A Celebration

July 10, 2010

Fifty years to the day that my

sweet mother-in-law and father-in-law,

Susan Diane Comstock and Bruce Edward Winder,

became husband and wife.

A special summertime celebration . . .

of a lifelong commitment to

love one another, kept.

Reminiscing, and enjoying the day . . .

with yummy cake,

and all four offspring gathered together . . .

a precious time.

Food . . .

and friends . . .

and family . . .

family . . .

and more family!

Hard to sit still . . .

when there is so much fun . . .

to be had!

A beautiful Michigan day . . .

spent together . . .

with the ones we love.

A day to to honor the the two who

started it all!

A great day indeed!

All because two people fell in love . . .

and stayed that way, for a very long time!

Blessings from my thankful nest ~

Tina

Wordless Wednesday . . . Big Lou's

(Frankie's sister Kathy, and his mama,

Olga--whose birthday we were celebrating!

Happy Birthday Olga!)

Blessings from our full bellied nest ~

Tina

Thankful Thursday ~ The Newlys

Last month in a post about a giveaway that Taye and Frankie were doing I talked about an interview they had done with Fred Martin, the Communications Director for Children's Hunger Fund. Here's part of what I shared in June . . .

If you have been around for awhile you will remember me blogging about the Newly's living off of a Children's Hunger Fund Food Pak, for a week, in their very newly days. They had shopped for and filled several of these boxes for CHF, and decided the best way to see what it would be like to be the recipient of one of these boxes, would be to eat only from what was in the box--for a week. And they did. They blogged about this adventure, and word got out. So last month, when Fred Martin, the Communications Coordinator for CHF, was traveling to San Antonio (from his California based position), he asked the San Antonio director to see if she could get a hold of Taylor and Frankie. Mr. Martin was coming to town to work on a new video for CHF, and he wanted to interview the Newlys about their Food Pak experience-- for the video. And he did just that! It was a wonderful experience for the Newlys, and it made this mama proud. You can read about the Newly's food pak adventures here. They actually did this twice, the second time around they ate solely from the box for TWO weeks. Currently they live on a $10 a week grocery budget, by choice. Yes, ten dollars. If you want to see how, jump over and look for their "Menu Monday" posts.

Well, today my sweet girl called to tell me that CHF had informed them that the video was up and running on the CHF website. (If you click through the banner at the top of the homepage, you will see "From the Frontlines: Taylor & Frankie ~ Hear Their Story). I've also posted it below.

This Thankful Thursday I am thankful for my tender-hearted daughter and my amazing son-in-love, who at the young ages of 22 and 24 truly understand (and teach me daily) what it means to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

Without further adieu, I present to you The Newlys ~

Blessings from my happy tears nest ~

Tina

Wordless Wednesday . . . Michigan (and Indiana) Style

Blessings from my happy to be back in it nest ~

Tina

Checking In . . .

Hello from Michigan! The past week has been an Internetless one . . . very Internetless. It has either been unavailable, hit and miss (in my case miss), or so paaaaaaainfully sloooooooow that I have given up. Today I am able to get on blogger, but I can't upload pics--of which I have many, and I can't access anyone else's blogs . . . and I am seriously missing checking in on all of you. (It's kind of like being in China . . . although I think blogging was easier in China.)

We are enjoying our time with our families. Last weekend we celebrated Bry's mom and dad's 50th wedding anniversary with a sweet little party at their home! All of Bry's siblings (three sisters), our nieces and nephews, and about 40 others, gathered together to celebrate this momentous occasion and magnificent accomplishment!

We spent the first half of this week at my dad and step-mom's cottage on a quiet little lake in Indiana. All of my siblings were there along with our boatload of kids. We totalled 26. It was a precious time filled with laughter, late nights, sleepy mornings, lots of swimming, fish catching, s'more eating, more s'more eating, picture taking, reminiscing, and the making of many new memories.

Today we are back at Bry's parents, resting up and doing laundry. Tomorrow we will spend a little more time with family, Saturday we will attend Bry's 30th class reunion, and on Sunday we will head west.

I'm going to keep this short, not knowing if blogger will kindly post this for me, or not . . . in which case you will have no idea that I really did check in!

Michigan is blessing us today with a heat index close to 100 degrees, not exactly what we came here for. I guess the good side of that is Texas won't be a shock to our systems. Michigan, oh Michigan, might we have one cool sweatshirt wearing morning before we leave on Sunday? Please?

I'll be back as the Internet allows. In the meantime, please know that I am thinking of you all.

Blessings from our traveling nest ~


Tina

Three Word Wednesday

Cousins + Water= Fun

Blessing from our Michigan vistitin' nest ~

Tina

Happy Independence Day, from Michigan

Greetings from the road! We left San Antonio on Thursday evening and headed north-- Bryan and I, the Littles, and big sister Taylor. We drove straight through on Thursday night, and reached St. Louis area by dinnertime on Friday . . . just in time to meet up with our dear friends (and former neighbors) the Haines Gang. Robin and Gary and kids, recently re-located from Alabama to Illinois. We hadn't seen them since they moved from Texas a year ago. Their sweet Claire came home just after Teddi did in 2008, and just three months ago they added a precious two year old, Caleb, to their family. What a joy it was to see Teddi and Claire together again, and to meet Caleb. (Oh the cuteness! I'm having technical difficulties with my camera, or I would share that cuteness with you). It was wonderful to spend time with old friends. What a blessing that the Lord orchestrated our travel and our meeting together perfectly!

We spent Friday night in Illinois, and traveled on to my sister's home in Michigan on Saturday. The kids are having a wonderful time with cousins (big and small) and we're looking forward to seeing the rest of our extended family in the coming days. On Saturday we will celebrate Bryan's parent's 50th wedding anniversary with them, and the following Saturday we will attend Bry's 30th class reunion. Yikes! Are we really that old? In between we will relax, and eat, and laugh, and eat some more . . . and laugh some more . . . and just soak up this special time with the ones we love the most!

I am missing my big boys, and remembering family vacations when they were both along. Time has a way of moving on, and kids have a way of growing up. I'm thankful for all of the good times and happy memories . . . but I still miss my boys. I'm thankful to Frankie for sharing Taylor with us for this trip.

I'm hoping to figure out a way to get some pictures up. For now I thought I would share this old favorite of my Flit, newly home from China, celebrating her first 4th of July. A free bird, flying high . . .

I'm thankful for the freedoms we enjoy as one nation under God. I'm thankful for those who have served, and for those who have given their lives to defend our freedom. I'm thankful for those who currently serve, including my husband and my son. And I'm thoughtful of the men and women who are in harms way defending our freedom, and of the families who await their safe return.

Lord thank you for the freedoms we enjoy. Thank you for the privilege of living in this blessed nation. Thank you Lord most of all, that because of Jesus, I am FREE!

Blessings from my traveling nest ~

Tina