Monday, March 29, 2010

My Week in Review

I did not get out for pictures last week, like I wanted to. Tulips are blooming and I really have to go take pictures. Maybe tomorrow.

Instead, for today, I have pictures of craft morning at Grammas. Clear glasses and a vase, torn tissue paper and modge podge equals big mess and happy Grands.
Finished projects: #1 by Elizabeth (#6314) 9 years old. #2 by Abigail (#6415) 7 years old. #3 by Jonah (6518) 5 years old and #4 by Darius (#1419) 2 years old. Now I have lots of glue to clean up:) Olivia (#3317) made one last week, but I failed to take a picture of it.I did get a hat made last week, using up the remaining yarn from a skein of yarn Debbie donated to me. I was able to get two adult size and one child size hat from it. Thanks again Debbie.
The tights are sized for Newborn to 3 months. I found the pattern on Ravelry. A designer called Chopped Tomatoes. They were super easy to make and are so very cute. I used stash sock yarn for them. I think next time I make them, I will use a better quality so they are a bit softer.

Remember all of my knits are for sale to benefit my friends in Tanzania. You can contact me through my blog or e-mail. Great Baby Shower and Birthday gifts!! And Christmas is just 8 months away. Not to soon to get an order in :)

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Update on Baby Grace

I went to my friends house for prayer meeting on Friday. We try to get together every Friday to pray for the world, Africa, and Congo in particular. They told me what happened to baby Grace.
She was about two months old. It seems the people in the Refugee Camp (Naryagusu) that they live in have been having problems with some type of parasite. Rebecca told me that they have told them that they have big bugs coming out of their throats. Baby Grace had gotten a severe stomach ache and her mommy took her to the Red Cross, they do not have a hospital, and they treated her but she continued to worsen so they took her to a dispensary hoping to get better treatment but she died the following day.
When she died, they were not actually in the camp. It seems that the other grandmother is still living in Congo and she had become very ill so her daughter and two other women made the trip into Congo to care for her. All three of the women had infant babies that they carried with them.
I tried to put this trip into perspective, as I am planning a trip to Washington DC this summer. First these women hired some men with bicycles to ride them to the border of Tanzania and Burundi. I think they are about 50 miles from the Burundi border. From the border they found a car to drive them to the Burundi, Congo border and from there they took a boat across to Congo.
I am planning to fly to Washington DC, but what if...........I had to ride my bike from my home to Montana, then find someone who was willing to give me a ride to Ohio and from there possibly find some other mode of transportation to get to Washington. I just wouldn't do it, I am sure.
They definitely do live a life totally different from ours. We are so blessed in this country, and it is a Blessing we have come to expect and not totally appreciate. One more thing to focus on during this most Holy of Holy weeks.

Friday, March 26, 2010

As we continue to worry and fight over Healthcare,

This is the letter I received from my friend Msoshi.

He is whom I traveled to Tanzania with. Please continue with me to keep the people of The Congo in prayer.

SISTER EVY,

MY WIFE REBEKA AND I ARE SO SORRY TO TELL THAT,

OUR GRANDDAUGHTER , MAYUNGA' S DAUGHTER PASSED AWAY

LAST NIGHT IN CONGO BARAKA, HER IS NGENA [ GRACE]

WE ARE SO SORRY TO TELL TAHT!!

YOURS IN CHRIST MSOSHI MILENDE.

Monday, March 22, 2010

My week in no particular order

Some left over sock yarn that I am knitting baby tights out of. Looks kind of funny here, but I guarantee it does work. These are newborn size.
The next pair I am going to go up a needle size. These seem to be a bit tight, but they are still turning out very cute. I am using 100% washable wool. (Wendy, do you recognize the yarn?)
Itty Bitty Baby Booties
Made from a blend of bamboo & wool.
Me and my shadow out on a sunny day. I wanted to go look for blooming tulips in the fields, but the shadow balked.
Another eagles nest. If you click on the photo and enlarge it, you can actually see the eagle sitting inside the nest watching me. It is illegal to get to close to a nest, and I do not have a strong enough lens to capture just the nest and the eagle. I zoomed it in as closely as I could.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

MY Heart is



Broken. I can hardly wait for November 2010.
Tomorrow I will call the office of John Koster and see what I can do to insure he replaces Rick Larsen.
We all need to get busy. There is no reason to bend over and grab our ankles, even if that is how we feel right now.
Defeat EVERY Democrat in November. RETIRE THEM!!!

Pelosi seems to think she is the queen and we are the peons. I get the impression that if she thought she could, she would quote Marie Antoinette and tell us to eat cake. She above all needs to be retired.
As I listened to this travesty take place today, my heart continued to break. I feel like it is a million little pieces. They know exactly what they are doing and they have no remorse at all. They are the enemy of the free world!!!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

For all of you who wish you were

Irish, I say Happy St. Patrick's Day.
For those of us who have the distinct privilege of being born Irish, I say Every Day is St. Patrick's Day:)

Monday, March 15, 2010

Week of March 7, 2010

For some reason I did not take any pictures of my week. Guess it was just to mundane. Same ole same ole every day. However, I did buy a couple of books this week.I started the Son of Hamas first. I am only in a few pages, but I am finding it very informative and interesting. What a difficult decision for a young man to make. Even knowing the Truth as he came to know it, he still had to make the decision that has estranged him from his family.
I am also looking forward to reading Karl Rove's book. I am finding him to be a man who stands firm on his convictions.
Tricia called me on Saturday night and told me she needed a box of happiness. I cannot show you what is in it, because then the happiness will escape. One little hint though. Soy Vay. Will mail this today.
I have finished all of my special orders for now so I was able to do some other knitting Remember everything I make is available and the proceeds do go towards helping to build the church for my friend Mwenebolongo. This yarn was generously donated to me by my friend Debbie at Useful Hands and Heart. With her generous donation, the full amount of sale goes to the fund. She sent me enough yarn to knit for a year, I am sure. All three of these hats are 100% wool. The two little ones fit a baby 6 month and the brown one is adult size. You know how to contact me if you are interested. Remember it will be only a few months before the cold weather hits us again.
I also have this very nice Tennis bag left here by an exchange student. She told me she does not want me to send it to her, and I want it out of my closet so......if you want it

You may have it. Just pay for the shipping and it is yours.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Blog Trotters, Welcome to Washington State

The Evergreen State. Washington was the 42 State to be admitted to the Union on November 11, 1889. It is the only State to be named after a President. The Puget Sound area, where I make my home has an average of 39 inches of rain a year. People think we have one of the heaviest rainfalls in the nation, but with the exception of the Peninsula that is not true. We may have steady continuous rain for days on end, but we rarely have the downpours that other States have.
Washington is divided into three regions. The Peninsula, Puget Sound area and East of the Mountains. That would be the Cascade Mountains. The East side of the State is a dryer and more desert like climate. It's main industry is Orchards. We grow more apples than any other state as well as peaches, cherries, nectarines, pears, grapes. I almost forgot, the East side has become rather famous for their wineries also.
Washington is the only State that I know of that you can go snow skiing in the morning and water skiing in the afternoon.

The town I live in is Arlington. It originated on the banks of the Stillaguamish River, but had to move to higher ground sometime in its history. When I moved here about 27 years ago, it was not unusual to see horses being ridden down the middle of the street. As well as some farmer driving his tractor downtown too.
The two pictures taken here are of the main street. The first one looking South and the second looking North. From one end to the other is less than one mile. The early industry in our area was logging. It then switched to Dairy Farming. That sadly, is no longer profitable and one of our last Dairies has sold their land to the city for parks. We are now a bedroom community, with many of our residents traveling to Seattle which is about 40 miles South of us for work. They also commute to Everett which is about 15 miles South of us. When my husband and I moved here the town had about 3,000 residents. Today there is closer to 16,000 residents.

To the West of me about 15 miles is the Puget Sound. Home of many species of marine life, from the majestic whale to the smallest of hermit crabs. We are known around the world for our salmon.
I had to include this picture because of the Bald Eagle flying over the waters. Probably looking for fish.
I love sunset pictures, so I had to include one. Some interesting facts about the Sound are that it covers 2458 square miles, has 2500 miles of shoreline and ranges in depth from an average of 450 feet to the deepest point of 930 feet. Puget Sound is a salt water waterway and connects to the Pacific Ocean by the Strait of Juan de Fuca which forms the boundary between Canada and the Peninsula area of our State.


We have some of the most beautiful mountains in the States. Unlike mountains in the East, our mountains are relatively young. They are steep and sometimes treacherous. Pictured here is Mt. Baker in October. Before the Winter snows arrive. She usually receives at least 180 inches of snow in a winter season. Her record is 1140 inches. Mt. Baker reaches 10,778 feet into the sky and is the 4th tallest mountain in the Cascade Range.
We also have many beautiful Glacier fed lakes. This one was so clear we could see all the way to the bottom. At least 25 feet straight down right at the shore. In fact Washington State has more glaciers than any other of the 47 contiguous states combined.
I just had to throw this one in for the effect. This is Darius, my youngest grand enjoying a handful of Mt. Huckleberries. If I tempt you to continue reading me, you will notice I generally have a number beside my grandchild's name when I write about him or her. Darius' number is 1419, meaning he is my first child's fourth child and my 19th grandchild.

To the South of me about 90 miles is the Majestic Mt. Ranier. The highest point in Washington State at 14,441 feet. When I checked for annual snowfall, I got a wide range of numbers from as low as 333 inches to a record of 1122 inches. Almost all of the mountains in the Cascade Mountain range are considered active. You may remember Mt. St. Helens blowing her stack on May 18, 1980.
To the Northeast of me is Whitehorse Mountain. She is actually almost out my back door. She is small in comparison to other mountains in the Cascade range reaching only 6840 feet into the sky.
On the Peninsula, you will find the Ho Rain Forest. It is one of the rainiest points in the world, averaging between 141 and 165 inches a year. It is also the only Rain Forest in the Continental United States.
As you look at the picture above of the Boeing Plant in Everett, you will see the largest building in the world. It covers 98.3 acres. Each of those blue sections is a door into the plant, large enough to take a plane into. Currently they have been working on the new 787 Dreamliner, which they took up just this year. The plant was originally built so Boeing could build the 747.
No visit to Washington State would be complete without a visit to the Space Needle built for the Worlds Fair in 1962.
Or a visit to the World Famous Starbucks.
This picture was taken on a Summer Family Hike to the Denny Creek area on Snoqualmie Pass in the Cascade Mountains.
This is why I call myself Gramma2Many. Pictured here are all of my children, most of the spouses, myself and my husband. As well as all but two of my grandchildren and one boyfriend.
This is one of our favorite family summertime activities.....hiking.

I hope you enjoyed your visit to Washington State. I wish I had more time to show you the rest of the State. We just scratched the surface. Be sure to let me know if you plan to visit my area, I would love to show you around. If you have enough time to sit a spell, I could even throw a salmon on the barbecue.

Edit: My son told me that I was wrong about who was on this hike. I am missing Gina and three of her five children. Sorry it was very late when I finally got this written and posted.
Children: 6
Grandchildren:19

My friend

Diane went home to be with the Lord this morning. We have been friends since we were 12 years old and I was the new girl in school.
She and her husband were skiing in Oregon last week when she suffered a massive stroke. Her second one. This time she was not able to defeat it.
We did not get to see one another often because of distance, but when we were together, we would pick up just like it was yesterday.
I am sitting here at my table typing this, looking out my window at the birds. Watching them feed at my feeder and listening to them as they sing. Life continues, I will go on with my day, I will care for Olivia and go through my daily chores. Yet my friend Willard will spend today driving home and thinking about his lovely wife, making plans for her. His day came to a standstill for a while.
Rest in peace my dear friend. I love you and will miss you dearly. Til we meet at the feet of Jesus..........

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

An update on my sister

Susan had an MRI last week. The results were about the best we could ever hope for. Note I said about, not the best. Her cancer was caught at a very early stage and has not moved into any other part of her body. She is opting for a mastectomy over a lumpectomy as she does not want to deal with chemo or radiation. She is currently waiting for an appointment with the Plastic Surgeon to go over options for reconstruction.
Guess, I could let her tell you herself. As she posted on Facebook. I can tell you we are thanking and praising God for his mercy. What an awesome God we serve:)

The MRI came back with no spread of the cancer. It is localized in a small area of the right breast. I now have an appointment on Thursday to speak to a pastic surgeon about doing reconstructive surgery immediately following the mastecomy. I have chosen full mastectomy so that I don't have to have any radiation or chemo. They can even use your own body fat for reconstruction. Hmm bye bye spare tire ;-)



Monday, March 8, 2010

Another week gone

I love kites. I snapped this picture of a kite the neighbor kids were flying behind my house.
Arlington High School Jazzmine performance. My grandson Darian #2105 is directly over the soloists right shoulder.
This is a select group of kids who have to audition to be in the class. Darian has been in since he was a freshman. He graduates this year. He has been the main bass player for the four years, but his real passion is singing. This was their final performance of the school year. Now they will be going to regionals in California with their eyes and hearts on Nationals of course.
Can't tell you how much I love
Spring!!
Elizabeth #6314 and Abby #6315
helping Gramma get at least one layer of Winter crud off of her car.
A special order finished.
The suns' reflection on the clouds
to the East of me.
While the it was setting
to the West of me.
Thank you to my daughter Karyn for always keeping her eyes open for usable yarn when she is out junking.
And to Debbie for answering my plea for yarn to use for my project. There are lots of hats, mittens and socks in this box. Maybe even a little sweater or two.
And now it is off to my mothers for the morning.

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