Friday, October 31, 2008

One of the Last Things Chris Wrote about Himself

About me:
I am a Twenty-one year old lobsterman from Matinicus Island Me.It is a little Island about twenty or so miles off the coast of maine. I am an easy going down to earth guy. I like to work just as much as I like to play. I think that the ocean is the most beautiful thing in the world. There is nothing like waking up at the crack of dawn, and going out, and getting on the boat just in time to see the sun rise over the water. then working my ass off all day so that I can be rewarded with the awe of the sun setting over the mountains. I have traveled all over this country and am yet to find an equal to the way of life and the beauty of this place. I believe that you should always live your life to the fullest, be as spontanious as you can, love the ones that love you, never get cought up in petty grudges, and don't regret the choices that you've made, because everything happens for a reason and life is too short to let anything pass you by. If there is an opportunity in front of you grab a hold of it and make it yours. Becauuse an expierience missed is an expierience lost never to be had again. You never know what life will have in store for you next. In the blink of an eye your whole world could change sometimes in a good and happy way, and sometimes in a very bad and very sad way. Well I guess that's me in a nut shell
Here is my lovely mother with one of the first songs that she has learned on the guitar in a long time I think it is great what do you guys think

Joe Cook, the Soldier, has a message for Obama

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Call to Action

I am asking for those who feel led to please show God's love to Zac & Steph by mailing them a note or card. I feel strongly they need to be held up in prayer and shown love by the body of Christ. They are two very hurting people with questions that cannot be answered by any man. The only thing to do now is love them.

Please mail cards to:

Zac & Stephanie Aiken
31 Andrews Lane
Warren, ME 04864

You Are My All in All


Please pray for God's love and comfort to surround my brother Zac, my sister in-law Stephanie, her family and my family. It seems as though we have suffered another great loss. Zac lost his only brother very young and now Stephanie seems to have lost her only brother and sibling so soon after. Their little girl Teagan lost her only two uncles before her third birthday (I am the only sibling left) Why? Only God knows and we continue to trust His plan. Just pray that I will have the words and God will lead me in ways to help this broken hearted young family that I love with all my heart.

You Are My All in All
Written by Dennis Jernigan

You are my strength when I am weak
You are the treasure that I seek
You are my all in all
Seeking You as a precious jewel
Lord, to give up I'd be a fool
You are my all in all

Taking my sin, my cross, my shame
Rising up again I bless Your name
You are my all in all
When I fall down You pick me up
When I am dry You fill my cup
You are my all in all

Jesus, Lamb of God
Worthy is Your name
Jesus, Lamb of God
Worthy is Your name

You are my strength when I am weak
You are the treasure that I seek
You are my all in all
Seeking You as a precious jewel
Lord, to give up I'd be a fool
You are my all in all

Taking my sin, my cross, my shame
Rising up again I bless Your name
You are my all in all
When I fall down You pick me up
When I get dry You fill my cup
You are my all in all

Jesus, Lamb of God
Worthy is Your name
Jesus, Lamb of God
Worthy is Your name

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Comfort

Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Luke 1:37 For with God nothing shall be impossible

Job 1:21b The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the LORD.

Search for Chris

Search continues for missing Matinicus lobsterman

By Leanne M. Robicheau
The Courier-Gazette Editor
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BOSTON, MASS. (Oct 27): The search for a missing Matinicus lobsterman continued Tuesday as U.S. Coast Guard ships, boats and a helicopter scoured the waters around Zephyr Ledges where the fisherman was last seen.

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Chris Whitaker, 24, left Matinicus Island around 8 a.m. Monday in a 21-foot open-hull boat, according to Chief Warrant Officer Curtis Barthel, commanding officer of Station Rockland, on Tuesday morning. He was last seen about noon on Monday. He was alone in the boat, Barthel said.

On Monday, the seas around Matinicus were estimated to be running at two to three feet and the winds were 15 knots, Barthel said Tuesday.

By 9 a.m. Tuesday, neither the lobsterman nor his boat had been found, Barthel said. It is unknown if Whitaker was wearing survival gear or a life jacket, Barthel said.

Numerous lobstermen began the search for Whitaker about 45 minutes before calling the Coast Guard at 3:30 p.m. Monday, Barthel said. Those lobstermen were still searching on Tuesday, he said, noting there were "too many [lobsterboats] to count."

One local lobsterman found a boot, a lunch box and rain gear near West Black Ledge and notified the Coast Guard, according to a press release from the Coast Guard First District Office. Whitaker's mother confirmed the items were his.

A 47-foot motor lifeboat from Station Rockland, a search plane from Brunswick Naval Air Station and a fleet of Matinicus fishing boats searched the harbor between Matinicus Island and Seal Island on Monday.

The 110-foot Coast Guard cutter Jefferson Island out of Portland and the 87-foot cutter Moray out of Jonesport searched throughout the night.

The Maine Marine Patrol boat Guardian also joined the search, as well as 10 Maine State Police divers, Barthel said.

"We are going to search the area into the night with our surface assets, and we have a helicopter flight out of Air Station Cape Cod scheduled for first light tomorrow," said John Tomaszewski, the search and rescue controller at the Coast Guard First District, on Monday.

The helicopter arrived on the scene Tuesday around 8:30 a.m., but the fog hampered a search. With only a 60-foot ceiling, the helicopter went to Brunswick Naval Air Station to wait for the weather to clear, said Barthel.

Lobsterboats were dropping off people on area islands to conduct shoreline searches, according to Barthel.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Very Urgent Prayer Request

My sister in-law Stephanie's brother's lobster boat was found tonight without him in it. Chris' boat was found on the rocks on an island 23 miles off the coast near where he lives. Please pray this young man is found alive. We are praying that he knew his boat was sinking and was able to make it to the shore. It's too foggy to search tonight. Stephanie just lost her father and my brother Vinny. She is very close to her brother because of what they went through growing up. Chris is also very close to my family. Please pray for a miracle and that God's strength and love supernaturally comformts Stephanie, her family and my family no matter what happens. Thank you God that YOU are faithful and NOTHING is impossible with You in Luke 1:37. Be with Chris tonight. Be with Stephanie and Zac. Let them see Your hand in this situation.

My Meditations ~ 3 1/2 Months



I've been meditating on so many things this past week. I really want to write them down but haven't had the right time just yet.

3 1/2 Months -
One thing I was thinking about is it's been 3 1/2 months since Vinny went home to be with the Lord and how much my life has contracted and expanded during that time. My world got very small after it happened. I barely wanted to leave my house, I didn't want to do a lot of things I normally do. There were very few people I would spend lengths of time with and I am a very social person. I didn't like talking on the phone except to my cousin Rye basically. The night I found out about Vinny, I had just got out of my group power class and was in the middle of making myself some salmon. Needless to say, I haven't been back to the gym since that night. Partly because I haven't been up to it and partly because of the intense memory. I never finished cooking the salmon that night and I have had no desire to eat it since then. The week before he died, I was with him in Maryland looking at houses. It was a secret that only a few people knew about. He was one of them. He wanted so badly for me to move back there so I could be close to him and I wanted the same thing. For months, the idea of returning to Maryland for even a weekend visit has been too much to think about. We had such good times there together when both of us were living there. I didn't think I could ever, ever go back. Vinny used to call me quite frequently and ask when I was going to have children. He would get so mad that I hadn't yet. He wanted to have children himself so badly. You can imagine the deep pain I felt knowing he wouldn't be able to be a part of my child's life here on earth. It was so difficult I couldn't even tell people about the pregnancy. Those are ways that my life contracted during these intense days of grief. God is faithful. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away - that is a whole other post. My life has expanded because I have learned the Lord's faithfulness in the most difficult time of my life. I have learned how richly the Lord blessed my life through my relationship with my brother. I have learned the time is short and that I want to live my life for God because of what the Lord has done for me and to honor one of my brother's deepest desires. My world is also expanding because, although the loss will never go away on this earth, we learn to operate in a new way in our lives with the loss there. I have started to want to be around more people. By faith, I am going back to the gym tonight. I am excited about my pregnancy. I even want to go to Maryland very soon. This is just a testimony to the faithfulness of God. Thank you Jesus.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Happy Anniversary


Happy Anniversary to us! October 26, 2002 - six years.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Baby Umstead 20 Weeks



Baby Umstead is 20 weeks/ 5 months.

Mom's stomach is growing bigger by the day.

Grammie Sue bought baby a beautiful white crib a couple of weeks ago. Cristina and boyfriend bought baby first outfit before they left to return to Romania. Cousin Aunt Rye and Cousin Uncle Tim bought baby first international gift - a little lamb from Ireland. Cousin Aunt Rye also picked up a car seat for mom that mom still needs to pay Cousin Aunt for. It caused her lots of problems because the neighbors asked her when she was having her baby. Cousin Hana bought baby a stuffed frog against mom's will.

Night with Hana

Hana and I bundled up to go on our freaky night walk to the harbor

Hana took a picture of my stomach - 5 months

Hana making my Ruby Red Boots for me



H

Our fireplace s'more picnic

Hana the living Marshmallow

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Molly's Dream Pad

When Molly was 20 or 21 she rented a top floor apartment from one of my Aunt Lynne's apartment buildings. She was the epitome of cool. She let my cousins Josh and Joe draw murals all over her livingroom walls. We had great times there. We played truth or dare and we learned how to make some really good prank phone calls. Her apartment was in Rockland just down the street from Dunkin Donuts. It was probably a dive but when you're ten, it's amazing. Joe, Josh, Vinny, Zac and I would all spend the night. I'm sure Molly made us really good food or we would order it. She would have us do crazy things like sell Avon to the neighbors at 9 pm at night. One night we all made prank calls. Molly called this woman and said she would give her a million dollars if she could tell her what color her green car was and the woman couldn't. All of us fell on the floor laughing. Then Molly had me call this man she knew. All of us kids thought he was a devil worshiper so we were scared of him. I called him and asked him to meet me at Dunkin Donuts (we weren't really going to do this). I said I was some random woman but he kept asking me if I were Molly so I got scared and hung up. My cousin Josh called back and pretended to be the same person. The night went on like this with different phone calls until the police finally called. We were petrified. Molly claimed she was in bed and had NO idea this was going on and she wouldn't definitely deal with these naughty children. Even to this day she claims she was in bed when the police called but Vinny and I know better.

One day when Vinny was 8, I was 7 and Zac was 3, Molly said she was taking us to the beach. Totally fun. Well... we stopped by her friend's house. Her friend's house was very, very small and to say it was messy was an understatement (she lived with her parents and many siblings). We all went inside anticipating we would be leaving for the beach soon. The whole place was the size of one large room and we were all there together. We asked her when we were leaving for the beach. Molly casually said we have to clean her friend's house before we left. Vinny loudly said," OH MY GOD! THIS PLACE IS HOLE! WE ARE NEVER GOING TO THE BEACH; WE ARE GOING TO BE HERE FOR DAYS!" You can imagine Molly's embarrassment in front of her friend's parents. Vinny was famous for saying things like this.

Our Knight in a Shining Willy's Jeep

I'll set the scene for you. Vinny is about 6, I'm 5 and Zac is a baby. We had many babysitters or daycare providers over the course of our childhood. I'm going to tell you about one. Mrs. W. lived in a large house on a dead end road in a rural area. She and her husband were older than my grandparents but my grandparents were only in their mid forties at the time. They had many children. Most were grown with their own children and older than my mother. They had younger children as well. Some were foster and some were natural born. I don't really remember the mix of kids except their son W. W. was a raging brat. He was one day younger or one year younger than I was. I know our birthdays were very close. Vinny, Vinny's two friends that got babysat there too, and I loathed W. We loathed getting baby sat by Mrs. W. I am sure my mom's perspective was quite different. Her thought process probably was - I am working my butt off to put a roof over your head and food on the table with almost no help. Mrs. W. is a known member of the community, not a child abuser and not harboring child molesters. Deal with it. Well, we dealt with it but hated it the entire time. We hated little W. and it was the most boring place on earth. Either little W. was a spoiled brat or his parents didn't pay attention to what he was doing. He rarely got in trouble. One day it happened. Everyday at 5 pm we all had to sit down and watch Mr. W. watch People's court. That was so much fun :). Little W. mouthed off and this time Mr. W. slapped him across the face. You can imagine the silent party that was going on in the room. The silent cheers of victory. The justice that was finally served. It was truly the best moment we ever had at Mrs. W.'s. Vinny and I didn't get in trouble but his friends often did. The punishment was clothes pins on your tongue. I think we tested out what it would feel like and decided that the beating of little W. wasn't worth it. My mom always picked us up at the W.'s. The only other person that ever arrived unannounced was my aunt Stacey. She was in her late teen years at the time and drove a mountain dew green antique Willy's Jeep. Because the W.'s lived on a dead end street, it was very easy to monitor the traffic coming in and out. Let me just tell you it was a daily prayer, longing, begging of God that we would see the green jeep drive up over that hill to rescue us early from a long, boring day at the W.'s and from a raging little brat. Stacey did come some and when she did she was our knight in shining armor, she was our hero.

Stacey did a lot of other fun stuff with us too.

My grandparents had an inground pool in their back yard from the time I was 4, but they also lived next to a mill pond. The mill pond stretches from the damn on Lermond pond to the flour mill damn, maybe about 1/4 to 1/2 mile. The longest and grossest stretch is from the bridge next to the lermond pond damn and the bridge next to the flour mill. Everyone in the area swam right next to the damn by the flour mill but nobody really ever swam from one bridge to the next. Why not? Well, maybe the thick weeds or large amounts of blood suckers you see in that area. Stacey thought it would be fun to float on inner tubes from the Lermond pond bridge to the mill bridge. Vinny and I were probably 5 & 6. We were very good swimmers by this point because my mom took us to swim almost everyday to my grandparents' pool and the mill pond. The trouble with Stacey's plan was there was only one innertube. There wasn't any way she was touching the leech infested waters. So this is how the lovely floating plan ended up. Stacey leisurely sprawled across the innertube being very careful not to let any part of her body touch the water, while Vinny and Rachael fully submerged themselves in the muddy banks, in the weeds, in the blood suckers' territory. Stacey proceeded to scream if any drop of water touched her sunbathing skin while Vinny and Rachael swam and pushed her from one bridge to the the next.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

"The Aunts"


Aunt 1 AKA: The Aunt, Paula of the Morning, Paula of the Evening, Auntie (it's actually a joke name), Estas U- knee, Stace, Stacey

Aunt 2 AKA: Mallory, The Aunt, Paco, Auntie, Moll, Moll Bawl, Molly, Grampa Jr, the one working her - - - off

I have many great aunts but two who have had played a very special role in my life. Today I've been thinking a lot about them and the memories we have together. I really wanted to write this really long blog but now I am tired, so it'll have to be for a different day.

CamRock Network

My friend Heather and I started a business women's networking group a little over a year ago. Check it out at www.camrocknetwork.com . I am very proud that Heather's vision came to fruition and our work paid off. It's a big feat to have it hit its one year birthday. We have a lot of great members - a list that's always evolving. We meet the first and third Tuesday of the month. Today we worked on nailing down our current members - making sure the ones we have are active and also worked on marketing ideas. Holly Noonan of www.mindbodynutrition.net ran that part for us. It's very exciting to see how the group evolves.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

New Reads




As you can see, I stole the pictures from Amazondotcom. My two newest reads are The Obama Nation by Jerome R. Corsi, Ph.D. and Clarence Thomas' My Grandfather's Son

I just started The Obama Nation and so far it's very good and very informative. I got Clarence Thomas' book today and can't wait to get started. These are just great bonuses to my pregnancy and mothering books and info I am reading non- stop.

The kind of ironic thing about my book choices and Obama is that he insulted Clarence Thomas as a choice for the supreme court because of his lack of experience????

Tuna Casserol-A


I had a very traumatizing run in with a person about 24 - 36 hours ago. My grandmother felt so badly that I was so upset she made me some tuna casserole or tuna casserol-A as my mother calls it. It was such a nice treat in so many ways. First, I love tuna casserole, second, it brings back funny memories of Vinny. My mom used to say, "Guess what we're having for dinner tonight kids?" "What?" "Tuna Cassa-rol-a!" Vinny would get so ticked. He hated tuna casserole. He hated me for saying I liked it. He thought I lied about it just so he would have to eat it. Back then we hated a lot of things about each other (ages 11 & 12 and more). He also hated that I said I didn't like cold cereal when I was a kid. We grew out of hating each other and I don't think we have been even slightly angry at each other for years. One thing that still irritated Vinny about me was that I would never admit that I didn't truly like tuna casserole and I did like cold cereal.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Baby Umstead 19 Weeks



The history of Baby Umstead. Baby's parents didn't want to reveal the history until they found out if Baby is a boy or girl. They went to the ultrasound at 3:30 PM on Wednesday, October 15, 2008 at Miles Hospital. Mom had to go the bathroom really badly. She was told to drink 32 ounces of water - which she did in Rockport - so by the time she made it to Damriscotta, saying she had to go really bad is an understatement. Baby's parents were very excited to see that Baby is relatively healthy - has all of his/her limbs but were disappointed Baby didn't want to cooperate. After the ultrasound, mom had more blood work and then mom & dad went to their first Centering Pregnancy appointment. Dad was kind of concerned when he got there and he was the only guy. God was merciful to Mom and another man showed up. The appointment was from 5 - 7 and was very informative - although mom doesn't know if dad will go again.

Week Mom chose Miles - September 2, 2008

Mom's first Dr's appointment - Septemeber 11, 2008 - Dad was there, too.

First time Mom and Dad heard Baby's heartbeat - September 11, 2008

Mom's second appointment - October 3, 2008

Due Date - March 13, 2009

Mom and Dad can't believe the pregnancy is half over. We hope Baby is more cooperative next time.

Palin Power & a Day's Ups and Downs


Line to get into the Palin rally - a lot of people had already gotten in

Grandfather getting excited about the entrance of Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin and Olympia Snowe arriving by plane to the event along with other people

Olympia Snowe introducing Sarah Palin

You might be able to see Sarah's head. She came down to greet the crowd and sign autographs

I must admit that I wimped out and missed the last debate. I was so tired and I knew I had to get up really early the next morning. My grandfather picked my up at quarter of 7 to head to Bangor. We made good time but sat in traffic for a LONG time in the last two miles to the event. We got a very good parking spot but it was still a mile away. My grandfather has had two hip replacements so he borrowed a wheelchair and I pushed him to the never ending line of people to get in. I think that line was also over a mile. We waited, walked, waited, pushed and waited some more. I thought we weren't going to make it in but we found a way last minute. To say the place was packed was an understatement. Wall to wall people. We got to see Sarah's plane pull up and her walk in. Lee Greenwood sang "God Bless the USA". That made me bawl because I know how much Vinny loved that song and would have loved to be there. The event was fantastic and we had a blast. Grampa bought me lunch on the way home.

I got a phone call when I got home that someone from Southern Maine wants to see our house on Saturday. Yes!

By the time I made it to work to face mounds of laundry, I had used up all my energy. But I managed to push on. Then the day went down hill - a story left untold but a reminder that we never know what the next moment will bring.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Dreams



Dreams can be comforting or disturbing. For some reason Vinny has always been the person who appears most in my dreams. It's probably because I worried about him most before God took him home. Now each night when I finally slip into sleep I am welcomed by time with Vinny. In all of my dreams that I have almost every night, I know (even in my dream) he is no longer alive. I even wonder how he can physically be with me and go places in his human body if he isn't alive. Last night in my dream we were in the church parking lot of the church we used to attend in Baltimore. I was coming out of the church and a woman came running up to me saying I see your brother sitting in your car, I thought he passed away. I just told her he did pass away and he is sitting in my car. In most of my dreams Vinny isn't feeling well and is very physically weak.

It's actually very comforting to spend time with him in my dreams and tell him how much I love him. I know he is in a better place, but until I get to that better place, it's great to see him face to face even if it's only a dream.

Happy Birthday to My Mother



May God bless her deeply on her first birthday without her first born and in the midst of the most difficult time in her life.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Me and God ~ Josh Turner

There ain't nothing that can't be done
By me and God
Ain't nobody come in between me and God
One day we'll live together
Where the angels trod
Me and God

Early in the morning talking it over
Me and God
Late at night talking it over
Me and God
You could say where like two peas in a pod
Me and God

He's my Father
He's my friend
The beginning
And the end
He rules the world
With a staff and rod
We're a team
Me and God

I am weak and he is strong
Me and God
He forgives me when I'm wrong
Me and God
He's the one I lean on
When life gets hard
Me and God

He's my Father
He's my friend
The beginning
And the end
He rules the world
With a staff and rod
We're a team
Me and God

He rules the world
With a staff and rod
We're a team
Me and God

We're a team
Me and God

Saturday, October 11, 2008

The Last Hoorah

This is the last big weekend of the year for the midcoast area, for tourism and for our business. It's been very busy so far and now I am wondering why I let the only employee we have who could work this weekend have the weekend off. Maybe self torture is something I subconsciously like. I am very thankful for all of the business, though.

I will begin my cleaning marathon in a few minutes as well. I found out last night we are doing a second showing on our house at 1 pm today. It's not the most convenient time but considering the current housing market crisis - beggars can't be choosers. So I will clean my butt off and then work my butt off - but I keep reminding myself that I will miss weeks like these when January hits.

Thursday afternoon it started raining laundry and didn't stop yesterday either. I was so tired by 3 pm I had to leave. We are talking hours of physical labor with the only break being rushing to the bathroom as fast as you can if you get a chance. I did treat myself last night by going out to eat at Suzuki's (my favorite restaurant in Rockland) with my aunt. We were celebrating the purchase of her new property - a new business venture for her. After we ate we drove out to Union to check it out. Very, very nice.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Three Months




It's been three months today since my precious older brother went home to be with the Lord. I thank God everyday for his life and the time I had with him. Love you Vinny! You are in a much better place - you know that more than I do!

Sunday, October 5, 2008

The Past and Present in Peasetown

We went to Peasetown after church and lunch today. Something this morning I didn't think I'd have the strength to do. The thought of spreading Vinny's ashes was very intense and brought the grief back full force. I was on the verge of tears before church and crying by the time church began. The service was excellent. David did an introduction about God's power in your life. Pastor Sheff preached a message on Enoch walking with God and then was not Gen 5. John 3:30? If He is to increase in my life - I must decrease. Imagine the power we would have - God's power - if we purposed to be in His Presence moment by moment. It was a very uplifting and convicting message at the same time. Just what I needed. It gave me the strength to be strong for my mother and brother Zac today and put my own feelings aside. We went out to lunch at a Union diner and I ate way too much. Then we headed up into the deep woods of Peasetown. It was sad but also very peaceful and very intriguing. It's amazing to think there was a thriving little village that is now a thick forest with the only remnants being old cellars. We spread or I should say my grandfather and Zac spread the ashes near the old cellar of my grandfather's great-grandfather's house and also in a beautiful brook. I want to take some rocks from that old foundation and build something in a house of mine someday. There is a meadow near by that the last time it was mowed was just before my grandfather left for the army. It used to be a much larger meadow but still beautiful today. We prayed and thanked God that Vinny is with Him. It's such a gift from God when we have full assurance about where somebody is. Zac and I rode with my grandparents and on our way back my grandfather said "I have a gun I gave Vinny but I'll give it to you Zac." He said he told Vinny he couldn't have it until he was settled. I said, "Well, he's really settled now." And Zac said, "Yah, he's much happier."

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Crisp Cool October Morning

The weather is so nice. I used to dread fall in Maine because it meant winter is coming. Running a largely seasonal business has changed everything... or maybe my tastes are changing too. The last couple of years I've been ready for fall and winter even if that means a Maine winter. Now ask me again the end of March and I'll be ready to move out of town. By this time of year in our business we are ready for things to start quieting down. It's unfortunate that so many mid coasters live here but don't get to enjoy the beautiful Maine summers (fortunate when we make money though). But ever so sweet when the rainy windy days of fall turn into blue skies and crisp air. It's wonderful.

Last night I went to a potluck for the Pen Bay Christian School parents at my aunt's house - no, I'm not a parent but know some of the people. It was a lot of fun. Today we are working through the mounds of laundry that have built up over the last few days which have been very busy. Dave is leaving early to help our church put a roof on a single woman's house. Hopefully I'll finish cleaning my house later- although there is so much more incentive to do a perfect job when a potential buyer is coming. That's something we are praying for along with the upcoming elections. We are really praying for our house to sell considering the changes we will encounter late winter. Sunday my mom, brother, grandparents and I are supposed to spread the rest of Vinny's ashes. Most were buried. My mom and grandfather want to spread them up in Peasetown - the area of Hope & Appleton, Maine where my family settled basically right after the Mayflower. That's where we raked blueberries for years and where Vinny went hunting. My grandfather sold the property a few years ago and Vinny always said he was going to buy Peasetown back because it meant so much to him. I think it's great to spread his ashes there - I'm just not sure I want to go and do it. We'll see.

I was supposed to go jogging yesterday but it started raining AGAIN. Today seems much more promising - I should be doing it right now but I'm still lying in bed enjoying the comfort before it's full speed ahead at the "mat" in another hour. Dave is already there working away.