Hans Makes the Front Page of Newspaper

A wonderful photo of Hans in line to greet President Bush yesterday is on the front page of the Newport Daily News . You can view it plus another in the photo gallery. He is in Row 2, right hand side of photo. What an honor!

Celebrities

Occasionally we see and get to talk to celebrities. In my life I have seen a few: Mohammad Ali and Art Linkletter - both while picking up missionaries at O'Hare. Yes, I got their autographs. No, I no longer have them. I gave Mohammad Ali's to a young man in our church; I can't find Art Linkletter's.
Yesterday my son, Hans, got to shake hands with President Bush. It was an exciting time for him ~ a real honor. While telling some of my co-workers about it, it brought back the memory of a time when I met Vice President Hubert Humphrey. Back in our college days, my husband and I applied to live in an apartment not far from the University of Minnesota. After 3 days, the apartment manager called us back to say we could move it. I thought it strange that we couldn't rent it right away, but oh well. The day after we moved in, it all made sense: Skip Humphrey, whose given name is Hubert Humphrey III, lived in our building, and his father was the V.P. to Lyndon Johnson.
One day, while in the hallway picking up our mail, I heard a voice in the hallway on the floor above me say, "I'm heading to Michigan and then on to D.C. I'll see you in a couple of weeks." I thought to myself, I'll just hang around the mailboxes a little bit and get to see what this "Skip" guy looks like. What to my surprise, down the stairs came the Vice President! He had no guards around him. He was all alone. I think he was a little surprised to see me too, but said, "Hello. How are you?" All I could say was, "Hello." He passed by me, went out the front door, where several men in suits were standing in the front lawn and near the big, black limousine. I went out on the steps to watch him leave. One of the men opened the back door of the car and asked him if he was going to get in, to which he replied, "No, I think I'll walk today." So the car drove slowly ahead of him and two or three men flanked him as he proceeded the two blocks down the street until they got to Como Avenue. There he got into the car and they drove away.

True Confession

First of all, this is not Josiah's fault, but when I was out in Rhode Island in April, he was given a treat of an ice cream cone when he was a good boy. Well, what a great idea. The problem is, once I was home, I couldn't stop thinking about him and Annika, and the ice cream cones. One night after choir rehearsal, I had such a craving for one. I knew I could stop at an ice cream shop and buy a cone, but the Scott in me thought, "I could buy some cones and ice cream like Rachel does, and save some money." So, into a grocery store I went; bought a box of Keebler Waffle Cones and a half gallon of maple nut ice cream. Oh my, that was my downfall. Not only did I eat one cone, but upon finishing it, I made another.

Well, that was some time in early May. Since then I have bought 2 more boxes of cones and 3 more half gallons of ice cream - 1 of butter pecan; 2 of banana walnut (a limited edition)! As I said, it is NOT Josiah's fault, or anyone else's. I am to blame. Somehow I have to get a handle on this new temptation.

An Artist with a Heart

A woman in Utah, Kaziah Hancock, is painting portraits of military men and women who have been killed in action. She does this as a gift to the families of the deceased. She, and her team of artists, have brought happiness to grieving families. God bless her.

Lunch Today

I had lunch today with Hans, Peder and Sarah. What a special time! Some of my friends have Sunday dinner with their kids nearly every Sunday of the year. My sister has supper with her daughter and family nearly every weekend. My sister-in-law sees one of her daughters and family at least once each week. Now, I'm not complaining, mind you. I'm just saying that I enjoyed it, and because it doesn't happen so often, I treasure it. I really do.

Back to the 50's Street Rod Show

This weekend the 40th anniversary of the Back to the 50's Street Rod Show took place at the Minnesota State Fair Grounds, and of course, I had a desire to check it out. I don't know why, but I appreciate nice cars. I don't own the greatest car, but I like to dream about it. Going to this event brings back memories of my younger days. Cars were unique then. Long about August in the 50's, folks speculated about what the new models were going to look like. For a few years there, the changes were drastic - huge fins; long lines; steering wheels that moved to the right to give the driver more room getting in and out of the car; push button gears. There were hard top convertibles and convertibles that completely folded into the trunk. The "Lincoln Continental" had an extended back bumper with the fully inflated spare tire totally encased in a matching decorative cover proudly mounted on it.

My dad had two Studebakers when I was a child. At the time, I thought they were ugly. Now I see them as quite a sporty vehicle. After my dad died, my mother bought a '57 Chevy - but at that time I didn't think it was so "cool." Now it is considered a treasure to own one.

Yesterday my sister, her son-in-law, and I went to the show. What a show it was! This year there was a record number of cars registered: 11,500! All 50 states were represented, plus cars came from Europe and Australia. Mind you, at least 90% of these cars are completely restored, and then some! It's next to impossible to see all of them, but in the course of about 5 hours, we managed to see a lot. The state fair grounds is an excellent place to hold this affair as the permanent buildings and tree-lined streets give the feeling you are in a real town, not just some huge parking lot. Also, some of the great "fair" food is available, like mini donuts, fresh baked chocolate chip cookies, corn dogs (I had one!). Yum! Oh, and the 50's music over the loud speakers - I love it. This year we stayed for the cruising -- cars parading around the streets. As evening came, some turned on florescent lights under the carriage. Wow! It was excellent.

Note: the last two photos were taken on Monday, July 25. Subject: my co-worker, Mel, whom I missed seeing at the show.

Knitting Club

Once a month I go to a knitting club made up of members of my church. It is a fun bunch of gals who are either in our choir, or are nurses. Those aren't the conditions for membership; it's just how it works out. We knit prayer shawls for people who may be under the weather or have just had a baby, or for any number of reasons. But we don't always knit. Once we made flower jewelry from denim; learned to felt little purses; knit cell phone bags, etc. Well, tonight some of us got together at a restaurant just to have dinner. I'm delighted that I have been included in this great group of women.

Good Times Over the Past Month

I have had some great times over the past 30+ days. You see, I've gotten to spend some wonderful times with all three of my kids. On Mother's Day, I spent the day with Peder. Oh, how fun that was! A couple of weekends ago, Heidi came to town and I got to see her over the course of 4 days. I enjoyed it very, very much! And today, Hans flew into Minneapolis to spend a few days hanging out with Peder and Sarah, me, his dad, and best friend, Chris. I picked him up at the airport, and then we went to the MOA to eat lunch at Johnny Rocket's, shop a little, and took in a movie, Oceans 13. I sure enjoyed this day too. To cap it off, Hans gave me some original artwork from Josiah and Annika. Yes, that's right. My darling grand children painted and colored beautiful pieces for me. Hans told me they did them all by themselves. I'm going to hang them in my office tomorrow so I can see them all day long.

Decisions, Decisions. . .

I've made a decision of the heart. . . Lord willing, I'm going on a missions trip with my church choir to Ukraine and Austria next May, 2008. This trip was presented to our choir over a year ago, and though I thought it would be a great opportunity, I didn't give it much consideration because I had already made the decision to go on our family reunion cruise to Alaska in August 2008. I mean, how could I do both? The two trips would take 14 days of my precious PTO (personal time off) at work, and added up to quite a bit of money.
I had pretty much dismissed my participation in this mission trip until last week at our rehearsal when a short video was shown that included another group that travels there every other year. The impact they had on the people was eye-opening and inspired me to go home to pray about whether or not I should go. From the minute I awoke the next day, I couldn't get the video out of my mind. I prayed and prayed about it. That evening I decided to get out my atlas to see just where Kyiv (Kiev) was located. Guess where the location was? D - 4! "It's a sign," I said to myself. After re-reading my information packet, I phoned our director and told him to count me in. Yesterday I mailed my deposit and registration form. I'm so excited about this opportunity to share my faith, both musically and personally, with others.

Some of My Favorite People

Here are photos of some of my favorite people.

Baby Shower

Yesterday afternoon friends and family members of Sarah and Peder gathered together to visit, play a few games, eat, and give gifts to the new little one who is due in about 60 days. Yes, the time is going fast (maybe not fast enough for Sarah)!

Heidi provided a fun time, including a version of the game charades, using items intended for the care of a baby. She also provided ones-ies in various sizes, with colored laundry markers, asking the guests to draw designs on them. It was fun to learn there were so many artists in the group. The new baby will have many choices of clothing to wear.

For food, there were fruit and veggie trays, mixed nuts and cup cakes with either pink or blue booties, plus lemonade or water. It was just perfect.

We all oohed and ahhed as Sarah opened the gifts.

An Afternoon for Mother and Daughter

At last I got to spend some time with Heidi again, for which I am very happy. She looks wonderful (as always) and except for not having had much sleep since Thursday, was feeling great.

I picked her up at Peder's after getting out of work at noon. The first thing we both wanted was lunch. We headed to one of my favorite restaurants - - the Convention Grill. This is an establishment that has been around since at least 1934. Their specialties are delicious, hand formed hamburgers with homemade hamburger buns, fresh cut French fries, and malts. Heidi, bless her heart, has not eaten a single French fry in over 14 months! I don't know how she does it, but she knows they aren't good for our bodies, so she has made a decision not to have any. Of course, I don't have that will-power, so I ordered some. She never even asked for just one. We split a delicious cheese burger and a chocolate/banana malt. Oh, she had a salad also (good girl!).

Next we walked around Normandale Lake, which is really pretty. The distance is 1.9 miles. She breezed up the inclines; I puffed and puffed while making it up. Of course, she is still under 30!! Since walking in the 3 day, 60 mile walk for breast cancer last year, she continues to walk a lot, so she is in great shape. [I'm working on it.]

Now on to Southdale Mall, the oldest indoor mall in the U.S., to do a little shopping. Heidi was sad to see the downward changes at this mall that was once the showcase shopping area of the twin cities. She worked at one of its shops when she was in high school.

After getting what we wanted at the mall, we headed to a grocery store to get some food for Sarah's baby shower tomorrow. Following that we drove back to Peder and Sarah's to relax and wait for Sarah and Peder to get home from work.

Oh, how fun it was to have some time to spend with my daughter!

Just Checking In

I haven't had anything of interest to post, but thought I would let you know I am still alive. Thank you, Lord.

I'm looking forward to this coming weekend as Heidi is coming home for a short visit. She is hosting a baby shower for Sarah on Sunday. I haven't seen Heidi and Chad since last October, and then it was only for a total of about an hour. Prior to that I saw them over Mother's Day in 2006.

Today I sent out information regarding the family and friends cruise to Alaska for August 2008. If you were missed and want to be included, please let me know. I think it sounds like a great time!

I hope all is well with all of my readers.