Goin' Strong

Our community lost a good friend last week when Morgan Miers died at the age of 91. Morgan and his wife Nansi were treasured members of our church family. My lifelong membership at our church was blessed by the presence of Morgan and Nansi. Nansi has been gone 10 years now, and we will all miss Morgan's smiling face in our midst on Sunday mornings.

At the funeral service, they had some 'vintage' photos displayed, and I took a picture of this picture with my phone. Nansi was my kindergarten Sunday School teacher and directed the Children's Choir for many years. I loved the choir and Mrs. Miers. I remember how she entertained us with her handkerchief when we needed to be quiet during church. She taught us the proper pronunciation of the word "of" (not like the uhf we used to see on the TV dial), and one of my favorite choir songs, "That's What God Made Mothers For." When we said the 23rd Psalm at Morgan's graveside yesterday, I remembered that it was Mrs. Miers who taught me to recite that scripture from memory. She always called me SusieQ.

I love this picture of the handsome American soldier and his beautiful Welsh bride.

This photo is from the bookmarks they passed out at the funeral. It is that great smile and positive attitude we will miss. When asked how he was doing, his standard answer was, "Goin' strong."

He showed just what that meant when, at age 86, he decided to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. His comment, "Nobody told me not to do it." You can read more about his jump here.

In 2007, I snapped these photos at the Fourth of July parade. Morgan was indeed a colorful character. One young dad at the parade that day said to me, "I hope I can be just like that when I'm 88."

Morgan was an inspiration to all who knew him. He taught us to live each day, that "fantastic" is an attitude, and to keep "goin' strong." Thank you Morgan.

Who Dat Baby!

Darci sent me some sweet pictures of Haleigh yesterday, all dressed for church in her pretty fleur de lis outfit. I found it in NOLA, along with the hat. Speaking of fleur de lis, Matthew told me that his class has their desks arranged in a horse shoe, but he really thinks it should be a fleur de lis. Not sure his teacher will go for that. Or know what it is. :)

Looks like she's standing up all by herself.

She's smiling because the Saints offense was back on track, winning the game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers yesterday. Tampa Bay has been Jon's team since Mike Alstott played for them. Sort of the same way I became a Saints fan, by following a Purdue player.

Someone else was happy after the game. Not only because they won, but because he's about to become a daddy for the second time. This is the message he sent out after the game: Great win today in Tampa. Now it's baby time. Hopefully #2 decides to come this week. Appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers.

Earlier this week, Drew asked for baby name suggestions. They are looking for a 'b' name, not in most baby books, for their second baby boy, to go with Baylen, age 21 months. They got 6000 responses on Facebook and Twitter. I think that should give them some ideas to work with. I'll be anxious to hear their choice. I think Boiler Brees has a nice ring to it. :)

The Good, the Bad, and the Cute

Purdue Homecoming was Saturday, and it was a beautiful day for football. The GOOD news of the day was that Purdue won the game, beating the Minnesota Golden Gophers. That puts the Boilers 2-0 in the Big Ten, and tied at the top of the conference standings. At least for the rest of this week. Those pesky Buckeyes are up next, and may be a bit of a challenge for the good guys. We'll be attending a wedding next Saturday, and will no doubt be keeping up with the score throughout the afternoon. It will be reminiscent of Josh and Erica's wedding, when Jonathan was wearing an earpiece and giving hand signals to our section of the church. Current technology will make things much easier now, since there's definitely an app for that!

Most of the photos in this post are Jennifer's. My camera IS on the way home, and should arrive tomorrow.

Purdue in the huddle. It's just weird seeing the quarterback wearing #15 when it's not, well, you know who.

The BAD news of the day was the rumor I heard as I entered the stadium, that Robbie Hummel had reinjured his knee during practice Saturday morning. Unfortunately, the news was confirmed, and stadium was buzzing as word spread among the fans. It took some of the enthusiasm out of winning the football game. This is a picture of Robbie and Matthew taken in June at the NFF dinner. So sad for Robbie. Sometimes life's not fair.

And now for the CUTE, which included the little (and big) kids that joined us for a great day tailgating. Jim, Matthew, and I arrived early and set up camp. Jim cooked sausage, bacon, and pancakes, to go along with fruit, mimosas, and apple cake for breakfast.

Margaret came with her mommy and daddy. She enjoyed her first football game, and especially liked the Golden Girl.

Jim and Haleigh smile for the camera.

Cute little Boiler fan!

And Aunt Fer was there! She and Matthew enjoyed hanging out together.

The Williamsons before the game.

Adam and his friend Stephany.

The Andrew Stewarts (although Andrew tells me there is only one of him).

Susan and Darci in our shades. I can tell this is after the game since I'm wearing my beads. Part way through the first quarter, Matthew asked me if I packed my beads. I told him they were in my bag. He said I should put them on to help the Boilers, so I did. And it worked! I may have to wear them to the wedding on Saturday. :) I'm not superstitious. Much.

Haleigh sat with us during the second half, and took a little snooze toward the end of the game. This is her happy victory face!

Margaret enjoyed her sandwich after the game. A cheeseburger, hold the burger. Her parents took her on a little tour of Purdue, and I'm told she even made her first run through the engineering mall fountain. She also decided that she thought she could live there some day. Her mommy was proud.

Matthew likes his cheese WITH a burger. But Granny forgot the dill pickles!

Jim and Matthew in our seats after the first Boiler touchdown of the day. Happy Homecoming and Boiler Up!

Goin' to Granny's

It was beautiful at the lake this weekend, but even more beautiful because of this girl.

Haleigh is such a big girl, that she got to come stay all night at the lake with Granny and Grandpa while her mommy and daddy went to Lexington to the UK football game.

She had fun taking a boat ride.

And she even helped Grandpa drive the boat.

Gumbo enjoyed the ride too!

She started to doze off on our second time around the lake, but opened her eyes just as we parked the boat.

We did notice the grassy knoll across the way was looking a bit brown. It's hard to keep grass green without rain.

And I guess some folks aren't aware that there is currently a burn ban for Brown County and most of Indiana. Hmmmm.....

Haleigh was up bright and early on Sunday morning, ready for breakfast.

Lookin' good and ready to cheer on the Saints. Unfortunately, the Saints didn't look quite so good. Even so, it was a happy weekend with our sweet little Haleigh.

The Joys of Fall

Between my broken camera, and internet connection issues, I have been on a bit of a blogging break. The weather, however, has been perfect, and Jim and I were finally able to get back to the lake for the first time since Labor Day weekend.

Friday was a beautiful morning at the lake, and when Gumbo and I went outside, we saw 5 deer walking from the lake's edge through the neighbor's yard, and back to the woods. I didn't have my camera, and was afraid they would be gone if I hurried to get it. I grabbed Gumbo, and we just watched them walking right past our garage. Later, when I went down to the dock, I saw this evidence that they had been there for a drink.

The sun created a beautiful reflection of trees in the water.

Fall color in Brown County, Indiana is hard to beat.

Looking out from our upper deck.

We left the lake Friday afternoon so Jim could attend a meeting and I could pick up Matthew from school. We went to the Courthouse to check out the Farmers' Market, and I got Matthew to pose for a couple pictures. Doesn't he look handsome in his glasses?

And smart?

He decided he wanted to buy banana peppers, and selected five. He lined them up by size on the ledge.

We also made a stop at Crafts and Occasions, his "favorite store." That's what Grannys are for, right?

Hay Day

Jennifer took some pictures of Haleigh over the weekend, so I thought I would borrow them for the blog. Since my camera is still in the infirmary, it was great to have her here to capture some of the cuteness.

At 8 months, Haleigh (Hay Hay to some) has six teeth, crawls everywhere, eats all kinds of baby food (and pancakes in a pinch), drinks water from a sippy cup, and is happy almost all the time. She is learning to say "Boiler Up" but it may take her until next season (heck, it may take the Boilers until next season).

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