The Details

One afternoon, I suddenly had this urge to look at rings via the internet.

Coincidence 1: That evening, I was on the phone with Jesse and he mentioned he had been looking at something on the internet.

I said, "That's funny. So have I."

As it turned out, our brains had been working on the same wave length. As usual. ;-)

And, as usual (again) we simply found nothing in the conventional department that fit what we were looking for. At all.

Coincidence 2: That very day, my friend E. had written a humorous post about wedding rings and had posted pictures of hers. I liked them. A lot. She said her hubby had gotten them off of Etsy.

(http://www.mildlyamusingmusings.com/2011/01/of-wedding-rings-and-er-visits.html)

So, Jesse and I went to Etsy.com and simply reveled the creativity we saw.

Coincidence 3: at the same moment in time, we both said, "Oh, you've got to look at Page 8, 3rd row from the bottom!" We saw the ring at the same time from different computers, while on the phone. :-) It was a nice ring. It wasn't terribly expensive. We both liked it. Really liked it.

Coincidence 4: The ring had just been posted that very day in the person's Etsy store.

Coincidence 5: I don't believe in coincidences. :-) (I believe in Providence. God. He has been working miracles through this entire relationship; from our first meeting to our friendship to our romance to the rest of our lives. :-))

Jesse decided to order it.

Then came the time of waiting. Jesse said that I knew about the ring but I didn't know how or when I was going to get it. I told Jesse how much I loved the element of surprise. He took me up on it.

Fast forward to January 31st, 2011. Jesse was picking me up to go spend the night at his parents' place because my bed was being occupied by musicians. I put my stuff on the table and went to quickly make use of the washroom. When I came back, I put on my scarf, my coat and my shoes. Then, I started to put on my gloves.

(I love my gloves. They were a Christmas present from one of my piano students (along with a box of chocolates! So thoughtful of her) ... they're black and really cozy. They also fit me perfectly, which is a blessing since gloves rarely fit well with my short, little fingers.)

Anyways. I'm trying to get my gloves on and my finger wouldn't go in one of the fingers. I was a little distracted because I was making Jesse wait and I don't like making Jesse wait, so I mumbled something about, "What in the world?" while pulling out this beautiful black velvet bag. I glanced at my patient boyfriend, puzzled, but he had the most innocent expression on his face. In other words, his face said that he had no more clue about the bag than I did. I think I might have set it down on the table and just continued getting dressed if I wasn't such a sucker for velvet. Lol! I love how it feels.. and this bag was so cute and pretty. I just had to feel it. It never even registered what this all might mean until I suddenly felt a ring through the velvet. Jesse said my mouth dropped open. I think I said, "Oh my goodness..."

Jesse took the bag out of my fingers and pulled out the ring that was so much more beautiful in real life than it was in the pictures... and said, "Naomi, will you marry me?"

I said, "Yes."

He put the ring on my finger and kissed my hand.

I love Jesse. I love my fiancée. I love my future husband.
(They're all the same person.) (Yay!)

(Forgive the slight insanity of this post. I get giddy when I'm reallllyyyy excited.) (I'm reallllyyyyy excited.)

I am so thankful. :-)

Letter Writing -- Keep It Alive

The other day, I made myself sit down and hand write a note to a friend. When I was done, I sat back, smiled contentedly at my creation and wondered why it was such a struggle to sit down in the first place?

I love writing letters.

I love making words beautiful and snappy and readable. I love watching my personality unfold as line after line flows from my pen onto the paper. I love dashing off a sixteen page letter to my best friend about the things I'm struggling with... and crumpling it all up for the fire (most of the time, that is ;-)). And when I am so happy that I want to dance, well, all of those get sent. ;-)

But the past few months haven't been for letter writing. Most of the time I was out-of-this-world busy. The times I wasn't, I simply wanted to sit and veg.

I didn't realize how much I had missed it until yesterday, when I grabbed my letter writing makings and sat out on the deck in the evening sunlight. My friend had a baby earlier this year (her 5th) and sent me a birth announcement... which I was replying to. (Just a few months late!) I remember getting similar letters from her when each of her children were born... and some very sad letters when her son William went to be with Jesus. Further years back, I still have the letter she wrote to inform me of her engagement to her now husband... and somewhere in my stashed away belongings, her letters as a 17 yr. old girl, writing to an 8 yr. old me. 16 years of scribbled cards and paper and pictures. I could show you on one hand the times we've met during these years... but, believe me, the letters are slightly more numerous. She has been so faithful in her letter writing and her friendship to me.

When I am feeling a little lost and I'm counting the things that never change, she is listed among them.

Letter writing is in my blood because my Mama has always written letters. Even when she was really busy with all of us kids, I can see her sitting at the table, writing to her Grandpa and Grandma. (Btw, just so you know the type of woman my Mom is, once when her Grandma sent her a check for her birthday, she insisted that Mom spend it on herself and she also wanted feedback as to what Mom purchased. Lol!) So for me to have a big box of stationary and cards and my favorite pens is perfectly normal.

But the more I am around people, the more I realize how many people can't even sign their own names legibly. And letter writing? Let's not even go there. I'm not criticizing them. The age of computers and email and Facebook and Blogs are upon us. If I did not have a history of letter writing, would I? It's so easy to type on my laptop and connect with people over Facebook.

I love Facebook! I love my blogs. I love Gmail. :-) And I especially love Google. Hehe.

But they can never replace a letter in the mailbox. My Facebook notifier will never give me the thrill of slitting open an envelope and pulling out a hand written missive. Twelve emails in my Inbox will never embrace my senses with the sender's subtle scent. And while special emails may get Archived, they'll never end up in my special letter box.

How many people in the past few years have had the joy of opening their mail box and finding a big, fat, juicy letter addressed to them?

Here is a challenge: Once a week, write a note (it doesn't have to be a letter!) to someone. Ask how they're doing. What the weather has been like. What has been happening in your life. Something funny that happened to you in the past year. Remind them of an old memory you have together. Envelop them with your special scrawl and scent and thoughts.

Keep this art alive.

P.S. I'm going to try to keep my own challenge. ;-)

Just For Pleasure

http://kinsereventcompany.blogspot.com/

I just discovered this blog... haven't looked at it all yet, because it's huge. But I enjoyed what I did see and I thought other peoples might too. :-) :-)

Blog Recommendations

note: my apologies for the offensive link! It is now fixed and I highly recommend you brave ones to check it out. :-) I hope I haven't scared anyone off! Lol. :P Again, My apologies.

Since my internet time is so limited, I don't often leave comments but I do read several blogs. :-) I wanted to list some of my favorites...

My friend, Eppie, recently married, more recently pregnant and very, very funny. I love you, E!

www.mildlyamusingmusings.com

Another friend of mine pointed me to this blog and I appreciate her doing so. Jasmine has such a fun attitude towards life... but she's very deep, too. Her blog is a very good read.

www.joyfullyathome.blogspot.com

Bethany is also recently married. Her blog is full of photographs, scripture, happy thoughts and her signature [smile].

www.bloggingbeth.blogspot.com

My sister Lydia's blog. Other than the fact that Lydia is my sister, her blog is great fun to read. She has a unique perspective on life that makes me chuckle, shake my head and wonder alternately about her wisdom and stupidity.

www.gallopingguitarist.blogspot.com

Jessica and I have been friends since we first met... at the age of 13. Well, I was 12 and she was just 13. :-) I went to her wedding and have taken real joy in watching her family grow in the years since. :-)

www.testimonyofgrace.blogspot.com

My friend Cheri is a wonderful musician, photographer, blogger and seamstress... not to mention all of her other great qualities.

www.ajoyfulhandmaiden.blogspot.com

More interesting Stuff... ;-P

Our darling Dudley... after he finished making a complete mess out of our living room. ;-)

Summer plans:

1: Teaching at a children's camp in the month of July.

2: Helping at another children's camp for the next 6 days.

3: Attending first week of Kenosee Lake Kitchen Camp as a student.

4: Going to John Arcand's Fiddle Fest.

5: Attending second week of Kenosee Lake Kitchen Camp as a student.

Excepting Johnny's Fiddle Fest, our entire summer will be spent at one location. I've never been away from home/family for so long... the longest I've spent away from home was a little over three weeks. This is bordering on 2 months.

My biggest fear is that I will not be the best witness that I can be. The children we will working with are not church going children... they have been sponsored to attend this Bible Camp. It's going to be a challenge. :-) Last summer, the director of the camp came to me and my sisters and asked if we would be willing to teach the next summer. During the conversation, I had a strong feeling that this was what God wanted for me and it hasn't gone away since the moment I heard the request. That alone is amazing because it's not usual for me to feel so strongly about something being God's will. I prayed and others prayed about it and the details have been coming together...

So my fears are unfounded and my excitement is not. I can't wait to experience what God has planned!! :-D

We're making lists of stuff we need to purchase... I would really like to bring as little as possible but it's better to have too much than too little. I hate being away from home and running out of essentials. :-P

It feels good to be on the mend! We're still not 100% but I'm hoping that it will be so, soon. The symptoms from this virus seem to be of the tenacious sort. Some days, I'm good... other days, not so good. We are scheduled for music twice in the near future so we have been practicing each morning before school. Invariably, one of us will have to leave in the middle of a song because suddenly something comes and we can't breath and we're gagging, etc, etc. This morning it was me. :-P Lol. Ever since we've begun practicing, my lungs/back have been hurting quite a bit. It's not too bad but it's getting to where I'm having trouble getting comfortable in any position. However, I'm sure it will pass in time... I'll just have to keep busy to keep my mind off of it. I'm not sure what's happening inside that's making them hurt but I imagine that it's from them being cleared out after having this cold.

We had some 'exciting' times this week when my parents took Sara to the ER to get X-rays of her left ankle, which was very sore. There was literally no swelling... at least that we could tell... and little to no heat. But she was in a lot of pain for a couple days. You feel so helpless when you can't do anything to help. Even Baby Tylenol didn't work that well. :-P Anyway, the X-rays showed nothing was broken. They thought that she had bruised her ankle somehow (we're still wondering how it happened... maybe she slipped while pulling herself up on something?) and that it would simply take time to heal. Since then, she's been obviously in a lot less pain and is starting to put a little weight on it. Such a relief. I hate it when babies are in pain. I hate it when anyone is in pain but it seems worse with babies and young children because they can't tell you how it happened or what hurts, etc.

We have company today... For dinner, we're having fried chicken and mashed potatoes... with tapioca pudding for dessert. It's almost time so I will close this up and get it ready to go for tomorrow. Mom is going into Preeceville so I will have a bit of 'net time, hopefully. :-)

Oh yes. I was going to thank everyone who writes a comment. It makes my day to read what you have to say about my ramblings... In fact, I might even say “I blog for comments”. Lol! :-D Is that bad?

The Things That Go On In The Holter House.. and other interesting stuff

Last time I was able to get a connection, I posted three blog posts. I had gone for over a week without getting on the internet so I had been given time and inspiration for that much material. Lol! This time, I have at least two, maybe more. We shall see. I trust it's not overwhelming when I post more than one at a time. :-)

Our music went well the night of the 5th. The first song was the best. No mishaps with timing or anything like that. :-) Plus, with kids of all ages singing, it was pretty cute. Ruth (4) and Uriah (6) were big hits and people told me they could really hear their voices. I was quite pleased.

The second song, however, is a different story. We learned several very important lessons: Firstly, it's best if the musicians can hear each other. If you are playing back up for the fiddler and you can't hear the fiddler, it's called 'bad news'. Secondly, don't set loose sheet music on a playing piano. The vibrations of the instrument will make the music first fall onto your hands, then onto the floor, leaving the poor pianist moaning to herself, “Why didn't I memorize it?!” Indeed! Lol! But since I had played it a million times before and I was only accompanying, I was able to pull it off with only a few mistakes. ::sigh:: :-)

[Uriah (6) was making a huge fuss about his math. He kept insisting that he couldn't do it, no matter how much Mom and I tried to explain to him. Finally, Mom said if he didn't get it done in 15 minutes, there would be consequences. He was done in five. And (get this!) the answers were correct. :-P Kids. :-D]

Zeke celebrated his 11th birthday on the 9th and we had our nice ice-cream and pizza. My portion was eaten with you all in mind, so ::kisses::. :-D Happy birthday, Zeke.

I've been reading lots lately and watching some movies. Here are some titles:

Hunt for Red October (Tom Clancy) [definitely going to watch this movie someday. This book was excellent. I love it. Minus the language. :-) Great story, style, etc. I love Ryan and Jonesy best. President was fun, too. Not written from a Christian perspective.]

The Stone Maiden (Velda Johnson)

The Underground Stream (Velda Johnson) [both books were written in a timeless style that I love. I must say that I appreciated the former more than the other but I liked the mystery and storylines of both. Not written from a Christian perspective.]

And some of the movies I've been watching have been:

Amazing Grace (Ioan Gruffudd, Romola Garai, Ciaran Hinds, Rufus Sewell)

[I love this movie. It's like a documentary about William Wilberforce that's a movie. Very interesting, intense, moving, sweet. Great acting.]

Night At The Museum (Ben Stiller, Carla Gugino, Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, Robin Williams)

[One of the funniest movies I've ever seen. Made me get tears of laughter in my eyes. :-) It's a satire but it's sweet and has a moral at the same time. Really funny. Some minor language and references to evolution... but I must say, I thought they were making fun of belief in evolution.]

Riders of the Purple Sage (Ed Harris, Amy Madigan, Henry Thomas)

[I've seen Henry Thomas act in three westerns and in each, he was my favorite character. Lol! This movie is based on Zane Grey's book. Very nicely acted with a great story and mystery. Love the horse stuff. :-)]

The Nativity Story (Keisha Castle-Hughes, Oscar Isaac, Hiam Abbass, Shaun Toub)

[I thought this movie well done. Well acted certainly and they stuck fairly close to the Bible. There were a couple things that made me go “Yeah, right.” (sarcasm helps some things go down easier ;-)) But I thought for a biblical movie, they did fairly well. :-) I do advise you to go see it.]

Does anyone have any good biblical films they could recommend? Usually they seem to take liberties with the story, therefore missing important things. :-P That being said I haven't watched many biblical films.

Hannah and I are on a committee from church that's organizing an evening called, “Ladies Time Out”. Each year's theme is different and this year, it's The 50's. It's basically going to be an evening for all the ladies in the community to come and hear about God while having a fun and enlightening evening. I'm quite excited about it. :-) We're trying to stay away from buying anything more than we have to so we're trying to keep our eyes open for costumes, magazines, cookbooks, decorations, etc that we borrow (or be given) from that era. Anybody have old Reminisce magazines they would be willing to send to me? We need ideas for costumes, etc.

Do you remember that post I wrote about the Jehovah's Witnesses that came to our door? The old gentleman who came from Hungary, who was telling me about the horrors of WW1? He had a stroke not long ago and isn't looking too good. There might be just a chance that he can think and reason and be convicted... please pray for him as you are led.

[At the children's group we help with at church, the teacher was asking the kids what things we could do to obey our parents. Then she asked them to tell, without names, some things people have done that were disobedient. Right away, a little boy named Dylan (5) piped up, “My Dad--” and was promptly cut off with, “No names!” He sat silently for several minutes as other children said their pieces, then he began, obviously thinking really hard, “My mother's husband...”]

I hope you all have had a great week so far and that the next will be full of joy! God bless and stay warm. :-) :-)

P.S. I recently learned that green was Napoleon Bonaparte's favorite color. I knew there was a reason I liked that color. :-P :-D