SEVENTY-SIX!

I had a birthday this month.  When I had a call from granddaughter Ashley, soon ten years old, this was our conversation:

 "How old are you, Grandma?" 

 "76. Does that sound old?"  

"No", she answered.  

"What do you think sounds old?"  

 "Eighty!"

So in four more years I will be "old". 

I am glad to be getting old.  My mother died two months after her 65th birthday and now I realize how young she really was.  She did get to see all twelve of her grandchildren.  Todd is the youngest and he was just seven when she died.  If I had only lived that long I would have missed my four youngest grandchildren. Mom didn't get to know any of her twenty-nine great grandchildren.  My three oldest grandchildren are turning seventeen this year so I'm thinking that I will be older than "old" if I am blessed to see grandchildren's children.

Kirk's invited us to meet them for birthday brunch the day of my birthday at the Beefeater in Estevan.   Shauna even brought in birthday cupcakes.  Lindsay and Jamie made special cards for my birthday and our anniversary on Valentines Day.  Then we went home and I enjoyed many phone calls and greetings on Facebook.  Thank you!

On the topic of birthdays, our neighbours Bob and Carolyn Cranna, had an exciting "birth day" in their family on February 1.  Their youngest daughter, Darlene and Eric Olson, became parents to triplet girls!  Ultrasounds revealed the three babies early on, and later confirmed that they were all girls.  They were due in March but all three babies were over five pounds each and were delivered by planned C section a month early.  Mom and babies are doing well and the girls went home from hospital on February 12!  Here's a picture (thanks Grandma Carolyn) of three Cranna sisters with four Olson sisters.  Three year old Zoey now has three playmates!

We had planned to celebrate our third (or 36 months!) anniversary with Marilyn and Ray Scheske but that will be take place at a later date.  Marilyn's sister, Joyce (Anderson) Engen, passed away on February 4. She had been in a care home for about four years, the last while unable to talk or get out of bed.  She is now at peace in her heavenly home. She would have had her 80th birthday in October so she was my age when she had to move to William Albert House in Regina.  Marilyn's birthday is on Feb. 16 so now we are the same age again. 

 A memorial service was held at the care home on Feb 12 and the funeral service on Feb. 17 at White Valley Lutheran Church south-west of Shaunavon.  The church has been closed for several years but Joyce's son Les had access to several generators and the church was cosy and warm.  The service closed with former students from LCBI, Outlook singing a beautiful song of blessing.  My sympathy to family and friends of Joyce, especially her sisters Marilyn and Doreen.  They both live in Regina and would go together to have tea with Joyce once a week, whether she knew them or not.

I was so impressed with granddaugher Ashley's valentines that she gave to her classmates.  She used red note cards and wrote something nice about each one in these 28 cards.  I asked her to share some of the things she said to them and these are a few:

- You are the best baton player that I know.

- You give such great ideas to your friends.

- You are a very, very, very, very, very smart girl.

- You have a very nice smile and you make me smile too.

- You can make me laugh anytime, anywhere.

Dawson played hockey on Valentines Day, a provincial game against Shaunavon in Milestone.  We didn't get to that either as there was snow and rain in this area, back to winter road conditions.  Shaunavon won that game 7-2.  Milestone went by bus to Shaunavon for the second game last Sunday and won 5-2, the first game the Shaunavon midgets had lost this year!  But it went by total points so they came out ahead and move on to the next round. Laurel stayed home to take Eric to his hockey practice and Greg went along to Shaunavon.  He was so impressed with the rink there. Dawson enjoyed seeing Uncle Alan, Aunt Judy, Aunt Sandra and cousin Jason at the game.  They could cheer for both teams as Alan and Judy's grandson, Reese Erickson, plays for Shaunavon!

Last Saturday Kirk, Shauna, Carter, Lindsay and Jamie flew to Las Vegas from Minot, rented a car and drove to Disneyland!  Here they are with Minnie Mouse.  They will be back this Saturday.

Nancy and Trevor are enjoying a holiday in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.  Here's a scene from their sunset cruise with the moon shining down on them.

Clare, Jodi and Abbey are off to Sask Winter Games in North Battleford where Abbey and Team Haupstein will represent the south-east region in ladies curling.  Have a great time!  I will give you the results in my next blog.

We are enjoying the Olympic coverage on TV.  Canada's curling teams are struggling but other athletes have brought home many medals.  Just to take part in this huge event must be a thrill, and only three in each event go home with a medal!

I am off to quilting at Trinity this morning.  It's a working day but also a fun day as we have lots of time to visit as we tie, sew and put these quilts together.

We are nearing the end of February!  Spring is just around the corner.