Just a quick note so you know we are all still well and good.

Caleb has been hunting quite a bit with his co-hort Kunta and I put those "reports" on the blog, along with a few pics that were attached.

This last weekend our dear black lab ran into the highway and was killed. We miss him sorely but are doing okay with it now after a few days. Even in the yuckiness of losing a pet, we saw the kindness of our Great God. Duncan got back in the van miraculously on his own so I didn't have to pick him up, all four of us got to see him good-bye, he died quickly, the vets weren't easily available so we didn't waste time on the road, and a nearby friend took care of his body even with the frozen ground. It shouldn't be so amazing but I am still wow-ed by how much Jesus shows us consideration in so many small details.

So that's our bad news. Our tears have dried and our smiles have returned.

We did have a Chinese meal with new friends to celebrate that new year. Fairly astounding actually that we found someone to eat black fungus with our crazy family! Groundhog Day found us clearing off a wall and projecting a movie by the same title onto it for the evening entertainment. Lincoln's birthday took us over to our new friends' house with an Abraham Lincoln trivia fest over a contented meal.

Although we did love each other on Valentine's Day.....we did exchange presents amongst the families....oh, how shall I break this news?....I drove all day on Valentine's apart from my Love and left to spend a week taking care of my nephew primarily whilst my sister healed from tonsil surgery. I guess that's not so romantic. But the roses from him were! They went more miles than most!

St. Patrick's Day had to be delayed due to a broken hip in our church. So we ate corned beef brisket, cabbage, with celtic music that Saturday. Of course, we are Protestant, but guess what?! We ate it with Catholics! Wouldn't St. Patrick be so proud of us? So some wore green but some wore orange. All the stripes of the Irish flag were present. How fitting.

Today, of course, is April Fool's Day. Try not to be too disappointed. We went for a relatively mild occasion this year. The children made a fake wall with spilling green foam peanuts over my bathroom door. Nothing like a greeen blizzard to finish off a morning shower! The dear in-loves were invited to a Summer Picnic for noon at our house. Perhaps you would have to live here to appreciate the irony. We've been getting significant snow or blizzards about every two weeks. This week's closed a few interstates and gave us nearly a foot of snow; AGAIN. So we had our picnic with a warmed house, shorts, t-shirts, sandwiches, chips, even watermelon! Well, Sarah made the juice. Caleb "made" the chips. The chips were in those individual bags but he had opened them from the bottom and switched the contents before sealing them up again. We didn't know what we were getting. During the meal, Caleb accidentally bumped his glass and it tipped over, but didn't spill! Sarah had made it with Jell-O and stuck a straw in it before it gelled solid. Too funny! I think that's all we did. Maybe more hijincks next year.

Time to go watch The Addams Family movie. I do have such a dark sense of humor.

Blessings and celebrations,

Marcia for the Swann's

~~Mrs. Swann~~
http://mrsswann.blogspot.com/
"Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning,
Satan shudders and says,  "Oh no, she's awake!"