WOW-the last week has been a busy one!

Our daughter Morgan was Confirmed on Sunday, and what a great day it was! Time has flown since the day she was baptized. As our kids get into their teen years I pray that the way in which we’ve brought them up has integrated their faith into their lives. I do see evidence of this, but know it’s easy to drift away from faith. We will continue to do our best to set a good example for both Cody and Morgan and trust that the Holy Spirit will take care of the rest.

We were blessed to have family members join us for the weekend. Tim’s aunt and uncle from Minnesota come on Thursday. My sister and niece from southern Nebraska arrived Friday afternoon. My mom and dad from Missouri arrived Friday evening, as did my sister, her husband, and her husband’s father, all from Canada. 

Saturday was a windy, cold, rainy day–I was glad I’d scrapped my plans to have a meal made on the grill . . . I just had a feeling that wouldn’t work out. We enjoyed the day together, looking at pictures and talking a lot. We had a family birthday party in which we celebrated my niece’s 6th birthday, and everyone else’s b-day too (I won’t tell you how old we all are!). My sister made DELICIOUS cheesecakes, my mother-in-law made lemon meringue pie, and Sam’s Club made cream puffs and eclairs (thanks for that suggestion, mom!). Logan decorated her own cake and it was very colorful!  

Sunday, of course, was Confirmation. After a really rotten day weather-wise, Sunday was absolutely beautiful with sun, NO WIND, and a temp of about 70 degrees. After a fajita buffet for lunch, and a yummy cake, the girls and ladies went for a walk while the guys had a tour of the ranch and got stuck for a while. They didn’t mind and got out quickly. My sister’s fahter-in-law hadn’t seen a ranch like ours, and enjoyed learning about farming and ranching in Nebraska.

It was a special joy to spend Mother’s Day with my mother–that hasn’t happened in a very long time!

I had breakfast with the family on Monday before they all left for home. The only sad note of the weekend was that my grandpa was not able to travel with mom and dad to our home, as he hurt his back last week. Yesterday he was very short of breath, and mom just called to tell me he’s been admitted to the hospital. Please remember him in your prayers!

It was a whirlwind weekend and we have many happy memories . . . and almost 300 pictures, to help us remember every moment!

In preparation for our family coming for Morgan’s Confirmation, I gave the house a major cleaning (why is it the words “family coming to visit” almost automatically spark a huge fit of cleaning???). While I was cleaning, I finally took down . . .

 . . . the CHRISTMAS WREATH!!!!

Can anyone beat THAT for procrastination???

And happy birthday to my sister, Deb. Happy Birthday, Deb! Next year is a big one . . . (of course, I hit my “big” b-day last year . . . )

In celebration of the new month, I’m going to post a picture here. The lady who manages my blog and website (I e-mail her with any questions and she either fixes it, or tells me how to, in language I can understand) updated it recently and hopefully it will be really easy to post a picture or two.

It worked! I’m not sure why the picture is at the TOP of the post and not down here, but I’ll work on that next time! This is Morgan and her dog Jenny.

Since it’s the first day of a new month, take a few minutes and make several goals for this month. Remember to make them realistic and write them down. I’ll share my goals for May later today or tomorrow.

I was helping Morgan do some research for a paper she’s writing. The topic of her paper is how rising fuel and corn costs are affecting the beef industry, so I was looking through some of the agricultural magazines we get. I ran across an article titled, Gut Feeling: Farmer Forecasts Weather with Pig Spleens. Apparently the spleens are 85% correct (better than weathermen, the spleen-readers point out . . . ) giving much food for thought . . .

My thoughts, however, went to the topic of writing. As I paged through the rest of that magazine and several others, I saw articles about cooking, health, and even family issues. The magazines each have several editorial articles in each issue, with writers sharing their thoughts about showing cattle, the price of hay, and just driving down the road.

I thought, “WOW–I didn’t realize that I could write for farming magazines!” And since I’m always thinking in some way about writing I thought, “I should write about this on my blog, so my readers can look at different magazines to write for, too!”

My challenge to you? Look through several new magazines this week. When you visit a friend, ask her if you can look at the magazines she and her family receive. At the library, take some time to page through a magazine you’ve never read before. Bookstores are a great resource for unusual magazines; you can read them while enjoying a cup of coffee!

When you find articles similiar to those you write (or could write), either purchase the magazine or write down the information so you can check it out more in detail online. You just found a new market for your writing! 

And even if you don’t find a new source for writing, you’ll probably learn something. Now, excuse me while I go check out my pig spleens and decide if I’ll need an umbrella today . . .