Hallelujah!

My new little grandson is here! He made his entrance at 9:32 p.m. He weighed 7 pounds 14 ounces and is 20 1/2 inches long. Mommy and daddy are doing fine. They named him Anthony Russell.

Update

At 9:15 p.m. I received a call to let me know that probably within an hour my new little grandson will make his appearance.

I'm Waiting

Today my daughter, Lori, went to the hospital to have my grandson. I just received an update and she is making progress, but she is in quite a bit of pain right now. Hopefully it will go quickly and he'll make his appearance soon. I'm anxious to see this little guy and to learn his name. I wish I could be there with her. But, I know she is in good hands. Todd is there with her and her sister, Rachael, who is an OB/GYN doctor. But she is only there as the sister.

Here is a picture of Lori and I right after she was born. She weighed 9 lbs. and 4 oz. and perfect in every way.

Lori is the fourth child so I had lots of little helpers when I went home. Shannon and Ryan are sitting in the "famous" gold chair. Rachael is standing waiting patiently for her turn to hold her new little sister. There are five years between the oldest, Rachael, and the youngest, Lori. A few years later two more little girls joined the family.

I just got another phone call with an update on Lori. The pain level is much better now. She even took a little nap. I understand that Todd is the model supportive husband. He read the poster for fathers in the hallway of the hospital and he is doing everything it says. Asking her how she is doing, bringing her chocolate . . .

I'll add to this post as I receive info . . .

Blogging Dilemma

I now have a dilemma. I enjoy reading the comments that my friends leave for me, but when they ask me a question, how do I answer them? I tried to go to Tina's page and answer her direct, that didn't work. So I went to the page where the comments and questions were and answered their questions there, and now I'm thinking that they will never see the answers, because who goes back and re-reads posts and comments?

What I Did On My Day Off!!

What to do? So many options. My decision was made. I took my pillow off my bed and grabbed a feather comforter and headed downstairs for the couch. Before I got settled, Bob called in from the back door that he was going in to town to pick-up an electric water bowl for the dogs. The one they had last year wasn't working, so the dogs water was frozen. Then he was going to go to the mall and buy a new cell phone and select a new contract. That did it. I was going too. I grabbed my coat, boots, mittens, and scarf (I left my sweats on because my coat is long and no one would know what I was wearing). Then I remembered that I couldn't get my laptop to download the pictures from my camera card. So I grabbed the laptop too so I could stop by Staples and have them check it out.

Before we left to do a few errands, Bob was cleaning out the garage so he could fit his truck in. Last winter both cars fit in the garage, but during the summer we accumulated a few too many treasures so only one car fit (mine of course). Bob brought in this cute little foot stool he had picked-up at a yard sale this past summer thinking that I might want to re-cover it since I had the day off.

I had picked up this fabric while I was in Michigan. I think the little foot stool looks pretty cute. The legs need to be refinished, but that can wait till later. I did try to touch them up with shoe polish.

The following Christmas pictures are the ones I couldn't seem to take off my camera card, so the man at Staples helped me. It was the same guy that helped me the last time (when I thought my computer crashed, only to find out I didn't have the right cord plugged in).

This is the Christmas tree Bob selected and decorated. We usually take turns decorating the Christmas tree and this year was my year, but I was too busy. Bob likes colored lights and his train running around the bottom of the tree. He hasn't had time to set-up his train, but I know it's coming soon.

I made this centerpiece for the dining room table with the lower branches that were cut off the tree.

The table runner is one I bought in Germany when we went on the Reformation Tour this past February. Natalie made the three little ornaments. I think they are so cute.

I love these beautiful stockings Rachael made for me.

I put candles and a little greenery in a few of the windows. Notice the snow on the outside of the window. I love the snow.

This morning when I left for work, Punkin didn't even come out of her house so I could pet her little head. She was toasty warm in her house on the porch.

Lola wasn't interested in coming out to say good-bye either. Tonight, she will not stop barking. When I go down to check it out, she stops. Now both Punkin and Lola are barking, so I'll go down to check it out. When I knocked on the window the dogs came running from the direction of the barn. I have no idea what they were barking at.

I took this picture looking through the front windsheild of the car as we drove home today.

My day is almost over, and I never did get to curl-up on the couch with my blanket and pillow.

No Work!

Winter has begun here in upstate New York. We have a winter storm warning and there is lots of snow and wind. I have a friend that I carpool with so she picked me up this morning. Fortunately her vehicle has 4-wheel drive because we needed it. Our normally 40-45 minutes trip took us an hour and thirty minutes. When we arrived, there was only one other person there who met us at the car and told us to go home. So, we turned around and came home.

Now, what do I do with an unexpected day off? I couldn't go shopping because (remember) the roads are too bad. I could wrap Christmas presents. I could go back to bed . . .

Friends Visit and the Fun Begins!

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year with my children, grandchildren and husband in Michigan. Bob did most of the cooking and baking for Thanksgiving as well as for the weekend. We left Sunday to go and stay with Adam and Natalie making our trip home a little shorter on Monday. They have done so much work on their new home and it looks great! When we arrived, Adam had just started a fire in the fireplace just for me.

The pictures below are just a few of my Thanksgiving blessings. I'm so disappointed that I was unable to get a picture of Rachael's family. Rachael was on call so I waited for her to get home but she didn't want me to take a picture because she was in her scrubs, so I never got a picture of them together this Thanksgiving.

Lori and Todd and baby boy soon to make is appearance.

Natalie and Adam

Madeline, Shannon and Andy

When I arrived home I checked my e-mail and was so excited to find out that Cathy and Dore, my friends from California, were coming to visit. They would be arriving on Thursday and staying for a long weekend. I was really busy getting everything back in place after my trip to Michigan. Bob helped and we accomplished everything I wanted to have done when my friends arrived (within reason). On Wednesday morning, Bob went to a local tree farm and found the perfect tree which he cut, hauled home, set-up and decorated! It looks beautiful. When I got home from work, we quickly decorated the rest of the house for Christmas and I made a quick trip to the grocery store to pick-up a few items for my menus for the weekend and we were ready for our guests to arrive. I went to work on Thursday morning for a few hours before leaving to pick-up my friends at the airport.

Here are my friends Dore and Cathy in the airport parking lot. They look pretty good for beginning their trip on Wednesday afternoon. They had a terrible flight which had them staying at O'hare Airport overnight.

I was so excited to have my friends come all the way from California to visit me. On Thursday evening they went with me to a women's Bible study and craft class at the church. We also have just begun an outreach program for the community. While some of the ladies finished their clothespin dolls, some of the ladies started putting together baskets for the women's shelter.

Cathy and Dore helped with preparing baskets for the women's shelter after the study. The ladies put five baskets (they used laundry baskets) together which held personal items, a blanket, socks, mittens, toilet paper, paper towels, dish cloths and towels, laundry soap, a towel and wash cloth, a Bible promise book, and other miscellaneous items they might need when leaving the shelter. This is an on-going project the ladies have taken on as their ministry to the community.

We were all three very tired when we got home from the study so we went straight to bed.

After a good nights rest and breakfast (waffles with fresh peach topping and Bob's maple syrup) we headed out for a day of sightseeing. First we delivered the baskets that had been prepared for the women's shelter then we headed for an area that had Amish farms. Cathy and Dore were so excited to see the Amish people, houses, schools, and even shop in an Amish store.

This is a picture of the Amish buggy and horse that arrived at the Amish shop we were shopping at. The mother and daughter wouldn't let us take their picture. The lady in the shop (also Amish) told us the Amish people don't like their picture taken because of the commandment about graven images.

This is a picture of an Amish school house. We saw two of these and each one had a swing set and a teeter-toter as their only playground equipment. The girl on the porch was mopping and when she realized we had stopped she immediately went inside. Did you notice the bell on top of the roof?

We thought this was an interesting picture of how they hang-0ut their laundry to dry.

This is a little shed at the end of an Amish driveway that is used to sell homemade baked breads, sweet rolls, jellies and jams. We stopped and checked it out. The pumpkin sweet roll we purchased was delicious! No one was in the little shop, you just pick out what you want and put the money in a box. While we were shopping, a little Amish girl came running from the house with three fresh loaves of bread, just in case we wanted some homemade bread. She was so cute.

Before we headed home we stopped by Ryan and Lisa's house so Cathy and Dore could meet them and of course I enjoyed getting all the hugs and kisses from the grandchildren. We enjoyed a cup of tea together and then we headed home. It had begun to snow and Cathy and Dore were pretty excited about that. They tried to take pictures of it through the windshield.

Sabbath afternoon we went over to take pictures of the oldest SDA church, built by Adventists, that is still having services every Sabbath.

This is a picture of the outside of the church.

This is the inside of the church. Notice the original pews (I should say benches).


We walked across the street to the cemetery to see where Hiram Edson is buried.

Sunday morning we enjoyed watching the birds outside the dining room windows waiting for Bob to make breakfast for us (French apple hotcakes). Cathy took at least 20 pictures of birds at the bird feeders. We were so excited to see both the male and female cardinals at the bird feeders.

Cathy, Me, and Dore

After breakfast we all got ready to go antique shopping. We were surprised to see us all dressed in black with a red sweater. (I actually had a gray sweater on, and they made me go change so I would match them.) We had so much fun shopping. We also stopped by a bed and breakfast open house.

Dore helps Cathy with her boots and pants.

Cathy had trouble keeping her pants legs down over her boots. When she would bend over to pull them down, all was well. But once she stood up, they would come back up over the boots, so Dore helped her by letting her stand up and she pulled the pants over her boots. It worked! We all three found treasures and had a great time shopping together.

Sunday evening, Cathy and Dore finished their clothes-pin dolls.

Here are the finished little clothes-pin dolls. Aren't they cute?

Monday morning we ate breakfast together and gathered all the treasures accumulated during the few days they were here. I loaned them an old suitcase which they had no trouble filling. Bob made homemade bread to send home with them and we braved the wind and snow as we drove to the airport.

God has blessed me with such a wonderful family and such good friends. And, a great boss that let me have two days off to play with my friends. Won't it be great when we're all together on the new earth and we won't have to say good bye!