What Parent could be prouder?

This year has been the year of Higher Education Degrees in our family. The first celebration took place a few months ago, when Sara's husband, Chris, graduated from Virginia Tech Med School and as an officer in the Navy.

Kendra, Jason's wife, graduated from Ball State with her masters in Journalism. She did not go to her graduation exercise, but she definately has her diploma. Kendra teaches at Indiana Wesleyan University journalism and she loves it.

Then May 10th, Stephanie's husband, Daniel, graduated from Duke University with a Master of Divinity. They have been appointed to a little United Methodist Church in Marion Indiana, called Christland UMC and will be moving back to Indiana in mid-June.

May 18th, Jason graduated from Notre Dame.

It was an interesting year for graduation ceremonies at Notre Dame as President Barak Obama gave the commencement address. As you all know, the controversy around his coming stirred alot of press coverage. We were prepared for all kinds of rioting and demonstrations, but actually once we got on Notre Dame's campus, we did not see one sign, one protest or anything.

During the President's speech, there were 4-5 interruptions with people yelling about babies being killed and the president supported abortion. It was a highly volitle situation as Notre Dame is a catholic school who is very vocal against abortion. There was security everywhere. The interruptions only lasted a few seconds before the hecklers were escorted out.

Spring from a man's point of view

Well, Steve read the blog the other day and said "Hey, this carries my name (mostholyrev) and you write about "girl" stuff. I don't think of mushrooms, flowers, circuses or anything of the sort, when May rolls around, I think of Race Car Driving! So, on Mother's Day, mind you, we went to Indianapolis to the Speedway and watch the pole time trials - just to usher in spring from a man's point of view!

Jason, Kendra, Kinsen and Jaybin actually invited us to go with them, so being a "mother", this arrangement suited me well also.

We ate Tenderloin sandwiches that were as big as a large frisbee. (I know, not heart healthy, but since we were ushering in Spring from a man's point of view, we had to eat Man-sized, deep fried, tenderloin that was smothered in mayonaise!) The kids ate corn dogs (or as Jaybin said "that's a good hotdog on a stick"!

I got to experiment with my new camera. I tried to get pictures of the cars, so here is the car picture I took to "usher in Spring from a Man's point of view!

Now, on to the better pictures - (from a woman's point of view anyway!)

Then around 4:00 we made our way to the big-top to see the circus. It truly was nostalgic. The owner of the circus was a member of the Ringling family who wanted to preserve the big-top and side shows of an era gone by. There were tents set up with side shows; there were tigers, horse back acrobats, clowns, trapeze artist, jugglers, balance masters, trained dogs - the show lasted 2 hours. Then to add to the nostalgia, the circus only sold circus peanuts, drinks, cotton candy, circus coloring books, and face painting. It was a lovely time and I'm really glad that Jason/Kendra allowed us the joy of experiencing it with our grandkids.

Grandma's ready to party!

The circus is coming to town! I read it in the Kokomo Tribune. I hear that the circus is making its debut with an old fashioned parade followed by the elephants putting up the big top! Now, this sounds like a party to me. So, I call Jason and Kendra to see if they want to share their children for a day! So, we picked up the kids at 7:30 pm on Tuesday evening; they spent the night and we got up bright an early to see the parade and the novelty of seeing the big-top go up by elephant power! What a treat. I have heard stories of the circus coming to town, but never actually have experienced the nostalgia of it all until today.

Here are the workers and elephants setting up the big-top.

Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I love spring. Mushroom hunting, Robins building nests, baby Canadian geese waddling across the road, lush green grass, gardening and flowers! Yes, my flower garden is beginning to come to life once again. The yellow daffodils, jonquils, and early red and yellow tulips were lovely this year. I missed getting pictures of them. However, the later tulips are blooming right now, along with the bleeding heart and the lily of the valley. This morning I saw a hummingbird at my nectar feeder, so Spring is officially here in my mind! See how I planted short tulips right alongside tall tulips? cool . . . huh?

Mushrooms Everywhere!

Boy did I have fun hunting mushrooms today! My brother told me that he had hundreds of mushrooms at his house, so I took off today and went to Leiters Ford to hunt them with Jon. I thought when he said there were hundreds that he was stretching the truth, but when I walked into the woods I was simply amazed. There were mushrooms everywhere... well, after I got my "mushroom eyes" on. They are really hard to see. They look just like the leaves. Look at these pictures.

Easter was wonderful again this year! Jason, Kendra and the kids came for dinner on Saturday night. We had wet burrito's. I found a recipe online that we think is better than Hacienda's wet burrito. I made it for Jason 3 weeks ago, and when he told me they were coming, he asked me to make them again. Oh, they definately are not heart healthy - they are smothered in cheese. I do my best to use fat-free cheese, sour cream and no salt - but they still are artery blockers I'm sure. Nevertheless, they were great once again.

We had an Easter breakfast at church along with a sunrise service, then on to the most glorious worship service we have had at Grace UMC. You know, one of those Sunday's where everything was glorious and ran perfectly. We began with horns, trumpets, and choir fanfare - children processing the aisle with small flag banners, followed by adults carrying large "He is Risen" banners, the choir processing and the congregation joyfully praising Christ. Stephen knocked the sermon out of the ball park - and we concluded with the Hallelujah Chorus. Kinsen and Jaybin go to a very small house church, so I enjoyed watching their intrigue with the handbells, the horns, the acolytes, the banners, etc...

For Easter dinner I fixed baby back ribs - once again, not heart healthy. But Jason likes them. And anyone who is a mother knows that you like to fix your kids things they like to eat! Stephen got to eat three bones! He sure took his time to enjoy every bite. Jason/Kendra took the leftovers so as not to tempt Steve. And, yes, even with us working hard at keeping the fats, etc out of his diet, he did gain 2 pounds! Oh, the task master I will turn into when the kids are gone!

This is spring break week for Stephanie and Daniel - they are going to go to Savannah Georgia for the weekend. Sara and Chris are coming up from Florida and they will get to spend a couple of days together. Then,,, in 40 days we will all meet in Orlando for our great celebration of everyone's Doctoral or Masters degree!