Not Giving Dinner

 I didn't go out until 7:00 am to move the saw horses to the East side of the barn then one by one take those boards from the gym out to the saw horses. I also took 3 trips upstairs and back down while cleaning up quitting at 7:30. When I walked in at mom's Joan was bandaging mom's arm. Mom had kind of a rough night with her arm and nose itching. 

We had a short walk as today is Berean day. Mom and I left at 8:20 am for that office. We had a lot of mail with a lot of request letters. At 9:30 we stop for our prayer but Kathy wanted to read us a letter first.

We were busy today and mailed out almost every Bible we had in the office today. Hopefully Skip can get more in before next week.

We were scrambling trying to find enough and we had to send out a few paper back as we ran out of all the others.

We were able to leave at noon and got to the Hanna City post office before they closed for lunch dropping off 3 full boxes (44 Bibles) and almost 100 studies. Right after mom was dropped off I needed to run upstairs at the barn again and measure something for Anna. She had found a couple benches at a store in Peoria but wanted to make sure they would fit in the bedrooms before buying them. They did fit, she bought them, I drove the truck to the store to bring them home. She also found 2 really nice large rugs. Below is bedroom number 2. That bench is made of oak and extremely heavy. Mark and Mackenson helped get the benches upstairs while I carried the rugs.

Phil and Anna arrived as I was applying the second coat of paint to the 1 x 10's that were primed yesterday. I was able to finish those by 5:00 pm. At 6:00 pm we left for Aldi and then to Sam's to get the food for Family Night at the Fellowship hall tomorrow. I also ordered 16 pizza's at Sam's club and paid for those before leaving the store. We stopped at Culvers for a late dinner at 7:00 pm. I was pretty proud of how we were able to hit both stores and get the pizza plus the driving in an hour. After splitting a cod dinner we drove to the fellowship hall to drop off all of the salad stuff, the 3 cases of water and as we were just getting ready to leave Duane Setidinger arrived. He said he needed to drop off water for Family night tomorrow. He also told us Debbie had been cooking ALL DAY making bbq for family night. I guess Heather asked Debbie while Stephanie asked us. When we finally figured out we were NOT giving dinner it was 7:55 pm and I tried to call Sam's club to cancel the pizza order but they were closed. Mark will go tomorrow morning to cancel the order. The lettuce was left for Duane and Debbie to serve. We took Duane's 2 cases of water as we had already put ours in the fridge. I have cuties and grapes to give away as Debbie had already bought fruit. The other stuff I bought was to make the desserts and that can all be saved for later.  Rhonda and Stephanie were both told they did not need to make desserts. It will make tomorrow easier for me. I have SO much cleaning that needs to be done at the barn before our guests arrive on Thursday. When we got home the grapes and cuties were put in the barn fridge and the rest brought into our kitchen and put on the floor until I could organize and put it away.

Almost Finished

This morning I had made plans, plans to get the laundry done, the sheets washed and the dishes done. I started the first of 3 loads of laundry and loaded the dishwasher.  We  humans can make plans but sometimes things don't turn out the way we planned. Sarah and Anna arrived to work on the barn even before we finished our walk. Before the walk Mark helped me get the 3 queen size mattresses opened and on the beds. Those are amazing they pop open but still need a day or two to finish inflating.

When I got to mom's at 7:30 am mom was there without Joan. Berlica is hired to take care of the neighbor's animals while they are on vacation and Joan got a call that the pigs were out. Mom told Diane and I that Joan is out chasing pigs. Well that wasn't quite true, the neighbors had led the pigs back into their pen but Joan needed to fix the waterer which had been knocked down and emptied. Diane, Ruth and I walk without Joan as she didn't get back until we were finished.

Since Anna and Sarah were working, it wasn't right for them to work without me so of course I joined right in and worked until 11:00 am then left with Sarah's van to drive down to the Peoria post office to pick up the Berean mail, over to the Berean office to drop off that mail plus the dessert for the volunteers then to Alethia to pick up Sarah's girls. River gets picked up first as she is in preschool. She was showing me sparkles from her book bag in the van.

Check out those sparkles in the video below. 

Zion and Eden get out 15 minutes after River so we had 15 minutes to enjoy those sparkles. After all 3 girls were buckled in we went to their house so they could change. Zion also takes care of the dogs before we were ready to leave for the barn. We stopped at McDonalds for 3 happy meals on the way to our house. Once home I quickly made some sandwiches for Sarah and Anna as by this time it was 1:00 pm and we were all hungry. Phil came with more trim and another gallon of paint for the trim so after lunch I got the new trim painted plus the door we missed on Saturday. Sarah and Anna were caulking, painting where needed and installing bathroom fixtures. Philip was installing the windowsills. He needed 3 more 1 x 10 inches by 10 feet but none of the stores carried that in the mdf board. We finally found some kiln dried boards that size at Home Depot. Mark took his car, bought them plus a quart of primer and as soon as he got back I set them up on the West side of the barn as we still had about an hour and a half of sunlight on that side. I was able to get all 3 boards primed with that quart. Mark helped me put them all in the gym for overnight. Hopefully it will be warm enough around 7:00 am that I can get at least one coat of the trim paint on it before our walk tomorrow morning. This evening I went shopping on Amazon to find a pull out couch that would fit in the extra area in the bunk room. We wanted seating for that room but if needed an extra queen size sleeping space. This is what I found and what is ordered.

It is the stock photo above. Before ordering it though I needed to drive back over to the barn and measure that space just to make sure. The couch is 66 inches wide and the space is 72 wide. It is 81 inches long and the space is 85 inches long so it is now ordered. While up there I took a couple pictures of 2 of the bathrooms. Anna has them looking great.

Above is the bathroom for bedroom number 1 and below is the bathroom for bedroom number 2.

Anna ordered shelves that will hold supplies plus the vanity has a lot of storage. It is ALMOST finished!

Computer Problems

 We both woke up around 3:00 am and heard the coyotes yipping and howling in the field between Rachel's house and Joan's house. They stopped and another group started howling past the hay field and from the cornfield to the West of our house. I stepped outside to get a video but about then they stopped. I went back to bed and slept until 6:00 am. After a cup of coffee got busy and peeled 10 pounds of potatoes and put in a pan full of salt water. 

Those would be boiled and mashed after church. Once those were done I sat down to watch Gary Monagle funeral but couldn't get AC Central to work on the computer.  We picked up Rhonda for church this morning. Caleb Plattner had the morning message. This evening I tried again to get on AC Central but just a blank page comes up. I even tried turning off and restarting the computer but the same blank page pops up. I was able to get on the Peoria church website, thanks to that nameless IT guy in Peoria with the first name that starts with a G. Caleb had a very interesting message on the Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated. Click HERE to watch that.  Cheryl had her two grand daughters with her at lunch. They are so cute. 

Tim Roecker had the afternoon message on Ezra. I am not able to share that as I can't get the link as that is not a video just an audio. I will try again tomorrow. It must be something with this computer. I'll try Mark's tomorrow.

After church the pork loin was put in the oven, the potatoes chopped and set to boil, the cheese sauce made for the vegetables before going over to the barn to get that organized. Israel and Elisabet, Spark and Rhonda, Mike and Diane, Sarah and Nolan and their 3 girls and Anna and Braelyn joined us for dinner. After dinner Sarah took the kids over to the lake to fish then they all ended up in mom's garage to hold and play with the kittens. 

I went into the house to get Nancy and found Sarah R practicing her stitching on an orange.

Nancy and I had a fun ride over to Morton, at every red light she laughed and laughed. 

Successful Day

 Today was cooking day. I started early boiling 18 eggs. I used those to make deviled eggs for the lunch. Once those were in the barn fridge drove to Aldi to pick up 3 cases of bottled water and dropped those off too in the barn fridge. Then it was time to make the lunch for about 25 people. I first made the sauce that was going on the flour tortillas then made 40 rolled sandwiches, 20 were made with rotisserie chicken slices and provolone cheese with lettuce in the middle and 20 ham and colby jack cheese.  Next was to debone the rest of the other rotisserie chicken, chop that up with celery and also add some of the sauce mixed in with mayonnaise. The chicken salad was put in 24 crescents. That was dropped off at 11:30 am at the barn. I had already had the table set with the fruit bowl, a big bowl of chips, the brownies and caramel peanut rice crispy treats. I needed to drive in to Peoria to pick up Eden from a birthday party and on the way back Mark sent the picture below with the text you figured the food out about perfectly: 

By the time I got back there was just one chicken salad sandwich left, 3 brownie squares, and 5 of the caramel peanut rice crispy treats.  All of the fruit and chips were gone as were all of the rolled sandwiches. I went back to the house and started on the dinner. That was chicken teriyaki, wild rice with teriyaki sauce, broccoli with cheese sauce, salad, potato chips, corn chips, Hawaiian rolls with butter and another pan full of the caramel peanut rice crispy treats with those 3 brownie squares on top and 2 pans of pumpkin dump cake with candied pecans on top. Dinner was served about 5:15 pm. This time I planned on 50 knowing there were more that came for the afternoon and lots more kids. 

The supper too went over well. We had enough of everything but not much left of anything.

I think there was one stem of broccoli and one of the ladies ate that so I didn't have to bag that up. I missed the talk last night, then the one this morning and only heard the last half hour of the afternoon talk but someone video taped it and gave David the memory card. Once he makes the video he will share it and I can share it here. Everyone helped with the clean up and we are now back in the house ready for rest. A very successful day! A very nice update came in from the lady that bought Missy's only filly by Evan:  She writes: Hey there! A few years ago I bought Missy’s filly from you (Amelia) and I’m so glad I got back onto Facebook and came across your profile as I must let you know that she has been the absolute best horse I’ve ever been lucky enough to know. I’m convinced she was a black lab in a past life due to her love of water and puppy dog personality. I will forever be grateful that you allowed me to purchase her as she is my equine soulmate.

  Amelia definitely has Missy’s good riding mare energy. I was in no hurry to start her under saddle due to my own confidence issues, and she was the one who somehow managed to help me move both of us along. I can’t explain how, but she has a wisdom beyond her years. She is curious, trusting, the most intelligent horse I’ve ever met, and is so aware of her feet that on the rare occasion that she spooks, she immediately recovers before there’s a chance of her stepping on toes. Part of me daydreams about breeding her to a full blooded Friesian just to always have a part of her throughout my life, but at the same time, the potential risks are quite scary.

Again, I will forever be grateful to have her, and it’s all because of you; your knowledge, love, passion and kindness in what you do. I truly cannot thank you enough for this gift of an amazing equine soul who has not only been my horse, but my companion, closest friend, therapist-and that doesn’t even include her sense of humor.

I love hearing updates like that. We really do help make dreams come true.

Dr. John Harrigan

We were both up early and as soon as I downed a good strong cup of coffee got the oven going and baked a double batch of brownies then 2 9 x 12 pans of pumpkin dump cake. I needed to go to the barn and Sarah was already there working. Today Sarah, Rhoda, Anna, Phil and I put in a full long day but WOW did we accomplish a lot. I say we but really it was Phil, Anna, Sarah and Rhoda. I started with painting then was sent to Bartonville hardware for supplies. Rhoda and I painted those 7doors, painting 2 coats on each side and I have no idea how much trim got painted. Anna and Phil were putting up the trim just as soon as the paint would dry. Sarah was painting all of the nail holes on the trim once it was up. By 4:00 pm we started the clean up. The only picture I took was of the girls. They had picked up all the pieces of wood left from the trim and the garbage and were taking it to the dumpster. Zion found 3 plastic pieces all the same size and decided to keep those as they looked like swords and each had their own.

I got in the house about 4:20 pm, dumped the paint brushes and rollers in hot soapy water then jumped in the shower and left by 4:45 pm for Solid Rock school were the families of Sold Rock were holding a fund raiser for the school. They had booths set up with all kinds of food.

Rhoda and Lee baked dozens and dozens of muffins and cookies and their booth sold out.

Below Lee is selling the last few. 

It was very well attended and by 6:30 pm pretty much everyone had sold out except the popcorn people. They kept popping and passed that out during the program. Below the children are getting ready for the program. Iris is in the pink shirt a little right of the center of the picture below.

We were sitting about in the middle but it was still too far away to get any good pictures or video of the singing. Iris was behind the director so we couldn't see her singing but we could hear her.

After the program they had a worship band play songs until 7:30 pm. I left pretty quickly after that as I had a good half hour trip home. Mark was over at the barn listening to the Bible teaching of Dr. John Harrigan.

He spoke tonight and will be back at the barn tomorrow at 11:00 am for the next session. Mark highly recommends coming. He was very interesting to listen to and very knowledgeable.  Lunch and dinner will be provided tomorrow and this is FREE. ANY AND ALL ARE invited! If you need directions just ask GPS to take you to the Horsemeister Farm. 

Work Day at the Barn

 We were both up at 4:30 this morning and I started the coffee early. No sense in waiting to get up there was much to do today. After gulping down a nice big cup of strong coffee the laundry was started then the dishes done. I had fallen behind on those by at least 3 full days. By the time those were finished it was time to get out to move the mares. Today Harli and Izzy were put back in the far paddock. They were so excited to be back into what they have claimed to be 'their' paddock they ran and bucked and ran some-more. Who knew Gyspies are so athletic. 

Next it was time to move Jewel, Missy, Madiera, her filly and Sally over into the middle paddock which I had opened up to the pond pasture.  I needed two hands for this move and didn't have the phone on me but these 4 mares acted just the same as the Gypsies. They ran, bucked, ran into the pond pasture, ran back into the paddock bucking all the while. Crazy mares!  Once they settled down to graze across the pond I moved 2 bales into that paddock. 

The gates were shut the net wrapped picked up and it was time to see if Mark would help move the saw over to the barn for the work day today. We used the golf cart, loaded that on the back and got it to the barn safely.  Mark wanted it in the hallway as he wasn't sure where they would be cutting the wood.

Our walk was uneventful. We are still praising God for bringing David back from the dead. Rachel shared some very touching stories this morning. After the walk and after breakfast I went over to clean up the kitchen area. Rhoda walked in the kitchen door with paint and paint supplies. Anna came in through the gym hall door commenting that she had been waiting for Rhoda but really they both arrived at the same time. They went right to work setting up the saw horses outside to paint trim.

Anna went upstairs to paint while Rhoda painted outside. I worked on removing paint from the showers and cleaning those up when Sarah walked in ready to work. At 11:20 I left to pick up Sarah's girls from school, take them to their house to change. Zion showed me the puppies while she took care of the mom's of the puppies. All 3 girls changed out of their school uniforms, grabbed their homework and we were on our way to the barn. We stopped at McDonalds for a 20 pack of chicken nuggets and when we got to the barn the grapes and chips were added to that for their lunch. Lee had arrived with Zeke and he joined them for lunch. I made some chicken salad sandwiches and Zion helped carry them to the workers. Phil and Matt were both working upstairs. Not long after lunch Rhoda realized we were going to need another gallon of paint so I ran home changed out of my painting clothes and drove to Bartonville hardware for a gallon. Around 3:30 pm all of the workers needed to leave. I finished painting the trim but we still have 5 more doors to paint.

The painting supplies were cleaned up before asking for help from Mark to take the painted doors inside. He was busy working on the facia of the garage and finished that today. 

He was glad to help move things inside for the evening. We took the 2 painted doors upstairs and brought down 2 more that need to be painted tomorrow.

We are both thrilled with how much got done today. At 5:15 pm all of the brushes, rollers and paint cans were cleaned and drying so I started on one of the desserts that will be needed on Saturday. I made this for Sunday dinner and everyone liked it so made a double batch this evening.

As soon as they were cool they were taken out of the cake pans and put in the airtight containers since I need to make two more desserts and need the cake pans to do that.

The cooking pans from tonight are now being washed in the dishwasher and I will be heading to bed in a few minutes. I'm exhausted. 

Doors

 There was no walk today as mom had a very important doctor visit. Joan took her to the dermatologist first to remove the stitches in her arm from where she had the cancer removed and then to have a whole body scan. The spot on her nose was worrisome and suspected to be melanoma, so the doctor took a biopsy of that and then removed it. and the fish mole (the one on her leg the fish would bite) was the other one they were worried about. That one was deeper and had grown bigger. That too demanded a biopsy and removal. Mom came home with 2 bandages. The one on her tip of her nose is pretty funny looking. I took a picture of it to show her and she laughed. That one can't be posted.  I left this morning for Sam's club. As we have barn workers coming tomorrow and Friday I picked up groceries to make meals for them. When I got home Philip was here working on the barn. He decided to order the 3 toilets and we were both pleased to find them on sale, plus we will get an 11% rebate. I drove my Prius to Menards to pick them up and I should have taken the truck. We got them in but it sure wasn't easy.

I could only fit one in the back, the other two had to go in the back seat with the front seats pulled up as far as possible. I drove home with my knees hitting the steering wheel.  Thankfully Mark helped unload them and we worked together carrying them upstairs. Both Phil and Anna were working on the barn hanging doors. We now have DOORS, they got all 7 hung. They also got one of the bathrooms almost done. At least the vanity and the toilet is in place. We don't have the water hooked up yet but it is nice to see how they are going to look. 

I am just thrilled this is getting done. It is rented the first weekend of October and I told them they would be able to use the bedrooms but there were no doors, trim or bathrooms. The best they are hoping for is curtains across the doorways. I think they will be just as thrilled as I am to have doors!

Tonight it was Joan's turn to go to church and my turn to stay with mom. Church tonight was a prayer meeting and will not be posted on AC Central but mom and I were both able to watch it online. I really am thankful for that service. 

David Sauder Update

 I left for the walk about 5 minutes early so I could clean up that pile of horse manure by the fire hydrant. The manure fork was taken back to the barn and by the time I got back to mom's Ruth had arrived. We cut the walk a little short as today is Berean day.  Mom and I arrived at 8:50 am and found Shirley R had already arrived an unlocked the door. We were missing Vonnie again. She hasn't been feeling well. Shirley L went right to work folding 1 through 4 studies as we were completely out of those. 

Marvin and Kathy were busy today as Bruce and Leila are puppy sitting in Arizona.

Mom was really busy trying to get at least one box of envelopes finished. She didn't know I had removed some of the finished envelopes. She thought she wasn't able to but once she was working in the other room with Shirley L on the Bible studies those were put back in the box.  At the end of the day, we were pleased to show her that she DID IT! 

We were all laughing at how pleased she was to know she really had filled the box.  Mom is the only one that does that job and she is going to be going to Gulf Shores for 3 weeks so she wanted to work ahead and finally was able to do that. We needed to stop at Meisters to drop off studies to be graded for the Roanoke church then to the Hanna City post office to drop off the Bibles and studies going out today. Mark was able to take the truck to Menards this morning and picked up all 7 of the doors needed for the upstairs at the barn. Mackenson and Berlica helped us haul those upstairs.

Phil and Anna were there working. I was so thankful to see that, the barn is rented the first weekend in October and they want to use the bedrooms. When they left for the day Mark and I went over to clean up the construction mess. I didn't think we were going to have the doors installed in time for the renters coming in so ordered shower curtains to hang on the doors but now that we have doors, I tried the curtains on the windows. They will work for short term. 

Phil delivered all of the trim and put that in the gym. I just found out Rhoda is bringing the paint then Anna, Rhoda and Sarah will be coming Thursday and Friday to paint it all. My heart is full of thankfulness for my family. Sometimes the word thank you just isn't enough. 

Rachel told us today what happened to David when he coded. I'm posting that here now. 

When he left by ambulance he was coherent and talking without issues.  It is a 20 minute drive from the urgent care to the hospital. Things were uneventful until about 1 minute away from the hospital. He said he was just praying and talking to God and all at once he felt his spirit start to leave his body. (this must have been when his heart stopped). He was aware of what was happening and felt his spirit move up and to the left while in the ambulance.  At that point in time he felt nothing but peace and remembers telling God he was good with whatever HIS plan was.  He remembers vividly feeling that nothing else mattered in that moment. Just complete peace.  The next thing he saw was that he was in a dark hallway standing with his back against the wall. When he looked to the right there was a doorway about 20 yards away and beyond that was light.  To the left there was nothing. Before he could make a move toward the doorway of light he felt a Presence standing in front of him with their hands up about chest level and felt those hands were motioning him to stay where he was.  He remembered four times he looked to the right towards the doorway and all four times the Presence stood in front of him with hands up motioning him to stay where he was.  (Initially we heard that they had shocked him 3 times so we did not make any correlation here but then one of the doctors that worked on him said they actually shocked him four times, we are wondering if that's each time he looked toward the doorway.) He said he thinks that the fact that the Presence was not recognizable was the only reason it wasn't complete agony to come back.  The feeling of total peace was just so overwhelming.  He said if that would have been revealed a Jesus or even our dad or his dad he would have really struggled with the reality of coming back.   His next experience was waking up in the ICU with that terrible tube down his throat.  He is in quite a bit of pain because of his sternum and broken ribs. He is coughing so that's pretty miserable but I'm selfishly so thankful to still have him here.  It's hard for him to get comfortable enough to rest. Keep praying for healing.  

UPDATE: His arm started swelling this morning so we are back at urgent care.  He has a good pulse in his hand but they are doing an ultrasound now to see if there are any blood clots.  NEXT UPDATE:  he has a large blood clot in his arm.  It is not in the artery that supplies the blood but rather the vein that returns the blood.  they are putting him on another type of blood thinner to add to what he already takes. Eloquis.   I just came to Walmart to get it filled and unfortunately they don't have it in stock and he has to have it tonight. I'm going to run over to Walgreens.  They said he needs to take it easy, not strain himself at all or lift anything because they don't want it to break loose and go through his lungs or heart and he is definitely not to fall because of the risk of a brain bleed.