A poem for my Dad

I wrote this poem in 2011 for Dad.  thought it was worth sharing again.  I miss him so much.
But I know he is in heaven with his Heavenly Father and that is a comfort.  Look at that smile!



 To describe you in words Dad, is something I've always wanted to do.

To paint a picture of the great things God has created in you.

You are Strong

You are Proud

You are honest and true.

You stand up for your rights and the

rights of all those around you.

When people ask what nationality you are from

You calmly and politely say, 

I am an American!

A Marine you were and 

always will be

The USA is your country 

to which you show your loyalty

Your favorite colors are

red, white and blue

The flag waves outside the 

barn

Ever before you

You are a voracious

reader 

and filled with facts

History, gardening

and political stats!

You are smart and 

bright and always

ready to state

Your opinion on the

latest

debate!

Sometimes we'll find you

in your chair

taking a snooze,

Most often it's watching

the evening news

Or at your computer

checking to see

all the e-mails from your family

You like hot chocolate sauce, oreos,

cheezits and cake

Marching bands, parades

and especially

Christmas Day

Coffee and donuts,

toast and tea

peanut butter crackers are a necessity!

It seems that you are forever hungry and saying:

Grandma, feed me!

(not too thrilled with his gift!)

Things you have done for me

I've been hungry at work 
and you brought me a sub
Had a flat tiire on the highway and you came to pick me up
Water in the basement,

you're there with a wrench!
frozen pipes,
It's a cinch.
For you that is...

Bats in the belfry 
and you showed up with a broom
ou Daddy!

when rats were near, 
you showed up with a spear!
(that is no lie!)
You were my hero 
Anytime of the year!

You gave me away at my wedding
with a kiss and a smile
And here is when I was filled with pride

You gifted me with money
when I was broke
Gave chocolates and oreos
And made me laugh with your jokes!
I'm getting off track here,
this poem is about you
But I just had to brag 
about all the things that you would do.
You gave to all with generosity
and good cheer. 
All nine of would rely on you
whether you were far or near!
Your family was simple
It started with two
It was only Mama and you!

But as the years went by 
It grew and it grew!
Six girls and three boys
and then came some more
Until you had grandchildren galore!

They went to the barn to visit and eat
You patiently carved the ham and roast beef!
Your home was filled 
with oh so much love
You know now
It was a gift from above.

God looked upon you and said with a smile
I think I'll bless Freddy
for a good long while!

You loved each grandchild
Every girl and boy.
You celebrated each birthday with clapping and joy
How many pictures I have of you 
at Celebrations...
Looking intently at the Birthday Child with great expectation!
These pictures I will cherish of you
with my children
Cuz I know how you loved
 them all beyond reason!

I truly cannot put into words, the depth of my fathers character. 

 What a good man!  I miss him so much!

Humbleness ~ Humility 1

     HUMBLE   I have this word on my mind alot lately.  God wants me to stand up, be obedient and be humble.  These are the three things he has been speaking to me about.   My new quest is to understand this word which God has spoken to me in my personal bible study this week. 
     Be humble  - my first thought in defining this word is:
To not think too highly of myself or should I say think of others before myself
To not look for praise from others
To keep myself from bragging or drawing attention to myself
To give all glory to Him
     Webster defines humbleness as:  having or showing feelings of humility rather than of pride, aware of ones shortcomings, modest, meek.
2.  showing deferential respect
3.  lacking high social status.  lowly unpretentious:  a humble cottage
Humility means the quality or condition of being humble, lack of pride, modesty
Phillipians 2:5-7 says this about humbleness and as I explore the word I am sure to find the answers I seek.. "let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men.  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross."
     First I learn that I need to be like Jesus and to strive for this at all times.  Luckily I have the holy spirit working within me and I can do this on His strength. He was a servant.  I must serve as he did and forget about getting recognition for things.  Because isn't that one of the things I crave?  Yes, deep down I want to be noticed.  I struggle with the desire to "do"  something important or to get the praise from people around me.  It might not appear so but inside I compare myself to others and wish I had more apparent giftings.  I know that God doesn't want them from me.  He wants me to be humble.  Until He works that character flaw out of me, I won't be complete.
       I must trust that I am exactly the way He made me for a reason.  To serve him, I must do the tasks he puts in front of me.  In this way, I will be in His will.

Robins Egg Blue

                       Every spring I look forward to finding where the robin will build her nest in our yard. 

 One year it was on the lampost on our covered front porch. 

 Last year it was in the evergreen bush in front of our house. 

For two years straight it was actually in our canoe

which we store over the clothes line, upside down! 

What a delight to discover the robin, once the snow melts,

 hopping about the yard with bits of sticks and string in her beak. 

This year I was surprised to find the nest by accident. 

  I walked into the shed to get my garden tools.

Here Paul stored our little Christmas tree to dry it out for a bonfire.

      The sound of fluttering wings startled me.  A robin flew out the window and I knew his nest was in there somewhere.
 


Can you see it yet?

Sweet little nest~ Theres nothing quite like this robins egg blue!



3 little eggs!  usually there are 4.  I hope they are protected enough out here!

I look forward to watching the results as Mama and Daddy welcome their babies into the world!  Another gift of nature that God gives to us!


So here is number 4, it arrived today!

Mill Pond Exploration

    

                                                                            

                                                                                                
     My sister took me bird watching today.  She even let me borrow some of her mud boots.  They worked pretty well except for the duct taped area where a little water snuck in.  The first thing we saw was this goose.

         These two made quite a racket when they saw us in the woods; probably protecting some babies!

  Probably too busy looking at the shapes of the trees and the plant life all around.  But I did spot a few bird nests.  Not sure if that counts for anything.

This nest was humongous!  Probably for a teradactyl!

Then Susan spotted a Heron but I was too busy looking at this log so I missed it.  
Darn!  It is a pretty shade of green though isn't it?




This little baby fern must be a shady tree for a fairy!

Mill Pond in Franklin Vermont



It appears that this Mama duck is protecting her nest.

This was a magnificent Hawk that Susan spotted just as we were driving away! 
 He is so proud!

 The splendor of GOD'S Creation is everywhere I look.  In every nook and cranny of my little world in the Champlain Valley, I marvel at the beauty!  How does He do it?

   As His word says, even the rocks cry out!  The woods, the plants, flowers, even the leaves and broken branches on the ground are all a display of His handiwork!  Thank you Lord for the gift of your beautiful countryside today!

Love your daughter Janet


The Music of the Swamp

      On our trip to Charleston, South Carolina, we visited the Audubon Swamp Garden which is a part of the Magnolia Gardens.  This was probably our most favorite part of the whole trip.  Also the cheapest.
 For 8 dollars, we got to walk through an amazing swamp filled with wild life.  We walked along a board walk over acres of water filled with turtles, alligators, snakes, snowy white egrets, herons and all kinds of creatures! 

The fun part was trying to be the first one to
spot a certain species.  Though I must say,
Paul has a really good eye and he was spotting
 most of them before me. 
That's ok cuz taking pictures of
them is just as fun!

Paul spotted this cottonmouth snake minutes after saying there were no snakes here!

But I did manage to catch a short video of this alligator!

                                           Paul was the first one to spot this guy!

                                            I think this gal is looking to make an alligator purse!

                                                                          Lazy gator!


     I did learn some new things about my husband on this trip.  One is that he really loves taking pictures so I'm going to have to get him a camera for his birthday.  It's hard sharing sometimes.  He is clever and comes up with some great shots!

                                                                       Like this one!

                                                      And this little lizard guy!!   Love it!

                                                      And him... I love him the most!

     Another thing I relearned is how compatible we are.  We spent over 3 hours at this swamp and we didn't tire of exploring and sharing and exclaiming over our discoveries. 

                                                           I think he loves me too!

     It is an awesome thing to take a vacation and remember why you fell in love in the first place.  Also it was so great to go to a brand new location and discover things together!  Neither of us had ever gone there so it was completely new and exciting for us!  So I am thankful we had this time alone together.  It was beautiful.  He is my best friend.  He is the one who makes me laugh.  He takes care of me and I love to spend time with him!!  My hunny!  I love you Paul!

IDK LOL OMG

    

Recently, Paul and I took our vacation to South Carolina.  It was the first time Paul and I left the kids for longer than 3 days.  Audrey and Faith stayed home with Nolan for the 9 days we were gone.  Faith had some tears on the first day when we called home but I think it was Audrey who missed us the most.  If her text messages to me are any indication.  It is a wonderful thing; this invention of unlimited texting for one monthly fee.  So now I can keep track of my teenage children in a not too invasive way.  And somehow I think they share more with me in a text message than they do when they are speaking to me.  Not to say we aren't close because we are.  But entering into their technical world of messaging just seems to really work for me and them. 
     So here are some messages I got from Audrey while we were away.  I won't write my messages.  I'll just leave it to your imagination.  But boy does she make me smile.  :)

Woahh thats huge, can fit ur plaid big butt on it  :)


Oh fun ishhh. haha, yepp

Okeedokee.  I miss faith.  And grover,  and you.  And paul.  And my house.

Awh  :(

Lucky ducky

oh well.  I had sheperds pie for dinner u be jelous  :)

And i get to sleep on an air matress, so ha !!!!!!  you wish u were me :)

Go buy some.  rich millionaires.  On vacation !! Spending there money watching big tvs. 

Grrr.  when u get back, I expect a big steak!

I loooooooooveeee you maaaama  :)

No Im not madd.  But i want steak.

Holly & camel get presents & I dont?

Its quite dfeucfjugfal not hott here


:)  that is prettyyy

how do you make brownies

no.  I MISS YOU :'(

Yayyyy

:::::::}}}}}}}

Yeep!  Dude.  I miss you.  Its not normal around here.

Im not glad u left : (

I love the otter:)

:(((I want a penguin

and some have rain & others have vacation away from their kids

I love you too:)

Yay for Blank messages

Missing you

and my very favorite one of all...

OK mother, we learned our lesson.  you can come home now and stop pretending your on vacation.

 I love everything about Audrey, but especially her toughness and her ability to tell it like it is.  She never holds back and she's not afraid to say things.  Sometimes to get a laugh and sometimes to make a point.  She is so strong.  Sure she has her emotional times and she cries and needs her mom.  And then she will just put someone in their place because she is so darn honest.  I admire her thick skin!  I love her honesty.   And this just describes a tiny part of who she is.  But every text message I receive from her and every honest emotion she expresses,  makes me see what an amazing and strong girl she is.  I love you my Audrey Rose!!!!  NK

Exploring in the woods of Franklin, Vermont

Today, I went snowshoeing in the woods behind my Dad's house in Franklin.  I was with my sister Susan and her dog Jack and Faith.  Faith didn't have any snow shoes but she did fine.  We wanted to see what we could see.

Looky what we found.

An old car in the woods surrounded by various garden tools tractors and piles of old glass bottles.

Just trying out my new ride.

One tractor had been there so long, that a tree grew right up around it.  It looked kinda cool.

  It was so beautiful and the snow wasn't that deep anymore  so it was really easy walking through it.  We didn't find as many animal tracks as we did the last time we went but we did find some possible animal caves.

Anybody home?

It's never boring when you're exploring!

Faith is looking a little nervous!

Don't worry Faith, the bears are hibernating....
somewhere else..

This tree was neat.  All I could imagine here was a giant, with big knees.  :)

 So it was a fun adventure walking in the woods with my family.  We never know what we are going to find.  I can't wait til our next trip!