Sunday

 Mark and I went over to clean up the barn at 7:00 am. Most of it had been done last night but there were still a few things to put away.  There was a brand new toy in the gym.

Phil brought it over last night and the kids had fun with it at the Christmas party. I just hadn't noticed it. As Sarah and Nolan left very early this morning. I'm not exactly sure what it is but it will sure make the ball clean up fun for the kids. As Sarah and Nolan left in the middle of the night for Florida, once the barn was done I drove up to the apartment to let the dogs out. Millie and her 3 puppies were glad to get out. Those puppies are doing amazing with their potty training.

I was trying to get a video of them playing but during the video they started doing their jobs. They still did a lot of playing before bringing them inside.

All of these puppies are spoken for. The next dog I tried to put outside didn't know me at all and refused to come out. Willow has just one puppy and as she didn't know me was very protective. I tried using a small piece of ham to bribe her but she ignored that ham and growled each time I asked her to come out. I finally left her in. Steven is moving in to the apartment so I told him I wasn't able to get her out. He explained that he knew her and was sure he would be fine. We left for church a little late and didn't arrive until 9:40 am but Joan was also late and pulled in right after us. Craig Stickling had the first service on the birth of John the Baptist. Click HERE to watch that. Randy and Kathy brought Nancy. Kathy told us on the way to church Randy was blowing a duck call and Nancy exclaimed, "Put a sock in it!" She came all decked out for church and jingled when she walked. At lunch she had to show us how.

Tim Roecker announced today that he would be retiring from the ministry in 2026. We will sure miss his messages. He had the afternoon message, click HERE to listen to that. We had no company coming for Sunday dinner so both Mark and I took a nice long nap after church. Spark and Rhonda celebrated Christmas at the barn this afternoon. Rhonda sent the video below of her grandchildren opening their gifts.

Mike sent a couple pictures of the trail camera at Middle Grove taken today. The horses are obviously enjoying the sunshine and the hay. 

The sun must have been directly on the camera on the next pictures as it was showing 51 degrees.

It was NOT that warm today. It was below freezing when we were over working on the barn this morning and 37 degrees when we were driving home from church.  Mark came with me to take Nancy home this evening. She loved seeing all of the Christmas lights.