look pretty hard, but thanks to a cake forum

I belong to I found an old recipe that seemed to be

what he was looking for. It had ginger, cinnamon

and nutmeg in the batter with lemon juice and rind

in it. The cake was for friends of his that are still

finishing their new house. I hope to get some

feedback from him about the taste and if it's

good I will make one for us and then maybe

add it to my cake menu.

My latest reading book recommended to me

by our librarian. I love it--this person writes

very similar to Fannie Flagg--small town

Southern humor at it's best!

Annual church business meeting tonight--uggh.

I WISH I WAS THIS GENEROUS

I think this man comes pretty close to God's idea of

how he wants us to treat each other during our time

on this earth.

I am embarrassed to remember how many times I

snivel that I can't do something because my back hurts

or I am too tired.

I think I am going to print off a picture of The Harmonica

Man and hang it in my kitchen right at my eye level to

remind myself that when somebody needs something

YES, I CAN DO THAT.

WINTER SHOWED UP

Yep, 21 days until spring and winter decided to

make an appearance. Yesterday was 55 degrees,

warmer if you were standing in the sun according

to my deck thermometer.

Toady we have rained mixed with big, fat

snowflakes. Hopefully it won't stick around

much. The herring are making their way here

and there always has to be snow before the

herring lay their eggs. My dad told me that

is an old wive's tale, but it seems to be true.

So the tsunami petered out by the time it

reached Alaska, which is just fine by me.

Lots of people lined up down at the beach

around 3:30 when it was supposed to be

here, but the only thing I saw were some

funny tidal lines that were swirling round

and round out there. The salmon fishermen

didn't come in, so they must not have been

too worried about the whole thing.

My mom ended up going into surgery on

Sunday the 28th. They knew she had some

sort of blockage and tried to let it pass

naturally, but she was getting sicker and

sicker so they made a decision to open

her up and see what was going on and

deal with it. It was scar tissue around the

surgery site and it wasn't going anywhere

without somebody removing it.

The surgeon set aside 4 hours for the

surgery and it ended up taking less than

30 minutes! He was pleasantly surprised,

but if he only knew how many people were

praying for her he shouldn't have been

surprised at all.

I called her last night and my uncle picked

up the phone and wouldn't let me talk to

her because she was in a lot of pain. So I

called her back this morning and nobody

answered her bedside phone. Hmmm.

Where the heck is my mom?

I called later that hour and she answered

and told me the nurse knocked the phone

over and didn't realize the mute button was

pushed on. It sounds like they are thinking

about sending her home in the next couple

of days if she can eat solid food and walk

a bit more. Let's hope that is the last of

the problems and she is on the road to

a full recovery!

Have I ever mentioned how much we like

and use our library system? We always

have stacks of books checked out and the

occasional movie too.

Our library has display cabinets along one

wall as you walk in and they encourage the

community to fill them monthly with things

of interest, collections, art, etc. So I

offered to display some of my lady head

vases. My husband and I went down on

the 1st and set them up:

I didn't bring any super expensive ones down;

the Jackie Kennedy is probably worth the most

at about $300. The library has insurance, but

it only kicks in after $100,000 damage, so I

figured I'd leave the upper-end ladies safe

here at home.

I displayed some magazines, reference books

and newsletters and wrote a bit of information

about the heads and where people could look

for more information if they were so inclined.

As we were setting up we had one of the librarians

remark that now that she had seen them in person

she remembered her grandma having one when

she was growing up. That's what everybody

says when they see them!

How about you--did your grandma have one

of these lovelies on a shelf in her home when

you were a kid?