Sunday, February 27, 2011

Winter Wonderland

I couldn't resist taking these pictures this morning! It's so beautiful!



Heavenly Father I praise You!
You are the Creator!

Saturday, February 26, 2011

New International Friends

I'm now sponsoring three students from Northwood University. They are all from China. Vincy, myself, Koko, Andrew (American name).
This is through International Friends Organization. We had a really nice time this evening at a photography exhibition reception. We looked at pictures by a photographer who happens to be a friend of Jerry and me. We just visited and got better acquainted. They gave me a gift (typical), a beautiful plate from China! I'm holding it in the picture. I'll put it in a very special place in my dining room. 
This second picture is of Kelly with Vincy, Koko, and Andrew. Kelly is a friend from Haiti. They had never met before but they hit it off. We all had a really good visit.
Lord, thank You for my new friends. Help us to grow close in friendship. 

Friday, February 25, 2011

Journal

     Well, we, Jerry and I, have just gone through an experience I hope we don't have to repeat ever. It was a very interesting, stressful experience, a tough time.  Here's the story:


     Jerry was scheduled for a colonoscopy Thursday. He had to prep himself Wednesday and early Thursday morning. The prepping is the worst part of a colonoscopy, if you've never had one. Anyway, he ate his last meal Tuesday at supper time. Wednesday all day he only ate jello, pop sicles, beef bouillon, water, etc. Then he had to drink 32 ounces of Gatorade mixed with some kind of powder. He also had some pills he had to take three different times of the day.
     After taking the last two pills about 8:00 PM Wednesday he began to feel sick so he went to bed. About nine he had to get up to go to the bathroom...again. But he didn't make it. He was in the doorway reaching for the light switch when he suddenly passed out and then collapsed. I was scared to death. I couldn't do anything with him or for him so I called 911, also Rob & Jessica. They were all here in no time! About 10 men and two woman!  They checked him over very good. He was throwing up and in really bad shape so they took him to the hospital in an ambulance. Rob and I followed in our car. They ran all kinds of tests, etc. We were actually in emergency from about 9 something PM to 3 something AM! Then he was admitted into the hospital and taken upstairs to F floor. 
     That's the floor Jessica works on!  He wasn't assigned to Jessica but he was to one of her very good friends. Jessica stopped in his room every chance she had to see how he was.
     The doctors were thinking they would skip the colonoscopy. I told them no way...after going through the prepping he had to have it done! So...
     The surgeon went ahead and did the colonascopy Thursday morning. NO CANCER! Yeah! Thank You, Lord. They ran all kinds of tests to figure out why he passed out and didn't really come up with a reason other than he was dehydrated. 
     Haleigh, Elmise and Armon each made a get well card for Grandpa. They are really well done and very sweet.
     We got home a little after 7:00 last evening. We have to sleep downstairs for a few nights, Jerry isn't to climb stairs for a few days and he's to rest.

     About an hour after we got home, there was a knock at the door. Haleigh, Elmise and Armon all wanted to give Grandpa a hug! Rob came with them through the woods to Grandpa's house! They stayed about 10 minutes then gave another round of hugs, said good-bye, and trekked back through the woods to their house. Armon had so many questions about the ambulance, staying at the hospital, being sick, and ...  He's a very normal and sweet six year old boy. It was a sweet visit and meant a lot to both Jerry and me.
     Heavenly Father, I praise You because You are our Healer. Thank You for being with Jerry. Thank You for the report of no cancer. Thank You for good doctors, nurses, and ambulance people. Please continue to be with Jerry and help him to get his strength back. I love Jerry so much and You love him even more!



Monday, February 21, 2011

Happy Birthday Feb 21

Happy Birthday, Sean! I'm sorry I don't have a good picture of you this year. You're a good son in law. You and Christy have given Jerry and me five beautiful grandchildren! Thank you very much! I do wish we lived closer but I'm happy for you living where it's warm, with a good job to support your family. I hope we can get together soon. I wish for you a very Happy Birthday.
Lord, watch over Sean each day as he works to support his family. Please keep Sean and the whole family safe and well. Give them good times together. Reveal Yourself to him. I love him, Lord, and I know that You love him even more.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

New Friends

Last evening I had an amazing evening! I was invited to a Chinese supper at some friend's house, Bob and Consi. There were 10 Chinese students there cooking our supper in a hot pot! Have you ever had this? The pot is electric, there is a divider in the center so hot spicy is on one side and mild is on the other. More foods are added into the hot broth as they are taken out to eat. It's so hot even the meat cooked in a very few minutes!
These four girls are all preparing food to go into the hot pot. My friend, Consi, didn't have to do anything except set the table! Be sure to click on the pictures to see them up closer.
Here's most of the whole gang! Ten Chinese students, plus Consi and Bob and their daughter and son-in-law. You can see all the dishes of foods that went into the hot pot! We ate from the little individual bowls at each place. Everyone ate with chop sticks...I was handed a fork! It was a very fun time! I made new friends!
After supper I saw three of the students playing Candy Land with Dana, granddaughter of Consi and Bob! 
Happy Birthday, Bing! 


Andrew and his girlfriend! My two special friends. We had a very nice visit. 


Heavenly Father, thank You for my new friends. Thank You for the wonderful evening I had yesterday. It was a lovely evening. Thank You for the friendships Consi and Bob have made with these Chinese students. Thank You for giving me the privilege of being invited.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Journal

     What to write...? What do I feel...? Do I trust God...? Is God in control...even when it doesn't look like it...? 
     Our two newest grandchildren, Elmise and Armon, have been here over a year now. They have adjusted amazingly well. How can there be such a glitch in the adoption process? 
     The judge, here in our county, is refusing to sign the final adoption papers. Thousands of dollars have been paid out already for this. Now new forms are having to be made out...so the kids won't have to be sent back to Haiti! Almost a thousand dollars for each one has to be paid again! They have to file for green cards in order to stay in the US! 
     So many folks are praying for a miracle but nothing is changing. Where is God in all this? I keep maintaining that He is in control but... 
     I'm being very frank here in my doubting. Lord, help my unbelief. We need a miracle here. You've been with Rob and Jessica and all of us through this whole process. Where are You now? Please, help my unbelief! Give me a new sense of Your Power.             I do believe...I do believe...

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Journal

     Oh no, I wrote in Lorraine's birthday blog that we never argued or got mad at each other as children. But I've suddenly remembered one time! We weren't children any more. She was a young teenager and I was close behind. We were in the growing up phase of our young lives.
     We were living in our new house in Elk Run Heights, (Waterloo) Iowa. It was a small house. Lorraine and I shared a bedroom with a bunk bed. Lorraine had a nice dressing table with a pretty skirt tacked around the edge and a glass top, which fit the rounded edge perfectly. She usually slept on the top bunk but some reason I was on the top this particular night. Maybe I got to have a week on the top bunk...I really don't remember. 
     In the night or early in the morning, I had to get up and go to the bathroom. We had a way of climbing up to the top bunk but somehow in my sleepiness I stepped down onto her dressing table! It toppled over, the glass top breaking into several pieces! 
     I felt so badly. She was very upset and angry with me. I didn't mean to do it, but that didn't seem to matter. It was hers and I broke it.
     This is the only time I remember there being a bad feeling between us. 
     Lord, I thank You for my childhood, for my sister, for our very good relationship. Thank You for keeping me from getting badly cut and hurt from falling. I love You, Lord.

Happy Birthday Feb 15

Happy Birthday, Lorraine! You are so relaxed in this picture! What a great smile! I surely wish we lived closer to each other. I enjoy our phone conversations so much. In reminiscing we've both realized that as children...sisters, we never fought, got mad at each other, argued, etc. I wonder how many sisters can say that honestly. I'm so glad we can! We've always respected each other, respected our differences. Neither of us is perfect, believe it or not. But that's one good trait for each of us, we always got along. We loved playing together as children, yet we both had our own friends. I wrote a story about us as children (I know you've read it, Lorraine). It's posted on mylife-experieces.blogspot.com in case anyone else would like to read it. (Experiences is misspelled, I know. I can't seem to fix it so readers also have to misspell it!)
Lord, thank You for Lorraine. Life isn't always easy so please be with her in a very real way. Keep her well and safe. Bless her with Your Presence. I love her so much and You love her even more!

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Party Time!

 For Elmise's party we went to the Community Center to the pool. The kids and Rob had so much fun! It's a great pool. Jessica and I were there and another friend but we didn't go in the water. After a couple hours of swimming we all went to Pizza Hut. I took the Humming Bird Cake with candles in it. So the picture here is Elmise blowing out her candles. Sydney and Bella were here for the party too. Click on the pictures to see them closer.
Lord, thank You for good times with family and friends.


Humming Bird Birthday Cake

Elmise ordered a humming bird cake for her birthday party! Oh boy. I used a picture of one from a puzzle, in fact, that's where she got the idea for the cake! It wasn't easy and it's far from perfect... But she came over so I let her see it... She said, "Oh Grandma, it's perfect!" In the picture she's touching the eye. It's a piece of black licorice. By the way, this is a Ruby Throated Humming Bird, in case you can't tell.
Puzzle and cake.
Lord, thank You for Elmise. Thank You for helping me with the cake and for her liking it. (You know, I was very nervous) Thank You for birthdays.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday, Elmise! You've been a part of our family now for a little over a year! I can't believe how well you have adjusted to life here. You're nine years old today. You don't have to sit in a booster seat in the car any more! This picture was taken last week on the day you had your hair braided. You are so beautiful...to me!!! These are the words to a song and they came to my mind when I saw this picture! You were a flower girl in a wedding for the person who led you and all the other children to safety after the earthquake in Haiti. How exciting is that!
Lord, how I thank You for Elmise! She's a beautiful young girl. Please keep your hands upon her life, keep her safe and well and happy. Please help her to learn more about You and to always love You and want to live for You. I love her so much and You love her even more!

Monday, February 07, 2011

Shoveling the Roof

Rob is pulling the snow off the sun room roof before we get any leaks in there! We have about 18 inches of snow on the roof! We appreciate his help so much. We need even more done so maybe tomorrow...
Rob is snow blowing the path      between our yard and his! This is necessary with all the trips we all make back and forth!                                                   Lord, how I thank You for willing helpers. Even John, who plows for us helped out. Thank You for Larry's help and for Rob coming and lending a hand. Please give Jerry more strength and also the ability to say that he needs help. It's more than he can do, now days. I love You and thank You for all Your blessings to us.

A Friend Indeed

Larry & Jerry
     A friend, Larry, came over to help Jerry pull the snow off the porch roof. It had really built up and is shaded all day so even on warmer days it didn't melt off. Now the roof is leaking! Thank goodness it's only the porch roof leaking and not the house roof! 
     I tried to get more pictures but my camera batteries went dead. We have no more in the drawer. But this is a pretty good picture. Click on it! Now this afternoon I get to shovel the steps off! 
Lord, I thank You for the snow...anyway!

Winter Wonderland

These two pictures, of our back yard, I took this morning from our deck. Everything is covered with beautiful snow. 

                                                                                     I took this picture from our front porch. It's really beautiful this morning. Snow is covering everything. I hope you remember to click on the pictures.
I praise You, Heavenly Father, because You are the Creator.

Small Group, Chili Supper, Super Bowl

Jerry, Rose, Larry, Creston.
Sharon, Dianne, Laurie, Donna.
Anita & Jerry.
  






  



Last evening we had a good time with our small group friends. We started out the evening with eating our supper of chili, salad, veggies, corn bread, cookies & coffee cake. It was all so good. We didn't really have a deep discussion on the content of the sermon, preached by Supt. Dan, although it was very good. Then we had a great prayer time. The guys went to the living room to watch the football game and we, women, sat around the table chatting. It was a good time.
Thank You, Lord, for good friends, good fellowship, good discussions, good prayer times with our focus on You.

Saturday, February 05, 2011

Dining Room


 This is my dining room after moving some things around. In the first picture, the china cabinet used to be on the wall where the two clocks are now. It just fit beside the window. So then I wanted the other China cabinet moved closer to the window on the other side. I think you can see what I mean in the last picture. To move the dark cabinet I had to remove all the china. I couldn't take the chance of a shelf falling. I have too many Bone China and precious cut glass. A lot of the Bone China came from my mother, but not all of it. The cut glass is true cut glass from a factory in Indiana. They were all given to us as wedding presents. So everything is changed in it. I took a picture of just the china. If you click on it you can see details.

This shows the two china cabinets on either side of the window. It gives the room a whole new look! 
Lord, thank You for my precious china and other valued pieces in my dining room. Thank You for all my blessings.

Journal

Here I am again...just thoughts going through my head. 
     I'm dog sitting this weekend. Rob's family has gone out of town to a wedding. Elmise is the flower girl! The bride is the person who led the children, after the Haiti earthquake, away from the orphanage to a safe place. Our Haitian friend, Magdala, braided Elmise's hair so she looked beautiful when they left here yesterday morning. Her hair should stay beautiful for several weeks! I don't quite get it...
     I covered our new sofa and chair so Plaid can't lay on our new furniture. I hope he's not offended! Rob's family will be back tomorrow afternoon. I take him for walks about four times a day so I'm getting good exercise and so is he. It's very cold out but I bundle up so it's not bad. This morning the air was so crisp and cold, it was invigorating! I loved it! It was just beginning to get light out, I took a cup of hot coffee with me... It was a good start to my day!
     Jerry has helped me rearrange the dining room! I like it, we're not quite finished but almost. We'll finish today. 
     Jerry's not feeling real good for some reason. I hope he gets over this real soon. It's not exactly fun for me either! Just kidding...
     Our snow plow man, John, is back from his vacation so with the next snow he'll plow us right out. He feels bad to have missed the big storm of the year! His wallet misses it too!
     A friend of mine suggested I save all my stories on my other blog, Anita's Adventures. Yesterday afternoon I copied and pasted and then printed out all the stories! It took several hours, but they are now in a nice neat notebook! I've written 32 and have lots more stories to write! It's nice to know she thought they were worth saving!
     Tomorrow we're having a super bowl, small group, chili supper! We're starting early so hopefully we can still have our discussion. It's a meaningful time so I'm sure we will if we can. It's going to be a fun evening. Jerry is going to make his delicious chili in the morning so it'll simmer all day, everyone will bring veggies, corn bread, desserts, etc. Hopefully we won't lose our cable like we did a couple of weeks ago when it was also a very big football day! 
     I must get busy now. So until next time...
     Heavenly Father, I praise You because You are always with us. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Forgive me for taking You for granted. Thank You for this day. Please touch Jerry so he'll feel better. Help me as I take care of Plaid and also finish my cleaning and rearranging. I love You, Father.

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Journal

     The big snowstorm of 2011! We're snowed in but we knew it was coming so we're prepared. We have no reason to go anywhere. John, who plows our driveway, went to Jamaica for vacation and was due back yesterday...his flights were cancelled. No surprise there! 
     Jessica (daughter-in-law), is a nurse at the hospital, she made it on time this morning by leaving way early. Three people had to help push her across the main street she had to cross at 6:30 this morning!
     I was praying off and on all night for Rob (son). He drives all night delivering meds all over the state. I was so worried about him in this awful snow storm. He made it safely and got stuck in the drive of where he works! He had to wait three hours to be plowed out!!!
     No school today, of course. The kids are here so Rob can sleep in a quiet house. At lunch time I thought I'd fix them grilled cheese sandwiches and chips...Haleigh wanted breakfast for lunch! Okay, bacon, scrambled eggs and a bowl of cereal! Elmise and Armon saw the boiled dinner Jerry made for us yesterday and wanted to try it. Ham, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, etc. They loved it and each ate a whole bowl! Wonders will never cease!
     
     I have a new feature on the right side of my blog. It's a nutritional site! Try it out...it's very good. So much good information and you can look up anything.  


     We're supposed to get another snow storm tonight. I love snow storms...but not when I have a son out driving across the state. 


     I'm loving our new furniture. Yesterday afternoon I rearranged our living room and love it even more. I have an old treadle sewing machine that I really have no room for. I really don't even know if it works, I've never tried to sew with it. It's not a family heirloom, it's just an old sewing machine. I offered it to Haiti but I guess it wasn't needed. If someone would like it, call me and come and get it... 


     Heavenly Father, I praise You. Your Love falls on me like the pure white snow flakes that come silently floating down through the sky. Thank You for watching over us during this snow storm. Thank You for keeping Rob safe and for helping Jessica drive to work early this morning. I love You. Thank You for our precious grandchildren.

Tuesday, February 01, 2011

New Furniture

     Here is my new sofa! It looks really nice in the living room. We're used to very light furniture, now we have very dark...it's going to take some getting used to. But it's very comfortable to sit on. The pillows that came with it are beautiful and we only expected two. There are four pillows!
     This is my new platform rocker with a matching ottoman. It's so comfortable...I fell asleep last night watching a movie on the Hallmark channel and missed the ending. :( Oh well, it was just a movie.
     My computer desk and printer are behind the rocker so it looks messy back there...sorry. I don't know how to have a computer desk orderly. I try...
     Remember, you can click on the pictures to bring them up closer.
     Thank You, Lord, for our new furniture. We are so blessed.