The Happenings

A lot has been happening here...

Grandmanita has been in town for two weeks now. When she visits we normally do a bit of visiting and running around. This time,

not so much. She did go out for a ride with My Darling one afternoon. She thought maybe he was taking her to visit her niece, but actually he was taking her to the doctor because she had a terrible, awful, can-hardly-catch-your-breath kind of cold. Thankfully the medicine worked and we all slept better after that. The weather kept us home, family dynamics kept us home, and watching children kept us home. As antsy as we were, we never got out together. Tonight she has gone to visit the beloved niece and spend the night there before heading back to Canada and her childhood friend on Sunday afternoon. It's been a "different" kind of visit this time around.

Our house is a little fuller the past few days. I won't get into the details here but things have been wild and crazy, and I would appreciate continued prayers for all kinds of things including an extra huge helping of patience and calm for My Darling. I'll take some extra love and patience too, along with scattered moments of quiet and maybe a nap every once in a while. It doesn't even have to be every day. Hannah would appreciate a very long night of pure and restful slumber. She's been fighting a headache today and thinks it may be from too little sleep.

I'd love to find some time one day to enjoy baking and frosting some fun cutout cookies. We have a nice collection of decorator tips and maybe one day I'll actually learn how to use them. Maybe first I should find someone who needs a batch of beautiful and tasty cookies so I don't polish off half them myself. Yeah, ... that might be a good idea.

3X Thursday

It's time to meet at Kristina's again. No cookies this week. We've all had enough of them.

(I'm a little "behind" today, but I'm getting there...)

A Crazy Day

Yesterday was quiet and still. Today was anything but quiet and still. It's been a day full of toys, noise, and boys, and few girls too. The after school girls are finding it nigh unto impossible to calm two little boys, and I am making a valiant attempt to squeeze in a post. (The children are not unattended. I think their dad is watching them... )

This is Today

God is good... He is stretching and growing us all.

It has been a fairly quiet week. I put one child on the bus Monday, Tuesday there was no school and no grandchildren came to play. Today I put two girls on the bus and one came back after school. Tomorrow there will be grandchildren, lots of them. (Grandmanita is plotting her escape... ) Friday promises to be busy too. (I probably should have purposed to enjoy the quiet, but sometimes I don't see what is happening until it's too late.) Now I shall purpose to enjoy the activity instead.

This week I learned that my days with Rocky are numbered. Her mom and dad have big plans that will change their lives dramatically. They are moving. They are moving far, far away. The move involves a foreign country and a new language. I never saw it coming and yet it doesn't totally surprise me. The move involves the Reformed Church and a position in social work, something they are all well suited for. Knowing ahead of time will help me treasure the time I have left with my little friend and maybe give me a much higher tolerance for her continuous chatter. Truthfully, I'm going to miss her.

Z is for Zero

Z is for zero, below zero actually.

Baby, it's cold outside! It's most likely not news to most of you, because it's been in the news for several days now. We were warned of it's arrival. They call it a "Polar Vortex". The wind howled all night long and it sounded blizzard-like and wintery. The schools have been closed and we're staying inside, but for most of the morning the out of doors has been clear and sunny, at least where we live. I guess it's a tad different at the eastern ends of the Great Lakes.

The pipes to our kitchen sink are frozen. My Darling is attempt- ing to thaw out the mini- scule crawl space that houses the pipes. It's a slow process.

My photos are from Saturday when the temperatures were a much milder 33ºF. Not sure I'm up to venturing down to the lake today

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No Fun, No Fun at All

It's really no fun watching a marriage fall apart. It's no fun seeing people you love in emotional pain and turmoil. It's no fun knowing there is very little you can do to help. It's no fun and I am feeling helpless. I am begging for God's mercy, praying He will intervene and take what looks utterly hopeless and impossible and make something beautiful. Deep inside I know He can, but I find my faith often lacking. I'm almost surprised when I see Him at work. I almost don't believe and yet I desperately want to.

  ... sigh ...

Dave was here with the kids tonight. We had fun building a railroad with the wooden train tracks. We ate pretzels and Clementine oranges. We drew pictures. At some point in time Aubs decided to follow her Aunt Hannah upstairs... None of us knew until we heard the terrible sound of a child falling down the wooden staircase. Kind of threw our evening for a loop and put several bumps, a bloodied chin, and swollen jawbone on the child. She howled and cried, and we decided it might be best to have someone who knows check her over.

  ... sigh ...

God does work in mysterious ways. I hope this is one of those times.

Happy Birthday, Joe!

Today is Joe's birthday. He is our middle child. He has two older brothers, and two younger brothers. He has an older sister, and a younger sister. He is 7 1/2 years younger than Jim, and 7 1/2 years older than Hannah. He is Smack-dab-in-the-middle Joe. Joe's birthday often gets lost in the holiday madness. It comes when the craziness has just begun to wind down. (He's here tonight for a quiet observance. We had sherbet with lots of whipped cream, and horse shaped sugar cookies left over from Christmas.)

Last Saturday we had our big party. The entire family was here and the event was catered by an acquaintance/ former co-worker of Joe. We celebrated Christmas, New Year's, and Joe's birthday all rolled up into one. (I know. That's cheating.) In order to make sure Joe's birthday (he's turning 26) was remembered, we made sure there were extra presents (mostly clothes, he needs them) and a special cake. (This Cake Boss watching is coming in handy...)

James and Hannah made a special cake, a two layer cake. The bottom was chocolate, the top was vanilla. Michele, Jim's wife and one of my favorite daughters in law, is a baker. She helped frost the cake and pipe on some nice details. James and Hannah made some broken electronic equipment out of fondant, and I bought a nice tube of insects to crawl up the sides and over the top of the cake. It was great!

Even though tonight is a very small and quiet gathering, I hope Joe knows how much I love him and that he is entirely special to my heart. I wish him wonderful things in the year to come.

Happy Birthday, Joe!

The Great White North

From whose womb comes the ice?
And the frost of heaven, who gives it birth?
Job 38:29

Cold, cold, cold!

There is something wonderfully cozy about sub-zero temperatures, providing a roaring wood stove and piles of warm blankets are readily available. It will be dreadfully cold tonight, and then tomorrow we're forecast to have a heat wave. It's supposed to be all the way up to freezing by mid afternoon.

This afternoon my lovely and talented youngest daughter was inspired to clean the house. She hid/put away clutter, dusted furniture, and vacuumed. The house was miraculously transformed in short order. When her BFF showed up around 1:30 pm, they set to work chopping up vegetables and employing Grandmanita's assistance in cutting up and cooking chicken. As dinner time approached, they tackled the task, with Grandmanita's help, of making homemade noodles for their massive pot of chicken soup. By six o'clock guests began to arrive for the church youth groups' annual progressive dinner. I'm guessing approximately 35 people came through, in three separate groups, to eat soup, sing a song, and move on tot he next location. This was my first time ever participating (or actually witnessing, I hardly participated...) in a progressive dinner. It looked like a lot of fun whether one was a guest or host. I'm glad Hannah and Kelly decided to play the game.

Just Some Stuff

Yesterday afternoon may not have been the best time to fly, but I think today would have been worse. I am glad to know my boy and his family made it home safe to Minnesota in spite of the weather,

even if it was after 2 o'clock in the morning. (The original flight was scheduled to be there by 9:50 pm. They were only 4 hours late...) I loved having them here and I hated saying goodbye. Today the house feels quiet and empty even though it isn't, and although a part of me is happy to have the craziness of the holidays over and done, another part of me looks forward to the next time we're all together again. (We're never really totally satisfied, are we?) We're all going to miss not only Jim and Michele, but the little guy too. I can scarcely help but find myself wondering how to get back to Minnesota.

A winter storm has settled over the northeast, complete with snow, and a bit of wind here by this Great Lake. The birds have returned to check out the feeder. It's kind of funny to see them up to their necks in snow.

It's a good afternoon to curl up by the fire and try to catch up on a little bit of the sleep we got so far behind on the past week. We lent our bedroom to Jim and his family while they were here, so crawling back into our own bed and going to sleep last night was kind of like returning home ourselves. One day I'm going to have a real live guest room. Won't that be cool?

Y I Didn't Post About X

I did not write an ABC Wednesday post for the letter X. I started to, I really did, but I didn't finish. I was too distracted by Xmas and all the trimmings and trappings. I was struggling with a bad case of ADD or OCD or XYZ or something like that, and that is Y I did not post for X.

So, anyway, I was hoping if I told you Y I didn't do the X post, that perhaps I could get away with skimping on Y too...

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Off and Running

Well, kind of.... My faraway son is on his way home again, finally. The flight out of Rochester was scheduled to leave on time, ... until they arrived at the airport anyway. Maybe it was the weather this time. We did get a rather nice snowfall this afternoon. Southwest has been having a lot of delays this past week and rather than leaving at 5 pm, the departure didn't take place until 7:33 pm. That's a long wait with a 5 month old baby.

It was another whirlwind visit. We packed Christmas, New Year's and an early birthday celebration into just five days. We stayed up much too late, slept in strange beds, and threw any semblance of a normal schedule tot he wind. Now we gather ourselves together and make a grand attempt to jump back into our everyday routines.

It's always hard to say goodbye, especially not knowing when we'll meet again. Thankfully, we have pictures to bring these days back to memory, and we remembered to take a picture of this little one with each of our moms.

Safe travels, sweet child!

That Little Twitch

Busy, fun, exciting, and  exhausting all rolled up into one. Today my right eyelid decided to shudder and twitch. I think I must be tired or something. Imagine that.

It was another day of noise and activity. My three grandchildren came to play early, rousing us from our beds and getting the day started with some smiles and snuggles. Smiles and snuggles are nice. Speaking of snuggles, I've been soaking up those baby snuggles too. Last night I held the little guy while he fell asleep. Oh, so warm and cozy. (Somewhere there are pictures 'cause Grandmanita's here.) Lukie got his turn to hold the baby today. He was very pleased. I think they're all going to miss their little cousin when he goes home.

Bribes and Trickery

How does a grand- mother get all of her grand- children to stay in one place for a few quick photos?

Why bribery, of course!

I had five tiny Tootsie Rolls in my purse. They came in very handy for con- vincing some otherwise fairly uncooperative little people to sit on the couch.

Josh, like a good big brother, held Jake. Jake was pretty happy to sit on Josh's lap.

Simon, like a good cousin, held Austin. Austin did not cooperate quite like Jakie, but his presence made Simon feel important, and also made my grandchild photo complete.

Lucas kept asking, "Why isn't there a baby for me to hold?" I guess Aubrey has outgrown the "baby" stage, at least in Lukie's opinion.

My wish for this Christmas was to get a photo of all our grand- children together and that wish was granted. I'm not sure when we will get them all in one spot again so these pictures are special treasures.

My other wish was for a photo of all my children together. That wish was granted in an entirely different way than the grandchild photo. I didn't have any Tootsie Rolls big enough to trick the adults into gathering, but I was given a photo from Jim and Michele's wedding back in April. It has all our kids in it and that makes my wish complete. I'm happy.

Please forgive the overindulgence in grandchild photos today. I couldn't help myself.

Practically Perfect

I have come to the conclusion that my practical side has a really difficult time dealing with my inner perfectionist. Perhaps 2014 will be the year they learn to cooperate. In the meantime I've decided that rather than being "Perfectly Practical", I'll settle for being "Practically Perfect".

My oldest son, his beautiful wife, and my sweet little grandson arrived late last night (actually early this morning) and my mom in law will arrive late tonight (actually, early tomorrow morning... the flight has been delayed). The tough thing about traveling is the fatigue that sets in afterward. We had some sleepy people here this afternoon.

 I think, perhaps, if we can get some sleep tonight, we might actually be ready for tomorrow night's Late Christmas/ Pre-New Year's/ Early Birthday Party. We're rolling it all up into one so as not to miss anything. (I think we'll probably all sleep until dinner time Sunday.)

(Yes, I'm already tired. Is it showing? Ha ha!)

The Settling of the Dust

Christmas Day has come and gone once again and we're taking a breather (of sorts) before the party begins again. Jim and Michele will arrive late tonight (or maybe early tomorrow morning...) along with our youngest grandson. If all goes according to plan, Grandmanita will arrive tomorrow night, but she is fighting a respiratory ailment of some kind, so only time will tell if she'll make it tomorrow. Our hope is that she will be here to see Jim and Michele and meet Austin.

We had a houseful for Christmas; five of our kids and five grandchildren. The house went from quiet and still to loud and bustling within a matter of minutes as family members arrived. We ate lasagna, cookies, and cake, listened to music, played with children, and opened a few gifts. I sneaked in a few hugs and kisses wherever I could catch a smiling child. After several hours of noise and excitement, a calm slowly began to descend and the quiet and still returned.

Saturday evening is our planned family Christmas Party. This one will require a small bit of furniture rearranging if we are to fit everyone into the house with a little bit of room to move around. The house that look open and empty when we moved in 12 years ago has been filled to capacity. We're going to be cozy and I am going to love having everyone together for this brief moment in time. My only other wish is for one family photo with everyone in it and another of all my grandchildren. It'll be the first time we have them all in one place.

Merry Christmas

 

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

Luke 2:12

Oh, There It Is!

Two weeks ago my friend Wanda mailed me a loaf of persimmon bread. I have never tasted persimmons and was anxious to sit down with a cup of coffee and a slice of her homemade treat. I watched the mail. I checked the box. I asked my husband if he had seen a package. Other packages came and went. It snowed a foot or more and I began to think my package was lost in transit. Warmer weather came, along with drenching rains. Our snow melted and the world turned into a soggy, muddy mess. Wanda decided to send out another loaf of bread.

This morning I went to set out the trash and bring in Grandma's newspaper. On my way back up the driveway I glanced toward the mostly unused front door. Last week I'd taken notice of the blanket of snow piled up on the steps. I'd considered taking a picture, but decided I'd already done that so didn't bother. (It looked very much like the snow in this photo. Maybe you see why we rarely use this entrance.)

So, like I said, I was on my way back up the driveway with my mother's newspaper when I glanced toward the house. The snow was all melted and there on the top step sat a small white box. I think I did a double-take. I knew immediately what it was and felt my heart sink. I am certain it was buried under last week's snow all the while I'd been waiting.

I retrieved the soggy package and took it into the house where I cut the packing tape and looked inside. It may have been damp and the bread may gone stale, but the little box was still full of love and I found myself smiling. The little Christmas cup is full of yummy candied walnuts. Once it is empty I will fill it up with some yummy coffee or hot chocolate. I did taste the bread, but I am certain it would have tasted much better had the postal carrier brought it to my back door like usual. Must have been a substitute carrier that day. Guess I'll have to forgive them.

Saturday

Soggy. It's very soggy. Lots of rain and melting snow. The beautiful white world of last week has turned into a muddy mess. I went out today, out to face the last weekend of holiday madness. It is possible that by some slim chance I may pull off actually being ready again this year. (Keep your fingers crossed.) I have a couple extra days this time since out family gathering isn't until next Saturday.

Since I didn't take any photos of the melting mess, you get to enjoy wintery white snow photos instead. (Lucky you!) This is from my walk around the back of the barn the other day.

And some birds too. Every morning I toss a handful of in-the-shell peanuts out for the blue jays. Hannah and I had to laugh at one bird this morning. He wanted to make sure he got the biggest peanut and so kept hopping from one to another, picking them up and dropping them, and he definitely didn't want to share with anyone else either. Kind of like people in a way.

Haven't seen the juncos since the weather warmed up, but the sparrows are out in abundance along with a friendly flicker. (Wishing I had a wide angle lens today, but Grandmanita is coming late nest week. Maybe she can get some good shots.)

Life on the Farm

Last night James and Hannah put the finishing touches on their graham cracker farm. I think it's pretty incredible. Next year they should start early and enter a contest.

 Enjoy!

Graham Cracker Boss

They've been working on it for three days now. It looks cool. I am impressed. These are the shots from Wednesday morning, before the decorating began. It's been a great project for James and Hannah and will provide a good memory for many years to come. My poor little graham cracker house pales in comparison.