Conner D

Conner D fell asleep on the floor 2011

School project February 2011

The little guy must have been busy putting out fires...

WINTER ONE-DERLAND!

PICTURE FRAME FROM BIRTH TO ONE YEAR

JULIEE AND CASSANDRA GRACE

CASSANDRA GRACE

THE PARTY !

JACIANNA AND CASSIE GRACE

UNCLE JEFFREY AND CASSIE GRACE

CASSIE GRACE

AUNTIE EM AND CASSIE GRACE

GRAMMA PAMMIE AND CASSIE GRACE

Lindsey got the invitations out... and we all made it!  It snowed some on Friday night the 24th.  Just enough to make the back roads a little ruff.  We arrived after Auntie Em... she was first! Everyone had things to eat and Cassie opened her presents.  The kids got to play ping pong down in the basement.  Conner D, Papa, against mom and Grammy Pammie.   Nola and Jordyn played their hearts out.  They only had one little disagreement over a toy - not bad I would say!  Then the Johnsons left to go home, Emi, family and Lacey and Nola left to go to a motel for the night, and dad, I, grams and Jeff left for Arlington.  It is hard to leave but it makes it easier knowing it won't be long until we all meet up again for a celebration! 

Cassandra Grace turns one!

CASSANDRA GRACE

Here is our youngest grand-baby.  She turned one year old on January 25, 2014.  It has been a cold tuff winter for all.  Storms and cold temperatures!  We all got to go to Blaine for the day though and celebrate the "winter one-derland!"  This is Cassie in her birthday outfit before we all came. 

GOING HOME

JaciAnna in her purple snowsuit in Foley

Cassie Grace in her purple snowsuit in Blaine

Nola Jean in her purple snowsuit in Foley

She comes to our house for the week-end, there are no real plans, but she is ready.
Princess and twirly are in hand, purple snow pants and hats just in case there is time and warmth.
The morning is clear and the warmth feels good but soon the winds will be bringing back the winter chill that babies can't take.    After taking approx. one hour to get everyone dressed, they are off to go sledding at the school. (I remember the girls going sledding there, and also taking JaciAnna there in here purple snowsuit!) About 1/2 hour goes by and I see them come in the back door, off with the purple jacket, snow pants, purple hat and blue scarf from Bubcha...
she needs to get in to the bathroom to see if her face is an ice cube! (it got very cold, very quick and her little cheeks are the color of crimson)...
Tonight she will stay with Gramma Doris.  Supper is done and we pack up her suitcase.
Princess and twirly are in hand, pj's and clean panties and a "nack" in the bag!
Gramma Doris hasn't been feeling the best but it is almost bed time for our Nola Jean.  Maybe this will work out well, the two of them taking in a movie before bed.
Lila and I get up the next morning and go to church, doing a children's

sermon about paper clips.
We stay and sing at the second service and then head to pick up Gramma D.
Ordering some pizza at the Arlington Haus, Denise takes a special interest in Nola Jean and Nola notices.  After dinner Denise offers a liquorice stick for her and Lila.  She gently asks if she can have one for her mommy, daddy, and Gramma Doris too!  It was a sweet gesture when Denise walked over to the table with one for each of us.
Nola now has her coat on and has gotten off her chair...
"I am ready to go in the car, to go to MY house.
It did something to my heart, knowing that she already knows the love of a "home".  She has had fun, but it is time.
Curt, Lila and I go to pick up Gramma Doris.  She is ready, and we drive to NewUlm.  One of our best friends has lost his mother.  She had been a farmers wife for many many years.  Cooking and canning, knitting and sewing, all of this around raising 4 wonderful children.  A beautiful display of her life is etched on photographs...
but, more so in the people who are there.
There are children and spouses, grandchildren and great grandchildren.  Her husband, friends, brother, in-laws, and church family...
they are all there sharing stories of love.
The tears in his eyes are of joy.  He is so happy for her. It is a miracle actually...
the pain, the losses the hurt...
God has transformed them into monuments of grace and love.
The memories, the acts of kindness, all the beautiful things that are true and noble and right are not lost, they are never gone.
The transformation of this life to the next...
Katie is going home.

Baking cookies

Mom, could you hand us some more flour so we can mix up these cookies?

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY JORDYN NOEL!!

Jordyn Noel on her 3rd birthday at school

Jordyn Noel and Gramma Dorius, Foley, Jan 11,2014

Jordyn Noel and Jeffery, Foley, Jan 11, 2014

Jordyn Noel

Nola Jean and Taylor, sledding, Jan 11,2014

Well our baby girl Jordyn Noel, 1-11-11, had her birthday today.  She is three years old.  During the week it looked like the weather would finally let up for Saturday...
"Grams what do you think could your back take a trip to Foley for the day"
"Sure, I'll make the chicken...
I'll make the pretzels...
I'll make the veggies!"
"Okay then I'll let everyone know and we will head up there... plan on eating at 1:00"
Indeed on Saturday it does finally warm up from the arctic chill we had on Monday (-50 below wind chills, the Governor called off schools state wide for the first time sense 1996).
Gramma Jeff and I load up the clothes and food and off we go, leaving Arlington by 9:30.
When we arrive we unload the car and gramma gets the food in the oven.  Jordyn appears to be overwhelmed with happiness that it is her birthday, and is to excited for pictures!
Lacey, Nola, Lindsey and Cassie arrive next.
The food is out and we all eat together.  I believe eating together is biblical, a beautiful time to enjoy each other.  Conner was at a friends and he arrives home now ready for the party. 
We get out the ice cream cake, sing happy birthday, and open presents.
The kids play with the gifts for awhile and decide it is time to take advantage of the temperatures.
It is already colder than it should be...
but, that doesn't stop the sledding!
However, our little Jordyn Noel fell asleep the minuet they got in the van to go to the Foley Hill.
She sleeps through the sledding and when the rest all go to gather in the van...
she wakes up!
Sorry Jordie, the manager just closed up the hill for the night.
She is happy, she is with her family and friends...
they head home to play with toys and try on clothes...
we head back to Arlington.
Happy birthday baby girl!!

The skinny on the skinny

Well Carol gave us the skinny on the skinny.  Here is how you do it for the photgrapher...
you stand sideways, then take one leg and turn it out towards the camera, then turn your face towards the camera...
and walah...
this is your best shot! A photographers dream!
We take our selves and go behind Carol's beautiful tree...
and walah...
the tree does for us what nothing else can -
we appear to be quite skinny on the skinny.

The rescue

I wasn't there for this moment that was captured on a disk inside a "smart phone".
From the disk it is transported to face book and from face book to my blog.
So,
I make up my own story about a fireman and his kids.
I am wondering if they are all in the parade today?  All cleaned up, T-shirts sporting the Fire-Rescue logo, standing outside their home.
What is it they see, squatting down beside the driveway, daddy in the middle?
Is it a flower they are pulling up by the roots?
Have you ever seen the bulb of a beautiful flower?
Why all the crap?
Pain, disease, war and loss, hate and unforgiveness, cruelty and brutality, ignorance and stupidity, it is all quite ugly and dried up like the bulb, the roots appearing to be a tangled mess reaching to places you don't want them to go.
Somehow the pain, the losses, hurt and all things that are bad are needed in odd sorts of ways,
just like the dried up bulbs, the twisted roots
are needed.
When you plant them and tend them with the care of a rescue crew,
they grow into something so beautiful that you start to make up words to explain a beauty that is unexplainable.
You look up from the spot where you last kneeled and continue to pray.

Driving / Jeff

He sits behind the wheel of an old car in our grove.  We are playing house, he is the dad.

Should we go get groceries?

He turns the key, starts the car...

turns up the volume on the radio.

Swinging from the rear-view mirror is a green tree, it smells of pine.

We cruise to the store to pick up the needed supplies.

I can remember the look on his face, the thrill of the ride.

Sometimes you don't need fuel for your engine...

You just need the heart.

A heart to hear the passionate aching inside a heart that will never know the earthly knowledge of driving a car, and yet he feels the longing for something he can not have.

You want to capture this moment on film but you know there is a depth to this moment that no camera can capture, so you take the picture with your soul and hold on to it... forever etching the beauty in your heart.

Christmas 2010, Foley, Mn.

 Jaci Anna gets ready to hand out the gifts

Santa, Emily and Jordyn Noel (before birth!)

Conner and papa getting ready to open!

Josh awaiting the presents to be handed out!

Josh and Conner Dallas Christmas 2010

Time spent together before everyone got to the Harren's. Building houses!

The sound of silence

I first met her three weeks ago. She sits on the end of her "wing", confusion taking over.  Looking for her parents, wondering who will do the chores. I try to talk with her, but it doesn't work.  We go to her room and I read her the paper as she sleeps.  I write, " she appears comfortable " on a blank piece of paper, wondering who will really hear.
The next week when I go to visit her she is in her room, her grey hair combed neatly, pink scalp showing through.  The blue eyes are open, but I don't think she can see.  Quietly I ask her what she is doing and if she would like to talk.
"I am thinking"
"What are you thinking about Rutelia"
"I am thinking of the way things were, thinking of all those things, all that was"
I am amazed that she appears to be with me this week, she seems to know she is just thinking about things, not so anxious to be getting the chores done, finding her family...
but, remembering.
I continue to ask her questions and I find out quite a bit.  Not sure if her answers are all correct but they sure are interesting. And I wonder if I am really hearing what she is saying.
Today I stop to visit.
She lays silently in her bed, her hair swept off from her face, mouth open to catch what ever air, blue eyes closed.
She has 14 Siblings, one husband, one daughter...
they have all gone ahead of her,
she is the last.
A granddaughter sits next to her and holds her hand.  I listen as she tells me about her grandma.
It is so beautiful, the memories she has.
And I wonder if her spirit has gone ahead to meet her siblings, her daughter, her husband?
I wonder if during this time of silence on earth...
can they hear her?

This story is a figment of my imagination. Any similarities to someone you know is purely coincidental.  But, if there are similarities to your gramma, love her...
as she sure loves you!

Arli-Dazzle December 5th2013.

watching the lights... waiting for candy!

When your with daddy, it doesn't seem so cold

Nola by the sleigh that daddy pulled her up to the parade with

Papa and Nola, warm hearts and love

It was cold but Nola Jean enjoyed every minuet of it!

Hertha and Hillie January 3rd, 2014

I was in a skit...  "Red Friday Christmas Shopping"
Santa had a clearance sale and Hillie and I went up to the North Pole to buy him out...
Jingle Bells Jingle Bells,
Jingle all the way...
Oh what fun, I did have riding in Santa's sleigh!
 I came in late from the North Pole - Hillie had to do the kitchen dishes to make enough money to pay for all our stuff...
then we gave it all away to the residents!
Much fun was had by all.