Accident

I didn't get much sleep last night. Around 11:20pm two girls (age 16) crashed into the funeral home across the street from my house. I was almost asleep when I heard the crash and shortly after the sirens of police cars and EMT's. I couldn't see clearly from my window so I couldn't see what kind of car it was. Louis is usually coming home at this time, so I was so afraid it could be him in that crumpled car! I threw on some clothes quick and ran outside to find out it was the two girls. It was a relief to know it wasn't Louis, but heartbreaking to watch the rescue crew try to pry the driver out of her car, which was flipped over. Luckily both girls had been wearing seatbelts, but the driver was unresponsive. I don't have any more details on the condition of the girls, but I am sure it will be in the news. From the markings that the police made, it looks like the girls were headed west bound on 7th Street and veered off the road and hit the funeral home, taking out the two front pillars, the flag pole and part of the west end of the building, coming to rest upside down next to the stone sign on the corner of 7th and Carroll. I hope both girls recover and my prayers go out to the families of these girls.

Radio Interview

This morning I went in for an interview with Life 107.1 FM. It is a christian radio station in Des Moines that my husband and I listen to regularly. What a fantastic station! They have been around for only 3 years and I hope that they are here to stay! If you are in the Des Moines area you will need to tune in tomorrow morning between 7am-8am. Outside the Des Moines area it is at 96.1FM. I talked with Dave St. John, one of the DJ's at the station. It was so easy to have a conversation with him. The reason I went in was to talk about the pageant that I won last year and to hopefully dispell some of the mistruths about pageant in general. But I think I got an even bigger opportunity to talk about how God has played a roll in my life and I hope that what I say will touch someone listening in a positive way. I would love the chance to go back again to talk more about self-esteem and confidence issues facing women today! I would love to hear any comments or thoughts from you, so please, don't be shy! Feel free to leave a comment or two for me. Thanks!

What a weekend

Have you ever driven 19 hours in a day? I don't recommend it! I did just that on Friday(7-21) when I went to pick Caisha up from her Dad's in Oklahoma. I left around 7am on Friday and got back home at 3am on Saturday. I had thought I might stop for the night, but I was feeling pretty good so I kept going. I think I was hyped up on enough caffeine from coffee that I stayed awake. I didn't have any problems keeping my eyes open, but my body was starting to protest after about 12 hours....mostly the shoulders and neck. I was so proud of Zach, though. He went the whole way with me and didn't complain once! That's pretty good for an 8 year old! The last hour or so was the hardest, mostly because I knew I was almost home! I did miss one turn in that last hour because I was talking with Louis. He has a way of doing that to me! I went 5 miles past my turn before I figured it out. It was dark out....that is my excuse! We all made it home safe and sound and fell right into bed. I definately felt the effects when I woke up! Lots of stretching for me the next couple days! I am proud of the fact that I still accomplished a lot on my yard this past weekend. It was a great way to recover from Friday.

It's a Girl!!!

The newest addition to the Diers family is Lainee Renae!! . She joined us at 5:00am this morning weighing around 8lbs 8oz and 19 inches long. According to her proud grandmother, she has a full head of very dark hair, which seems to be the case with most of the Diers babies. It all falls out sooner or later and comes back in blonde, though! Lainee is the the first child for Nathan and Emily. I'm going to have to visit very soon to get some of that good baby joojoo to help in my baby-making endevours! :)
Congratulations Nathan and Emily!! We love you both very much!

Surprise!

I am so truly blessed! And this past weekend was a testament to that. As most of you know, this weekend was Grandma Chloe's 80th B-Day. The Leininger family all descended on Keith & Deb's place,(Manhattan, IL) who where so wonderful to put up with 49 1/2 of us for over 2 days, to surprise Grandma! Grandma knew her kids were going to be there, but was suprised when the grandkids and great-grandkids kept showing up! What a group! All age groups where present from Grandpa and Grandma to the, soon-to-be, newest Timm! I hadn't seen some of the cousins in quite a few years, so it was a shock to see how much they had grown! I think the last time I was at Keith & Deb's was when I was heading back to MN/IA from North Carolina and I was VERY pregnant with Zach! That was 8 years ago.
I got in around 12:30 on Friday night about 5 minutes before Beth and Nate drove up with Caisha and Jim from the airport. Most everybody was asleep in the house and I was relieved to find out that Caisha and I would be staying in the house instead of vying for couch space in the church youth room! Josh was gracious enought to let me and Caisha stay in his room for the weekend. Thanks Josh!
Saturday afternoon we all gathered in the church gymnasium for lunch and to sing Happy Birthday to Grandma and present her with the quilt that we all contributed a personalized square to. Thank you, Stacy, for putting this all together. It was a beautiful blanket! It was fun to see all the creativity within this family. After lunch we all jumped in the pool to cool off! The heat index had to be over 100 degrees, so the pool was a great relief. We got a great game of water volleyball going where the competition heated up between the parents and kids! What a blast! Then Keith fired up the grill and we had hamburgers (thank you Jack & Lynne!), hotdogs and brats. Of course, throughout the weekend we socialized and caught up on what everybody was doing, with naps and card games intersperesed. Saturday night Nate and Beth headed up a small group of us(Jim, Chris, Tom, Nate, Beth and I) and we went out dancing. Who would have thought that the girls would be waiting for the boys! Beth and I were ready to leave by 9pm but we ended up waiting on Tom and Chris! Finally around 9:30p we headed out. It was a beautiful evening and the place we went to had a great outdoor patio to hang out in. I was amazed to see a bean bag toss tournament going on! When did this become such a popular sport? It must be Illinois!
Sunday, 10am, we all attended Keith's church(For those who do not know, Keith is the pastor). It was a great service. It was very moving when Keith called Larry and his family forward and we all laid our hands on him and prayed for his battle with cancer. You could just feel the energy flowing through all those gathered around. It brought tears to many of our eyes! What a wonderful congregation Keith has. We are all family in Christ. After service we gathered one more time for lunch before people started to filter home. I am so glad to be a part of this family! We may all live many miles apart, but I do not know of any(extended) family that is closer!
I feel like I had a weeks vacation in one short weekend. I guess love and support can refresh the most weary of us! Thank you Grandpa and Grandma for starting this family and being the glue that bind us all together! You are a GREAT example to us all!

This is the front of the house. There used to be a handicap ramp that ran in front of the bushes. We just recently removed that. What a chore! We will be removing the bushes out front and (hopefully) transplanting them to the backyard.

House Progress Pictures

This is the start of the broken block wall I am doing on the north side of the house.















Ok, so this one is sideways. Sorry! It's the start of the dog run. That is Badger, one of our 2 cats, in the foreground.

Up and Coming

Just so you can keep up with me here I will give you a run-down of what is coming up on my agenda. Tomorrow I leave for, yet another long drive.....I will inform you of this trip after I get back. The weekend of July 22nd I will be driving to Wichita, KS to meet Jim (my ex) to pick up my daughter, Caisha. Then Monday morning (7-24) I will be on the radio with KNWI 107.1FM in Des Moines to talk about the "Beauties of America Pageant" so tune in Monday morning around 9:30am! Sometime between August 6th & 12th I hope to be in Branson, MO with my family(Louis' side). August 17-20 I will be in Myrtle Beach, SC for the Beauties of America National Pageant where I will be passing on my title to a new lady! Then the weekend of August 26th I will be making one last trip to Wichita, KS to pick up my son, Zach after his 2 week visit with his dad. And hopefully, I will get to squeeze the MN State Fair in there before Labor Day Weekend! Then summer is over! Where does the time go? But things won't slow down for me even then. Both Caisha and Zach will be in soccer in the fall and Caisha will be continuing her piano lessons.....and I know that soccer and piano will overlap again(it always does!) Maybe by October I will get to slow down. Of course, there is always the annual trip to the Kansas City Renassiance Festival where Louis and I get a mini-vacation by ourselves! Why can't the gas prices go down?? On top of all this, we(Louis & I) need to paint the exterior of the house, finish tearing down the Carriage House, finish the broken block wall on the north side of the house, transplant about 6 bushes from the front of the house to the back of the house, gut and rebuild the kitchen and build Bronx(our 10mnth old puppy) his dog run! Any one want to volunteer with any of these tasks?!?! Any and all help is appreciated!! :-)
Well, there you go...that is the rest of my summer in a nut shell!

FestAg - Minnesota Lake, MN

Yesterday I was a part of a great celebration in the little town of Minnesota Lake, MN. This town has a population of about 681 people, so I was, of course, right at home! I was a part of the parade 2 years ago and was amazed at the turn out of spectators. It was the same this year! They say that close to 10,000 people visit FestAg over the 3 day celebration! I was honored to be one of the judges for the Miss FestAg Pageant this year. What a GREAT group of ladies! These girls were all around 16 or 17 years old. I can honestly say that I never had the poise or confidence that these girls have at that age! It was a tough descision for all of us judges to pick just 3 girls to represent their town. I know that any one of them could have done a wonderful job! Our final pick was McCall Bisel. I look forward to seeing more of this young lady!(Look for future posts of this pageant!) The other 3 judges for the contest where so much fun. They made it a very enjoyable first-time experience for me. I only wish that I could have stayed longer and enjoyed the dance and food! And, No Kevin, I am still not naming my next child after you! :-P I regret that I was unable to catch up with ex co-workers from Wells, but it was great to see them along the parade route! I hope that I will be invited back in the coming years to judge. Thanks Sharon!!

This is me

My first day

I am new to this, but I thought it was a great way to update all my friends and family on what I was doing and a way for those I have just met to learn about me.