Liz was tagged on her blog to do the following, so I decided to do it for the fun of it. Go to your 4th folder in your picture file, and upload the 4th picture in the file. This was the picture that I found, and after seeing it decided I was going to post it! This is April or May, depending on when the redbuds bloom, looking out our picture window. These trees surround the back of our house and when the blooming is at its peak, the whole living room radiates a pink glow when you enter. In the subzero temps we are currently experiencing, this picture gives me a lot of hope. Won't be all that long until we're seeing this once again out our window!

Random Pictures

The lovely Hartman ladies White-out!

Teah, Lynne and a happy Lucy


Sister Marce and our little man

Connor and Lucy, bonding

Brookie-pie in her outfit from Auntie Lynne

Marce and Brooke

2nd Mom Kay getting her make-up licked entirely off...ewww!

Better her than me!

We are in the middle of a deep freeze! After one of the most beautiful snowfalls I can remember in quite awhile this past Wednesday, the temps plummeted yesterday and today into the negative teens! I am staying close to home and didn't go out at all today. But tomorrow I will venture out to babysit for the kiddos at 8 a.m. so hopefully I won't be a popsicle when I get there. Thank the Lord for heated seats!!! I am adding some random shots that I've taken since Christmas with my new little Canon camera, which I love. Just right for me!!! Not too complicated, tiny enough to slip in my pocket, and it takes great pix!

P.S. I wrote the above yesterday, so wanted to add the events that transpired today. As I was leaving the house (running 5 minutes late as usual) to watch Brooke and Connor, the door into the den didn't close completely as it is so cold. So of course, the two little demon dogs chose to escape and take off up through the yard and into the neighbors' woods. Aughhhh!!! Couldn't get Liz on the phone to say I'd be late, couldn't get Bob who was down at church to come home and help, so off I went in -18 degrees to try to find them. It was so awful, I can't even begin to describe it. I was so scared that they would get lost and freeze to death before I could find them. Then, I realized that I might freeze to death before someone found me!!! After lots of trudging around with glimpses occasionally of the girls, which reassured me that they were still functioning, I called our friends to ask them to pray that God would help me get them rounded up while we were still in a healthy condition. I was trying to pray on my own, but having trouble multi-tasking...:) Immediately after that, little Holly comes out of the woods covered with snow which had frozen on her, and came right to me, which is a miracle when they are on the loose as they hate to have to come back home and quit tracking the deer and the squirrels, etc. etc. I hated to leave Lucy, but wanted to get Holly warmed up, so I headed back towards the house. That darned Lucy then came romping up and just ran in circles around us all the way, staying at arm's length so that I couldn't pick her up. The happy ending is that God is good for answering prayers, the dogs are now warm, and I am beginning to thaw out slowly but surely. I hope THAT never happens again...if so, they both are getting shipped to Kay's house in Bonita Bay!!!

Thanksgiving thru New Year's 2008

I can't believe that the last time I posted was in October...where in the world does time go, anyway? This morning I was reading in Genesis about the story of the flood, and the covenant that God made afterwards, saying that seasons and days and nights would continue while the earth continued on its course. That made me think about living in a period where there is no time, or days and nights, such as is descriptive of eternity throughout the Bible. I can go for that! Especially after seeing "Benjamin Button" this afternoon with Liz and Tommy's mom, which covers the topic of aging very thoroughly (and depressingly, I thought). Anyway, it's a new year and I am as always excited to see what new things come into our lives through God's grace in 2009. Happy New Year!!!!!

Mary, Linda, and Deb on NYE
Connor sitting in his toy drawer while we iced Christmas cookies


Holly is smitten with the Cavalier during the Thanksgiving Day Dog Show!

Liz and Brookie





Anna and Brookie


Family Thanksgiving photo



Erhards and Hartmans on NYE



Decorations on the deck

Anna and Brad

Christmas Tree

Random Events in October

Connor's artistry
Relaxin' with the girls
Bob and one of his many girls

Bob, Mary, Suellen, Andy at Lumberman's Monument
AuSable River
Cousin Nancy and moi
Cousin Nancy, brother Jeff, cousin Penny
Little Miss Holly Berry


October is not even half over, but it has been packed full of events! The first week we went to our cabin in Michigan with the Andersons, and had a wonderful time. The weather was chilly, but that made it really seem like fall was here! This past weekend we had a mini family reunion with cousins Phil, Nancy and Penny and had a good time catching up with each other.

This October has been absolutely beautiful, with warm, sunny days and extremely colorful foliage, in contrast with bright blue skies. Just couldn't be better. Since I'm watching the kids once a week for Liz, it has been great fun to go to the playground regularly and extend this Indian summer as much as possible!

Finally caught the big one!!!

Well, we can't really believe our eyes. While friend Suellen and I stayed warm and cozy in the cabin, our enterprising hubbies went out on the lake in the fishing boat, after having nary a nibble on the dock or farther up on Lake Huron, where they tried their luck earlier in the day. All we usually are able to catch in our small lake is perch or "stupid sunfish" (Connor's term). This was a nice fat walleye, which will be lightly floured and sizzled in olive oil for dinner tomorrow night. Yowza!!!

Hurricane Ike! Yikes!!!

Big Boom!!
Just missed the bedrooms!
Bird's Eye View
Wood for Winter!
A Job well done!

Who would have thought that we would have a worse hit from Hurricane Ike than our southern relatives on the gulf and atlantic coasts? Go figure!! Jon and Jan (Hilton Head) and Marcia and Ross (Naples) have yet to have the structural damage that we just experienced in the heartlands! Thank God that I had just decided to abandon my comfy bed in the study where I was taking a nap as the winds began to kick up. By the time they got up to their sustained speed for 6 hours of 40-50 mph with gusts of 70-80 mph, I was headed to the living room to watch the show out of our huge picture window with Bob. As we were "oohing and ahhing" over the incredible force of the gale on our trees in the woods, we heard a huge boom! After gaping at each other for a few seconds, we looked outside and saw...well, take a look at the pix. If that tree had been a few feet taller, my study and the guest room would have been toast! Evidences of God's blessings are to be found everywhere!!

It looks like a war zone here, with trees down on lines on nearly every street. We are being told that by Sunday, power, cable, and phone lines should be restored, but we aren't holding our breath! Thank heaven for our generator, which is keeping our refrigerator and plenty of lights running so that we are living in relative comfort. The same can't be said for many of our neighbors, with whom we have been sharing ice, refrigerator space, etc.

The wind storm of 2008, which they are calling it, will be in evidence for a long time to come. So many old trees are down, and even in our yard the landscape has changed significantly. The tree company took down at least 4 trees and lots of "widow makers". The good news is that the area where I plant my little herb garden is going to have lots more sun in the future! There are silver linings in everything, and that's a fact!

Family Reunion!

Sisters!!
Grandpa and Brookie
Roasting (burning) marshmallows!
Tommy and Liz
Grandpa, Anna and Grandma




Anna was home along with Brad last weekend, and we enjoyed our time with them to the max!! We (Liz, Anna, me and the kids) went to the club to the pool on Friday, and had a picnic at our house with Nana and Papa (my Mom and Dad), and the rest of the clan that evening. We roasted marshmallows over the firepot, with poor Liz having several cardiac events due to Connor running too close to the fire on more than one occasion, even with Mimi standing (sitting) guard!

Brad came in Friday evening, and he and Anna and Bob and I sat around the fire late into the evening shooting the breeze, listening to the tree frogs, and watching the night sky. Heavenly!

On Saturday we all headed to the Farmer's market and never made it past the main street. We ran into so many people that we all knew, and could only move a few feet at a time!


Later in the day, we got our food and drinks ready and headed to the village picnic It was so much fun! There were over 2,000 people there with tables lined up and down our main street as far as the eye could see, and then some! It was just great to have all of our kids there, along with lots of our closest friends, at 3 tables which we had reserved.


On Sunday, Bob and Brad and a friend golfed while we girls went to the pool once again, before heading home to take the kids to the airport. :( We hated to see them leave, and are really looking forward to this coming Labor Day weekend when we will be together with them at Brad's family's home!