Prom

This is the castle setting that the junior class created for the dance.

Well I cannot believe that this day was already here and gone. It was a VERY emotional day, but with my moms help we survived. I think that they need to print a parents tee shirt that says MY MOM SURVIVED:)

Brittnae and her date Tom, Breann and her date Jesse

Brittnae and Tom Cleveland

Breann and Jesse


Breann and Jesse at the Prominade

Brittnae and Tom at the ProminadeMy job for Post prom was to made 70 breakfast burritoes and 6 doz. cinnamon rolls.

Decisions

Sorry I have not updated you all as far as this decision. But last week after talking to the girls and Michael. We decided that it would be best to keep my schedule like it is right now. The girls are very fearful that if life gets any busier I will get sick again. Michael agreed. It is so amazing at the mighty power of the Lord and the way he laid this on the girls hearts. I talked to both of them at different times and they both had the same concerns. I love them to much to have them constantly worried that the Lupus is going to return.

So life will continue on as we know it and I will just make the cafe work at 1 day a week. Thanks for your prayers.

WOULD LOVE SOME ADVICE

Just thought you might like to see the Valentine's pictures I put up at the cafe. I think that when I take down all the Christmas ones it is going to be SO bare!!!!! I tink I will try to keep at least a few paintings up at all times, it just sort of adds a homey feel to the cafe.

Now for my dilema! A few weeks ago I had the second round of trouble with my wholesale distributor. They just completely skipped my order for the second time in 5 months. So needless to say I am fed up with Cash wa. I got the credit on my last order, and I was really thinking about changing wholesalers-- God is so great with this next part--Last week I was at the Palisade cafe and in walks a Thompson wholesaler. So of course I had to have a chat with him. Now to make a long story short Friday at the cafe the salesman from Thompsons comes in and introduces himself and we proceed to fill out ALL the business stuff. I was accepted and I now have a wonderful salesman. Thank you God for taking care of even the little things in our lives.

Now for the major dilema- Instead of picking up my order on Thursdays like I did with Cash Wa Thompsons delivers on Tuesdays. Of course my brain is working over time thinking wow another trip to Imperial.....SOOOOOOO my thoughts are why not open the cafe on Tuesdays for breakfast and lunch. I am already going to be up there and I have had so many people ask me to open the cafe more days. The girls say go for it, Michael is a little hesitant because he does not want me to get over tired. But It has been almost a year since the Lord healed me of the Lupus and I feel wonderful.

I would love to help Michael out more with the financial end of our lives and I think that this would be a way for me to attempt that. So I am asking for 2 things your imput and your prayers. Most of you know that I just want to jump in and go for it, but I know that I really need to think this thru.

Happy 17 th Brittnae

Her birthday was the 30th of January. Sorry for the late post

WOW another wonderful year has passed and Brittnae is now 17- am I getting old or what. SHe had a nice birthday. We had Monkey bread for breakfast, and opened gifts before school. Then she had Amanda Johnston spend the night. The girls made a trip to Imperial for Brittnae to go to physical therapy, so they stopped into the cafe and much to her surprise I had a table decorated for her birthday. We had ballons and flowers, and cake and I made her favorite goulash for supper. I was bummed though I thought

I forgot my camera at home. But of course when I was packing things up after the sale I found the silly thing. Oh well the memories are engraved in my mind- I love a good surprise every now and then.

Here she is opening some of her gifts, she just did not know that there were a bunch waiting for her at the cafe. Along with her dad and grandma and grandpa maris.

Denver Nuggets Game

Last Tuesday we left Wauneta and drove to Denver to see the Nuggets play the Spurs. Brittnae and Breann got us all tickets for Christmas (thanks again girls). We had such a great time. I think that out of all the pictures I took --oh yeah I got a new camera which I am still learning to use. This one was my favorite. Michael just looks so happy. He is so silly, but we had a wonderful time. Except for the very frightening cab ride back to the hotel. I thought I was a scary driver LOL .We spent the night and came home Wed.

Does'nt this picture say it all (he is holding up his ticket) We were 11 rows up and had great seats. The only bad thing was that we did not get to see Tony Parker play from the spurs. Of course the Nuggets won -icing on the cake.

Prom Dresses

Thursday of last week we had to go to Kearney to see Brittnae's allergist, so we decided to go on to Grand Island to look for prom dresses. We found this wonderful store called DEBS in the mall. Yes I have had quite a few melt downs. I just cannot believe how grown up the girls are, it seems as if they should be playing dress up instead of actually being ready for the big event. Prom is March 21st, and both girls have been invited. Now lets just see if Mom survives.

This is the dress that Brittnae fell in love with. She had to have blue, as it is her favorite color. So pretty!!

Breanns dress WOW !! I do not think they are babies anymore. Maybe I should hide these dresses for a few years. LOL!!!

they both got shoes and all the accessories that you just HAVE TO HAVE! Necklace, bracelet, earings....etc....

Other than the few shed tears on my part we had a wonderful time a great shopping day, and I guess you could say a very sucessful one.

Hi Ho Hi Ho it is off to Sams we go

Oh my this week Brittnae had a knee apt. in Kearney so we decided to do a sams run while we were that far. It is a very good thing that we had the pickup. Needless to say it was full to the brim!!!!! Michael was not very happy while he was loading the 4 carts of cafe supplies into a small space.


This is the new microwave a much needed improvement.

This is the rest of the stuff, now try to imagine that we had already put the freezer and cold stuff away, plus 4 cases of fryer oil.

I bet you would like to come to Sam's with me next time! LOL!!

For those of you who might not know Michael and I bought the cafe that I have been working at in August. There is a lot more to running a cafe than I could ever imagine!! But I love it.

neices and nephews

Wow what a gang!! These are all of my neices and nephews. As you can see we have quite an assortment of crazies. My sister Karrie has 5 kids, Danny has 2, Tami has 3 and of course I have 2. Everyone had such a great time being together. I wished that we lived closer so they could get together more often. Everyone has grown up so quickly, as you can see there are no babies in the group anymore.

My sister Karrie

To my sister Karrie: You are one of the best friends that I have ever had. I love you sweetheart and I sure do miss you like crazy. I do not know why we have to live so far apart. Thank you for being such a wonderful sister and friend.

My brother Keith and Chicago

While we were home for Christmas we took my brother Keith back to the crazy city of Chicago. Breann had the flu so Michael, Brittnae and Keith all loaded up in Mom's van (the pickup is too hard to drive crazy). I was the designated driver Micahel hates city driving--I think it is awesome what a rush.
This is a picture of the Hancock building where Keith works for an advertising firm called "Big Shoulders".

More Chicago buildings. Brittnae thought it was pretty cool. We had a great time. It was the first time we visited Keith and got to see his condo.

This is my brother Keith. He is a year younger than me. We had a great time over the Christmas break. He does not drive, so he takes the train and he usually stays for the weekend.

NHS Ceremony

Last week Breann was inducted into National Honor Society. It was sort of cool to see both of the girls in something together. Brittnae was involved in Breann's induction because she is the secretary. To say that Michael and I are proud of both girls is quite an understatement.

BREANN AND HER CERTIFICATE AND ROSE (HERE AT HOME)This is Brittnae lighting her candle during the ceremony (sorry about the blurry picture)Breann receiving her certificate and rose

The group of new NHS members Breann, Rebecca, Tori, Bethany, Chris and Colby

Both of our precious girls they are growing up way too fast!!

CONGRATULATIONS BREANN!!

UPDATE FINALLY

Needless to say I think that it has been way too long since I have blogged!! LOL!! I sure am sorry. Life has just been way too intense. To re-cap the last oh lets say six months-URGH!!
Michael and I bought the Imperial Auction Market Cafe in August. To say that I have been a little overwhelmed is an understatement!! I am finally getting the hang of being the "boss" Michael the girls and I have put in alot of LONG hours in painting the floor, cleaning, adding shelves, cleaning, organizing, cleaning, adding new faucets, cleaning.....get the point....needless to say there is still alot of cleaning to do. I have finally decided that it is not going to happen in a few weeks. So I am going to just take it one day at a time and enjoy this gift the Lord blessed us with.

I will get some pictures and post them soon.

Michael is almost finished with corn harvest, Brittnae is now working at the Heritage Manor as a CNA, and Breann works at the pioneer cafe and Tommy's (restraunt).

New Flower Garden

This last week I have worked on the rock garden that I started last summer. I only had a few of the rocks placed last summer. Then my daddy bought me this bench at true value the last time he was here. So my thought was to form my garden with the bench in the center. All of the rocks came from our pasture, so there is a little of my parents and a little of home.This is a side view. Mom Maris bought me the solar lights for my birthday. Tis is a better side view. The black rod iron flower baskets were given to me from Momma last summer.

I am planning on putting a few rose bushes in these spots by the trellis.

This is just a better view of the pathway . I had so much fun doing this. I think that it was very healing for me. And now I can look out about any window and see my rock garden.

Off to Camp

Saturday afternoon I took Brittnae to Bethel Bible Camp. This first week was staff training. She wants to spend the month of June being a camp counselor. I am yet to hear from her, and I know that she is having a wonderful time. She will come home this Saturday for a week and then she goes back again the 15th-the 28th. I think that it is pretty cool that she wants part of her summer serving our precious savior.

Roses are Red

Today I planted roses in my Daddy's memory. There was nothing he liked

better than to work in his yard and in his rose beds. So I decided to take some of my memorial money and plant a few really nice rose bushes. I got them from common sense green house. They are just so beautiful. I cannot believe that if you count the Friday's he will be gone a month already. I am finally doing a lot better. I returned to Nebraska the 19th and had a really hard time being alone, but after a week of solitude and oh yeah a nice hospital visit. (I spent Memorial weekend in the hospital passing a kidney stone. Wow what fun LOL) I

am doing much better. I think that I am finally back to the land of the living. I know for a fact that my Dad would not want me to disappear from life. So I thank you so very much for all your cards and prayers. I hope to see you all soon.

Funeral Details

We went to the Funeral home yesterday and made all of the arrangements. The visitation will be Wed. from 4-8 and the Funeral is Thursday at 10:30. It was a really terrible day for me yesterday, I think that the reality of things have set in. But we know that he is in a much better place. Mom said that Daddy talked to her last night and told her that he is happy and that he just wants her to live the rest of her life to the fullest.

Daddy is with Jesus

I just wanted you all to know that last night around 10:45 my daddy went to be with the Lord. He went right out of Mom's arms into the arms of Jesus. Which is the way that Momma wanted. Hospice brought a hospital bed yesterday and Mom and Daddy were snuggling all day. It was so amazing because our family all gathered together and were in a circle of prayer asking the Lord to take him from this life to heaven. I will tell you that the last few days were very difficult, but now there is no suffering and Daddy had a new heavenly body.
God is so good and faithful Daddy did not breath his final breath until he saw everyone he needed to see and we assured him that we were all going to take care of Momma.

Bleak outlook on Dad

We went into Chicago to a Oncologist who specialises in metastatic melanoma. After looking at Daddy and reviewing all of his files he had to break some really terrible news to us all. There is nothing that can be done for my daddy. He is not eligible for the clinical trials, and he is far to weak for chemo. Dr. Clark said that daddy is bordering on the edge and the chemo will cross him over. So we now know that it is only a matter of time. He suggested that we call hospice and we are waiting for them to come at 10:30. Dad is scared like the rest of us, and even though we can not imagine him being gone we all know that he will be going to see the Lord and that he will have a new and healthy heavenly body. Someday we will all be together again. And we just have to hold on to the promises that the Lord will keep us in his loving arms and surround us with His Love. Thank you for your prayers

Update on Dad

This picture was taken on Wed. it was a good day for Daddy. Then we took him to the hospital on Friday. He is not doing so well. The tumor is rapidly spreading and we are having a really tough time controlling the blood sugar and blood pressure. A normal blood sugar for a diabetic is @ 100. Dad's has been in the 350 range. His blood pressure is 209/64. Which is very dangerous, and can cause heart failure or a stroke. Mom called this morning and said that the people from the pain clinic were coming in to check out and set up a pain pump. We do not know if he will have to come home with it or not. So keep praying.

Gizzmo's hair cut

I took Gizzmo in to see the dog groomer that my mom takes her dog to. This is what he looks like now. She did such a great job.

Gizzmo loves my Dad and Michael did not want me too travel alone, so of course I had to bring him with.

An update on Dad:) we start the clinical trial the 29th of this month, so keep your prayers commin.