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Happy Birthday

To Our Favorite Abigail

We Love You!

Breakfast with Roy, Deb, and Three Grandsons

…and searching for all creatures great and small

Saturday, February 13

Our daughter Deb and her friend Roy invited us to go out for breakfast to celebrate my birthday, and arrived with all kinds of goodies – some purchased and others homemade.

They also brought birthday cupcakes from our “adopted” grandsons David and Zachary.

You guys did a great job of decorating them – and they are delicious. Thanks!

Because Jordan, Josh, and Nate were still with us, we invited them to go along. Roy and Deb think we should make this an annual breakfast because they don’t get to spend a lot of time with these guys.

I ordered a bacon and egg wrap (left) expecting a small meal – it came with lots of homefries. Cerwin ordered the special (middle) potatoes, eggs, sausage gravy, and cheese, and Nathan had the biscuit sandwich on the right. He was expecting a sandwich about half that size. The other four had similar meals. We didn’t have to eat for the rest of the day!

The guys – Jordan, Josh, and Nate – went back to their homes after breakfast…

…and Roy, Deb, Cerwin, and I traveled some back, woodsy roads, in search of wildlife. We had gone about a mile when I noticed this hawk, and called to Roy, “STOP! STOP!

There were actually two (Red-tailed hawks – I think) who flew away when we rolled the truck windows down.

Pretty winter scenes.

We stopped in a woodsy area where we saw lots of cardinals. At one point we counted seven males.

We were in an area where eagles are sometimes seen, and were hoping this was one…

…but we discovered that it was a turkey buzzard. (This is Deb’s photo.)

We stopped at another area where we frightened a Great Blue Heron.

The mallards were fun to watch in this creek.

We were a bit puzzled by this branch hanging in midair. We figured that it must have been hanging by a fishing line.

We drove into a farmers lane to capture photos of these longhorn cattle.

We watched these two for quite awhile.

She was so cute. Deb tried to convince her to come home with us.

A critter at the end of the farmer’s driveway.

More winter scenery

Ice fishermen

Laundry drying in the cold, wintry air.

At the end of our drive, we showed Roy and Deb where we lived for the first four years of our marriage. Jeff and Diane were born during the time we rented this house. After this we built and moved to the house where we currently live.

~~~

We had a fabulous time, and want to do this kind of local sightseeing again sometime.

~~~

It pays to take life seriously; things work out when you trust in God.

Proverbs 16:20 (The Message)

Removing Snow From the Roof

…and someone else is visiting

Friday, February 12

Cerwin decided that it was not good for our house roof to have so much snow on it, so recruited visiting grandsons Nate and Jordan to help with the job.

How nice that these guys had decided to spend two days with us following the blizzard.

After finishing the front they took a break, then worked on the back of the house.

Now what could Josh be up to?

He was not able to be on the roof shoveling snow because of an injured shoulder.

He came to the kitchen to ask if I had a bucket or bowl for snow – so he could form snowballs in secret for firing at Jordan and Nathan. After supplying him with a bucket, I decided this may be a good photo op.  It is quite fun being a grandma.

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 Note to his parents – he is throwing with his left arm.

At first Jordan looked puzzled by the flying snow, but he soon realized where it was coming from.

Nate also caught on, so I pointed out where Josh was standing.

Josh was safe as long as he stayed under the roof.

They created quite a fortress which surrounded the entire house.

While they were on the roof, I made a pot of venison noodle soup for lunch. Each time the boys came into the kitchen they commented on the wonderful smell. It turned out to be quite delicious.

This was the day Cerwin brought me a dozen roses for Valentine’s Day.

It appears that three more pair of shoes have been added to those lined up next to our fireplace. Who could it be?

You guessed correctly – it’s the little grandsons.

One of Ian’s favorite things to do is play Shopping Cart Hero – and he does quite well. In this photo he is showing me his awards.

The other two, Jared and Jesse played with trucks and watched a video.

They were only here a short time during the evening while their parents went out for dinner and shopping. The teenagers decided to stay another night.

Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him.

1 John 2:16 (The Message)

Digging Out of the Snow

…more birds, and guess who’s visiting

Thursday, February 11

 It will be awhile before our birds can bathe here.

Shortly after daylight two farm tractors and a township plow make sure that milk and feed trucks can get through.

 By then Cerwin knew it was time to open our driveway, but first he had to shovel his way to the shed where he stores the snowblower.

Left: Opening a path through the yard. Right: Beginning the major task of opening the driveway.

He had just finished the driveway when Zachary (neighbor) delivered these warm donuts that his mom and grandma baked. They were still warm. Oh, was I ever glad that I had not yet eaten breakfast. Thanks Mary and Sarah.

Now that our road and driveway were open, Cerwin was able to deliver the thirteen tubs of Highway News and Good News (that we labeled yesterday) to the post office.

 After delivering the mail, he headed to TFC’s International Office – which took him a lot longer than usual – because of having to detour several closed roads. This is what he faced when he got there. He parked at the end of the driveway and walked to the shop. Inge, Executive Assistant to the President, took this photo a short time later as she tried to walk in his footsteps.

 More parking lot photos by Inge.

Job finished. Thanks, Inge, for the photos.

 Photo by Cerwin as he left the office in the late afternoon.

 I spent the afternoon in my office, but took several breaks to check on the birds. I took this photo because there were three female cardinals in the bush.

 I was also able to capture a few closeups of birds that were enjoying the sunflower seed I put on the window ledge.

 Oh, look who showed up.

 He is so brilliant.

 These of the female cardinals are my favorite.

 ~~~

Guess Who is Here?

~~~

These three grandsons (Nate, Josh, Jordan) were getting bored with being snowed in – no school or work – so they decided it was time to hang out at grandpa and grandmas. I have a wonderful memory of these three playing Xbox with lots of loud laughter. It’s music to my ears.

 Cerwin was glad he had opened enough space for two more vehicles – Jordan’s car and Nate’s truck.

It’s a scene that makes this grandma happy.

We’ll celebrate, we’ll sing, we’ll make great music. Yes! For your love is better than vintage wine.

Song of Solomon 1:4 (The Message)

Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love.

Ephesians 5:1 (The Message)

A Few More Pictures From the Blizzard

Wednesday, February 10

When the wind blew the snow against our windows, it stayed there, making it difficult to see outside, but creating a pretty scene.

The back of our house

Facing northwest from a garage door

Birdfeeders

Our small dogwood tree was full of birds most of the day.

A male cardinal looked pretty outside our living room window.

A few birds weathering the cold

I put some sunflower seeds on the living room window ledge, because it was sheltered from the wind.

It became a popular eating place.

By bedtime the snow had stopped and though we had about eighteen inches of snow, the outside seemed fairly peaceful again.

Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life. The person who aligns with me hungers no more and thirsts no more, ever.

John 6:35 (The Message)

Chapel Construction

Preparing For the Blizzard

…and feeding birds during the storm

Tuesday, February 9 ~ Wednesday, February 10

By weather forecasts, Cerwin thought that Tuesday would probably be the last day this week that he could work on the new chapel construction.

This donated trailer is quite sturdy, but they had to reinforce an area of the roof that had been damaged at one time.

One of Glenn’s first jobs is to remove door hinges – before a solid wall is installed.

The road crew did something interesting in preparation for a second snow storm in a week – they opened a path in the field beside the road. I expect it is so they have place to go with snow.

It seemed like a good evening to make a pot of chicken/corn/orzo soup.

The snow began arriving in the late afternoon, and continued to fall steadily until we went to bed.

When we woke up on Wednesday morning, we knew the weather forecasters had not missed it this time, as there was already a foot of snow on the ground – and the heaviest wind and snow was still to come.

Because most birdfeeders were covered, I put a few dishes on the porch just outside the door so I could move them as needed.

It didn’t take long until they were totally covered.

The two couples we expected to help label the 2,800 individual Highway News were snowed out, and since were were snowed in, we decided to do the job anyway. Cerwin suggested that we bring the supplies into the house so we wouldn’t have to heat the garage. He preferred working at the kitchen table…

…and I chose the living room.

Although labeling took longer than usual, it was interesting to spend most of the day watching our local TV channel’s storm coverage.

By the end of the day we had fifteen to eighteen inches of snow. It was hard to tell how much because of the wind and drifting.