I must confess, as I sit here being asphyxiated by my self-cleaning oven, that I struggle with the things I write on this blog. What exactly is my purpose in writing? I originally stated that I wanted a way to connect with my students, and if others perused my prose, so much the better. But, the two are not blending in my mind the way I had hoped, i.e. my family stuff is certainly of no interest to my students, and my school stuff is not of much import to my family. Hence, the difficulty in updating as I would like. What stuff is interesting to whom?

So, maybe, I just need to write what I want, when I want, and not have to explain it to either group, as my count of followers is not exceeding any limits as of this moment. And, you say, who cares? Me, too. Who cares? Maybe, all this is the noxious gases speaking, but I do have to have things make sense to me. Maybe, Rivertree Art is not the results as much as all that goes into it. The Giver speaks through the recipient. May it be so, Abba.

That being said, I love reading well written prose and only hope to aspire to such here. Isn't that the bottom line with blogs? Something interesting, well-said? To that end...I will keep writing, for myself, if nothing else! Maybe, someday, Aubrey will read it! :o)

Thankful...oh, yeah!

Blessings to all of the wonderful Thanksgiving season!

We are so blessed, I have absolutely no right to complain...but, sadly, I always find a way. Deliver me, Lord. The grace that my family lives and breathes, and walks in, is too wonderful to describe. And lest we take any of it for granted, thank you, God, thank you, Lord, thank you, Abba.

We have had a most wonderful holiday together, if not all in one place, one together, none the less. We called Chris after our feast (he is four hours earlier!) and caught his new "family" celebrating not only Thanksgiving, but Christmas for some of their fam not able to attend the 'real' C-day festivities! This family knows how to celebrate - doesn't matter what the date is - it's time to celebrate.

Our table groaned with turkey and ham, mashed potatoes AND hash brown casserole (just for you, son!), green beans, regular stuffing, and spinach/gruyere sourdough stuffing, gravy, cornbread, cranorange relish, constant comment iced tea, and, oh, yeah, homemade pumpkin and Pa-KAHN' pie with whipped cream! Enough already!! We were joined by hubby's music buddy, Jim P., the instrument repairman, Kiera and Scott, Kellan and Rob and Aubrey, and a good time was had by all.

Of course, after stuffing ourselves, we played games around the cleared table and found a new fav that mom (me) is actually good at! It's an interesting version of 'six degrees of separation' called TRIBOND, where you have to give the connection of three random items from the card which allows you to advance on the game board. Then when Rob's team (Jim, Kiera, and Rob) won, we moved on to Chickenfoot. For those who are the uninitiated, Chickenfoot is a version of Dominoes! AGAIN, Rob won and lest we lose to him yet a third time, we opted to skip SWAP! and go to bed! It, too, is a new and very fun family card game.

Our first holiday with Aubrey was a delight, but before too much of a good thing takes her out of her schedule, Mom and Dad are taking her home later today to sleep better in her own bed. What a precious granddaughter we have. Her smile pulls you right into the depths of those gorgeous brown eyes! Yet another of our treasures of blessing!

I am blessed to be employed at a place where our superintendant allows us the entire week of Thanksgiving and every year, I am reminded of what a blessing that is. Thank you, boss!

And to all of my five readers, May the God of peace who brought our Lord Jesus from the dead bless you abundantly above anything you could ask or think- today and always.

The Bear has officially left the den...

Well, I guess the need to journal has brought me back here...sorry for the delay to the four of you who follow my blog. ;o)

My precious son, Chris, left the Minguez "den" yesterday, to parts north - Alaska, to be more specific, and to Anchorage, exactly. Every time I'm asked "why?" my answer is the same - to follow the desire of his heart to be there...AND to be WITH the desire of his heart. Chris has always wanted to live in the "wilds" and Alaska seemed the best example of the Last Frontier
that would answer that desire. It didn't hurt that the girl of his dreams moved back there last August and has been beckoning him often, and yesterday his dream became a reality.

Our core family, Mike and I, and Kellan (and Aubrey, of course!) and Kiera, spent a family moment time together outside the baggage check aisle that would take him away from us to follow his dream. We will treasure those moments for months to come.

We are rational parents who fully expected the day would come that he would begin his own way in life, but you are never fully ready for it when it happens. His time in Iraq was equally as rending, but in God's mercy and grace he returned and life went on. While this is a very natural progression the distance makes the move more difficult. But, yet again, God will be merciful and full of grace in allowing the distance to only deepen our ties.

We look forward to the new life and opportunities that await him there and will certainly try and keep up better with the news here.

And the story goes on....