A Little Delay

Right after publishing the blog about the grandkids coming, I ran off to junior high church camp as a counselor. At camp, I developed bronchitis and it only worsened by the time I got home a week later. I have been nursing that issue for over a week now and finally feel that I have it on the run. So in saying all of that, I now feel well enough to get back into the swing of things like blogging.

Today is our 43rd wedding anniversary. Deke surprised me by announcing this morning that he had arranged for a day off work for us to do anything we wanted. So we took off in the early morning and just did what we wanted the whole day. It was glorious to just be together without an agenda or schedule. I guess I have about the best husband in the whole world; I think I'll keep him!

John Mark with G-Pa in the strawberries

Having fun picking and eating

Wow! Free to be kids!

A family visit with Grandma Mary

Playing with old Fisher Price toys on the porch

Excited about cows and dogs and...

Wow, our own Gator!

Whee!

Adorable

A rare, quiet moment for Mom and Dad

Getting washed up after a hard day of play

Guess Who Came to Dinner

Claire Jones (almost 4)

John Mark Jones (21 months)

Jude Jones (10 weeks)

Yep, Mark, Lori and the kids arrived Sunday afternoon and will be with us until Monday when they head to Illinois to spend some time with Lori's family. The kids all have a croupy cough so they have not felt well, but they have been adorable never-the-less. I'll be posting lots of pictures of the family so stay tuned daily.

Handy-Man Honey-Do's II

I didn't include all the honey-do items he accomplished but have given you a taste of what was done. Pam kept saying how grateful she was, but Deke had to remind her that before Dave died, he (Dave) asked Deke to take care of her. He is trying.

Hung a mirror

...and another

Hung a chandelier over the dining room table

Rewired an outlet

Installed floor outlet in livingroom

Rockers in need of refinishing

We took our professional spray painter and made short work out of this job

Installed an ice maker

It used to be a pickled white color. We think this is a little more sophisticated

Installed indoor/outdoor carpet on wooden steps from garage to house

Handy-man Honey-do's

 A week ago, Deke and I took off for Pennsylvania to visit with my sister, Pam, and to help her get settled into her new home. She's been a widow for over 20 years and decided that now was the time to downsize from her large 4 bedroom house. She located on a quiet street with lots of other seniors who are neat, quiet and respectful. They greet each other often, walk in the evenings and look out for one another. My neighbor, Bob, calls this "neighboring."  Her home is just lovely and will suit her well for the next few years.

She had quite an extensive list of "honey-do's" for Deke, so he started immediately to organize and tackle. We drove our van, and it was loaded with every tool in his arsenal to take on any task. He worked from morning to night and managed to complete everything and more on the list. I've chronicled most of the tasks with little explanations to help you visualize the week.  I'll post the remainder of the pictures tomorrow.

Pam's street

Her home

Early morning view from her side yard

In the backyard overlooking the wetland nature preserve

Pristine little path leading to her neighbor's deck

Hung cabinets for storage in the garage

Hung a tool organizer

Vertical storage for both ladder and extension ladder

Organized pegboard

Hung laundryroom shelf

Hung ironingboard and iron caddy

She needed a printer stand so it was finally decided to assemble a little cabinet and stick it in the corner of the laundryroom. Works great!

Just So Beautiful

Just couldn't help myself - I had to get outside to take some photos of the gorgeous spring we're experiencing. Enjoy!

Wooing and Schussing

Well, other than it being months since I've posted, it's good to be back in the saddle again, so to speak. I really don't like this new blog layout, and for me it's confusing and clumsy and extremely slow so I've avoided posting for the past weeks. However, I thought I'd give it another whirl, but I now know what you all in the FaceBook world have discovered - blogging is pretty much a thing of the past. However, since I don't FaceBook, this is my only outlet to get out the news. So for the 6 of you who read this blog, enjoy!

Just before Christmas, I made reservations at a B&B called, "Cabins and Candlelight." It was to surprise my husband for his 65th birthday (Groundhog Day) and to get him out of the office for a short respite. The 2 log cabins are situated on 30 acres near Thorntown, which is just a 45 minute drive from us. I surprised him by whisking him away on Friday evening after work and driving him to our little love nest. The cabin was small but beautifully appointed and immaculate. When we walked in, some dreamy music was playing over the intercom system and dinner that night consisted of filet mignon on the grill with baked potato and all the trimmings. That was all provided and was in the refrigerator along with breakfast goodies (eggs and sausage) for the next 2 mornings. We crashed! The boy was exhausted and just needed some downtime. That night it snowed so when we awakened, all was still and quiet with the snow skiffing across the ground. We ate breakfast and went for a walk to the Sugar Creek which ran through the property. Later on that morning, we drove to Crawfordsville to take in a movie and decided on "Zero Dark Thirty." Recommend it. That evening we ate at a somewhat famous restaurant in Thorntown called "Stookey's," and spent the rest of the evening soaking in the hot tub.

On Sunday we unpacked then repacked for a Monday morning zero dark thirty take-off flight to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to snow ski. This too had been scheduled for awhile and just happened to immediately come on the heels of the cabin get-away. We were joined by Austin (youth pastor and flying buddy) and Amber, who love to ski too and were able to get away at the same time. We ended up skiing at Santa Fe and the weather, snow conditions and crowds couldn't have been better! Absolutely gorgeous day, with perfect snow and never a wait for the lifts. We skied the whole day and were too tired to try it again next day so we just tooled around Santa Fe and Albuquerque. The last night we stayed at a TLF (transient living facility) on Kirtland Air Force Base and flew out mid-morning to get home Thursday night around 8ish.

So that's our short respite from the hectic pace at church and work, and we find ourselves right back into renewal and Lenten services as well as hospital ER duty, to take up the mantel again. It was a wonderful time to renew our souls and strengthen our relationships. We all so appreciated the Lord's blessing.  Enjoy the pictures and see you sometime soon...

Our Love Nest

View from the kitchen

Cozy in front of the fireplace

On the slopes at Santa Fe

Gorgeous vistas at 12,000'

Stopping for a photo shoot