Sunday afternoon my boys were playing outside when they got somewhat of an unexpected surprise.  As they were laughing and jumping on their trampoline they noticed something slowly floating toward them from the heavens.  As it got closer they excitedly waited for it to hit the ground and then grabbing it up they quickly ran into the house to show me their discovery.  It was a plain, white sheet of paper with a simple, but meaningful sentence written across it in blue marker, “Happy 50^th Anniversary Charles and Patricia Fields, Stanford, Kentucky”. 

Apparently someone in Stanford had released the balloons as part of an anniversary celebration and it made its way to our yard.  The boys were just amazed and thought it was so cool they had actually seen something fall from the sky. The part of their finding that made me smile was the fact that a couple was able to proudly say they had been married for fifty years.

Part of my job at the newspaper is typing up the social news we receive such as weddings, birthdays, births, and my favorite, anniversaries.  I love to read the announcements from couples who have been married for several years.  With divorce being such a common word and decision these days it is refreshing to read the good news of a couple that has stuck it out, made it work, and succeeded.

It was somewhat ironic that the boys’ spotted their message from the sky on Sunday because that was also the day my parents celebrated their 36^th year of marriage.  They have always been such an inspiration to me in life and definitely in my marriage. 

Don’t get me wrong, I am not naïve enough to think they have never had their arguments.  As I have mentioned before fights and quarrels in our home when I was a child was evidenced only by the eerie silence that prevailed when mom and dad were in the same room together.  I always knew they had settled their differences when daddy would resume his kind hearted teasing at mom. Their disagreements were few and far between, but the way they handled them taught me several priceless lessons.

I learned that you don’t show yourself in front of your children. Adult arguments should be taken care of in private and not on display for young children to behold. I have admittedly shot back at my husband from time to time in front of my boys before catching myself, but we try to discuss things behind closed doors. My boys are not responsible for the differences between their father and me and as their parent I should not place that burden on their shoulders.  My parents never made me feel like an argument was my fault.

My husband and I have been married for nine years and each one of those has been a learning experience for us both. I think all newlywed couples remain in that honeymoon stage for at least six months, maybe longer, but then the reality of living with someone who is most likely your total opposite starts to wear on you both.  

This is where those infamous, “In good times and in bad”, vows come into play.  For example, it drives me insane for my husband to leave more than one pair of shoes by the door, but it also drives him insane for me to put them up as soon as he takes them off. Marriage is a delicate game of give and take.  It is better to give more than you take.  Though I think an extra verse should be added to the marriage vows saying, “To have and to place in a sleeper hold until they come around to your way of thinking.”  

I am a firm believer that husbands and wives should be best friends, keeping no secrets from each other. Secrets in a marriage are the kiss of death. If you can’t be honest with the person you vowed to have and to hold for the rest of your life then who can you be honest with?

Though there have been times that I have really not liked my husband, I have always loved my husband.  My mom and dad have taught me through the years that it is okay to have differences, but it is how you settle them and deal with their causes is what is going to define the success of your marriage.  

In closing I want to send out a very Happy Anniversary to Charles and Patricia Fields of Stanford, Kentucky.  Most importantly I want to say I love you to my parents who I am very proud of.  Thank you for being an inspirational example in your faith and in your marriage.

Have a great week everyone and may God bless you and keep you safe.

By Sarah Bloom Lifestyles Writer

A bump in the night, a wayward shadow or just the feeling like someone is watching you.  I would dare to say that not one person in this world, besides the youngest of course, hasn’t scared or spooked themselves at one time or another.  

I do not believe in ghosts, but I do believe that people can let their imagination conjure up some terrifying situations or illusions. A family friend once told me she awoke one night only to find a full bodied apparition standing before her with long black hair and a white gown.  It took her a few moments to realize that she was staring at her own reflection in a floor length mirror. With all the horrible and unthinkable things existing in this world in the human form the reality of a ghost pales in comparison.

Though I admittedly do not believe in the supernatural occurrence of ghostly figures I will confess there have been times that I have scared myself.  I could not count the times I have come up from the basement after turning all the lights out and felt the undeniable urge to dart up those stairs and slam the door behind me.  This is probably a result of being a horror movie fan.  I love a good scary movie, but it is hard to get some of the images and scenes out of your mind.  Once they get stuck in there they pop back up at the worst times.

When I was about nine or ten years old me, my brother and some close, family friends thought it would be a great idea to watch a “Friday the 13^th” movie as many times as we possibly could in one day.  This turned out to be a huge mistake (you are welcome to say “duh” here).  Anyway, toward the end of our marathon, monster movie day my brother and one of our friends snuck out the back door and proceeded to peck on windows and scratch down the sides of the trailer in a very successful attempt at scaring us.  Looking back I can say it was a pretty funny joke, but at the time there was no humor to be found.  

As a result I wound up with many sleepless nights and learned a hard lesson from my total lack of judgment in watching such a morbid show repetitively. I could not even walk in another room alone without the fear of something grabbing me.

Not only do I love a good scary movie, but I am a huge fan of great haunted houses.  For several years in a roll my friends and I made it a point to find a good spook house or haunted trail to try our luck at and catch a few laughs.  Our all time favorite was the “Trail of Terror” in Lexington.  One year my good friend Jessica went along though she was somewhat of an unwilling participant.  After quite a bit of cajoling she agreed to go through this haunted trail with us.  Right from the start she was practically climbing onto our backs trying to get away from whatever creepy creature was around the next bend.  

Halfway through this trail you had to enter an old school bus through the back emergency exit and walk the length of it out the front door.  Just as we neared the back of the bus a freaky looking man with a fake chainsaw jumped from behind the trees and started revving the piece of machinery. All I remember is hearing Jessica scream and then seeing her backside as she disappeared into the darkness. I don’t think I have ever seen anyone run that fast through the pitch black night before.  We finally found her waiting back at the car.  After that experience she never went through another haunted house with us again.

Imaginations can be a beautiful thing, but also a terrifying nightmare. When you let it run wild the smallest thing can give you a good case of the willies. Out of all the movies and crazy “haunted” houses I have been through the one thing that absolutely creeps me out is anything to do with children.  I know that sounds strange coming from a woman with four of her own, but it’s the truth.  I will not watch or at least I try to avoid any scary movie that involves evil children or anything of that type.  Nothing freaks me out more than to be lying in bed at night and roll over only to find one of the boys just standing there at the side of my bed or better yet, be standing in the doorway, silhouetted by the hall light.  Geez, it makes my skin crawl just thinking of it.

Personally, I don’t think fear is in ghosts, goblins or the monster under the bed, but in the unknown.  It is easy to be comfortable in familiar surroundings and around friendly faces, but throw a curve ball of doubt in the mix and you get an instant case of suspicion and suspicion turns to fear.  I don’t see anything wrong with getting a good laugh out of spooking yourself or some else as long as it is done in good hearted fun.

Have a safe and blessed week.  May your sorrows be few, your joys be many, and may the good Lord lead you every step.

By: Sarah Bloom, Lifestyle Writer

My son Hunter loves to take chocolate sandwich cookies and put them into a glass, cover them with milk, mush them all up and drink it like a shake.  I watched him make his favorite snack the other night and couldn’t help but remember the many times I watched my brother do the same thing except instead of cookies he used chocolate chips.  He actually got a few of my best girlfriends to start eating this unusual treat after they had tried a sample while staying overnight with me.  

Sometimes it amazes me what children and adults will and will not eat or better yet the strange concoctions that they come up with.  Hands down my brother will always be the strangest eater I have ever met.  You would be hard pressed to find another person who likes taco sauce, mayonnaise and salt and pepper sandwiches.  When we were young he used to gross me out every time he decided it was time for a snack.  He was undoubtedly born with an iron stomach.

I suppose I had a few of my own weird recipes, but none as drastic as my brother.  One of our all time favorite sweet snacks was what we referred to as homemade pixie sticks.  We would wait until mom brought home a tub of the kool-aid mix that already has the sugar added to it and then wait till she wasn’t looking.  Grabbing a sandwich bag we would quickly dip two or three heaping tablespoons of the tangy powder into our baggie, twist it tightly so it was all shoved into one corner, and then grab a straight pin and poke a few holes in it.  We thought we were so clever making our own lollipops until mom would discover how much of the kool-aid we had wasted.  That is probably why she rarely bought the pre-sugared kind and stuck with the individual packets.  I actually tried to mix one with sugar and eat it like the pre-sweetened powder, but believe me it is not the same.

One of my favorite oddball snacks was peanut butter and pickles on toasted white bread.  When I was in the second grade we lived with my Granny while my daddy was building our new house.  For some reason she never had any sweet stuff around.  No cookies, no candies, no cake…nothing.  So I grew very fond of making my peanut butter and pickle sandwiches because at least I got a small amount of sweetness from the peanut butter.  Where the pickles fit in that mix I’m not sure, but the sweet and salty mix was just plain good.

My boys vary greatly in their individual likes and dislikes when it comes to food.  Well, let me amend that statement just a bit…three of my boys vary greatly when it comes to their food choices, my oldest son Hunter will eat anything that sits still long enough.  I have literally seen him out eat two grown men, hands down.  His twin, Levi, is my pickiest eater and my skimpiest eater.  My eight year old, Luke, will not eat any kind of nut unless it is pulverized into peanut butter and he hates corn with a passion.  The child could single out a kernel of corn in an entire pot of vegetable soup, but he loves popcorn…go figure.  My baby is a fairly decent eater.  Out of all of my boys he has been the only one who has really loved fruits and vegetables at an early age.  Grapes and strawberries are his favorites, but we found out Sunday that beets make him gag.

I have always been told that opposites attract and my husband and I are a perfect example.  There have probably never been two more opposite people than us.  We differ in everything from the temperature in the house to how clean we keep our vehicles to who we vote for on Election Day.  Our food choices are no exception.  For example, he says I make him sick by eating the fat on the bacon slices.  When we get to eat breakfast out at a restaurant he will meticulously pick every piece of fat off his bacon slices and lay them aside.  It grosses him out because I will grab them and eat them.  When I tell him he is weird for wasting the best part of the bacon he always comes back with, “Well, I’m sorry if I wasn’t raised on squirrel and rabbit and whatever creature crossed the yard.”  To which I simply smile at him sweetly, call him a wimp, and crunch my bacon fat a little louder.  

God made us each different and individual for a purpose.  After all, they say variety is the spice of life no matter what kind of dish you are sprinkling it on!  Have a blessed week everyone and remember, “We walk by faith, not by sight.”  2 Corinthians 5:7.