Is anything really too hard for God?

Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
Joshua 1:9 NLT

Imagine this scene for a minute. You're a captain in Joshua's army camped a few miles outside the city of Jericho. You've seen the thick, double-layered stone walls surrounding the city and armed soldiers guarding every entrance. You've heard tales of the fierce Canaanite army and their ability to hold their ground in battle.

In the midst of all of this, an edict comes down from the upper ranks. Israel is planning to take Jericho. Actually, what the message says is that Israel has already taken Jericho, but Jericho just doesn't know it yet. The battle plan is really no plan at all. You're supposed to get your troops together and conduct a victory march around the city. Just once—for six days in a row. Then on the seventh day you're to march seven times around the city. That's when your soldiers can march in and take possession.

The next day you're marching around the city, and you can't help but hear the taunts coming from inside the walls. You know how silly this all looks, but you keep marching just the same. Because you know that God is on your side, and you've seen what he can do.

This is why God reminded Joshua time and again to "be strong and courageous." God has a way of working that tends to fall outside the norm, and he needs people who trust him enough to go the distance, no matter how bizarre the game plan. Courage is important to God because courage is a natural byproduct of trust. And the greater we trust, the braver we become. As long as God leads the battle, we can march in confidence, knowing that we've already won. God gave Jericho to Israel on the seventh day, just as he said he would. So,…what wall does he have you marching around?

from Embracing Eternity by Tim LaHaye, Jerry Jenkins and Frank M. Martin, Tyndale House Publishers (2004), p 76

RAMBLING..

I am sitting here bundled in my nice warm fleecy robe working on getting warmed up.. and decided to include a piece of last summer in the daily blog. How glorious the sunflowers ! So perfect in every way really. They remind me that spring is coming.. So far, with the mild winter we have been experiencing, I haven't had the longing for spring as I normally would. Today it's just cold- no other way to describe 22 degrees. We have another skiff of snow that arrived overnight, no real accumulation. Our high will be about 27, so the report from here is COLD. How about where you live?
Today I am not gainfully employed, but will be calling my patients for tomorrow, and getting my schedules together.. that, and getting Christmas put away for another year.. cleaning up.. and then thinking about supper tonite. I wonder if it's safe for me to burn papers? Hmmmmmm. I don't often do that unless it's very wet outside, and it has rained for several days.
It's a quiet morning, and I'm hoping for a quiet day.
Keith and JJ are going to Palm Springs this week.. JJ has a seminar for work that she has to attend there, and Keith has a sister who lives there.. how convenient, and how wonderful they will be able to meet the new niece too.
Wendy says they have a virus at their house..nasty one. Cory came home from school early yesterday because of it. Isaac has had some too. I hope the rest of the family can stay healthy.
Last night I put the coffee on before going to bed.. this morning Wendell was up before me, turned the pot on, and I am enjoying fresh coffee without the wait. Thanks, honey! I think that is one of the things we will need at our new home.. a coffee pot that makes coffee quickly.. maybe with a timer to go off at 8am sharp. Our present one makes coffee just fine, but with a long wait. Not really long, but in the morning, I want my coffee NOW, and I wait 10 minutes or more for the pot to brew usually.
I'm rambling.. gotta get a move on the day. it's a wonderful one coming up..be safe, smile a lot.
My prayer list for the day:

• Giving thanks is high on my list- for a healthy Annabelle, and Amy, who looks more rested
• For the mild winter this year, and for my upcoming weekend off, I'm thankful
• Remember Uncle Bob, Aunt MaryJane, and Janet too who are recuperating
• Pray Wendell's surgery next week will give him the relief he needs so that he can walk again without pain
  
• Pray also that his GI problems would settle quickly
• Pray for our pastor Vince that the gospel message would be heard by many by him.
  
• Pray for our nation, our leaders and world leaders, that their hearts would be turned to the savior
• Pray that Maggie would have swift recovery from Guillian Barre
• Pray that the hand of the Lord would be on Nicki and heal her completely; and pray for traveling mercy for her also as she flies often to Chicago for treatments
• Remember Wendy- sciatic pain has been a problem in pregancy; pray for a normal delivery in the spring, and a healthy Elijah;
  
• For Cory and Isaac who have a virus- pray for swift recovery-JJ and Mandy too
  
• For the Heim twins, yet unborn, pray the pregnancy would be successful for both, that the present problems would be relieved and the babies would grow normally
• Pray JJ and Keith would have a safe and uneventful flight to Palm Springs this week
  

The prayer list is getting longer. There are many who need prayer and issues that require prayerful attention, to be brought before our Lord. These things I mention are but a few.
I'm thankful for your continuing prayer support. God does hear and answers- just look around you.

PHOTO ALBUMS

Being a 'visual' person, I enjoy looking at colors, pictures. One of my favorite things is looking at old photo albums and getting an idea of what my ancestors looked like. I also love looking at the newer albums and trying my hand at scrapbooking, though at this point, I'm swamped with photos from the past year, and just want to get them sorted out, mounted on acid free paper, and cover the pages in a folder - each one with a different activity or theme.
It's what I did last night before bed. Organize. I've now got , instead of packets of photos, several new folders with our trip to Raccoon Park, Annabelle's first pics, going to the Science Center, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. It took several hours to put this much together, but it was worth the effort as now I can share the photos, and not worry they will get lost in a shuffle.
I'm anxious to keep Joyce interested in scrapbooking. She has the right ideas and her album looks good so far. That was her gift from Wendell and me for Christmas- scrapbook supplies and pictures to go with it.
She keeps her bag here with all the tools and supplies so that when she comes, I can give her ideas and pointers to make her pages alive. I encourage the journaling too.

NEWS FROM LAKE BLAIR....

Today I feel like I really accomplished a lot. It took me all morning, but I finally wrapped the Valentine kids Christmas gifts and boxed them for the mail. I've been holding back getting these boxes sent..just a few things got in my way, but they are finally in the mail... Priority mail.. What's the rush, you say? Well..each child is also given a certificate via emails for "Treat of the month".. and we still have to do that for January. It will be my project for next week hopefully. With the last of the gifts sent on their way, I suppose I should get busy and take the tree down this weekend. I'll be sad to see it go.. it's so pretty in the evening when the tree lights are on and the room lights are out. What is next? Valentine's Day, of course!

Today was a big day for me. I was given the honor of giving my 8th grandchild, Annabelle, her first real home bath. It was simple and easy, and she cried the whole time. Once done, she settled down and was wide awake for our entire visit. She's a very placid baby. She will lay in her bassinet or in someone's arms and look all around her. Joyce told me "she is very good.. she only cries when she's hungry or needs held" Well.. I noticed there are many volunteers for that job, including Joyce and Paul 3. Daniel describes his baby sister as "boring- she eats, sleeps, cries, and makes funny faces." While Joyce was holding Annabelle, David came over to look to see what all the todo was about. I asked him what her name was, and , as expected, he called her "baby". But then, Joyce said "Yes, but what is her NAME?" to which David gave all his lingual skill to say "A-belle". By golly, I think he's got it !! Can't wait to see them all again.. perhaps we'll take supper over tomorrow.. we'll see.

Speaking of supper, I had 2 lovely baked pieces of Tilapia tonite for my supper. Wendell declined due to his GI problem- he had beef vegetable soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. What did you have for supper?

We had quite a snow squall as we started out this afternoon... but it didn't last but a short time, and there is nearly nothing on the ground.. still mucky. Tonite it will be around 20 degrees.. that should harden up some of the muck. I'm off again tomorrow. I'll be on the phone a lot, but then getting some cleaning done that has needed done for a week now.
So...that's the news from Lake Blair.. where the fish don't bite 'cause there aren't any. Spring is coming !

SNOW ON THE GROUND

There is a skiff of snow on the ground this morning.. looks more like super frost than anything.. and the temperature is at freezing- 32 degrees.. the high is only going to 34..so, my friends, it's cold.

NO SNOW YET

Today has whizzed by with record speed. Perhaps because I was so busy. I really started out on the wrong foot again, but things ended up perfect.. well, maybe not exactly perfect, but the stress is now gone.
Apparently at some point during the night I pulled off my CPAP. Either that, or the CPAP gremlin has been working overtime again. I never remember taking it off, and never know why I would when I sleep so well with it on. Of course, I look like a WW2 fighter pilot, but no one sees me while I sleep. So... I awoke to a cracking good headache that took several hours to overcome. I didn't think it would ever go away.. and I called off work this afternoon as a result.
When it was sufficiently eased, I got my office work done via telephone, and will go in tomorrow to make sure the supplies are there for Thursday. Then on to finding papers I needed.. tax returns from the last 10 yrs, and a letter about some insurance I never got to purchase.. I got everything together but 2004's taxes.. wonder what happened to it?
I wanted to get the Christmas box ready for Valentines.. yeah.. I'm late and don't even have the things wrapped yet. But tomorrow hopefully in the morning they will all be wrapped and packed to send. I'll be stopping at the post office to get them on their merry way.
Jane has some nice shots of Annabelle on her blog.. the one with Amy is really good.
Tomorrow is my day to visit.. and give her her first home bath. My record will still hold.. YIPPEE! I want to be able to say I gave every one of my grandchildren their first home bath..so far, so good. I plan to have just a few pictures of it as I do with all the children. It's fun to scrapbook them.
Well, I haven't seen even a flake of snow today.. not that I was looking out the window for any reason.. I was so engrossed in the boxes of papers that I had to go through to find certain ones. It's supposed to be 29 degrees tonite and snow showers are to be the rule. I dunno.. we'll see.
For now, I need to get my bed cleaned off and things put back where they won't get lost again. I guess some will have to be boxed to take with us, but definitely not all. So I'll be cleaning up a bit here in the next few days.
Moving right along... I'll say good evening to all...

STRESSED

It was one of "those" nights at work tonight. Not so much for me, but for the nursing staff. I dont' ever recall hearing CAT MICU so many times in one evening.. gotta be a record.. and by the sounds of loud sobs and wails a bit later, I'd say it was not successful. Ah.. working at the hospital has it's low points. And then the call for help on Psych.. CODE YELLOW..ALL MALE EMPLOYEES REPORT TO.... Yike ! Must have been REALLY bad there. And not just once, but 3 times the distress call was heard over the PA.
We had our own minor disasters going on in my unit.. Patients were unruly and very uncooperative and downright surly. One woman called in to complain that she was going to call the local paper because her husband's call light had been on for 30 minutes and he had urinated on the floor.. and.. and... who was going to clean it up????!!!! Oh, my.. such a mess..not just the floor, but the staff was wearing so thin.. Patients came tonite for admission who should have been taken to the MICU.. and we did transfer them.. but they were in trouble in the mean time. The woman who called in about her husband called me too to complain.. I reported it immediately to the nurses, but they were overwhelmed trying to triage their patients.. and make sure we had no sentinal events in the process. She spent so much time calling in to complain.. and it took precious time away from the staff trying to rectify the situations around them. Everyone was feeling a bit ragged around the edges.
I assure you, no one sat around tonite reading the newspaper.. everyone was racing trying to get control of their assignments.. and then more patients were added to the load.
You'll remember one time I wrote about the full moon and how it affects people? especially our patients in the hospital? Well, this was a prime example. The full moon was January 3. Baby Annabelle was born on January 4, and this wild and crazy evening occurred on January 7. Things will calm down now.. It is usually 2-3 days before with a calm on the full moon, and then everything falls apart for 2-3 days after..
I'm hoping I'll get a day off tomorrow, but the way things are going, I just sort of doubt it. That never stops me from praying about it though.
I'm tired now.. it's been a long evening, and even if I wasn't stressed out myself, I know others were VERY stressed. I'm thankful for my God who fills me with His peace in the midst of turmoil.

RAINING CATS AND DOGS

Of course there are other things in this world besides the weather.. but we have some strange stuff going on here.. they say the cause is el Nino. I don't know a lot about el Nino.. except it occurs in the west. Yesterday it rained all day, sometimes like cats and dogs.. today it rained gently all day.. and tonite it seems to have ceased. It could have been 2 feet of snow.. I keep telling myself that when I step in the mud trying to get to or from my car. So I'll just say for now..today will be a good one for a while.. 33 degrees right now, but we'll get to 46 tomorrow with rain in the PM. Snow/rain is coming Monday.
I started off today with knocking down everything I came close to. It was getting to me, and I kept praying that God would give me His peace and I would relax. I did.. but it was a rather difficult time when I stood up with my full cup of coffee and dumped the entire cup on the keyboard of my computer. The computer responded immediately with a quick snap off..just shut down. I thought for sure it was a goner. In the split second it took to fill up the little keyboard with hot creamy liquid, I flipped it over and drained it all out on a towel, hoping I hadn't damaged it too badly. I waited a while and came back to it.. the PC came on perfectly and I was able to navigate where I wanted to go. Every morning I send a quick note to my friend Sandi, and I needed to get that note out to her, so I tried the email.. ah.. great..except the keys wouldn't let me spell anything correctly.. for every one letter I typed, it typed 2, and they weren't the same.. they were all mixed up..aacckk!! I couldnt' even decipher the 'code' myself~ and I'd just typed it!
Fortunately , keyboards are not an expensive item.. for less than $10, I have a brand new one now that works just fine. I bought it on my way to work today. but not before having even more frustration.. getting half way to Butler and realizing I didn't have any cash on me, and then my debit card was missing from my wallet.. so I turned around and went back home to retrieve it from the kitchen table.. I had a headache and was near tears at this point.
Tonite I hooked up the new keyboard, and this is the trial run for it.. it works.
This whole situation brought to mind another time when I'd spilled a drink on the keyboard and finally went to Staples to buy a new one, not having a clue what to buy. As I perused all the different models, a clerk came up to me.. " May I help you?"
"Uh... just looking for a new keyboard for my computer..the keys stick really bad"
"Coke or Pepsi?
I had to pause and think about this.. how did he know? I was embarrassed enough that I'd spilled a drink on it, but HOW DID HE KNOW?
"Uh.. neither.....(long pause...............)........... iced tea." I replied nearly under my breath.
"Oh, that's a new one".."most people drink soft drinks at the computer and that's what ends up in their keyboards. We sell at least one keyboard a day for that reason".
So I selected one that was suitable for my PC and lowered my head as I got in the check out line.. I was feeling so foolish..
"That'll be $12.37 cents...............Coke or Pepsi?"
AAAAACCCCKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!

ANOTHER ANNABELLE

I have always loved this picture.. I think Dad took it, but I could be wrong. It may have been a studio photo. It's 3 of the 4 Leah cousins.. Today is January 6. Annabelle was born on this date in 1938 I believe. Though she is gone from us, she is always on the back of our minds, not forgotten, and very loved. Her life touched many and turned many to our Savior..
She was beautiful on the outside, but her inner beauty and love showed even more brightly, a blessing to everyone around her.
Our new baby was named for this Annabelle. I pray Annabelle Louise will have the same spirit within her, and be a blessing to all.

A LAZY DAY

I feel so lazy this morning.. I may blog this and return to bed till time to go to work. I'm sleepy..tired..need a nice hot cup of coffee.
When I went to bed last night, our temperature was 60 degrees... unheard of for January really. It was raining ..sometimes heavily. It could have been snow, so I try not to complain about the sea of mud outside our door. We do have a walkway of concrete slabs, but once they end..watch your step!
The weather is going to change again..I see the forecast coming up for Monday says the high will be in the 30s..and Wendell tells me the extended forecast is calling for snow next week. All good things must come to an end I suppose. I'll get my winter coat back out tomorrow, but just 'on hold' in case the weather prognosticator is wrong.
I think the coffee is ready.... have a wonderful day, bloggers.......(yawn).....

FAMILY FUN...

This is the fish & turtle pond in the courtyard of the hospital.. we visited there.. nice place.. calm, quiet, serene and the fish were very active. They liked Joyce and followed her around the pond wherever she went.

We had such a fun day today. I laughed most of it I think..I really get to enjoying the grandchildren and this week we have been together more than in the past year I think..
Last night we had decided to just get up today and get ourselves ready for a trip to see Amy and the baby. I turned the shower on and told the boys to each get in and get washed good.. to use soap and then get dressed.. So far so good.. then David.. he has allergies so no soap for him. I used a wash cloth with warm tap water and got him cleaned up and presentable for his mom. While we got him dressed, he started to cry and ask for Mama.. that was the only time he cried the whole time he was here. Anticipation can drive ya nuts!
So.. pack the kids in the car with their sleeping bags and bags of clothes.. clean mostly.. and off we went...
We were driving past Cranberry when Joyce noted that the UPMC building had a helicopter in front.. and it was on the launch pad.. Say what?? a launch pad? That must be some helicopter.. and I imagined a little eggbeater being thrust into the air with a powerful burst of throttle.... And not the clopping sound of the whirlygig, but the roar of a 747 about to take off.. Whew.. wonder what the landing would be like?
Well.. I explained to Joyce that helicopters use heliports and rockets use launch pads.. just a minor difference.
She giggled.. she must have been thinking what I was thinking..
Soon we were in Pittsburgh and looking at tall buildings.. big tractor trailers passed us..and David would oooo and ahhhh over the sheer size and the fact that they sprayed quite a bit of water all over our van. "I see bus!" he'd say.. and we'd all look the direction he was looking.. and then he'd giggle too.
As we got closer to the hospital, David was about ready to drop off for a nap..eyes were heavy and his head was bobbing. Joyce and I struggled to tickle, call his name, tease and whatever else it took to keep him awake for a few more minutes.. our eyes searched frantically for a bus..
He made it! He walked into the hospital without being carried. On to Mama.. and a baby sister. But wait.. Mama was busy and we had to find something to do for the next 15 minutes.. so we walked to the nursery to see if we could see any new babies.. yes.. a couple.. but they were all bundled up so you couldn't see them very well.
Back the hall we walked toward Mama's room.. and we waited outside the door. A nurse came out and stopped to chat to the children.. "Have you seen the robots?" she said. "The robots are all over the hospital and do all kinds of work.. delivering trays, picking up trays, taking blood to the lab, bringing forms to other departments.. why, it even rides the elevator by itself". NO.. we didnt' see any , but then the children put on an all out search.. David included.. "Gamma..wan see BOBOT!".. as he dragged me down the hall hanging onto my finger tightly. "you want to see what??" I said.. "BOBOT !" he repeated clearly. So we looked for a bobot..
I never did see any.. though Paul 2 said there was at least one in the kitchen.
Finally the children were able to see Amy and were excited to give her hugs and kisses.. and then they stood silently for a moment in awe of what she held in her arms.. the prize of course..
"Can we see her?" "ohh..can we hold her?!"..
While Daddy picked his newest little girl up, David crawled up on the bed to see his Mom.. precious reunion.
It was a few minutes before David got to hold his new sister.. he looked at her suspiciously for a few moments,and then reached out to her and touched her head. He touched her toes and feet and gave her a general once over.. "baby".. "baby dry?" he commented looking and pointing at her diaper.
Each child was given ample opportunity to hold baby Annabelle. They couldn't help but smile at her.. she's tiny and dainty.. Wendell says she has big feet, but I think they are just perfect for her.
She was very quiet during our visit..and it wasn't a particularly long one. We decided that we'd go to lunch while the pediatrician gave Annabelle her exam.. and then return later to say good bye for today.
We ate in the hospital cafeteria. The food was surprisingly good.. and on the way out, Wendell went to the main entrance to wait for us while we went to the courtyard and looked at the fish. Those fish were so funny.. they really did follow Joyce everywhere she walked, and they would stop when she did. We looked for the turtles, but I suppose it was hibernation time for them.. though who could hibernate at 60 degrees?
Time was getting late, so we decided to go on back to see Amy and say our good byes for the day..I opted to go to sit with Wendell while they did so.. it gave them a little family private time together.
We left shortly thereafter and as we drove down the street, several big buses passed us.. David, who was long overdue for a nap began to cry.. "I ride bus!" "I ride bus!" I don't have a clue why, but he seems fascinated with buses. I told the kids about how their dad used to ride the school bus when he was just a little older than David.. and he did it often- Wendell's dad was a school bus driver as well as farmer.
They seemed duly impressed.. I guess.
Each day at lunch I held a little simple Spanish lesson for the children. They were very interested in how to say their names in Spanish..and a few short sentences.. Today we'd missed it because we ate in the cafeteria.. but I took the chance and decided to tell the children a few words.. I pointed to big Paul and said "Papa", and to Wendell and said "granpapa".. David was adamant.. "NO ! Daddy!" he said pointing to P2. and then he repeated his statement and pointed again and again at his daddy.. I guess P2 is 'Daddy" and Grandpa is "Papa".. it is kind of confusing..He was correcting me obviously.
Driving down the road, David was so sleepy and tired.. I mentioned there was a big McDonalds over on the right.. and it was the wrong thing to say...."Bubba...ohhh Gamma, Bubba.. want Bubba".. that's McDonald's to David.. something about a commercial jingle played in our area at least. It wouldn't have been particularly funny if it hadn't been a quiet sobbing and a tiny lip stuck out toward me as he cried.. "oh.. Bubba.. Oh.. Gamma"
And within a few moments, one little guy was sound asleep the rest of the way home.
Daniel had already conked out in the back seat..his reminder to me today was that he still had one can of Dr Thunder for the day.. he's only permitted one as it makes him hyper if he has more..plus the fact that concentrated sugar isn't particularly good for a little guy.
It's so quiet here now.. all their sleeping bags are gone.. sigh....... quiet pervades the entire house.. you can hear a pin drop... or just the quiet sound of the PC in operating mode.
Well.... one more piece of news for the day.. Wendell did see the orthopedic surgeon today and is now scheduled for an arthroscopy on Jan 18. It's an outpatient procedure.. the doctor feels he may be able to give Wendell pain relief and mobility in that knee without a replacement..BUT.. the other knee will definitely need replaced. He's retired now.. so he's going to take his time..and when we return from meeting #9 grandchild, he'll be scheduled for his replacement then. Sounds like a plan, eh?
I'm heading for bed.. gainful employment awaits me tomorrow..

ANNABELLE DAY 1

THE FIRST MEETING...

This has to be one of the best pictures of all.. 4 little children meeting their baby sister and seeing her for the first time.. they were speechless for a few moments.....

Joyce and I quickly made a name tag for her bed.. I've done it for all the kids.. a special one

"What, who? is this???.. David decided it was time to check out her toes.. and he did.. he was awed by her I think.
But when she started to fuss, he backed up..

IT'S A FAMILY THING...

Amazing.. everyone smiling.. and happy to meet the new sister..
All the children had a chance to hold her.. Here's David.. he wasn't real sure what to do at first, but he looked at her a bit and touched her gently.


Joyce is just the right age for a new baby in the house.. She required no real assistance to hold Annabelle.

Here's Paul.. he held on tight to her.. and smiled at her sweetly..
Daniel granted his "how do you do?" to his new sister.. and held her quite well. She didn't cry for him.

WE MEET..

This is Annabelle.. sweet little girly..

I got a chance to hold her as well as Papa.. I'm more daring.. I unwrapped her blanket and took a good look at her.. she's tiny and precious and cute as a button.. her siblings seem to approve.

Papa got to meet Annabelle for the first time.. it was well worth the trip down to the hospital. She's a darling.

Papa is a good one for talking to the little ones.. and he was feeding her a line here.. hehehe

THE DAY AFTER

Well, it's been one of those weeks.. certainly we are starting out much better than last year.. though with the bronchitis and sinusitis, one would have thought we were starting out on a left foot in 2007. The first day of the year was spotted with illness, but the first week of the year is turning out to be absolutely fabulous. The blessings God is pouring out on us are awesome- and only a foretaste of our heavenly future.
I think my feet have hit the ground again, but the smile on my face will be a long time in returning to neutral. I'm bubbling so, and the very thought of yet another grandchild this spring has brought such joy to my heart.
Now that Wendell is retired officially, he will be able to go along to meet the next one in NY when he arrives.

It's quiet here..nearly 6am. The plan of the day is to go with Paul and the kids today to the hospital to see Amy and meet Annabelle. It's gotta be hard for the children to wait for this moment. I think they must be having a pretty good time here.. they all wanted to stay another night, including David who, when I asked if he wanted to stay and sleep at my house again last night replied "I stay ! I stay!" He's been having a pretty good time playing outside these last few days. In fact, they have all been spending time outdoors since the weather is so perfect.
Oh.. the weather.. you gotta hear this.. it's 52 degrees and rainy..but to go to 60 today! Indian summer has really gone overboard this year. You won't hear me complain..just so pleased to have a winter that is truly what one could call 'mild'. Mild actually doesn't seem to describe the non-existance of a normal winter this year.
We took a nice walk in the woods yesterday and the boys found several rusted old bicycles that they wanted to drag up to the house. I vetoed that idea passing the suggestion on to their father who has his doubts whether there is any value in rusted bars on wheels. So, for now at least, the bikes will stay where they are. I think this is the first year the boys have taken an active interest in the woods behind our house. They are enjoying the fact that since last April's fire, the underbrush is gone and has left the woods rather clean and easy to traverse. With no green left, it's easy to see a long long way and the creek has been calling their names. It's not much of a creek, but a spring that has exited from underground and trickles down the hill in a valley. It does get to several feet wide in places and can get to almost 8" deep in places. There are lots of places for the children to explore.
The discovery of interest yesterday was the A frame building that sets behind our house. It's big enough for a tractor or smaller implement..but none are parked there.. it's empty and needing some repairs if it's going to survive. The boys climbed up on top and sat there looking quite satisfied with themselves. Now, I watched carefully that David didnt' try the same trick- I expect these things, but he's a bit little for climbing buildings and playing 'king of the roof'...er hill..whatever. He seemed happy just to circle the building with a long stick whipping it and beating on the downed trees in the area.
Joyce and Daniel found a piece of bright yellow rope and decided to rope off a section of the woods.. making kind of a box shape that followed a number of logs on the ground. So as they walk the logs, they hold onto the rope and the idea is they have something to hold onto so they don't fall off the log.. except that when Joyce was telling me that.....WHOOPS! down she went falling the 10" off the log, yet hanging onto the rope.
The boys in particular like to ride their bikes, but Paul's keeps breaking down..his frustration is evident often as he complains that his tire is flat and his chain is loose/off..poor guy. I wasn't surprised when he asked me yesterday if he could 'fix' his bike.
"Of course, honey.. go ahead and do what you need to do."
(I have no fear of them 'fixing' bikes after Christmas.. they got new bikes and assembled them by themselves)
"Gramma.. I need a couple things to fix my bike.."
"Okay.. what do you need?"
"Well..... Motor oil for one thing.. and a hammer".
Now this brings to the imagination all sorts of things..what on earth would he want motor oil for if his bike had no motor? A hammer??
"I have no idea where to even look for motor oil, and dont' know what became of my hammer"
"Do you think Grampa has one in his trunk? Can I look?"
"Paul, if you can get his trunk open, you can borrow whatever you need to fix your bike"..
He got the trunk open, but found no oil- I think the oil was for his chain. Next thing you know I hear banging..he'd found the hammer. The bike still won't run..gotta get another one for him and get rid of that one.
And then Daniel........ "Gramma, do you have anything we can take apart?" AACCKK! Like what?
It brought to mind the day one of the neighbor kids came over to try to fix our lawnmower..and tore every screw, every removeable part off the mower and then went home never to return- He must have been about 10 yr old then.. Paul, do you remember that? You were a mini mechanic at that time.

Well.. I should get back to bed for another hour or so.. Wendell is up and getting ready to go to see the orthopedic surgeon this morning. More news later, and of course, pictures later too as our day progresses.
Too bad I have to be gainfully employed this weekend..
Keep praying ! And thank you for upholding us !

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

BIRTHDAY WISHES GO OUT TODAY
TO OUR COUSIN
LOIS BAKEWELL
HOPE IT'S A WONDERFUL ONE!!

PROUD DADDY

Here is a proud daddy with his newborn daughter.. He looks happy, don't ya think?

ATTA BOY WENDELL !!!!

It seems that in the flurry of excitement this morning with a new baby and all.. and kids, and lots of playing..Wendell went to his meeting with Social Security, and is now officially RETIRED ! Amen. It's such a relief for him to know that he doesn't have to go back to work any more if he doesn't want to. More time for grandchildren and getting back on his feet walking again without pain.
So.. Wendell, I'm proud of your decision and WOO HOO!! Let the retirement begin !!! I can hardly wait to join you!

ANNABELLE LOUISE

My first impression is that she looks a lot like P3.. what do you think?