F R I D A Y

This is a "Grumpy Cat" face! Do you have a grumpy face? I sure do but not everyday! Stop by Feline Friday

Nick snapped this grumpy girl photo yesterday. Colton was driving him to the airport and Miss SHea was with her daddy. She was not a very happy camper. I think her strong will child personality has blossomed. Uh oh .....mom and dad in big trouble! I hope you visit Pink Saturday too.

Ellen and Lorianne host Friendly Fill Ins. Each of them contribute two of these questions. Please join the fun.

1. I almost__________________.
2. I finally__________________.
3. I find _________________very interesting.
4. I have my doubts about_______________.

Here are my answers:

1. I almost always try to keep in touch with my friend Bea who recently turned 90. She is a wealth of information and I treasure our 37 year friendship.

2. I finally finished a book I have been reading for 6 weeks. It is Anna May Wong : From Laundryman's Daughter to Hollywood Legend. Her story was sad, during a time where Asians were treated poorly by the Hollywood elite.

3. I find Bruce Lee very interesting. Many people do no know how instrumental Bruce Lee was in gaining star recognition for Asians in movies and TV. Most think he was a martial arts expert. He valued his upbringing and heritage and made a way for people such as himself to be treated properly in Hollywood.

4. I have my doubts about the condition of this world to change. I stick by my faith. It will be what will get many through troubling times that are headed our way.

Stop by Joyce's to share some Hodge Podge today.

1. This time last year,where were you?

We were home enjoying the grands, enjoying barbeque's and having a good summer. I suppose much has changed but I don't notice it quite as much because I enjoy being home and close to so many I love. But we do love baseball and last year we saw many Colorado Rockie baseball games in person. With all the crazy rules I doubt that was the last time we ever saw one in person. Much has changed and many more important things to do to prepare for what will come our way. No time for the politics of the NFL and other sports. I am just not interested anymore but in my heart I will always love baseball because everything I Learned about it came from my father and he was a baseball lover at heart.

2. In honor of National Pink Day (June 23rd) tell us your favorite food or beverage. Was it on the menu at your house Wednesday? Do you like to wear the color pink? If we came to visit, would we find this color in your home decor?
I love pink lemonade and I Love salmon but neither one were on our menu for National Pink Day. I do have several pieces of pink clothing but not very much in the way of decorating these days. We do have many beautiful pink sky days though.

3. Stop and smell the roses, look through rose colored glasses, a rose by any other name, not all moonlight and roses, no rose without a thorn...,what rosy saying currently fits your life in some way. Explain.

No rose without a thorn. When Nick was born in 1993 the medical profession turned me every which way but loose. They wanted to drill into my head that I was old 38 pushing 39 when he was born. They wanted to frighten me into believing he would be born with a disability because the older you are the higher the risk of having a child with a disability. No matter what they told me, I stood on my faith! I had already survived three VP Shunt surgeries  in an 18 month period of time along with the losses of my father, two of my mom's two sisters and my Tata Rose  and our unborn daughter Rachel Lee, In the middle of all that I had Jeremy our oldest son and three years later Rebekah and three more years later Hannah so I had come to realize only God held my fate in His hands. I was sent to the hospital the day before Nick's birth. Oh they tried to wow  me with their medical know how as if I was too ignorant to understand. They forced me to spend an entire day and night at that hospital twiddling my thumbs waiting for a baby who clearly was not coming on their medical knowledge know how! So I was upset, furious that we would be stuck with a major medical bill, spending time in a hospital when medically there was no need for it! I was so angry when my husband left for the night, I yelled at God! I said I was sick and tired of the nonsense and He better have something to give me to let me know He was listening! I had my bible there and the pages opened to the verse I have hanging in our bedroom to this very day. " My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness." I was flabbergasted that God really heard me and gave me what I needed to get through the night. Although the doctors had become a thorn in my side, God gave me His word that all would be well. I had a good night's rest and even though Nick was not born until 4:00 o'clock that next afternoon, I learned to stop questioning God. He has been my rock and Jesus has held me up on more occasions than I could even recall.  I Know I must be a thorn in God's side yet His magnificent love for every human on this earth is often overlooked by people. He cares and loves each individual as if they were His only child. I will continue to have that occasional thorn in my side but somehow God turns everything into sweet smelling roses rather then annoying thorns in my side. 

4. Are you a reader? Do you tend to "read lighter" books in the summer months? Do you have a summer reading list? If so, give us a title or two.

Although I am searching for a copy of this book, it will probably go into my winter reading list. Since our youngest daughter married, and moved to Western New York I have collected several books about the area and various stories relating to Western NY.  I recently finished reading Anna May Wong: from Laundryman's Daughter to Hollywood Legend. I mentioned this earlier in this post but it was a difficult book to read and filled with so much racism and prejudices against Asians making films in the early 20th century. So instead I try to read lighter fare in the summer and have a fun book my friend Amanda, also a Westerner NY resident wrote about. It is called 

Amanda home schools her five children from ages 8 to 3 and this little book is filled with wonderful tips to share. Manners seems to be something of the past yet many of us still rely on instilling good manners in young children. It is a fun book to read. When all this chaos started I bought new copies of Chicken Little, The Little Red Hen and Heidi. The first two children's books fit the ways of our world perfectly and Heidi is just simply a lovely old story that I could reread as often as I have reread "To Kill A Mockingbird". Some good books are worth reading over and over again. I believe I have gone through five copies of Harper Lee's famous novel.  She was a real hero to me. Attending Catholic school, a summer reading list was a must! Before I finished high school I had read and reread many great classic's like Don Quixote, The Red Badge of Courage and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn to name a few. I am grateful for a solid education which taught me the value of knowing not only my history, but the world's.

5. Share with us one rose and one thorn from your weekend.
A rose would be the wonderful birthday celebration we had for Rebekah as she turned 32 and a thorn would be hearing a dear blogging friend needed surgery, Grateful though, to know she is recovering well and that my friends, is why I pray.

6. Insert your own random thoughts here.

My hubby spent all his childhood summers on his grandparents farm. He loves windmills and I do too. I have hundred of photos of windmills from our five years of traveling across Kansas while Nick attended college, first in Ark City near the Oklahoma border and Salina home of the Kansas Wesleyan University. This shot was taken today as we took a wrong turn, gabbing in the car, heading to a Wal-Mart we rarely visit.  I was able to catch this shot. I also saw a high school pal has a windmill in her backyard in her Idaho home thanks to her hubby's hard working putting it all together for her, Now I need a windmill too. But seriously, I have asked the hubby to get one for our yard.