68 and Counting

How can I be 68 years old already? My Granny was 67 when I got married, and she was ancient! My mom only had 2 years left to live at my current age. I don’t feel that old!

It has been a great “birthday week!” Last Saturday, Ricky’s family came and spent the day. We made homemade ice cream, blew bubbles, played, visited, and I spent most of the day holding sweet Shelbi. Such a delight!

Monday was my LAST therapy session. I’m not “cured”, but I can effectively work at home to continue my recovery. My OT did a final evaluation, which showed significant improvement in every area. My grip strength had risen from 17 lbs (early in my treatment) to 36 lbs. (I can do 52 lbs with my right hand.) We think a lot of my finger stiffness and soreness is from arthritis. I guess the inflammation from everything that has happened made what arthritis I had worse. (I didn’t really notice much, if any, problems before surgery) I have sensation in all fingers now, although it is still far from normal in my index finger and thumb. (I have a lot of hypersensitivity.) My therapist did say I've progressed to the point to where I don't have to worry about seriously hurting myself. Before I couldn't have felt it if I had cut or burned myself. I'm still very careful but gaining confidence. I’m getting to where I can do most anything now…even turn a doorknob…sometimes. My fine motor skills are still pretty limited, but progress is being made!

After my therapy session, we drove to Paris to spend the night. Stephen’s family were gone on vacation, so we didn’t get to visit with them. Instead, we went to watch a movie, “Young  Washington”. There were only about 6 of us in the whole theatre, which is the way I like it! We enjoyed the movie, then stopped at DQ for a treat on our way back to our room.

The next morning we drove to Texarkana to visit with Dennis’ cousins: Jimmy & Sandy and Terry & Sandra. Sandy served us all lunch, and we had a great time catching up with all of them! 

The next leg of our journey took us to our “cabin” on Lake Catherine. It was so nice. It sat at the end of a dead-end road, overlooking the Ouachita River…so quiet and peaceful and beautiful. The weather was overcast (a little rainy) and cool…great for sitting out on our balcony. We spent Wednesday pretty much just relaxing. We did a little shopping in Hot Springs. The main place I wanted to go was a pottery place that has been owned by the same family for 80 years. I love pottery! It was a mini museum, store, and working pottery shop. I kept looking for “just the right piece” and was about to give up, when I noticed a special collection in a glass cabinet. It was all crystalline pottery. I’d never heard of or seen anything like it. It was so pretty and unique! I fell in love with a lidded vase, but it was way too expensive. Dennis insisted on buying it for my birthday. I love it!

sunset

morning mist

birthday vase

Thursday we spent the day with Warren and Linda. It was the first time we’ve had a chance to visit with them in a couple of years. We so enjoyed our time together! I love their new house. Not only is it perfectly suited for their current needs, but it is so light and pretty. That evening we met up with Ben and Laura’s family and Rebekah and Daniel’s family for dinner. It was nice to finally meet Daniel and their 2 sweet little boys. It was a great day!

Yesterday’s drive home went smoothly. We thoroughly enjoyed our little vacation, but as always, it felt good to be home. This afternoon we’re going to Ricky & Amber’s for my birthday dinner. Ricky is grilling us steaks. YUM! I’m also looking forward to some more snuggle time with Shelbi. They say that evenings are when she is most awake, so I’m hoping to actually get to see her eyes! Ha!

Take care and stay cool!

Ps 37:25 I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

Happy Holidays!

I love this time of year! The weather has finally turned chilly. Pretty lights are hung around town. Christmas music is playing on the radio. And best of all, we get to spend special times with friends and family.

November was busy! Archer and Kacey came for a sleepover, plus I babysat a couple of other times. Ben’s family stayed with us during the Highway meeting. We loved having them and visiting with everyone who attended. We made a quick trip to Harrison for Ken’s funeral. We were so saddened by his passing! He was such a special guy…always there for whoever needed him. My heart breaks for dear Kelli. She is too young to be a widow.

On our way home from Harrison, we stopped by and picked up Amber and Kacey. Ricky and Archer had gone to the funeral and weren’t coming home until Sunday evening. So the girls spent the night and Sunday with us. Kacey was pretty excited to have all of us to herself!

Thanksgiving was wonderful! It was loud and busy and fun. The weather was beautiful, so the kids spent most of the day outside playing. We all (except Dennis) played a silly game where we took turns acting out instructions given on cards drawn…trying to make everyone else laugh. During Gracie’s first turn, she was acting like a T-Rex going around attacking everyone. Archer was warily watching her. As soon as she got to him, he raised is arms as if holding a shotgun, and shot! Didn’t even have to think about it. No T-Rex was going to get him! Ha ha! A little later on, Kacey decided she wanted to play. She made the rounds to everyone saying, “Strawberries”, very earnestly, getting right in their faces. It was hilarious!

Thanksgiving cookies

The next day was Archer and Kacey’s birthday party. Since it was also Amber’s 30^th birthday, Ricky had asked me to surprise her with her own cake. She was surprised! I had a close call with her the day before, when we were getting leftovers out of the garage refrigerator (where I was storing her cake). She followed me to help, and I had to block her to keep her from looking in the fridge. She thought it was odd, but understood as soon as I brought in her cake to the party. It was a great party and lots of fun!

birthday bunch

Kacey's new kitchen

Amber's birthday cake

Dennis killed his second deer last month. It was a nice 10-point! He leaves this Saturday to go to South Texas for his drawn trophy hunt. He’ll be gone all week. I sure hope he brings home the best deer he’s ever gotten. He is pretty excited! Diane plans to come spend a couple of nights while he’s gone. Then next Friday is our annual viewing of “White Christmas” at the Grapevine Palace theatre.

Tuesday evening we went to watch Nam’s choir concert. It is amazing how much improvement was made since last year! The kids did great! Then yesterday, Amber and the kids are came over for the day. Again, we had beautiful weather, so we were able to get outside and play: riding the 4-wheeler, swinging on the rope swing, pushing the kids around in the deer hauler, and just enjoying the warm sunshine. Like I said before, I love this time of year!

I hope you and yours have a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

Isa 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Hello, Autumn, my old friend!

 It doesn't really feel like fall yet, but it is officially here...and the forecast shows a cooling trend for the rest of the week. Bring it on! I went ahead and put out my fall decorations over the weekend. I'm always happy to enter into this season!

Things have been really busy over the past month! We began by celebrating Matt's birthday on Aug.16. It was nice to have him and Sheila and Nam over to celebrate. The following week I started suffering with my annual Labor Day sinus stuff. Happens every year in late Aug/early Sept. I finally broke down on Saturday morning and went to Urgent Care to get some antibiotics and prednisone. That REALLY helped. I had a busy week the next week getting ready for Labor Day weekend. The prednisone gave me the extra "oomph" needed to get everything done! Melissa and Jared's family came and stayed with us for the whole long weekend. They were such a joy to have in our home! We loved visiting with them and everyone else who gathered over the weekend at Lake Mineral Wells State Park. We also loved having all of the visitors with us at Eastside on Sunday morning. We actually had a pretty full house! It was great!

The next weekend, Stephen's family came and spent the night. It was so good to have them here! The kids are all growing up so fast. We don't get to spend nearly enough time with them.

The following Friday, Amber brought the kids over early and left them so she could work on another sculptured cowboy boot cake. It is hard for her to do such an involved project with 2 little ones to care for. We went ahead and kept them overnight so Rick and Amber could enjoy a date night. As always, the kids were so good, and we had a lot of fun with them. Their parents came after lunch on Saturday to get them and spent the afternoon visiting. I love having them so close!

Ricky had to go out of state for work this week, so Amber and the kids came over yesterday to go to church with us and have a sleepover. They spent all day today, too. As well as enjoying our time with the kiddos, I really enjoyed getting to visit with Amber last night after everyone else went to bed. It is rare for us to have one on one time! We barely made it to bed before midnight. Thankfully the kids didn't wake up too early this morning!

Dennis' cataract surgeries both ended up being very successful, and he is really enjoying his much improved eyesight. He can see better than he's been able to for MANY years! It makes me look forward to having mine done next year. I'm hoping for as favorable results as he has had.

Dennis finished up the men's restroom at church and has started working on the women's. He got everything demo'ed and is making good progress putting up the new sheetrock. Our (very) old building isn't easy to work on...nothing is square or level, and there are holes everywhere. It should really look and function so much better when he's done remodeling it!

I wish that I had thought to take a "before" picture. The difference is remarkable!

I haven't done much handwork lately. I was so busy getting ready for company and having company that I just wasn't really in the mood to get ambitious with my crafting. I haven't touched my linen stitch (knitted) hand towel in weeks. It is so slow going and gives my old, arthritic hands a hard time. I did try out a new kind of crochet, Tunisian crochet. It took me a couple of false starts, but I finally figured it out and made a hot pad. I love how it worked up! I'd originally plan to use it for a dishcloth, but it is thicker than I like to use for that purpose (doesn't dry quickly enough, so it can sour easily). But I love the thickness and texture as a hot pad. When I got my fall decorations out, I decided to replace the stems in my crocheted pumpkins with crocheted ones (instead of the cinnamon sticks that I'd originally used). The kids like having soft toys to play with and throw, and I was worried that the sticks might hurt someone...besides the fact that they like to pull them out. So I crocheted up some stems and sewed them on. They were a hit! Crocheting also bothers my hands, but I bought some compression (fingerless) gloves to wear when working. I still have to rest my hands occasionally, but the gloves definitely do help.

Tunisian crocheted hot pad

We have a local farmer's market that is open 2 Saturdays a month "in season". It had been quite a while since I'd checked it out, so I went Saturday. I was much more impressed with it than times past when I'd gone. I got a free-range chicken, some fresh eggs, some local mushrooms and honey, and a couple of other small items. So far, I've only tried the pioppino mushrooms. I'd never even heard of them before. I put them in the boeuf Bourguignon that I cooked for supper tonight. Amber and Dennis seemed to like them. They pretty much tasted like regular mushrooms to me, just a little firmer in texture. I'd like to try out some of the other varieties that they had. I'm really looking forward to cooking the chicken and eggs that I bought. I love being able to buy fresh, local produce.

This coming Saturday is the opening of our local pumpkin patch for the season. Amber is planning to bring the kids, so we can go together. The last time we took Archer to it was 2 years ago. (Last year we took him to the one at Clark Gardens.) I'm excited to see both him and Kacey enjoying the activities they have planned! Life is so much fun with littles!

The following weekend, we plan to go to Paris to celebrate Shepherd's birthday. October starts our busy birthday season. We have Shepherd, Dennis, Mandy and Stephen in October. Then we have Archer, Nam, Kacey and Amber in November. The last 3 months of the year can get quite festive and full!

Take care, enjoy the changing colors of autumn and cooler temperatures, and remember to give thanks in everything!

 1Th 5:18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

 

Spring Blessings

I hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful spring. The weather is glorious (although windy), and the wildflowers are so beautiful right now…the vibrant hues of the bluebonnets, the bright coral of the Indian paintbrushes, the gorgeous fuchsia of the horse mint, and the pale pink of the primroses. I love springtime!

Nam came for a sleepover last month during spring break. We really enjoyed his visit, as always. He is growing up so much! He is now old enough and tall enough to ride in the front seat of our vehicles. He really enjoyed riding in the front of Grandad's truck! The whole dynamic of our relationship is changing. It’s still good…just different. Our three boys are getting so close to adolescence! 

Diane came over the week after his visit and spent the night. We got up the next morning and drove to San Saba for our annual pecan purchase. It was fun having her along for the trip! We also picked up pecans for others that wanted some, so we had a LOT of pecans to bring home. (Of course, we also bought a few treats to eat on the road!) It was a nice day for driving through the countryside. The bluebonnets were just starting to bloom, but it was still a beautiful drive.

The church in Hurst had their meeting the first weekend of this month. We were able to make it over there Friday night and Saturday. We enjoyed the lessons and felllowship. After the Saturday morning assembly, everyone went to Koh and Michelle’s for lunch and more visiting. It was pretty chilly out, but we all enjoyed the food and the time spent together. It was great to catch up with so many loved ones. 

This past weekend, we drove to Paris to celebrate Stephen’s girls’ birthdays (a little early). Friday night, we met up at the park for Shepherd’s soccer practice. (He is completely healed from his appendix surgery!) We took the other kids to the playground while he practiced. It was fun. Little Rosie never slowed down or stopped smiling! That child always has such a big, sweet smile on her face. Afterwards, we went out for Mexican food to a restaurant with outdoor seating. It was such a nice evening to sit out and visit. Saturday morning, the guys and kids fished Stephen’s pond while I played with Rosie and watched. They caught a few fish and just enjoyed the beautiful day. I really enjoyed getting to spend so much time with our sweet little 2 year-old. She is such a doll! 

We had quite a few visitors at Eastside yesterday. The Joiner clan had camped out at the state park over the weekend, and most of them joined our assembly. It was good to see all of them and have a bigger crowd than usual...and hear a good lesson from Andy. Later that afternoon, Sheila’s family came over for dinner to celebrate Caleb’s 20th birthday. (Can you believe that?!) As always, we really enjoyed their visit! It has been so nice to be able to see all of my grandkids within the same week. 

I am now officially drawing Social Security! There were a few hurdles to jump through to get everything lined out. Poor Dennis had to spend ALL of one day on the phone, trying to sort out a mistake that the SS administration had made on the form that he had to sign in order for me to draw off of his earnings. He finally got through to talk to a real person the first thing the next morning. So all has been sorted out, and I got my first deposit on the 2nd. That, plus having our house paid off, will really make a big difference in our monthly finances!

I’ve been working on some small projects this past month…knitting dishrags and pot holders, and sewing some quick items. I decided to make memory bears for the grandsons out of Dennis’ army dress uniform. I’ve finished one, so far. I’ll probably start on bear #2 next week. I have 4 total to make. I’ll share pictures after they are made and gifted. I also made me some PJ pants and some hanging kitchen towels for Mandy. I hope to get some towels made for Amber this week, and maybe another pair of PJ pants for me. I’m doing lightweight cotton that comes to just below the knee for cooler summer sleeping. 

PJs

one of Mandy's towels

Well, that’s what’s been going on around here. Let’s keep those who are facing serious health issues in our thoughts and prayers, as well as reaching out in other ways that we can to help. And remember to count your blessings! 

Isa 61:11 For as the earth brings forth its bud, As the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, So the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

Out with the Old, in with the New

Winter has definitely set in. Of course, we always have nice days interspersed with cold ones here in North Texas (one of the many reasons I like living here). Last week, we missed most of the snow that everyone else got. We got some, and it was beautiful coming down, but it didn’t really stick…just a light dusting. I’m so glad that all my grandkids got enough to play in though.  I really enjoyed seeing the pictures and videos of them! Another blue norther came through today. No precipitation is predicted, but the temperatures are supposed to be pretty chilly.  I don’t get out much when the thermometer drops below freezing. I made my (hopefully) final run to Walmart today, so I should be stocked up for hibernating. 😊

This was about the most coverage we got.

We had a sleepover with Archer and Kacey in early December, so their parents could attend Ricky’s work party. As usual, they were really good! Then a couple of weeks later, their family all came over for an early Christmas celebration. They were heading to New Mexico the next week. So fun watching the kids with their presents! I think Kacey like the little crocheted ornaments the best. LOL!

On the 17^th, we did our annual viewing of “White Christmas” at the Palace Theatre in Grapevine. Gwen and Gina went with me. We met up at Diane’s house, where she and Debbie P were waiting. Then the 5 of us rode together and had supper at Uncle Julio’s. It was Taco Bar Tuesday, so we decided to go with that. We had a blast! Then off to see the movie, where we met up with the rest of the gang. It was great, as always! The drive home was even fun, since I had Gina and Gwen with me. I love our girls’ outings!

We were so shocked and saddened by the death of James Speed! When Dennis came in to tell me, I kept waiting for someone to call and say they’d made a mistake. He was way too young to be gone! My heart absolutely breaks for Chelsey and the kids. He was such a special guy, and we will all miss him terribly. His funeral was in Paris, so we went the night before to get in a little extra visiting time with Stephen’s family.

We had our 5^th Sunday guest speaker and potluck on the 29^th. Layne was our speaker. After the assembly, everyone came over here for lunch. I made a big pot of jambalaya and some homemade ciabatta bread for the occasion. It was great spending time together and enjoying good food.

Sheila’s family came over on New Year’s Day for our annual seafood boil. We all look forward to that! It’s a once-a-year treat. Of course, we enjoy every opportunity to visit with them, too!

Ricky’s family came over and spent last Saturday. We went out to lunch, then went shopping downtown. The littles really enjoyed the outing (as did we adults) ! Archer especially loved Garrett’s Pawn Shop. They have a practice of handing out free ice cream sandwiches to their customers. The guy who runs the place took a shine to Archer and also gave him a free toy race car. That little guy made out like a bandit!

Ricky worked out of town last week, so Amber and the kids had planned to come spend the night. With the weather turning bad, and knowing we’d all be stuck indoors, we figured we’d all enjoy the change of pace. However, Archer woke up with a fever the morning they were supposed to come. Poor little guy felt rotten for about 3 days! He was heartbroken (as were we) that he couldn’t come over. Thankfully, Ricky was able to come home Wednesday night to get ahead of the storms. I know it helped Archer having his dad back home!

Ricky is supposed to be working out of town next week, too, so we are going to try again. Amber and the kids plan to spend a couple of nights and then head out to be with Ricky for the weekend. Hoping that nothing gets in the way this time!

Rosie was sick this week with a high fever. After 2 or 3 days her fever broke and she broke out in a rash…probably roseola. This is a rough time of year for littles! I sure hope no one else gets sick for awhile!

After getting out of my boot and going back to my podiatrist last month, he sent me for airrosti treatments. I was skeptical, but they really helped! It involves some very deep tissue “massage”, which breaks up scar tissue, relaxes muscles and increases blood flow to the area. Exercises to do at home are also prescribed. My foot/ankle is doing great now! I just have to continue the at home exercises as needed. After my first 2 (of 3) treatments, my foot felt fine, but I had developed a pain in my hip that wouldn’t go away. So my therapist focused her efforts on it for my last treatment. It was immediately better, and completely cleared up in another couple of days of home treatment. I’m a believer now!

I made several small projects during December. I did Santa hat towels for a couple of my girls, crocheted ornaments to go on all the presents, crocheted a toy basket (for here) and a highland cow (for Archer), made a snowman table runner and knitted a cap. Then this month I finished up my embroidery journal and crocheted a gnome. I’m currently working on a crocheted hedgehog, but it is much more problematic and time consuming than I expected. The yarn that I bought for the spikes is very hard to work with. It got all snagged and tangled, so I’ve been working on rolling it into balls for the past few days before going back to crocheting. The technique used to make the spines is very slow and tedious, so I’m going to play around with it to see if I can find another way to do it. If I ever get it finished, it should be really cute! So much work for such a small toy!

toy basket

Highland cow

gnome

Snowman table runner (I think this one is my favorite)

I like to begin a new year doing some cleaning and reorganizing. For the past couple of weeks, I have been cleaning out and straightening all of my closets and pantry. I finished the last one today. YAY! I made a trip to the thrift store yesterday with a bunch of stuff to donate. Now I have a bunch more to take. Everything looks so much better and is easier to locate. Now if I can just keep them all that way....

I guess that’s all for now. Stay safe and warm during this cold snap!

Ps 147:12, 16-17 Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion…He gives snow like wool; He scatters the frost like ashes; He casts out His hail like morsels; Who can stand before His cold?

Fall Fun with Friends and Family (I do love alliteration)

Wow, here we are in October already! Even though the days are still plenty warm, the nights are nice and cool. Leaves are falling and there is a tiny bit of color change going on. I've got my fall decorations out, both inside and outside. Things will be pretty busy for the remainder of the year. Most of our family birthdays fall between Oct. 5 and Jan. 30, so presents are piling up in our spare room. I do love this time of year!

As most of you know, Dennis had a stent put in his right carotid artery last month. It turned out being much more blocked than the tests had indicated...90-95%! Everything went well, and he is feeling fine. He goes back next month to have an ultrasound done, and then every 6 months for the next couple of years, to make sure that scar tissue doesn't develop. 

Right after surgery

Day after surgery

In August, Diane came to spend a couple of nights. Even though I'm a 66 year old married woman, I still love sleepovers! I'm a firm believer in "girl time". We spent one day shopping our local downtown. Gina and Gwen joined us. We shopped, did lunch, went to a local ice cream shop, and enjoyed visiting with one another. It was a great day! I look forward to our next outing!

We also visited the HC congregation in August. It had been too long since our last visit there! We really enjoyed seeing everyone and catching up.

Sheila's family came for supper towards the end of the month for Matt's birthday supper. Of course, we always enjoy spending time with them! We have a hard time getting together these days, except for special occasions. I sure miss the days when we saw each other at least once a week!

We kept Archer and Kacey Labor Day Weekend and the following week...7 nights total. Rick and Amber went to Gulf Shores to celebrate their 5th wedding anniversary. The kids did great! We had such a good time with them. On Wednesday, we met up with Sheila at the FW Zoo. It had been raining and was nice and cool. The rain held off the whole time we were there...just a few light sprinkles. The kids had a blast! It was fun to see Archer bonding with Aunt Sheila. She's always been so good with the little ones!

We had our 5th Sunday guest speaker and potluck at Eastside this past weekend. It was our best crowd so far! Koh was our speaker, and he brought 2 of his kids with him. (Michele and Dalton couldn't come due to illness.) We had several more visitors come from the Henrietta Creek congregation. Ricky's family also came for the day. Charles and Linda also surprised us by showing up.  It was great to have a full house again! We SO enjoyed the visits and appreciate everyone who came and made the day so special!

Archer and Gwen did some real bonding

Next weekend (the 11th-13th), we are having a family get-away at Lake Texoma. I am so excited! The last time we did that was six years ago, when we all went to Lake Palestine. We'll be celebrating all of our October birthdays, but especially Stephen's 40th. I've been baking and freezing for the past couple of weeks, getting ready. I want to have everything as prepared ahead of time as possible, so we can spend all of our time visiting, playing games, and just enjoying our time together.

We've had so much going on that I haven't had a lot of time for crafting. I did do a couple of heirloom bears, made from Mom's wedding dress. I also took the plunge and cut up my wedding dress, so I'm ready to do heirloom bears for the granddaughters using it. I hope to start on Gracie's within the next week or so. I'm not in a big hurry to get Rosie and Kaycey's made yet. They won't be "playthings", but rather keepsakes, so they won't really get any pleasure from them for a few years. I'm enjoying making something special from old clothing. I've also starting cutting up and saving Dennis' old overalls, so some day I can make some kind of keepsake from them for the grands.

My bear

Sheila's bear

I hope everyone is enjoying the changing of the season and getting to spend time with loved ones. 

Ac 14:17 "Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness."

 

Summertime Fun

 June started out with me having a cold. Thankfully it wasn’t too bad, but it kept me in most of the week. Dennis managed to avoid it, so that was good!

Dennis went to see his vascular surgeon after having an ultrasound done on his carotid artery. The doctor wanted to do another CT scan on it, which was done last week. He goes back to the doctor on the 16^th to see if he’ll want to do a “clean out” or not. Right now, he seems to be leaning towards doing the procedure. Other than that, everything else is looking good.

We drove to Vian for Morgan and Zach’s wedding on the 15^th. It was a beautiful wedding, and we so enjoyed visiting with everyone. We stayed the night and attended services at Vian the next morning before heading home. It was a quick trip, and we were exhausted when we returned home, but we were very thankful that we were able to attend!

The following Wednesday, we celebrated Sheila’s birthday with a taco supper here. She also requested angel food cake. That’s what I usually do for Dennis’ birthday, since it is his favorite. After supper, she and Matt left Nam here for a couple of nights. That allowed us to have some time together, and they could go out to celebrate by having dinner and watching “Hamilton” at Bass Hall. Of course, we enjoyed our special time with Nam. I took him to the movies Thursday morning. Our local theatre always has special free showings for kids in the summer. We watched "Despicable Me" and shared a box of popcorn. It was fun! Then we returned him to his mom Friday morning, so he could visit with Stephen and Mandy’s kids. Sheila and Matt watched them while their parents went to the matinee showing of “Hamilton”. I love it when the grandkids can spend time together, even if I’m not there to see them. Cousins are such special friends!

Amber and the kids have been over a couple of times, plus the whole family spent one Sunday with us. I also babysat last week, so Amber could go for a checkup. Little Kacey is changing every time we see her! She is sitting up much better, reaching for and playing with things, and trying so hard to scoot around! She usually ends up going backwards unless she has something behind her to push off of with her feet. She has cut 2 teeth and is eating more “real” food. She is such a social little girl…quick with a smile for everyone. She absolutely adores her big brother and babbles and giggles at him all the time. It is so fun watching both of them! Last week when they were here, we made our usual trip to Atwood’s. It was Kacey’s first visit there. She loved looking at the baby chicks! She wanted to get down and play with them! We noticed some pool noodles while shopping, so we bought a couple to bring home for Archer to play with. He had a blast! Of course, we had many “sword” fights. He discovered, to his delight, that if he stood on his little stool that he could touch the ceiling with the noodle. He was SO proud of himself! Kacey just enjoyed squeezing and trying to chew on them. 😊

I made a little dress set for Kacey last month. The pattern went from size 6 mo to 12 mo, so Amber chose the larger size. It may be a little while before it fits her. I can’t wait to see her in it! I’ve also been doing a little knitting (dishrags) and crocheting (face scrubbies). Last week I sewed a pumpkin hot pad for this fall. I plan to do a pumpkin table runner next. I also have a couple of pillows that I plan to make soon.

Thiess brought some of the bounty from their garden to church last week. I ended up with several peppers, so I decided to try my hand at pepper jelly. It turned out so good! I’m not a big jelly eater, but when I do eat it, I usually want some kind of pepper jelly. I’ve got enough put in the freezer to last me a good long time!

It finally turned summer here last week! Temperatures have been up around 100 degrees every day. It has been too unpleasant to get much use from my chair in the front yard. I did enjoy it while Nam was here! Before it turned hot, I’d also go out in the cool of the evenings and enjoy watching the day wind down.

Dennis built me a broom closet in the garage last month. He’s still working on the doors, but it is already functional. I love it! I always kept my brooms/mops between the freezer and wall. It was a pain getting them out to use. Now I just open the door to the garage and there they are within easy reach. I love having custom made storage!

We had our 5^th Sunday guest speaker and potluck yesterday. Jett was our speaker, and his mom also came. It was great to see her again! Diane also came over for the day. We enjoyed a wonderful lesson and fellowship, as well as a delicious lunch at Thiess and Gina’s. We were short a few of our locals, due to sickness. We were so sorry that they couldn’t enjoy the day’s activities.

This week we have a couple of days of 4^th of July activities planned. Our local fireworks display is going to be Wednesday night, instead of on the 4^th. Ricky’s family will be coming for supper and staying to watch them with us. Then Thursday, Sheila and I have plans for our annual birthday outing. We’re going to lunch, then to a movie. That evening, the whole family will be coming over for a hamburger cookout and homemade ice cream. Looking forward to all of that!

I hope you all have a wonderful 4^th of July week! Be thankful, not only for the freedoms we have in this nation, but also the freedom we have in Christ Jesus.

1Pe 2:15-16 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men--as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. (NKJV)