Tom & Brenda's Family Journal

After years of taking pictures with a small point and shoot camera, Tom and I bit the bullet and invested in a better camera to record our life. Now I just need to learn to take great pictures with it. It is a Nikon D5100 and I'm learning lots but have a long way to go. This is one of my first attempts at being artistic with the shot of our barn. We celebrated Jen & Tommy's birthdays last weekend. Madelynn made and dec orated the cake. We had a fun family time. We returned to the cabin on Sunday after a week in Alto that was packed with fun times. We were able to help Jennifer move into her house and she is starting to get settled. She seems as happy as can be to be back in her own space. We loved having her live with us the past year, but she is only a 1/4 mile away from us now. My parents came out to visit us at the cabin when we returned. We have lots of fun with them and I'm so thankful to spend so much time with them during the summer. Of course, I'm tr...

Tom and I returned to the cabin after our busy month of June which culminated with the wedding of our daughter Kristen on June 29. But we didn't come alone. Our son, Tom, his wife, Sherry, and our 4 grandchildren traveled with us. They stayed all week and left yesterday to spend time with Sherry's parents in Curtis, Michigan. Here's a photo recap of our week. We visited my parents several times. My grandchildren are so blessed to have fun times with their great-grandparents. The girls love to do crafts. Anna had found a book at the Alto Library with some fun ideas. I brought the necessary supplies with me and we had a great time making them. Anna loves to do massages and we love to have one of her famous foot massages. She calls her business "World's Best Massage City." She really has a heart for service. It is amazing to see it in one so young. This is the doll stroller that my grandmother had for years for all us kids. Anna loved to give her teddy be...

The 4th of July is always a special day for our family. Besides being our country's birthday, it is also Tom's birthday. Today I will share how we spent the day. It was very hot so we stayed inside except for early morning and late evening. Tom's parents bought this farm where we now live in 1948. T om moved here when he was one year old. They called it Busy B's Farm so we've taken that name for our home now. Busy B's was the theme of our 4th of July celebration this week. It was Tom's 65th birthday. We wanted to have a low key day after our busy week of the w edding but I wanted to make it very special for Tom. Everyone pitched in and did their part with some creative for the 4th of July. Madelynn and Jay decorated red, white and blue cookies. This included stars and bells that were in the freezer left from Christmas. Jen made red, white and blue strawberries that were pretty and tasty. We had seen them on Pinterest and found them easy to make. ...

I am the queen of the Media Center! I survey my kingdom and just look at all the books I have at my disposal. Actually, I'm only the queen for 10 minutes every school day. But I love the time. I work at Hopkins Middle School. For the first hour of the day, I use the Media Center as my work spot because I share my classroom with the computer teacher. I have to wait for his class to finish before I can get to my official spot. From 8 am to 9 am, I'm working at a computer in the Media Center. At 8:50 am, the librarian has to lock the Media Center and go to the gym to serve as the locker room teacher since the PE teacher cannot oversee both the girls and boys' locker room. That's when I rise to power. That is when it is all mine. Because I am in the Media Center, the librarian can leave it open and I am in charge for 10 minutes. There really isn't much traffic at that time so I spend my time just walking around and seeing what the library has to offer. We are ...

Tom wrote an email to some dear friends describing our time here in Florida. He did such a good job, I thought I would share it with you. I hope to write a blog about our park but our internet service is so weak, I can't put pictures on my posts. So I'll share with you when we get a better signal. Here's Tom's post. Good morning Marcia. Yes, we are having a great time in Florida. My Uncle Wayne and Aunt Phyllis Ullery are in the park so we have enjoyed several outings with them. Their daughter and son-in-law, Dianne and Charlie Minor, have been down for the month of March so the outings have gone form 4 to 6. In addition Butch and Shelia Nordhof are only about 10 minutes away so we have enjoyed their company as well. My cousin and her husband Nanette and Larry Kreuger live in St. Petersburg and came over for a day last week. Outings have included the Strawberry Festival in Plant City, a Tigers ballgame in Lakeland, the Florida Flywheelers, a tractor show, se...

We are staying at Lake Bonnet Village in Avon Park, Florida. The park, which includes RV's, park models and modular houses, has around 400 - 500 residents. Lake Bonnet is home to lots of fish, birds and even some alligators. There is a pair of sandhill cranes which are quite tame and come up into the park to eat at bird feeders early every morning. I observed them up close while out on a run this week. South Florida Community College of Avon Park has begun softball and baseball season. Tom and I have taken in a few games. Nothing better than sitting out in the sun watching a ball game. We awoke this morning to a chilly 37 degrees. 37 is cold when you are riding on a golf cart to church, however, it is a very short ride and church was warm and welcoming. Our days are spent with lots of fellowship with friends, family and new friends that we seem to make every day. Here is Carol, (from MN), Merrilyn, (from Ohio) and Marge from Gaylord, MI. These are dear Christian friends no...

We've just completed our first week in Florida and we are still working on getting completely settled. Yesterday Tom got our water heater fixed. It had been working on gas but we wanted it use the electric element which had to be replaced. Our cable TV was installed last week but still isn't working well. A technician is supposed to come today. The final straw was yesterday when ESPN stopped working. Our days haven't been all work-lots of play here. There are activities available morning, noon and night. We have been part of several including an afternoon 'happy hour' every day. A group meets daily at 4 pm and shares the events of the day always with lots of laughs. We have a variety of people which adds to the fun but every one seems to have a positive outlook. I've also attended Hands of Love, a women's service group. I worked on teddy bears for use at the hospital. Ladies Bible Study is on Monday morning and was a group of about 3...