Winter Wonderland

The view from every window of our home is quite enchanting today, as long as we're standing INSIDE the house! I LOVE Winter with it's crisp, clean and fluffy first snowfall. I do NOT love driving in it. Along with so many blessings in my life; being 'retired' is one of my most cherished. But, since "Idle hands are the devil's workshop", I'd better start checking off my "to do" list for the day!

THANKSGIVING COUNTDOWN:

Day 1: I am thankful to be cancer free!

Day 2: I am thankful for my amazing, selfless husband, Jack.

Day 3: I am THANKFUL for our 6 amazing, unique children and 4 beautiful grandchildren. What a perfect blessing they have been to our lives. I love them each more and more every single day.

Day 4: I am thankful for my amazing parents; George (92) and Elaine (86) who have been married for 67.5 years, and raised 5 of us on a farm in ND where we learned valuable lessons of life while attending church every Sunday morning and eating 3 meals each day together at the table. What a blessing to have them. ♥

Day 5: I am thankful for my faith, my Savior, and God’s arms that hold me up through thick and thin.

Day 6: I am thankful for my family: 3 brothers, one sister, and 17 cousins (and their significant others;), and a huge boatload of nieces and nephews and 2nds, 3rds, and greats!

Day 7-I am thankful for the privilege of teaching for 22 years, losing my hearing, (yes…that in retrospect has been a blessing), and learning to teach again-Christian Yoga, this time around!

Day 8- I am thankful for Daisy, my hearing dog. I call her my “GoddoG”, and if you’ve watched her alert me to my phone, doorbell, or timer, you understand why. She’s an amazing little rescue Rat Terrier, and I am very grateful we found each other.

Day 9-I am thankful for my fleece sheets, warm house, warm car full of gas, and seat heaters on this snowy day as I get ready to drive over the river and through the woods to Jaxon’s house to babysit (another blessing I’m thankful for).

Day 10-I am thankful for the 12 step program.

Day 11-I am thankful for ALL of these amazing, selfless, men and women…those before, those now, and those in the future. Thank you and God Bless you all.

Day 12-I am thankful for the "Winter Wonderland" view from every room inside the warmth of our home. (get ready, AZ, I'm coming soon!!!)

PRAYER WARRIORS:

Please continue prayers for Steve and Sylvia Hammer,  Becky and family/Mom, Jim and Marilyn Erdman, and all who are hurting, suffering, fighting the good fight, hungry, cold, and/or lonely.

PRAISE and More THANKSGIVING!!

Well, I apologize for this being a few days late. I believe most everyone knew this wonderful, exciting news, however, as I shouted back to the many faithful prayer warriors via the e-prayer chains! God worked His powerful miracle again with my cousin, Dawn! She heard back from her doctors that there is NO CANCER!!! PRAISE GOD! I know and believe HE is a most powerful, amazing God, but, His works continue to amaze me beyond belief each time He gifts us with another miracle. Talk about strength and power….continues to solidify my faith as I grow and strive to walk HIS path, not mine.

We're enjoying a bit of God's miraculous beauty today with the first snow of the season. The snow kissed pine trees are magical and mystical this morning. Lovingly grateful for my daughter's warm and cozy house to snuggle little Jaxon in as we watch from warm side of the window.

Along with thankfulness for my cousin, I've been keeping up with my daily statements of Thanksgiving on Facebook….here they are:

Day 1: I am thankful to be cancer free!

Day 2: I am thankful for my amazing, selfless husband, Jack.

Day 3: I am THANKFUL for our 6 amazing, unique children and 4 beautiful grandchildren. What a perfect blessing they have been to our lives. I love them each more and more every single day.

Day 4: I am thankful for my amazing parents; George (92) and Elaine (86) who have been married for 67.5 years, and raised 5 of us on a farm in ND where we learned valuable lessons of life while attending church every Sunday morning and eating 3 meals each day together at the table. What a blessing to have them. ♥

Day 5: I am thankful for my faith, my Savior, and God’s arms that hold me up through thick and thin.

Day 6: I am thankful for my family: 3 brothers, one sister, and 17 cousins (and their significant others;), and a huge boatload of nieces and nephews and 2nds, 3rds, and greats!

Day 7-I am thankful for the privilege of teaching for 22 years, losing my hearing, (yes…that in retrospect has been a blessing), and learning to teach again-Christian Yoga, this time around!

Day 8- I am thankful for Daisy, my hearing dog. I call her my “GoddoG”, and if you’ve watched her alert me to my phone, doorbell, or timer, you understand why. She’s an amazing little rescue Rat Terrier, and I am very grateful we found each other.

Day 9-I am thankful for my fleece sheets, warm house, warm car full of gas, and seat heaters on this snowy day as I get ready to drive over the river and through the woods to Jaxon’s house to babysit (another blessing I’m thankful for).

PRAYER WARRIORS:

Please continue prayers for Steve and Sylvia Hammer, as Steve battles cancer and Sylvia finishes her radiation treatment and healing from her surgery; Becky and family/Mom, Radene, as Becky fights cancer, and Jim and Marilyn Erdman.

Well….it's about time, I know! Nearly 3 months since my last post here-and I was just thinking last evening that I need to write a post and start a "I am thankful for…" countdown. My feelings all changed drastically when I received a phone call from my dear cousin, Dawn, a few minutes ago. Dawn is a breast cancer survivor going on 3 years now, and during her annual mammogram, they found a suspicious area, did a biopsy on Wed., and now she waits…….. This news was another "kick in the stomach" for me. Dawn's husband, Ike, had surgery a few months ago for prostrate cancer, and has had good number reports since. Those two wonderful people have had about 3 months of breathing a sigh of relief, and now-here they go again.

PRAYER WARRIORS: Please join me today on our knees lifting Dawn and Ike up in prayer. We're asking for a miracle-for absolutely NO cancer, and results known SOON. 

As an example of how out of control this breast cancer is-Our dear friend, Sylvia Hammer, was diagnosed with breast cancer about a month ago, a few short months after her husband, Steve, was diagnosed with esophageal/lung cancer! 
My former teacher friend, Radene's, daughter, Becky, from Laurel/Billings, MT, is battling breast cancer. Becky is a young mom of two beautiful little girls. Is this not just NUTS?!?! WHERE is it COMING FROM!?!!?  I'm beginning to think like my sister-in-law, (another breast cancer survivor-21 years) we need to not only find a cure, but find the CAUSE and PREVENT it from happening.

I've avoided blogging for the past 3 months for various reasons-the main one, of course, being time spent caring for our little grandson, Jaxon. What a blessed excuse to have (and it IS an excuse, since I don't care for him 24/7!) We've also been busy with company for several weeks! We've spent the past couple months singing, celebrating birthdays, anniversaries and baptisms, playing, kayaking, visiting, trick or treating, and of course-EATING! 


We had a blessed event on September 29th. Jaxon Hans Nagle was baptized on the Spokane River. (same place big sister, Tatum Georgia was 4 years ago) It was a beautiful ceremony with Aunt Linda officiating and Ryan's sisters; Beth and Angie standing as his sponsors. Jaxon wore his Uncle Kyle and Curtis' baptism tuxedo that Great Grandma Elaine made 35 years ago.

Baptized boy, Jaxon, and Mommy

The baptism

Papa Jack, Nana GG, Tatum and Jaxon

Aunt Linda, (Jack's sister) and Jaxon 

God-Mamas, Aunt Angie and Aunt Beth

Ryan, Mom, Gayle, Jill and kids

Star of the day, Jaxon, and his adorable family

My parents flew to their Winter home via Spokane, and spent 5 days with us! We had such a great time, and enjoyed a couple family dinners with them, Curtis, Jen, Hannah, and Matthew from Butte, Jill, Ryan, and kids, and our niece, Amber and Mike, and kids; Kendall, Declan and Sterling, from Tigard, OR. 

Great Grandpa George and Grandma Great Elaine
posing with Jaxon 

Great-Grandpa's Hands
So many stories and messages from these hands….
….my Daddy's Hands.

A table full! L.O.V.E.

More love from the other end...

Young "Blue Eyes", Declan, loved Nana's buns!

Grandson, Matthew taking in the dinner table conversation

Granddaughter, Hannah, explaining something to Mike.

Great Grandpa and Mike solving all the problems of the world, I'm sure.:)

The Birthday Girls-Grandma Great, 86….Kendall, 6
Hope all of your wishes came true!

Aunty Jen getting in some snuggle time with Jaxon

Grandpa George and Curtis George
Two Handsome Dudes!

The three youngest grandchildren
Tatum, Matthew, and Jaxon

Grandma Great and her little girls

Me and my Daddy-Love this man so much!

Adorable little Sterling banned to the kitchen (by his Daddy) to eat his ice-cream cake.

Great Grandma and Grandpa with Jaxon and Tatum

The best shot we could get of these busy little munchkin cousins!
Declan, Kendall, Sterling (on the move), Jaxon, and Tatum

The Fielders with Great Grandma and Grandpa

The two little diva cousins-BFF

Tatum, 4 years old, and headed out on her own-she was on a mission-paddled straight out to the middle of the lake with Mama and Nana holding their breath on the bank!

Granddaughter, Hannah, making her maiden voyage around the lake.

Jennifer and Hannah-L.O.V.E.

The Queen of Hearts and White Rabbit

The Madhatter aka Ryan

Our very own "Alice in Wonderland" cast.

Exciting news: Our son, Kyle, took an adjuster job with Armtech, and he and his wife, Kelli, will be relocating to this area soon!

Monday, the 15th, I drove Mom and Dad to Pasco, WA, where we flew Allegient air to Mesa and got settled into their home in Apache Junction. I attended a training retreat for my new endeavor: Christian Yoga Leadership Training, and visited former Glendive good friends: Cathy and Terry Lobdell, and Jackie Higlin and Joanne Gray, before returning home on Monday the 22nd. It was so warm and toasty in AZ,  it took me a few days to thaw out upon my return to the North country. But, we've had beautiful, warm, Autumn weather since, so I can't complain. Today, after trimming the shrubs in the yard, it started to rain. Looks like a good day for baking, quilting or NAPPING!!

So…..getting back to my motivation for blogging again yesterday: I'm writing something I am thankful for each day of the month of November. I've been posting them on Facebook as well (not sure who or where that started; but I jumped on the bandwagon).

I AM THANKFUL FOR:

Day 1-Being cancer free.
Day 2-for my loving, selfless husband, Jack.
Day 3-for our 6 amazing, unique children and 4 beautiful grandchildren. What a perfect blessing they have been to our lives. I love them each more and more every single day.

*PRAYER WARRIORS: Please pray (see above) for my cousin Dawn & Ike, Becky and family/Mom-Radene, Steve & Sylvia, Jim & Marilyn, and all who are suffering, fighting the good fight, hungry, cold/wet, lonely, struggling with mental or physical illness, and/or developmental challenges.  

I'm leaning heavily on the Lord today, and especially soaking in "my" verse: 

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Philippians 4:6