Basement Treasures

Last week, three days of my life were spent unearthing the basement.  I used to vacuum the basement weekly and attend to the cobwebs and little messes that would accumulate.  Over the past three years, however, between the hecticness of life, kitchen construction, and having various visitors living in the basement (humans - not bugs, rodents, or otherwise); the basement has been out-of-sight -- out-of-mind.  When Pete went down to use the bathroom - "the men's room" let's say - he found that I had a bit of leak on the eastern wall most likely due to the large pine tree whose roots reside right next to my house.   This, of course, was going to take some action on my part and part of that was cleaning out the basement just in case there was any ensuing construction in the near future.  More on that in the future - not any time soon.  Anyhow, I cleaned and toiled and labored and what kept me going was finding a few hidden treasures in that dungeon of mine.  Not the expected treasures like my depression glass collection, or a favorite old book, or picture albums, but treasures that had long slipped my mind.

 Cousin Ryan made this turtle for me. 

Isn't it adorable?

 I'm not sure where this doll/figurine came from.  I know that I had it on my shelf in my bedroom as a little girl for a long long long time.  It was really cool to discover that "Haiti" was written on the stand.  It makes me think of the wonderful Haitian friends I made.  I hope and pray that I will be able to return to Port-au-Prince soon. 

I think I was made to be a missionary.  I am most alive and most effective when I serve God this way. 

 Oh these are precious; still in their original frames.  These are my grandparents' wedding photos.  I believe that they were hand painted to achieve the color. 

What a beautiful couple they are.  I miss them greatly.

 In this picture of the wedding party, I believe my Grandfather's brother, Charlie, is in view.  He died on the shores of Normandy. 

 Who could ever forget these dolls?  The two on the left were "snuggle dolls" - pull the string on their backs and they would snuggle away.  On the right, my Mandy doll. 

I'm still a snuggler :)

 This was a really something special to find, my Indian Princess garb.  My name tag "Ishpeming" and my vest with all of the patches.  Dad and I had a grand time in this YMCA program.  I am so glad he decided to do that with me.

 A hand-drawn map of the Maltese Islands given out by the Maltese Bureau of Tourism.  My grandparents gave this to me when I was doing my elementary report on Malta.  The map is really stunning now that I have 'older' and 'wiser' eyes to look at it.  I wonder if Mom and Dad will pick up a new map on their trip to Malta?

 The capital city Valleta.

 The Maltese Cross

The cross is a symbol adopted to remind Christians of our Lord's saving death - and with an empty cross his resurrection! Otherwise it is a quite neutral symbol, often in its form of equal sized arms, used in art due to the symmetry of design. Even as used by Christians, Christian artists have been inspired to produce many variations on the theme. Christian countries used the cross as the main symbol of decorations awarded to those who served the nation.

The Maltese cross, used as an identifying insignia on the habit of the Knights of Malta, was for the purpose of identifying themselves from their enemies. The Knights of Malta, also known as the Knights of St. John or the "hospitialers" was a religious order founded by Amalfitian merchants around the year 1070. The purpose of the order was to aid and care for pilgrims making the journey to the Holy Land. In 1136 the knights became a fully militarized order. The Knights driven out of Syria had been fleeing years of persecution by Islamic forces acquired Malta as their Sovereign Land from Charles V of Spain in 1530. This is the time that the Maltese Cross evolved into the present day form. The cross is described as a white eight pointed cross.

The eight points of the cross are believed to represent the eight vows the knights had to observe:

1) live in truth;
2) have faith;
3) repent of sins;
4) give proof of humility;
5) love justice;
6) be merciful;
7) be sincere and whole hearted;
8) endure persecution.
(courtesy of http://www.choppers.com/iron_cross.asp)

 A portion of the map showing where St. Paul shipwrecked

in 60 AD as described in Acts 27 & 28.

 Two typed letters from Mrs. Gutowsky in 5th grade.  Now that I am a teacher I have NO IDEA - NO CLUE - how she was able to write such personable letters.  I LOVED finding these tucked in my cubby.  She was a phenomenal teacher.  I wish I could tell her today!

 A page from the book I wrote titled, "I Get Scared When. . . "  Apparently I thought I had seen a shark at some point.  For the record, I have never seen a wild shark - not even off the coast of South Africa where Discovery's Shark Week is filmed.  Go Figure.

 A page from the book I wrote about Michigan Apples.  Whenever I have to consider the species/variety of apple I am looking at, this picture still pops in my mind. 

 The whole collection of "warm fuzzy" notes I received on my birthday in second grade.  Mrs. Spiteri certainly had a way of making each of her students feel loved.

 These special notes from Peter who REALLY missed me when I went away to college.  Truth is, I missed him more.

 And the final treasures . . . since this is the "family" blog . . . are a few pages from this book on the things I love.  It still is true today.

Jesus (glad I had my priorities straight)

 My family (Mom, Dad, Myself, Tim

(pete-you were still a twinkle in heaven at that point-1980)

 My grandparents - notice how everyone's hair color was spot-on!

My Aunts and Uncles.

Don't worry cousins, I am sure that I meant my Aunts & Uncles and all of their kids!

So, you just never know what you are going to find in the crevices of the dungeon - there just might be some treasures.  - T

Big News!

After lots of thought and dreaming we began considering moving to a bigger home earlier this spring. We knew we wanted more space for the boys and also room for family and friends visiting. Our home on Nagle Ave has been wonderful but after 11 years we feel we've outgrown it. We've decided it's time to move on and we found a wonderful home! We're moving! This past week we made an offer on a beautiful ranch style home and our offer was accepted. Here's just a hint of what it's like ... the pictures were taken by a realtor and aren't the greatest so you'll have to come and visit us and see for yourself!

It's located on a quiet cul de sac with lots of trees. It has a fenced in backyard and seems so quiet and peaceful.

Here's the kitchen! I can't wait to have the boys sitting at the counter while I whip up something great for them!

I don't have any other decent photos that do the home justice. We are all so excited and looking forward to our move. I told the kids it would be lots of hard work and they said they think it seems like an adventure. They have their rooms picked out and have big plans for all the space in the basement. It's huge!!!

That's the big news! We hope to have lots of visitors. We'll be closing sometime mid-July.

Love to all!

Joy

The Kitchen Files

Yesterday I received a lovely e-mail from my contractor with the 1st run of my cabinets!  Yippee.  It inspired me to put together a little Kitchen Filing System for the remodeling.  It was a lot of fun!

Home

Hello Family & Friends,
Words cannot describe the trip to Haiti.  It was one of the most impactful missions I have ever been on.  Your prayers were felt and were most definitely effective.  The Hatian people are so wonderfully nice and so desperately in need.  It was such a privilege to be even a small part of helping these wonderful brothers and sisters.  I am hoping a praying that I will be able to return again this year.  The Salvation Army is at the helm for helping folks and it is truly evident that the money that is being donated is making its way directly to the people who need it in the form of food, shelter, and provision.  They are leading the way in terms of long term solutions which makes me so glad.

Over the next couple of weeks I'll be posting pictures (they will be on facebook too - but I won't fill in all the details there) and retelling stories and thoughts from the trip.  I apologize for taking so long to get a post up - it has been extremely hectic since I have returned home including some home repairs that I have had to attend to right away (oh joy of joys) and a pile of the most odiferous laundry I have ever encountered.

Just a quick picture here of me and my teammates Alan (our leader) and Drew (one of my pastors) while we were at the Divisional Headquarters of the Salvation Army dropping off the box truck.

A Few Random Updates

Hi Everyone,
I hope you are all doing well. Thanks Debbie for writing a post - I love knowing that you are doing well. So a few posts that I have been wanting to write are conglomerated into one here so that I wouldn't forget!

Did you know that Flat Adam came to Africa with me? He is booking his flight back to Wisconsin later this week. He had a great time and especially loved seeing the wild animals. (Double click on the collage and you will be able to see the pictures up close!)


Tim and Carrie were able to attend the Oakland County's Outstanding Teacher of the Year banquet with me on the 7th. I was a nominee. 3 fantastic teachers won - I was honored to be in the running. Then again, Tim and Carrie should have been nominated too! We had a delightful evening - many great speeches given by the teachers - each speech was very different. We then enjoyed an array of hor d'oeurves.


This past Saturday I volunteered for the CDC (Central Detroit Christian)'s Little League Football. We served up a barbecue (hot dogs and burgers) for all of the teams and the volunteers that help with the games. It was lots of fun. We were rained on a bit but we didn't melt. I even had the chance to pass the football around. I LOVE the size of the peewee football - it's just perfect and I can throw a pretty decent spiral with it!

This morning, despite my head cold, I managed to get up at 4:30 am and head on down to the Eastern market for flower day. It is one of my favorite days of the year. Five of us kept warm walking around and picking out new blossoms for our yards. This year I bought dwarf snapdragons, herbs and vegetables, zinnias, dahlias, English daisy (it's really cool - it's pink and white and totally wacky), marigolds, and lobelia. We were home by 8:30 am and were able to all make it to church on time. (We did make a quick stop to one of my favorite bakeries - Avalon - mmmm!)

Tim's new house

I bought a new house!

Tim's new "blue" is:
3450 Ellenboro
Troy, MI 48083

It is only 10 minutes away from Tracy, and less than 15 minutes from school.
I cannot wait to have you all over to swim in the...wait for it... pool!

The specs: 1971, 3 bedroom, 1600sq ft, original owner, ranch, full basement, above ground pool, .25 acres, and blue!

I used the time during my spring break to move in. Luckily I don't have much "big stuff", therefore I've taken my time to bring things over and unpack bit by bit.