Until They Come Home

Last week Stan and I had the honor of attending the 2012 conference for our country's POW/MIA's. It was primarily focused on those from the Korean/Cold War's. My uncle Raymond Phillip Schaffer was the reason we were there. He was the first born of twelve siblings.



The conference was very informative, even though our relations with North Korea have been put on hold and there will be no entry into that country for any type of recovery missions.









I was able to add on a couple of days to the trip to see some of the wonderful sitings that I was unable to see on my last trip to DC. The Main Post Office (which Donald Trump is turning into a hotel), the Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the MLK Memorial, the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History (the Hope Diamond) and a re-visit to the wonderful Georgetown.
















The sites were great, but I do have to say that I loved even more the people I met along the way......

My favorite waitress Robin, who offered me a behind the scenes tour of how they really do things.....



A wonderful couple from Colorado whom we had so very much in common with....

Two HOT 100% German Women (Ruth now has one of my angels)!!



Two men who are married to Two HOT German Women!!



And the wonderful Mackenzie and Sophie from Boston (how great it was to talk with these two wonderful exciting little nuggets two nights in a row)!!



Of course my trip would not be complete without finding that one Hot Guy....one?....how about FIVE? (I have to fess up, I did take one of them back to my hotel room)!!!!



But yes, I did find that one Hot Guy on my trip ~ Joe Biden!!!



A wonderful week honoring my uncle. Hopefully one day soon he will be coming home.

A Wonderful BirthWeek!

A wonderful week celebrating the birth of Robert & Mabel's second girl child....ME! It was also spent doing one of the tasks in the Vein of Gold book I am currently reading with three other fabulous women. The task was to take a picture each day of hands and feet(s).



























I am very blessed with the hands and feet(s) that are in my life ~ thank you for a fantastically fun week!!!!

The May Day Basket of Iris's

A couple of weeks ago Lynda and I decided to take a class being offered at Collage called Representational Collage - Floral. We were told to bring a picture or pictures of our favorite flowers. I decided to bring a picture of the flowers that Cliff had just given me.



Told it would probably work out better to just start with a single flower, I chose one of the instructors...an Iris.



Listening to our instructor we both began our masterpieces.






And while creating our masterpieces, I began to tell Lynda the story of why I love iris's so much.

It was May 1st and I was in the 4th Grade. Coming home from school with my May Day basket of flowers I had made for my mother, I noticed these wonderful tall purple flowers across from our house. Even though they were in other people's yards, I decided to pick a couple of them and make May Day baskets for the two houses that had elderly ladies living in them. I remember sneaking up to pick the flowers and hurrying back to my house to make a paper basket to hold them. I then went back out, left them on their porches, rang their doorbell and ran.

Well.....both houses paid a visit to my house when my Mom got home from work that night. The first house told my mother how awful it was that I had picked some of her flowers. The second house told my mother what a touching and thoughtful action I had performed (because even though this lady was in her 60's, her mother in her 90's lived there and received this May Day basket). That moment held a life lesson for me.





So everytime I see an Iris, I remember back to that day. And I remember those two totally different takes on the same situation. There has never been a flower in my yard that was too beautiful that a child could not pick it. Iris's will bloom again, a child's spirit may not.

Birthday Ladies at 93 and 2

Today was the birthday of two wonderful ladies. One happens to be the oldest lady I know and the other happens to be the youngest lady I know. They were born on April 3rd and they both have my heart.

Minnie is my 1st Grade Teacher who taught me to read....




And Ava is my great niece whom I hope to teach to read....




I know I am blessed!