Saturday's Scribbles

Good Saturday morning to you from or corner of the world.  We are having great walking weather today and managed 1.5 miles this morning.  The high is going to be 41 degrees...Yay!  Snow forecast for Monday, but today we are basking in sunshine, calm winds and warmer temps.

Speaking of walking we have managed to go a mile nearly every day, we even walked some on Thanksgiving Day although that was more out of necessity.  We were at my sister Janelle's for the day and offered to take her wild little dog, Scout, out for a walk.  We miss our Levi!  He picked up a chicken bone in the neighbor's driveway and while Joel was trying to get it out of his mouth, he slipped his leash and took off running.  This dog can run!  We took chase, with me yelling, "Stop him Joel!"  Joel kept telling me not to worry, but I was not about to let their dog get hit by a car on our watch, so kept saying "Run, Joel, run! Catch him!!!"  Our son Mark and grandson Noah were with us, laughing at mom's antics.  Come to think of it, they should have been running too!  Anyway Joel grabbed him once but he got away so the next time Joel was able to get in front of him and when he came around a bush he grabbed  a big handful of fir!  Whew.  Disaster averted!  And we got our exercise too :)...........

Grandpa and Grandma with Noah

 

Joel and our son Mark

 

Speaking of Thanksgiving, my sister Kay and BIL Dan rode with us up to the Twin Cities and we spent the day with Gr. Jo who had the stroke 12 days ago....along with some of Janelle's family.
Gr. Jo is out of the rehab center and back home!  Amazing recovery.....wow....The doctors are in awe.  Thank you Lord!  We drove back home the same night and then the next morning drove the two hours back up their to meet with three of our children and their families for lunch at Whole Foods,  shopping at a Barnes and Noble we used to frequent years ago, and then a stop at Gr Jo's apartment near by to give hugs and visit for a little over an hour.  Joel and I then headed back home stopping at McDonalds on the way so Joel could get some protein.  We were happy to be back home safe and sound.

Around eight last night we settled into our chairs with pie and Garth Brook.  He had his Vegas show on for two hours live on CBS.  Interesting.  I used to listen to his music in the 90's and then he sort of disappeared......His one man one guitar show was good, but he had to be bleeped in a few spots for language which is just another reasons going to Vegas is last on my bucket list. 

We came back from our walk today to a flooded laundry room...ugh......something plugged in the sewer.  Needless to say it was not in Joel's plan to be sucking up gallons of water in the basement and from the carpet.  Not cool.  Instead of relaxing after two days of traveling, and working to prepare his sermon for tomorrow, he is working to get our sewer system working.  Oh boy.

Speaking of sermons, this past week Joel had two interviews for interim positions, but we have not heard from either yet.  We are truly okay with what comes or doesn't come....it is in God's hands! 

Hard to believe we came back from our trip a month ago today.  Amazing!  We met so many interesting people, I may have to blog about them.  Don't you find people fascinating? 

I have been reading a book, "A More Excellent Way" by Pastor Henry Wright.  Also watched a few Hallmark Christmas movies while working on the Christmas newsletter, etc.  Plan on getting decorations out tomorrow to start making the house "festive".  How was your Thanksgiving?  Do you have your tree up yet?

Until next time..............

Giving Thanks

 

Welcome!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to our home!  We are linking up to Linny's over at A Place Called Simplicity to share how we spend our Thanksgiving. 

Usually we are home, with our children, in-loves, and grandchildren coming every other year.  We have turkey with all the trimmings, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, plus a family specialty ~~Lime Pear Salad which is not really a salad at all, but has cream cheese, whipping cream, lime jello, pears, and pecans for ingredients!  We enjoy another family staple, lefse ~~a Norwegian potato flatbread, plus pumpkin, apple, pecan, and chocolate pies.  We set two tables to make it possible for 20 of us to gather.  We pray together, eat together, laugh together, and of course add in a little football on TV and games for everything to play.  There is an annual family touch football game outside too.  We also celebrate Christmas the day after Thanksgiving the years the family is home,  so it is a double holiday for us. 

We love Thanksgiving for many reasons....less pressure than Christmas.....focus on giving thanks.....and now as empty nesters it is the only actual holiday our children are here for.  But this is not their year to be home, so normally we would be here as a twosome.......and yet this year things have changed!  We will not be here for Thanksgiving, as we are traveling two hours north to Minnesota  to spend it with some of my family.  This includes my sister, Jo who helped raised me..  She suffered a mild stroke just 12 days ago and is already home, so we are giving thanks!

Sisters Jo and Jan

 

Family Football

 

Cribbage, and cards games here with the older grandkids

 

Our hearts are filled with so much joy this year because of how things have changed for us in past 18 months.  My health has improved to the point that for the first time in 10 years we are able to go together to church, to the store, to visit our children and their families in their homes, to family gatherings, and even to a conference on healing in CT which turned into a vacation traveling over 3,000 miles into 10 states.  ( I wrote all about it here)

We have so much to be thankful for.  And today I am giving thanks for Linny and all of you friends who visit our cyber homes.  God bless you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

There's No Place Like Home

After spending the morning at Niagara Falls viewing God's masterpiece, we headed down through Buffalo NY, then Cleveland Ohio where construction had us there for 1 and 1/2 hours, before we drove through rain into Indiana.  We went back to our favorite hotel and resting spot~ Shipshewana.  We arrived there Halloween night, which was a good place to be ~ in Amish country!  We decided to stay there two nights, spending time relaxing, eating out, shopping, walking, vegging in front of the TV, and going to a natural spring. 

Saturday morning we packed up our bags and headed home.  Thinking we were being smart, we decided to stop at the last travel plaza on the Tollway to get gas and take a break.  As I wrote before, we somehow got on I-90 heading straight into Chicago when we left that plaza.  We were upset and stressed at first, so I texted Bethany for the easiest and fastest route through the third largest city in the country!  It was really pretty easy since Saturday traffic was so light.  Once we had an affirmation from daughter dear to stay on I-90 until we got to Rockford, the rest went fine.  We did enjoy a different view on the way home.  It is very hilly and beautiful in NW Illinois ~especially the Galena area.

 

 

 

I had to laugh when we got close to home, though.  The land became more and more level.  Flat
prairie land with wind turbines that go on forever.  What a change after two weeks in rugged mountains, hills, valleys, and forested areas.  Joel often says he misses the rolling landscape where he grew up in Minnesota.  The difference was quite evident to me when we came back home to northern Iowa's corn country.   Not all of Iowa is flat, especially on the east or west borders, but where we are is definitely one of those areas where the roads are as straight as the rows of corn stalks in summer! 

Wind turbines

 

 

 

We enjoyed a beautiful sunset 

welcoming us home 

 

It was good to get home.  Sitting in our comfy chairs that evening, we felt relief and gratitude for all the hours and miles we had traveled safely.  We still are giving thanks and praise for being able to go and experience so much.  Coming home to such a beautiful sunset, we could not help but say, "there's no place like home."  What an adventure!  Only God.

Come Rain Or Come Wind!

We woke up to heavy rain and high winds the morning of our trip to the Falls.  After fortifying ourselves with a hot breakfast and then packing up the car, we headed out to our next adventure!  We knew this would be the only time we would see this amazing water show, so we were determined to go come rain or wind!  Oh, yeah, that was the forecast....rain and sustained winds at 40 mph!  It was supposed to reach 66 degrees though, so we were not too worried about being cold......just wet.

View walking down to river and falls

 

When we arrived at the park to view Horseshoe Falls on the American side, there was only one other car in the parking lot!  Seems we had the place to ourselves, which was not all bad.  We put on hats and hoods and headed out.  We could definitely hear the falls before we could see them.  The sound was so loud it heightened all our senses.  It felt like it was vibrating in our ears and chests.  And just like God, by the time we walked down into the area, the rain had stopped.  Yay!  Thank you, Lord!  I confess the names of the Falls, the American side......the Canadian side....kept me confused, but there was no missing their power!  To me it did not really matter what we had named them, I was more thankful for Who had created them.  Only God.  Only God.

Looking at Horseshoe Falls below

 

We were so impressed with the power this water held.  Joel had been there before many years ago, and tried to describe it to me, but until I saw, felt, smelled, and heard it for myself, it was hard to imagine. Scary and exciting at the same time.  We did run into one other couple there and we asked them to take pictures of us and we would do the same for them....worked out well! My pink tennies went with me here too!

 

This couple from Louisiana told us to be sure to go down in the Cave of the Winds, so after viewing Horseshoe Falls from every angle we could we headed up the many stairs back to the park area and over to the building where we purchased tickets and were given yellow plastic ponchos to wear.  We waited briefly for a tour guide and then headed off.  Things were winding down and workers were actually starting to take apart some of the walkway, but we were able to take the elevator 175 feet down through rock (which was dug out by hand) and then we walked through a tunnel to come out by the Niagara River and not far from Bridal Veil Falls.  We were amazed once again at the sounds we heard and the power of the water.  The guide offered to take pictures of us together.

The long tunnel we walked down from the elevator

 

Bridal Veil Falls

 

 

Us!

 

We were so glad we went down into the Cave of the Winds.  It was another great adventure.  After heading back to our van, we drove over to the other park so we could go up on the Observation Deck and view the falls from that vantage point. There were a few more people here.  The winds were so powerful!  Every time I lifted my arms to take a picture with the camera I would go back a few steps from its force.  Amazing!

 

 



 

Observation Bridge in background

 

View of the Falls from the Observation Bridge

 

It was a great adventure for the two of us.  Seeing this powerful source of nature was humbling.  To see what our Creator has done was truly amazing and we could not help but praise God for it all. 



Saturday's Scribbles

Good Saturday morning to you from our corner of Iowa where winter is making itself known with wind, snow, and temperatures dipping into the low teens.  The high today is 13 degrees with a low of -3 for tonight.  Yikes!

Speaking of cold weather, we have been walking in the Mall this week due to wind chills. I think after 5 days of walking past stores decorated with sale signs and snowflakes, we are now officially Mall Walkers joining our tennies with the over 60 crowd!  We are missing the fresh air of the river road and walking paths, but grateful we have somewhere to put in our 35 to 40 minutes of daily exercise. We recognize the faces of other regulars now, and I try not to feel like a turtle when the hares pass me at record speeds.  Our destination is the same, right?  We did walk down the river road yesterday....wind chill was 20 so not too bad, but the mile and a half seemed longer with the cold making itself known.

Speaking more about weather, what about all those tornadoes in the Midwest last Sunday?  Wow.  It truly seems like the weather is getting more unpredictable than ever with bigger storms.....bigger tornadoes....bigger typhoons.....My once upon a time meteorologist now cowboy preacher husband has some thoughts on all of it!

This has been a challenging and busy week.  On Sunday morning we drove 35 minutes to the church Joel is filling in at.  It is a beautiful church with great people, making it a fun job for Joel.  He will spend three more Sundays there.  When church was over we stayed for coffee and were visiting with someone when I felt the need to check my phone.  In my head I thought, "No, it would be rude to check for messages when this man is talking to Joel and me", but the urge came back so I checked.  I had 4 phone calls and one text!  Turns out my sister Joanne, who helped raised me had suffered a stroke and was being taken by ambulance to a local hospital in the Twin Cities.  We headed home to eat and change and then drove two hours to the hospital.  The bad news is that she had a small stroke in the cerebellum so her balance and coordination were affected.  The good news is that it was small, and she is already doing so well she will be home by Thanksgiving!  Lots of prayer and good strong genes have her heading for a full recovery.  We drove back home the same night so felt a bit tired on Monday.

Tuesday we had a phone call from Joel's brother that he and his wife were only 30 minutes away and wanted to stop by.  We ended up having a great day visiting and eating out before shopping at the antique stores in a nearby town and then heading to a large country quilt shop a few more miles away.  It was a nice day and we explored places we had not seen before.  I would love to quilt, but after seeing what it costs to purchase kits, patterns, etc. I think I better find a less expensive hobby.

Thursday was Joel's monthly Pastor's conference and I went along this time.  We rode with another couple to the church 30 minutes away.  It was great fun to be able to attend and share about our trip and our healing journey once again.  Yesterday I made homemade soup and caught up on placing orders for things we needed and for Christmas.  I had hoped to get the Christmas newsletter written but time got away from me! 

Joel is going to be interviewing in the coming days for two Interim positions.  Things seem to be falling into place for one that is close to home.  That would be nice, but it is all in God's hands.  He knows what is best.  I don't look forward to him being gone again, but I do know how much he loves his calling.

I talked and texted with my sister Jan a few times this week about our sister Jo and also about coming down to see her and her hubby in Arizona in the coming year.  I also chatted with a high school friend who moved there this past June.  Looks like our next adventure will be to the southwest!

Speaking of adventures, I am nearly finished sharing our two weeks of traveling here.  It has been fun to recap everything and we are still smiling from the great time we had.  Hard to believe we left a month ago tomorrow!

I have not been reading much this week.  We did enjoy our usual TV shows and a Hallmark movie last weekend.  Our Thanksgiving will be a quiet one, but we may go see my sister Jo for a few hours.   What are you doing for Thanksgiving?

Until next time............

Winding Roads, Moose Sighting, Unfriendly People, and Apple Cider Donuts!

The day after our marathon in New York City we packed up and prepared to head north, through NW Connecticut, western Massachusetts, and into the southwest corner of Vermont.  We decided to stop at the Whole Foods in Westport to pick up food and eat lunch before heading out. 

We put the address in Joel's phone so "lady long way" could get us there.  Wishful thinking!  We followed her directions exactly and ended up in a beautiful area of Westport  looking at a mulit-million dollar home.  Alrighty then.  We put the address in again, thinking we had typed it in wrong.........same destination.  So we finally drove to a business area, and pulled into a parking lot.  I saw a woman walking across the lot so Joel got out and asked her if she knew where Whole Foods was.  She stayed her distance until she saw our Iowa plates and me in the car.  She replied, "Oh no wonder you can't find it, you are from Iowa! Let me tell you how to get there."  She asked us why we were in Westport which led to the conference on healing which led to our day in New York City, which led to the 9-11 Memorial.  She shared with deep emotion how some of their friends had died in the towers and that she and her husband, who was retired, were unable to go see the memorial.  She said it was just too painful.  So sad.

With her instructions, we found the store right away.  I really like Whole Foods and what they offer at their deli.  I found some very tasty veggies which I had been craving and steamed brown rice.  We picked up more roasted chicken and other supplies and headed off leaving Westport behind.  I confess, doing so brought tears.

Roasted Sweet Potato wedges,

steamed beans, broccoli, and brown rice.  Delish!

NW CT is very rugged and the highway we took was a back road,  so it was winding and slow...but with beautiful views.  I am not so sure Joel enjoyed it as much as I did from the driver's seat!  Massachusetts had it's own beauty to display.  Then  we went into Vermont....where we noticed the trees were mostly bare already.  We stayed in the small town of Bennington VT. with plans to look around the next day before heading to Niagara Falls. 

Massachsetts covered bridge

 

We were so fascinated with this bridge we just had to

go through it!

 

Northwestern Connecticut  

We found Bennington VT a bit unfriendly. Maybe it was the end of the season for tourists, maybe it was a bad hair day, but all the people we encountered were aloof and unfriendly.   No biggy.  We still had fun checking out a few stores and picking up some apple cider donuts, blueberry jelly, etc. at one called the Apple Barn.  They had a special place for Joel to park up front!!

"Cowboy Parking Only"

All others will be branded!

Everything seemed to be decorated with moose, but when we asked if they had a lot of moose in the area we were told no. We did spot one moose we wanted to share with all of you.  It was the only one we saw the whole trip.  :)

 

This moose was sculpted half in and half out of

 the window of the store.  So funky!

We headed out of Vermont and into New York later in the morning with the hope of getting to Niagara Falls in time to see the Falls before dark and after, when it was all lit up.  It turned out to be a challenging day, though, and we struggled with staying positive.  We eventually got to Niagara Falls but missed the exit to the Park to view the falls.  Ugh.  Then we backtracked, etc. and ended up stopping for directions which took us through a very scary part of town.  I must say, we were very surprised that the city was not only unattractive, but rundown. Discouraged and tired, we decided to just go check in at the hotel, which was easier to find.   The desk clerk had maps she marked for us and told us exactly how to get to the Falls in the morning.  While she was showing us where to go we realized we had been in the area of NF that she now told us to avoid.  Of course!   

We knew that high winds and rain were forecast for the next day but we went to sleep that night thinking positive and believing tomorrow would be a better day!  Like "Annie" says, "tomorrow, tomorrow, there's always tomorrow....it's only a day away."