To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven

 Every weekend this month has been busy with family fun time! The first Saturday, Ricky’s family came over for lunch, and he and Dennis spent the day working on repairing their bed. I enjoyed loving on and playing with the kiddos, as well as visiting with Amber and Ricky. The next Saturday, Sheila’s bunch came over to celebrate Caleb’s birthday with us. I made him his favorites: shrimp etouffee and Key Lime pie. We visited and played some Yahtzee and just enjoyed our time together. The next Friday, we drove to Paris to celebrate Rosie’s 1^st birthday. Ricky’s family also came early, so the dads took the young’uns outside to do a little fishing. Archer had fun, but didn’t really want to have anything to do with the fish once they were caught. Ha! Saturday morning, we got everything ready for the party and celebrated our sweet little toddler. Sheila’s bunch and the Gaddy bunch all arrived between 11 and noon, when the party started. We enjoyed good food, watched Rosie try to figure out what to do with her “smash cake”, and had an all-around good time. It rained all day, and driving home wasn’t much fun, but we all made it safely.

hand crafted unicorn

Gracie's unicorn pillow

doll pillow and quilt

the birthday girl

Amber’s family were all in town the weekend of the 12-14^th to celebrate Becca’s girls’ birthdays. They came over to Eastside to worship with us Sunday morning, which greatly increased our normal crowd! Our little group was so happy to have so many visitors! Afterwards, we (us and the Hays and Ricky’s family) went out to eat together before they had to head home. Ricky and Amber came over and spent the afternoon with us. Ricky really wanted to go home and rest, but Archer kept asking to come to Granny and Grandad’s house. He is hard to refuse!

I finished all of Gracie’s presents and took them with us over the weekend. Her birthday is tomorrow. (Can you believe that she is 6 already?!) She really seemed to like the little unicorn that I made her. Unicorns are her favorite animal! She was pleased that the pillow and doll pillow and quilt matched her room décor (they were all unicorn themed, as well as pink). 😊She definitely has her likes!

Since I finished everything on my gift list, I started a new project for me…as well as a new craft. I’m trying paper piecing to make a quilted table runner. I did one practice piece, which I plan to turn into a trivet/hot pad. It took me some time to get the hang of it. I kept trying to orient the pieces in my head, which is NOT a talent of mine. I finally figured out that I could just poke pins through the corners of the triangles that I need to add onto, which enables me to perfectly place the next piece. So things are moving along much better now! I’m getting close to finishing my first 8 blocks (I think there are 16 total). I can’t wait to see how it comes together!

Dennis’ Aunt Geneva passed away last week from pneumonia and sepsis. We were all saddened by her death. Her funeral was in Farmersville yesterday. That’s where Uncle Cecil grew up. We were gone from 9 yesterday morning until 8 last night. Thankfully we had wonderful weather and no traffic problems driving through the metroplex. It was good to visit with friends and family that we rarely get to see…some that we hadn’t seen in many years. I don’t know what Uncle Cecil is going to do without his sweet wife. They were devoted to one another for 65 years.

Last Wednesday, Anita and I went to watch Gone With the Wind at the Ridgmar Theatre in FW. It had been YEARS since I had watched it and never (that I can remember) on the big screen. There were only about 8 others in the theatre, so we all kind of socialized and had fun. I love it when that happens! Anita and I were midnight getting back home, but we had a good time!

Tomorrow we are planning to take Judy out for lunch and visit. We are looking forward to catching up with her. She is such a dear lady! We rarely get to see her much anymore, since we started attending Eastside. She and Josephine have come to a couple of our 5^th Sunday potlucks though, and she is good to touch base with me from time to time.

This Saturday is Lula Mae Neely’s 101^st birthday. They are having a come-and-go party at her house that afternoon. We are looking forward to attending that, too. She is one amazing lady!

I went for my final follow-up with my eye doctor this morning. Everything looked fine, and he said the floater should either disappear or my brain will quit registering it within a few more months. I’m glad to have that behind me. I don’t like having my eyes dilated. I’m still struggling this afternoon with sensitivity to light, so I’m not getting much done today. I’m hoping I can get back to my sewing soon. Right now, my sewing room (the dining room) is just too bright!

Take care and cherish your loved ones!

Ps 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD Is the death of His saints. (NKJV)

Springtime Pleasures

 Can you believe that it is April already?! 

March was filled with good times with loved ones! Right after we returned from our vacation to Big Bend, Stephen's family came to stay a couple of nights. We enjoyed their visit so much! They showed up Sunday afternoon, along with Ricky's family (who they had spent the previous night with). It was great having them all here together. Monday morning, we went shopping at The Crazy Water Hotel. The kids loved exploring the toy store! (I always enjoy it, too!) We still had some time before lunch when we finished, so we headed out to the state park to do some hiking at Penitentiary Hollow. It is a beautiful trail with LOTS of rocks for the kids to climb and pose on. I have to admit, this Granny was a bit nervous at times...those kids are fearless! We got a good workout and then grabbed some lunch before heading home to rest up a bit. That afternoon, Stephen and I took the kids to the city park for an hour or two, while Rosie stayed home with Mom and Grandad to nap. After supper, Stephen took the kids BACK out to the state park for even more hiking! I stayed home to play with Rosie that time. I was pooped!

Stephen's family headed out after breakfast the next morning, and I went to the eye doctor. I had been a couple of weeks earlier and he had checked me really well because of a new floater that had appeared. He said everything looked good but to return if anything new or different showed up. Well, that morning, the floater changed...it looked like an additional one had appeared. He checked it out really well again and said it probably just changed position...there were no new ones. I go back in a couple of weeks for a final checkup. He said if there still are no new ones, we can relax and it will eventually fade away. His fear has been that I might be developing a retinal tear, which if caught early can be repaired. If it leads to a full detachment, it is much more serious. It is still annoying, but I haven't detected any new changes, so I think it is going to be nothing but an annoying floater.

Dennis' latest dental implant failed. UGH! The oral surgeon said the risk of failure is quite a bit higher when the implant is put in at time of extraction, which this one was. So he'll go back in another couople of months and have it done again. Thankfully, the doctor doesn't charge us for the "makeup" implant surgery!

Sheila's family had originally planned to come over when Stephen's family was here to go hiking with us. Unfortunately Caleb ended up with a stomach bug, so they bowed out to keep from possibly infecting anyone else. So they ended up coming over that Saturday for lunch. We had a great visit and fun game of Mexican Train. With school and work, we usually only are able to get together about once a month. But it was really nice being able to visit with all of our kids and grands that week...even it is wasn't all at the same time.

Diane came and spent the night the next week, then we did a little shopping at The Market downtown. We also enjoyed a leisurely lunch before time for her to head back home. As always, I enjoyed our time together. This time, however, Dennis got to enjoy visiting with her too!

That Saturday, Rick and Amber invited us over for dinner. We spent all afternoon visiting and playing with the kids. Archer is at such a fun age! He is learning new things every time we see him. We can carry on conversations with him now, which is a blast. We don't always understand what he's saying, but we can usually get the gist of it. They ended up coming over and going to church at Eastside and spending the afternoon with us the next day, too. We love having them so close!

Last week, on Wednesday, we took Amber and the kids to the Fort Worth Zoo. That is always fun! The weather was nice and the kids were great. The next day, Dennis had his chemical stress test/PET scan done in FW. (The results were normal, thankfully!) Afterwards he wanted to go to Arlington to the Rockler store to get a new tool. We stopped for lunch at Luby's and bumped into Marlin. So we ended up having lunch together and catching up. It was good to see him!

Saturday we went to the meeting in Hurst. They had a houseful! Everyone went to Koh and Michelle's for lunch and visiting afterwards. We SO enjoyed visiting with so many that we hadn't seen in years! Ricky's family also showed up, so we even got extra time with the littles. Archer rode with us to the Box's (which was about a 40 minute drive) and never quit talking the whole way! 

Driving home through the country from Koh and Michelle's was a delight. The bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrushes are at their peak right now. They were gorgeous! We saw large fields full of color. Such a pleasant conclusion to a wonderful day!

Yesterday was a 5th Sunday, which we normally have a guest speaker come and then have a potluck. Since we knew most people would have other plans we decided not to do the potluck, but Jett came and spoke for us. He did a really good job, too! It was the first time I'd heard him speak. We were pretty tired from the week's activities, so Dennis and I just came home (after our weekly lunch at Whataburger) and rested the remainder of the day. 

I have been working on Gracie's birthday gifts the past couple of weeks. I decided to do homemade presents this time. I've finished most of them, but still have one last thing to make. It is going to require more time and skill. I hope to get it made this week. If it turns out like I hope, I'll share a picture after it has been gifted. It is going to try my meager abilities!

I hope you have been enjoying your Spring! Be sure to take the time to appreciate the beauty around us!

Isa 35:1-2 The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, Even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, The excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the LORD, The excellency of our God.  (NKJV)