One Of The Nicest Days I've Had In A Long Time

Jon and I had already decided last night that we wouldn't go to church because they were predicting a big snow storm to begin around 4:00 a.m. Even though we're only about 2 miles from church, it's still too far in bad weather.

We slept in, the 3 of us ate breakfast together and Jon and I watched "A Bethlehem Christmas", a 4-session DVD series by Max Lucado. It was very good and was a great start to our day.

Jon spent most of the day in his office painting miniature figurines for his winter project. It is always cold in that room so he made himself a DIY heater he saw on FB one day. It really works and warmed up the room. I just hope we don't have to use it because the electricity is off one day.

After watching the DVD I continued to sit in the recliner and took a small nap. Then I made us turkey salad sandwiches for lunch. I finished my kitchen tree. It's a 5 foot pencil tree that has kitchen ornaments on it, as well as my mom's old red handled kitchen utencils. If you click on the picture, you might be able to enlarge the picture and see the ornaments.

I put in a doTerra order, finally responded to an e-mail I received in November, then Jess and I had home made Chex Mix for an afternoon snack. I looked at FB for an hour or so then took another nap!

We had a nice dinner of home made turkey noodle stew and salad. It made a thumbs up from Jessie! She even asked for more of the stew. It was just the drippings from a turkey I did on Friday, turkey meat, noodles and stuffing (Jon said it was like eating miniature dumplings).

I wanted to take a picture of some of my around-the-world nativity sets that I set up this year. There are sets from Africa, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Jerusalem and Haiti. The wreath holds "the Heavenly Hosts" - my angel collection.

It's still snowing outside. Jon and I split the cost of having our property snow plowed this year. Tonight is one of the nights that it has paid off. We have quite a bit of snow and they plowed the front and back driveways, shoveled the front walkway, steps and porch, as well as a path from the back porch to the back driveway. I feel so blessed. A weight was lifted off my shoulders. Snow falls always seem to come when Jon was at work, worked 3 12-hour days together and was physically unable to do it. I love to shovel, but I can't do it anymore either. It was hard finding someone to shovel, or Jon had to shovel hardened snow.

A Bunch of "Have To's"

This past week has been filled with many small things that had to be done, like:

have the oil changed in the van and have tires rotated,

go to the bank to exchange Christmas Jar coins for currency,

blood work for Jon and Jessie,

wait in a long line at the post office to get our mail that didn't fit in the box,

Christmas shopping,

get gas in the vehicles,

watch Darla poop, pick it up, and take it in for worm testing, (she's clear!)

set up a training interview for Darla,

more Christmas shopping,

paperwork,

food shopping and getting extra in case we're stuck for a few days,

(big snow storm supposed to be coming tomorrow night)

complete Christmas decorations in the house,

continue to prepare for our SM Christmas Dinner, 

get my hair colored and cut, and

finished emptying the garage so the van can be cozy at night.

Actually, that's about all I can remember tonight that I've done this past week. Right now I'm ready to go upstairs and rest, but I have bills that need to be paid and in the mail tomorrow before the snow falls. I'm sure we're going to get something, as both Jon and I have had achy joints all day. 

Jon began a new medication for his joint pain about 3 months ago and it has worked very well. Unfortunately, because he has responded so well to it, the doctor believes he has rheumatoid arthritis.
That's really not good, but at least there's an answer to his pain.

Decorating For Christmas

We finally got the family room tree decorated. I had my ornaments on it last year so this year was Jessie's turn to put all her ornaments on. She has a couple rubbermaids full and almost all are on the tree.

As you can see, if you will enlarge the pictures, you'll see ornaments that she made in school, some I made and some that are small toys or stuffed animals that fit well in holes in the tree. The close up one has her baby comb on it, a first year ornament and a baby picture.

Jon decided he'd put his tree up after I twisted his arm. He hasn't put it up in a couple years. He, too, has ornaments he made, I made and baby and child toys that became ornaments.Jessie unwrapped all his ornaments and handed them to him to place on the tree. She did the same with hers.

Celebrating Christmas

Thursday evening, December 1, Chris, Lois and I went to Shepherd's Gate Lutheran church (where I go for Bible Study) for their Ladies Advent event. The entertainment was 3 women who acted out Parables from the Bible. Refreshments in their gym followed the funny, audience participation drama.

Tonight I met Chris at her church (Woodside of Romeo) for their Annual Ladies Tea. It was really nice. The food was good and plentiful and the lady who spoke was excellent.

It was different being in their sanctuary turned into a tea room. Thirty-three years ago I was married in this church, then First Baptist Church of Romeo. The structure has changed a lot since we left there in 1990. Bill attended there since he was in the nursery. Chris has been there since she was in high school.

Happy December 1

On Thanksgiving I put down my regular books and grab the Christmas books that I buy all year when they're a lot less expensive. This year I began about a week before Thanksgiving. I have read 6 Christian Fiction Christmas books and 2 non-fiction Christmas books. They are ...

The Angel Ornament Project by Melody Carlson

A Stranger's Prayer by Davis Bunn

Dashing Through the Snow by Debbie Macomber

Starry Night by Debbie Macomber

The Christmas Town, by Donna VanLiere

A Christmas Snow, by Jim Stovall

A Bethlehem Christmas by Charles Swindoll

On This Holy Night - The Heart of Christmas by M. Lucado, D. Jeremiah, 

J. Hayford, R. Warren, J. Maxwell and B. Hybels

When it comes to fiction, I practically inhale the stories. For non-fiction, I need to slowly meditate and "chew" on the words. I underline phrases or paragraphs then share them with friends. I REALLY liked A Bethlehem Christmas, by Charles Swindoll. He told the Christmas story through the eyes of Mary, Joseph and the angel Gabriel. Being a Christian for as long as I have (since I was 5), I enjoy learning new things about "the old, old story". It makes it fresh again for me.

Jessie and Darla

When we had to find a new home for the dog we had for 3 days in the summer, Jessie kept saying she wanted Memphis. God knew what Jessie wanted and two weeks ago provided us with a dog that looks just like Memphis, except she's a she and she's about 30 pounds lighter than he was.

Her name is Darla and she will be 3 years old on January 20, 2017. Jessie loves her and likes playing with her, something she couldn't do with Memphis because he was trained NOT to play. She's even let Darla in her space in the family room by the "fireplace". No one goes in her space, nor do we touch her cards. Darla hasn't been that careful with the cards, yet Jessie hasn't screamed like she would have if I made the mess.

Darla will be going to "school" in a week or so. After the initial regular dog training, we will see if she can be certified as a therapy dog for Jess.

The picture below was Memphis. They could be related, don't you think?












Jessie has her Memphis back! Sort of. Wasn't God gracious to give Jessie a dog that she wanted! We are blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving

It's been way too long since I've blogged. I'm honored that many of you have sent me notes or told me that you miss my blogs. I've actually missed making them.

My goal was to go back and recap each day since I last blogged, mostly because I have my blogs put in to books every 4 months. I may still do a small version of that in the coming days.

We 3 are well. Today we were invited to Chris' house for dinner with her family, but I felt that there would be too many people for Jessie with Chris' entire family there.

Doreen then invited us, and we spent the afternoon with them. There were just the 5 of them and 3 of us.

Jessie did really well. She spent all her time in the back bedrooms with Shiloh on their iPads. I also found Shiloh reading to Jessie from her books.

We ate a delicious dinner, played Tenzi, ate dessert then watched tv for a bit before we left around 5.

I hope that you had a blessed day with friends or family. I hope that your food was plentiful and what ever you did made lots of good memories.

Love,
Nancy