Song to make me smile

at 10/23/09 11:10AM

Today is rough. Not necessarily today specifically, but today's world. People lose their jobs, their homes, their families. They lose faith, they lose hope. Sometimes it's hard keep a smile on your face in the middle of everything going on around you.

But as I sat here in my office listening to the radio, Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" came on and I had to stop and really pay attention to the words. I'd sung this song in 5th grade, many years ago, but it just made me smile today as I listened to it closely.

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and for you
And I think to myself....what a wonderful world.

I see skies of blue, clouds of white
Bright blessed days, the dark sacred nights
And I think to myself.....what a wonderful world.

The colors of a rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by.
I see friends shaking hands, saying 'How do you do?'.
They're really saying, 'I love you.'

I hear babies cry, I watch them grow
They'll learn much more, than I'll ever know.
And I think to myself.....what a wonderful world

In the middle of all the chaos and turmoil around us, stop and look at your beautiful surroundings God gave you as a joyful blessing of the day. You're bound to find something to smile about in there.

Over and out.

We have so much to be thankful for in this life...it is a wonderful world. Thanks for the reminder!

by melissakaye at 10/23/09 12:18PM
Good words. We need to always look for the silver lining in the clouds. Picked Leah up from school today because she is sick, AGAIN! This is getting old....I'm going now look for my silver lining.....

by speedy62 at 10/23/09 12:27PM
We are truly blessed and having a loving family there in the good times and the bad helps too.

by betsys at 10/23/09 9:28PM
very good!

by 5ofusisgr8 at 10/23/09 9:56PM
Excellent post!!
It's amazing how the simple things in life can be the most precious and enjoyable:]

by i_am_a_sheep at 10/23/09 10:11PM
That's ok. I figured it was worth a try though :-)

by littlebit at 10/26/09 12:27PM
One of my favorite songs. One thing I stop and look at is I am thankful we have bugs, inside or outside. They have a purpose on this land for a reason just like you and I. God bless you.

by lauraroseborough at 11/05/09 9:25PM
April 3rd, so probably sometime in March!

by meridith at 11/05/09 10:13PM
Hey, I'm sorry we missed you too! I hope to stay in contact when we move through here!

by dawnmk23 at 11/08/09 4:05PM
I guess I forgot about the drought before we moved here!

by dawnmk23 at 11/13/09 1:25PM

People Amaze Me

at 10/13/09 5:54PM

Had to stop at the grocery store on the way home and blatantly avoided the line with the mother who looked very "unfit" to be a mother screaming at her child two aisles over to come back to her. Yeah, didn't want to be anywhere near that episode and tried very hard to ignore the constant echoes of, "You better get back over here," "I'm going to leave you here for the rest of the night" (Oh please no!), "I told you not to touch that!", and "What did I tell you?". She walked out in front of me when leaving the store and the kid was kicking and screaming while she tried to hold him down over her shoulder. I, by no means, consider myself an expert on parenting, especially considering I have no children of my own, but come on! This is the sanity of America we're talking about here....do something with your screaming uncontrollable child! Sigh. People amaze me.

Then I stopped in the drug store for a brief second to only pick up a few things. As I stood in the long line, I glanced up to see a very rugged man pulling change (literally, penny by penny) out of his pocket to buy a pack of cigarettes. He wanted to buy two and would have if they'd been on sale, but alas, they weren't. When he turned around to leave, I noticed he had a lot of missing teeth and could have used a good shower. Sad. Very very sad. He would spend every last penny he had to buy a pack of cigarettes. People amaze me.

Over and out.

^you must have a mean Mama! :)))))

People amaze me too.

by speedy62 at 10/13/09 7:42PM
Mean mommies = good mommies! :-) (I AM a mean mommy - I'd NEVER let my girls get away with acting like that!!)

by angiemann73 at 10/13/09 9:53PM
There was a story on the news the other morning about panhandling. One man admitted that he used any money he received to buy beer. Up to 2 cases (48 cans) a day. 2 per hour he said. He admitted that panhandling was a great way to live b/c he didn't have a home to be responsible for, he didn't have a job he had to show up for, etc. Disturbing and sad. It's a reminder to me about the verse that says, "those who won't work, neither shall they eat." I'll keep working!

by 5ofusisgr8 at 10/14/09 9:22AM
wow.
It's amazing how someone can ruin their life, by doing something so silly like smoking.

by i_am_a_sheep at 10/16/09 9:02PM
LOL i thing you win congratulation :) i cant wait for is and is so soon.

by simonc23236 at 10/21/09 6:43AM

At least you can't accidentally delete me...

at 10/01/09 6:11PM

That's what Joshua told me last night as I cried over the loss of pictures. Yes, loss...of...pictures.

We finally got our hard drive back from the computer docs the other day. They said they were able to save probably between 60-65% of the pictures from our hard drive and put them on a DVD, but the rest of them had been corrupted by something in our systems. Stupid viruses!

I had tried to be calm all week while waiting to hear the final prognosis. When we got the hard drive and DVD back, I finally broke down. I haven't gone through what's left of the pictures just yet - I can't bring myself to do it. I know, it sounds silly, but I just can't. Those pictures were from some of the most fun and exciting times in our 6 years of marriage and I know there are still some of them on this DVD, but it's still hard to know the others are gone...bye-bye...adios...vamoose. At least memories can't be taken away.

Poor Joshua. He felt bad. He'd been the one looking up some silly song on the computer that night and found it on some random site. And then he had to play it over, and over, and over, and...well, you get the point. I would have gone insane if I'd heard the song one more time and I kindly asked him to stop playing it. I guess that site gave our computer that stinkin' bug. And now our pictures are gone all because he wanted to hear a song a million times. Men.

I told him I wasn't mad at him. I'm not. Seriously. Just upset that it happened at all. It's not technically his fault, so how could I be mad at him? But, his response to my crying was just so cute - "At least you can't accidentally delete me. You may want to throw me in the trash can, but you can't accidentally delete me." Gotta love the guy for making me laugh in the middle of a horrible situation.

Over and out.

I'm so sorry you lost the pictures, but as you said, you still have the memories. Lord willing you will have many more happy, healthy years together to make memories & take a lot more pictures!

by melissakaye at 10/01/09 6:25PM
Sorry.

by luv2fish at 10/01/09 11:54PM
:( ((((Hugs)))

by southern_yankee_mom at 10/02/09 7:39AM
Hugs!!!!!! I am so sorry about the pictures.....

by angiemann73 at 10/02/09 8:49AM
Thanks! :0) We're hoping to go to an early dinner at the olive garden! I'm somewhat better...

by dawnmk23 at 10/02/09 9:51AM
Josh is so good at helping people feel better. I'm sorry to hear about your pictures.

by 5ofusisgr8 at 10/02/09 2:59PM
aww that's a bummer.

Josh is a good guy:]

by i_am_a_sheep at 10/02/09 3:34PM
Aw, so sorry about your pictures! That would really upset me too!
And a good reminder for me to back up my laptop... :-/

by mjintexas at 10/05/09 10:42AM
I'll make sure to give you a heads up! You know how dangerous teenagers are driving minivans! :)

by speedy62 at 10/08/09 6:58AM
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!! 6 YEARS!!!!

by 5ofusisgr8 at 10/11/09 11:13PM
Happy Anniversary, sorry a day late. I think I kinda remembered it yesterday through the fog of a headache. I hope you made happy memories. :)

by speedy62 at 10/12/09 6:11PM

Another one bytes the dust

at 09/21/09 7:03PM

I'm concerned about our desktop computer, and rightfully so. Last night, Joshua was playing around on it, doing who knows what, and then I sat down to upload the pictures from our recent trip and then do some work on Shutterfly.

When I started working on the internet, a pop-up thing kept coming up about some sort of security thing. I'd never seen it before and tried several times to just close it out, but it wouldn't let me. We even tried "Control, Alt, Delete" to shut it down, but that didn't work either. So we just turned off the computer in hopes that would make it stop. It didn't. So Joshua tried to do a system restore on the computer.

Now he's having trouble getting it back to where it was before, including the pictures on the hard drive. I know, I know, it was stupid of us not to back them up over the years, and trust me we've thought about it many times. We've even got the external hard drive sitting in the box just waiting to be used, but we haven't had the time to do the job yet. I had just finished going through all our pictures this weekend - pictures going all the way to before we got married in 2003!!!

I'm beginning to worry. We had a similar issue a few years back with an older laptop but the computer doctors were fortunately able to restore everything for us. I'd love to not have to take our computer to the doctor, but if I have to I will and hopefully they can get everything back for us.

Computers are such a necessary evil!

Over and out.

one of the computers at work had that problem recent. i used spybot to finally get rid of it.

by tu_madre at 09/21/09 8:40PM
Ugh! You guys are smart, you'll figure it out. Once you do, SAVE THE PICTURES TO THE EXTERNAL!!! Listen to your elders.

by 5ofusisgr8 at 09/21/09 10:22PM
Hope it is not as bad as you think!

by betsys at 09/22/09 6:48AM
You can take it to a computer store (local) and they can connect to your hard drive and load your old stuff onto your external drive. That is, if the hard drive is not fried. It sounds like a software issue.

by burntcoffee at 09/22/09 8:43AM
Oh no! We are having problems with our computer right now too. I just got finished saving all of our important files this weekend just in case! I hope you are able to get it fixed!

by melissakaye at 09/22/09 3:12PM
Wow, my mind was in a completely different place. Before Dawn and I got engaged we used to refer to that song when one of our FC friends got engaged.

by godswarrior32803 at 09/22/09 4:09PM
I hope you don't lose all your photos. That would be tragic!

by speedy62 at 09/22/09 7:29PM
Oh no. If it is what I think it is, that's a bad one. We've had warnings about it at work. I hope you get your stuff recovered!!

by mjintexas at 09/22/09 10:34PM
I'm sorry to hear that you won't be able to make it!

by dawnmk23 at 09/23/09 12:54PM
Thanks, there are pics on daf's page

by burntcoffee at 09/23/09 3:57PM
Well, I would imagine your red purse is probably setting in a store, somewhere. :D

by speedy62 at 09/25/09 3:08PM
I saw several at Penney's!

by speedy62 at 09/25/09 5:00PM
It was good company and yes, I did get to see you! :) Yeah, the most exciting part of the game was the last two minutes!

by speedy62 at 09/26/09 8:44AM
one word! MAC

by iran487 at 09/29/09 5:49AM

Vacation, sweet vacation

at 09/15/09 9:43PM

Joshua and I had a blast this past week. We spent a week traveling through West Virginia, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, and then back home through Pennsylvania and Maryland...all in just 9 short days. But, we certainly crammed a lot of fun into those 9 short days!

We started out going to Louisville to see Andy and Priscilla Watson and their 11-month old, Nolan. We hadn't seen them since 2006 and it was great to catch up, even if it was just for the night. After church services at Douglass Hills Sunday morning, we drove 4 hours north to see our wonderful friends, Curtis and Tara Stegall and their kids.

Our whole plan for this trip was to go to Illinois to see the Stegall's since we hadn't seen them in several years and had been promising we'd get up that way eventually. Back in March, we set the plan in motion and decided to go up there and surprise the kids and also hit a few baseball games while we were there. We had a wonderful time with them all last week! We took them to a White Sox game on Monday since the kids were out of school (their first major league baseball game), Joshua and I spent Tuesday with Tara and Curtis and took a field trip to Springfield to see the Abraham Lincoln Museum. On Wednesday, Tara took us to Curtis Orchard where we looked at all the apples and ate lunch in the cafe. We spent our evenings watching football practices, and going to bible studies, and playing games until all hours of the night....only to be woken up super early the next morning when they all had to get ready for the day. :-)

On Thursday, we traveled into Indiana to spend the day with Sandra and Ken Sils. They took us for lunch at a local Indiana dive where we dined on a GIANT breaded porkchop tenderloin sandwich - it was enough to split! After lunch, they drove us by the Indianapolis Speedway and then to the zoo. The day was topped by delicious milkshakes (peanut butter for Joshua and me and Pumpkin Pie for Ken and Sandra - I can still taste them!). What a great day it was with friends.

Sadly, on Friday morning Joshua and I had to leave the Stegall's behind. We wanted to bring Luke home with us and he probably would have come, but he might have changed his mind after a few miles down the road. Apparently he's been asking about us every day since we've been gone. (Insert your "awwww" here) We drove back up to Chicago that afternoon for a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. That was a lot of fun, but leaving our car parked at a gas station for $25 was a little unnerving. Fortunately, it was there when we returned.

Saturday morning, after arriving in South Bend, Indiana the night before, we stomped around the Notre Dame campus and then a few miles down the road to the College Football Hall of Fame. Both were really interesting and I'm glad we decided at the last minute to see both. After South Bend, we drove 4 hours east to Cleveland where we caught yet another baseball game that night! Yes, I'm a baseball (and college football) nut. I definitely came to the conclusion then that, although the new stadiums are nice, there's just something extra special about the older and more nostalgic fields like Wrigley.

We worshiped with the brethren in Akron Sunday morning and then started the long 7.5 hour drive back home, getting in around 10 that night.

It was, by far, one of the best trips we've ever taken (and trust me, we've taken a lot!). Although we were busy the entire time, I came back feeling rested and rejuvenated. It's amazing what a GREAT time with friends will do for your soul. We miss th em al l already!

Too bad all good things must come to an end eventually. Now it's back to work.

Over and out.

Sounds like a wonderful trip! Glad you were able to visit so many friends & enjoy so many fun things!

by melissakaye at 09/16/09 1:49AM
Sounds so nice and fun. Glad you two were able to get out and enjoy the time with friends. I am sure the weather was nice too.

by lauraroseborough at 09/16/09 3:22PM
I'm glad you had a great time on your trip and that you got to do all the things, and more, that you wanted to do.

by betsys at 09/16/09 5:27PM
You had a busy vacation! Glad you had fun and came home feeling rested!

by meridith at 09/16/09 11:10PM
Glad that you had a good vaca!!
And thanks for coming to my b-day party:]

by i_am_a_sheep at 09/17/09 5:42PM
Yep, I would come along on a trip to the Dunes or Shipshewana!

by 5ofusisgr8 at 09/18/09 12:42PM
From the look of things, Kentucky needs the Hail Mary's more than ND will. Where's the defense guys???

by speedy62 at 09/19/09 11:28AM
WOOHOO! Touch down UK!!! 100 yards, all the way Baby!!!

by speedy62 at 09/19/09 11:30AM
Hey! I wanted to let you know that we are having a dinner/Bible study at our house on Saturday at 5 p.m. It's going to be hamburgers/hotdogs and we're asking for everyone to bring a side and drinks...The study will be on gambling. Hope you can make it!

by dawnmk23 at 09/21/09 11:34AM

Song to make me smile

People Amaze Me

At least you can't accidentally delete me...

Another one bytes the dust

Vacation, sweet vacation

aikenape

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