a BIG day...

First of all, today is my father's 86th birthday.
Edwin John Dietzel (looking quite dapper for his age, don't you think?)



The other happening today was that my pride and joy, Lauren Olivia, (who is like, hurry up with the camera already!!!),


made the big move to Bloomington, IN. This is her apartment complex:




Prayers were definitely answered in that they encountered NO RAIN at all today!!!! It could have been a disaster if a thunderstorm had come up, considering this is how she transported pretty much all her worldly possessions...(they did apply a tarp, but I hear it was in shreds by the time they made it there)



And no, this is not Mark. This is Matt, Miracle's fiance', who was so kind as to offer his truck and trailer for the move. They made it there safely and with no rain (Thank you, God!) and now comes the settling in process...finding a job and getting ready for classes.
PLEASE keep her in your prayers...And Mom, too :)

(Actually, Mom managed (with GREAT effort) to hold it to minimal tears...Jim cried first.)

A quick political thought...

As much as I would like to see our pastor become president, I don't forsee that happening. The 2 men we have to choose from both scare me to death, but that is another post.


Anyway, someone correct me if I am wrong, but in my lifetime I cannot remember seeing a UNITED STATES (not North American Union...yet) presidental candidate campaign overseas. Have you?



Remember you heard it here...Not ALL change is GOOD for you. Just saying.

Stay tuned. More to follow...

Trying my hand at this picture taking process...

I have been inspired by Jeremy and Tammy. It is fun, but frustrating when they don't turn out the way you see them through the viewfinder...

Anthony Fedorov - I Surrender

Another of my FAVORITES from my boy, Anthony during Season 4. (Notice the new look, sans glasses)

Anthony Fedorov - I Want To Know What Love Is

THIS is the performance I was talking about in my last post. Still gives me goosebumps...3 years later.

The judges never really raved about my boy, but he came in 4th that year! (Behind Vonzell Solomon, Bo Bice and Carrie Underwood) Somebody out there liked him besides me!

Thanks for the link, Coby!

Found this "Mixwit" link on Coby's blog and had some fun finding some old friends from American Idol. All these songs (with the exception of Elliott's) are from the show...no remixing; all live, under pressure. The first song by Anthony Fedorov is what COMPLETELY hooked me. I had never seen American Idol before and while channel surfing one evening, I saw this young Ukrainian boy (with a hole in his throat from a surgery which the doctors said he might never even speak again), belt out one of my favorite songs of all time and I was hooked! Hasn't been the same excitement since...(haven't "power-voted" for 2 hrs. straight since the Bo/Carrie finale in Season IV) but I watch every year, hoping...

I have met Bo, Taylor and Chris D., but haven't gotten to meet my little Anthony...YET!

Don't forget to pause my playlist over on the right.


ETA: Well, bummer, looks like it isn't working...At least Chris Daughtry is still there...I will try again later on...

Jim ROCKS!

My husband was REALLY busy this weekend. First of all, we turned down a trip to TN because he wanted to get the gutters back on our house. And as anybody who knows Jim is aware, he would rather be in TN than anywhere else!!!
So Friday morning as the rain was POURING down... and you can't put gutters up when it is raining... Jim decides to start cleaning our porch. (I think Emily's porch cleaning must have inspired him)The rain helped clean some stuff...Unfortunately, I forgot to get a picture of the finished product, but believe me, it looks great! By then the rain had stopped so Jim decides to go ahead and WASH OUR HOUSE. Yes, he scrubbed the siding on the whole house! Fast forward to Saturday. The weather was beautiful, so Jim starts on the gutters. He had been telling me that it is really a 2 man job, so when he came in later and asked me if I wanted to come meet his helper, I thought, "Cool. He got somebody to help him!" Meet the helper: Here is Jim and his helper hard at work. (notice Scooby on the porch, supervising):Now, just so you won't think I wasn't doing anything while Jim was hard at work, here are a few shots of what I was doing between house cleaning...and this:So a good weekend was had by all, except for the helper who discovered his services were no longer needed. Here is the dismanteling process:
Seriously, I thank God everyday for giving me a wonderful Christian husband! We also thanked God that he did all that work without getting hurt (if you remember, he took a NASTY fall from an 8 ft ladder a couple months ago).
Hope everybody's holiday weekend was productive, relaxing, entertaining or whatever you needed it to be, well-spent with family and friends!