We just had the most wonderful week with my cousin and his wife. Adrian & Laura were such fun to have around.
You can see what a joy Adrian is!And his wife, Laura, is equally delightful
They are DeAngelis (my maiden name) “of angels” – apropos!!
They visited Great Falls, MT on their way from CA to us and now…
They are spending a week in Yellowstone
We enjoyed the Ennis Rodeo and fabulous July 4 parade
We were privileged to watch the parade from dear friends, Roy & Barbara Washburn’s lovely place. Such gracious, generous people!
That’s Roy with us. After the parade downtown we had our own kiddie parade in our neighborhood. Adorable children & great neighborhood fun!Before Adrian & Laura left for Yellowstone, they prepared our last night’s dinner (homemade pasta and bolognese sauce. Delicious!) and we had the neighbors join us. It was a marvelous culmination to a beautiful week together.
In my devotional, “When God Thinks of You, He Smiles,” the message fit perfectly for us today. I was invited to “Think of a time when God rescued you.” Yesterday I mourned the loss of one of our beautiful big evergreen trees. It blew over in a 50 mph wind storm. God heard my unspoken pleas. Obviously Bob & I needed help cutting up and removing that fallen spruce. We didn’t have time to think about that task before three different friends reached out and offered to come and help us. It was certainly something they (and for sure God) knew we could not do ourselves. Our bodies just lack that capability at the ripe age of 87!
So, that tree that once stood at least 20 feet tall snapped off right at its base… and lay there Sunday pathetically waiting to be removed… and dear friends came Monday to cut it up. A big job for two men with chain saws, a pick up and a borrowed trailer. Took three trips to the dump to get most of it removed. Tomorrow the rest will go and the trailer will be returned to the generous owner. We are so blessed to have such caring, capable friends!
The devotional this morning began with, “God’s love leads Him to do more for us than we can envision.” Certainly the Godly servants of the Lord that He sent our way did more than I could envision.
The message went on to say, “No matter how often you need Him, He will always be there. Trust in Him, for He is faithful and true.”
Thank You, God, for rescuing us. I do trust in You. Thank You for sending Your beloved followers to help us. We delight in You.
My devotional says, “When God thinks of you, He smiles.” Well, guess what, when I think of God, I smile.
This is the anniversary of our pup, Owen’s death. I posted “A Day from Hell” in my blog. So many dear friends wrote, called, came to offer condolences and support.
A different kind of death
Yesterday we had a different kind of death here. One of our beautiful evergreens succumbed to the 50 mph winds. It was 25 years old. Looked healthy on the outside, but when it blew over, it was revealed that there seemed to be no root structure to hold it. Hmmm … how had it survived all those years?
Even with roots, a tree can be toppled.
But that tree was young and immature.
Life can be like that. Young, immature, lacking a sufficient root system.
So today I mourn our tree, our loss of Owen, but most of all the loss of friends’ young sons.
Two of our friends lost 30 year old sons to suicide this past month. No tree or dog can compare. It’s an unimaginable sorrow. My heart goes out to those families.
Monday mourning
God bless you. May your life be deeply rooted in love and purpose.
Hugs, JanBeek (with my life’s love … thank you, Bob… I am so blessed!)
Here we are at a recent amazing Pittsburgh Pirates game.
Visiting Marcie meant being able to share time with her daughter Stacey, son-in-law Jeff, & grandchildren. Such a privilege! Jeff & Marcie showed us around the area and treated us like royalty. Stacey & Jeff treated us to dinner in their lovely home! We feel totally loved!
The friendship, the children, the scenery and gorgeous hospitality all are beyond wonderful!Thank You, Marcie!
What a treat to travel up to Signal Mountain and Lookout Mountain and see the homes & vistas up there!
Our son, Ty in CA, and our daughter, De in Switzerland , combined forces and bought us a gift certificate for Mother’s Day to one of our favorite Bozeman, Montana restaurants: Dave’s Sushi. Today we used it with great delight!
Mmm … a Bliss roll for me and a John Wayne for Bob.
Who do you think enjoyed theirs more??
Cheers! My Bliss roll was magnificent! But we both equally enjoyed the house red … a delightful blend.
Look at those sushi rolls again.
Beef on sushi!? Not my choice. But Bob loved it.
And we had enough left on our gift certificate to give Thomas , our terrific waiter, a nice tip.
Thank you, Thomas. Thank you, kids! We’re so glad you made me a mother!!
Now tomorrow we’re headed to Chattanooga. Stay tuned, my blogging friends. I’ll let you travel along vicariously.
We’re praying for warmer weather in Tennessee. It’s been a crazy May here in Montana. Today we had gray breezes, restless puffy clouds, snow, rain, and then bright sunny skies…. All within 5 hours in Bozeman. Crazy!!!
Hope your day was beautiful and you had (have) that kind of helpful mother (I did!)And I am blessed with this very loving helpful son and…… these two very sweet, helpful, loving daughters.
We live in a beautiful place with a beautiful view and wonderful neighbors.
Our property has about 4 acres and in the center of those is where our house sits surrounded by 13 evergreen trees.
The lawn and trees require a lot of care to keep the trees healthy year round and the sprinkler system working in the spring, summer and fall.
This is the time of year when turning the sprinklers back on and repairing broken ones and adjusting the direction of the water’s flow has to happen.
We couldn’t possibly do all this by ourselves.
Thank God for the helpful guys in our “hood” who volunteer their services annually because without their help, I’m sure we would find it very difficult to live here!