Assignment Completed

Sunday, November 16, 2008

As many of you know, I have been planning our professional organization's fall meeting for the past 11 months. Yes - 11 months!! It has been a labor of love filled with joyful and somewhat less joyful moments. I just wanted to report that the event went very well. We had a record attendance just under 800 people. This is pretty good considering it is 80% of our total membership.

Our speakers are now gone, including those that stayed after the meeting to visit. I am about to head to grade some papers in bed...translated...fall asleep early. But wanted to say thank you for all the thoughts and prayers. They were essential in making me survive the meeting and the prep. I am also including a little photo of my newest toy... I am now officially the PRESIDENT of the organization...so I get to have a gavel!! How funny is that!!?? I might take it home at Christmas to keep the day 'orderly'.....

Spooky Night

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Halloween has come and gone with the ghosts and goblins, witches and vampires, princesses, tramps, Indiana Jones and Spidermen all passing by to say hello. We had about 60 or so trick-or-treaters stop by last night. It was a chilly but nice night out for them. Strangely there were about 100 less than last year - much to Carrie's dismay. This was her first year home and she only had about 1/3 of the typical numbers. The folks were also older - not many little ones this year. But it was a fun time. We sat on the porch and drank hot cider while the people gathered. Our outdoor path was a HUGE HIT with most of the neighbors who dropped by with their children. All of them had been watching our 'construction' over the summer!!! Nice to have good neighbors around for sure.

Findlay, Koda and Cheyenne did pretty well inside chewing on a special treat - pig hooves. YUCKY!!! But these guys love them. Today is a bit of raking and loads of school work. Oh yeah - fun fun fun fun fun. I hope that all of you had a very scary Halloween!!

Walk for Gabe Day!!

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Today was the FAAN walk for my little Great Nephew Gabe Bouwens. He has severe allergies and continues to struggle learning what to eat and how to manage the itching. It was a very chilly morning but bright and sunny. Carrie and I drove about 1 hour southwest to Chatfield Hollow State Park for the two mile walk. As you can see, we made it and found the starting line. There were about 250 people who were gathered for the walk.

Carrie was taking a million pictures of people as they gathered at the start. She was laughing at all the strollers and little ones who were trying to walk through the piles of leaves. More leaves were getting kicked around than little walkers moving forward for sure. We stopped at about 1 mile into the walk for a couple minutes to take a picture of Carrie at this working water-wheel. She was freezing most of the way because she is getting past her cold, so she was dressed like it is mid-winter!!! The event was great and I was so proud in my Gabe's Gang shirt. I had a grandma ask me where Gabe was - so I produced my secret picture. You can see me with it below. Yes, Gabe you were getting a free ride for the two mile hike in my pocket...and as always IN MY HEART!! Sending love and prayers to you little guy - we had a great time in HONOR OF YOU!!! God bless.