Harry Potter begins...

Yes, this is the week for Harry Potter. Last evening Andrew said he wanted to see the movie with Denny and me. Hey, if my 19 year old wants to go to a movie with me, I'll drop everything and go! And if he puts his arm around me and talks to me as we walk out of the theater, he can ask me for just about anything! So we broke down and joined the throng at the theater. We left at the last minute, so there was no waiting in line. I didn't really want to go, for one thing because that book made me so mad at Harry. He was so whiney, and it went on and on. He was such a baby through that book, I wanted to slap him. So I didn't know if I wanted to put myself through that torture.

However, I was pleasantly surprised. The movie zoomed along. No belaboring the torture, or the long time at the house where the Order was staying, or about how he felt about Cho. We got enough of Doris Umbridge to make us wish for her demise, but then things moved on. We feel like these characters are our old friends. Poor Trelawney!

I had forgotten what went on in this book as far as details. What happened in which book? I had forgotten lots of stuff, so it probably didn't bother me that the movie skips through it so quickly. Helena Bonham-Carter is a very convincing Bella Lestrange. She just looks as crazy as she did as Ophelia in Hamlet. Sirius Black looks like such a nice guy. Too bad he ends there.

Now I'll skim through the book again, read book six, and sit by the mailbox on Saturday waiting for the last book to be delivered. The boys are going to the bookstore on Friday night to get in on the party. Will and his friends went to the midnight showing last Tueday night...and he still got up for work on Wednesday!

Some good ideas from this book/movie. Hermione is trying to console Harry who is feeling like he is alone in his battle against evil by saying that Voldemort WANTS him to feel like he is alone, because then he will be more easy to defeat. Reminded me of Elijah when he tells God that he is alone in his fight against Baal worship. Yet, God tells him, there are many more in the fight. So true that Satan wants us to feel isolated. That's why a good church community is so important. Harry's mind plays a very big role in this book/movie. That also reminds me that God wants us to control our minds, to be conformed to HIS way of thinking, not the thinking around us. Satan wants to make us think negative thoughts, loneliness, distrust, anger, resentment, self-pity. Just as V. does in the story. But when we set our minds on what is good, lovely, beautiful, that negative spirit is broken. We see that in one of the last scenes when Harry is struggling against V. When Harry started to think about the good things that he had in his life, the good friends, the good, happy experiences, the love of friends and family, V. had no more control over him. "SET your minds on things above,"the Bible says. That is one area where God must be my strength.

So I think Harry will win over V. in the last book, because of that love thing. But we'll just have to wait and see......

Space Shuttle Atlantis at Offutt

Isn't this so cool?! I was just going to check the news and the Omaha.com website said that the shuttle had just landed, so Andrew and I jumped in the car and drove over to the base. It was a festive atmostphere over there. Sort of like everyone running up to the corner of town in Castletown to see the Queen and her entourage come through the village. It is amazing to see this in real life, too. The 747 is so huge and the shuttle just sits up there attached at those two places. It's incredible. We took some from the side from the observation deck and then a guy took this one for me from the top of his pick-up to get a shot over the fence. Not everyday we see sights like this. I'm glad I didn't miss it!

Britain's Got Talent and Paul Potts

OK, OK, I'm modifying this blog. Forget all the links I made below. I've been looking at other sites and found his official website that someone typed in as a comment on YouTube. It's paulpottsofficial.com And I'm putting up the link to that site here. There are lots of videos of far better quality than the YouTube ones since they are the official ones, and there's a video of him on the Today show on the 21st of June. Anyway, Den and I have watched him sing several times and we can't stop being choked up.

I just read a short "Quick Take" in WORLD magazine about this Welsh cell phone salesman who won the British take of American Idol. The article said that his performance was on YouTube. What made it even more intriguing was that, the article states, he came out saying he was going to sing opera, his suit didn't fit properly, he had a bad haircut and isn't a particularly handsome man. So I had to go to YouTube and watch it. For one thing, he sings "Nessun Dorma" which I can never listen to dry-eyed. Here's the link to the performance, this part isn't very good quality. And here's the link to the actual awarding of the prize and another performance. This one is way better quality. Now let's hope these links work. If they don't, you can find it yourself on YouTube. It is worth watching!

I'm modifying this post with another link. This time he sings "Time to Say Goodbye" and it says it was the semi-final round, so I guess he sang this one and that got him into the final, which is link #1 above. Anyway, I must be a pushover for great tenors. This guy is so unassuming, you have to watch it. The last link also includes him talking and giving some background about himself.

Better picture..figured it out.

This is the better picture. This time we're not wearing reunion t-shirts so it makes for a very colorful photo. Thanks to help from my cousin, who took this photo, I figured out how to view his pictures as well as download them. I'll have to see if he minds if I put some of his on my flickr.

I've had a great day today. Finally got some time outside in the sunshine! Pool felt great.

Johson reunion happens

This is an unofficial informal photo while we tried to get everyone to get in place and stand still. There are many more photos on my flickr. Also, I'll try to add the ones from our reunion website as soon as I figure out how to upload them to my kodak pictures or my computer. Or is it download from the website. Either way, I have to figure out how to get them.

Where do I begin...We had an absolutely wonderful time! The weather was warm both day and night, the mosquitoes weren't too bad. Some got wood ticks, but none that hurt anyone. The lake had some leeches, but no one was bothered about that either! This family is rough and ready. Very easy to be with and most didn't get too excited about the various and sundry inconveniences afore mentioned. The children ran hither and yon...and there were a lot of them. We had a little game or activity to try to figure out whose child was whose. There were 48 third generation Johnson family children on Saturday night, four more showed up on Sunday. By the way, there are 85 total...for now. So I put the name tag with only a number on the child's back. We numbered our paper 1-48 and then tried to figure out who their daddy or mommy was. Some, like the older kids, were easy, but some of those little cousins whose parents are siblings of the other parents (brother from one family married sister from the other family on each side) were very tricky! All those blondes and all those blue eyes. Joel walked in and since he hadn't been around for 18 years, some were trying to figure out if he got into the wrong camp...!! Was really funny to hear that Uncle Paul who officiated their wedding, introduced himself and asked Joel's name!! Yes, we've aged a bit in 30 years.
We hiked along the St. Croix River on Friday morning. Friday afternoon we went to the cemetery where Aunt Grace did a marvelous job introducing us to relatives and neighbors who helped raise them. It takes a village, you know. Then we went to the homestead that will always be "Gramma's house" and visited and ate ice cream and cookies. This was less than 24 hours of reunion, so far, and one of my cousins quipped, "Sugar in the morning, sugar in the evening, sugar and suppertime...." Friday evening the family introductions began with singing time, after running off any sugar energy in a wild game of "Strip the Turkey "which is "Sharks and Minnows" with flag football belts. Participants' ages ranged from 70+ to 3! Then we sat out around the bonfire until late and listened or told stories. We have some great story tellers in this family.
Saturday morning was the canoe trip, which was a highlight for me. I didn't take any photos since I was afraid I'd tip my canoe over and lose my camera. We had 9 canoes and spent four hours on the St. Croix River. At this point it is a slow, meandering river. There was one spot with rapids, if you can call them that. Much of it was shallow and lovely sand. I got out and walked in it for a little way. We ate lunch on a sandy beach. It started out partly cloudy, but cleared after lunch. The lily white people got sunburned. Saturday evening was talent show, introductions continued and skits. The family is so large that it takes too long to introduce everyone in one evening! More bonfire. More stories...
Sunday we had our church service after gathering everyone for this family photo. Just as we finished the group photo, another cousin drove up with her husband and children. So they are not in the big group, but did get in their family group. Uncle Paul preached, The three Calhoun girls who were left (Jenny had to leave after the photo) sang The King of Love. (We really need to work on another easy one!!) Melinda sang; we sang congregational songs. Dinner was fabulous! Ham, baked potato, mixed vegetables, salad and two kinds of cake. The whole weekend there was abundant coffee, although not strong enough for some folks.
Sunday afternoon some of us relaxed in big tire inner tubes on the lake. One last bonfire, with a little singing this time.
We are so grateful for God's faithfulness to our family. Covenant blessings. One of my cousins was talking about the encouragement this get together is in thinking about raising our own children. Our grandparents weren't sinless. There were some major problems in the relationship. But our grandmother prayed for her children and grandchildren. Aunt Grace spoke one evening about the importance of prayer and praying for each other. We take great encouragement in the fact that GOD is faithful. I follow Him; I won't be or haven'd been a perfect parent, but God is faithful to HIS covenant. The promise to be a God to us and to our children. And we saw in this reunion that faithfulness. May the next generation rise up and bless the Lord with us! Now I feel like it need to say, "Amen, you betcha!"

The reunion begins

We have a fantastic extended family. My mom has six brothers and sisters as I do, and five of them had fairly large families. So when we have family reunions, there are a lot of people! All of us grew up in Christian homes and all of my cousins are walking with the Lord and doing His work. It is such a blessing to get together with them. The blessing of the covenant in our family convinces us that God really does work in covenant with His people. And He is so faithful!

So Monday evening we had a mini cousin reunion when my cousin Nathan and his family stopped by on their way up to Minnesota. Another cousin, Christie who lives in Papillion came over with her family. It was one of Nebraska's perfect June evenings. The kids forgot their swimming suits, but it didn't stop anyone from getting wet! When little 2 yo Magnus decided to flip into the pool instead of kicking water, his dad got a quick swim, too!

But more tastes of heaven!

Yeah, after that last blog title, I decided you all needed something a little more cheerful when you visit! June in the Midwest is usually a lovely month. Emerald green cornfields, starry evenings, brilliant sunsets, perfect temperatures and lots of golden sun. Yes, we still have days of gales, but the in between days are brilliant! We had wind this week a couple of days. When the forcast calls for a "windy" day, it means around 40 mph. We had gusts over 60mph! Branches blew out of trees all over. We lost one out of this ancient willow tree behind the house. It was so windy, at times one could hardly stand up! Needless to say, it wasn't one of my enjoy-a-book-by-the-pool days. The photo is another in the year watching the corn grow! We do love living at the edge of fields like this. It is so peaceful, albeit incredibly windy. Evenings are just perfect; and I feel they are all just a taste of heaven. Even my Florida raised husband loves living in the Midwest! Especially when he can spend a Sunday afternoon floating around the pool.
I'm enjoying the hours working at the garden center. It's only for five hours a day, keeps me out of trouble, gives me a little extra money, and I can take care of and talk about plants. It's fun, and it's nice being with Will, too.
Looking forward to the Johnson family reunion! We got the schedule this week and it looks like it's going to be a blast!