God Bless Abbie Moe

Abbie Moe dances with God in Heaven today...please say a warm prayer for her loved ones, that they all know her love for them all.

Enjoying the Weather

Winter in Minnesota

It's winter in Minnesota
And the gentle breezes blow
Seventy miles an hour
At twenty-five below.
Oh, how I love Minnesota
When the snow's up to your butt
You take a breath of winter
And your nose gets frozen shut.
Yes, the weather here is wonderful
So I guess I'll hang around
I could never leave Minnesota 'Cause I'm
frozen to the ground!

-Anonymous


Yes, Minnesota can get down right cold in the winter; and all of us here at Serenity know it. That’s why when we were blessed with some pretty nice weather this week we weren’t about to waste it. Every warm day this week we have been enjoying the weather by taking short walks and simply lounging outdoors. Esther Olson and Abbie Moe have really been enjoying the wonderful weather and have been outside as often as possible. Just take a look at this picture of the two catnapping together in the courtyard!

A Gorgeous Afternoon

“I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!” All of us here at Serenity had a lot of fun making (and eating) our very own homemade ice cream today. After we were done eating lunch, some of us decided it was the perfect time to go outside and see what the weather was like. And we were followed by all the staff who had lots of fun activities for us!

We started the afternoon by making homemade ice cream. It was really fun! First we filled a one gallon Ziplock bag half full with ice cubes and added at least six tablespoons of rock salt. In another sandwich sized Ziplock bag we mixed ½ cup Half & Half, ¼ teaspoon vanilla and one tablespoon sugar. We then placed the smaller bag inside the larger one and shook the bag until our mixture became ice cream. It was a lot of fun and tasted great!

After we were done making ice cream we weren’t given much of a break before we began tie-dying t-shirts. We all began by drawing neat designs or writing our names on the shirts. Sometimes it took a while to think of the perfect designs to draw! Afterwards we twisted the shirts and tied rubber bands all over them so that once they were dyed there would be some really nifty designs left on them. Then we picked out our favorite colors that we wanted to use on our shirts and got to the messy part and started dying the shirts. It was fun to just look around at all the different colors our friends were using! We then let the dye sit for a few hours; and tomorrow we’ll get our freshly washed shirts back in time to wear them for our Jamaican night on Friday.

When we were finally finished with the exciting activities it was just nice to sit back and take it easy. After all, it’s summer!

To get a glimpse of all the fun we had take a look at the pictures from this afternoon! The top photo is a group shot of a few of the ladies who enjoyed making the homemade ice cream (from left to right: Muriel, Henrietta, Claryce, Cleo and Lois). To the left is Bonnie with her freshly tie-dyed shirt; and to the right is Abbie who is having a blast trying to find the perfect colors to dye her shirt.

Biggest Fan

Saturday, May 9th was a chilly 37 degrees with almost 15,000 runners of all ages lined up at the FargoDome. It was the 5th annual Fargo Marathon and these runners ranged from all ages. The crowd bustling around the streets of Fargo ranged in all ages as well.

Our own Abbie Moe braved the frigid temperatures to watch her grandson run a marathon he's been training half a year for. For those of you who aren't familiar with marathons, they are a whopping 26.2 miles long. Those training for marathons brave frequent blisters, sore knees and thoughts of "Why am I doing this?" Needless to say, Abbie Moe had a lot to be proud of!

Rising with the sun, Abbie was up and ready to greet the runners. We bundled up and nestled into our spot on the sidewalk to look for her grandson in blue. Dan Johnson, Abbie's grandson, was wearing a shirt that Serenity made just for the day. On the back it stated: "Serenity Assisted Living...My Grandma Lives There!" And even though Abbie's special shirt was hidden in layers of jackets and blankets, hers was a bright pink Fargo Marathon shirt that said: "I'm the Grandma!"

The proudest moment came at mile 15 when we quickly saw Dan stride by.

He yelled, "Hi Grandma! Hi Grandma!"

Smiles met the lips of both generations. What a boost for a runner at mile 15! Abbie was proud to go back to Serenity later that day and tell everyone at the lunch table how proud she was of her grandson and that she braved the chilly weather. This 96 year old lady is an inspiration herself!