Heilman 59th Family Reunion 8-09-09

The Heilman family have a very neat tradition. They have this hugh quilt that has a square for each family. Whenever you attend you put the date you were there in your square.

This year the cooks grilled prime rib steaks and sweet corn. It so delicious and so tender. Each family bring a dish to pass. And as always we had plenty of food.

Here we have Gary's brother Don. I call him THE CHEF! He always makes sure we have good meat!

Here we have Dave and Camille with some of the Heilman clan.

We started the day without rain. But in the afternoon we had two seperate rain events.

I will entitle the photo above as "Playing in the rain!" Kids love to play in the rain.

The Hielmans also always have something fun for the kids to play in. This year it was a cow....upside down.

When I was giving Sam a bottle, the sun was shining and Grandpa Heilman said that Sam need sunglasses. So Sam got to wear Grandpa's sunglasses. Here Sam is now two weeks old.

Coming home was a little scary for me! The clouds look so foreboding. Gary kept saying I never seen clouds like that. Not knowing what kind of clouds they were, I was wondering if we might run into a tornado.

While watching the news that evening people had sent photos into the different TV satations showing the same clouds that I had taken photos of. That evening I found out that they are called shelf clouds. NOW I KNOW!

Next year the Heilman will mark their 60th Reunion. Hope the weather is much better. And I really don't want to see those clouds next year. We did end up driving in a heavy downpour! But so thankful we arrived home safely.

August 8, 2009 Ron Turns 70!!!

To just stop and think that my mother was only twenty-one when she gave birth to her firstborn. And as you all know, she didn't stop with just having one.:) Can you believe that her firstborn, Ronald Wayne Rehfeldt turned 70 on August 8th? Well, I guess you can believe that knowing she will turn 92 in Septmeber. I must say that cake was delicious! We had another cake and some cupcakes, but I enjoyed every bite of this white cake. It was so moist. There was even enough for me to take some home.

Here we have Ron and Mom.

Again we were able all to gather at my brother's Bruce's home. Here Bruce and his wife Jola are getting some of the food ready.

Here we have four generations of Rehfeldt. My Mother, my brother David, his son Jason and Jason son Oliver. Oliver was born on July 3l, 2009. Here his is only 9 days old.

Here we have another four generations. My mother, me, Ann-Marie and Samuel.

Here we have Samuel meeting Oliver for the first time. The little girl is Autumn, Oliver's sister.

Here Jola and Louise are making a fruit salad.

Downstairs we found Caleb and Andrew playing pool.

Jacob was my little helper. I wanted to trim some of Bruce's overgrown bushes! Jac0b helped me put them into the container.

The older guys went outside and played the bean bag game. Here we have Rick and Gary.

As always we had fun and since it was a surprise party for Ron, I know that he enjoyed the day. Happy Birthday Brother Ron!

Charity & Colleen - Garage Sales August 7, 2009

As the song goes, "Come rain or come shine." Well, that how we feel about going to garage sales. It hadn't started to rain at all, but by the time everyone arrived at my house, it was starting to sprinkle. We ate after the garage sales and that worked out great because than it began to really rain hard.

Caleb was the only one smart among us. He had his own horse design umbrella.

I had Charity hold up a T-Shirt from Arizona because that was was my sister Jan and Laurie were seeing the Grand Canyon. Colleen held up the Canada just because I told her to! We didn't purchase any of them. Just had fun looking at them.

Here we have Tammy holding up another T-Shirt. We did find alot of T-Shirts.

I wished we had had more time, but everyone had places they had to be after lunch. But come to think of it, Louise and I did go to the Bent and Dent after we got back to my house. That's always fun. Than on Saturday, Chaity and Colleen had to return to Springfield, Tennessee. Wished they lived closer. But so glad we were able to see them even if only for a short time.

Grandson Andrew Visits Us

Oh what joy we have whenever we have our grandchildren. Usually when we have Andrew, we will also have his sister Brigitte. But due to circumstances I was not going to be around and I asked Camille if perhaps Andrew could just come and spend time with Grandpa. Camille talked with Brigitte and she said that was okay because she had spent time along with her other Grandmother so it was okay for him to spend time along with Grandpa Heilman. At first we were only going to have him for one day. But since the Heilman Reunion was going to be on Sunday, we got the blessing of having him stay from August 4, to August 9. The night before Gary asked Andrew what he wanted for breakfast. "I would like pancakes." was his reply. That evening we went to prayer meeting. Since Pastor Wright was out of town, we had a layman speak. He told how he had only been saved for four years.

One the way home with Andrew in the backseat, he made the comment that he was a Christian. We asked him how he knew that. "Why, I know that I am a sinner and Jesus died for my sins. I asked him to forgive me of my sin and asked him into my life." That's what getting saved is all about.

On August 6, Grandpa and Grandson were planning a big bike ride. I even had to laugh during our devotions. When it was time to pray, I asked Andrew if he had any prayer requests. "Pray that Grandpa has the strenght to stay with me on the bike trail." was his reply. We all laughed!! Above we have Gary getting the bike rack attached to his truck.

Here we have Andrew waiting and watching Grandpa get the rack set up.

Of course all the tires have to be checked out before setting out for a 30 mile bike hike.

When they returned home they were tired out. They had stopped in Popular Grove for lunch but they were ready to eat again after burning so many calories.

That evening I don't ever remember Andrew saying to us before,"Can I go to bed now?" Again we all had a good laugh about that statement.

The days went by fast and before you knew it, it was time to the Heilman Reunion. We enjoyed Andrew's visit and of course the highlight was him telling us he was a Christian. I always think of the verse that says something to this effect: "I have no greater joy than my children walk with the Lord."

Trip to Huntley Outlet Mall

On August 5, we needed to take my sister Linda who is here from France to my brother Bruce's home in Huntley, Illinois. She would be able to spend time with my brother Ron (He lives in Chicago.) who would also becoming to stay at Bruce's home. Since Ron and Linda are the oldest siblings of our family, they just wanted some time to visit. Thanks to my Bruce having such a big beautiful home, this arrangement was made possible.

It has been a long time since any of us have been at the Huntley Outlet Mall, that Louise thought it would be fun to stop there to shop and have lunch. They have many beautiful flower beddings around the mall. The one above was one of my favorites.

Here we have Tammy, Louise and Linda.

Me, Louise and LInda

Since my sister Linda has had hip surgery she would stop and rest while we just kept going.

And what shopping trip is ever complete without have lunch. They had a food court which made it easy for all of us to make our own choice of food we liked.

We all made great purchases. It was just a fun day!

Bouchers Meeting Samuel

In life one never knows what events are going to take place. As many of you know, the untimely death of my husband Robert changed my life forever. As a believer it was not really untimely because it was in God's time. But untimely for me in the sense that our one and only daughter was a Junior in College. Why could he not be there when she graduated and why could he not be there to walk her down the isle on her wedding day?

But God in His wonderful grace allowed a second marriage to Gary. He had one son who died from a car accident. That left him with Camille his only daughter. With both of our daughters married at the time of our dating, they were happy for both of us. When we got married we joined the ranks of being a blended family. Never did I not ever think I would marry for a second time and even think about becoming part of a blended family. BUT because both of our daughters are Christians, it made it so much easier for all involved.

After Samuel was born, the Bouchers family living in Dixon wanted to see their new nephew. So Dave, Camille's husband who is a fireman in Dixon got August 4th off, they wanted to come, see and hold Samuel. It was a wonderful afternoon. We all enjoyed having supper together and catching up with each others lives. They had brought a gift for Brett and Ann-Marie. The Willow Tree collection of mother and father with child.

Here we have all of us beautiful women surrounding little baby Samuel. I can tell he is really impressed with us all.

It was truly amazing how much young children love holding babies. Andrew and Brigitte loved every moment of it.

Even Uncle Dave got in the act. There is just something very special about a newborn. And even more so when it a new family member.

Brigitte loved holding the baby bottle for Samuel. With all this attention, I think will do just fine with this blended family. One can never get too much love.

We all thank the Lord for this wonderful new arrival in our family. I thank the Lord also that He made it possible for me to have a grandson. Flesh of Flesh! Yes, I wish at times that Ann-Marie's father was here to enjoy this moment, but like all things we leave our lives in the hands of a very lovely Heavenly Father. Thanking Him for Samuel's arrival and also a blended family.

Sequence Night

It's always fun to get together with my neices, Charity and Colleen from Springfield, Tennessee. They are usually real busy with their own family, but we do try to snatch them for a few hours while they are visiting. So Friday night we got together at our home.

We enjoy the pizza from Giuseppi's! Thanks to Colleen and Charity. As you can see, they all enjoying playing sequence. I was off somewhere else doing what I enjoy most at this time in my life..being a Grandmother and holding my grandson, Samuel.

I'm not sure why Brett is wearing sunglasses but he seems to be enjoying the game.

You know there is always one in the crowd who always is different and that would be my geek of a nephew, BJ. But one time we did get him to play sequence. But not this time.

Here we have Samuel asleep. Oblivious to all that is going on around him.

Bedtime for Briell....out like a light.

I'm so glad that even though the evening went by so fast, it was great to see my sister, Kathy's kids together. It's always a bitter sweet feeling. All in All we had a great time. Charity and Colleen got to hold Samuel. (I forgot to get my camera out..sorry.) We just enjoyed being with family.