like a little kid

I tweeted on Friday morning; 'So many fun, happy & exciting things planned for this weekend that I could not sleep last night! #LikeALittleKidBeforeXmas And that is exactly how I felt!

Friday evening I met up with two friends from high school that I haven't seen in over 20 years!!

We met at Sea Salt Eatery in Minneapolis. It was a gorgeous evening and the weather was absolutely perfect for sitting out on the patio right by Minnehaha Falls. We spent almost 4 hours reconnecting and catching up on each others lives and really in no time at all we were back in sync with our old banter and jokes.  So much laughter and happiness with true friends that filled my heart! And we have made plans to meet again soon!

Saturday evening Pete and I headed up to see Tyler. We were meeting him, his girlfriend Maria and Maria's parents for dinner. It was a nice dinner talking about family, graduation and future plans.

After dinner, Tyler and I headed back to SJU campus for the 'Mom Prom' that junior and senior students and their mom's are invited to.

We had a great time hanging around Ty's friends and their mom's, chatting & dancing. :) Thanks for inviting me Ty!

weekend lens {labor day}

Our weekend started off early. Thursday we had Jake's senior pictures taken.

Jake had decided that he really wanted Jon Cochrane Photography to take his pictures. Jon used to be an art teacher at the high school and has done a lot of Jake's friends pics; especially the sports guys. This shot is pretty cool. :)

Friday afternoon was spent with a couple of friends. I had sent out an email the night before with a specific prayer request and within minutes, schedules were cleared and the afternoon was planned.  Friday brought warm sunshine, sitting by a backyard pool, talking, a Panera salad lunch, and prayer. True friends. Love them.

More treasures from the weekend...

 not one, but two bonfires.

And we had a chance to talk with Tyler via Skype for the first time since he left two weeks ago.

We laid low for the weekend because Drew ended up with a respiratory cold which brought a trip to Urgent Care. We needed him to kick the coughing crud so he would be feeling better for the first day of school on Tuesday.

sailing

Thursday night, I met two of my friends for a fun evening filled with dinner, a walk and a lot of talking. We headed to Minneapolis for dinner at Risotto, a cute little Italian restaurant that specializes in risotto. :) After dinner, we headed down the road to Lake Calhoun, for an awesome evening walk.

These two friends are always a breath of fresh air to me and I am so blessed by their friendship.

Recently, I stumbled upon a blog that I have really been enjoying about health and fitness, and is very motivational and inspirational. Not too long ago, 'Fit This Girl' had a post about a day of sailing and her words were so powerful and with her permission I am quoting her post.

Lessons learned sailing:

"Not everyone in your boat has the same goals as you.
Not everyone wants to go the same way,
some people will want to tip the boat or fall out on purpose, others want to sail by the rules.
We don't always get to choose the people in our boat, but we can choose how we respond to them!
........
You can't always choose the people in your boat.
Not everyone will have your same goals
Not everyone will want to do what you want to
Some people will want to capsize the boat over and over
Some people will fall out and cause delays
Some people will try hard and sail by the rules
The wind doesn't always take us where we want to go
Often we have to work hard despite the wind, circumstances and people around us to reach our goals!"

I am so thankful for those people in my life that keep my boat steady!

Kay Arthur

This past Friday, two dear friends and I headed down to Rochester, MN

for a "Devoted Hearts Conference" that was being held at a church there.

We were there to hear Kay Arthur teach. We have done numerous Kay Arthur Precept bible studies and have been fortunate enough to go down to Chattanooga, TN to hear her teach two times before.

She is an amazing teacher of the bible, giving powerful messages and claiming the truth, with no sugarcoating! I always learn so much from her and we felt so fortunate that she was in our state and we could just make a little car trip to see her!

This was a two day conference, so we stayed in a hotel in Rochester which was a great idea because it was a late night Friday and an early morning Saturday. My friend, Deb, brought some sweet treats for us!

Kay's message was "For Such a Time as This".
The scriptures that we went through were
Luke 12:29-57; Luke 19: 11-44; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Peter 1:1-9;
 Jeremiah 25:1-15, 26-33; Jeremiah 42:1-22; Ezekiel 22:1-31; Ezekiel 13: 1-14
The message that we studied is that God is charge of the times.

My friend Deb having her bible signed by Kay.

And I had my bible signed, too!

This is what Kay wrote in my bible!

These two friends, Heidi and Deb, are so special to me. We met in an Alpha class over 8 years ago and have been friends ever since! We have been in small groups; we have done many, many bible studies together; and we are prayer warriors for each other. We have been through so much together in each of our personal lives and I feel so very blessed that these two beautiful ladies are part of my life!!

poker night

Tyler and his friends have been getting together a couple of nights a week all summer long to play poker. They each put in $5 and play for the whole night- which is pretty cheap for a whole nights worth of entertainment. =0) They rotate houses and the other night it was at our house... they even let Jake (a lowly freshman) play! =0)

Two Dear Friends

Tonight, I finally met up with 2 friends that I haven't seen in many months! We live very close to each other but our schedules just have not matched and we have not been able to get together... and I have missed them!

But tonight- against all odds- we met for a walk in a beautiful park and then went out for some food and drinks!


I cannot even begin to express how much these two ladies mean to me....

We met many years ago at church in an Alpha class. We were in the same small group with our spouses and a few other couples. Well, a lot has happened during those years but we have stayed together as prayer warriors, bible study partners and maybe most importantly- friends! These ladies are the best and I am so thankful that we were brought together so many years ago!!!

Memory Lane

Come for a walk with me down Memory Lane!
And if you have a "Memory Lane" post, head on over to Scottsville to join in on the fun!
Today's walk down memory lane I am not going too far back~ just back to last summer (2008).

This picture is of Tyler and some of his friends doing a little birthday surprise to a friend. The boys found this little kids climbing toy on the side of the rode with a sign on it listing it as 'FREE'.

So what else would a bunch of then 16 year olds do- but to load it in their car and decide that it would be the perfect birthday present for their friend (who also happened to live 2 houses down from us).

The boys decided it would be even funnier if they put it on the top of the house?!?!?! I wish I had a picture of all the accomplices but there were more boys (the smart ones) on the driveway. (Yep- Ty and his friend Derek were on the roof!)




I was down on the ground alternately taking picture and yelling at them to be careful :)!!! BOYS!!!

I wish I could say that was the only treasure they brought home last summer~ but they also found a sofa at a neigbor's driveway marked "FREE' and Tyler thought it would be great in his room! I was out that day and came home to see Tyler and 2 of his friends trying to get this into his room. (This totally doesn't fit in his room, but he loves it!) BOYS!