see jane learn: And So it Goes...

My Daddy~Vaughn Dube' Story

This post is a little of this, and a little of that. Thanks for allowing me to ramble. My suitcase is packed for a Carver family reunion to the Great Lakes state of Minnesota. With Father's Day coming up it's made me think about my Daddy who passed away 21 years ago. I miss him dearly! He was an amazing man, loyal husband and fabulous daddy to three little girls (I was the baby.) He loved being a granddaddy too and would have loved my youngest daughter if he had met her.

Grandpa Carver with our first-born who is now 28!

The reunion we're headed to is in Minnesota, not because that's where his Dad is from, but because he likes it. My father-in-law is a retired Air Force Colonel, Boy Scout leader and Dad to three boys and a girl. We'll get to spend Father's Day with him this year! The last time we had a reunion the kids were little. Now all but one of mine can "legally" drink a beer and we have a lot of cousin catching up to do. The only bummer is that the weather is predicted to be rainy and low 70’s. NOT the hot, sunny, Mid-West lake vacation weather we had experienced and hoped to repeat.

I have put myself on balloon strike. Here’s why. I was given the job to buy balloons for the women’s retreat. The only ones available were graduation ones and then they flew up from the check-out stand at the grocery to the ceiling. Sort of funny, but not. This week I had helium pink balloons strapped in the back seat for the baby shower I was hosting. I hit the accelerator a bit too hard forgetting that my window was down half-way. Yes, they untied and flew out the window. Quite disappointing and I had to keep driving even though I wanted to stop and ponder what had just happened. I think helium balloons are now over-rated and at the very least please don’t ask me to be in charge of them.

My good friend’s daughter-in-law is expecting and was in town so it sounded like a great reason to throw a party. Despite not having any balloons with helium (see above) I had fun decorating our home PINK with lots of tissue flowers and fun borrowed pennants. I tried my hand at a Pinterest project and everyone pitched in yummy brunch food. All the guests helped create an ABC book for baby Emmy and it seemed to be a hit. Expectant Mommies remind me once again how fortunate I am to work at a baby boutique. Throwing a party always motivates me to clean my house so that’s an added bonus. It’s still looking good two days later!

3D usually makes people think of art, but today it meant medical imaging. I had to have a diagnostic test today which saw something teeny tiny that needs a bit of future attention. I loved discovering a friend from bible study was my nurse today. I had asked several prayer buddies to pray for me this morning and those prayers were answered. (I love how God is in the details and provided a warm and caring friend to calm my nerves.) I know food isn’t supposed to be a go-to for comfort, but oh the Pao’s donut I ate on my way home certainly cheered me up!

We looked at lots of homes for sale this week. We have some specific requests which apparently are difficult to combine with our price range: We’d like to SEE the water. We don’t want a huge yard to take care of, but our dog needs a bit of space. Location matters; closer to town but not too close to the traffic noise. Lots of light~I don’t want the yard to look like a scene from the movie Twilight. When the weather is rainy I still want light, not a canopy of trees.

We discussed Pros & Cons. We tried to rank them and imagine living in them. It’s hard! We saw a couple really pretty homes with bad yards and pretty views with terrible homes. We saw a lot of ~~ugly~~ interesting possibilities and one place that might be featured on a future Hoarders episode. The OCD part of me had a hard time looking past the mess to see the potential. I am so glad that God can see past MY mess and see MY potential!

“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”

1 Peter 5:20

My retreat roomies!

The theme of our women's retreat was restoration. If we end up buying a fixer-upper, I will try to remember that restoration takes love and time but is worth it. I wish I could get the amazing couple from the HGTV show Fixer-Upper to fly here from Texas and take on a project!! Have you watched their show on Thursdays?