Thurs., 2/19/26, Finished packing, went to pick up prescription, went to Melissa’s, ate soup before leaving for West Branch, went to the church, checked in hotel, walked through stores downtown, back to hotel,

Me relaxing in our hotel.

Rehvyn - Vikki sent me this picture when she was at his house today! He’s so cute and happy. I love his avocado jammies

I got up around 7:30.  I took my shower, then got ready.  Made my coffee and ate a hardboiled egg for breakfast.  I started the dishwasher, then watered my plants, turned the hot water heater to the Vacation setting, fed the fish, turned down the heat and made sure the cat dispenser dish was full, plus filled a regular dish on the front porch with cat food.   Bill got up around 8:15 and got ready, then went to meet Jeremy S. at Tim Horton’s to mentor him.  I picked up a couple of prescriptions at Walgreens for my eye surgery.  There were only two cars in the line.  I had been praying it would be short so I could get them before we left for West Branch.  I sure was thankful.  Three more cars pulled in the line right after me.  After that I went to Melissa’s and dropped off the watchbands I ordered for Hailey because she is allergic to the one she has.  I also dropped off some homemade vegetable soup  because we will be out of town.  I didn’t get to give her some yesterday.  She was so happy to get it.  She shampooed her carpet in her family room and it came out so good.  She was happy about that too.  She likes her new machine because it is easy for her to use.  I wish I would have known, I would have taken the time to go in and look at them.  

Bill got home and I warmed us each a bowl of soup which we ate out of paper bowls.  That was the last of the soup.  I unloaded the dishwasher, made another coffee, then we left for West Branch.  We got here and drove to the church first and checked it out.  Then we went and checked into our hotel.  Our room was ready.  It’s an ok room, but doesn’t have lights by the bed, so Bill needed a flashlight to read his Bible.  I moved and sat at the desk so I could see the words.  At least it is clean and the bed is super comfy.  There are no plugs by the bed either.  Very weird.  Bill and I walked through lots of shops downtown.  I found a birthday gift for Gayla and got it in a cute little shop and I got a matchbox Tow Truck for Rehvyn.  He loves his big tow truck, so I thought he would love a small one to use for his small cars.  Al and Lucy got here about an hour after us.  We all walked over to the strip mall next to us and went through the shops.  Well Lucy and I went through the shops, the guys stood outside talking.  Jay and Jane got here and texted us to let us know.  When we got don shopping we called them and met them at the Steakhouse right by our hotel and the mall.  Jay, Jane and I had a half order of ribs, Bill and Lucy got the fish dinner and Al got a steak.  The food was delicious.  We stayed there talking for 2 1/2 hours.  I guess we had a lot to catch up on.   We walked back to our hotel with Lucy and Al.  Jay and Jane drove.  They had their seat folded down with stuff on it or they said they would have given us a ride.  It was nice out, just a little foggy and damp, so the walk was good for us.

Bill and I relaxed, I worked on my blog and then we went to bed.  We are meeting everyone for breakfast at Mac’s Restaurant tomorrow morning at 7:30.  That means I will be getting up early.

Wednesday, 10/18/26, Kimmy, Melissa and Vikki came over, Melissa and Kimmy both had dentist appointments at different places, ate homemade vegetable soup for lunch,

Wookie relaxing here today.  Arnie really liked him and chased him around for a while, then learned to move slowly and make friends.  Wookie knows how Lucy felt the other day now.  

Arnie reminds me so much of Wyatt.  Look at the way he lays on his back with his knee bent.  

Cute picture Vikki took of Arnie and Lucy the other day

This is a picture I took of Sue’s cat also named Kit Kat at her house today.  He loved my purse for some reason.

Kimmy got to my house around 8:30.  She had Arnie on the leash and walked to the kitchen to make her coffee and heard Arnie eating something that crunched.  Then she looked down and saw one of Bill’s pills on the floor.  Since she didn’t know what he ate and didn’t want to take a chance of it being another pill, she decided to give him Peroxide so he would throw up.  It took about 3 times of giving some to him and he threw up three piles.  No pill was found, but it looked like it would have come out with all he threw up.  We kept an eye on him and he went in the living room and started chewing on his chewy bone, and was really happy.  Melissa had that happen with Wookie yesterday, but it was trail mix with raisins and chocolate covered cocoa pieces he ate.  She had to do the Peroxide thing too.  She had to call Kimmy to see what to do, called Bruce so it took her a little longer to give the Peroxide.  He threw up, but since they weren’t sure everything came up, the vet said they should  bring him in.  They dropped him off and the vet did a treatment to make sure nothing was left of what he ate.  Weird two of our family dogs would have this happen a day apart.  Happy both were ok.  

Kimmy and I visited and drank our coffee, then Kimmy had to go to her dentist appt.  Arnie was in his cage and I checked on him.  He was doing ok.  Bill and I read our Bibles and did our devoition/prayer books.  When Kimmy came back, she brought me and Ice Capp.  It was so good.  Thank you so much Kimmy!  Around noon, I got the soup out so we could warm up bowls.  Melissa got here just as Kimmy was heating it up.  

Both girls said the loved the soup.  That made me happy.  Arnie was in his cage while we ate, but when he got out he really decided he liked Wookie, and chased him around.  We all went in the family room and blocked off the doorway.  The dogs got tired and layed down.  

Vikki got here and brought us fresh pineapple juice to drink from work.  It was so good.  She had eaten so didn’t want any soup.  I sent some home with Kimmy and Vikki.  

I had to leave and go to my eye appt. regarding my cataract surgery.  The girl took lots of pictures, I got lots of drops, and when she finished, I talked to Dr. Hazen, my eye surgeon. He was very nice.  After that, I went and talked with a scheduler.  It got scheduled for my Birthday at 6 a.m.  Happy Birthday to me.  I am happy to be getting it done.  The left eye will be done a week later.

I came home and everyone had left to pick up kids from school.  I unloaded the dishwasher, folded clothes I had washed and put them away, and then Bill and I had soup for dinner.   

We relaxed, then left to go to Bible Study.  It was a great study.  We came home and it was foggy out.  We saw a truck across from our house and down a few feet in the ditch.  We got flashlights and walked over and talked to the guy in the truck.  He said he called someone and they would be there in an hour.  Bill asked him if he wanted him to try to pull it out of the ditch with his Jeep.  He said yes. They hooked everything up and got it out in a few minutes.  The guy was looking for his dog who ran into a wooded area by our house.  He hadn’t found him yet.  Yesterday is when he ran off.  We are praying he finds him.  

Bill brought the suitcases down, and we packed them for our trip this weekend for Seasons of Refreshing.  Looking forward to a fun time and lots of good worship and teachings.   

Tuesday, 2/17/26, Shampooed carpet, went grocery shopping, made two batches of vegetable soup, went to prayer group at church,

Rehvyn played with playdough for a long tome

Above before picture, below after haircut picture

He sure looks handsome! Love how it looks styled now!!

I was so surprised when I saw these pictures.  Nicely surprised though

This is my friends Grandson Kyle. Doesn’t he look like Travis? 

I got up early showered and did my hair.  I shampooed the family room again in areas where it looked like it needed a second go over.  It looks much better now.

I ate a hard boiled egg and had a Paczky Sister Carol ordered for me.  It was yummy!  We read our Bibles and did prayer books after that.  I talked to Melissa for a while.  Wookie got in to some trail mix so Kimmy told her to give him peroxide till he throws up.  After 3 times he finally threw up.  She talked to the et and they had her bring him into give him charcoal to make sure everything was cleaned out.  Bruce and her picked him up later and he was doing fine!  Thanking the Lord!  Glad we have an almost vet in the family!!!

I FaceTimed with Kenzie and Rehvyn for almost an hour. It was so much fun.  Rehvyn played with play dough for a long time and made shapes, then he pretended a car got stuck in the mud.  He would get his wrecker truck and pull it out. It did that lots of times.  He never threw any on the floor. He played so nicely with it.  

Bill had to go for lab work and I went to Aldi, Jack’s and Meijer for some groceries.  I came home and after groceries were hauled in, I made two batches of vegetable soup.  I made one batch with stew meat in it for Bill and I and to take some to Sue.  The other is for Kimmy, Vikki and whoever else comes tomorrow.  I will spit the left over of there’s between them since I will be gone on Friday.  I had 10 minutes left to simmer them when I had to leave for prayer group, so Bill finished for me.  

Prayer group was awesome.  Stephanie made each of us a beautiful bookmark with a scripture on it!  It was so sweet of her!  We worshipped and prayed for our Pastor and lots of people, plus our congregation!

I ate a bowl of soup when I got home.  Then I worked on my blog.

I talked and texted with all of the girls today

Monday, 2/16/26, Kimmy, Arnie and Vikki came in the morning, Melissa, Hailey, Eli, Vader and Wookie around 11:30, Vikki came back after work, Peyton, Isaac and Lucy came later, we gave Max his chair, went and met Maddy’s baby

 

Lydia and Evan went tubing instead of skiing 

Sunday, 2/15/26, Went to both services, went to H2O Restaurant in Bay City, took naps, Kimmy sent me pictures of Jared’s birthday cake experience from yesterday

Beautiful Birthday cake Kimmy made Jared, covered with candles representing his age.  Whew!

Jared glowing and looking very warm by all of those lit candles.  Below it looks like they came close to needing to evacuate  

We had fun today with friends Merijo and Greg, Shiela and Andy and Dennis at H2O Restaurant in Bay City!  

We went to both services at church today.  Pastor Ken was sick, so he stayed home, even though he tried to make it.  He let Pastor Dan know last night, then thought he could come this morning, the realized there was no way.  Pastor Dan did a great job and the message was an amazing one from the Word of God.  We prayed for Shelly after the first service.  Then

no one came up after the second service, but I ended up praying over Debbie D with Denise before she left to go to St. Charles.  I went and talked to Merijo for a while, and ended up praying over her too.  Then she prayed for me.  I love praying friends.

We were going to go see Maddy’s baby, but then she texted me and asked if we could come tomorrow instead, so that’s our plan.  I called Merijo because Greg had told Bill what restaurant they were going to, so I called to let her know we were able to join them there now.  It was a beautiful sunny day and the temperature was 45 when we got there.  We had a table by the window, so we overlooked the river.  We saw an eagle fly by.  We had a great visit and the food was delicious.  For Greg’s birthday, they brought out an elephant ear.  It was huge and they had little cute piles of whipped cream and chocolate to dip it in.  Greg cut a piece for all of us and put some of the whipped cream on our plates.  All 7 of us got good sized pieces.  Bruce would love that place.  I’m going to tell Melissa.  He loves elephant ears so it would be fun to go there on his birthday.

We came home and took a nap.  I had just woke up and Kimmy called.  I had to walk back in and get my phone and try not to wake Bill up.  We had a nice visit and I’m happy she is coming over tomorrow.  Eli is spending the night at Aunt Missy’s with the boys.  They all are off school tomorrow for President's day.

We read our Bibles and did our devotions/prayer books.  We each had a bowl of orange jello with mandarin oranges in it for a snack.  We are both still full from lunch.

I made a couple of trips to the basement to take our step stool from the laundry room down and also my big box of Starbucks Dark Brew coffee pods.  We got a taller step stool like the one we love in our camper for upstairs.  I still need to take a big package of paper towels we got at Costco down.  That will happen tomorrow.  I fed my fish while I was down there.  

Worked on the blog and now going to work some on running off some prayers Vikki gave me so I can put them in my new Bible.  If I can’t figure it out, I know the girls will help me tomorrow.  They did Kimmy’s Friday.  Then I am going to worship to so good worshipful music.  

 

Saturday, 2/14/26, Happy Birthday to Jared! We love you! Happy Valentine’s Day, went to Faith Riders meeting, went to Costco, went to Scoops with Bill and Sabrina,

Jared after he opened his funny birthday present from me
Below is a video of Jared opening his gift.  It is a water storage container for their carpet shampooer.  It has a note on it saying, DO NOT PUT BOILING WATER IN ME.  I WILL MELT!!!!  He did that to their old one and it did melt.  Melissa and I read in the Manuel where it says at least 2 times not to put boiling water in it.  At least 

If you look at the bottom dirty water container you can see how dirty it is.  Kimmy only used water too.  No carpet cleaner.  WOW!  That’s how dirty my family room was too.  They are great shampooers when you don’t melt the parts lol.

Peyton and her friend Br having fun 

Vikki, Michelle, Bridgette, Peyton

Pretty picture of Kenzie with the rainbow reflecting on her

Isaac training for the video team at church.  He will be videoing the service tomorrow

Rody and Vikki celebrating their anniversary and Valentine’s day.  Their anniversary was yesterday, but they got too full eating here, so waited til today to go to Cracker Barrel.

Rehvyn really excited watching the paper Mache’ volcano erupt

We got ready, then went to Faith Rider’s Chapter meeting. We ate breakfast and had good fellowship first.  Then we had a good meeting with lots of sharing about upcoming events and a great message from Chaplain Elaine.  We sat by Wes, Gayla and Luis.  

We came home and got a Costco Reward check they sent us, then went to Costco and used it on a large box of Starbucks Keurig cups.  We picked up some other things too.  It was fun walking around and boy did they have the samples today.  Lots of good ones including amazing candy because it was Valentines Day.  Kimmy called me while we were in there to show me how much dirt she got out of the carpet now that they have the part they needed for their shampooer.  It’s amazing how much dirt comes out.

When we got out in the Jeep, we called Jared and sang Happy Birthday to him and wished him a Happy Birthday.  He sure is a wonderful son-in-law!  Sabrina texted me and they want to meet us for ice cream at 2, so we headed home, had about 15 minutes to rest a little and then left to meet them.  We went to Scoops and all of us except Sabrina had hot fudge sundaes.  She had a cup of Lemon cheesecake ice cream that she said was super delicious.  We had a great visit and stayed there over an hour.  We prayed for Bill as he is going to retire and has some anxiety about it.  Bill encouraged him about retirement too.  They are great friends.  We have had much answered prayer from the Lord praying in agreement with them.  

We came home and read our Bibles and devotion/ prayer books.  Then we took a nap.  That sure felt good.  After that, I warmed up my half of breakfast sandwich from this morning and Bill had chicken strips.  We weren’t too hungry after snacking at Costco and ice cream.

I did two loads of laundry.  I also organized the food storage shelf in the utility room.  We got a taller stool at Costco which works great for reaching high shelves.  It’s nice and light too.

Almost forgot....I walked a mile on the walking pad today at 3 mph.  Listened to awesome worship music while I walked.

Bill relaxed and I worked on my blog.  

 

Friday, 2/13/26, Baby Chandler went home today!!! Kimmy, Eli, Arnie, Vicki, Melissa, Wookie, came over, Rody came after he got out of work early, 40 degree day!,

Eli relaxing with Arnie

Melissa came over and brought Wookie

Wookie is sound asleep lol

Arnie is sound asleep too...These puppies are so easy to have around

Dinner tonight was chicken strips, baked potatoes and corn

Yay, so happy baby Chandler got to go home today.  3 weeks has been a long time for him and his family to have him in the hospital.  Here he is with his mommy

Here he is with his daddy

 I got up at 7:20.  Moved the furniture back into the family room and put toys and other things back where they go.  Got the dough going to make rolls for Sue.  The bread was on when I got up and it finished at 11:40 which is when I set the time for.  

Kimmy and Eli got here at about 9:40.  Arnie came with them which made us all happy today. Vikki got here after she dropped the kids off at school.  We drank our coffee and sat in the family room and visited.  We ate some Lorna Doones.  Arnie was so good.  He is definitely Kimmy’s dog, so Vikki held him and Kimmy left the room and he got used to Vikki.  I took him for a few walks around the house where he couldn’t see Kimmy and he did really well until he heard her talk.  Then he got excited and started pulling the leash.  I picked him up and carried him around a couples times.  He is such a sweet dog.  I made a pizza for Eli and the rest of us had homemade bread with chicken salad on them for our sandwiches.  They were big sandwiches so we all got full.  Rody got out of work early, so Vikki asked him if he wanted to come here for lunch too.  He did, so he got here right after we finished eating.  I had wrapped his bread in aluminum foil so it would keep warm for him.  I talked to him while he ate.  I put the rolls I made out of the dough on a cookie sheet to raise.  Then we all visited in the family room after Melissa came and brought Wookie.  The dogs did great together.  It was cute seeing them play with the toys.  Kimmy helped me figure out stuff on my blog that went wrong and got it working again and Rody helped me with another problem.  Yay!  Happy to have people in the family who know about computer stuff.  Kimmy and Eli had to leave at 2:30.  Jared had and appt. with Apple to return something he got that isn’t working, but he has to go to Lansing.  They are going to see Jacob to give him his Vallentine’s present.  They are probably going to show Abi the new puppy too.

Vikki and Rody left to celebrate their anniversary.  They have been married 23 years.  That sure went by fast.  It was nice getting to spend time with them today.  Happy Anniversary you two!  We love you!

Melissa left 15 minutes later to go pick the boys up from school.  We were all glad she could come over for a while today too.  We got some great news from Hailey.  As soon as I know she had told everyone herself, then I can share it.  

I baked Sue’s rolls and let Bill try two of them and I had one.  I wrapped up the rest and put them in a freezer bag and took them to her house.  We visited for a while and I was glad to see she is doing good.  Her niece and husband are going to Florida next week for a couple of months.   I told Sue I could help her get her groceries, etc.  They are always a big help to her when they are here.

I made chicken strips, baked potatoes and corn for dinner.  We haven’t had them for a while so they sure tasted good.  We had a zoom meeting with our Area Reps at 7.  Bill couldn’t figure out how to get the camera on his new computer to work for it, but he could use his phone camera.  Very weird.  The meeting went well.  After the meeting, he worked more on it and got the camera working right.  Yay!

I read my Bible and did my prayer books.  Bill read his this morning when the kids were here.