American Idol

One of my favorites...Brooke White, is off the show tonight! :( I thought she was good and it seemed like she is nice person too. She cried when she got voted off...made me cry too! My other favorite, Jason Castro is still on..so that is good.

A quote in an article in the Forum today:

"If you want something, go for it."

It's for Amy! She's trying to make plans for her future. We've been talking about what she should do, etc. I think this quote applies today.

My weekend

I had the girls here on Friday afternoon and again on Saturday night overnight. We had alot of fun. Hannah LOVES to play games! She won all 3 games of Candyland. During one game she was behind and she said to me, "Oh Sierra's awake!" So I quickly ran to check on her and she was sound asleep, but when I came back to the game, guess who was ahead!! Sneaky girl.


The four of us.


And today, PROGRESS!

This is GOOD.

Fun

Oh my goodness, you have to try this! It is so fun!

Thanks Gloria for sharing it with me.

The automobile driving manual says the average driver's
reaction time is: .75 seconds....... or 1 car length for every 10 mph......
Test your average reaction time.

Be very careful this can be addicting. Click on the link below and good luck.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/sheep/reaction_version5.swf

Just thought I'd share the speech Torry gave at Grandpa's funeral. It was very good!


I would like to start out on behalf of our family by thanking each and everyone of you for
all your kind deeds, words and especially your prayers. If Grandpa was here, he would
raise his hand and shake his head - over all this fuss in his honor.

Even tho there are many words to describe the man we call "Gramps" I have chosen one
word: FAMILY

F: f is for foundation - He is the foundation that has kept this family together over
the years.

A: a is for always - He was always there to pick us up in our darkest - bleekest moments
in life & tell us "you did good" - "you did good"

M: m is for memory - which will live on in each and everyone of us into Eternal life.

I: i is for "I love you" - not often used by gramps or in the Reutter family - but when said
it came from the heart and was meaninful.

L: l is for loyalty - Gramps never turned his back on any of us for anything we ever did.

Last but not least is Y: y is for youth - his kids - his grandkids - great grandkids
great great grandkids - & his freinds & family
each and everyone of us is a spoke in his wheel.
We are all very important to him. There was no such
thing as Extended family - no stepchildren - no in-laws
no exes, in his eyes we are all his FAMILY.

"TIME TO FISH"

Our goodbye

We said our final goodbyes today. I want to share a couple pictures and a video (from youtube.com) of a song that was played at the funeral.

This photos shows the quilt that was made by my mom and it is photos of all of the family. It was hung in Grandma and Grandpa's home and they were so proud of it. Grandpa was wrapped in his family's love!


This photo is of our "Salute" to Gramps as he was taken out of the church. It's all of the great- grandchildren holding up their fishing rods.


This is at the Cemetery and balloons were released. It's funny how many of them were caught in the trees and popped sounding like Gramps shooting the birds. He would have said "you done good!"
This song The Old Man was played at the Family Service last night and we all felt it was PERFECT....so we asked the Pastor if we could have it for the Service today , which he did. It's just so fitting.


Destiny had interviewed Grandpa in November and we showed that video after lunch. It was a good ending to the day. Grandpa thanked his grandkids for being there for him and said goodbye to all. We are going to make copies and give to those who want.

He's Gone

Grandpa passed away yesterday afternoon. It's incredibly sad to lose someone who's been such a good and caring person in your life. I love how Grandpa cared so much for each one of us kids. We always knew he'd understand. He'd do anything for any one of us. We were always welcome at Grandpa and Grandma's house. In the Reutter family it seems that life has always been about Grandpa and Grandma. We'll miss him, everyone of us. But we do know he was ready, even tho he fought till the very end.
I love how God sent a Pastor to visit us at the very time that Grandpa died! To me that is God's way of telling us...."I'm here for you!"
We have much to be thankful for in all this.

God is good.

I'm claiming this verse today:

Jeremiah 29:11 says "For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future". (NIV)

I've always thought of this verse for my kids, but a couple weeks ago it hit me that this verse is for me too! I don't know His plans, but I trust Him.
I thank Him for that hope and for the future that is in His hands.


Please continue to pray for Grandpa...he's hanging in there. It's unbelievable that he is still here and yet so Grandpa! He's a fighter, always has been and I think that is one of the things that has kept this family so strong. What a blessing for our family to see that strength even in his dying. We are blessed!

Ouch!

This is my view at work yesterday. Yes, I was IN the chair...not my favorite place to be!!! Kelly is attempting to numb me up. It went ok. She did an awesome job, although it hurt...but I did get numb. I am sure that I am the worst patient we have.




On a more serious note: Please pray for Grandpa Reutter. He's not doing well at all and it would be a blessing for him to just be in peace. :(

Photo time!

Amy took photos of the girls on Sunday. This is what you get when you try to get a photo of 5 girls together and smiling all at the same time! :)

Maci

We (myself, Destiny, Joel and Jae) just got back a little bit ago from visiting Billie Jo and the new baby. I told Marsha I'd post pictures tonight so here they are:



Larry and Billie Jo are still not sure on Maci's middle name. It may be Rae instead of Olivia, we'll see.

Hannah loved Maci, (and even called her Maci and not Kalisha) but Sierra wasn't too sure. She seemed kinda mad at Billie Jo and really wouldn't go to her while we were there.

She's here!

Maci Olivia was born at 11:25 am and weighs 8lb. 5oz. Larry called me and first thing he said was "we could use some help here!" He was excited and that is awesome. I do hope to be able to help them out as much as possible.
I'm not sure what Hannah thinks of the name. I sure hope she isn't too disappointed. I have to share something she said last night. She was getting things ready to go to grandma's to stay while the baby was born and she was going to take one of the blankets that Billie Jo had gotten ready for the new baby. Billie Jo told her that was for the new baby and that she should go to her room and get one of her own blankets. Hannah sighed and said "this baby is gonna freak me out!". She's 3 1/2....where do these words come from? :) I know she will love her new sister because she loves Sierra, Jae and Destiny alot.
I'm planning to take Destiny and Jae to the hospital tomorrow so I will post pictures as soon as I have them.
Larry and Billie Jo did send a picture message on our cell phones, but I don't know how to get it on the computer. Maybe I'll ask Anthony.

It's Baby Day! :)

Little Kalisha (as Hannah has named her) will make her arrival today. Even though she was not planned to be in their lives...Larry, Billie Jo and the girls seem very excited to be blessed by her. Pray that all will go well and that she will be healthy and that Billie Jo will get through the surgery and heal quickly.
I'll post pictures as soon as I have some.