WEEKEND MEMORIES

One week has gone by since we gathered at Salem and at the Johnson farm to celebrate Howard's 75th birthday. It was great to have all our family and many dear friends together for those special days. A picture is worth a thousand words so I'll add lots of pictures to today's blog.

On Friday, August 6, Crosby ND was the place to be for sidewalk sales and other special events marking the 100th anniversary of Divide County.

Grandma had given each of the grandchildren $5 American to spend. Beanie babies were $1 each at one store so they came home with quite a collection! Crosby swimming pool was a hit in the afternoon. Our border closes at 4:00pm and they made it back by the deadline.

On Saturday Laurel, Shauna and Jodi were off to Williston for some "back to school" shopping. The guys took the older kids golfing and then to the pool in the afternoon after meeting with the Ledenes at Hot Stuff Pizza for lunch. Sandra and I stayed home with Jamie and Ashley. They got along so well and both had naps in the afternoon. (Alas, Sandra & I missed out on that!)

The Ledene's enjoyed the day in Crosby, had a tour of the museum and met many friendly, interesting people. They managed to get a bit of shopping in too!

Some people like to "paint the town red" but my sister, Sandra, painted two of our doors red on Saturday. She had painted two of their outside doors antique red, had some paint leftover so treated our doors to a new look for the birthday party.

Most people get their house ready for company BEFORE the company comes but at the Johnson household our company pitched in to move an old refrigerator up the stairs and out to the junk pile, along with a deepfreeze in the garage and a laundry tub in the washroom! Great improvement, with thanks to all the muscle men.

Sunday was the annual service at Salem Lutheran Church with an excellent turnout, despite the heat. Pastor Cicely was on holidays so Kirk led the service, Kris, Dawson, Carter and Abbey did the scripture readings, Todd led the children's corner and also gave a message that included a song he had composed for Howard's 75th birthday. He played guitar and sang "Southeast of Sixteen" interspersed with mouth organ music. There were quite a few tears shed during that one. The title refers to the land location of our farm - SE 16 1 12 West of the 2nd meridian. Clare, Howard, Todd, Laurel, Kristy and I sang a song from our Century Farm CD, "Precious Memories". We had family pictures taken on the steps of the church before the service.

Lunch was served at the Johnson farm for about 65 people. We enjoyed visiting over birthday cake, homemade ice cream and a cup of coffee. The younger generation played a few games of volleyball - the Johnson team was defeated by "the outlaws".

A campfire brought an end to this very special birthday celebration. We included Howard's sister Ardis' name on the cake too as she will have her 70th birthday on September 7. She is Clare's godmother and Clare and Jodi's daughter Abbey was also born on September 7.

Greg and Kirk's left with their campers on Sunday evening. We said goodbye to the Ledene's and Ardis, Kris, Samuel and Ava on Monday morning. Laurel and the kids stayed until Tuesday.

On Wednesday, August 11 we had two more celebrations for Howard's "real" birthday. (He even won the DQ cake that morning on Estevan radio!) Clare, Todd and our nephew, Jason Sanford, took Howard to the Red Rooster in Crosby for breakfast followed by a golf game. We invited 93 year old Aunt Viola Halvorson, cousin Hartley and Louise to join Todd, Kristy, Howard and me for supper at Houston Pizza. Murray Halvorson and his mother Irene joined us after their meal for more good visiting. Then we went to St. Joseph's Care Home to finish the evening off at Aunt Viola's. Todd played and sang his "Southeast of Sixteen" song for her. She was born on our farm in 1917 so she could identify with Todd's feelings for this special place in his heart and hers. After a stop at Tim Horton's drive through, we drove home amidst a thunderstorm with lots of lightning, thunder and rain showers. We were thankful there was no hail.

The next day we said our goodbyes to Todd and Kristy as they left to do some errands in Regina. They enjoyed the Rider game at Laurel and Greg's, especially since the Riders handily defeated the BC Lions. Laurel drove them to the airport on Friday morning and they arrived back in Kristiansund about 24 hours later. Friends had left a home cooked meal in their fridge, a most welcome treat for weary travellers. Although they are thousands of miles away, they are close in our thoughts and prayers. We can phone them for 3 cents a minute, thanks to our Sask Tel bundle and visit them online via Skype. Quite a contrast to the rare letters that family members exchanged when our ancestors left loved ones in Norway to come to this new land

And now we are back to two. Yes, it's quiet but there's a time for that too. We are left with even more precious memories of these special times together. We look forward to many more such times but we leave the future in God's hands.

Heartfelt thanks to our wonderful family for all your help in planning and preparing for this weekend, and helping with the clean-up when it was all over!

Special thanks to:

- our handyman, Carl Bjornson for pitching in to help with whatever needed doing. He turned our patio table with a broken glass top into a special green and white Rider table and helped our grandkids make a birthday banner for Grandpa.

- my sister Sandra for painting, weeding, cooking, making rhubarb punch and delivering "real" cream from the Hutterites, along with the roast beef for our Sunday dinner from Bakkens store in Frontier.

- the Ledene family for pulling their camper all the way from Brooks, AB, sharing the bridesmaid bouquets from Jolene's wedding (which we used to decorate Salem church), for the many cans of homemade cookies, to Jenny for the manicures and pedicures, to Kristy and Jenny for sprucing up Howard for his big day and to all of you for helping out with whatever needed doing. It was much appreciated.

-to Ardis, Kris, Samuel and Ava for making the long drive from Edmonton to be with us. The weekend wouldn't have been the same without you!

-to our nephew, Jason and Marion Sanford, Blaine and Katie for making a special effort to join us later in the week.

-to Vickie for providing a big jug of cold punch for our Sunday lunch and to Lorna for the fresh raspberries

-to Wes and Linda for picking up the fresh buns and birthday cake at Sobeys on Sunday morning.

- to Todd and Kristy for taking hundreds of pictures of our precious family and friends

- to each of you who came to celebrate with us, gave cards and gifts, served with willing hands and feet, phoned, emailed or added to our celebration with your thoughts and prayers. We are so blessed with loving, caring family and friends. "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow".

Somehow this picture taken at "the Coke Cafe" in Crosby ended up here at the end of today's blog. Coke is advertised as "the real thing" but we know different. It's LOVE that is the real thing and the smiling faces of the people in this picture are representative of all the love that surrounds us. To God be the glory.