Donna J Stephens

Almost two, a permanent marker, a Nana on the phone.

The perfect storm.

A path of destruction from Papa's chair, the living room, through the hall, and around the bedroom. Nothing escaped this little ones art. Walls, woodwork, chair, computer, blankets, toys, even a crib.

If nothing else she was efficient in covering it all.

"Oh, MY" was my initial response. My daughter asked if I put her in time out.

I was laughing too hard to punish her. After all, I will not be the one to stifle her creativity.

Look at this little face. Who could punish her? I should put her Papa in time out for leaving a permanent marker within her reach. Then I should put myself in timeout for not checking on her sooner.

Most of the artwork is gone. Just a few photos for our memories. Scrubbing and painting took care of it.

My Little Artist

I would love to see your little ones and hear your favorite grandchild story!

If we remove the weekend days and holidays, we are looking at 29 days! YIKES!

Average market time in our Omaha Area Board of REALTORS MLS for homes priced from $100-200,000 is 59 days on market for sold homes, 74 days on market is average for Active listings.

We are running out of time folks.

Another interesting fact on this report is only 54% of the listed homes actually sold this year. 12.74% have expired.

What do you think of this? I am getting a little nervous. How about you?

Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth's rite of Passage?

His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him
alone.

He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the
blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He
cannot cry out for help to anyone. Once he survives the night, he is
a MAN. He cannot tell the other boys of this experience, because each
lad must come into manhood on his own.
The boy is naturally terrified.
He can hear all kinds of noises.

Wild beasts must surely be all around him.
Maybe even some human might do him harm.
The wind blew the grass and earth, and shook his stump, but he sat
stoically, never removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he
could become a man! Finally , after a horrific night the sun appeared
and he removed his blindfold. It was then that he discovered his
father sitting on the stump next to him. He had been at watch the
entire night, protecting his son from harm.

We, too, are never alone. Even when we don't know it, God is watching
over us, sitting on the stump beside us. When trouble comes, all we
have to do is reach out to Him.


Moral of the story:

Just because you can't see God,

Doesn't mean He is not there.

'For we walk by faith, not by sight.'

It's really quite simple.

Be there for your friends when they take a vacation, go to a Convention or while they recover from an injury or surgery.

It's the old "Get by giving" way of living. Of course, when I was covering for my friend I did not know I would need her someday. I wanted to be there for her because she has always been there for me! It a wonderful circle of friendship!

My awesome friend is Ellie Bane. Ellie not only covered for me while I was on vacation, but actually sold my client, Jason, a house! She found it while showing property to her own clients. It didn't quite work for them. When Jason told her what he wanted she thought about the house she had seen earlier and took him to it. It was great for him!

Ellie was excited to assist my client while I was having a blast with my husband, Gil, and my cousins and their husbands in Branson, Mo.

She could hardly wait to tell me that I had sold a house that day!

Here's what I was doing while Jason bought a house that day. Eatin BBQ ribs and enjoying the good company of my cousins and their husbands.

Marlene & Don Wyman, Gil & Donna Stephens, Kirk & Susie Fichter, Jeff and Gladys Danker

Branson, Missouri on September 4, 2009

"Is it a bird or a plane? No It's Super Something!"

Bird, Bug, Moth...I don't know. Help!

This awesome creature was sucking from my flowers this morning early, just after dawn.

See the straw like beak, tongue, appendage?

There were several of them fluttering like little birds. They were non-threatening. Just hovering around the flowers. They were fluttering so quickly I couldn't see them clearly..

At first I thought I had humming birds but I couldn't see them well enough.

I got my camera to capture their image.

Is it a locust?

A moth or a bird?

Help! I have to know...