The Past Several Months ~ And Years

It's been at least five months since I blogged - where has the summer gone?  Work has been very hectic for me and at times for Gary too.  One of the last pictures I blogged was when the For Sale sign went up at the house.  Well, here's the newest picture at the house.

Yes - that is a sold sign!  God is very good and everything is in His timing for the house to sell.  The new owner takes possession 11/3.  It is bittersweet because this is my first house and after 30 years I'm selling it - but it's time - it's time for a new chapter in my life to go on.

I woke up last night thinking about the past four and a half years and all that has happened.  Good times and bad.  Up's and down's.  Sorrowful and joyful times.  And it's coming full circle.

I never thought I would have the word "widow" tagged on me but it was April 27, 2010.  My whole word shut down when I lost Mike.  But again, God was good - and very patient with me these past years.

 

God worked it out that I found Living Waters Fellowship and they welcomed me into their church family.  My small group is amazing - they have been by me through some high's and low's and been real prayer warriors for me when I needed it.

 

I was thankful I had Butler and Milly to keep me company after being on my own but December 2010, I had to put Milly down.  The first time I put one of our pets down by myself - my poor vet had a very hysterical woman on her hands that day.

 



 

Then July 16, 2011, God decided it was time for Mom to go to Heaven.  The picture below was on my parent's 60th anniversary.  That was tough losing Mom a little over a year after Mike.  But God was by me - even though I had my up's and down's with jobs during that time too.

Then God brought Cruz - aka the Goober - into my life.  She helped me get through yet again another hard time when I had to put my buddy for the past 11 years down.  Butler was a greyt dog and really there for me when I was by myself.  I was thankful to have Cruz there for me so I wasn't all alone after Butler was gone.  And I think I helped her learn to trust people and come out of her shell.



Then after quitting another job, depression came back in a big way and did a number on me for a few months the Fall of 2012.  During that time I decided it would be best to return Cruz to the rescue group where I adopted her.  After she was gone, I was totally alone for the first time in the house, I was not working and it was winter.  And thoughts of suicide started playing games in my mind.  Once again I am thankful for my church family - especially my small group who was there for me, the pastoral staff and several couples that took me under their wing to help get me back on the right track.

While things weren't always easy - the light did start to shine at the end of the tunnel January 2013, when I was rehired at Principal.  I leaned on God heavily many days to get me out the door and He was always faithful.  During that time I thought many times about getting another dog but didn't want to be tied down like one can be with a dog.  Then I thought about getting a cat and decided if I was going to get a cat, I'd get two. 

So one day as I was driving down the freeway God told me that was the day to go to the Animal Rescue League and find my cats - Hansel and Gretel.....which I prompty renamed Rowdy and Sadie.  They were great cats - fun to play with and they would always snuggle with me on the bed.

I was able to take those two fur balls down to Pella so Dad could meet them one Saturday and he really enjoyed them.  I always told myself if I got another female dog I would name her Sadie and if I got another male dog I would name him Rowdy.  Why Rowdy?  Because that was the name of the horse Dad had growing up that he sold to go to Bible college to become a minister.

 

Then August 30, 2013, (the Friday before Labor Day weekend) - a friend from work texted me to meet her and her guy at Denny's for some fun and dancing and I thought - why not - time to get out of the house and have some fun.  And who was there but Gary.  Neither one of us was looking for someone - I don't think either one of us wanted to get involved with anyone - but God knew better.  And again His timing is always right.  We were inseparable once we had our first date September 1, 2013, - seeing each other every day.

 

When Gary asked me to marry him, I didn't hesitate at all and on April 12, 2014, - I became Mrs. Gary Rowe.  To say it's been "interesting" at times is not an under statement.  It's not easy when you are "older" to get married again and used to another person being around all the time.  But no matter what - we can talk about anything and have always worked things out.

We put the sale of the house in God's hands, but there were times while it was on the market that we would doubt, question and sometimes get angry that it wasn't selling - but there was a reason.  Labor Day weekend I finally kicked it into gear and got serious about cleaning out the house.  The listing had expired and after cleaning, painting by my realtor, decluttering, etc., I relisted the house and the Wednesday after my birthday I was signing the purchase agreement for a cash sale.

It was tough giving Rowdy and Sadie up - but again it was all in God's timing with how Gary went out to the curb the Friday before Labor Day to put something out there for anyone to pick up and Charlie stopped by.  Long story short - Charlie and his wife were looking for two cats Rowdy and Sadie's age and they became their new parents.  I posted that whole miracle on finding the cats a home, the 1-800-GOT-JUNK truck going to be late, Rowdy and Sadie left the house for their new home and then 1-800-GOT-JUNK showed up within minutes after the cats left for me to not get all emotional about them being gone.

 

The above picture is the one year anniversary of us meeting - what a difference a year makes!  We celebrated the anniversary of our first date by going to the zoo again that Sunday.

 

Now I'm down to one last item to sell and everything will have been thrown away, sold, given away, donated, in the apartment or boxed up in my new garage.

 

I have one more house payment to make this month - and the interesting thing is my payments are due the 10th of the month.  October 10th was Mike's birthday - so I think it's fitting that on what would have been his birthday, I make the last payment on my house and close that chapter.

 

All I have to say to Gary is to keep holding on - we're in for a great ride!  And I promise to try to blog more often :)

The Week Up To The Wedding ~ Wedding Day and More

Well, the house officially was on the market as of last Monday.  It was a little surreal seeing a For Sale sign in my yard when I drove home from work on Monday.  There have been a few showings this past week - it's in God's hands to when it sells. 



It was another long week for both of us at work - especially for Gary working 10 hour days - but we got Friday off to spend the day together.  We were finally able to see my solar fountain in action!  

Check out how homey Gary has made his balcony.  I will definitely enjoy spending time on it until we find our place.

Our first selfie taken at Olive Garden Friday as we were running errands and spending the day together before our rehearsal at 6:00 p.m.

Wedding day!  Chalk board drawing by Michelle Adams for all to see when they entered The Well - the building our church owns.  The administrative offices are located in The Well and small groups can have meetings there - along with small weddings.  Like ours :)

I didn't let Gary see me before the wedding, so this is our first official picture as husband and wife.

Gary and our senior pastor waiting for the wedding to start.  Check out my cowboy!  As for the wedding saying, "Something old (a six pence from my cousin), something new (my wedding garter), something borrowed (a pair of Gary's earrings to wear), something blue (my engagement ring and necklace).  Look to Gary's left at the unity candle table - does something look "wrong"?  Hmmmm maybe the individual candles were not lit.  We had to take a short timeout for someone to find matches to light the individual candles so we could have a unity candle :)

Our small group leader and my "little brother" Rob Keller walking me down the stairs to make sure I don't do a "header" down the stairs.

Our counseling pastor Andy Bittle giving Gary and me our "charges" as biblical husband and wife.

Saying our vows.  Gary and I both got a little emotional during this.

 

Success, our unity candle got lit.

Our very private moment after lighting our unity candle.  Very special time for both of us.

And it's official - THE kiss.

Time to cut the cake and feed it to each other.  My only instruction from Gary was to "not get it in my moustache".

Me and my two guys.  So glad Dad was able to make the wedding.

Gary and his family.

Me and the other crazy McFall women.

If you want to see all the wedding pix - check out my Facebook page and our wedding album.

 

We were very blessed that the weather was awesome on our wedding day because today it was awful.  Gloomy and rain, rain, rain - and it has gotten colder.  We spent part of the day going to see the movie "Noah".  I'd heard bad reviews and the reviews were pretty spot on.  Gary and I felt like it was a cross between a Transformers movie (with the Watchers) and a Lord of the Rings tale.  Basically all that was true to the Bible was:  Noah, an ark and flood.  Wow.

 

We have tomorrow off to get our marriage license certified so I can go to Social Security to get my new Social Security card.  And we may get Gary switched over to my phone plan.  Gary is lucky to have an even shorter work week than me - he gets Good Friday off.

How Gary and I Met ~ and More

Well, this time next week I'll officially be Mrs. Gary Rowe - wow.  I wonder how long it will take me to get used to my new last name :)

Gary is still working 10 hour days plus six on Saturday so he's pretty tired at night but the next two weeks will be short weeks for him.  We both have next Friday off and Monday after the wedding - plus Gary gets Good Friday off.

I'm not sure if I've blogged about how Gary and I met and if I have - chalk this up to old age that I am repeating myself :)  It was the Friday before last Labor Day weekend and during my devotion/prayer time before work I told God that since I didn't have any plans for the long weekend - I was putting my weekend in His hands.  I was able to leave work at noon that Friday and was sitting in the park across the street texting someone to get something to work out for that evening and I was getting mad at that person.  I was mad at that person and that things weren't working out the way I wanted them to.  Finally, a little voice in my head said, "What did you say thing morning about me taking care of your weekend...did you really meant that?"  I'm like, "Yep God I really did mean that.  I'm sorry for getting irritated that things weren't going the way I wanted them to.  You are in control of my weekend."

It was within minutes that I got a text from Julie, one of my friends from work.  She texted me that if I didn't have any plans, would I want to go to Denny Arthur's to meet her guy and do some dancing.  Julie had texted me another time like a month before this to go to Denny's to meet Matt but I didn't go that time.  After reading her text I thought, why not - I'm gonna go out that night.

So sometime after 8:00 p.m. I waked into Denny's - walking right by this sweet looking motorcycle.  I get inside, Julie sees me and gets me over to the area where she was sitting with a lot of people.  Gary and I decided that he must have been in the restroom when I got there because he was not sitting with the group when I first arrived. 

After Gary got back to his seat, Julie was bound-and-determined to get a motorcycle ride from him.  So I thought, well, if she's getting a bike ride, I want a bike ride so I started telling this guy that I did not know, that I was going to get a bike ride from him after Julie.  Later I found out that Gary really didn't want to give either of us a bike ride - but since he's such a nice guy he did.  Off Julie and he go.  I saw them drive back into the parking lot and I scooted myself outside the building to be waiting for them when they finally parked.  Gary later told me 1.  He wasn't that thrilled to see me standing there because he didn't want to give another ride and B.  If I wouldn't have been standing out there waiting for him I would not have gotten a ride that night.  Good thing I'm a persistent little thing huh :)

After we had been back at Denny's for a while - Gary who was sitting at one table - leaned over to get my attention and asked if I wanted to dance.  Did I want to dance - of course I did!  We danced 2-3 slow songs and then back to our tables with the group.  Later on when another slow song came on I basically drug Gary out on the dance floor lol.  Then he tells me something like, "You know, Roni is my favorite girl's name."  I'm thinking to myself, what a load of hooey this guy is full of.  Really, my nickname just happens to be his favorite girl's name - wow.  But the more he went on to explain why he liked the name Roni I believed him.  Think Archie comics with Veronica aka Roni and Betty.

Julie, Matt (her guy), Gary and I all walked out the door at the same time and Gary leans over and gives me a kiss on the cheek.  Wow.  I looked at Julie and Matt (Gary was over by his motorcycle) and said that if Gary wanted my phone number they could give it to him.  Gary finally texted me later the next day.  After texting for a while, he called me and we planned our first date September 1st at the Blank Park Zoo. And as they say, "the rest is history".

Gary and I have often talked about the first night we met and how it definitely was a God thing that brought us together.  What if Julie hadn't gotten her job at Principal - Julie had only been working there a couple of months.  What if I Julie hadn't texted me that Friday night?  What if I hadn't gone to Denny's that Friday night?  What if Gary hadn't gone to Denny's that Friday night.  So many things had to perfectly fall into place for us to meet - God was definitely the planner for our meeting.

And now we're five days from getting married.  This past week I signed paperwork to put the house up for sale and today after church we finished getting things taken care of for the photographer to take pictures for the virtual tour tomorrow.  Friday I paid for the last things (cake, fruit and veggie trays) so everything has been paid for, for the wedding.  Gary downloaded all the songs we wanted for the wedding and reception to his MP3 player last night and then his MP3 player decided to crap out on him.  Off to Best Buy we head for him to buy a new MP3 player and the wedding songs are on the new player.

We brought my solar fountain from the house to Gary's apartment this afternoon and Gary wanted to paint the frame before we get it all set up.  Tomorrow night we'll put the fountain together.  Little-by-little Gary's place is becoming our place.

Wedding Shower ~ Pottery Found A Home ~ March Madness

It's getting closer - two weeks from yesterday is THE day - yowza :)

I spent part of the morning yesterday getting my hair professionally colored so it would look good for the wedding - and a facial - which included a hand, arm and head massage - yes!

Wednesday night our small group at church had a wedding shower for Gary and me and it was fun.  We had pizza and other good food - a great devotional time on what a Godly/Biblical marriage should look like - playing the "Almost Newlywed Game" - and cake.  Check out the pix below.

Our small group leader sharing a devotional about marriage - thanks Little Bro :)

Getting instructions from our game show hostess for the "Almost Newlywed Game" and the newest married couple (with child) ready to play.

Gary and me really thinking about our answers.

Our longest married couple in our small group.

Gary smiling that we got the question right, "What does your wife/fiancé have too much of".  Answer:  clothes.  The game went to a tie breaker between us and the newest married couple with Gary and me finally winning by the skin of our teeth.

While I'm not a big college basketball fan, if there is a school or two from Iowa in March Madness of course I have to watch.  The Hawkeyes bowed out really early but the Cyclones made it to the Elite Eight - way to go Fred Hoiberg and team!  And we watched Gary's Arizona Wildcats which I'm becoming a fan.  Unfortunately both the Cyclones and Wildcats did not make it to the Final Four.  But it was fun to see glimpses of Lute Olson (THE best Hawkeye basketball coach ever and former Arizona basketball coach) and Steve Kerr who I remember as a Chicago Bull and Gary remembers playing for Lute at Arizona.

 

Today was an absolute gorgeous day and we were thinking it would have been a perfect day for a motorcycle ride but Gary needs to be do some annual/spring maintenance on the bike before we take it on a spin.  Unfortunately with working 10 hour days Mon-Fri and six hours on Saturday that doesn't leave a lot of time to work on it - with doing all the other things that we need to get done.  We're hoping the Friday before the wedding he can get the oil changed, tighten the chain, clean and wax the bike - with me helping where I can - so we can go on our last ride as an engaged couple and then Sunday after the wedding if the weather is nice - go on our first ride as a married couple.

 

After church and doing some things at the house, we (ok Gary) put up some of my Hozoni pottery collection in the kitchen.  Check out the pictures below of Gary precisely cutting Styrofoam to put above the kitchen cupboards for my pottery to show.  We think things turned out pretty nicely.

And lastly today before blogging I got my federal and state taxes done and filed online!  And I'm getting refunds - that's even better.

Sadie's Big Adventure ~ Our First Piece of Furniture ~ Getting Ready for Easter

This was quite the week for Gary and me workwise.  Gary has been working 10 hour days for two weeks now - plus six hours on Saturday - so he's been pretty tired most evenings.  And my team member that works our offices with me at work had to be out unexpectedly Tuesday - Friday with her son being in the hospital - so I had some long days myself.  And two migraines during the week to boot.

Before the house goes on the market, our realtor made suggestions of things that needed to be fixed at the house - so I called my handy guy Jon and gave him the list of things to take care of.  Now Jon is the guy that let Butler get out and run away on him and the only way Jon caught Butler was he trapped Butler against a chain link fence.  And Butler was like 14 years old.  Then Jon is the one that accidently left my gate open to the backyard and Cruz got out on her adventure the second day I had her.  So when Jon was at the house to go over the list of things to work on, I held up Rowdy and said, "Jon I have two cats, this is Rowdy.  The other one is Sadie, looks just like Rowdy except she's black, don't do anything to my cats."  Remember this statement later.

I get home Tuesday night after work and see Rowdy but no Sadie to meet me at the kitchen door - that in itself isn't unusual - Sadie sometimes is in the living room waiting for me.  Well, into the living room I go and no Sadie.  I start to get a little concerned.  So I check the solarium - Jon had to do something in that room - no Sadie.  I open every door on the main level calling Sadie's name - no Sadie.  I go upstairs and look all over - no Sadie.  But all of a sudden I hear a very faint "meow".  I keep calling Sadie's name and finally find her - behind the drywall in Mike's old closet.  I couldn't believe it.

I had a hole in the floor of my closet that we had put a cabinet over years ago, but Gary and I decided the hole should be closed so we had that on Jon's list.  I also found out when I went through all my clothes a week ago Saturday that the dogs had pretty much destroyed the drywall in the back of my closet - so another item on Jon's list to fix.  I figured Sadie had gone down through the hole in the floor of my closet, walked under the floor over to the other closet and got stuck.  I called Gary yelling, "Sadie is behind the drywall in the other closet upstairs."  Gary very profoundly replied, "What do you want me to do about that?"  I just shook my head and told him I was going to beat a hole through the wall and see if Sadie would come out.  I'm sure Gary was shaking his head at me on the other end of that conversation.

Down to the basement I go and find a small sledge hammer type hammer and up to the closet I go bashing a round hole down by the floor.  I call Sadie's name, nothing.  I get the laser pointer light Rowdy and Sadie love to chase, nothing.  I open a package of tuna and sit it by the hole, nothing.  I figure I have traumatized my cat.  So I go downstairs, make sure Rowdy is shut on the main floor with the pooper pan and food and head to Gary's.  I don't see Sadie at all that night.

I call Jon on the way to Gary's and tell him there is a cat behind the wall and that he needs to open the hole back up in the floor so she can get out if she can't come through the hole I made in the wall.  Wednesday morning I'm at a loss on how to get Sadie out from behind the wall, so during my devotions I pray to God that it's in His hands to get Sadie out of there.  I go home after work Wednesday and now there is no Rowdy to greet me.  Great.  But wait, I can hear two cat meowing like crazy.  I open the door to the upstairs and out struts Sadie, a little p.o.ed and a little grey from the dust behind the wall - but no Rowdy.  I hear more meowing and have no idea how he got the door open but he got trapped in the downstairs bathroom - goof ball.  Rowdy immediately comes to me, rubs all over me and Sadie.....has nothing to do with me.  I look at her and matter of factly tell her that I didn't trap her behind the wall.

Jon did not open the hole in the floor - he told me he had fixed that the day before.  But when he had taken the bad drywall down in the back of my closet, he had left for like 20 minutes, then went back upstairs and put the new drywall up.  Viola - open season for Sadie to just walk right behind the hole in my closet and get drywalled up......

Tuesday night it was time to take our St. Patty's decorations down and put up our Easter decorations - so check out the sliding glass door.  Gary's job is to design how our decorations will look and my job - to assist by peeling the decorations off the sheet and handing them to Gary :)

Yesterday I was at Gary's waiting for the phone call to tell me our first piece of "together purchased" furniture was going to be delivered.  We bought a dresser a couple of weeks ago and it was delivered yesterday morning and placed in Gary's walk-in closet.  My clothes will now have a home at Gary's.

 

Once again it's March Madness and while I'm not a college basketball fan I do root for any Iowa teams in the madness.  ISU just won over UNC in a nail bitter.  No matter how hard everyone tried - the game was over and ISU won - at least the officials got that call right.  Now Arizona Wildcats to play later tonight. 

 

I realized Steve Kerr was one of the commentators of the ISU/UNC game and said something to Gary remembering that Gary had talked about Steve one time.  I'm like, "You remember Steve from when he played at Arizona right?"  Yep.  I said, "I remember when he was one of the best three point shooters the Chicago Bulls ever had."  Fun reminiscing :)

More Artwork and Mugs Find Homes

This has been quite the week weatherwise in Iowa.  One day in the 60's and the next in the 30's and it snowed again last night - with tomorrow supposedly being in the 60's.  I'm just glad it stays light later each day.

Gary has been working a lot of overtime this past week - Wed/Thurs/Fri he worked 10 hour days plus six hours on Saturday.  Needless-to-say he's a little pooped in the evening.

My handy guy Jon was able to stop by the house Monday night after Gary and I got off work to go over things that need to be taken care of before the house goes on the market.  I told Jon to make sure he doesn't let the cats out - both Butler and Cruz got out on Jon - and he had a hard time catching that old greyhound.  Jon was able to do some work last Friday and he said he didn't even see either cat :)

Check another item off the wedding list - flowers.  I took color samples to HyVee today after church so they can match the cake decorations to our wedding colors.  The last biggie is getting wedding music downloaded to Gary's MP3 player or burned to a CD.  Gary is checking music out right now as I blog.

Yesterday while Gary worked I spent some time going through most of my clothes and deciding what I would keep and what I would give to The Salvation Army.  I think I donated 20 t-shirts along with a lot of other clothing items.  I'm also working with a lady to make a t-shirt quilt out of several of my t-shirts I don't wear but they mean something to me - because I don't want to get rid of them.

I have quite the mug collection and have whittled it down quite a bit.  Gary spent some of yesterday afternoon hanging three mug shelves and we put the mugs up today.  I still have more mugs than shelves but Gary said there is some room in his second bedroom that is his den/office where another shelf or two could go.

So check out the pix below of more of my artwork that has found a home at Gary's plus the mugs.  There is even artwork in the walk-in closet :)

These are two of my favorite P. Buckley Moss prints.  The top one is Davis County Courthouse in Bloomfield, IA where my folks are from.  I spent many a night when staying at Grandma Loper and Uncle's place looking at that courthouse.  They lived in an apartment above a business on the north side of the square.  The bottom print is North Side of the Square and the left, brown building in the print - those two large windows are where Grandma and Uncle lived.  The left window was in their apartment and the right window was Uncle's sign shop.

I love horses and the big, draft horses are my favorite.  This artist comes to a couple of the art shows at the Iowa State Fairgrounds each year.  I bought "the girls" (the top print) a couple of years ago from her and the bottom print last year.

 

I would have loved to have bought the actual painting that was on the feather of the horse - but that was a little out of my price range - so I settled for a print of the feather with the horse on it :)

Gary wasn't too sure about my little fox looking out of the tree trunk, but the little guy has grown on Gary - and found a home above the door of Gary's walk-in closet.  The closet that I'm trying to figure out how much room I can overtake for all my clothes :)

 

And the mugs are center stage in the living room.  The bottom shelf, far right are mugs from a trip to Arizona.  Gary used to live in Tuscon (twice) and he knows all the places that the mugs represent - which is kinda cool :)