Spring and Easter Crafts Galore

If you know us, you know one thing – we don’t just sit around! Lately we’ve been letting our spring fever set in – we’ve been busy making lots of spring and Easter crafts.

Earlier this month you could catch us decorating windsocks. It was fun to get out all the spring and summer colors! Though they’re not all outside yet, we’re waiting for the day when we can go out and sit in the summer breeze and watch our homemade windsocks fly!

We also had a blast catching up with our friends while making craft Easter bunnies. Actually, we did several Easter rabbit crafts this month to celebrate the season. With our first project, we decorated small bunny stuffed animals with tutus and flowers. We completed these by attaching wings to make them fairy bunnies! After these were done we decided to make candy holders for when the real Easter bunny would come to visit – take a look at Orval’s picture! In our third project, we took the time to make bunny table decorations. These Easter rabbits were complete with big feet and perky ears; and we used them to decorate our dining room throughout the season.

And what would Easter be without some old fashioned Easter eggs? This week we sat down and dyed a mess of hardboiled eggs every color under the sky. It was fun to remember how we used to dye eggs when we were kids and how things have changed since then – including fun stickers to make the dyed eggs look like monsters!

Take a peak at these photos to really get a glimpse of the fun we had throughout this month. In the topmost picture is Henrietta who is putting her fairy bunny together. To the right is Orval who is showing off his Easter bunny candy holder; and on the right is Muriel who is dying Easter eggs! Below is a picture of the Easter rabbit table decorations we made.

Post-it Notes? What Post-it Notes?

Lately the Serenity staff has been complaining of not having enough Post-it notes. Of course, being the great administrator that she is, Elaine picked up more Post-it notes so the staff could complete their daily tasks. But these kept disappearing! And today we figured out why.

A few Serenity staff members pranked Elaine today by putting the “missing” Post-it notes all over Elaine’s car! Once this situation was under control we also noticed that the office had been decked out with balloons all over the floor!

After searching for the appropriate culprits, we have discovered that Leonie Borden and Reba Greer are the troublemakers. We will continue to keep an eye on them!

Where in the World?

Serenity supporters are still being seen around the world. Most recently Carol Young, a Serenity volunteer from CCRI, went on a cruise to Mexico. While she was on vacation Carol made sure to take a picture in front of an old Mayan ruin for our “Where in the World” wall. Thank you, Carol!

Prankster Attack

Someone at Serenity is definitely being tricky lately. Not only were a few of our Easter bunnies kidnapped, but now Lois’ car was decorated! Rest assured, we’ve got our best personnel on the investigation. We will continue to inform the public on any new leads regarding the situation.



Take a look at this photo to see what Serenity’s prankster has been up to. The decorations were complete with ribbons, balloons, pop cans and a sign that says, “Just Married!”

The Blind Side

Sometimes a movie will come along that can touch your heart. Today we took the time to watch such a film, The Blind Side. It was a great time to be with our friends and enjoy an inspiring story – especially one that reminded us of the simple joys in life.

As you can see from the photo, John and Mary Grubb sure had a fun time watching the award-winning film! Mary had a blast cuddling with her father throughout the movie.

Where in the World?!

One of our team members has been spotted a long way from Dilworth! Reba Greer is in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and is participating in a Habitat for Humanity trip. Reba is currently on spring break with other students from Concordia College who just wanted to help out.

Ransom

Our staff played a trick on Serenity and kidnapped these Easter bunnies in a plea to not have to do training! Have you seen these missing Easter bunnies?!?!

St. Patty's Day!

Here at Serenity we’re feeling pretty lucky today. We’re lucky that Lucky the Leprechaun didn’t trick us too badly this year! Yes, we were all visited by a tricky leprechaun today who played a few pranks on us such as kidnapping our Easter bunnies and holding them for ransom, leaving green water in our toilets and moving our things around in strange places. Maybe we’ll catch him next year!

Other than having this lucky visitor stop by, we also celebrated St. Patty’s Day with a festive meal! At lunch today we had mini Rueben crackers, Irish beef stew, Rueben salad and gorgeous green punch. To top it all off, we had grasshopper parfaits for dessert!

It was a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day and a lot of fun, too! Just take a look at these pictures to get a glimpse of our party. Above is Lois who just found out she had a mischievous leprechaun visit her room and to the right is Simone who is showing off her festive St. Patty’s Day hat!

God Bless, Charles Borgen

Charles Blaine Borgen was born June 24, 1921, in Fargo, ND to William and Lillian (Reppen)Borgen.

Charles was united in marriage to Carmen V. Heiraas on June 30, 1943, at Jevnaker Lutheran Church, rural Borup, MN. They made their home, and raised their family, on a farm near Georgetown, MN.

Carmen died on February 14, 2006, and Charles remained on the farm until entering Serenity Assisted Living, Dilworth, MN, three years ago. He died Friday, March 12, 2010, at Serenity, at eighty-eight years of age.

Charles and Carmen were active members of Landstad Lutheran Church, rural Perley, MN, until it closed in 1996. They continued to worship at Triumph Lutheran Brethren Church in Moorhead.

Charles is survived by one daughter, Linda (Donald) Osterberg, Colorado Springs, CO; four sons, Kent (Joan), Princeton, MN, Paul (Pat), Dilworth, Craig (Joan), Fargo, and Charles Jr. (Wendy), Georgetown; fourteen grandchildren; eleven great-grandchildren; five brothers, Bill, Hendrum, MN, Russell, Ulen, MN, Bert (Elaine), and Curtis (Betty), both, Moorhead, and Dennis (Linda), Dilworth; two sisters, Doris Eidem, Felton, MN, and Ann (Rex) Lindblom, Park Rapids, MN; and five sisters-in-law, Virginia Borgen, and Mary Borgen, both Moorhead, marcy (Earl) Hillstead, Hitterdahl, MN, Melva Fjesjen, Tacoma, WA and Verona Heiraas, Ada, MN.

In addition to his wife, Carmen, Charles was preceded in death by a grandson, Taylor Charles Borgen; two brothers, John and Leon Borgen; and one sister, Mae Stennes.

New Angel...Charles Borgen

Where in the World Video

Check out our slideshow to see the places all over the world where Serenity supporters have been spotted! If you are traveling anywhere soon, don't forget your Serenity shirt!

Help Haiti

Remember when we packed shoe boxes to send around the world to the less fortunate for Christmas? Check out this heartfelt video from the same company, Samaritans Purse, asking for help again.

Where in the World?

Where in the World is our nurse?! Jodi is standing on the beach in San Carolos, Mexico. She spent a week scuba diving and viewing sea lions...and has an awesome video to prove it!

The water in the background is the Sea of Cortez and the mountain peak is the famous Mt Tetakawi!

Where in the World?

Pictured here is Randy Morehart (Anna's son) at the Gainy Ranch in Scottsdale, Arizona showing off his Serenity pride!

Fabulous February

Flood Fight 2010

Above is a photo from the Flood of 2009 above Moorhead, MN. The threats of a flood again this year are very real. Please help in any able form you can. One idea is to follow the link below to help make sandwiches for sandbaggers and other volunteers.

Serenity is sending in some of their troops too! You're never too old to help!

http://http//survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e2qf2nvrg5pq4vun/start

Happy Birthday, Orval!

Happy Birthday, Orval! He celebrated his birthday today with some yummy desserts...and so did we!

Assisted Living Services May Be Tax-Deductible

Message from Elaine: "Tim and I thought we would share this with those of you who have not completed their taxes as of yet. This news just came to Serenity. If we had received it sooner we would have passed it along to you. We are hoping that many of you take advantage of this."

Assisted Living Services May Be Tax-Deductible
Residents, family, and others who pay for an individual’s care in an assisted living community may be eligible to deduct these expenses for federal income tax purposes. Such information gives providers another tool regarding the affordability of assisted living when working with seniors and their family members.

The Internal Revenue Code has expanded the definition of medical expenses to include certain “maintenance or personal care services” provided to “chronically ill” individuals. Generally expenses can be tax-deductible if such services are provided pursuant to a plan of care prescribed by a licensed health-care practitioner, and the personal care services are required by a person who:

+ is unable to perform at least two activities of daily living without assistance, or
+ has severe cognitive impairment (as a result of Alzheimer’s or similar form of dementia) and requires supervision to protect self and others from health and safety threats.

Providers cannot provide tax advice; rather, they should advise consumers to consult a personal tax advisor, tax preparer, or the IRS for information specific to their needs.

Details are available in two IRS documents: Tax Topic 502 (Medical and Dental Expenses) and Publication 502 (Medical and Dental Expenses PDF). Visit www.irs.gov for more information.

Bird Biscuits

Birdwatching has always been one of our favorite things to do around Serenity, just take a look at all the birdhouses we have around here! But today we thought our birds needed a little more than shelter - that’s why we sat down to make some beautiful bird biscuits.

Bird biscuits are pretty easy to make, and they’re a lot of fun, too! First we took normal bird seed and then mixed a little flour and water in with it. After we were done mixing our concoction, we poured the “dough” into heart-shaped cookie cutters and threw them in the oven to bake so the biscuits would become hard. After this we were able to hang our fancy bird biscuits on the trees around Serenity!

Take a peek at our pictures to see the good time we had. Look at Lois and Claryce as they mix together our concoction. To the left is Flo who is working hard and below is one of the finished products!