Caroline Turns 80

 The whole family was able to be a part of Caroline's 80th birthday, except her grandson Noah. Many happy memories were shared. Many testified to her great example in the many areas in her life that she endeavored to serve the Lord.

 What are the peanuts all about? Whenever the kids asked her what she wanted for birthdays or Christmas, she would answer "A million dollars and a bag of peanuts." An expression gained from a family friend in Southern Missouri. Sprinkled all over the tables were tiny million dollar bills and cups of peanuts to enjoy.

 The cakes were beautiful and matched Caroline's personality perfectly. Simply Classy.

Carrie put together a  slide show of her life that was very touching and had many pictures covering Caroline's lifetime. Her children sang her favorite song, Blessed Assurance. The grandchildren and in-laws joined in to sing Come Thou Fount.
Unfortunately, these are the only pictures that I have. Her life continues to be an example to each of us and I am thankful to call her Mom.

Mt. Garfield Hike

The view of Mt. Garfield from our house.

The boys decided to hike Mt. Garfield. Bob and I had done the hike before on a day that was extremely windy. I couldn't imagine taking Meleah up there, so we stayed home. The thoughts of the shooting leg pains that a mother feels when her offspring are in a dangerous spot were just too much for me to consider it just yet.

The beginning of the trail goes up this ridge. Yes, it is as bad as it looks. It is super steep at first with nothing on either side of you. I had to focus on the trail or look ahead of me because the drop off on either side made me dizzy. This is also where I landed on my rear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My least favorite part, wall on one side and cliff on the other. One of the other hikers we met said this area often has snakes, not to mention trying to pass a group on this section.  Maybe I am wimpy but it was very unnerving for me. The boys did fine without me to be scared for them. I will try it again, when I am brave enough.

A Funny School Story

In school we were doing some scenario questions. What would you do if a friend was sad? If the phone rang and your mother was outside how would you answer the phone? We got to this one, What if you were in a store and you knocked over a very expensive lamp and it shattered into many pieces, what would you do?  Meleah started to answer she would go the store person and tell them what happened and offer to help clean it up and maybe even offer to help pay for it.  After that the boys started to say what they would do, I looked back and Meleah had tears running down her face and looked so sad. After talking to her about this didn't really happen it is just to make us think about what we should do in situations like this.  I thought, "Let's change the question." I asked Meleah, "What would you do if you won a million dollars?"  She looked up at me, tears still running down her face, "I would... pay...for...the...lamp!"



She has such a tender heart and great imagination. That will help her to be a very compassionate young lady. I love her so much!

What Are Those Hedricks Up To?

We have been staying busy with life.  Between keeping up with school work, classes, church and activities with friends, we haven't had time to do much else. With the good excuse of a wedding in Northern Minnesota, the kids and I decided to take a break and go freeze in Bemidji, MN as well as see our family and friends. Unfortunately, Bob wasn't able to come with us but I know his and many loved ones were praying for our safety. We left on the end of a large winter storm that hit the Midwest with such intensity. I thought we should avoid the most of it and take an unfamiliar route. We saw more than we wanted to see of South Dakota but we had sunny skies and dry roads most of the way.

We met up with my cousin, Laura Gill, in Minneapolis and couldn't pass Paul Bunyan and Babe without getting a picture.

This little, fuzzy rock star kept staring at Laura for some reason. Meleah thought he should be put on the dashboard. He has become our little mascot. Or creepy fuzz ball?

Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Gill

This was a lovely wedding. It was touching to see the joy and love they have for one another.

Glenn Gill even serenaded his bride at the reception, much to the delight of the many at the reception. Let Me Call You Sweetheart,  Love Me Tender and There's An Old, Old Path.

It is always nice to get a picture when the kids are all dressed up and looking nice.

Here is Aunt Crystal with Meleah.  Meleah said that she wished she were part of Crystal's family while we were up there visiting. Probably because she is "aunt" and not "mom". I told her that would be nice because then I would be like "Aunt Crystal" to her.  They had a great time with Crystal's boys. Of course, it took until the last 15 minutes of seeing them before they warmed up to me. I had them. All I had to do was act like I was tickling them and they would come lift the shirt and walk into my hands. I even cuddled a wee little bit with Marshall. It is sad to not have nephews and a future niece closer.

When we got home we went on a tour of the Cameo Power Plant that is east of the city. Johnny Bell, the one in the picture pointing, gave us a tour of the power plant he worked at most of his life. It is being shut down due to concerns about carbon emissions and may be be sold to Columbia or Japan. It was neat to see what he used to do, as well as all the huge tools that were needed.

These are just a few of our latest activities. God has been good to us and answered many of the prayers for the safety of our travels. We forgot to ask to keep us from getting sick because that is one of the first things we did after getting home. Meleah had a fever for a week and a cough that wore her out and the rest of us felt pretty poorly but we have rounded the corner but not without passing it to Bob. We are a family, we share everything.We send you each our love.