Michele turned 50

Monica sent out the secret invitations.
The backyard in Farmington was the location of our
surprise. We arrived early and waited for our
guest of honor to arrive.





Here you see the buffet of food for this fun and festive day. Lots of beverages for kids and adults.
Fun ballons that announce Michele's 50.














The backyard was an array of tables draped in white tablecloths and centerpieces of candy and party toys for all.











The buffett was a summer fun food fest of Matt's special hamburgers and of course hotdogs. Sides of baked beans, chips and dips.










This photo is out of order but it shows Micheles favorite gift of all her cricut. Used for scrapbookers
you can cut all types of papers in many designs
that make creating pages anything you can
imagine.

















Last but not least the cake. So pretty and lots and lots of candles were placed all around this
cute as can be cake. Monica and I lit every one.
It was ablaze of fire. Michele blew out all of them
though and laughter rose from all that were around. Monica picked out the black and white
napkins that we used as a cake place setting. They were beautiful.

Well we had a great time and Michele had a huge
smile on her face. She's still as pretty as ever, even more at age 50.

Look at who turned Twenty-two...

She's twenty two and its still hard for me to
believe it. Just a few months ago I was asking
for your prayers to save her life. Now she's
recovered and having another birthday.

We had a little birthday cake at the house. Mom, dad, sister, and brother were all there and we had a lot of fun and delicious birthday cake.

We sang the happy birthday song and Stacy blew out the candles. It was another wonderful day.

Birthday for Marcus

Marcus Bollin my nephew had his birthday party at a really cool gym where they teach gymnastics. Apparently the owners discovered if they cover the floor entirely of 8 inch padding and gym mats they could rent the gym out for parties.

The gym has a viewing room upstairs that guests can watch the kids on the floor below. It was a great place to set up the cake.

The pit of foam was a great place for the kids to dive into. They flipped and bounce all over this gym.

Jackson and William enjoyed the cake and fruit punch.

Finally a shot of little sis Kenzie loving brothers birthday cake.

Vacation Days

On vacation this week. Should have been an exciting time but somehow I managed to pull or strain a muscle in my back so I am slowed down a bit. Maybe I'm supposed to pamper me. Stay home do my nails. I am thinking of going to the salon and having my hair cut and colored.
My hair has gone so blah, I colored it at home about a month ago. It's okay but not what I wanted. Surely I can sit while the stylist does my hair and it won't be to agonizing.

Before my back injury Tony and I had helped the girls move into a new apartment off 6th street.
Very cute! They're still fixing it up.

Oh my gosh! Forgot to tell you all Stacy found out she's pregnant!!! I'm gonna be a grandma! She was not trying, and she and Curtis had already broke up when she found out. They are both doing well with the news. Curtis is very concerned and excited. Even though he did not plan on having more children right now, (he has one son Payton, who's adorable). He will be a great dad. Stacy had been using contraceptives before she went to the hospital in January, but I think she'd had so much trouble with her body and the diabetes she actually thought she could not get pregnant.
Hello! She is a young 22 year old woman, it can happen if you don't use protection.
She is taking care of herself eating right and making all her appointments to see the doctor. She goes to a special clinic that deals with diabetic women and pregnancy. It is located in Springdale, Arkansas about 20 miles from Fayetteville. This gives me great comfort as it is hard for healthy women to make it to term with a baby. Stacy coming out of a very unhealthy situation in January and now pregnant is a lot for her body to do. Leave it to my baby girl to challenge fate.
We pray for the best, and that God will put his blessing on this child, even though it was not concieved in a holy union I pray this will be a blessing for her. We are excited!!

So my first few days of my vacation and the Memorial weekend went as follows-- Saturday was my nephew Marcus's birthday. It was held at Durham gymnastics. This is a great place for a child's birthday, located in Springdale it has thick spongy mats everywhere!! Two big trampolines. Balance beams and uneven paralell bars, the kids were everywhere, doing everything. One of my favorites was the foam pit. Basically a deep pit with big pieces of foam, surrounded by thick mats around the walls. The kids would run down and springboard into the pit,these kids loved it. Lots of family there my brother and cousins, my nephew Brian's wife Amber and the girls. Our family is so wonderful I love them all. Saturday evening we had dinner at the girls apartment. A friend gave them a rack of ribs he had cooked for a house warming gift, ummmmm! They were delicious! We had a great time, wonderful fellowship, a true blessing. Sunday (the day my back went out), Denise, Robbie and I went to church at newheights which is held at the Boys and Girls club in Fayetteville. I love this ministry, teaching directly from God's scripture. Using the bible and its words to teach Gods word.
Denise has found a need in her heart to know God and his word. Feeling blessed that she wanted to learn and know God gave me such a wonderful feeling. Robbie had been to newheights, some of his friends go there, so he suggested it. We have enjoyed each Sunday there so far, I have not been attending church as I had in the past and was feeling disappointed in myself to have strayed. I am a true believer in God and his mighty word. I pray all can know God and seek a fellowship to praise God.

After church we went to lunch at Louies a great little Italian resturaunt and bar that opened up in town recently. It was recommended to me for great pizza, and I was not disappointed. Great wait staff, the sweetest young lady took our order and checked on us to make sure we had everything we needed. The pizza was fantastic we had a combo of the Margherita and the Barbecue chicken oh was so good!
One of Denise's friends came in and we invited him to join us. He had ordered a burger. When his plate came out it was huge, what a burger. If you like food whatever it might be Louies is the place for sure.

Tony had decided to work on the carpet while I was gone. The carpet in my house is the original from when we moved in back in "92"! Old is a good word for it. This stuff has been cleaned personally and professionally so many times. So here Tony is spot cleaning and vacuuming this thing again. He went to vacuum our bedroom and the vacuum went out. So we went out to shop for a new one and that's when my back started hurting me. Oh well this to shall pass. We found the vacuum we want but the store was out so we have to go back on Wednesday.

Yesterday, Memorial Day, spent most of the day at home since my back was shot. But as the day went on I felt like Tony deserved some time out since it was his day off. So we decided to go for a drive. First of all though he wanted to drop off Stacy's shoe rack she left at our house, so we did that.

Tony and I enjoy our drives, whether around town or around Arkansas. The drives to the lake are the best of all. We do love the lake and someday want to move there. I did think last year we seriously were going to buy a home and move there. Tony has talked about this for years but seemed to drag his feet when I got involved in looking for a place. Suzette Manen was helping sending me info on great places, she is wonderful and if you need a realtor she is great. She is currently pregnant, expecting, she is very excited as she should be. She also has a blog you should check out she is a blessed women with a sweet husband and family. She helped my son find his rental home a year ago, a wonderful lady. While we were out Tony got a call from Stacy who invited us back to her place for burgers and hot dogs. We accepted, grandpa Harold was back in town so she called and invited him also. For dessert we had watermelon, the first I've had this year and it was so good. We watched a movie Stacy had then headed home it was another great day. Even with a bad back I still had a great time. I love my life, my family, my friends, they are the best, I am so blessed. May you be so blessed in your life! Love to all! Debra

Make Space

Today I had to make room for Stacy's returning futon. Denise is moving out of her 2 bedroom apartment and does not have space for a second bed anymore. It came in handy when one of Denise's friends wanted to spend the night. I'm not sure what we will do with the futon long term but for now it will go in the office space that once was the girls bedroom when they lived at home.

The room actually looks better since I moved stuff out to make some room. Looks like I may have to think about a less is more attitude and start the decluttering I seem to have gone into.

Updates later, Love and God bless to all Debra

New Neighbor

Imagine my surprise as I was going out to check my mailbox and fond this nest. Some dear little bird had decided to build a nest on my entry door wreath.

Spring certainly gets these bird out and busy nesting and it looks like one decided under my porch by my front door would be an excellant home.

Although a bit of a surprise I can probably handle the next few weeks of mess the bird and its young will produce.

As of yet I haven't seen the bird responsible. Nor are there any eggs yet in the nest. Time will expose the culprit.

With a bird feeder literally 15 feet away hanging on our Red Maple tree, it's easy to see why the bird would want to nest here.

Updates to follow!

Forever Debra God Bless all!

New pictures

These precious photos arrived in my mailbox this morning. Jackson will start school this fall, and Layla as you can see by the announcement just arrived.











This announcement card is just the sweetest.

















How about that hat she's wearing and laughing
the whole time, what fun!

April showers or tornados

The weather was supposed to be a little ruff today. Thunderstorms, afternoon and evening. So it came and in a small town south of Fayetteville a tornado hit. Trees are reported down. Emergency vehicles cannot get to homes to help for so many limbs on the ground as well as trees that had been snapped in two.
Spring comes and although we need the April showers the wicked weather we could do without. I hope you'll join me in prayer for those whose lives have been devastated due to these storms.
Love and blessings to all. Debra

Easter nears

Hey look at the cute picture Jessica sent me of
her and David's son Harbor.

Sitting at my computer reading a few of my favorite

blogs. I spied this robin.

He seemed to be attracted to my easter eggs

that are hanging from my tree for decoration.

Soon another robin joined the first. They bounced

all over the tree before flying off. It was a fun

moment.

A weekend adventure

One glorious Ozark morning a few weeks ago Tony (my husband) and I woke up to a sunny, warm day. We decided it would be a great day to go for a drive. We headed down I540 south and found ourselves heading to Lake Shepherd Springs, formerly Lake Ft Smith.
This area has been renovated since the new dam was put in for Ft. Smith's water supply, and it is a beautiful area for camping, day use, fishing, swimming, everything outdoors.

This shot is of Tony, at Artist Point on scenic Highway

71 south. He is looking back on Lake Shepherd Springs

where we were just at.




Below is a picture of Stacy sitting by the waters edge at Devil's Den state park outside of Winslow.

It was a great day out and many people were

taking advantage of the spring weather to get out

and have fun.

Devil's Den is such a wonderful place to take

pictures. The beauty of this natural park is

truly indescribable.

Hope you are enjoying Spring 2009 as much as we have so far.

Peace and God Bless

Debra

Decorating for Easter

Today I enjoyed taking out my Easter decorations and doing a little decorating around my house. Last year for some reason I did not decorate for Easter. I'm not sure why I didn't because I love this time of year so much and there is so much you can do. The beautiful colors make the house come alive again after dreary winter months. A reminder that spring is here and flowers are blooming and the sun is coming out more and warming us up. So I'll share some of my fun day with you in these few photos, I'm sure there'll be more to come I love Easter.

So as Tony got the lawnmower ready for another year, I found a different way to tend to

the yard.

I haven't made an egg tree in such a long time and thought it would be fun and add some color

to the yard. This is just a start. I have some neat ideas to dress up my front porch railing.

Plus I want to get a pair of rabbit ears and do something with our Razorback hog statue, to

get him looking like he's ready for Easter too.

Love to all Debra

Call to Prayer

Yesterday one of my friends who I usher with at the UofA came in where I work. She said she was glad she saw me and that she needed me. Her granddaughter had gone on a trip to Colorado and a terrible accident had happened. She didn't have the details but her grandchild was in dire condition. Lauren is her granddaughters name. There was an accident and at the time she did not know if it was a ski or traffic accident but Lauren had a busted spleen and they had to put a rod in her leg through the femur muscle to stabilize her body.
Laurens mother was flying out to be with her.
OK so now you know the situation. She asked me to pray for Lauren. Of course I said I would. Of course I told her God was already with her granddaughter and I would pray for his continuous hand upon this child. I affirmed to her she need not worry, God was there already.
My friend is a teacher at Farmington School in Arkansas and I won't mention her name as I don't have her approval to use it. But she takes care of children all day and so I am asking you to pray for Gods love and healing for Lauren. Please add Lauren in your prayers today.
Love always, Debra

Into each life....

Our tree is in bloom once again. Spring is on its
way however we have been told there is still some
snow in our future.

The rain came down in a quick blustery fiery.
As quick as it came it was gone.

Tosh the cat

This is Tosh the cat. I brought him home a week ago
and he was the most adorable and sweet cat I think
I ever had.

He would just climb on my lap and purr and purr
and purr. He was a purrball kitty.

This is a cute photo he wrapped up on my lap

while I was checking my email. Unfortunately

I had to give him back because he was picking
my couch to pieces and I didn't want to have him

declawed.