The Royal Wedding

I didn't go to bed until 5am. My Sweetheart woke up when I crawled into bed and he was ready to get up and get to work. I had just spent the night up watching the Royal Wedding. The festivities started here with supper - I had to try and make it as British as I could, so we feasted on fish and chips, cucumbers, and scones. My Sweetheart was out doing his farmer stuff, so didn't  get in on the Royal Supper.

Darling  Daughter and I had a night of movies planned.  Young Victoria followed by The King's Speech followed by The Queen - all leading up to the big royal event. But, alas, the night didn't go as planned.  My Sweetheart needed me to go down south and plot and plan where we will be putting another well.  We received notification yesterday that we were eligible for a government grant for a well. Also, yesterday, the well-driller guy phoned and said he'd be down there starting on Monday. So we didn't have a choice.  We HAD to go and figure out where the well would be. So while Dear Son, My Sweetheart and myself were down south walking around the land with the farmer we bought the land from, DD was home watching Young Victoria.  And when we finally came home my Brother had just arrived to watch the next series in hockey. We have a dilemma.  Who are we going to cheer for?  The Predators - because a relative is playing on that team?  Or - the Canucks - because we're Canadians and they're the only Canadian team left in the quest for Lord Stanley's Cup? I've decided to cheer for BOTH teams and then I won't be disappointed. Problem solved.

Anyway, My Brother arrived and got set up on the upstairs TV-happily watching with his nephew. Less than 2 minutes later Mom showed up, followed 5 minutes later by my cousin. We girls steeped our tea, grabbed our scones and headed down to the BIG SCREEN -ha! to enjoy "The King's Speech!" A great movie!  A great hockey game for the guys if they were cheering for the Canucks! My brother left.  Shortly after he left Mom and my cousin left. Mom was too tired to stay for the rest of the night and My Cousin had to work today, so she couldn't be tired for that. My Sweetheart and DS went to bed. DD and I grabbed some more tea and snuggled downstairs waiting for the BIG EVENT!  DD lasted only until the lovely bride walked up the aisle. I watched, sometimes with happy tears, as The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were married.  I am so glad I stayed up for that!

A Royal Wedding!  That makes it 4 such weddings that I've watched on the telly. My wedding watching started with Princess Anne's, then Chuck and Di's, followed by Andy and Fergie. And now the handsome prince and princess, or rather, Duke and Duchess. I'm thinking that that just may be the last Royal Wedding I will watch in my lifetime. I'm going to participate in a Royal Wedding to end all Royal Weddings some day, and I think some day soon, when Jesus comes to claim His loyal bride - the Church- for all eternity. I will participate in the Marriage Feast of the Lamb!  I will!  Revelation 19 attests to that! Listen - "Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory!  For the wedding of the Lamb (Jesus) has come, and His bride (the church) had made herself ready.  Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.  (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)  Then the angel said to me, "Write:  Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!  And he added, "these are the true words of God."  Check it out - Revelation chapter 19, verses 7 to 9!  



I can hardly wait!!

Mixing up the scones!

Finished scones!

The "Royal" supper!

Check out the Fastenators!

Scones Recipe

Mix together: 4 cups flour

                      2/3 cup sugar

                      4 tsp baking powder

                      1 tsp nutmeg

Cut in 1 cup marg. until crumbly.  Add 1 cup washed raisins.

Beat together 3 eggs and 1/2 cup milk.

Mix together and then make 6 round balls.  Pat down to 1/2 inch thick.  Arrange on baking sheet.  Mark each round into 4 as if to cut.

Bake 350 for 15-20 minutes.  Do not overbake!  Enjoy!

Busyness is Underway!

"Dad woke me up at 6." That simple statement, spoken by my Dear Son, were the first words he spoke to me after I went down south to give a hand. And so begins the start of the very busy season on the farm.
Early mornings, busy days and  late nights will be the norm now until the seeding is completed.  But before the seeding gets underway the boys are busy putting  Edge out. I asked My Sweetheart what, exactly, "edge" is, and the best he could tell me was that it was a chemical granular substance. It is spread on the ground, where the lentils will be seeded, and then will kill the weeds. It needs heat or moisture to activate. And judging by the clouds out there today, it looks like it will be moisture activated before heat activation takes place.

We don't spread Edge everywhere - just on our south land. The weeds tend to be the worst there. The main weed that we are fighting is kochia - that particular weed can look something like a mini Christmas tree. So the Edge, which is something like "pea-coloured baby food color" with the texture of sugar or salt goes into the Valmar spreader and is distributed on the land.

The backhoe is "holding" for lack of better word, a bag of Edge. This bag weighs approximately 1200 pounds.

The tractor is pulling the Valmar spreader.

My Sweetheart is backing up the unit to the backhoe, which is being operated by DS.

Dear Son at the helm!

Getting the "edge" into position!

Releasing the "edge" into the Valmar.  You can kind of see it trickling out of the bag. Baby food pea colour - blech!

The "edge" comes out and spreads out through all those hoses...

and comes out where you see those yellow things that are spread out evenly.

So, after I watched My Sweetheart and Dear Son load up the Valmar, we moved the backhoe to a different field.

and on the way there My Sweetheart took a couple minutes to smooth out some ruts.

There will be lots of sloughs to go around this year!

The trail will need to be bypassed!

And even this is something to watch out for. If you look closely you can see where the land is a darker color. That is a wet spot and likely very muddy. There are many such "spots" on the land too, that will need to be driven around.

The clouds are building up. And yes, there was rain in that cloud.  So after tarping everything up, the boys came home today. It actually got too windy to be spreading out Edge.  Maybe this evening it will be calmer!

So, because he can't be down south helping with the Edge, My Sweetheart is now on the road with the semi.  He is hauling a load of lentils to the buyer. I wouldn't be surprised if DS is having a little nap so that he's wide awake for the start of the Predators-Canucks series which gets under-way tonight!

I'm soon going to start baking scones for DD's and my "Royal Wedding" festivities! Starting early this evening we'll kick off the "Big Day" with a movie marathon which will include "The Young Victoria", "The King's Speech" and "The Queen!"  We might even have to find some fastenators to stick in our hair!

Easter on the Farm

The weekend was glorious - in more ways than 1! How could Easter be anything but glorious when we celebrate the resurrection of the Living Lord? And it was glorious too, because we were able to celebrate with family at home, and with our church family.

It seemed like all the kids were home when we were at church. Mind you, all the kids that were home are now all grown up - married, with their own children and some of them even with their own grandchildren.  Part of the beauty of attending the same church where I grew up, is seeing the families grow up and get married, and having them "come home" for special long weekends!  I love that aspect!  Plus we always have potluck lunch after church, so that is a great time to "catch up!"

We were on "usher duty" this weekend at church, so that meant, not only did we get the church ready, we also served the coffee, tea, juice etc. and cleaned up afterwards. Well, that's what it meant, but in a small church it seems that everybody pitches in. As I'm the organist, it seems that every time we're on usher duty, some of the ladies hurry back to set lunch out while I'm finishing up with the organ. I truly love my church family.

Dear Son and I skipped out early though and left the cleaning up to My Sweetheart and Darling Daughter.  I was having family for supper and had to get home to get the roasts on the barby! And I had to wash the floor.  So while I was washing the floor at home, My Sweetheart and DD were washing dishes at church.  Hey, DS got off easy!!

My Sweetheart's sister and her husband,  and My Sweetheart's Dad joined us for Easter Dinner along with my Mom and Brother. We enjoyed a meal of barbecued roast beef, lemon Greek roasted pototoes, salads, raw veggies and Strawberry Cream pie.  (dessert was 1 of the delicious weight watcher recipes that I had gotten a few years ago-  mmmhmmm!)

Waiting for coffee and dessert is My Sweetheart, Dear Son, Brother in-law and sister-in-law.

My sister-in-law, father-in-law and brother...

Here's Mom!

DD!

DS is trying to get the socks out of Bentley's mouth. This was our mid-dinner entertainment!

After supper and dishes (thanks sis-in-law and Mom) we had a couple games of chase the ace! That is a very fun simple brainless game that anyone can play. We can visit while playing it too!  Bonus! And before we knew it, the day was over. Our company had went home.  And it was just the 4 of us.

Easter truly was a glorious day on the farm!

My Extraordinary Ordinary Day

Yesterday began on the farm, just like any other typical spring day. I looked out the window before I started scrambling eggs and saw Lady on the deck- with the cats snuggled around her. That is very normal for Lady and the Cats.

Then I saw Mama Cat walking, or rather waddling, towards the door...

Less than a minute later Darling Daughter went to the door to peek at the animals and she started yelling.  She was very excited, but not in a happy excited way.  She sounded rather alarmed. Apparently, Mama Cat, in the minute since I snapped the rather unflattering picture of her, had had her first kitten - on the deck, with an animal audience, and Lady, the Golden Retriever, had picked it up gently in her mouth to carry it off and mother it. I ran to the basement, after turning the burner off, grabbed a box and an old towel, and ran outside to put our precious cargo in the box...

Here is Mama Cat and her first kitten of the year - before transporting her to the safety of the shop.

A few hours later Mama Cat and her 5 little babies were resting comfortably.

Lady, very desperately, wanted to be inside the shop to see her beloved kittens.  No such  luck though!

The day was getting off with a glorious start!

After making sure Mama Cat was fed and watered, and then after making sure that Dear Son and Darling Daughter were fed and watered and ready for school, I took Lady, Bentley and Chico for a long walk.  The day was beautiful. The meadowlarks were singing, I saw a robin, there were geese in the slough of a field near the road where we walk, the sun was shining, and the sky was blue.

After lunch I went to town, grabbed the mail, and went to pick up Mom to take her to Swift Current for an afternoon of shopping. In the mailbox there was a letter addressed to me; one I wasn't expecting at all, and it brought me very exciting news. I have been invited to sing at the Gala evening for the 100th anniversary of the high school I attended. I was very humbled and very honoured. Great news!

Mom and I enjoyed the afternoon running around the city. At 4:30 we went to the Band Room and picked up DD. I had 1 last quick stop to make in the city before heading home. I should have remembered that it was the day before Good Friday and the store might be a little busy.  What started as a quick jaunt to grab 3 items became a 45 minute wait at the check-out counter. A little busy?

After a later supper I took the dogs out for 1 more walk.

It was a lovely evening for a sunset stroll...

The expanse of the sky was breathtaking..

Lady enjoyed herself...

As did Bentley...

After the long walk it was time for a snuggle with DD before the movie.  I made Darling Daughter and myself a cup of tea and we had lots of laughs watching "New in Town" - quite possibly my favorite movie. Dear Son was downstairs watching hockey on the big screen and My Sweetheart was hauling durum to the terminal all day long - until 10:30.

The day was extraordinay. It was a good day. I woke up this morning and it's Good Friday. I'm puzzled as to why it's called "Good" Friday, when the whole crucifixion of Jesus is anything but good. 6 hours of excruciating agony. The Bible tells me, in Hebrews, that He went through it, or endured it, for "the joy set before Him." The joy...are we, the people who embrace Him, the "joy" that is set before Him? Is that why it's called "good"  Friday?

We had a sad morning here. My tenderhearted daughter discovered that 2 of the kittens had died in the night. So, while I was making waffles, My Sweetheart was digging a little grave under an evergreen, and DD was cutting out fabric to line a little box for the beloved kittens.  I watched My Sweetheart, full of compassion for our daughter, helping her bury, what yesterday, brought her so much joy. And my heart swelled. Not only for her tender heart, but for My Sweetheart's tender heart to his daughter.

The little grave is marked by a simple bouquet of artificial flowers.
It seems rather fitting that a grave, although very tiny, was dug here, on the farm on Good Friday. I was remembering, with gratitude, what My Saviour willingly did for me on Good Friday.  He was laid in a tomb. His friends, followers , and family mourned.  But it didn't end there. He rose. Unlike the 2 little kittens. He is alive and offers hope. It IS a "good" Friday after all! Today is extraordinary.



Angels

Be advised that I am NOT an expert on angels. I know what I've read in the Bible about them, and I know what I have experienced first hand. And that is what I am finally, after a few years of silence, going to share. I feel that it is time to share my angelic experience.

A few years ago, at harvest time, I was driving home. I was not tired.  It wasn't dark out - it was after supper. I turned off the highway and headed north to our farm.  Our yard is about a mile off the highway.  The road is straight. We have a hedge of trees that encircle our 5 acre yard site. Within seconds of turning off the highway I was in absolute awe of what I saw.  Our yard was surrounded by the most amazing, glorious, bright white angels.  There are no words to adequately portray the sight that I was given the privilege of seeing. I pulled over.  I closed my eyes.  I opened them again.  And I still saw the angels. The hairs on my arm stood up.  But I experienced such peace and overwhelming gratitude to the Lord for allowing me to see what He had shown me. I couldn't even talk about it. And now I am finally writing about it. Now I feel that it is time to share my story.

I don't know why God, the creator of the Universe, the lover of my soul, revealed that to me. But the following spring, at seeding time, on a Sunday when we were at church, unbeknownst to us, our neighbors, who live right across the road, were battling a fire. It started, apparently, after we had went to church. The fire could have spread, so easily, to our dry, parched yard, but at the last minute the wind shifted and the flames that were on the way to our yard did not cross the road. I am convinced that the angels who I saw surround our yard the previous fall, were battling that day.  Thankfully, with the exception of a burned pasture, our neighbors did not have any other fire damage in their yard.

Hear these words from Psalm 34:7 - "The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him; and He delivers them."

I have a friend whose daughter died. Her daughter was close to my age; she had cancer.  When she was in the hospital she had a visitor one night.  This visitor was the cleaning lady.  The cleaning lady had a name tag on.  She came in and saw that Crystal was awake; so she started encouraging her. That is what the cleaning lady did - offer encouragement.She  provided Scripture verses to comfort her.  And then she  left.  The next morning when Crystal was telling some of the nurses about the very kind cleaning lady she was surprised to discover that there was no such person at the hospital. Crystal and her mom are convinced that she was visited by an angel.

Hear these words from Hebrews 1:14 - "Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?"    And what about Hebrews 13:2 - "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it."  I am convinced that my friend's daughter was entertaining an angel who came to her in the form of a cleaning lady.

Some people have the wrong mind-set  about angels. I've heard many times, after someone has died, that "God must have wanted another angel in heaven."  People, when they die, do not become angels.  Angels are created by God for a purpose. People are created by God for a purpose.  Psalm 8 and Hebrews 1 tell us that "we are made a little lower than the angels..." We do not become angels.

Hebrews also tells us that Jesus, through the experience of death, was crowned so much higher than any angel, with a glory "bright with Eden's dawn light."  In that death, by God's grace, He fully experienced death in every person's place.  Hebrews 1:8-9  (message translation)

What a hope for this time of year - Easter.  We serve a risen Saviour who is crowned higher than any angel. His birth was heralded by the angels. He is worshipped by the angels. And we sometimes, might be witness to an angel. I was.

Time Spent

Ralph Waldo Emerson wondered "how much of human life is lost in waiting..."

We are "waiting" people. We wait, when we find out we're pregnant, for those months to go quickly so that we can meet who we've been waiting for.

When the baby arrives, we can hardly wait for them to start crawling, smiling, take their first steps, talk...

When they're older we can hardly wait for the milestones that surely, hopefully at least, they will experience - first date, first love, first kiss....

We wait at check-out counters, restaurants, airport security lines....

We wait, uncomfortably, for test results, prescriptions to kick in, water to warm up.  Wait, wait, wait...

We wait, longingly, for loved ones to come home - if they're away.. And then, if they've been visiting long enough, we wait for them to leave.

When we were children we could hardly wait for Christmas.  And birthdays. And summer holidays. And then, we could hardly wait for school to begin in the fall - we'd eagerly buy our new school supplies, new clothes, new shoes, and wait to be able to use them and wear them.

And we wait for the seasons to change. We're waiting, somewhat patiently, for spring to really come. It's snowing again.  It's frustrating.  There's nothing we can do about it except wait for it to warm up.

What do we do while waiting? What should we do while waiting? Worrying does not one iota of good. So, why not do something productive?  As farmers, the time spent waiting is time "not lost" but time spent preparing. The machinery, the crop insurance forms, the vehicles.  Being prepared for anything that might happen is essential. So while we wait, we work.  And we play.  And we worship.  And we grow.  And we, hopefully, gain some wisdom through it all.

Today, while waiting for spring, and wondering when it would warm up, I grabbed the camera and took a couple pictures. It truly was beautiful when I was "capturing the moment" - even though it's snowing.

Looking west towards our neigbhors who live right across the road.

The south view from our house.



Waiting - an inevitable portion of life is spent doing it. I wait.  And I am waiting.  I am "waiting for the blessed hope- the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own."  Titus 2:13

His very own. Hope amidst the waiting. What are you waiting for?

Getting Ready to Fish

We headed to the city today. The ice is off the dug-out, so it was time to go and pick up the rainbow trout! And since Costco was so close to the fish farm we made a detour and stopped there first. I wasn't overly enthusiastic about the Christmas-rush sized crowd of people that was shopping, but surprisingly, we were in and out of there in about an hour and a half.  Quite a feat for us!  After a quick lunch we headed out to the fish farm. Two lovely, very clean Golden Retrievers met us! I was wondering how they could manage to stay out of the mud and muck. I guess that's why they were allowed to meet and greet us.

After loading up the 800 little rainbow trout for the dug-out we headed home. 800 weren't for us. We picked up some for our neighbor right across the road and some for our neighbor straight south of us.

There sure was a lot of water in the fields on the way.  And halfway between the city and home we saw 1 field with thousands and thousands and thousands of geese. And there were thousands more flying overhead. I really wish I would have taken my camera along for THAT sight. I wonder if the geese were wishing that they would have waited a week or so before leaving the south and warmth to come north and to the cold.

When we got home and unpacked the Costco stuff, My Sweetheart and I headed out to the dug-out.

My Sweetheart is putting a screen in front of the culvert to prevent wayward fish from escaping.

Securing the screen...

If you look close enough you might see a fish in the industrial strength bag that was it's home for the past few hours..

Putting 1 of the bags in the dug-out to acclimatize the trout...

Here are the 3 bags with 350 trout.  They are wiggling with excitement before being released to their new home.

Ready, set,

Go....or ready to go anyway.  This little guy should be about 10 inches in length by next summer.

The new home for the rainbow trout.

When the trout are bigger and jumping, they just might catch a glimpse of my hometown - if they jump high enough..

I'm glad I took the time to accompany My Sweetheart to the fish farm today. I'm glad I went with him to the dug-out and saw the whole fish-releasing process. I was able to help by handing him stuff- not that there was a lot of stuff to hand him, just twine, a knife, hammer, that kind of stuff.  Hmmm, I just might need some help in the house...



Teenagers!

It was my turn to drive for band today. I wouldn't have minded quite so much if it would have been a lovely, warm spring day, but it was kind of wintery.  Again.  It started to snow just before I left home to dash into the school to pick up the 4 band students. Today there were only 3 band students.  And they all sat in the back seat, squished together, the teenagers, like sardines. I felt like a chauffer. Well, I guess I was a chauffer.

It's hard to believe that it's been 30 some years already since I've been a teenager. My mom used to say, and still does, that she doesn't feel any older now (at whatever age she was at the time of saying that) than she did when she was 16.

So, now I'm reminiscing and trying to remember that stage of my life. I can't really believe that it's been 31 years since I was 16. OK, the memories are starting to come back to me...

I loved being 16. 15 was great too, but not until I arrived at LCBI -the boarding school where I had desperately wanted to attend since I was 12.  Life, well school life, was not enjoyable up until then. Although I did well at school, I hated going to school.  I was a misfit.  I felt like 1 anyway. I was left out of almost everything.  I wasn't popular. Junior High was the worst. I was not good at sports, so was always the last picked.  Nobody wanted me on their team. And friends?  Well, with the exception of Elaine, friends were sparse. I was musical, and where I went to school, at that time, music was not cool.

But - LCBI was a totally different ball game!  Music was cool!  I fit in!  I had lots of friends. Very good friends. Friends that prayed together, and through the years, and with the help of facebook, have reconnected and stayed together.

Oh, back to 16.  I did not get my driver's license on my first try.  I thought I aced the test. I thought I did everything perfect.  But I lost 32 points for not shoulder checking 16 times. I remembered to shoulder check the next time I did the test, and I passed with flying colors!

I sang in the choir that I wanted to! I have such great memories of school, and most of them are related to music or drama.  Even phys ed.  I have Cliff to thank for that!  He was the best phys ed teacher ever! He didn't grade us according to how good we were, but he graded us on exams, and how hard we worked. He was very much of an encourager.  All my high school teachers were like cheerleaders.

My friends were, and still are, good friends. Not the stab-in-your-back kind of friends, but the kind of friends that cried with me and laughed with me and rejoiced with me in the times of rejoicing. The Proverb 17 kind of friend.

I remember in grade 10, we all planned the grade 10 sneak-out.  It was a tradition. Everyone had to sneak out of their dorms and meet, I don't remember where, but it was in the middle of the night. I lived on the top floor of Old Main.  My best friend, Heather, lived right across from me.  Dooder and Leanne were on the same floor too, as were others.  We had to sneak out the fire escape,I think. And not giggle, or make a peep.  But we did it, and met up with the rest of our class, and had a great time! I do think we all got caught at some point and had to do work duties.  But we did it together, and had a blast.

I giggled and laughed a lot as a teenager.  My daughter and her friend and I went out for supper after band tonight, and they were giggling and laughing a lot too!  Just how it should be for teenagers!

If I Knew

If I knew I had one day left
to live here on God's earth-
a day that I could do most anything-
would I bake a cake? or read a book?
or lift my voice and sing?

If I knew I had one day left
to live here on God's earth-
would I choose to live that one day all alone?
Or would I gather those around-
the ones I've loved so long?

If I knew I had one day left
to live here on God's earth-
would I have a nap?  or take a walk with you?
or would I choose to thank the Lord
for seeing me this far through?

If I knew I had one day left
to live here on God's earth-
I wonder what my Lord would have me do-
would He give me joy to share his love
and faithfulness with you?

If I knew I had one day left
to live here on God's earth-
a day that I could do most anything-
I'd share  Christ's love with you, my friend,
I'd hope you'd meet the King.

I do not know the future
I cannot see "that" day,
but I know who holds my future in His hands.
He guides the path He leads me on,
He holds my future plans.

So if I knew this was the day
that God would call me home-
I'd rejoice in Him and gladly go,
I would not be alone.



Those are the words I scribbled down on a scrap piece of paper on April 13, 1997 just before midnight. It took less than 10 minutes for me to compose that poem - I was thinking and writing at the same time. Less than 12 hours prior to that my dear Dad breathed his last breath here on earth. At that same time he was being welcomed into Heaven by his Abba - Daddy.  I love how Jesus called His Father "Abba" - Daddy - such an intimate, endearing title.  I'm so grateful to have been with my Dad as he made the transition from here to eternity. It was a peaceful, heart-wrenching, glorious, terribly sad, joy-filled, beautiful day.

On that day, at 6:30 am, my aunt phoned me. She woke me up. I couldn't think of why she would be phoning at that time of day. "Heather," she gently spoke, "I think it's time for you to come up to the hospital."
I couldn't for the life of me figure out what for. My mind was quite fuzzy at that time of day. I, being 5 months pregnant and the mother of a toddler, needed my sleep after all. "Why?"  I remember asking her. And that strikes me now as odd because I knew why.  I knew my dad was dying.  But I knew he was also very much alive.  I couldn't figure out why I should come to the hospital. And then it hit me. He was REALLY dying. And the family was called. I remember crying in the shower and trying to hurry myself up. I remember not wanting to go, but not wanting to be anywhere else. I hurried in.  Danny tended to Braden and took him up to his dad's before coming up to the hospital.  And then we waited.  Every breath Dad took, I watched.  Would this be the last one?  What about this one? The nurse came periodically and checked his pulse. So there we were - Mom, my brother, my aunt, uncle, cousin, husband, and me.  Waiting for the inevitable. The pastor came after church. Shortly after that my Dad took his last laboured breath. And he was gone. Just like that.

We all cried. And hugged.  And cried some more.  And then I had to leave.  I had to leave my Dad's body in his hospital bed and go. That was hard.  Very hard. I  stepped outside into the sunshine. I needed that sunshine. I needed the warmth from the sun. I needed to hear the birds sing.  And they did. It was a beautiful day.  The sun was shining.  The birds were singing.  The sky was blue.  The air was warm.  My dad just died.  It was surreal.

Just as soon as I stepped into Mom's house - it was now Mom's house, not Mom's and Dad's house, the phone rang.  My cousin wanted to know how Uncle Billy was. She was chipper and happy sounding on the phone. I remember saying, matter of factly, that he had just died. And so she was the first of the relatives to find out. And so the tears came again.

My Dad was a good man.  He was very humble.  Very quiet.  Friendly. He loved to tease. He was peaceable. He was thoughtful. He never spoke a bad word about anybody.  Never.

We found out that Dad had cancer the day before his 70th birthday. About a week after that he prayed and asked Jesus into his heart , and to be His Lord and Savior.  I am so glad. I know for sure that my Dad is in Heaven.  He arrived in Heaven a few short hours before his daughter in law. Yes, my brother lost his wife less than 36 hours after we lost Dad. I wonder if he was surprised to see her so quickly. I imagine he was in her welcoming committee with Jesus!

I'm going to share a few pictures of my Dad with you. You just might catch a glimpse of the wonderful man I am honoured to have been able to call "Dad".

This is Dad on his 70th birthday - the day after the cancer diagnosis. My Dear Son is on his lap.

This is an earlier picture of Dad in typical hot summer day garb. He always wore work boots or cowboy boots. Almost always anyway..

My first Christmas with My Sweetheart, and thus his first Christmas with my Dad and Mom. Dad always seemed to have trouble with a silly rooster tale. It's noticeable on the picture above this one too!

Here is my Dad, cowboy boots and all, with his first grandchild and first child! This is the brother whose wife died hours after Dad died.

This was our last Christmas with Dad, the last time he was in my house, and the last picture taken of Dad while he was still alive. I'm glad we get new bodies in Heaven. No more sickness... or tears.... or darkness...

Here I am holding the last gift I ever got from my Dad. That picture frame holds the following picture...

The daughter and the Dad she misses so much.