1/31/18...Ferne's lambs were born!!! Vikki and I went to Tim Hortons, Vikki, Melissa and I went to Tony's, Got flu shot, Taught Class at church

Cute lambs that Ferne had.  There were triplets, but one was deformed.   These two are very healthy so that is wonderful news.

The kids at church tonight made white chocolate hearts.  Next week they will package to give to Emaius House Ladies.

Miss Joan helping Isaac squeeze melted chocolate into the mold 

My class really enjoyed making fajita ham rollups and chocolate candy.  Evan in the green and Peyton in the purple

Love how Peyton is looking at Miss Joan in this picture.  Isaac in blue,  Evan  in green

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Miss Joan helping Evan

Miss Joan helping Kaitlyn.  This was her first time coming and Peyton and Isaac were so happy.  She was their best friend at school last year.  She is homeschooled this year, but now goes to our church

I met Vikki at 7:40 at Tim Horton's.  We got there right at the same time.  We had a capacinno and sat and visited with each other.  At 8:20, we left to go to Tony's.  We sat there for a while waiting for Melissa to get done with chapel at the kid's school.  She came to Tony's and we ordered breakfast.  We all got eggs, potatoes and bacon.  It was a delicious breakfast and we really enjoyed being together.  After we were done there, Vikki went to work, Melissa went home and I took my wedding ring to Nuechterlein's Jewelers. They are repairing tips and fixing the tips that Billmeijers, messed up before they went out of business.  They were so nice at Neuchterleins.  They fix it right there.  It is the place I got my class ring when I was at Arthur Hill.  After that, Melissa and I went and got our flu shots.  The guy did a great job and we never felt the shot.  We were both pretty happy about that.  Don't know what he put in the shot though.  Melissa and I met at Kroger's and she got gas.  We had 40 cents off gas up to 35 gallons and we already got gas.  She filled up her van.  I told her I fell when I was out feeding the birds.  I tripped and  fell into the steps on the deck.  I caught myself, but my leg hit the steps and was pretty painful and started swelling.  She told me she fell carrying laundry down the steps, but caught herself with the rail.  Her arm was sore.  That's why we think something was in the flu shot, ha ha.  I was thankful Bill prayed for me right away when he found out my leg was hurting.  He was a big help to me and he brought me a milky way.  I wanted to get a lot done today and do my walking, but ended up sitting lots.  I made sirloin burgers for dinner.  Left for my class at church after that.  The kids were really good tonight.  Anna helped in my class and when the kids were in large group with Emily, I got to share the miracle God did for Melissa.  She was a great help to me with the kids.  Came home and called Kimmy to tell her how cute I thought her lambs are.  Jared told me I should be icing my leg, not using heat, so I am back to icing.  Bill and I watched the news.

Went to breakfast, went to Melissa's, went to Aldi's, went to Salvation Army to drop stuff off

Fun time at our small group tonight.  We went to Ralph and Nancy's and had pizza and then watched Loui Giglio's DVD, Indescribable!  God is Awesome and amazing! No words can describe Him or His awesome creations!  I am in Awe of Him!

Bill, Ralph, Pat and Rich

Kim, Heather, Kay, Ralph and Pat

Marie and Heather

Dennis, Pat, Rich, Ralph, Hannah, Kay and Heather

Marie and Roy

Nancy, Bill and Kim

Teresa's son Andre got baptized today!  

Cute picture Vikki posted of Peyton

Eli looking cute when he's reading

Eli, Adam and Jacob...Kimmy posted this cute picture so I borrowed it

We went to our breakfast at Sullivan's.  There were 11 of us there.  We had a nice devotion, good breakfast and spent time praying for people. I went to Melissa's and dropped off some stuff I had for her after I left breakfast.  Nora was cute.  What a fun age she is.  Makes me realize how fast my grandkids are growing up. On my way home, Bill pulled up in the truck next to me.  He had to drop off something for the Marine Corp. League in Bay City.  He took the curve on Midland Rd. and I went straight on State St. and turned the other direction on Midland Rd.  I went to a little jewelry store there to check about my ring.  Billmeijers had retipped the prongs before they went out of business.  They retipped too much, so checking how to have some taken off.   I saw a lot of cars and saw and Estate Sale sign.  Saw Bill's truck there, so I stopped.  Not much there, but fun to look.  I called Kenzie and talked to her.  I'm missing her and will be happy when she gets home from AZ.  Bill brought me a sandwich from Levi's.  Mark needed to talk with him so they met there for lunch.
We took short naps and I read more on my book.  Only one more chapter to go and it's getting really good.  We aren't having small group at our house tonight.  It's relationship building night so we are going to Nancy and Ralph's house for pizza and we are going to watch Loui Giglio's DVD, "Incredible".  I have heard it is amazing

1/29/18..Cleaned a couple of rooms, read on my book, talked to the girls on the phone

I found a couple little microscopes with a light in Frankenmuth that was 85% off.  They only had two, so I got one for Kimmy's boys and for Melissa's boy.  Melissa sent me pictures and said the boys are loving looking at things through it.

Max looking at nuts with it

Evan and Jack

Evan

Jack

t was a pretty quiet day.   It was snowy and windy when I got up.  I went to the SportsZone and wore my boots there because of the snow. When I went to walk in the door, I realized I hadn't brought my tennis shoes.  Bummer!  I went home, but didn't want to drive back there on the slippery roads so I just walked in the basement.  I put the google app. Vikki had gotten for me on my phone on and played worship music while I walked.  I was so blessed and touched by the Lord with this amazing music.  Seemed like I had my three miles in in no time.  I cleaned a couple of rooms after that and then read on my book. Started knitting a dish cloth.  Talked to all three of the girls today.  No baby sheep at Kimmy's yet .  Melissa was going to come over, but decided not to when she saw the snow in the morning.  Vikki was excited because her puppy was born.  Bill and I watched tv and read in the evening. Kenzie called me and talked to me for a while.  She is in Arizona still.

1/28/18...Went to church, Went to Stacie and DJ's, Watched a Hallmark movie and America's Funniest Videos

Kody....he was cute...he wanted Papa to come tickle him so he could run

We went to church.  Cheryl came today and sat by us.  Stacie was there too and sat behind us with a friend she grew up with .  Emily's worship team did the worship and it was absolutely amazing worship.  The Holy Spirit was present and moving.  Pastor's message was really good today too.

After church, I made egg sandwiches and then Bill had to go to Ames United Methodist Church for a Eagle Scout Ceremony he was helping the Marine Corp. League do.  He said it was very nice.  I spent time in prayer and read my Bible out loud, declaring God's Word.  When Bill got home, we went to Stacie and Dj's to pick up his truck.  It sure looks nice.  We went in for a few minutes to visit. We were happy to see Kody and I remembered to take a picture this time.  He kept asking me to have papa come tickle him so he could run away on him.  Papa got him though!  He sure was cute.  After that I went to taco bell and got a double decker supreme and a free senior ice tea.  Bill had eaten a taco at the church after the ceremony.  We watched a Hallmark movie and after that we watched America's Funniest Videos.  They had all cute and funny ones on for a change.  Three cute ones were the final choices and it was hard to pick from.  They voted for my favorite one which was a little boy who loved his mommy so much.  I finished my newsletter for Faith Riders.  Just have to add March activities when Wes sends them to me.  

1/27/19...Went to Officer's Orientation for CMA in Lansing , Charlie and Sue came over and gave Bill a huge donut!

Cheryl (Secretary), Elaine (Chaplain), Bill Smith (Vice President), Me (WebMaster and Newsletter Editor, and Bill (President)

Bill with the huge donut Charlie and Sue got for him.  The four of us split it.

We are using a lot less pellets since we know how to set the pellet feed.  Staying nice and toasty in the house too.  Elaine and Cheryl came over at 9:45.  I made them each a coffee to go with my Ninja Coffee Bar.  It was in the high 40's today and sunny. What a nice day for a ride.  We even saw some motorcycles on the road.  We found the church and then went and ate lunch at a Tim Horton's.There was a good turnout at the Officer's Orientation.  The Webmaster person wasn't there for our class, so I went to the Chaplain's class with Elaine.  When we got home, Charlie and Sue stopped in and brought Bill a huge donut.  He shared it with us and it was so good.  We drank our good coffee with it.  We played 3 games of Euchre.  The were all close.  Charlie and Sue won the first one, Bill and I won the second one.  They were very close games.  The third one was a very close game too.  On the last hand, I got a lone hand.  I still let Bill play with me though. We were the big winners of the night.  Talked to Vikki and then talked to Melissa. Read my Bible and spent time in prayer because I didn't this morning.  Always trusting God!  Don't know what I would do without Him.

1/26/18..Went to SportsZone, Beautiful 50 degree day, Went to Frankenmuth to the Snow Fest,

We went into the warming tent in Frankenmuth to see the Tigers

We heard a siren and saw a police car coming.  Then the Tiger's passed us in their bus.  They were being escorted.

Nice Cheeseburger at Snow Fest

We took this for Bill's brother Fred,  It's his company

Thought this was cool and our grandsons would like to see it

We took our picture with the covered bridge in the background!  What a beautiful sunny day!

Love this picture of Bill in his hometown

We thought the high school kids were doing a great job on their sculptures.  This is going to be a mama elephant with her baby elephant

We like Bay City High School's sculpture too

Another picture of my handsome hubby

This was all just plain and flat when we got to town.  This is what it looked like when we left.

Thought this ice sculpture was absolutely beautiful

Sloth snow sculpture and model they used

We walked at the SportsZone.  Bill walked a mile and I walked 3.  I am so glad his knee is getting better so he can start walking again.  Our fireplace insert went out last night before we went to bed, When we tried to ignite it again, it wouldn't ignite and all the wood pellets just kept falling and filling the tray and then running over.  I turned the pellet feed down and slowed the pellets from overflowing.  Still couldn't get it started.  After we got home from the SportsZone, I showed Bill a video I had on my phone of how to maintain the insert and he cleaned around the infighter.  He did a great job and it ignited after that.  He was on the phone with the Kernel Burner Store and then the fire took off so we didn't need them.  He told us to just try different settings to find out what works best for us.  It is working great without the pellets feeding so quickly and won't need cleaning so quickly.  I watched the news and they said the Tigers were going to be in the warming tent from 2 to 3 pm.  We went to Old Town Drive In and got coney dogs, fries and root beer on our way to Frankenmuth.  YUM!  When we got to Frankenmuth, it was super busy, but we got a great parking spot right away.  We saw the Tiger's Bus and went into the warming tent right away to see them.  It was packed, but we got in.  We had fun walking around and looking at all the sculptures.  The ice sculptures were melting really fast.  We went in some of the shops in town and then went to RiverPlace and went in those shops.  Our final stop was Zhender's.  We sampled a dessert, then bought a dessert to share and Bill picked out a loaf of bread.  We went to the cafe and got coffees and shared our dessert.  We walked back by Zhender's to see the row of snow sculptures we hadn't seen and then left for home. We were going to go to Hailey's basketball game on the way home, but Melissa called us to tell us Hailey wouldn't be playing.  She was throwing up and had a temp of 105.  Sure am praying for my sweet Hailey!

1/25/17...Took Bill to Tim Horton's to meet Rich...went to Melissa's, went to Kroger's, Went to Vikki's, Bingo at Community Village

Bill had to meet Rich Dudek at Tim Horton's this morning so I dropped him off.  Rich was going to take Bill to the VA so he could volunteer and drive Vets from the parking lot to the hospital door and then to their cars in the parking lot when they were done with their appointments.  I went to Melissa's to drop off Evan's booster seat I had from last night.  We visited for a while and figured out how to clean Melissa's coffee bar as the clean button came on. Nora was cute as can be while I was there.  I went to Kroger's to get groceries after that.  Took me a while because Kroger's is so huge now that it takes a while to walk through it.  I came home and put the groceries away and had a salad for lunch.  Went to Vikki's at 3:30 and visited for a few minutes and then picked Bill up at 3:50.  Made spaghetti for dinner and then we went to Community Village to help the residents play Bingo.  We always love seeing how much fun they have playing.  We are thankful for the opportunities the Lord gives us to pray for them too.  We went to Tim Horton's afterwards with Wes, Gayla, Luis and Eva.  Good fellowship with good friends!

1/24/18...Walked at the SportsZone, Went to see the Greatest Showman with Melissa, Taught my class at church

All my sweeties in my class with their hairnets on and Miss Joan in her hairnet.  They wore them when they prepared their food

Each of them holding the plate of cut up bananas, cheese and crackers.  They had so much fun learning how to do this and learning how to measure dry ingredients. Miss Joan did a great job teaching them

Evan was excited and told his mom about the snack he made.  He told her on their way home that he was going to make her a snack.  He got home and got the stuff out by himself and made her the snack he learned to make

Evan, Peyton and Isaac...love having these 3 grandkids in my class

Mocha has found her favorite spot now...right by the fire

Got to the SportsZone at 7:37 and walked 3 miles.  It took me 47 minutes.  Came home and made oatmeal.  Did my lesson for tonight.  Bill and Charlie were going to see a war movie.  I have heard a lot of people say the move, The greatest Showman was very good so Melissa and I went to see it.

We had lots of laughs before the movie started...We both didn't care for the movie much.  We sure had a fun time together though.  Our biggest laugh was when we got our popcorn and drinks and the guy told us the movie was in theatre one.  I said, you said theatre one right and he said yes.  Melissa and I put White Cheddar on our popcorn because our hubbies don't like it and this was our chance.  We kept talking and walked into the theatre.  We commented on it being the first time we were the only ones in the theatre.  Melissa commented on how clean it was (that was until she spilled her popcorn).  I said it was funny there were no previews playing yet.  Eventually I looked at my fitbit and the time was 11:34.  The movie was supposed to have started at 11:30.  I told her we might be in the wrong theatre and we should check.  We did and theatre one was across the hall.  What a great laugh we had and what a great memory we made.  I took her home and came home for a while.  I went back to Melissa's house to watch Jack and Evan while she and Bruce took Max to his orthodontist appointment.  I practiced spelling words Melissa had written for each boy for the spelling bee try outs.  They did really good and learned the couple they had trouble with really fast. They were such good boys.  Once again I forgot to take a picture.  I took Evan with me to my house and got ready to go to our class at church.  Evan set up the table and chairs for me again.  He is such a great helper.  I had 11 kids in my class tonight.  The award tonight was for food preparation.  Miss Joan taught them how to measure sugar  and scrape the measuring spoon or cup with the flat side of a knife to make it level.  She also taught them how to use a plastic knife to cut up bananas and cheese.  Then we gave them some crackers and they took their plates to our classroom for a snack.  The kids loved making the snacks and were very happy to get to eat them.  Evan told Melissa he wanted to make her a snack when they got home so he cut up a banana and some cheese for her. He was so excited to tell her and show her what he learned.  Watched the news with Bill when I got home.  

1/23/18...Went to our breakfast, Went to Melissa's, Stopped at Wolfeils, Bill emptied the ashes in our wood burner for the first time, Had a wonderful small group

The stuff we got to take the soot off the brick worked really well

I had emailed Vikki last night to see if she wanted to go to breakfast.  Waited to hear from her in the morning.  She was tired and had a headache so she couldn't come.  Bill and I went to breakfast at Sullivan's.  There were 12 of us there today.  I asked if anyone was going down Center Rd. that could give me a ride to Melissa's.  Phyllis said she would take me.  Bill had a 9 a.m. doctor appointment at the VA.  He ate and than left for his appt.  When we were all done with eating, our devotion and prayer, people started to leave.  I was waiting for Phyllis to get up.  When she did I got up too.  Chuck  and Sue started talking to me about the heated throw he got like ours yesterday and it doesn't work.  Wanted to know where we got ours.  I looked around to find Phyllis and thought maybe she went to the bathroom or went out to the parking lot.  Chuck, Sue and I walked outside and saw Phyllis and thought she was going to pull up and wait for me to get in the car.  She didn't look our way and just pulled out of the parking lot.  Sue and Chuck took me over to Melissa's and dropped me off.  I called Phyllis and she felt so bad that she forgot to take me to Melissa's.  I told her it was fine and God had a different plan.  I did warn her that Chuck and Sue will be teasing her about forgetting me.  I had a nice time visiting with Melissa and watching Nora play.  She is so cute.  Melissa and I had great tasting coffee from her Ninja Coffee Bar.  Bill came to pick me up and he had a coffee too.  Nora was really cute with him too.  On our way home, we stopped at Wolfeil's to pick up stuff to get the soot off from the brick on the fireplace.  Got a big metal scoop too.  When we got home, I started cleaning the soot off.  This stuff worked great.  It looks so nice with all that black soot gone.  We had small group and we sat in the family room which was nice and toasty.  Hannah came for the first time.  She goes to college at SVSU and heads up the activities for the GAP, a Christian group at the college.
She was very sweet.  Our time of studying the Word and prayer was amazing.  There were 12 here.  Four were missing because of sickness.

1/22/18... Walked at the SportsZone, Went through lots of attic stuff and put stuff neatly and labeled back into the attic

Great spot to read my Bible each day!  Toasty warm!

Walked three miles in 48 minutes at the SportsZone.  Made Bill and I oatmeal for breakfast.  Ran off my lesson for Small Group tomorrow.  Did my lesson.  It sure is a good one.  Went upstairs and got the stuff in the big bedroom all put away,.  Then worked on the other bedroom which still had most of the stuff from that walk in attic out in the room.  Went through lots of stuff.  Sorted, labeled and put stuff neatly in the attic.  Still have some to do, but sure made a big dent in the job today.  The rooms are only heated by the pellet burner and I sure got warm working upstairs.  Mailed Mike St. John's dad's obituary to Mike.  Stayed in otherwise because it was a damp and rainy day.  Temperatures were in the 40's so that was nice.

1/21/18..Went to Church, Went to Stacie and DJ's, Went to Culver's

Hailey and Ally Singing songs for worship at Bethlehem's Contemporary  Service

 They got a new worship leader there and he has been having them help with some worship services.  Today, Hailey sang a song during the offering by herself and did a great job.  Very proud of her.

Off with the red buttons and on with the gold Marine Corp buttons!

I went to church early as I taught Sunday School.  Got all the paperwork for the kids ready before church started.  Stacie, Kody, Vikki, Rody and the twins were there today.  Peyton asked me if I was going to be her teacher today, and she was so happy when I told her yes.  Love having three grandkids in my class this year.  We gave Stacie her birthday present at church.  Got her a fitbit charge 2.  She was so happy.  When we got home, I made scalloped potatoes and ham for dinner.  l removed the 8 red buttons on Bill's Marine Corp Blazer and replaced them with gold Marine Corp buttons. Relaxed until 4:30 and then took Bill's truck over to Stacie and DJ's.  DJ is going to fix Bill's bumper for him.  So happy he is doing it for him as it will save us lots of money.  Kody was really excited to see us.  Wish I would have taken a picture of him for my blog, but I forgot.  He sure is a sweetie.  We went to Home Depot and got a small metal container shaped like a little garbage can for our ashes when we dump the pellet burner tray.  Also got a silicone heat resistant glove to use with the pellet burner.  We stopped at Culver's and got Concrete Mixers.  So delicious and sure hit the spot.