Holiday Blessings

I don't have a picture to put with this one but wanted to post anyway. For Thanksgiving we got good news that a new grandbaby was on the way & now today we got news another one is on the way too. So 2009 will see us adding two new grandbabies in June & August. :)

Christmas Sillyness

Last year after Christmas Grandpa & Grandma saw these reindeer antlers marked down & we thought it would be fun to buy them for the grandkids to wear. We are sorry that the grandkids in Arizona could be part of the sillyness. Even one of the big "kids" got in on it.

Snow & More Snow

This is what our front yard & drive way looks like, or did before the drive was plowed out. This seems to be the common look this year. We sure have had more than enough snow & we aren't done yet. We are suppose to get another 5 to 10 inches yet tonight through tomorrow. The last major storm that this picture is of we got 12 inches.

MESS

This is what we found when we came home from the family get together. It was very cold so we let the dogs stay inside. We totally forgot about the possiblity that Betsy would attack the plants. It wasn't a very important plant but oh the clean up was a major job.

Sibblings

We had a family get together with Ed's side of the family. We don't seem to get together too often so we always have to have a sibbling picture. I wish we had done a sibbling picture when we were together with my 3 sisters, next time I guess. They are standing in age order.

Girls & Frogs

We have a tin of fake frogs here that the grandkids love to play with. At their last visit Sarah decided to build them a "pen". She did a good job laying out the blocks for them to sit on. She was not too happy with Betsy when she kept coming to see what was going on.

Cats

We have been trying to get both of our cats used to each other. Diamond the black cat lives in the garage but wants to come in & visit us off & on. But she is a bit intimidated by Owyn's size.

Sewing Projects

I had several pillow panels that I wanted to make up for our motorhome "Silver Eagle". This is a picture of sort the before. I forgot to take a picture before I got going on the first one. The picture to the right is the finished project. I was glad to get them done as my fingers were really getting sore as I sew the panels on by hand.

Christmas Programs

Yesterday was the day for Christmas programs. Our church Amazing Grace had theirs. This is a picture of our choir. We are small but we are very on fire for the Lord.

This is the kids choir. That is one of our granddaughter as "Mary". "Baby Jesus" ios our doll, which will probably now be forever called Baby Jesus instead of Rose.

This is a picture of some of our other grandchildren. kind of hard to see them but we couldn't get any closer for pictures.

Vacation

We just had nearly a week at one of our timeshares, this one was in Sunrise Beach, MO near Lake Ozark. We left here a day late as we wanted to be in church here as a missionary couple were coming we wanted to see. Then we headed home early enough that we could be home again for church yesterday. We have a full & busy week but it was good.

Our last night there the moon was so pretty.This picture doesn't show it as pretty as it really was.

This is a picture of our "friend" while on vacation. The first day when we were going to head out in the morning I saw what I thought was a twig laying on the stair railing. But it was a tiny snake. I thought he was dead. But when we came back I thought he was laying a bit different, so I took his picture. Yes we had snow while there. The next morning we moved him a bit to see if he would move. He didn't while we were there but later when we came back he had moved a bit. The last day we were there he had made it down to the floor of the stairway. I didn't think he was safe there so moved him into an area with bushes.

New Family Member of the Four Feet Kind

Well we did a very silly thing today. We added a new dog to the family. She is a lab mix of 4 or 5 months. We have named her Betsy. She is a sweet girl. Abby is not so sure she likes her but they are doing fairly well. I saw her on Criag's List last night. She was at a animal shelter in White Cloud & her days were limited. I have promised not to look at the list of Pets any more.

One More Surgery

Owyn joined the list of surgeries done in the household. We could not break him of using his claws. So in order to have him be more friendly to our house we had his front claws removed. He was not too happy with us Sunday night when he wanted his bed time meal nor Monday morning when he couldn't have breakfast. He is back home now & eatting making up for lost meals. We were surprised that he had no dressings on his paws. The vet said to keep him from jumping. Ya right, keep a cat from jumping. He has been licking & licking his feet & pulling at the stitches. We hope he doesn't get the stitches out too soon. He was glad to see us this morning & rode home on my lap something he normally doesn't do. When we got to the street before ours he got excited as he knew he was going home.

40 Years as Mr & Mrs

Today it is 40 years since we got married. It has been a wonderful 40 years. The year we got married we went out to eat supper & when we came out there was 3 inches of fresh snow on our car. Today it just has been a bit of rain off & on. We are trusting God to give us many more happy years together.

Cast Free

I went to the doctor today for another check up on my broken hand. It has been 4 weeks since I fell & broke one of the bones. The doctor said it was ok to take the cast off. My fingers are still very sore & can't bend all the way. But my left hand is nearly normal size now. I can't get my wedding ring back on so I will still be wearing it on my right hand awhile longer. But oh does it feel great to be free of my hand prison.

Weather ???

We had some yucky weather today. It rained & hailed. The picture is of the hail on our deck. It started to rain while we were coming home from the hospital. We did have some hail too while driving, but not like it hailed after we got home.

Home Agian

Ed was able to come home early agian. The doctor & PT staff are surprised just how fast Ed recovers from surgery. Ed said it was so much better this time without the nerve block in the leg. Now we will start the rounds of trips to the PT appointments.

Little Visitors

Ed had visitors today so we had to have pictures. The doctor didn't take the dressing off today as there still is quite a bit of drainage. Doctor did tell Ed he was doing great & might be able to go home tomorrow. We are not sure if going home depends on how the drainage is doing.

Surgery # 4

Here is Ed after his 4th surgery in 8 weeks & 2 days. It was a total knee joint replacement on his left leg. He is doing fine & we are praying his recover goes as well as it did for the other leg.

My Turn?

Well not that I wanted a turn at being laid up but I got it just the same. On Wed. I sort of missed a step, I guess I must have hit the edge if it & ended up on the floor. My middle finger on my left hand hurt right away but soon the whole hand hurt. I spent a rough night. In the morning Ed decided I needed to see the doctor. The doctor figured I had some thing broken so ordered 3 xrays. The xrays showed the bone in the hand that goes up to the ring finger was broken. He put me in a cast that is only on the bottom of my arm then wrapped with a ace bandage. I can take it off to shower but can't use the hand for any thing. It is very hard to do things with just one hand. I am glad I am right handed. The hand & fingers are very swollen & bruised. I have to wear this cast for four weeks. We are wondering how it will go next week when Ed has his next knee joint replacement surgery. We will trust God to see us through this too.

Imagination

When these three grandkids came to visit Grandpa at home & they saw his motion machine they decided it looked like a car. Not sure if the medical world could be so imaginative but kids are.

Home Again

Ed was allowed to come home today. :) He will have to go out to PT three times a week. Doctor said he was doing great. We are so glad this surgery went so well as he has the other knee done in 6 weeks.

Walk Anyone?

This is after Ed had taken a fair size walk in the hall this afternoon

Visitors

Ed had some nice visitors today. The granddkids were interested in Grandpa's stuff. He had his motion machine on & they thought that was neat. You can see in the picture to the right. Ed is doing great. He has amazed the therpists he was chuckling while doing the PT things. He hasn't had much for pain today. Doctor said maybe he could go home tomorrow. We will plan on Mon but be excited if it turns out that he can go home tomorrow. :)

Surgery Number Three

The picture to the left is just before he was taken to surgery for his total knee joint replacement. The picture to the right is just after surgery. I am sorry they are not very good pictures but at least you can see the big leg he has for now with all the bandages. He is doing great so far.

Surgery Number Two

Ed had surgery number two yesterday. All went well & he can see again out of both eyes. Tomorrow we go for surgery number 3, a much bigger one, the first of two knee joint replacement surgeries.

New Granddaughter

Want you to meet our newest family member. Julia Faith came in to the world today at 2:09 am. She is healthy girl weighing in at 9 pounds 9 ounces & is 21 inches long. We are very thankful God allowed us to have another granddaughter. We now could use a few more grandsons.

New Baby Quilt

This is the newest of the "new baby quilts" I make for our grandchildren. This is for our son & his wife new one that is on the way as I write. They have liked having the name & date of each child on their quilts so I can't finish them up until the birth has happened or soon to happen. Little did I know when I started doing these quilts back in 1993 that I would end up doing so many of them. This one is number 16. I do enjoy doing them & each one has been different & espeically made for each child. Each done with love.

Life of Easy?

Don't they look comfie? These seem to be favorite spots to sleep for Abby on the left & Owyn on the right. I just couldn't resist taking their pictures.

Fun at Grandpa & Grandma's

We decided to let the girls have some messy fun. Each were dressed in a old shirt of Grandma's. We were surprised that Emily who normally doesn't like to get her hands mess got into this fun more than Sarah did. We had a bit of trouble with the paint being too thick as it is very old. But I mixed in some water & we were able to get it to work some what.

Surgeries

Well one of the 4 surgeries that Ed has to have in the next few weeks is over with. We do have to return to the doctor's office tomorrow to have things checked out. Then a week from now he has to see the doctor again. Then about a week after that he will have the next cataract done. After those are done starts the rounds of having knee joint replacement surgeries on both knees.

Danish Festival Weekend

Last week we had a booth at the festival in our home town. Grandpa took the kids for a ride on his scooter. Well William was not in the basket at the time of the ride. But isn't it cute to see all of them with Grandpa & all in their matching shirts? We had a good time though it was tiring. The kids got a bit restless but over all did well being there all day long. The little trips out & about helped them not be too bored. There was also play equipment near by too so we did let them have time playing on that.

One less "family"member

Well we finally did what we have known we needed to do. We took our 9 year old dog Lady to the animal shelter so she could find a new home. We didn't want to do that but also didn't not want to do it. She has been having some dog fights with her other two dog sisters. We decided before she got one of the grandchildren by mistake we had best remove her from our home. We sure didn't want to part with her yet we didn't want to have the "what ifs" of not doing it too & having something bad happen. We are praying she will be able to find a good home where she is the only dog.

Our whole family

We were able to get all our family members
together on June 29th for a birthday party.
So I got the much wanted family picture.
We had not had whole family together for
over a year as our daughter Amy & her
family had moved to Arizona last June.
We had a great visit & great time.

New "family" member

We added a new member to our "family", well our animal family.

On Wed July 2nd we went into Grand Rapids to look at a cat we thought we wanted. Yes he was the cat we had been looking for to make a house cat. He was nameless for a couple of days. Finally we settled on Owyn for his name, it means young warror in Celtic. Since he was good at fending off our dogs we thought the name fit. He is a VERY nice cat. Has good manors too. Knows the word NO. He has blue eyes & very soft fur. kind of like rabbit hair. He has had a bath & didn't mind it too bad. I think he is a good addition to the family.

More Yard

This is the back of the house. There were some autum olive trees growing right next to the house. This is the back yard right beside the dog pen. This after picture is the same area only taken from the deck.

This the rest of the area right behind the house looking from the deck. The one above is the left, then middle & far right. See our small path of stones?

The picture to the left is beside the garage. The one to the right is the new look of the driveway.