"E" is for Excitement!

I have "excitement" today! So I am sharing this extra special exciting news with everyone! We have a new addition to our phamily circle!
Today my niece Kate and her husband Jason became the parents of Arianna Cecilia. She is six pounds and fifteen ozs. of pure girl power! She is a tiny and petite sweet treat! We have waited a long time for her. She is the first of three new babies our phamily is expecting this year.
Andrew and Tarrah, my grandson and his honey girl are expecting a bundle of blue baby boy business in September and I just heard my nephew Josh and his wife Katherine are expecting a girl around the same time.
I know my parents would have been tickled pink and than blue and pink again!
I am the youngest of five and two of my siblings are also the parents of five! My one sibling has two and the other four so between us we have a mess of kids! Those kids have given the phamily more babies. I need to consult with my oldest daughter. She is the curator of the phamily business of babies,weddings and all that great stuff! She keeps records that are neat and meticulous! If we want to know what is happening on my side of the phamily, we call Noelle! She is the Queen of Phamily Business!
So I hope you like my E X C I T E M E N T today and you will join us at Jenny's.

Love is..../Blue Monday

I am trying to combine a few posts so I can get them up in a timely fashion,
Love is...is so special to me I had to share this one today.

We burn our calories by walking and if this rain doesn't let up I will never get into shape for summer! My Sweets is very silly. He constantly makes me laugh and sometime we act so silly we get glances in public places! But we are not into too much heavy "lovin" if you get the idea! We think that stuff is private and sometime we want to yell "Get a room!" when people get overly carried away!
Join Marydon, myself and all the special ladies at Love is.... today!
Then hop over to visit Smiling Sally and see all the blues for Monday!
Here is my contribution:

My oldest daughter Noelle has a Smurf collection to rival the Smurfs themselves!  She has had those Smurfs since she was a small child and she is a parent herself today with grandchildren! I always loved the Smurfs. My dad had one hanging on his truck rear view mirror of Papa Smurf. He is looking out of a telescope and when you are backing that truck up he moves as if he is surveying the situation. I love that Smurf.
Now go visit Sally and all the blues today!

NAMES I LIKE TO CALL THE LORD

I have always loved Handel's Messiah! Although it is quite popular at Christmas, I love the words and I know they were found directly in the Holy Bible!  I love all the different names we call God. He is Truth. He is Wonderful Counselor, Almighty God,  so today visit  Charlotte and Ginger and thank them for sharing this beautiful encouraging weekly post with each one of us. I wanted to share some names the Lord has been called and others that I like to call him. Here is a small list of many of the names I found in the Holy Bible.

1. Resting Place           Jeremiah 50:6
2. Everlasting Father   Isaiah 9:6
3. My Strength            Psalm 43:2
4. Hope                        Psalm 71:5
5. Lord of Peace          2 Thessalonians 3:16
6. Bread of Life            John 6:35
7. Shelter                      Joel 3:16
8. Eternal Life              1 John5:20

9. Hiding Place             Psalm 32;7
10. Everlasting Light    Isaiah 60:20

The Lord is so good, so great, so compassionate. He loves us even though none of us deserves His Love. He is an everlasting light. He is a resting place from life's storms. He is our Everlasting Father and Strength for each one of us. He is Hope, my hope, your hope, everyone who believes, He is their hope. He is the Lord of Peace and therefore I can not involved myself in too many ways of the world. He is the bread of life. He is food for our strength, a symbol of our everlasting life. He can be a hiding place from the world's woes and His light will always shine on those of us who choose to follow Him.
I hope today you will visit many of the participates of Spiritual Sunday. I think the encouragement and food for thought here is an amazing combination of many wonderful souls pooling their resources to share a part of themselves with each of us. Enjoy the day.
 
I am going to make this a longer post because I have a recipe to share. Linda is having a party so you should stop by and I promised to post a recipe I want to share with her one day. This is my friend Sharon's trifle. It is a fresh summer dessert and it looks so pretty in my Princess House trifle bowl that is hand cut and has a beautiful optic design. Here is the recipe for Linda and everyone else but you need to know this is not for a low calorie diet! Everything in it is delicious and sweet!

Sharon's Summer Trifle

1 package (3 oz.) instant vanilla pudding
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk (Eagle Brand or store band)
1 1/2 cup cold water
Beat these three ingredients until thick.
Clean two quarts of fresh (never use frozen) strawberries or any fruit in season (nectarines. peaches) and slice them in half.
Cube one large Sara Lee pound cake.
Add two cups of heavy whipping cream to the pudding mixture.
Layer some of  the pound cake in a trifle bowl. Add a layer of the pudding mixture. Then the fruit and repeat until all the ingredients are used. This is easy to double or triple for a large party.
Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

This is just a google image because I have not made this yummy dessert yet this year so you can atleast have an idea of how it looks.
I won a  giveaway from Beautiful Dee's. I am showing you a few of the items that were included:

This was a wonderful giveaway and it arrived on a day I was having a major meltdown at my office! You know those days when everything is wrong, nothing goes right and people are downright mean! I opened this sweet package to find an array of wonderful gifts. The butterfly lights are so cool and I tried to capture them with the lights flickering They will add a fun touch to phamily barbeques this summer. There was a bottle of yummy lotion and some hand soap in beautiful light and airy fragrances. The jar containing the Andes candy is so cute! The pictures do not do it justice. There are tiny dragonflies craved into the outside of the jar! There are wind chimes, one butterflies and one dragonflies and a flitty butterfly that is simply divine! They are sweet and if Summer ever arrives in Colorado we will be set to have some fun patio parties! There was also a cute framed photo with butterflies inside! I am going to put a butterfly shower curtain up in a few weeks and the picture will hang on the wall. Sweet!
Then there was the vintage card and sweet bloggy friend wrote a personal note. We both had agreed it was fun to win giveaways but more importantly making new friends! So a big thank you to Debbie in Utah for making my day so delightful! Stop by for a visit. She is one of those crafty cross stitching people! Have a terrific Sunday!
I will be back tomorrow with more giveaway goodies I won recently. But more than that I enjoy the friendships that I have formed here. I hope you feel the same way too.

PINK PRETTIES!

Some pinks to share. My Sweets bought this book for me for Mother's Day. My friend Connie inspired me because she bought this book and if you know Connie she is a multi talented lady with so many beautiful creative projects at her blog. I won a gold sparkly bracelet she created at her blog and I will post that photo later!

Then I received the most beautiful and heartfelt Mother's Day card from my middle, the writer! The lover of British literature. Thank you beautiful Bekah for your thoughtful heart!

I wish you could read the words she wrote. She has the most dainty, tiny hand writing. I love it!
Then Karla, my sweet niece and her family sent this lovely card.

My sweet Karla is a new mother-in-law to Jason and the mother of beautiful bride Kate. She will be a grandmother soon as well. I will post the wedding photos later.
I am behind because I have three giveaways to talk about that I won but must rush out the door! Nick is running the mile this morning and we hear the rain will be pounding us around the noon hour so we need to scat! He took 4th yesterday in the 2 mile and Then beat himself up! He felt he should have ran better and won it! But we always tell him as long as you run and beat yourself there should be no other worried.
Hugs to Beverly for hosting this Pink Saturday weekly meme. I enjoy knowing her and all the pinkies! Come visit and enjoy the pinks!
"Good,better,best,never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better best!" Tim Duncan

TRACK AND FIELD

I have been so busy with the phamily! I ask for prayer today because Nick runs in the Regionals for the 2 mile (3200 k).
He will run the 1 mile (1600 k) tomorrow. Everything was rescheduled due to weather! Pray it does not rain hard on us today or tomorrow. But as for the rain everything is getting green!
I will be back, blogger kicked out my cute post I had of misprints in the church bulletin! I will try to re post that later too!
Love you all and have a terrific weekend!

ORANGUTAN

If you have a moment stop by The Denver Zoo athttp://www.denverzoo.org/
I am very fond of the big mammals! I love the great apes and the orangutans are no exception. But I am sad for them. If something is not done soon  in the wild they will become extinct within a decade.  Part of the reason they are becoming endangered is habitat loss due to logging, forest fires and timber clearing for agriculture.
Orangutans are solitary creatures except for females with offsprings. Their favorite food is fruit! These creatures are the largest tree living mammals in the world. In the Malay language orangutan means "person of the forest". Orangutans have the most mobile lips and mouths of all great apes. They have the capability of making many facial expressions There are two distinct species of orangutans,  Sumatran (only 9200 left in the wild) and Bornean.  They live on separate islands in the South Pacific and are very different looking.
Orangutans are hunted and killed for bush meat and  captured for the pet trade. They can live in the wild 35-45 years and up to 50 years in captivity.
I wanted to share a few facts about these highly intelligent primates with you. I hope you enjoyed it and you will stop by Angela's and join us for Tuesday Show and Tail! Enjoy your week!

"God made the beast of the earth according to its kind." Genesis 1:25

Please pray for Nick. He runs the two mile Wedesday and it looks like it could run late in the evening due to the weather and the fact that this is the regional championship. He is doing well with his new meds to contain the rabid cough he had.

“…. since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.” Hebrews 12:1-3

LOVE IS.../ BLUE MONDAY

I am joining  Marydon and everyone who participates in Love is.... I think love is forever! I think more people ought to try to love forever.
I am also posting toSally at Blue Monday.
In 1986 at their 60th wedding anniversary Grandpa B wore a blue suit. He is with my late father-in-law(rt) and our first son Jeremy and my Sweets. We got stuck in a blizzard after that affair. Ah memories...
Do you like my plain and simple Kentucky Derby hat? The blue flower is so simple and springy. I love hats!
Come join all the fun with us today.
Enjoy the week!