I am going to make this one a quickie.  (I hope.)

Susana and Adam have announced their engagement.   We all expected that to happen.  What the big news is that they have set the wedding date for August 2! 

Wow!  There's so much to do in so little time.  I can't wait until Kendra Lily gets home.  She a much better organizer than I am.  Just 2 more weeks, PTL.  You may wonder what the rush is all about.  Well, his twin brother Dru and his wife are flying to Thailand for 3 years on Aug. 5th.  Adam could hardly bear the idea of Dru missing his wedding so we are doing it then for their sakes.  (I think it means a lot to Dru too.)

so, what do you do to get it all done?  Well, not spending a lot of time on the computer for sure. 

Here's a picture of the couple.

Congratulations!

Karen, these are for you!  She's ready to help KL come and milk.

Not much new going on here.  Just more of the same.  Unpacking banana boxes....we want to get another shipment soon.  And playing with the baby.  That takes most of our time but we are loving it!  She is such an obliging one.  She truly is a precioous gift from Heaven

As many of you know, I have quite the challenge to decorate this place.  For one thing it's huge, another thing is limited money, another is the inability to do what all I'd like to and still yet another is lack of know-how.   Yeah, I know that everyone who knows me finds that hard to believe.  "You are so artistic."  I hear it all the time but when it comes INTERIOR DECORATING, I really fall flat.  I go to other people's houses and drool over how well they've pulled stuff together and wonder why mine doesn't look so great.

Oh well, I decided to give it a shot.  This year besides looking for baby stuff at yard sales, I've been looking for stuff to put on my walls.  BTW-- for those who don't know, we live in an old 3 storey brick school that was built in 1913.  Almost endless possibilities, I suppose.  But these 12 foot walls are a lot to cover!  Anyway, I found some stuff that I drug home:  #1

I want to get some dark green candles for the holders.  I was looking at this and just mentioned to Melisa that I should try and find a couple of bird prints to frame and put on either side of this.  Before I even had the words out a LIGHT BULB turned on in my head.  Hey, I already have them!  I've been waiting for years--17 to be precise. 

When Benji was 6 and Marv was 4 they begged to do an oil painting.  So I found a coloring book with birds and traced them each a bird to paint.  Those paintings have been among my priceless possessions just waiting for this.  So, I hauled them out of hiding and waited another week or so to find the right frames with matting.  I found those last weekend at a yard sale that had everything 75% off.  So my $4.50 frames turned out perfect with almost 0 cost!  I was elated.

One of my best friends, Elaine Martin from OK, came to see me last weekend so she helped me get the grouping hung before she left.  I need to do something else with it but I am leaving it alone to let it simmer.  I am sure that eventually the right thing will come along.  Any ideas or suggestions?  I think I've discovered my style/tastes as Victorian.

I had thought about letting Holly have Benji's earlier but I didn't have the ability to give it up.  Now, I am so glad that I didn't part with it yet.  I am sure Holly will forgive me.    Maybe someday.  I really think both boys did an excellent job on their paintings.

Now to other parts of the house.   At one yard sale, I found a set of satin sheets.  I've always wondered how they'd feel and imagined they'd be so cool and smooth.  Yeah, I always wanted to get some but never did so I thought that maybe this was my chance.  The price wasn't bad....but did I really want them?  I asked the question that's been lurking in my mind for years.  "Do they stay on the bed?"  For some odd reason, I've had the opinion that maybe satin sheets had that habit.  The woman laughed and assured me, "Oh yes, THEY stayed on the bed but my husband couldn't!"  How funny.

 Well, I decided to get them.  They are a beautiful burgandy color.  I could hardly wait until it warmed up enough to use them although I was quite disappointed that one of the pillowcases were missing.  Oh well, maybe I'll find another one that matches.    I put them on last week and at bedtime slid between the sheets. Wow, how luxurious!  They felt so good.  I was surprised though that they didn't stay cold or even cool after they'd warmed up so I don't need to worry about using them all year round.

We had barely started the night when we began the tug o' war to keep the quilt on the bed.  The sheets don't slide off (the bottom one doesn't at any rate.) but that quilt sure has a problem.    My pillow which has the sole pillow case has a tendency to walk to the edge of the bed.    Its kind of amusing for us but I wonder how long Vernon will put up with it before he decides he likes traditional sheets better.  I am so glad I have a long-suffering, patient husband because I can get away with trying new experiments like this, but there usually are limits.  I am racking my brains to try to come up with ways to make it work.  I suppose in the summer it won't matter too much if the quilt leaves us for a few hours....if its hot we won't mind anyway.  In the meantime, I am thinking of attaching weights to Vernon's side.  The sheet and quilt and pillowcase all go towards my side of the bed.  I wonder if its the nap in the fabric or just because my hump is lower than his.  Anyway, I'm open for suggestions on that too.

Well, this isn't getting my cookies baked is it?  I am wanting to try an Oatmeal cookie that will take Self-rising flour and Instant oatmeal.  Seems we have a lot of both in the store that isn't selling too well.  So, until then, God's blessing to all of you.  

  I thought I'd should take a little time and try to update on my blog.  Our lives have been kind of ho-hum lately but I enjoy reading what others are doing so maybe this won't be too boring.

As a lot of you know, we have a small fabric store in one of the classroom.  We had bought out 2 fabrics stores earlier and so have had a lot of older stuff in stock.  It just wasn't selling so I decided to stick my neck out and try selling it on Ebay.  I could hardly believe it....this stuff is in demand!  Stuff like ball fringe that was the rage in the 60's and 70's....it was selling about as fast as I could list it.  I've sold a good bit and keep adding to it but that takes time.  Listing it and then mailing, but I am grateful for the sales.  I've earned enough in the past 2 weeks to pay for Melisa's next year's Switched on Schoolhouse.  I feel really good about that.  Clean house (or store) and make some money. 

Yesterday, we unpacked a bunch of banana boxes for the Bent and Dent.  That's sort of a dirty job...but one that needs done.  When everyone pitches in, though, it goes pretty good.  The last couple of times Vernon has helped because he doesn't want me to lift those heavy boxes.  I really enjoy working side by side with him and he's able to keep the girls on their toes.  Also, I think he's seeing that the Bent and Dent really is a family project and is going somewhere.  We will probably need to go for another load of groceries before too long.

Well, I will have to close as Vernon needs me to go to Ladysmith for a fuel pump.  I will try to update again before long. 

Here's a coup of  pictures for you to enjoy.  As you can see, she's our pride and joy!

  Just for the record:  Kaitlyn Rosanna was born to ME and my hubby on March 14th.  She is #9 and definitely a child in our "old age".     Little Ben J.  is our grandson born 20 days later to our oldest son, Benji and Holly who are living in El Chal, Guatemala.   Sorry for the confusion.

 This will be more of a photo posting.  I just finally downloaded off my camera, so they are at different ages.  I'll try to get them in order.

Age: 9 days.  Easter Sunday

With Jonathan age 5-1/2 years. 2nd Sunday to church.  April 13

  6 weeks  She's really into smiling and cooing.

I just love this one of Lavina.  Her hair turns curly when it gets damp.  I took this one a couple of days ago.  She is so photogenic!

Toodle do...skm

His name is:  Ben J. Martin

I'm going to cheat and post just one pose of him.  Here goes:

We received the news that Benji and Holly had their little guy at 1:40 AM on April 3 with Benji and Kris Good ( a fellow nurse at the clinic) in attendance.  They haven't chosen a name yet so we are trying to be patient.  He weighed 6.5 lb and was 18.5" long.  He is very chubby and robust looking and definitely looks like a boy.  His pictures took us by surprise as we sort of assumed he'd look like one of ours but he doesn't.  His other Grandma says he looks like hers so he must be more Long than Martin.  (He's the shortest little Long I have seen.)  He makes Kaitlyn look skinny although she's nearly 9 lbs by now.  He has bunch of dark hair, complete with 2 cowlicks.  So adorable.

Someone asked how it feels to be a Grandma...My reaction to that is:  Who ever heard of a Grandma being down with breast infection???!!!!

We hadn't expected him until May, but he certainly doesn't look preemie.  

Well. I've gotta go.  Love, Kim

PS Kaitlyn was promoted to Auntie in less than 3 weeks after her birth.  Jonny is so excited about being an Uncle.

Two weeks ago, I received a little blurb in an email that caused me to stop and investigate.  It just couldn't be true that Isaac Coates had drowned.  I called Dale Gish's from NC to find out and was told that indeed that it was true.  I had to end the phone call prematurely as I couldn't cry and talk at the same time.  It just couldn't be true!

I blubbered through the morning....Oh Joy, how my heart bled for you and the girls!  I wanted to fly to Hondurus and just hug you all. 

 If only that would do the trick.  Of course, we couldn't be there with Joy and her family...Little Kaitlyn was like a time bomb just ticking away to erupt.  Also, I knew that Joy's family were surrounded by people they love and trust and our prayers were that they could feel God's loving arms around them. 

We all have to wonder at God's wisdom at allowing this to happen.  We need to rest in the assurance that HE makes no mistakes.  Apparently, God is not done with using Joy to teach all of us something.  I want to be open to see what He wants to teach us. 

For those of you who don't already know, we were very close to the Coates family during our time together in Guatemala.  They were our neighbor's for a year and a half until they were captured.  If you haven't already read the book--A Song For Your Honor--I suggest that you do.  It was published by CLP. 

We have many fond memories of our two families together.  They will always be special to us.

Here's a picture of Isaac and Marvin together at Benji's wedding.   That was the last time our families were together.

We wish we could go to the Memorial Service in Cleveland, NC..  Kendra Lily and Marvin are planning to attend.