A Fun Holiday

Over the weekend, Sean and I went to  Minneapolis.  While I stayed in Rochester with my Melissa:), Sean went in to two days of graduation celebration for his oldest daughter who graduated from the nursing program at Bethel in St. Paul. 

Then in Sunday Sean and I headed to the camp he worked at out of college, where his daughters attended camp, and where they now have had and are holding jobs. It's called Honey Rock and it's near Eagle River, WI.  

We got there by the afternoon and I got a tour around campus.  Then we took a pretty rough and long mountain bike ride out to this way out cabin and lake cakes Black Bear.  Once we got there we took a canoe out in the lake and enjoyed the sun!

Then we headed over, about an hour, to my good old alma mater which just announced they were closing:(. I had to make one last trek.  We stayed the night there and then just drove around the campus in the morning as it was raining pretty hard.  It was sad, and deserted and lonely:(. One may summer of camp and then it is no more...

Memories of classes!

Ah the girls dorm!

Where I worked in the library my freshman and sophomore year.

Where Alan and Cindy used to live.

Where we used to have to go through the security booth to get on our private campus!

And...

Alison wears jeans on campus!!!!!! Still can't believe I can do that!  Lol!  Oh - btw - everyone else has moved on and everyone else was wearing jeans in campus as well!

A great weekend!  We didn't want to come home but ... We enjoyed the ride there!

First Kayak Of The Season!!!!!

Need I say more!!! Me and my two kayaking buddies had a fabulous day on the water!

Last Night...For Now

Tonight was Seans last night serving as Chaplain at Condell for the winter term.  He has one more semester starting in the fall and then he'll be able to officially pray over you for pay in almost any hospital, nursing home or military base!  He's worked his chaplain hiney off since October writing papers, attending classes and serving shifts at the hospital, and now he deserves a little rest.  But one last night!

I'll usually bring him dinner when he's on.  He'll do a 5pm-8 am shift so I have to make sure he gets fed otherwise he's starve and pass out from exhaustion when running to a emergency room call!  I can't let that happen!

Tonight was the last dinner for the semester... Sad?  Happy?

And the last "Chaplain Sean" hospital scripture reading...

I can't wait until I have my own "official" Chaplain to pray for me!  I mean, he does now, but everyone knows a certified chaplains prayers are worth way more!!!:)

My Dad

The other night I was downstairs, near my dad's desk, putting away some of my winter stuff.  On the way back upstairs as I passed his desk, I happened to glance over and something caught my eye.  There were some notecards that maybe looked familiar, so I went over to actually look at them and this is what I found.

And in that moment I was incredibly overwhelmed by how awesome my dad was!  He wasn't perfect, he didn't become some god of a man that everyone would think, what would Al do?  But he was trying!  He memorized scripture that would feed into his life and control him in his responses to everything that surrounded him in his everyday life.  "A soft answers turns away wrath", "he who is slow to wrath is of great understanding", "a merry heart doeth good like a medicine", " the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom"... Just some of the verses that he had in his cards and verses that I think did affect his life and change him little by little.

Let's just say that when he died, I don't know of anyone who didn't like him and most people I know would even say that they respected him.  Did he ever fail us, yes.  Did he always have the right answer or the best response, no.  But I do remember at the end, he did look to God and found his comfort there.

Thanks to my dad for being an example and a dad who tried, even though he often failed, to do what he thought was the right and the God thing.  It's funny how much hindsight is 20/20 and you don't realize how amazing someone is until they're gone!  

Birthday Celebration!

Today is Patti's birthday!  Yay!  We usually get to spend her b-day together because we're at IAHCSMM every year!  It's a tradition!

This year we had Cristina with us so we got to take her out for breakfast - birthday breakfast!

We went down by the beach so we got to enjoy the waves and the semi sun!

Birthday breakfast and gifts!

And birthday hugs!

And now we're going our separate ways - who knows when we'll see each ither again!  But we had a few great days together!

Now back to Chicago and who knows what the weather is there:). We'll see!

Enjoy The Sun While It Lasts

Sunday, my friend Cristina flew in from Dominican Republic for a 14 day visit.  I picked her up from the airport, we headed to Beach church, went to brunch and then went "home" where she met Mrs Gartland.  We chatted for a bit and then I had to zip her down to the beach! 

Came back to the house, finished cleaning up, chatted with "mom":)....

Then we got in the car and headed out in A-1-A to get some beach front views on our drive down to Fort Lauderdale!

Today was the conference and vendor fair and all that wonderful stuff!  

Unfortunately for the next few days, rain and no sun is predicted.  I guess a good reason to stay inside for a conference!

Down Home

This coming week I have to attend a central sterile department meeting in Fort Lauderdale, workshops start on Sunday. I figured while I was down this way Id fly into Jacksonville to visit Seans mom and then drive down to the conference on Sunday.

I got in around 5 and went over to the house and had dinner there with Mrs Gartland and then I excused myself and went down to enjoy the sun setting on the beach!

This morning I'm back on the beach for just a few and then Mrs Gartland and I are gonna hit the town and bond!:)

May I add - it's sad not having my Sean here:(. He's up in Minnesota (blech) for his oldest daughters award ceremony for the ROTC.

We'll be back as a pair though to enjoy the sun and surf and his mom!