Most Blessed

 It was my turn to be with mom but since I didn't need to be there before 10:00 am there was time to start hauling upstairs the unused wrapping paper, the table cloths from the barn that were all washed, dried, folded and put in the tub with the correct label, get 3 loads of laundry done and make breakfast. I still needed to take down the plastic tables used for wrapping but that can wait. We had a cool morning with heavy frost on the grass and covering the car windows but that turned into a beautiful sunny WARM December 30th day. After lunch it was warm enough to sit out on the deck watching the birds. 

The sunshine felt wonderful after so many dreary cloudy rainy days.

Karin finished the picture of David, Rachel's husband and had that on the kitchen table. It was so good it needed to be shared here.

Who knew my youngest sister was so talented.

I left mom's at 2:00 pm and was surprised to see the barn parking lot full of cars.

They stretched all the way down the left side and around the front. This rental is an extended family from 7 different states celebrating a family Christmas. They also rented the foaling apartment as they needed more sleeping areas. They are leaving tomorrow, Rhoda and Sarah are coming to help get the barn cleaned up for the New Year's Eve party tomorrow evening. Ruth is bringing her bouncy house for that, Phil and Anna have a whiffle ball game planned, I have games planned and the last meal of the year starts at 10:00 pm. Speaking of games, Taegan played in her first game for the Farmington Farmers today. She scored a 3rd of the points and the Farmers won their game. That is Taegan in dark uniform. She is in the center for the jump ball.

When the sun went down the house got cool. Mark kept the living room wood burner going and the heat not only makes the room comfortable it is soothing to hear the crackle of popping wood and beautiful watching the flames lick the top while the glow of orange and red coals fill the room with warmth.

We are a most blessed people and I am thankful. 

A Good Update

 I forgot to post yesterday's post. It was finished and saved but not posted until right now so today there will be two posts. Ruth brought Ryan, Ryan's dog and Fedi's dog on the walk this morning and both Ruth and I were impressed with how good Ryan's dog behaved. Well done Ryan! After the walk I asked Mark for help. Lea and Thalia were put in stalls and the twitch found. Poor Mark had no idea what he was walking into but he was willing. Thalia was actually well behaved as long as that twitch was on. The leg was unwrapped, cleaned off with warm water and betadine and wonder dust applied. It is healing very well. She is wet because of course it is STILL raining and even spitting some snow out.

Below is what is left of the wound.

The abscess on her neck was also treated. That has now popped so the pus was cleaned off and and scrubbed out. Sure hope that will be the last of that. The next job was to move bales. I wanted a new bale put in the middle paddock and Evan's paddock needed a new bale.

Above is the bale for the middle paddock and below is Evan's new bale.

It is a little tricky getting Evan's bale in but Mark got the job done.

When that job was done Lea and Thalia were put out in the back field. There stalls will need to be done tomorrow. I ran out of time today. It is too muddy to put Thalia in the middle paddock. We came in then for breakfast. After breakfast I went to the barn to start cleaning. Our guests were coming in this afternoon. Mark turned the heat on in the gym while I turned the heat on in the living area. I worked for a couple hours. When the guests arrived they were pretty thrilled. At 2:00 pm I needed to get some cash out from the bank in small bills to add to the prizes for the party and once back from the bank started wrapping the prizes. By the time I finished there were 75 prizes wrapped and ready for the games.

Karin called about then, mom wanted Chinese food for supper tonight so I took over 4 egg rolls and some chicken fried rice for their supper. We had a bowl of chili and a salad. A VERY nice message came in from the lady that owns Ciera. She sent this picture: 

The message was: 

The woman who I purchased her from had 2 Horsemeister Friesians that she owned. Ciara was too much, too big for this owner so was turned out. Ranch owner used her to haul hay for his cows. She was brilliant when I met her --- only two rides in 4 years (my son and myself) and I was impressed. She is still brilliant. You breed NICE horses I thought to breed her because I just don't think that I can find another mare this lovely ... thank you, thank you for bringing her into the world.

 Ciera is a Lily filly by Raven and a full sister to Rosalie. Each one of Lily's foals are truly amazing and I'm so glad I kept her 2022 filly Valerie. We will plan on starting Valerie under saddle in 2024 and hopefully she will be as easy to train as Ciera, Ayanna and Rosalie was!

Soaking Wet

 This was written yesterday Dec 28th. I just forgot to push publish.  Ruth and I walked at 7:30 am again. That gives us each a little extra time to sleep in. We only did one round. I left the house for Kroger at 8:15 am then drove across the street to Dollar General and finally to Aldi picking up prizes for the games on New Year's Eve at each of those stores and was home by 9:45 made a quick meal of scrambled eggs then made it to mom's by 10:00 am. I was going to take the golf cart over to mom's except when I walked out of the door it started spitting rain. The car was taken over. It wasn't long before that rain turned to snow. 

It wasn't cold enough for the snow to stick but it was pretty coming down.

Mom and I had an easy quiet morning.  We watched a series about the veterinarian called The Incredible Dr. Pol. While I was at mom's Mark was working first on the truck, sweeping the gym floor and did a lot of research. Tomorrow will be a work day. I have renters moving in both the barn and the foaling apartment. I still don't know how many beds they want me to set up but they wanted seating for 60. I sure don't have beds for that many so am not sure why they need so many tables set up.  The ground is now soaking wet. So much rain, everything is damp and the ground is saturated. It is hard to keep the horses out of the mud.

Invite For NEW YEAR'S EVE

 As soon as it was light enough outside I started working on taking down the Christmas lights. As it was still raining Ruth and I decided to wait until 7:30 am for our walk which gave me time to go up to the apartment and start removing those Christmas decorations. I was not able to finish before 7:30 and got the garbage over to the dumpster just as Ruth arrived. After the walk finished I finished taking everything down and putting it away until next year. On the way back to the house I stopped at Diane's to take a few pictures of her yards and sent her the pictures. 

Above is her front yard and below is her back yard.

She had called and I was explaining how the grass is still growing and the yards are nice and green. My next job was to head to Walmart to pick up prizes for the New Years Eve party. That will be held at the barn on December 31st and will start at 7:00 pm. ANYONE that would like to come IS welcome. Come help us ring in the new year! ALL are welcome and families are encouraged. Just bring a dish to share at the meal. We have plenty of room, fun games planned and the last meal of the year will be served at 10:00 pm.  Speaking of that meal after Walmart I drove to Sam's club and found they had prime rib roasts marked down, WAY marked down so I bought 2 of the biggest. When I got home some of the prizes were unloaded on the table.

The rest of the prizes were put down in the kitchen until I get some of these wrapped. The second pickleball net arrived. Anna and Phil's family brought it over when they came to play basketball so now we can have two teams going at the same time. Our airbnb guests left some nice surprises and left the apartment nice. They sent a text that they will be back. It is nice to have repeat customers.  Mark helped move a bale into the last paddock. Lea and Thalia were moved over, they started eating on the bale then realized the back gate was open and ran all the way back to the middle paddock. They still have a bale in that paddock but I was hoping they would stay over in the far paddock, it is not near as muddy. With the amount of rain we have had the middle paddock is pretty muddy. Thaila has another abscess on her neck. This is the 3rd one. Dr. Hoerr doesn't seem to be worried about it. I'm not sure what is causing them but will keep an eye on it. It isn't terribly cold outside but seemed cold inside. I got a fire going in the living room wood burner to take the chill off. Nice to have an abundance of wood.

A Gift

 Yesterday I was sure tomorrow (today) was going to be Monday but when I woke up this morning I realized Joan is on her way to Gulf Shores that means today is Tuesday and I'm due at mom's. I sent a text to Ruth asking if she wanted to cancel the walk as we both had things to do after celebrating Christmas all day yesterday and she was more than happy to take the morning off. That meant I had plenty of time to listen to Jeff Waibel's Christmas message in Leo Sunday this morning. Click HERE if you would like to watch and listen. It was such a good message on the 4 ways God reveals himself to the world. Karin sent a text that she was going to be leaving later this morning so I didn't need to be there until 9:30 am. That gave me time to make Mark a nice breakfast. Since Mark missed our Christmas meal yesterday I heated up some of the prime rib and paired that with an avocado and sliced pepper. Not pictured was the slice of multigrain toast he asked for.

He is still not feeling well so this afternoon decided he should take another covid test just in case as the one taken on Sunday wasn't accurate. He ordered more tests through the internet but for today Ruth dropped one off and for the second time he tested negative. His symptoms are coughing and the feeling lethargic. He may have a low grade fever but hasn't taken his temperature. Mom and I had a good morning together. She was glad for the left over pizza for lunch along with a bbq wing and of course a Christmas cookie for dessert. Joan called when Aunt Jinnie was on the phone reading to mom. After they were done talking I told mom about how Joan left at 4:30 am and was already in Arkansas. Mom decided since Joan, Diane, Rachel, Beth, Dan are already there and Spark will be heading down soon that maybe next year she could go for the winter too. I had to agree that would be nice. Who knows what the future will be.  My airbnb guests ended up needing to stay until after 5:00 pm so I blocked off the apartment as there wouldn't be time to get it clean for a new guest. I'm going to Middle Grove tomorrow to check on the horses and see if they need new bales put in. Diane sent the 3 pictures below taken December 15th.

We have not had any really cold temperatures since they left and there is still plenty of grass. The grass here is growing and very green. Tomorrow the  high is supposed to be 45 so I will plan on going out in the afternoon. The next ten days are still going to be mild with above freezing temps everyday. Everyday above freezing here here is a gift. 

Christmas 2023

 Mark wasn't feeling well this morning so decided to stay home and watch on line. What he forgot to do, probably because he wasn't feeling well was check the temperature at church. When the kids and I walked into the sanctuary it was much to hot. The boiler was still running. I sent Mark 2 texts but when he didn't respond called him. He turned the boiler off and Goeff turned on the air conditioner. Thank goodness!  Spark said he was going to try to walk out but thought he might faint. He was sitting pretty far up front.  He and Randy wore their Christmas ties. 

I was pretty thrilled, Rhoda, Lee, Iris, Zeke, Sarah, Nolan, Zion, Eden, River, David, Stephanie, Israel and Elisabet all fit on one bench. We were near the back just in case one of the little ones would cry and needed to be taken out but they were all good. Caleb our new minister had the Christmas service. If you would like to watch that click HERE. The last song of the service was Joy To the World. Iris knows the words to that song and belted it out at the top of her lungs and her voice carried very well. She really is my granddaughter. After church the kids came to the barn for a prime rib late luncheon. Spark and Rhonda joined us and after the late lunch Ruth and Fedi stopped in too and tried out a few of the left overs. They went to mom's next where Karin cooked a prime rib dinner and served mom, Nancy and Joan's family. Karin served her's with mom's good china.

I was too busy to think about taking any pictures but took the short video below of the grands playing in the gym.

The adults played games in the dining area. Rhoda really is great at organizing the games. We didn't get hungry again until after 7:00 pm. We ate left overs and pizza for supper. It is hard to believe another Christmas has come and gone. We celebrate Jesus' birth and are so thankful for the gift and plan of salvation but are looking forward to His second coming even more than Christmas. 

Quiet Christmas Eve

 Today was a very quiet Sunday. We got up, Mark went for a walk, I cleaned up a bit then left at 9:15 am to pick up Rhonda for church.  Craig Stickling had the message. Click HERE if you would like to watch that. We left right after as I wanted to stop at Aldi to pick up sweet potatoes for the Christmas meal tomorrow.  When we got home we decided to have pizza for lunch. I had all the ingredients including black olives so whipped one up and enjoyed a couple pieces of piping hot deluxe loaded pizza.  The kids gave me a Francine Rivers book for Christmas last night and all of them have plans for today so after lunch the book was started and then finished at 6:20 pm just in time to make supper. Our airbnb guests sent the pictures below stating, "we are so in LOVE with your sweet horses!"  They gave me permission to share here. 

As they have family in the area they sent this: "We would love to keep coming here when we come down. It is absolutely perfect!"

Restful Day

 Mark wanted a ham and cheese omelet instead of sausage and cheese for breakfast but wanted me to add mushrooms and onions. He wanted peppers in it too but I was going to share the omelet and don't care for peppers so didn't add those.  Wow was it foggy this morning. On my way over to mom's I realized we could not see across the lake. Rachel's house could not be seen at all. Joan's was a blur off in the distance. 

The fog lasted all day. Last night Mark gave me 12 dodge balls at the Sceggel Christmas party so today I got them all pumped up and taken over to the gym. I also asked Mark if he would install the hanger for the ping pong paddles and balls as we have the Haefli Christmas tonight. We decided to put it up on the wall next to the basketball game. I should have taken a picture of it but this holds 4 paddles and 6 balls.  I have purchased 24 ping pong balls in the last 2 weeks but could only find 3 of them until I started checking under the couches. Each chair and couch was hiding balls probably from weeks ago but I ended up finding 9 more. I just left the 6 out and put the other 6 in the cupboard. Mark cleaned both of the vacuums out and was able to sweep up any of the gravel from when we pulled the wheel chair van inside the gym. When I left mom's I brought Thalia in to work on her neck and leg. She had an abscess on her neck from getting a splinter in. That had drained and needed to be scrubbed and cleaned with some hot water and betadine. She was good for the neck not so good for the leg. I'm going to need assistance when taking the bandage off. I think if I could find my twitch that would work.  Our guests coming in for the apartment send a text that they were lost. They didn't follow the directions I sent by airbnb and ended up at the barn. They said, "we ended up at something like a banquet hall."  I had to go rescue them and show them the correct barn.  They were just a little younger than I am and LOVED the decorations, especially the tree. They booked for 2 adults and 2 pets and was I surprised when I met the 2 pets. They were the smallest little Chihuahuas I've ever seen. I told them those don't even qualify as dogs.   

When I came inside Mark was taking a nap by the fire so I did too.

Those are my toes covered up by a blanket.

What a quiet easy day.

  

Sceggel Christmas

 Today we had rain, not a hard rain but it was an all day rain. I needed to get the dishes out of the dishwasher at the barn, take mom's glasses back then take all our dishes back to the house. The fridge at the barn also needed to be cleaned out as Spark and Rhonda were using the barn for their family Christmas tonight. I had to get gas in the car as it had been flashing empty for 2 days. We left at 4:10 pm to drop a check off at Meisters then head to the Domino pizza place in Morton to pick up the 8 pizzas Lee ordered for the Sceggel Christmas tonight. Rhoda and Lee were hosting. We were a little early and had to wait about 15 minutes for the pizzas to be finished cooking but they were good and hot by the time we drove the 15 minutes more to Rhoda and Lee's house. Everyone brought food and there was quite a spread. 

After supper Rhoda had games organized with prizes. We all had fun with that. 

The next game the kids were having so much fun that Rhoda finally asked them, "do you want to keep playing or open presents?' They just couldn't turn down the presents.

 

After the presents were given out the kids went downstairs to play while the adults played games upstairs. We laughed and laughed during these. The games were still going strong when Mark and I finally left. A special thanks to Rhoda and Lee for making our Sceggel Christmas so much fun. 

Quilter Christmas Party

During our walk, Ruth, Joan and I stopped in at mom's. I still can't find my glasses so decided to borrow mom's green ones. She had 12 but we only took 10. Those were carried into the barn and left for later so we could finish the walk. Ruth needed to quit a little early to get to work in time so Joan and I only did one round. After the walk I went straight to the barn to finish setting the table. 

Joan went to mom's this morning then was relieved when Anna got there at 10:00 am. Joan had to see the orthopedic about her arm. After cooking breakfast for Mark, loading the dishwasher and getting the laundry separated and started I was back over at the barn by 9:00 am. The rib roast was put in the oven with a meat thermometer, the upstairs game room was straightened up and the gym balls picked up and put in the corner before going back home to start the carrots. At 10:45 am I went to mom's to collect mom and Anna and bring them to the barn. Aunt Jinnie called just then so we put the phone on speaker to make it easier to hear her. Mom was telling her about the Christmas quilter lunch so I took the picture below and sent it via text to Aunt Jinnie.

She asked us to send another picture when everyone arrived. At first only 6 arrived all in one car. Sarah arrived pretty quick after that and then came LuEllen and her sister. We added the 2 more plates and had 12 around the table. I didn't remember to take the picture until after the food was served.

After dinner Anna cleaned up while the ladies went upstairs to the game room to try out the batting cage. Leona went first.

Below is her cheering section.

Barb was next and got in a few good hits.

By the time we got back downstairs Anna had all the dishes done and the kitchen cleaned up. We all had a good visit on the sectional. Rhonda and Spark arrived. Rhonda stayed to visit but Spark took off as all the rest of the guests were ladies. After everyone left mom and I took Rhonda home in the wheel chair van. Karin was already home so I went out to back the van back into the garage then took the left overs to Anna's house. It was wonderful to have her help today. Mark was out working on wood. Not that we need anymore, the woodshed is still full but I'm doing my best to empty it. I started a fire this evening and both of us were relaxing in the rocker recliners while enjoying the heat.

The phone camera is not doing justice to the bright red embers and gold flames. Believe me the fire is a pretty to watch as the heat is to enjoy.  

Mark and I booked an airbnb for the first 4 days in August down by Montauk state park. We contacted the owner of the same place we stayed last year and he not only reserved it for us but gave us the same rate as last year. This house only has 3 bedrooms but it has 4 camper hookups so we can fit our entire family. Last year the grandkids really enjoyed canoeing and fishing in the Current River. The canoeing, the hiking the fishing are just some of the highlights this place offers. The trout are big and hungry.

We caught a bunch and fried them up for our dinner. The fire pit was well supplied with logs and we enjoyed cooking s'mores over the fire. All in all it was a good trip for the grandkids. As I had the evening free I did a quick search on AC Central and found Jeff Waibel spoke in Bluffton Sunday morning. This was a Christmas story unlike any I've ever heard. If you would like to hear and watch this message click HERE. I enjoyed listening and this message hit me pretty hard, I too was just like Balock once and wanted to go somewhere that I shouldn't. I argued with God telling him other people go why can't I go and finally decided I'm GOING...until I heard HIS answer, "You can go but I won't go with you." and just like that the Holy Spirit left. The darkness and emptiness was awful. I fell to my knees in repentance begging Him to come back and what was amazing about that entire experience was His Forgiveness. Not only did HE forgive me of my rebellion but I lost the desire to go my own way, the desire to go where I KNEW no Christian should go. I am so thankful for my Triune God, our Loving Father, The Son Jesus, the Holy Spirit and this amazing plan of salvation.

. 

Iris the Angel

 Ruth and I had to stop and admire the sunrise as we were walking to Joan's house this morning.

I only got in one round as I needed to leave by 8:00 am for Bethel Lutheran church where Iris was an angel in the nativity. I arrived at the exact time as Rhoda and Lee and followed them into the parking lot. Iris was glad to show me her classroom. She was left there while I joined Rhoda, Lee and Zeke in the foyer.

The kindergartners performed in front of the entire school.

The video of the entire performance is posted below.

After it was over the class posed for a picture.

Next we took pictures of Lee's family.

Last Rhoda had took the picture below of me with Iris and Zeke.

After it was over I drove to Sam's to pick up some food for the quilters Christmas party then to Aldi to pick up vegetables for the chicken soup that had to be made today.  The left over chicken from Sunday needed to be used or frozen and we are out of soup so I made a big pan, we each ate a bowl for lunch then I froze 8 quarts for later. My next job was to clean up the barn and set the table for tomorrow. I'm still missing my glasses so will probably go over to borrow mom's tomorrow morning. We left for church at 6:15 pm. Tim Funk had the message. Click HERE if you would like to watch that service. After church a big group went out to Culvers for a late dinner.

 

 

Wrestling

I took the car over for the walk this morning, it was only 19 degrees outside and too cold to take the golf cart. Mark had the fire going in the fireplace and I thought the smoke coming out of the chimney was picturesque. 

I asked Joan if she could stay with mom until I could get back from the Berean office as it was too cold for mom to go. Once I got to the Berean office it was obvious that was the right decision. There was no heat in that office. We worked with our coats AND gloves on. If you would like to read about our chilly morning there click HERE. I left there at 10:15 am drove straight down to Meisters to drop off the studies to be graded for Roanoke for Amanda to take to her mom then made it back to mom's by 11:15 am. Just in time. Joan had just called Faith to come over to help but since I was there she was able to leave. Mom was given the choice of either fried chicken or bbq ribs for lunch and she chose the ribs. That was a good choice. It was meaty and tender. For dessert we had a ginger cookie and part of an apple fritter. As soon as Karin arrived I left as I only had an hour at home before needing to leave for Forrest, IL. I arrived at the school at 5:00 pm but before heading into the school realized I had forgotten that they charge to get in to the games. I checked my wallet and found $2.00 but didn't think that would be enough. There was some change in the car but mostly nickels, dimes and pennies. That would have to do. When I walked into the gym the lady guarding the door told me it would be $6.00. Well I knew I didn't have that much so questioned her stating, I'm alone and am a senior and am here for the grade school match. Thank goodness that dropped the price to $3.00. She was a little surprised to get to crumpled up dollar bills then a bunch of change. I've got to remember to keep some money in my purse just for emergencies. The boys were all on the mat warming up when I finally got inside and found a seat.  Below Jack is in the front row. He had just seen me and gave me a bit smile.

From then on though he concentrated on the coach.

This is his first year of wrestling and each time he is improving. It was a long drive home for him though. He left the house at 7:30 am and by the time he was back home in Goodfield it was almost 8:00 pm. We had no internet at the school so as soon as I got home I had lots of texts to answer.