Sorry I've been lazy

What - you say? You haven't updated your blog in a very long time.! You think???? It's only been about 2 1/2 months. Don't even have a valid excuse other than I guess I just haven't done it. Now that I know there are a few people who check it periodically, I'm going to try to keep this thing going - one way or another. Please bare with me!!!

By the way, in case I don't get around to doing it before Christmas - MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone!

Birthday Party Time

My, how time flies. Madison turned 7 on October 3 and Annie will turn 4 on November 17. Kristi and Jeremy hosted a combined birthday party at the bounce place where 26 little children and their parents came to celebrate the girls birthday. A very organized evening, lots of bouncing, cake, ice cream and presents (lots of presents). A great evening for the birthday girls.

Fall 2008

Here it is Fall. Where did the summer go???? Don't misunderstand me - I love Fall, as long as the sun shines and it's not freezing but I know what follows - winter, snow and cold and that's the part I don't like. In Michigan however, we are truly blessed to have four seasons of beauty so with the beauty - it helps a bit to be able to endure it all.

So, here we go into another season - and with each season I ask myself what changes are going to take place with my life. Only God knows for sure - I just wait for Him to direct. Sure does make life purposeful and exciting.

The pics are of the guys on their last golf outing together for 2008. Dad, Brandon (my nephew), Jeremy (my son-in-law) and Eric (my son) set out on a beautiful Sunday afternoon to enjoy the Greystone Golf Course.

Long Distance Family - it's hard!!

I think, when we're with those whom we love very much and see all the time we take that time for granted. I'm trying hard to always appreciate and cherish the time I have with Kristi, Jeremy, Madison, Annie, Eric, my mom and dad and my precious mother-in-law as well as other extended family that live right here and I see all the time. For those that aren't here, missing them??? You bet.!! It's the moments that you see pictures of them, hear them over the phone or see them on the webcam that really get difficult. In my family I have Todd, Letty, Mikayla (9), Travis (8), Austin (3) and our unborn newest one that will arrive in November living in North Carolina. Then there is Jeff, Val, Janelle (7 this month) and Isaac (3) who live in New Jersey. And now our latest separation, Jessica. Jessica has already become an important part of our family. Her and Eric have been together for almost a year and she fits in just fine! Jessica has decided to go to Western Michigan in Kalamazoo, MI to finish up her degree and even though I know that she will be coming home once in awhile, she's not only missed by Eric but by me! (I think Madison and Annie miss her, too)

So what do we do?? I think we pray alot, have moments of sadness, lots of tears and times of dreaming about when we will be together again. The old saying of "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" is so true. When we do reunite, we build more memories and cherish the time that we have together.

Some of the pictures that I've posted are from Valerie when they went down and visited with Todd's family last week. I sure did appreciate getting them.

Wii games

If you have a Wii system, then you know how vigerating and addicting it can be. I've come to the conclusion that they should have named it something else because it doesn't take a wii bit of time to play it. It's downright fun and once you start playing, you can't stop. I have to tell myself I can only play it at night when I've accomplished all that I need to do. (yeah right!) At least I can use the excuse that my doctor has highly recommended it for my MS. Ummmm, do you think it can be a tax write off? (lol) Really, the doctor told me that!

Time flies so fast

Here it is Labor Day, September 1, 2008 already. Where did the summer go???? My family and closest friends know how much I am dreading the change of seasons. Although I do love fall with the beautiful trees that change their color, the smell of the air, apple cider, apple pie and apple orchards, candles burning with the apple scent, schedules getting back to normal (whatever normal is) etc. I do dread what follows fall. WINTER!!!! Winter is not a favorite season because of the cold which affects my health, icy roads which keeps me homebound more and no sun. (although I will admit the snow can be beautiful)

This year I am offering a Bible study in my home to a group of women entitled "There is a Season" and one of the chapters is called "Rejoicing in Every Season". Now mind you, this is not referring to the seasons of weather but the seasons in my life. However, I got to thinking abut that chapter title and I thought how I need to rejoice in every weather season also. God does not want me only to be happy and productive in the kinds of weather that I like, He wants me to be a doer for Him all the time. "For if anyone is a bearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But the one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful bearer, but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does." James 1:23-25

May God be with us and bless us as we carry out His mission no matter what the season of weather is or what our season of life is.

Sharing my prayer:

I thank You for this day, I thank You for my being able to see and to hear this morning. I'm blessed because You are a forgiving God and an understanding God. You have done so much for me and You keep on blessing me. Forgive me this day for everything I have done, said or thought that was not pleasing to you.

I ask now for Your forgiveness. Please keep me safe from all danger and harm. Help me to start this day with a new attitude and plenty of gratitude. Let me make the best of each and every day to clear my mind so that I can hear from You. Please broaden my mind that I can accept all things. Let me not whine and whimper over things I have no control over. And give me the best response when I'm pushed beyond my limits.

I know that when I can't pray, You listen to my heart. Continue to use me to do Your will. Continue to bless me that I may be a blessing to others.

Keep me strong that I may help the weak....Keep me uplifted that I may have words of encouragement for others. I pray for those that are lost and can't find their way. I pray for those that are misjudged and misunderstood. I pray for those who don't know You intimately. I pray for those that don't believe.

But I thank You tha I believe that God changes people and God changes things. I pray for all my sisters and brothers. For each and every family member in their households. I pray for peace, love and joy in their homes; that they are out of debt and all their needs are met.

I pray that every eye that reads this knows there is no problem, circumstance or situation greater than God. Every battle is in Your hands for You to fights.

I pray that these words be received into the hearts of every eye that sees it in Jesus' name. Amen!

Travis will be 8

The grandkids are getting so big, so fast. Saturday, August 9, our Travis will turn 8 years old - where has the time gone. Travis lives in North Carolina with Todd and Letty, Mikayla, his sister and Austin, his brother. Can't tell you how much I don't like having my grandkids live so far. I just don't feel that I get to really know them and they don't get to know me.

Happy 21st Birthday, Eric

Can't believe it - the last of my children, my baby is turning 21 tomorrow (Friday, the 11th). For his birthday, Jessica (Eric's girlfriend) planned a surprise get together with 17 of us down at Comerica Park - and they WON!!!! What a great game and a fun time together and to top it off, Eric was totally surprised at all of us being there. Happy birthday Eric!!!

Pictures coming soon!

In the slideshow - the only person missing from the pictures is Kristi and that's probably because she was taking some of the pictures. In the one picture of the scoreboard - Jessica had a Happy 21st Birthday, Eric Gehrke greeting. The pic is blurry because I was shouting Happy Birthday as I was taking the picture - can't keep me down.

By the way....

The pictures in the slideshow of the dried twigs and such are the items that we used for an egg drop. The boys decided the egg drop would be our family activity this year and the only items we could use were things of nature. The eggs that were cradled in the twigs were dropped from the third floor where we stay. No one was able to keep the egg from cracking. No winners this year. But we did draw a crowd.

Talking about drawing a crowd, Jeremy and Jeffrey threw a huge rubber spider up in the tree and controlled it's movement with a fishing wire. When people would walk by, they would lower it. Some were real frightened, others just laughed. It was quite funny to watch.

That's the Gehrke family for 'ya.

Can't believe the week is done

The time at Maranatha goes by so very quickly. Now, we're all settled back in our homes catching up on laundry and item put aways. Jeffrey drove straight home to New Jersey - leaving at around 3:00 on Friday and arriving NJ 4:00 a.m. Saturday. Those of us l0cal families, arrived home at around 4:00 p.m. Saturday. Praise the Lord that this year with all the travels to and from Maranatha as well as all the activites at Maranatha - no one got hurt!

I'm so thankful for a place such as Maranatha where you can get away from the ratrace of life and spend time with the Lord as well as spending great time with your family. We're booked for next year and are already anticipating it.

Baseball Camp - Eric drove back from home on Thursday in order to play the "dad's" game on Friday. He played as catcher and then batted the last couple of bats. WOW!!! 1st time up he hit a home run off of baseball pro Brian Hummel. I think he was pretty impressed with himself as was Jessica and myself as we watched.

Maranatha 2008

What a week! The weather has been cooler than normal, but the fun with the family, the great lessons from the speaker, John Guest and the Missions project, Urban Impact has been fantastic. This year has been a different one - Todd and his family were not able to come, Jennifer (my niece) is in Alabama working as a counselor, Eric has a full-time job and doesn't have his year in yet for vacation time so he only came up on the weekends, Ken (brother-in-law) only stayed to Tuesday, nephew Derek and his girlfriend came up on Monday and will leave on Friday, and Jeffrey and his family will leave on Friday. Whew!!!!! What a week! Can't wait for Maranatha 2009.

Father's Day - 2008

Can't believe that on Friday, June 13 (just two days ago) we had our tenth anniversary of Mike's homegoing to eternity. The time has flown by so very quickly and so much as happened in all of our lives that we wished Mike could have been here for. Weddings, graduations and grandbabies are among the good things that we wish he could have smiled with us about. Health diagnosis, tours overseas, accidents, the way the world is and other things are among those that we wished he could have been here to cry with us. We all miss him so very much and speak of him often. We are very thankful, though, that we know where he is right now, rejoicing and praising our heavenly father in the heavens and someday soon, we will meet up with Mike and will also spend our eternity praising God, too. What about you? Do you know if you were to die tomorrow where you will spend eternity? I pray that you do. If by chance you're not sure, I would love to speak to you and show you The Way! Please give me a call - my phone number has not changed.

As a memorial to Mike and something that we've done for years is to go to the cemetary on Father's Day. We stop at the local "White Castle" (Mike's favorite), pick up a few burgers, take our chairs and sit at the grave site remembering. For those of you that knew Mike well, you know that he loved those sliders and that it became a family tradition of seeing which of the boys (including Mike) could eat the most at one sitting. The funny thing is that just back a few years ago, Kristi actually beat out Eric - so I guess it wasn't just a "male" thing. Most year's when we do this, it's only Kristi, Jeremy, the girls, Eric and I since the others live out of state and are not home usually for Father's Day. They are missed as we share this special time.

Anyways, we have now entered a new decade without Mike and it will be interesting to see how God leads. I look forward to seeing how God works out His plan through us.

A family update: Todd is still in the Marine Corp - a lifer. He and his family reside in Jacksonville, NC where he is crew chief for the V-22 Osprey. They are expecting child #4 in November. Jeffrey is still in the Coast Guard and is also a lifer. He and his family live Cape May, NJ where he is an instructor for new recruits. He had an accident a month or so ago and lost part of his left thumb. He is doing well though. Kristi and her family are here locally in Clinton Township. They are doing well. Eric is still at home and is working full time job at Exco Extrusions. (same kind of work that Mike used to do). Eric will be 21 in a couple of weeks and has a pretty steady girlfriend that he is quite serious about. I'm still working with CBMC part-time at home and loving it. Doing well physically - good days/bad days and the meds they've given me seem to be helping for the most part.

Thank you to everyone who has stood by us and supported us the past ten years. I've had to go through a lot of things that I never thought I'd ever have to go through in my life and I'm thankful for God's peace and for the friends that He has given to us.

Seven beautiful grandchildren

I miss so much that I can't write about all my grandchildren. This long distance grandparenting is the pits!!!! Here's the last pic I have of all of them together.

Grandgirls Dance Recital

Saturday night was the annual dance recital for Madison and Annabelle. It was so much fun to watch their accomplishments in dancing. They both did a great job and seemed to enjoy doing it.

Because the other grandchildren live out of state, I don't get as much information on what they are involved in. When I get the information and pics, I will add it to the blog.

Memorial Day 2008

Memorial Day - what does it mean to you? I know for me it was a day Mike had off work and the kids had off school so it would be time to get the yard ready for summer. We did have one tradition that everyone seemed to enjoy though and that was each and every Memorial Day - rain or shine - we got the grill going on the patio in the morning and smelt up the neighborhood with our famous Memorial Day breakfasts. Lots of bacon and sausage, eggs, pancakes and of course the old familiar Mario Creme Sticks. Many times we would have guests join us for this luscious meal. Following the meal, the yard work began.
The past few years Memorial Day has changed it's meaning for me. Yes, I still like to do the breakfast - in fact tomorrow Eric and Jessica will be here with me sharing in our old tradition and yes I'll probably do a little work here and there, but throughout the day my thoughts are with the servicemen who are fighting for what rights we still have. Being that I have two sons, Todd - United States Marine Corp - currently stationed in North Carolina and has been over to Iraq 2 times and Jeffrey - United States Coast Guard Homeland Security - stationed in Cape May, NJ. each day their lives can be endangered and yet they are willing to continue to serve their country.
While Todd was serving in Iraq he lost a couple of very good buddies and I have wept with him over this. That is what Memorial Day means - Freedom for us as others lose their lives. And, lest we forget - our veterans and the years that they have served and the lives they saw lost, and how their lives today must go on.
I'm thankful for my sons who are willing to serve as well as all those who serve in the United States Marines, Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard. May God bless them and keep them safe.

Old Bethel Friends Night Out

The Menopause Musical - absolutely hysterical. But, oh what fun to see it with old friends.

Softball Season 2008

Well, here we go. A beautiful day last Saturday - let the tournaments begin! Eric's team won one and lost two. Because it's a two game elimination - they were done by 4:15. Better luck next week! Last year they were champs - this year hoping for the same!

A day at the zoo

Spent the first full day of nice weather at the Detroit Zoo with the Kristi, Madison, Annabelle and great-grandpa & grandma. What a fine day it was! Had to rent an electric scooter so that I could make the whole zoo - but I did it!

Spring is in the Air

Well, Michigan is finally feeling like springtime is arriving. Along with spring in our household, comes softball season. Like about 3 games are played each week as well Saturday all day tournaments. Surprise, surprise - the first tournament was to be played in Canton on Saturday, April 12 and it was rained out - go figure! Oh well, there's always next week at Liberty in Warren.

Announcement

April - and finally warmer weather! Soon it will be summer and wonderful swimming time. Can't wait. I don't ever remember a winter seeming like it would never end - but the end is near. I realize this is Michigan and anything is possible, in fact we'll probably get more snow and cold weather yet, but for now I'll be thankful for this warmer weather.

A NEW BABY COMING!!! - Todd and Letty are expecting their fourth child in November. This will make my 8th grandchild. Praise the Lord and praying for a healthy baby. The kids are all excited about their new little brother or sister coming.

A trip down to Atlanta, GA

WOW!!! Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the CBMC (Christian Business Men's Connection) leadership conference that was held down in Rome, GA - just out side of Atlanta. What a fantastic week of spiritual teaching and encourgement as well as ministry leadership training. I have so much information to share with my men at tomorrow's meeting. The conference was held at the WinShape Retreat Center which is a unique setting of all redone buildings that used to be a dairy farm. What a beautiful place with such good service. It is a retreat center that is used primarily for get away marriage retreats and is owned and run by Christians. A quiet surrounding with great food and time allowed to be with God. But the greatest news of all - we flew out of Atlanta, GA late Thursday night - about 20 hours before the big storms hit. Praise the Lord!
Where's God sending me next???

What A Scare!

Last night was my first experience with carbon monoxide leakage. Scared me to death when the alarm went off in my apartment last night telling me there was an emergency and I needed to evacuate. Stumbling around like a dummy and wondering what I should do - I called 9-1-1. and the fireman came out. Prior to them coming out my meter showed it was 41 p.p.m. in here and at least I had enough sense to open the doors and windows so by the time they came, the numbers had lowered to 15. The result - shut the furnace off - faulty furnace!!! Now it's dealing with the management about getting the furnace replaced. I got to say - I am so thankful that the apartment complex installed these type of smoke/carbon monoxide alarms because my personal one never went off. (guess who's getting a call in the morning?) I'm told, if it wouldn't have gone off - I probably wouldn't have been here in the morning. The levels of 41+ were lethal and very dangerous. Thankfully, the only symptons I had were an extremely dry mouth and a slight headache. If I wouldn't have had the alarm go off, the symptons are dizziness, fatigue, headache, nausea and confusion and all of those I get just because of the MS. I for sure would have ignored them. So, the morals of this story is: 1) if you don't have a working Carbon Monoxide meter, get one TODAY and 2) Again, God isn't done with me yet - because I'm still here - Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the plans I have for you....." (thus my blog name)

P.S. Just got a call - a new furnace is being installed tomorrow morning (Praise the Lord!)

Happy Valentines Day!

What is love anyway?

Love never gives up.

Love cares more for others than for self.

Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.

Love doesn't strut,

Doesn't have a swelled head,

Doesn't force itself on others,

Isn't always "me first," Doesn't fly off the handle,

Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,

Doesn't revel when others grovel,

Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

Puts up with anything,

Trusts God always,

Always looks for the best,

Never looks back,

But keeps going to the end.
Love never dies.
1 Corinthians 13 (The Message Bible)

Back home in Michigan

Amazing what wonderful sunny/hot weather can do for you!!! Our time in Daytona Beach with my folks was great! My sister Denise and I were so happy to see where they spend their time at while away from Michigan as well as getting the opportunity to meet their "winter" friends. The Atlantic Ocean and flat Daytona Beaches were awesome. Sunset and sunrises unbelievable. Now, today Tuesday, I sit here in my office looking out at dreary, rainy weather with no sunshine. Don't have the energy that I had while in Daytona Beach. Amazing how the weather affects us both physically and mentally. The greatest thing of all is God, the King of the universe created all of it and wants us to serve Him whether it's sunny or dreary. (we just may need His help more in the dreary weather- Amen????) What a mastpiece He did when He created the world!!!!

HUGS

It's wondrous what a hug can do.
A hug can cheer you when you're blue
A hug can say, 'I love you so.'
Or, "Gee! I hate to see you go.
A hug is, 'Welcome back again!'
And, 'Great to see you!' or
'Where've you been?'
A hug can soothe a small child's pain
And bring a rainbow after rain.
The hug! There's just no doubt about it
We scarecely could survive without it.
A hug deights and warms and charms
It must be why God gave us arms
Hugs are great for fathers and mothers
Sweet for sisters, swell for brothers
And chances are some favorite aunts
Love them more than potted plants
Kittens crave them. Puppies love them.
Heads of state are not above them
A hug can break the language barrier
And make the dullest day seem merrier
No need to fret about the store of 'em
So stretch out those arms without delay
And give someone a hug today.

Florida

How nice it is to be in a warm, sunny place in the middle of winter when the weather is sooooooo bad (cold and snowy) in Michigan? I decided this trip that it might be nice to find a man who is retired and wants to spend winters in a haven like Daytona Beach, FL,. Such beauty with the Atlantic Ocean, smooth beaches where you can drive your car on, ride your bike or golf cart and/or take your walker on wheels, unbelievable sunrises and nice people. This is the life!!!

Great Family Time

WOW!!! What a Christmas! Both the boys and their families came home. Jeff was home for Christmas and New Years and Todd came home January 2. I was fortunate enough to have everyone together for 3 days before Jeff had to head back and what fun to see the family spend time together. Todd and I said our goodbyes tonight. Always a difficult thing!!! Now, we'll look forward to Maranatha, June 2008 and we'll see who's going to be able to come this year. I am so thankful that my family is doing well and have good health.