Meeting the President

on friday, june 29th, my son, nathan, and i had the privilege of meeting the president of the united states. nathan is a marine and ended his time of service in august. he was on the presidential squadron as a helicopter mechanic who took care of "marine one". whenever a member of this squadron ends his or her tour of duty, he is honored by being invited to the white house to personally meet and shake hands with the president. each marine can invite one family member...a parent or spouse. i got to go.
it. was. awesome!  
there were about 30 in our group. each marine in dress blues...such an impressive sight!  the lighting on this photo is terrible. my camera must have been on the wrong setting, but it's the only one i have.

we traveled into d.c. on a bus from quantico.  the security once we entered the white house grounds was impressive, too. no purses, no cameras once we left the bus. so the few pictures i have were taken with a point and shoot from a moving bus, thus the less than excellent quality.

it was during those hot, muggy, high 90's days we had this summer and involved a lot of standing and waiting outside. so by the time we got inside i was sweaty and frizzy. but it was worth it. being inside the white house surrounded by all that history was amazing. after all the waiting we were ushered into the oval office where each marine and guest was introduced to the president. he shook our hands, asked where we were from, thanked nathan for his service and said "we're very proud of you", then asked him his plans after the marines. we had our picture taken with him and were then ushered out. everything happened very quickly. after greeting everyone, marine one landed on the white house lawn and the president was off.

and i have to say...i'd never been so nervous in my life. i could just see myself stumbling over the few words i had planned to say..."it's an honor to meet you, mister president".  because no matter your politics or how you feel about the man, i very much respect the office. we met the president of the united states of america.  it was an experience i'll never forget. i was a very proud mother that day. still am.
it's now october and we have not yet received the photo taken that day. i hope to post it when we get it. 

The Joys of My Heart...Part 1

i've decided this year to do a series of birthday posts honoring my four children. i'm doing this in the order of their birthdays in 2012. it is important that i point this out, because ranking is very important to them, as in who is the favorite son or daughter ;). each believes him or herself to be the favorite, and in this, they are all correct. each one is my very favorite. 

andrea kathleen has the first birthday, june 25. she is the second child, and second daughter. 

what a cutie patootie!


ready to start kindergarten... 

all too soon graduating from high school....

 with grandparents

1999 was a big year. she got married, finished a year of college, and became a mother.

 a four generation photo...andrea, grandma gamby, me, and little mikaela.

she has since blessed us with three grandchildren, and now owns her own photography studio.

in looking for photos, i realized i didn't have as many nice photos of her as i wanted. mainly because when i point a camera at her i often get this...

or this...

but i did manage to find some good ones.

doing what she does best...

happy birthday, sweetheart!

Meme's Creamed Lettuce

our garden lettuce is coming in and so delicious and abundant. in trying to use it up, i'd been trying to think beyond the regular garden salad and remembered meme gamby's creamed lettuce.  she made it often for thanksgiving and christmas and always used this hand beater. 

 
it is one of my precious belongings, simply because it was hers. it always conjures up a picture of her making her sour cream dressing and having my dad taste it to make sure it was right.

i made some this weekend...a simple recipe and just as good as i remembered.

3 T. vinegar
3 T. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup sour cream

beat with love in an old glass hand mixer and serve over lettuce.

Back, With a Spring In My Step

okay, maybe not a spring in my step yet, but with the potential of a spring. it has been an interesting year. a good one, too. but for the last couple years i have been more and more limited in what i can do because of arthritis in my left hip and right knee. when my orthopedic doctor looked at my x-rays he just shook his head. long story short, on tuesday march 6th i had a total hip replacement. and does it sound weird to say it has been a wonderful experience?  God is awesome. He has blessed me so amazingly...i can't begin to thank Him enough for His goodness.

 my daughter erin brought these beauties to me in the hospital and gave me a day at home, cleaning, working in my flower beds and cooking us dinner.

my many blessings include my husband and family, my dear friends, my church family and a terrific doctor and medical staff. everyone has been wonderful and has taken such good care of me. they've given up days to be with me, cooked and cleaned, run errands and....most importantly...prayed. 

 the andersons stopped in to see me and brought these beautiful carnations. i teach piano and voice to three of their six children and just love them. 

i feel great and have had very little pain. i could not ask for more. and on top of that, we've had the most glorious weather. i could go outside and bask in the sunlight every day. 
those that know me well, know of my love for flowers and have kept me surrounded with beauty. all the flowers in the photos have been from family and friends. 

 my sister jan brought this gorgeous basket to me in the hospital and then spent a day with me later at home, helping out and cooking us a delicious dinner.

my dear friends, goldie, ronda, and lois sent me these stunning lilies and iris. oh, they smell so good!

bill and birgitt, a special couple from church, sent these beautiful tulips.

my mom gave me a day, baking a cake and an apple pie, bringing soup...yum...and doing all those extra things a wonderful mom does. she's amazing.  my daughter andrea gave me a day before my surgery to spring clean my bedroom, which was a long overdue, huge job. i was so grateful. she also brought me home from the hospital and spent the rest of the day helping out, making lasagna for dinner.

four families in my church provided us with meals which were so abundant in amount that they translated into at least eight meals.

my cup truly runneth over. thank you, everyone!

i'm hoping that i will now be able to do more and be a little bit more like the old deb and get some things done. there are a lot of projects around here that have been put off for some time.

oh, and there's that wedding in july that i will now be able to walk and not hobble down the aisle for.

Day 2....The Kleinfeld Experience

back in november, this handsome guy asked this beautiful girl to marry him.

and she said "yes".

and we and carmen (her little black dog in all the pictures) couldn't be happier!
which brings us to this past sunday. my two daughters, two granddaughters, and i met my daughter-in-law-to-be and her mom in new york city to go to kleinfeld...yes, the very one featured in the tv show, "say yes to the dress".
before we went, someone asked me if i thought we'd be on tv. and i said i was pretty sure we wouldn't be, because we wouldn't be dramatic enough and had no plans to try to talk the bride out of the dress of her dreams. besides, we all knew ahead of time that she could walk out in a feedsack and look good. it's really kind of disgusting. :)

so here is the nervous bride-to-be, ready to enter the gates. 

the main lobby after checking in for her 10:00 appointment.

 

the large salon area.

i have to stop here and now to say that i seriously fell in love with this chandelier. i think it would look amazing in the snow house in "doctor zhivago".  photos just don't do it justice of course, but that didn't stop me from taking a dozen.

seated and waiting for the bride.

while we were waiting my photographer daughter was trying to think of ways we could surreptitiously wheel one of these dress forms out of the store to bring back with us for her studio. i'm glad to say we resisted our larcenous thoughts and left empty handed.

so, now we have to end this part of the post. the whole reason for being here, i can't show you. she did try on dresses. she did look amazing in all of them. and she did "say yes to a dress"...a stunning, gorgeous, regal dress. 
but i can't show it to you, of course.  until july.
i will leave you with a final photo. a peek of a style she did not choose.  thank goodness.
but she would have looked great in it too. 

coda:  after kleinfeld we were all treated by the bride and mother of the bride to a fabulous lunch at bond 45. we had such a great time.

couldn't end without one final note. 

yes, she fits right into the family.