Saturday's Scribbles

 

Good Saturday to you from our corner of Iowa where when looking out the window we see a couple inches of snow on the ground. The white stuff finally came to stay along with some colder temperatures although it looks to me like it may not last. Joel saw a bunny rabbit out in the snow yesterday. Blended right in.  Our neighbor has tucked their old pumpkins up against the side of their garage and the deer and the rabbits have been feasting! Fun to see. know Joel did the same with ours but he took them down to the river and broke them open on the side of the bank so the animals could feast. 

Speaking of feasts,  we plan to have Christmas dinner with our oldest son and his kids. That will be nice. Mostly we have quiet dinners here alone and enjoy that too but it's always nice to be around family.

 It is been a busy week without really much going on if that makes any sense. Just getting the wrapping done making sure all the cards are sent out and doing a lot of baking on my part. I made pumpkin bread, Townhouse cookies, and Angel Crisp cookies and then of course my own almond flour cookies with nuts and raisins. On Wednesday night we went to an advent service at the church which was a Holden prayer service. It was nice and peaceful. I spent quite a bit of time on the phone this week talking to family and friends and we all spent quite a bit of time in prayer regarding the one we love and care about who's fighting such a hard battle. We have seen miracle upon miracle in this situation and we are on our knees humbled and grateful for the movement that we see of God in this person's life and their body.  God is the god of Miracles. 

Speaking of Miracles , we're so thankful that all the people that we've talked to this week are doing okay . Three other family members and one friend have taken hard falls in the past couple weeks resulting in a fractures, bruises, and black eyes!  No one sustained major damage but certainly they are in recovery mode for these Falls. Just so grateful that they're going to be okay. Needless to say having so many people fall has put me on high alert for going up and down stairs or walking outside ! Too much falling for my way of thinking !

 Joel has been working on the wooden TV tray tables that he's making for the grandkids. He had to dig out the snow blower and get that going too. I've been walking inside and listening to the second in a series by Jan Karen about Father Tim. I just love those books! Christmas will soon be upon us and we give thanks for our savior Jesus who came to save the world. We're so grateful for his sacrifice and what it means for all of us. 

So today I'm grateful for the first snowfall, grateful for snow blowers and cozy houses. Grateful for being able to bake bread,pumpkin bread, Angel Crisps,  Townhouse cookies and more.  Grateful for presents under the tree and grateful for all the healing on a daily basis. Grateful for Jesus Healing Touch and the amazing miracles that we have seen this week. It definitely has brought us to our knees. Yes grateful for all these things along with phone calls, texts, hugs, and prayers, and so much more.

 Enjoy your weekend

Saturday's Scribbles

 

Good Saturday to you from our corner of North Iowa where the weather report looks grim. Ice, freezing rain, and snow will be covering our state throughout today. It warmed up last night so that we woke up to 25° which sent Joel out on the porch for his morning coffee. God blessed him this morning with some beautiful birds to share his space. There's a nice bush on the corner of our porch and a cardinal spent time there this morning along with some Juncos and a chickadee! Definitely a welcome sight. There is some spiritual thought that Cardinals are messengers from God. Certainly nature sends messages every day to us about our Creator!

Joel has  headed off to Gabby Grandpa  even though the roads may be a little bit slippery. We are still waiting for the snow to arrive.

 It has been a quiet week in many ways. We finished putting out any decorations we wanted, we ordered a few things online and we went to Advent services at the church where Joel served for 10 years, Our Saviour's Lutheran. Joel rode his bike once this past week because it was so warm! He also has been doing some woodworking in the semi-heated garage. He had a good report from the eye doctor and a quick trip to the dentist for a chipped tooth rounded out his week along with the conference Pastor meeting and lunch with fellow colleagues. 

We continue to have issues with lights. We finally got enough lights on the Christmas tree in the living room and then last night the lights on the small angel tree in the dining room went out. Add this to our outdoor lights and the ceiling lights and yeah we're  having light issues.   I'm not sure what it means but we keep fixing the lights! It also has us focused on God's light....We want that light to shine not only in the house but in our hearts!

I had an eye appointment Monday which did not go so well and sent me home to call Mayo and by the grace of God I got a cancellation there at Mayo Ophthalmology for the 27th. It felt like the right thing and we know God is with us as we go to a glaucoma specialist and get an assessment of my eye. I got the Christmas cards sent out, shortening the list this year because it's just too challenging for my vision.  If I have missed any of you, I send Christmas greetings today.  Merry Christmas! God bless! I've been walking mostly in the house the last few days because it's been bitterly cold. Now today we have ice and snow coming, so I won't be challenging the weather but walking inside. I went back on the medication to help keep cancer away 12 days ago. After researching everything regarding the kind of cancer I had this last time, I realized that even though there's some mystery on whether the medication caused the eye issue, we do know that that cancer is fed by estrogen and I need to suppress the estrogen and stop the estrogen receptors from feeding cancer cells. So I'm adjusting once again to the drug that makes me feel out of sorts and giving thanks everyday that God is with me. 

Speaking of God, today I'm grateful for a warm house, a fireplace, a place to walk indoors, a place to walk Outdoors, and nature showing up for Joel this morning. Grateful for homemade whole wheat bread, French toast with strawberries, and pumpkin bread.Grateful for homemade soup simmering..for the phone calls, texts, and emails to keep us connected to those we love.  Grateful for all this and so much more...

Enjoy your weekend!

Saturday's Scribbles

Good Saturday to you from our corner of Iowa where the weather has once again been unpredictable. We were dealing with -14 wind chills earlier in the week and now this weekend the highs will be in the upper 40s to 50s.  Okay then! We aren't seeing  any critters very much, many are heading south. Joel is still spending mornings on the porch with his coffee. I can venture out for 2 to 3 minutes and then I'm ready to go in the house.

Speaking of the house, we've been doing some decorating but are being minimal this year choosing carefully what we put out. We have five tubs full of Christmas decorations having gotten rid of that many more a few years ago. Just don't feel like putting everything out this year so we've chosen some of our favorite things and have also decided not to put ornaments on the tree. We can still change our mind on that but it looks pretty nice now that we have the lights working well enough. Some of our decorations hold special memories from the different places we have lived and the different people who've given us the gifts that sit in our home during the holidays. We have one decoration that's over 40 years old that some friends gave us. It's a small ceramic church and you can light a votive candle inside it.  On the outside of the church a mouse pastor stands on the steps and directs other mice in a choir and band. It's so cute! I'm sure  you have decorations that make you smile, too.  We also have several nativity sets... One is from the Philippines and made out of bamboo.. a couple of Hallmark ones add to the mix. We do have our Advent wreath up again this year. We don't light the candles but we'll put it out as a reminder of the season and the memory of when our children were home and every night we lit the candles, opened up the doors on the calendar, read a special devotion, and prayed together. So many good memories

. I finally got out of the house after laying around for a few days. Joel and I seemed to pick up some mild funky virus that kept us close to home. A couple others in the family were under the weather too so I'm thinking it just made the rounds. Nothing serious for sure.   On the coldest day of the week we went grocery shopping.  Maybe we wanted to get outside and face it and defy it! Well most days I just stay inside but once in a while it's like .....you're not the boss of me Mother Nature! Fresh air is good for us even if it's in the winter.   Haha

 I'm hoping that your December is going well and is festive in every way. Today I'm giving thanks , especially for lights. Lights in our house, lights on a Christmas tree, lights from on the fireplace and on the rooftops and the overhangs. And especially the light of Jesus Christ in our lives. Grateful for Joel and his support always. Grateful for phone calls with my supportive friend Lana. Grateful I'm still walking. Grateful for memories through our Christmas decorations that make us smile. Grateful for the Christmas specials on TV. Grateful for Joel's early morning coffee Porch Sitting. Grateful for homemade bread baking today and  grateful for phone calls, texts, emails and so much more. 

Enjoy your weekend!