Memorial Day/ Matt's Birthday/Deck Building

Matt has this whole week off and we both have been enjoying every minute of it. It's the first vacation he has had in a year and a half!!
 Monday was Memorial Day as well as Matt's birthday, and our day was packed full of activity. We started out the day by enjoying a birthday breakfast of pancakes, sausage, and eggs that I cooked for him. Matt's friend Kenneth came down Sunday night and stayed the day Monday, so he was able to celebrate Matt's birthday with us. After breakfast, Dad and Mom McFarland and Charity arrived to help out with getting started on building the deck out back. The guys went right to work and I worked away at cleaning up from breakfast and visited with Mom, Charity, and April.
Around 9:30 the guys took a break from working on the deck, and we all went to Blue Hill to watch a Memorial Day parade that Jay was in. We met up with Rosanna and Gramp and Gram McFarland at the parade, and we ended up with the best spot to watch the little ceremony Jay participated in in the middle of the parade route. They paid tribute to all the soldiers who had died in active duty by floating a wreath down the river and a gun salute. Then they all stood at attention while the Last Post and the National Anthem was played by the local high school band, before continuing on with the parade. Here are some pictures Matt got of the ceremony.

A few more pictures from the parade.

After the parade, we headed back home and the guys spent the rest of the day working on the deck. It was beautiful day for working and they wanted to get as much done as possible in the beautiful weather. We womenfolk helped out where we could, making a couple of runs to town for supplies and passing hammers, nails, and screws as they were needed. Here is the progress they made in one day.

Around 5:00 the guys called it a day after all of the floor stringers were in place and a few decking boards were laid. We had invited Matt's family and Kenneth to stay for supper to celebrate Matt's birthday, so I fired up the grill, and the girls and Mom helped me get supper on. Jay and Rosanna arrived around 6:00 and we all sat down to a supper of hamburgers, hotdogs, steak, potato and macaroni salads, with raspberry cheesecake for dessert. I realized afterwards that I got so busy cooking and enjoying the meal that I forgot to take any pictures of the celebrations. You'll just have to trust me that there was a TON of food and we all were stuffed by the time we were done! By 9:00 everybody was ready to call it a night and Matt and I headed to bed tired, but so happy with all of the progress that had been made.

Piano Recital 2013

Every year my piano teacher holds a recital for her students to be able to demonstrate what they have learned throughout the year. She usually has to split it up into two nights to be able to fit all of her students in...one night would be too long. After months of practicing, last night was the night I was scheduled to play. After a busy day of running errands and going to appointments, I met Matt at the dealership and he took me to my recital. It is always so special to me when my man is able to escort me instead of having to go by myself!

The recital was held at a beautiful little place called Peaks Hill Lodge. It is a rustic place, tastefully decorated inside to fit the "rustic" feel.

Here is a panorama that Matt took to give you an idea of what it looks like.
I was scheduled to play 15th out of about 20 students that attended last night's recital, and played a piece called Flight of the Monarch written by Melody Bober. I fell in love with the piece as soon as I heard my teacher play it the first time, and even after having practiced it all these months and memorized it, I still love it. :-)

As you can see my music was well marked by the time I had it memorized and was ready to perform the piece. Mrs. Williams is very thorough in teaching and helping us memorize.

A picture Matt took of me playing from where he was sitting.
The Lord helped things to go very well, and I was able to forget all the people behind me and just enjoy playing my song.

Mrs. Williams and I after the recital.
Matt was incredibly sweet and bought me the dress I'm wearing especially for the occasion.  It made me feel beautiful which is not always easy to do with an ever increasing waistline. *wink* Thank you SO much, Babe!!
Matt's Dad, Mom, and sisters came to the recital too, and we all headed back home shortly after the recital was over, making a short stop for some ice cream before calling it a night. 

A Good Job Done

As of yesterday morning we no longer have huge oak logs sitting on our lawn. The guys doing the milling arrived about 9:00 and finished milling the logs into boards. By 10:30 or so the job was done, and we had a stack of lumber sitting on our front lawn, along with a huge pile of sawdust.

This is what it looked like Thursday evening after the guys had left. They only had two logs to finish up the next day. Matt's Dad, Mom and the girls came over that night after supper and we loaded the truck up to get some of the lumber under cover in Dad's shop.

Altogether the guy doing the milling estimated we had about $1000 worth of lumber from our logs. He cut them into 8 foot lengths, but some of the boards are 14 inches wide! Matt said you probably wouldn't be able to buy them that wide. It turned out to be absolutely beautiful wood. It has a beautiful grain in it, and some of it even has a reddish tinge to it. I tried to capture some of it, but the picture doesn't really do it justice.

I started the task this morning of cleaning up the bark that was scattered around the lawn, and used a little of the sawdust to put around some of our bushes to keep the weeds down. I had what I could do to clean up the yard done by the time Mr. and Mrs. Jim arrived this afternoon to pick up the remaining sawdust and the log he had milled out. Dad, Mom, and Charity showed up not long after Mr. and Mrs. Jim arrived, and between the one ton truck Mr. Jim had borrowed and our truck we got the remaining lumber loaded to take to Dad's shop. 

Here is what it looked like this morning before I started cleaning up.

Tonight the lumber is all over at Dad's house and the mess is all cleaned up. Our lawn looks SO much better!! What a great project to have done! Thank you to Dad, Mom, and the girls for measuring and stacking this all tonight.

Happenings

Our week turned out to be a gorgeous spring one weather wise. I started out the week by doing some light yard work raking and cleaning up from the winter. A couple of rainy days, impromptu meetings with friends, doctors appointments and such kept me from getting as much yard work done as I wanted to this week, but in between going here and there I did enjoy the beautiful weather as much as possible.
Thursday night we had out first BBQ of the season. I think it was the warmest day we had had up to that point this spring. I spent the day in Bangor with a friend, and on my way home Matt called me to see if I felt like a BBQ for supper. I was all for it, so he brought a tank of gas home and we proceeded to enjoy our tasty grilled supper. There is just something so much yummier about a burger cooked on the grill. :-)  Here we are enjoying our first BBQ.

After our BBQ, Matt's Dad and Mom and some of the girls came over and helped us stake out the measurements for the deck we are going to build on the back of our house. It is so exciting to finally see things getting underway after talking and planning about this deck since last spring!!

As you can see there was A LOT of debris from repairing and shingling the back of the house, not to mention a bunch of junk of all sorts left from the previous owner that never got cleaned up. Saturday found Dad and Mom McFarland, Charity and I cleaning up all of that mess. The weather was even nicer than Thursday had been, and I enjoyed being outside to soak it up. We spent most of the morning cleaning up the vinyl siding, wood, metal, glass, and anything else immaginable and loading it into the back of the truck to take to the dump.

Once we had all of the junk cleaned up, Dad used his weedwacker to cut down the blackberry brambles that had grown up, and got his chain saw out to cut off a few stumps. Charity and I raked up what he had cut down and deposited it on the burn pile while Mom worked away at picking up bits and pieces of broken glass and plastic.
After lunch, Mom and Charity and I headed to the dump with our truckload of junk, and Dad stayed behind to split some wood that needed to be taken care of at our house. I felt like the Clampets from the Beverly Hillbillies show driving down the road with our truck piled high. :-) We had to stop twice before getting to the dump to either pick up something we had lost or readjust our load, bit we finally made it there with all of our load in tact. I was bracing myself for how much I might have to pay to get rid of all of that mess, however I was pleasantly surprised when the man at the dump said "Five dollars to get rid of the wood, the rest doesn't cost anything." I quickly wrote him a check and Mom and I and Charity unloaded the junk. What a great feeling that was to know that all of that mess was gone from our backyard and I would never have to deal with it again!! :-)

Compare this picture with the one above where Matt and Dad are staking out the deck measurements to see how much better it looks now.
When we got back from the dump, Dad was finished splitting the wood and had cleaned up a bunch of brush around our garden and added it to an ever growing burn pile. His intention was to burn a big pile we had out back and one by the garden. He had picked up a burning permit earlier that day, but the stipulation was that he couldn't burn till after 5:00 that night. That worked perfectly because Matt was out of work by that time which meant another set of eyes and hands to help with the fire. He and Dad touched off the first pile while I got burgers and hotdogs on the grill.

By the time that pile was burned down, supper was ready and Pam and Rachel had gotten home from work so the whole family sat down for some food. After supper, Mom and the girls helped me clean up, while Matt and Dad lit the second pile.

We all ended up back outside to watch the fires, and the girls helped me carry a bunch of old cardboard boxes out of the basement that needed to be burned, and we added them to the pile. By 9:30 both piles had burned right down to coals, and when Matt and I got up this morning there was just ashes left where the huge piles of brush and logs had been. We were all ready to call it a day when we got done, but it felt so good to have SO much accomplished. Not to mention being able to enjoy looking out the back window to a much cleaner property! Thank you so much to everybody that helped!!

A Walk In The Park

Special meetings, house/dog sitting, and my vegetable garden among other things jumped life into the fast lane the last couple of weeks and my blog got neglected! Although I did enjoy the week we spent in Castine house/dog sitting, it feels SO good to be home! Matt has also been busy at work, and is going to be putting in a couple of 14 hour days the end of this week going to fairs/concerts to advertise for Darlings. The best part is that I get to go with him, so we can spend some time together even though he does have to work extra long hours. If nothing else I'll be able to help him wash the dust off the cars at the fair. :-)
In the midst of our somewhat busy schedule we were able to take a relaxing little trip to Bangor Sunday afternoon. Matt's family was on vacation and needed us to deliver Pam's puppy to them, so we met up with them in a park for lunch. It was a beautiful summer day with lots of sunshine and a nice gentle breeze. We ate our lunch under a large tree that gave us just the right amount of shade, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the park. Matt's family had to head out right after lunch so that they would be able to get to the church they wanted to go to that night, but Matt and I stayed a bit longer and took a leisurely walk through the park.

 

 

Every time we have driven by this park, I have commented to Matt that I would love to stop sometime and just walk through it. The fountain there is so beautiful and I kept telling Matt that it would be a perfect place to have a photo shoot done. Imagine my surprise when we pulled into THIS very park to meet his family for lunch! A waterfall starts at the top of a hill and runs all the way down to a pond where the fountain shoots the water high into the air. This is the view from the top of the hill.

 

 

The little bridge leads you across the pond to the other side of the park where there are more paths to explore and a sweet little gazebo to rest in. (Another perfect place for a photo shoot) *smile*

 

 

The view from the fountain looking up the hill. It was so much fun to be able to just relax and wander through the park enjoying the beauty of it! 

 

4th of July

Our celebrating didn't go quite as planned because of the weather, but we still had a good time celebrating Independence Day. Matt's friend, Kenneth came down to help us celebrate and we all headed over to Dad and Mom McFarland's to meet up with them to go watch the parade. But, alas, before we even got to their house it started to rain and NONE of us wanted to get soaked watching a parade. So, Matt and Kenneth pitched in helping Dad pour cement to help support the shed that is attached to his house, and I did the heavy looking on/helping out where I could/visiting with Mom and girls. ;)
About 1:00 the guys wrapped up their project, and we all headed down to the cottage at the beach for a cookout, since the weather had mostly cleared. Matt and I walked the beach finding sea glass, and I even found a whole sea urchin shell! I LOVE the green and purplish colors of their shells, and this one was perfect! I added it to the rest of my decorations in my nautical-themed bathroom.
We stayed at the beach until it was time to come home and get ready for prayer meeting, all the while watching the weather to see how it would turn out for fireworks that evening. Sadly, by the time church was over, the fog had come inland quite far, and we were pretty sure there would be no fireworks that night. Not to worry, though!! Kenneth had come prepared with fireworks of his own, and we headed back to Dad and Mom's to touch them off! The POP and BANG of our fireworks was joined by other neighbors' fireworks, as we all celebrated! :) We ended the evening with ice cream,and all were ready to hit the hay after a day of celebrating!

This beautiful cream day lily bloomed just for the occasion! :)

Can you tell I was a little chilly?

First attempt at cake decorating

Tuesday June 19th, was Dad and Mom McFarland's 30th wedding anniversary. Matt and I hosted a family BBQ to celebrate. Matt's sister Pam is the real cake decorator, but since she had to work, I was the one to decorate the cake. I borrowed her icing recipe, decorating book, and icing tips and headed into my kitchen with a slight bit of fear nervousness to begin the decorating process.
I had watched Pam decorate a couple of cakes, and had helped her decorate one, but this was the first one all on my own. It wasn't perfect, and my icing bags broke THREE times (aggghhhh!!!!) before I was done! I'm so VERY thankful for the decorating book Pam lent me, so I at least knew what tips to use, and the technique I needed to use to get a finished result! :)
Here is the end product!

Green is the 30th anniversary color, so the flowers and lettering HAD to be green! :)

Dad and Mom cutting the cake!


HAPPY 30th ANNIVERSARY!!

Random Facts

1. Today is a rainy day, but not a cold rainy day....one of those days that makes you think sunshine is just around the corner! April showers bring Mayflowers? :-)

2. My daffodils have buds on them!!!!!! I cleaned all the leaves,twigs, and brambles off them, and found out I have quite a few clumps of them, many of which have buds. I can't WAIT to see their sweet, yellow little faces!!

3. I went shopping this morning and stalked up on groceries to be ready for when my family arrives! Only 3 more days!!!!

4. I stopped in with a coffee for my man at the dealership while I was out shopping!It was SO special to be able to see him in the middle of the day!! Even more special to get one of his special kisses! =)

5. Matt's demo was sold yesterday, so he gets to bring home a new vehicle tonight! I wonder what he'll get this time!?!?

6. I LOOOOOOVE my man!!!! <3

"Openings in Heaven"

"Perhaps they are not really stars,
but rather openings in heaven
where the love of our lost one
pours through and shines down upon us
to let us know they are happy."


It has been a month today since we had to say a hard goodbye to my big/little brother,Spencer.
If somebody had told me a month ago that I would be able to live a whole month without him, I would have told them they were crazy! Yet,here I am a month later, missing him like I have never missed anyone before, but being able to carry on with life. I can't say life has returned to normal because it never will be the same "normal" without Spencer here, but life has returned to a "new normal" in which I enjoy every day of my life with Matt, and rejoice knowing my special brother is in heaven extremely happy,and free of pain, hurt, tiredness, or temptation. BUT.. there is a huge hole left in my heart and life that nobody can fill, cause that was a special place ONLY for Spencer. All those fun things we used to do together-going to horse pulls, scooting the horses, driving out to Teen Thunder together, talking long into the night when something was bothering him or me, listening to music together- I miss being able to do those things with him. All the fun things we planned to do together-coming to visit Matt and I, going to the gravel pit to try out Matt's guns, going to watch him pull in Cumberland, Maine when he qualified to pull there, watching him pull at the Lawrencetown exhibition this summer-knowing I'll never be able to do those things with him hurts and leaves a big empty space in my life.
But one of the things that really helps when I am hurting and missing him SOOOO much, is to go outside at night, and look up at the stars. There is usually one that is brighter than the rest, and I imagine it is Spencer saying "Hi" with that little grin of his, and telling me that he loves me. I mentally, and sometimes even physically, blow a kiss to him and whisper "I love you, Spencer!" Then the hurt goes away, and it feels like he is right there with me, telling me that it is "Ok", and that he truly is happy.
A peace and a calm assurance comes over me as well whenever I read Psalm 18. The Lord gave me this chapter to help me in the days after Spencer's death,and I have read and reread it many times since. The whole chapter is full of promises, but there were a couple of verses that were especially helpful to me.
Verse 2: The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
Verse 30: As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.
Verse 32: It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.
So,a month later, although I GREATLY miss our Spencer, the Lord has given a peace and a strength that only He can give, and the hole that Spencer left is only being filled with more and more love for that special brother of mine. :-)

In less than a month.......

.....these special people are coming to visit us!!!!

And we are SOOOOOOO excited!!!!!

Kenny and Maris, along with Dad and Mom,will be spending almost a whole week with us the last part of April. We are having fun planning a bunch of things to do while they are down!