Family

Home Sweet Home

Today (Friday) was amazing.  I’m tired, but it was amazing.  I hit a hammer into wood for the first time today.  Knowing that this was not going to be my specialty, I mostly held wood for others to pound nails into, but a few nails I did drive home:)  (I was kind of a girly girl today, I guess you could say)

Take a second and think of what the word home means to you.  Think of what your home looks like; how big it is, how cozy it is, how cool/warm it is, how much stuff you have in it, the paint on the walls, the pictures hung…I’m a spoiled brat.

Here are a few pictures of one of the homes that my team built today, for a widow and her five children.

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Think about the word home again.  Don’t you feel kinda spoiled?  We don’t have to feel bad about our blessings, but it’s nice to recognize that we have so much, in order to give.  After all, in the reality of the Cross, we don’t deserve anything, and we haven’t earned anything. 

This widow, and her kids, were so grateful for our small kindness.  I’m pretty sure that it meant the world to them.  We got to share blessing with someone that desperately needed it. 

Philly Weekend

This past weekend I spent some time in Philadelphia with my parents and my brother and sister in law.  Congratulations to Tiffany for getting her Masters Degree!  …and a 4.0, at that!

It was Father’s Day and the Tigers were playing the Phillies.  What a great day for me to take my dad and mom to a game!  To top it off, the Tigers won.  Dad wasn’t as happy…but I think that the sting of watching his beloved team lose was at least a little less because I was there:)
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This is my dad and me outside Citizens Bank Park.

This is us with my brother, Todd.June_2007_272
I was told that I looked like I was confused…wearing my Tigers shirt and my Phillies hat:)

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This is mom and me, right before I left.  She’s the one that kept elbowing me when I would scream for Pudge at the game, Sunday.  She tried to kick me out of their row!

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And as an added bonus, I got to see a good friend from college, Ryan, who’s working in the culture of Philly.  It was also great to see him.

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And just because I wanted to take a picture of the beautiful scenery of Pennsylvania…while I was driving…dad, pretend you didn’t read that:)

Kay, the beautiful goddess statue

Meet Kay.  She’s my beautiful goddess statue.Dsc03369_2

A few years ago when I was at my grandma’s house (the one that passed away in January), I commented on
her statue.  I said that I liked it and I asked her if I could have it someday.  She said that she would make sure I got it.  Well, she moved out of her apartment about two years ago, so the statue had been at my parents’ place, hiding out in the upstairs closet.  This past weekend I drove to Philly to be with my parents and I brought Kay home with me. 

Why "Kay"?  My grandma’s name was Katherine (like a wonderful writer/friend I know;), but she went by Kay.  So now I have her in my apartment.  She doesn’t match one thing that I own, but Kay will always have a place where I live, somehow and somewhere.

Well-Hidden:)

I told my mom, this morning, that I was sorry she was getting her mother’s day card late.  I’d bought it last week, wrote it out and put it in the mail-to-go-out bin at work this week.  It never got mailed, so I had to mail it on Friday afternoon.

She told me that she had one up on me.  Remember my dad’s birthday a few weeks ago?  My mom had bought his birthday card 3 weeks before that, and hid it so he wouldn’t find it.  She said that she read through a whole bunch of cards and picked out just the right one that she wanted.  Well, Mom hid it so well that she still can’t find it:)

60 Things

In honor of both my dad, who just turned 60 yesterday, and my mom, who turned 60 last September, here are the top 60 things I love about my parents…

60.  together they had the best daughter ever:)
59.  they gave me two awesome big brothers
58.  they love me like crazy
57.  they’re very hard workers and taught me to be a hard worker
56.  my dad worked at a publishing company when i was little and bought me books home from work all the time
55.  my mom is the best cook
54.  take a look at me…i am my mother’s daughter, for sure
53.  see my passion…i’m also my father’s daughter, for sure
52.  they’ve been married since 1969 (it’ll be 37 years in June)
51.  they always made sure i went to church
50.  my mom was my Missionettes leader
49.  my dad was a Sunday School teacher
48.  my mom prayed with me before school
47.  at one time they allowed me to take a train to Pittsburgh all by myself (i was 14!)
46.  my dad gets teary-eyed every time I leave
45.  i have to take a deep breathe before i hug my dad because he doesn’t want to let go
44.  they trusted me in high school
43.  they’ve forgiven me for every time i was dishonest to them as a child
42.  they’ve forgiven me for the times that i hurt them
41.  they sometimes pay for me to come visit them
40.  my dad calls to sing the Eagles fight song on my voicemail
39.  my mom gets hilarious when we play games with our whole family (she laughs so hard, it’s hard to contain yourself just watching her)
38.  "Momisms" like how she says…"duffle bag" as "duffie bag" or "balsamic vinegar" as "baslamic vinegar"…one of my all-time favorites-"Chuck E Cheese" is "Chunky Cheese" to my mom:)
37.  "Hot-hands Burton"-my mom can touch any hot dish, right out of the oven without burning herself!  it’s really amazing
36.  my dad’s love for his cat, Robbie
35.  my dad’s patriotism
34.  the way my dad draws a Robbie, the cat, "stamp" on every family birthday/holiday card sent out or given…you really have to see it to appreciate it
33.  the way my dad labels every picture/character on all my birthday cards
32.  my mom always gets me a manicure and/or pedicure for Christmas
31.  when one of my best friends made a video all about me "the kim video", my parents watched it several times and then made other people watch it…
30.  my mom has gotten so many awards at Cardone Industries, where she works (I pretty sure she might take over the company someday)
29.  how much my dad loves to see my pictures-I got his eye for pictures, you know
28.  i love it that when they visited me a year ago, they connected with one of my favorite teens, Casey (my mom was trying to kill him in Uno:)
27.  i love it that my dad comments on my blog
26.  and that my mom actually reads it now!
25.  i love it that i get to share my birthday with my mom
24.  my dad is a huge Philadelphia team fan and tries to keep me in the loop of what’s going on
23.  dad usually knows Detroit weather before I do because he checks it almost everyday
22.  they encourage me
21.  they are so proud of me and that makes me smile
20.  they ache to see my nephews play ball (they really love their grandkids and want to be with them!)
19.  they’re going to move to the midwest someday soon (oh, wait, that’s what i’m hoping for:)
18.  they send me a gift on Valentine’s Day:)-hopefully someday someone else will take care of that
17.  my parents hate the game, Cranium, but will play it with us because us kids love it
16. i love it that my mom actually figured out how to forward a message on her cell phone!  this is very big

15.  my mom knows that I typically need a Philly cheesesteak asap when I go home to visit

14.  my dad passed along his sweettoothe to me

13.  when I would fight with my brothers when I was little, I was always right:)

12.  they let me go far away to college-and didn’t make any bones about it

11.  they’ve allowed God to change them (aren’t we all glad that God does that in our lives?)

10.  they haven’t just gotten older, they’ve grown

9.    they support me in everything that I do!

8.    they make me miss them….

7.    they’ve listened to my stories (my many, many stories)

6.    they always made sure that I met my responsibilities to my church ministries growing up

5.  they took me to church the night I asked Jesus into my heart (and made sure that I told my pastor about it afterward)

4.  they allowed friends to be important in my life

3.  they disciplined me

2.  they put the Word into my hands as a child

1.  God gave them to me!

I truly love my parents, for even more reasons than these.  God loves us so much that He puts in the best places in which we’ll grow to become more like Him.  I’m thankful for my parents, who love me more than I can probably imagine.  And I hope that they have stepped into their 61st year of life with the best yet to come. 

Love you, Mom and Dad!  -Kimberly

Only Because I’m His Mim:)

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When I arrived at my brother’s house last week I heard all about Robert’s hair…yikes!  My nephew refused to get it cut.  For weeks his mom and dad had been telling him that he desperately needed to get it cut!  But nope!  That is, until his Mim came into town.  I told Stephanie (my sister-in-law) that I’d get him to cut it, and guess what…and it’s only because I’m his Mim!  (A few years ago his 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Porter, told me she was so glad to finally meet me.  She said that all the time he talked about "his Mim…his Mim, his Mim, his Mim…all the time!"  That, I will never forget.Img_6246

The reason he wouldn’t smile in this picture is because I was kickin’ his butt at Settlers of Catan:)

And just because I’m a proud aunt…this is Robert and me when I arrived home from my first year of college…my how he’s grown up (my baby:).Misc_001

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This is my nephew, Ross.  Last night at "Underground Kidz", at church, they talked about Jesus’ resurrectionand made crosses.  So apparently when he was supposed to be getting ready for bed, and Stephanie (his mom) and I were talking, he got out a marker and decided to celebrate Easter in his own way.  Notice his six-pack, one of the things that he loves from this post.

What’s in Your Heart?

I took this picture at Ross’ school.Dsc03008

Stephanie is a room mom in his class and goes in to read with him and his reading buddy, Sean, twice a week.  (How great is that?)  Tuesday I got to go with her.

When we got there the kids were just finishing up recess, so I checked out the bulletin boards in the hallway. 

This is Ross’ heart.  My assumption is that the assignment had the students write as many things as they could think of that they love. 

**To be honest, I was a touch disappointed that I didn’t make it onto the heart.  😦  But the way that Ross jumped onto my lap in front of his class when we sat down to read completely showed me that I was in his real heart.  🙂

But anyway, click on the heart to make it a little bigger and easier to read.  He has all the major important things on there like…

  • Sophie (the girl he likes)
  • God
  • grandparents
  • Christians
  • cartoons
  • pizza
  • Guess Who
  • Coke A Cola 
  • football
  • Sean (his reading partner)
  • soccer
  • my family
  • network (I wonder what he’s thinking of on this one)
  • my books
  • rice
  • my church friends
  • my birthday
  • Superbowl
  • my six pack (he really does love his six pack:)

As an exercise, grab a big piece of construction paper and cut out a big heart.  Fill it with as many things as you can think of that you love.  See what you come up with!  Hey, if you love your six pack, throw it on there!

35,475 Days

On Saturday I will celebrate my 10,000th day, but today I celebrate a woman who lived her 35,475th day, and then passed into eternity. 

This was Katherine Burton 2 Christmases ago, holding one of her favorite things…chocolate.  I think she may have influenced my like for chocolate;)

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She was my last, living grandparent at the age of 97 years old.

There are some people in my life that I could always count on to pray for me.  Grandmom was probably the most consistent throughout my life.  She knew Jesus.  She loved Jesus.  She prayed to Jesus.  She told others about Jesus…What an example.

I’m glad that I got to see her at Christmas time to say, "Goodbye."  She kept talking about "Glory"-
going there, longing to be there with Jesus (and every now and then she would look up at us and ask if were finally in Glory, together:).  We got to pray with her as she just cried out to Jesus.  She really wanted to see Him.  Then she just started praying…for me!  Grandmom was there in pain and she started to pray for me.  Can I tell you the funny thing about it all though?  She prayed for my future husband.  🙂  After many conversations with her about the topic, I think she may have thought about it more than I did. 

She valued love and relationships, and right now-if it works this way-she’s with my grandpop, whom I never met, and whom she longed to be with once again.  I loved her so much.  She cared so deeply for me, and I will miss her.  The best thing is that I will see her again someday:)

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