Snow, snow, and more snow! And a giveaway....

We are once again snowed in here in West Michigan. All church services are canceled all around us. We drove to church this morning and had to come to a complete stop several times because of zero visibility. That is so scary to drive in. We should have double checked the TV before we left since they ended up canceling 2nd service also. I am tired of looking at snow so I just couldn't post another snow picture. Doesn't this one look way better?!?!

I really wanted to borrow one of Kat's pictures like this one, or these, or even these. I am so envious of her gorgeous view!

I have turned of the comments for this and will be posting a winner tomorrow.

This will be post number 97 for me. You know what that means don't you. I need to start thinking about my 100th post. I really doubt I am creative enough to come up with 100 different things that are post worthy so I am asking for your help. In return for your help I will be giving away this...

or this...

I will let the winner take their pick.
You don't need to have a blog to be included just leave an e-mail for me to get a hold of you if you win. Unless you are one of those secret ladies from church who read but don't comment. You don't need to leave an e-mail, just a comment because I know how to find you. Wink!
All you have to do is leave a comment to this post with a question about me that you would like me to answer. Please no duplicates. After I have posted my 100th post I will use the random number generator thingy to pick the winner. I can't wait to see what y'all are wondering about.

For my bloggy friends outside of the USA please join in. I will include you in the drawing and if you win and shipping is too expensive for me I will try to figure something else out for you like a gift card online.

Smiles!

Skating with Melissa.

Here are a couple videos of the ice skating that Melissa mentioned in her post today. The group that went this time was Mark, Zack, Melissa, Anna, Dani (Anna's friend), Kaylyn, Sarah (Kaylyn's friend), and Libby.
Smiles!

8 in 2008 check in time.

1. Keep up our 1,000 Gifts List
-things have been added.
2. Work @ becoming a Proverbs 31 woman
-needs more intentional effort put into it
3. Consistant quiet time/devotions
-falling back into old habits
4. Memorize scripture weekly
-none so far
5. Spend 1 on 1 time with each child
-some of this has happened. probably need to set up a goal for how often.
6. Complete sewn gift for Julie and Leo
-haven't touched it but have been working on a gift for the upcoming baby.
7. Build up to run with Anna this summer
-snow days. do I need to say more. I guess I need to get on the treadmill.
8. Complete knitted gift for Crystal and Jeremy
-have made significant progress on this.

Looks like I need to be more intentional. Looking forward to a better report in March.
Smiles!

Here we go again!

You guessed it, yet one more snow day for the kiddos in West Michigan. This time it is working in our favor. You see we, Anna and I, had planned on seeing Tori come home from Haiti at the airport at 11:27pm last night (wow that is late). Due to the weather they got stuck over night in Miami so now they will be arriving at 2:00pm this afternoon. This will be much easier on this old mom who likes to get her sleep at night. We can't wait to welcome her home!

Smiles!

For something profound jump over to Blessed.. and see her post today. Be blessed!

Doing much better.

Thank you to everyone for your concern, care and prayers. My Grandparents are doing much better already.

It got really ugly after I left yesterday and the nursing staff suggested all of the visitors leave (which at that point was my folks, my uncle and his wife) so that they could assist Grandpa better with Grandma. They also put a call into her doctor to explain what was going on and how she was behaving (very aggressive). The doctor increased her anxiety medication and that really seemed to help.

My folks returned after dinner and they said it was a night and day difference. Dad was even able to take Grandpa to the building they moved out of so that he could play some pool. Mom said Grandpa was quite proud of the fact that he beat my dad in 4 out of 5 games. Mom was able to sit and visit with Grandma and watch some Wheel-of-Fortune (Grandma's favorite, she can usually solve the puzzles before the contestants).

Grandpa was also shocked to see how much food they got. All of their meals are now provided whereas they had a full kitchen in their old unit and would eat there a lot when Grandma wasn't up to going to the dining room.

Dad and Mom are feeling much more comfortable with leaving tomorrow knowing that Grandpa and Grandma are in capable hands.

Thank you for your prayers!

Smiles!

One tough day.

I love my Grandpa and Grandma! It hurts my heart to see them suffer. They are 89 and 88 years old and Grandma is in "advance stages of dementia" and Grandpa has been dealing with congestive heart failure. My parents were scheduled to leave on vacation last week Friday. They are supposed to be heading down to Arizona to visit with my Aunt.

Ten days ago Grandpa was hospitalized for the day with a flare up of the congestive heart failure. They were able to get him stable but sent him home with an oxygen machine. My folks had already been telling Grandpa that taking care of Grandma is taking too much of a toll on him and he needs to let others help him with her. Well this finally convinced him because it took him quite awhile to recover from it this time. He isn't able to get up quickly and if Grandma gets it in her head that she is leaving she will up and leave and he can't catch up with her. They were currently living in a retirement village but not receiving any help as far as nurses. Grandma is on a lot of medications and it is getting hard for Grandpa to get her to take them. Everyone has been taking turns visiting them a couple times a week just so Grandpa could have a break and go play cards and pool with some of the other guys in the building. However, it is hard to convince Grandma that he will be right back and sometimes she goes to get him but thankfully by the time she finds him she forgets why she was looking for him and will go back to their unit again.

Today we moved them to the next building over from where they were. It is 24 hour nursing care for both of them. All of their meals are provided, laundry is done for them, medication is dispensed and the huge plus is all the doors to the outside are locked. Grandma can not get out of the building. It requires a key code in order for the doors to open and Grandma could never remember it.

My Uncle's wife took Grandpa and Grandma to visit some of the Great-great-grandkids for the morning so that we could move their stuff without causing her too much stress. To say Grandma was upset to find all of her stuff moved is an understatement. She would not take her coat off and was letting Grandpa know how unhappy she was. My poor Grandpa was trying so hard to calm her down. She finally said, "I'm leaving!" I told Grandpa to just sit I will follow her and let her check the place out. By then he was more than willing to let someone else help out. By the time we walked down the short hallway to the front desk she had forgotten why she was there and asked me where John (Grandpa) went. I showed her back to the room and found Grandpa with his head in his hands crying. Tears flow even now as I type about it. This is a strong, loving man and to see him like that just tore my heart. I love him so dearly.

When it was finally time to leave Grandpa was by the front desk discussing Grandma's medicine with the nurse. (I should add here that it is a wonderful staff of ladies. They made us feel so welcomed. They even brought us lunch when they overheard we were going to skip lunch to get this done as quickly as possible before Grandma came back.) I mentioned to Grandpa that I had to leave and he asked me to wait a second. He came around from behind the counter to give me a hug and a kiss and he held me too long. You know what I mean, had he given me a quick hug I could have kept my emotions in check like I had all day but that hug lasted too long. I can still feel it and the kiss on my cheek. It opened the flood gates and I was crying uncontrollable before I could even get to my vehicle. I was able to keep it in check in front of Grandpa and I did tell him that I loved him.

Grandma tires me out emotionally in a couple hours and Grandpa is with her 24 hours a day. The love he has for her is beautiful. He is such a testimony to the love in a marriage that God intended.

Thursday my folks will get to leave for their vacation and now they will have the comfort of knowing that Grandpa is getting help with Grandma. If he needs a break he can leave at anytime and someone will be there to sit with Grandma and keep her company.

Grandpa and Grandma on Christmas day looking at a devotional book my sister gave them.
Grandpa lovin' on Libby. He LOVES his grandkids, great-grandkids, and great-great grandkids!

Please keep them in your prayers this week as Grandma adjusts to her new home. Pray for strength for Grandpa as he has to keep "re-living" the move because it will take awhile before Grandma stops asking "when are we going home" because she has forgotten that this is home.

Smiles!
(It is hard to do that today but I have joy in the knowledge that John and Ester's names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life! If my heart goes out for them how much more does my Heavenly Father's? God is watching and he will give them what they need today.)

A cheap afternoon of fun, almost...

Mark planned a little surprise for the family today. He took us all downtown Grand Rapids to Rosa Parks Circle to go ice skating. It is really cheap, fun entertainment. It is a $1 admission and skate rental is free. You can't beat that.

Here is Anna trying to help Libby. Libby wasn't to sure about the whole skating thing.


Zack took off the minute he hit the ice. He made it look like old hat. Very impressive.

Libby thought maybe it would be easier to use one of the things that looked like a walker but she kept forgetting that she couldn't push down on it. She needed to hold it down lower and push it forward.

Look at that concentration on Mark's face. This is only the third time ever that he has been on skates.

Zack had fun giving Mark a hard time about hanging on to the rail so much. Kaylyn looked like she'd been skating forever.

Anna and I finally talked Libby into holding our hands and going around the circle but Anna kept letting go of Libby's hand thinking that was all it took to get Libby to skate alone. If you look close at Libby's legs you can see a lot of snow from her going down so many times. But she was still a trooper about it.

It was a fun afternoon for all of us. We promised the kids we would go again. Mark was told that at night they turn lights on that are under the ice so he told the kids next time we will go at night.

Love parking downtown. Yep after paying only $6 for some family fun time we come back to our vehicle to find that our parking meter ran out and we had this pretty $12 ticket under the windshield wiper. Bummer! From what we can figure the money had been out for less than 5 min when we got the ticket. Live and learn. Next time we will park in a parking lot instead of on the street. It didn't put a damper on our fun.
Smiles!

My Bella is 14 today!

Enjoy some pictures, 14 to be exact, of my sweet Bella.

Isn't she lovely
Isn't she wonderful
Isn't she precious.....

Anna and Kaylyn were flowergirls in Mark's niece's wedding.











Zack loves Anna, here is the proof.
The girls snuggling on the couch.
















Zack showing Anna how to be a detective at Grandma's house.















Here she is just being Anna at Grandma's house.
















Saturday night all clean and ready for Sunday morning church. See the dresses set out on the couch. If I could only always be that ready the night before. In case you can't tell, Anna is in green and Kaylyn is in blue.

Anna was known for randomly falling asleep at the dinner table and other odd places. She liked to play hard and that takes it's toll on a lovely little girl.


Hunting with Dad. This is one of her favorite things to do. Here she is with her first Turkey.

This is one of those pictures that I "found" on my camera. I guess the kids were a bit bored. Come on Anna you had to know I would use that.
My girl all dressed up and grown up at her cousins wedding this past summer.










Anna's deer this past fall during the Youth hunt. Way to go!















Doing what she lives to do. The girl loves soccer and she is fast.









I love you Bella! You are a beautiful girl inside and out. Your love for the Lord shines bright!





Have a Happy Birthday!
Love you forever!
Mom

Puritan Reading Challenge

Chew on this...

"Men must not be too curious in prying into the weaknesses of others. We should labour rather to see what they have that is for eternity, to incline our heart to love them, than into that weakness which the Spirit of God will in time consume, to estrange us. Some think it strength of grace to endure nothing in the weaker, whereas the strongest are readiest to bear with the infirmities of the weak." The Bruised Reed by Richard Sibbes

I love that quote. I think of how often in my own house we are so quick to point out each others faults.

Smiles!

Here we go again...

Current Temp = 5 degrees
Current Wind Chill = -11 degrees
Current number of kids out of bed = 2

Guess the teenagers need to catch up on their sleep.

Smiles!

Zack throwing at the college level...

Mark found out that Zack can compete at college Track meets as "unattached". So Friday night we paid to have him throw at a college meet at Grand Valley State University. There were maybe 5 or 6 other colleges represented there also. I thought you'd enjoy seeing Zack doing what he loves to do. He was a little nervous being the only High School kid throwing with all the college guys but he held his own. Out of 20 guys he placed 4th. We are very excited for him.


Thank you Melissa!

Please pray for Lydie!

Lydie is a precious little one who has pneumococcal meningitis and needs our prayers. Please read about her here.

Kindness Pays

Look at what Rebekah gave me today...

Thank you Rebekah!

I am going to blow this up and paste it on my fridge so the kids can see it. They may not believe someone gave it to their mother otherwise. Especially the 17 year old.

So now I get to pass it along! I love that part of it.

Jennifer (although there was that "yack" thing)
Mel
Tonja (Pronounce the "J". I still keep saying your name wrong in my head)
Kat
Cherdecor (Hopefully this one won't get stolen!)
Hope
and right back at ya Rebekah!

Thanks to all of you for the "kind" comments you leave. I am enjoying getting to know you all!

Smiles!

Puritan Reading Challenge

My first day of reading was well blessed this morning. Enjoy a couple of the pearls that I found...

In regards to Christ's Calling...

• "In this we may see the sweet love of God to us, in that he counts the work of our salvation by Christ his greatest service, and in that he will put his only beloved Son to that service." Oh that I may feel the "sweet love of God"
  
• "See here, for our comfort, a sweet agreement of all three persons: the Father gives a commission to Christ, the Spirit furnishes and sanctifies to it, and Christ himself executes the office of a Mediator. Our redemption is founded on the joint agreement of all three persons of the Trinity."

In regard to The Good Effects of Bruising...

• "Our hearts, like criminals, until they be beaten from all evasions, never cry for the mercy of the judge." Wow! Read that again.
• "After conversion we need bruising so that reeds no themselves to be reeds, and not oaks. Even reeds need bruising, by reason of the remainder of pride in our nature, and to let us see that we live by mercy" That ugly pride again.

Smiles!

My Cozy Corner

Monkey Giggles is having a fun little contest. All you have to do is take a picture of your own "Cozy Corner" and link it back to her post.

So here is my favorite place in my house, my Cozy Corner. Do you see the tan blanket on the bed? I love that blanket. My sister, Jodi, crocheted it for me for my graduation (from High School) gift. I received it after I graduated from college. I love a homemade gift way more than an on time gift. I am hoping my niece feels the same way. You see the blanket peeking out of the tote in the corner? That is her wedding gift that I have to finish knitting. She has been married for almost 5 months now. I guess it runs in the family.

Can't wait to see everyone else's Cozy Corners!
Smiles!