A real live Christmas Miracle brought to you by The Bloggess

I followed along and read posts out loud to the girls about this touching story over the weekend.

I am sure that no one is more surprised than The Bloggess that her simple act of kindness blossomed into
a beautiful bouquet of love and hope that has touched thousands of lives.

I'm glad I caught wind of it on Twitter.


****

Here are some other lovelies who do loving things for others, because they love to do loving things.




The Teacher-Angels of BoCoMo in the construction biz; making gingerbread houses for the children so they can decorate them.

You are making a difference, I know you are...because love always wins.


***


My heart is touched when I see how people love one another.
Yes, this is a a cruel and painful world,
but it is also filled with so much compassion and tenderness for others.


"So shines a good deed in a weary world."
~Shakespeare










“Preach the gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.”



Encourage one another,
Donna

Christoph Neimann is an artist.
He is quirky and clever.
He has a page in the New York Times.

Have fun looking at his work.


Let it Dough

I Lego NY

Sleeping Woes


I really think my role in life is that of a cheerleader.



Some things never change.

A little photo trivia.

Candy married Steve Garvey. Testified in the OJ trial. Introduced Bruce Jenner to Kris Kardashian.

Diana married had four children and invented a board game; Huggermugger.

Donna married and had four children and continues to cheer on her blog called Quiet Life.

Love ya!
Donna

Guess what last night was?

Time to bake the cookies!
Everyone loves Patrick's Iced Cut Outs.

For her birthday treat at school, Katie likes to take her daddy's cookies to school.
It's become a tradition.

I mix the dough the night before.
Katie and her dad do the rolling (Patrick), cutting (Katie),
placing on sheet (Patrick), Icing (Patrick) and sprinkling (Katie).

We have a nice system goin'....



Today Katie will get to hand out cookies to her classmates. (two each)
Then she gets to go to the other rooms and give cookies to all the other teachers.
After that, she will go downstairs and give cookies to the Principle and the Secretary.
Can't forget them.

It's a good day to be Katie.





Besides the cookies and the birthday...

It's Show your Badger Spirit day at school!!!

Go Wisconsin Badgers! Rose Bowl Bound!




One week until Christmas Eve!

eeeeeekkkkk


Encourage one another,
Donna

p.s. this is one recipe I can not share...sorry.

You know, every morning I watch Regis and Kelly.

It all started when I was in the hospital with my ruptured appendix in 1989.
Emma was a wee thing, only one month old.
The boys and Emma were all being taken care of by church friends and my sister Nancy.
I was in the hospital on the morphine pump; sick, lonely and stunned.

Regis was my ray of light.

It all started in the hospital those horrible days so long ago...

and I have never strayed.




They really do crack me up and I couldn't keep this little exchange to myself.


Isn't everything better when shared?


~ There is no delight in owning anything unshared. ~
~Seneca



****

Katie spotted a heart shaped spill of chocolate on the kitchen table.

She felt it was important to share it with me so she pinned it on my bulletin board.




We are so much alike. The sweet ways....and the not so great ways.

This is not good when it comes to her school work. What she doesn't get. I often don't get.
We have to get Patrick involved.
If he is not around, I tell her to tell her teacher, it is too hard for her mother.

I am not proud. it's a dumb book.


****

One more thing to share...

This is my favorite song to listen to in the car!

My car dancing cracks Katie up!


Raise your glass by Pink.

removed.

(I have been informed that there is swearing in this song.
Ask my kids... I don't ever hear the swear words in songs.
I usually cant understand the lyrics.
Good for me. Not good for you.)


Love ya,

Donna

It's usually too icy to stop and too cold to get out of the car lately.
But our mornings can be so beautiful and pink and interesting.

This morning as I waited for the Target/Starbucks to open I took a little detour.
Down an un-named road that heads to the new Aldi's and Taco Bell I went.

The smoke from the chimneys is especially noticeable and pretty when it is -9 degrees.

I tried my best with my cell phone.

Peaceful, no?

Dona Nobis Pacem.






Yesterday I was lucky enough to go out to lunch with some friends.
We went out for Thai. Nancy brought her girls, this unnamed woman brought her adorable unnamed child,
and I brought my camera.

Our visit was way too short but it was really fun!



This little guy was rambunctious and a little shy but I tried my hardest to make friends with him.
He gave me this smile just as they were leaving.

It made my day!


****

I think I would like to go out to lunch every week. Don't you think that sounds like a nice plan?

I can be the lady who lunches.

It's my calling, I think.

Any takers?




Encourage one another,
Donna

It's a marshmallow world in the winter,
When the snow comes to cover the ground,
It's the time for play, it's a whipped cream day,
I wait for it all year round.






In winter, it's a marshmallow world....




Oh! Frank and Dean, you are marvelous!







Sooc....




crop, sharpen, contrast.

I switched a little switch in my camera and went from vivid to normal color saturation...and I really like what I'm seeing.
It seemed this time of year the only thing vivid did was exaggerate the color casts.

I do not shoot infants on vivid either.
I'm all about easy editing and if I can remember to set my camera up right when I'm shooting,
my images turn out some much better right out of camera!



*****





SNOW

The fenceposts wear marshmallow hats
On a snowy day;
Bushes in their night gowns
Are kneeling down to pray—
And all the trees have silver skirts
And want to dance away.

~Dorothy Aldis (my very favorite)



Encourage one another,
Donna

We decorated the tree on Saturday afternoon.






And we also cleared off the kitchen table.

This table makes me immensely more joyful and filled with peace than the tree does.


I know. I am weird.




Here is the garland at night.

It's long.

It was made by a woman here in Madison. She was selling stings of garland at the school bazzar.

I rarely buy things like this....
I'm happy I did.



It has birds on it and the colors are perfection.




This one is fine.

Remember when we said fine?

It was in the 70's.

"Oh! He's fine."


Anyway.... back to decorating....








Wishing you beautiful colors and warm memories and clean spaces.

Love
Donna

p.s. I sure wish my comments weren't acting so wacky today....

This picture was taken in 2007. Almost exactly three years ago.



It's so cute....

You know I love a close up...but the full body shot....it tells more of the story doesn't it? Shows just how lettle she is.

I am a genius.



So not only do I insist that YOU get in the picture.

Rule two is....

take full length shots...once in a while!

You're very welcome.


Encourage one another,
Donna

Generosity, Simplicity, Tradition and Love.

A very good day on the home front.

Just a regular day, filled with regular things.
Really Really special regular things.

This beautiful chicken pie was a gift.



At Bible study on Wednesday a woman named Mary said she had something in the car for me.
I couldn't imagine. When I left she came out with me and reached into her van and pulled out this pie.

She had wanted to bring me a meal last spring when Sue died. Her church has a chicken pie sale every year and she thought of me.

I could not have been more thankful and blessed by this beautiful gift!
It means so much to me.

I made it for dinner Wednesday night and we all loved it.
Yesterday I had more for lunch and I will eat it again today.

(The gravy is gone...I will need to do something about that ;o)

But every time I have a slice of chicken pie, I will think of the kindness of Mary A.

It makes me want to bless someone else with the gift of a chicken pie and tender thoughts.


***

I padded around the house in a pair of my hand knit socks.
(baby it's cold inside)

These socks remind me of my father. They look like Neapolitan ice cream. He liked that.






***

Katie had basketball practice until 5:00 and then she had to be at the Christmas Concert at 6:00....
Even if it wasn't snowing and the streets were filled with cars and at a standstill...I had planned on bringing Katie her clothes and pretty much camping out in the church until the concert.





I sat in my seat and worried that Patrick wouldn't get there on time (tradition).

But he got there in plenty of time and all was well.




How precious are those folded hands. What angels!


St. Luke's Gospel




Hide it in your hearts dear ones.


****

Thank you for voting for Asher yesterday! He got over 130 votes in one day thanks to you!
Woo!


The heater is running...chicken pie in the fridge....feeling loved...

thank you God for this quiet life.



Encourage one another,
Donna

Melinda entered Asher in a Gerber baby contest. Her dream is to win him some college money.
He is the cutest baby...we think...

So with only 100 of you voting today...Asher could come up big.

Then tomorrow another 100 can vote. You can vote every day. Lucky You.
If you would like to vote for Asher....

Go to the following link and vote for Asher Max. Both names please.


Gerber Baby Asher Max




Emma was so cute too. I wish I could hold her on my hip.
Look at how she is holding that corn.

Can you believe she had curls?

What a precious girlie.







On the way home from Columbia, Missouri, we travel thru Iowa on 151. Twenty minutes before we got to Dubuque Katie spotted an eagle flying very low. We all looked and we were amazed and thrilled with what we saw:
A large group of eagles eating something in the corn field. (a convocation of eagles)

Patrick made a quick u-turn and we got out of the car to watch them.

What a wonderful, glorious thing to see. In the middle of Iowa.

Thrilling.


(As you can tell, I had my 50 mm lens on my camera and that was NOT good enough for this distance. Emma's point and shoot actually did better than my camera. I will ask her to send a picture so I can put it up for you to see.)


There is an eagle in me that wants to soar, and there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud.
~ Carl Sandburg



Encourage one another,
Donna

Katie was building a fort and she found some very fun shapes in the snow.
She brought that big Wisconsin into the house to show me and I quickly shooed her out....




She labeled her shapes for the world to see.
It's so much more fun to share things that delight you than to keep them to yourself.

I feel that same way about pictures.





"Surely we can do for one day that which seems impossible for a lifetime. "

Di left this quote in the comments yesterday.
It reminds me that worrying about tomorrow is useless.
In fact, it's worse than useless, it's a robber of life and joy.

God gives us the strength to get thru today.

And then tomorrow, He will give us strength for that day.





I taught Katie this joke.

We think it's super funny.

Nothing is worth more than this day. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe


The future is no place to place your better days. ~Dave Matthews


The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time. ~Abraham Lincoln


I'm pretty sure I love Abraham Lincoln.

Encourage one another,
Donna

The world is full of suffering, it is also full of overcoming it. --Helen Keller





In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world. --Jesus Christ




Saint Teresa
(1515-1582)


Let nothing disturb thee,
Nothing affright thee
All things are passing;
God never changeth;
Patient endurance
Attaineth to all things;
Who God possesseth
In nothing is wanting;
Alone God sufficeth.




Thank you for the sincere and thoughtful comments yesterday.

After a disappointing weigh in this morning, I am switching gears as best I can and
being thankful for the sunshine. It's super bright.
I like it!
The water tower across the street was pink this morning from the sunrise. Pretty.




Where is Cher when I need her?

LOL


Encourage one another,
Donna

I love these pictures.




They are my current faves.

Right out of the camera they came. Just like this.


*****

I wonder, how often do you need to talk yourself out of being down in the dumps?
How often do you have to slap yourself in the face and tell yourself to snap out of it?


I can do it. I can snap out of it, usually.

But gosh.

It's becoming a daily thing for me.

Snow.
Snow.
quiet and pretty






When you open your eyes first thing in the morning,
you can tell it snowed during the night.

There is a glow and it is more quiet.




I know it is going to make someone very happy.


***

Basketball season starts today.





go team.

I must remember that sports is about physical fitness and character building.

For Katie and her team mates, it unfortunately has not about winning. Don't tell Vince.
(not that they are not trying...very hard to win! they just don't)

Material possessions, winning scores, and great reputations are meaningless in the eyes of the Lord, because He knows what we really are and that is all that matters.
John Wooden


Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts.
John Wooden

What you are as a person is far more important that what you are as a basketball player
John Wooden

(Wooden is a famous basketball coach)

Encourage one another,
Donna

A Christmas Meme....Repeat.




I posted this questionnaire five years ago on this blog.

Lots of people have come and gone since then,
I thought you might enjoy thinking about your Christmas favorites and memories on this
frosty Friday morning.



A Christmas Meme


1. Hot Chocolate or apple cider?

Iced Grande Nonfat Chai please.


2. Turkey or Ham?
Lately it's been Tenderloin.


3. Do you get a fake or real-you-cut-it-yourself Christmas tree?
Real tree. A must.

4. Decorations on the outside of your house?
Very few. One very nice wreath :o)
A Christmasy flag.
Sometimes a few lights on shrubs.

5. Snowball fights or sleddin'?
Sledding

7. Do you enjoy going downtown shopping?
I would prefer an outdoor mall....like Oakbrook to an inside mall.

8. Favorite Christmas song?
I like most hymns sung in the Christmas season. Big loud singing by a whole church!
Songs that everyone remembers, loves and delights in singing.
Especially when we light the little white candles.

10. How do you feel about Christmas movies?
Love 'em.

11. When is it too early to start listening to Christmas music?
I prefer to wait until just a few days before Christmas.

12. Stockings before or after presents?
After.

13. Carolers, do you or do you not watch and listen to them?
Very....very....rarely do we get carolers!!!

14. Go to someone else's house or they come to you?
In-laws come to our house on Christmas Eve.
As children our parents hosted the Christmas Eve party...many of us Glyman girls have continued this tradition.

15. Do you read the Christmas Story? If so when?
My favorite thing is when Katie's whole school recites Luke during the Christmas program.


16. What do you do after presents and dinner?
Watch television...usually sports...
I look around for a movie to watch.

17. What is your favorite holiday smell?
Fresh winter air.

18. Ice skating or walking around the mall?
I hate walking around the mall.
I wish I could skate like I use to.

19. Do you open a present or presents on Christmas Eve, or wait until Christmas day?
We do the relative exchange on Christmas Eve.
Family presents in the morning.

20. Favorite Christmas memory?
When Katie was born...and we came home on Christmas morning.

21. Favorite Part about winter?
How pretty it looks.
Sleeping with the window open and having a cold face and warm bod.

22. Ever been kissed under mistletoe?
Sure.
Once or twice.





My favorite thing about Christmas are the homecomings, and the love,
and baby Jesus.




Please feel free to answer all or just some of the questions and post them in the comments or on your own blog.
We use to have loads of fun doing these memes back in the day.

Happy weekending!

Encourage one another,
Donna

p.s. When I say happy weekending, I think of MFS.
I am sure she invented that saying.

Art. I like you.








Winding Wool

She'd bring to me a skein of wool
And beg me to hold out my hands;
so on my pipe I cease to pull
And watch her twine the shining strands
Into a ball so snug and neat,
Perchance a pair of socks to knit
To comfort my unworthy feet,
Or pullover my girth to fit.

As to the winding I would sway,
A poem in my head would sing,
And I would watch in dreamy way
The bright yarn swiftly slendering.
The best I liked were coloured strands
I let my pensive pipe grow cool . . .
Two active and two passive hands,
So busy wining shining wool.

Alas! Two of those hands are cold,
And in these days of wrath and wrong,
I am so wearyful and old,
I wonder if I've lived too long.
So in my loneliness I sit
And dream of sweet domestic rule . . .
When gentle women used to knit,
And men were happy winding wool.

~Robert William Service



Those last four lines are my favorites.



******

On Friday afternoon, of our Thanksgiving weekend, Cindy took Katie, Emma and I out to The Barn.



In the barn, work two darling girls.
They run their letter press and build a business.

Both artists, they have found their niche; a perfect way to express and share their wonderful talents.

I am a fan of whimsy and find it very much in their styles.






Beth and Carrie.
Carrie and Beth.



making copies....

kind of...



It's really fun to watch these two work.
Their business is growing and becoming more well know every week.
They have a darling recipe box with cards at Anthropologie!

This weekend Carrie is heading to Chicago to attend an art show. If you are in Chicago you should drop on by and see
their clever and cute items in person.





Here is the craft fair: absolutely NOT a crap fair.

Renegade Craft

You should check out the vendor list!!! Man! I wish I could be there.
My favorite, Circa Ceramics will be there!


Here is 1canoe2's etsy. I hear they will be a featured seller very soon!

1canoe2

Look! Cindy gave me some coasters! Thank you Cindy!



Katie and I like the pine cone best of all.
Well, she likes the sparkly star, too. That girl loves a little sparkle.



Very best wishes to Carrie and Beth!!

I adore your homemade, family run, all American (BoCoMo) business!!!

And YOU!


Encourage one another,
Donna

In which I play event planner.





Since we girls had plans for Friday afternoon, I suggested a little outing for Friday morning.
I didn't think Patrick wanted to sit in the nest all day. Since Patrick likes to go for drives around Wi. I thought the short drive to the Burr Oak would be welcome.

It was greeted with as much enthusiasm as when I insisted we climb to the top of this....


(St. Peter's in Rome.)


Sometimes you just have to listen to me.
I know things.

Like what you need to do when you go places.

Seriously. I know things.

I told the girls, when we were in Rome, "We really need to go to the top. You will never regret it! And every time you see this building for the rest of your life, you will be able to say...I climbed the 400 steps to the top of that amazing building.!"

Take it from me.

Now the burr oak.

Not quite the same as St. Peters.....but....more memorable than watching television.

Ya gotta make memories.



I will remember that it was windy and cold and that Patrick wanted to leave after about one minute...




I will remember Cindy running into a student out in the country at the burr oak....



I will remember Emma....





and how Katie liked to run around and jump on the tree and climb on it's roots....

She has all this ten year old energy, you see. The tree was good for her.


Then we went down to the river where Patrick and Katie and I got out and took a look at the river.
Katie and Patrick climbed on rocks.

Cindy and Emma stayed in the car. They said if my camera was staying in the car, they were too.

Funny.



***

Now! If only I can use my powers of persuasion to get my husband to go see the fountains at the Bellagio in Las Vegas....

He has been there three days already and I am trying to plan his events from afar and it's not working so far. But I absolutely, positively know he would LOVE it if he hiked on over there.

Those fountains are the ONLY thing I would want to see in Vegas!

I wish he would listen to me.


I happen to know things.




pretty music.....


Happy Wednesday!

Encourage one another,
Donna