Blessings of 2014

Kate, age 3 1/2 - Kimber, age 18 mos.,  and Victoria, age 25 - Emma, age two

2014 holds the hope of some special blessings in our family.  First of all, our daughter, Victoria, her husband Leonard, and daughters Kate and Kimber will be returning to the U.S. on May 2.  When they return it will have been three years and five months since we last saw them.  We have never met Kimber.  They will be separating from Ramstein AFB in Kaiserslautern, Germany and moving close to Portland, Maine.  I'm trying to figure out how quickly I can make it Maine or how quickly I can get them to Texas!  They will be residing near his family in Maine so I now have a new vacation destination to see my grandchildren!
The next great blessing will be the birth of Martin Scott Meave (Max), due on May 22.  This will be the first boy in our family.  We have three daughters and three granddaughters right now.  Needless to say, we are very thrilled to be able to buy blue jeans, cars, and trains.  Emma will still rule the roost and I know she will be a very loving big sister.
God has been very good, He is always good.  He has blessed beyond measure and given grace through the long separations and happiness on top of it all.
Scott is doing well, tearing the house up and putting it back together.  We have two completely remodeled bathrooms and now my laundry/craft/pantry room is almost finished.  He took down the wall that separated a small office and my laundry room and created one large workspace, complete with a twelve-foot counter with cabinets along one wall.  I'm suffering from craft withdrawals as my supplies are in boxes awaiting the completion of the room.  I imagine that's why I have time to blog tonight!

Alyssa is doing well and enjoys school immensely.  She played volleyball this past season and improved from the beginning of the year.  She is a faithful bus worker on the Tyler B-5 bus route and won the teen department award for seeing the most baptisms.  This means she personally led people to Jesus Christ, obtained permission from the parents for the children to ride to Longview to church and be baptized, and helped them through the baptism process.  She never had great numbers at once, she was just faithful at it, for which we are very grateful.  Alyssa also enjoys singing in the teen ensemble and being in the teen department in general.
It's been one year since my mom's cancer surgery and she is doing very well.  She will be eighty-six next week.  I have to say that she still gets around better than some people my age.  Sometimes I have to make her sit down and be still for a few minutes.  I know she is aging and getting a little slower but she doesn't quit.  I hope I can be more like that when I grow up...
That's what's going on in our world.  We still serve a great God, attend a wonderful Bible-believing church, and amazingly, God is still using us.

This Christmas was blessed but a little different than usual.  Jessica was admitted to the hospital on Christmas Eve with a kidney infection which caused multiple problems for her.  We were able to keep Emma with us and enjoyed having her.  It was Emma's first Christmas so we took all of her gifts to the hospital so Mommy and Daddy could watch her open them.

Alyssa's a Teenager!

Our number three daughter has just turned thirteen.  She is now older than her two sisters were when she was born.  (Victoria was 11 and Jessica was 12) That seems like a lifetime ago.  From the first minute we knew Alyssa was on the way she has been a blessing to our family.  Her kindness, personality, and good nature have always been like an oil on troubled waters with all of our ups and downs.  She sees everything with enthusiasm and enjoyment.  Well, almost everything.  Not the most enthusiastic about room cleaning...although her room is looking better. :)
Jessica took Alyssa out to get her ears pierced, took her to lunch, and then took her jewelry shopping.  How sweet!  Alyssa's birthday fell directly on Thanksgiving day this year.  We decided to do her birthday cake on Sunday afternoon since there were so many pies sitting around on Thursday.  She didn't mind, that's just the way she is. Praise the Lord!  She has seen someone saved every week for the past few months.  We're so grateful for Bro. Josh and Mrs. DeAnna, Miss Sharon Carstens, and the other bus workers who encourage her each week.  Her Sunday School teacher, Mrs. Dickerson, gave her a beautiful pink Bible and it means so much to her.  During the service I noticed that she kept looking at her wrist.  Her Aunt Marsha and Uncle NuNu gave her a charm bracelet.  It is beautiful and she was so pleased.
Lord, I thank you for Alyssa and for the people who set the example and show their love for her with their kind words, actions, and thoughtfulness.

"Grateful"

Today I'm sitting and typing (resting). I love the Thanksgiving holiday but my feet and back are always sore the day after!  Scott and I got the notion to paint the living room last week.  Ha! We're not 20, 30, or 40 anymore, we are just plain dumb.  We energetically chose the paint (my brother's home color), prepped the room, moved furniture, etc.  Then Scott edged the room and painted on Monday.  Peter and Krisha Gabucci visited with us on Monday and just walked through the mess, bless their hearts!  We had a wonderful two-hour plus visit, it could have been longer!

 Room Before, above, Room after, below

The paint dried, we slowly moved the furniture around and hung up the last picture on Wednesday afternoon.  All this plus babysitting Emma, preparing the rest of the house, food, decorations for Thanksgiving.  Somebody, please keep reminding us we're not 40 anymore!  Ha!
When all of the family and guests arrived and made themselves at home it was all worth it.  I always love it when all have their plates and are seated at the table.  There's no feeling like it - very blessed.
Our daughter, Victoria, and her husband, Leonard, hosted their first Thanksgiving dinner with guests from the base.  German ovens are small, so they cooked steaks instead, with all of the other trimmings.  I am very proud of their hospitality and effort for others.
This was our granddaughter, Emma's, first Thanksgiving.  We are so grateful that the Lord has allowed them to live close by (around the corner) and that they are so faithful and active at church.  We can see the family several times a week.  She was sick this week and at the hospital ER and doctor's office, but she made it here for Thanksgiving day.

(Martin, Jessica, Emma - Thanksgiving day, 2012)
About 8:00 p.m. I started to log my calories on my calorie counter app.  After breakfast, the appetizers, etc. the calorie bar chart went from blue (calories remaining) to bright red (calories over).  For fun and honesty and I decided to go ahead and log every bite I could remember taking.  Well, now I know why we only have Thanksgiving one time a year!  I only had one bite of dessert and I still logged in enough calories for a family of four! :)

We were so honored to have a street full of cars and tables full of guests at our home for Thanksgiving. We may not always have this opportunity and we are so grateful to the Lord for His blessings and kindness to us.

"Chubby Bunny Kimber"

Victoria sent a photo of our three-month-old granddaughter, Kimber Layne.  Her friends gave her a baby shower, for which I am very grateful.  While at Ramstein Air Force Base it seems like they have made some very sweet friends.  Kate is pictured with a dear lady, Corinne, who seems to always be there for Victoria.
You would think that seeing pictures would help you stop missing your family but, for me, it makes me miss them even more!  I do pray with greater fervor and I guess the Lord knows that I need to!

"Blessed Beyond Measure"

We might be feeling a little creaky and old, but there are some benefits to getting older!  I'm just posting a cute series of pictures of our granddaughter, Emma, eating her first whole cupcake!

Fall outing

Scott had Monday off after working a lot of long hours last week. The weather was beautiful, so we decided to take Alyssa out after school and take a drive out to Jordan's plant farm and Christmas village. It doesn't take much to thrill her. A drive, a few candy sticks, and a meal and she was in hog heaven!