What to pack

Always be sure to include:
Enough socks and underwear
Weather appropriate outfits
Snacks
Your kitty

Making myself smile

There are millions of images on the Internet. My husband has gotten in the habit of searching for something silly or cute to send to me when I am having a rough day (he is brilliant AND kind). I thought that I could join him in this habit. Below is one of my favorite pictures you can find on the vast world wide web. This sweet boy brightens my day. I hope he does the same for you.

the iPhone

So....

I got the beautiful white new iPhone 4s. Our credit card debt is not completely gone, but it is so close we can taste it.

I had promised myself (and others) that we wouldn't buy the phone until all the credit card debt was done - - but all those plans were Lord willing. The plan was good. The self-control displayed was wonderful. But things change.

My red phone served me for five years. The past year or so, the internal antenna must not have been working, because my signal was terrible. If someone called while I was at home, it didn't usually ring. To make a call, I would stand in the corner of our bedroom and it would still break up horribly. I just stopped using it. Then a few days before the iPhone pre-order started, my phone started to physically fall apart (literally, pieces were falling off of it).

My husband has hated that my phone doesn't really work. He hated nights when I was out late and he couldn't reach me. He loves me. He worries about me. And I love that about him.

So when the opportunity to pre-order the new (gorgeous) iPhone came, we did it. Because I hadn't upgraded in ages, I got a wonderful deal. Plus, it is beautiful (did I mention that?).

My best girlfriend, Sara, was my first called and she could hear me clearly! Praise the Lord! No more repeating myself and trying to figure out broken sentences.

A small bonus is that my purse is so much lighter now. My new phone replaced my old phone, my iPod touch (Eric's old one that I used), and my calendar.

A huge blessing was how well the phone worked when we were traveling for my grandmother's funeral. I was able to keep in touch with people when I only had minutes to spare. My heart needed that contact and well wishes.

And it is so pretty.

A beautiful woman

My grandmother died today.

Before I ever knew who Martha Stewart was, I loved my grandma-Esther. She was a woman that I always admired and constantly found myself trying to measure up to. She sewed and cooked and created and knit and cleaned and entertained and baked and hosted and prayed and LOVED. And she was loved by so many.

She married "later in life" at the ripe age of 29. She raised four wonderful children who grew into amazing, life changing human beings. She made her home a place of love and warmth. She spent summers teaching me to sew and create. I never thought that I was creative enough until I heard her words of encouragement.

Then I got married. And it turns out that having a wedding does not suddenly make you an accomplished homemaking wife. I was devastated that my meals left my husband unsatisfied. Trying to darn even the smallest of mitten holes was frustrating. And my knitting projects never elevated to much more than scarves. I spent an evening at my grandmother's table crying, "Grandma, why can't I be a wife like you? How in the world have you become so good at everything and why didn't I inherit it?" She and my grandfather laughed. "When I married your grandma, she couldn't cook a bean!" Then I learned how hard she worked over the years to be the woman she had become. It wasn't by accident or chance that she was so wonderful; it was from loving her family and working hard.

Today she went to heaven, where she will spent an eternity with the God who so lovingly created her. But today I am sad for my loss. And for those who lost their wife, mother, and friend.

My heart and life will not be the same.

I found this picture today. It beautifully captures who she was. She had a way of making us feel special (I am positive my grandpa was never allowed to have crackers in bed) and we couldn't help but fall in love with her. I hope that one day I will be as good a wife, mother, and friend as she was.

The next steps

First day with my lovely new iPhone and I have already figured out how to post to my blog. How wonderful. Guess this space will be seeing more of me.