pick and choose

my mom is in pennsylvania this week. she is there with two of my aunts and papa sorting out the items in his home, deciding who will get what once the house sells and he moves down to atlanta. this is quite the process since it's not only my meemaw and papa's stuff, but also nana's (my great grandma) and her sister, my great aunt hazel's belongings. it's been going well for them, no big disputes or anything, but i'm sure it's hard to do. it's been emotional for me and i'm not even there!

it's not the fact that all the stuff is getting sorted, but rather the house won't be "ours" anymore. there will be no gemlear to escape to or spend a restful week at. i will miss going there, having family reunions there, playing shangai-hi rummy and extreme bocce, sitting and praying by the stream and taking walks. it's one of those places like camp, you always come home feeling rejuvenated and uplifted, hopefully i will get one more trip this summer to help move the furniture before it belongs to someone else.

in the whole process i haven't asked for much. a rug (which i decided against because they were so worn), meemaw's knitting needles (that i feel honored to be getting, oh the things i should knit with those) and the dishes. now, these dishes are corelle and it's a huge set that i probably don't need, they are quite old and retro, but i love them. every time i look at them i will think of meemaw and papa, their kitchen, her laugh, the meals with the whole family we've shared. eating soup and sandwiches with papa for lunch and home made applesauce instead of salad at dinner. so many memories.

i got quite a few laughs when i said that i actually wanted them and the green water classes as well, because no one thought anyone would want them, but they are quite cute and full of memories! i'm very excited for this hand-me-down (not to mention, they are dishwasher safe, virtually unbreakable, and if i ever need to buy any there is an endless supply on ebay!).


i also was asked if i wanted two twin beds that were papa's and his brother's when they were growing up. yes! mom will graciously keep them at her house until we have room and need for them. and also a small rocking chair and regular wood chair that have been in the family a long time. i'm so grateful for these things and am excited to have them to pass down through the years.

plans...

John is graduating! On the 23rd of this month he will have his Bachelor’s degree in Geography!! I’m so proud of him for finishing. It has been quite a long road, on and off semesters for many years (not that I’m complaining because that’s what marriage and moving and changing schools will do). He is doing really well within his degree…his professors really like him and the work he produces, his final paper is publishable quality (hopefully that will happen) and he really enjoys the program. So… he has decided to continue on and get a masters degree.

“WHAT??!! Some of you may ask while laughing a little…more, you’re still not done? How long have you been going to school for?” Which, I have to admit was my first reaction. You would think after being in school for so long you would want to quit, but after a while it becomes part of the lifestyle and if you want to continue it’s best to go ahead and keep on going while you can, while you are in the school mentality. Besides, it’s not a race, there’s no time limit or requirement.

I fully support John in this decision and truly want him to pursue this since the Lord has given him that desire. We don’t have kids yet and there’s really no reason not too! Getting a Masters will give him the opportunity to extend his degree, really focus in on integrating the GIS program with cultural geography and anthropology. This will obviously give him more job options once he’s graduated and we’re hoping he will be in the field getting experience while continuing school. Who knows what will happen after that?!

I’m excited for this new endeavor…I’m not sure where it will lead us yet, but I really am open to see what the Lord has for us. We are researching schools right now and John will probably apply starting this summer for 2011 Spring or Fall semester (it’s too late to apply for this fall for most schools). That will give us time to choose one and prepare to go.

With all that said…I’m still way excited to celebrate John’s success so far with the party on the 1st! Congratulations babe, I’m so proud of all your hard work!

birthdays!

I was struggling to find anything to blog about these last couple of months…but now ideas are popping up everywhere and I feel like I have no time to write any of it down. Funny how that always seems to happen.

We have celebrated two birthdays recently. Jana’s was on the 30th of March so we went over to my parent’s house for the usual dinner and games. Mom and Dad bought these enormous steaks that were DELICIOUS! I felt like John was on Man vs Food (yes the steaks seemed that big!) and he conquered the challenge! I on the other hand only ate maybe a third of one in addition to the grilled shrimp, potatoes and dessert. YUM! It was a beautiful day outside so we kicked around the soccer ball, threw the Frisbee and played some Bocce while the food was grilling. It was so nice!







Mom mentioned that Jana had been wanting a recipe book to have a place to keep all the new recipes she is learning. I don’t know what made me decide to make one rather than buy one, but I took on a new project. I only had a week to make it, so I spent every night that week working on the book piece by piece and am so happy with how it turned out!

I made it so she could add her own recipes and she can add more pages if she needs to in the future. I drew the logo on the front and pretty much just scrapbooked the rest of it with modge podge and paper. It was fun and pretty easy to do!







We also celebrated Bethany’s birthday last weekend with a surprise party. It’s always so fun when the person has NO idea what is going on and complains that no one is doing anything special for them. Little did she know, she even decorated for her own party. We got her pretty good!!