Sunday, 10/30/22, Went to prayer, worshipped, then taught Sunday School, Fred and Lourdes came to visit, went to Michael W Smith Concert

Me, Fred, Lourdes and Bill

Vikki, Peyton, Fred, Lourdes and Isaac

Vikki, Rody, Bill and I in front of the Temple Theater for the Michael W. Smith Waymaker Tour

Vikki, Rody, Bill and I at the concert

Michael W. Smith playing the piano and singing

 We had good intercessory prayer before church.  Worship was amazing today!  After worship, Vikki and I went back to teach kids.  She had 2-3rd grade and I had 1st grade.  It was a great lesson with a fun activity for the kids.  I had a nice talk after church with Mary Jane and Kathleen.  We came home, and I got stuff ready for Fred and Lourdes's visit.  I made potatoes on the grill.  It was a beautiful warm day which was so nice.  We ate and visited.  Vikki and the kids came over to see them for a while.  They are always happy to see our family and interested in how everyone is doing.   They are so fun to be around.  They told us Fred and Ashton are having a baby boy.  That's pretty exciting.  The due date is St.Patrick's Day.  The day before my birthday.  

I can't wait to see video's of Jacob playing in the CMU Band.  We are going to the Michael W Smith concert, so will have to talk to Kimmy later to see how it went.

We went to the concert and it was so good.  Lots of new worship songs and lots of old ones.  His voice went out and he asked us to stretch forth a hand and pray for him.  He said he's never had that happen.  Of course we prayed and he was able to finish the concert and sounded great.  He even came back out and sang "Friends" after they had walked off the stage.  The girl singing with him was amazing too.  What a great concert and what a fun time with Vikki and Rody.  We saw the Bakers and Langeneckers there. We talked to Kimmy on the way home, and Jacob did great.  Hailey sat with Kimmy and Jared and then took them on a tour of her campus, which they enjoyed.

Sat., 10/29/22, Went to Jacks, Went to see Hailey, Went to Rachael and Aaron’s Wedding in Mt. Pleasant

Eagle Bill spotted while we drove to see Hailey

Us with Hailey at Panera Bread for lunch

Me, Hailey and Bill at Hailey's dorm

Rachael when she walked to meet her dad to walk up the aisle

Me, Rachael and Aaron

Debbie Rachael and Aaron

Debbie and Jeff at the reception

Bill and I at the reception

Went to Jack's in the morning to get burger for sloppy joes and ground Turkey for chilli for Kimmy when we go to Melissa and Bruce’s on Monday.  I made the sloppy joes and will just start the crockpot tomorrow morning before we go to church.  Planning on making potatoes on the grill tomorrow too. Fred and Lourdes are coming to visit us for a while and have dinner with us before we go to the Michael W Smith concert.

We left to go see Hailey at 12:15.  I called her when we got there and she came down to the parking lot.  We went to Panera Bread, got our big hugs in the parking lot there and then ate. Bill got us each a big chocolate chip cookie.  Yum!  We had a nice visit and Hailey told us about school, Unite and her church.  She also told us about her upcoming trip with Unite to Gatlinburg, TN.  She's pretty excited about it.  She said she is playing on the worship team for Unite.  She also told us she is reading the whole Bible in a year and showed us what she's read so far.  What an awesome girl!  We are so proud of her!  We went back to her dorm so Bill could see it.  He thought it was pretty nice.  She showed us her Bible notes from the message her pastor gave.  They were amazing notes.  I'm so thankful she is in a great church that preaches the Word of God in truth!  So many churches now days are just going by whatever they want it to be and how they feel about things.  The Bible warns about that.  The Bible is our standard to go by.  It never changes!  I'm so thankful she will know what the Bible says and won't be deceived.  She has always read it since she was little, but now she will know what the whole thing says.  

We helped her carry some things down to our car, then gave her a ride to her car as she was going home to get her new computer and have her dad help her set it up.  We got our hugs, then dropped her off, and we headed to the wedding.  It was an outside wedding and was a beautiful sunny 60 degree day for it.  Rachael and her bride maids looked beautiful.  The reception was so nice too.  Amazing appetizers, a great meal, wonderful cake, and then an amazing chocolate bar with fruit, pretzels and rice krispy treats to hold under the chocolate fountain.  Yum!

Bill and I danced a few slow dances.  Rachael came and got us girls at our table and we danced the twist with her.  It was such a fun reception, with so many from our church family there.  

Friday, 10/28/22, Went to Bible Study, Kimmy and the boys came over, Vikki and the twins came over, out to eat with Charlie and Sue, then cards and Skip Bo afterward

 

Deb, Maddy and me...Maddy and I decided last night we would wear out He gets us shirts to Bible Study today.  Deb had hers on this morning too, so we took a picture.

Jacob

Adam

Peyton, Eli and Isaac

Eli just took pictures underwater in the pool

Jacob in front, Peyton in the background.  We are very thankful for all the hard work Kimmy and all the kids did for us today.  Bill sure worked hard too.  Nice to have garden cleaned out and ready to till.  So nice to have the wood pellets unloaded and stacked so nice in the garage too.  A big thank you to all of you.

Melissa sent these pictures to me today

Max with Vader and Abby

Vader and Abby napping..so cute.  It's hard to believe Abby would even do this.  She must sure love her new brother

Went to Bible Study.  It was very good and we sure had good discussion at our table.  I got home and a few minutes later, Vikki, Peyton and Isaac got here.  The kids only had a half day, but Vikki still had to work, so I was the lucky one to get them.  I had a new crock pot I had bought that I was carrying in the house and Isaac came right away and got it from me and carried it in, then Peyton came and carried the other stuff.  They are really good at noticing when someone needs help.  They played outside for a long time, then came in and Peyton worked on cutting pictures out of a Meijer toy catalog that came and then she glued them on paper.  It wasn't long and Kimmy came over with Jacob and Eli.  Papa was out in the shed, so Jacob, Eli and Isaac unloaded the wood pellets from the trailer quickly before Bill could come help.  They were pretty fast too!  Kimmy and I had a muffin, then later ate a salad for lunch.  Eli had already eaten and Jacob wasn't hungry either.  Kimmy and the boys went outside to see what Bill needed help with.  He was burning the corn stalks in the garden.  Kimmy worked on getting the fire started as it kept going out.  The kids and I picked up sticks so she could burn them to keep it going.  Jacob and Kimmy worked on helping did and pull out the corn roots.  I cut down some plants along the side of the shed.  Kimmy and Bill ended up hauling the corn stalks over to the fire pit to burn them as the fire in the garden kept going out.  They got them all burned and then Bill tilled in the garden where he could.  It is sure nice to have such a loving family who are great helpers to us.  In the afternoon, Kimmy, Vikki and I went to pick up Adam from school.  We got to see Claire for a minute and say hi.  We came back and Kimmy made Adam a turkey sandwich and Vikki had some of the salad I had made.  Kimmy worked on transferring pictures and files from my computer to The Book I had gotten a long time ago for storage.  I was getting messages that my storage on my computer was full and I needed to buy more.  I didn't want to do that, so this worked perfectly.  Thanks for all of your help Kimmy.  

Thurs., 10/27/22, Lunch with Maddy and Brielle, visit at our house, coffee at Coffee Beanery, Bill did lots of yard work

Sweet Baby Brielle is doing so much better.  So thankful to God!

I walked on the treadmill again today.  I had to wait a couple of days because I was so sore from Monday when I started back at it.  I even had to take tylenol.  Bill asked me if I was getting old when I stood up from sitting on the loveseat next to him last night, because I was moving so slow and groaning.  Bill went and had his blood work done early.  I went to Costco to get Protein drinks for Bill and to fill up the car with gas.  It was 3.89 which is 30 cents cheaper here by us.  I came home and dropped stuff off, then headed to Buffalo Wild Wings to meet Maddy for lunch.  We had a yummy lunch and a great visit.  She came to our house afterwards and hung out for a while, so I got my snuggles with Brielle and we got more visiting in.  Bill joined us.  Bill went out to pick up leaves with his tractor and Maddy took me to the Coffee Beanery and treated me to a delicious flavored ice coffee.  She dropped me off and headed home.  I started working on my Bible study again.  It's a great study, but takes lots of time.  

Bill did a great job picking up the leaves, blowing the leaves off the deck and driveway, and cutting down the corn in the garden.  I wasn't much help today because of spending time with Maddy and then having to do my lesson.  It sure was a fun day though.  

I talked to Vikki and heard really great reports coming from Peyton's teacher.  Peyton is Student of the Month tomorrow and he said she exemplifies what a student should be.  She is always positive, caring and reaching out to kids and being kind.  That's my sweet Peyton! Several people have commented on Vikki's facebook posts that she has the best kids.  Kind and respectful kids are appreciated these days.  I'm glad my grandkids are being taught and brought up right.  

Tonight, I decided to listen to Chasing the Joneses.  I've wanted to ever since we camped next to them at Outdoor Adventures and became friends, but haven't got to.  Their message tonight was on 1 Peter 3.  The chapter my Bible study lesson is on this week and tomorrow is the day I go to it.  God is awesome!

Wed, 10/26/22, Bill went out with Charlie for coffee, we rode up to Cadillac and Gladwin to drop off RFS packets, Dinner at Wes and Gayla’s and fun games.

Just a little color left now

These are the candies Kenzie got.  They are strawberry cream and she said they are really good!

Bill and Charlie met at Tim Hortons.  I did my Bible reading and study!  Bill brought me a muffin home!  Yum!  We left at 10 to go to Cadillac to meet Jeff and Kathy for lunch at Culver’s, and give them their Run for the Son packets.  Not much color left anymore, but still a nice ride.    We had a nice visit.  They leave the beginning of November for their winter home in Florida.  It was in the eye of hurricane Ian, but is still standing and no water damage inside.  They have skirting to replace, roof and patio damage to repair, but did well compared to so many others in Fort Meyer.

We went to McDonald’s in Gladwin to meet Jerry and Sandy and give them their packets.  We enjoyed our ride and saw Amish buggies as we traveled. My BFF, Vikki, called me back after I called her and got no answer.  She was outside on a walk with her hubby getting some walking exercise.   We talked for a while.  She just had hip surgery on the 19th and is recovering.  She is doing better each day.  After a while, I put her on speaker and we both talked to her.  We headed back home, had about 15 minutes here, and then went to Wes and Gayla's for a delicious meal....sloppy joes, Ranch chips, coleslaw, carrots, homemade sweet pickles, and yummy apple pie for dessert.  We played 3-13 and Wes was the winner. Then we played to games of Skip Bo.  The boys won the first game and we girls won the second game.  We sure had a relaxing and fun time.  While we were playing cards, we saw a four point buck and a doe walking in their yard.  While we were there, Kenzie face timed me and showed me these pretty candies she bought with Scriptures on them.  I have to get me some of those.  She put them in a pretty candy dish she has on her computer desk.  She has her desk looking so beautiful.

Kimmy let me know that Hailey is going to Jacob's concert on Sunday.  I was so happy to hear this.  I am so thankful our family is so close!  We certainly are blessed!

Tues., 10/25/22, Did outside fall work, went to Eli’s band concert. He did great!

Melissa sent me these cute pictures of the boys decorating and eating the cookies we gave them.  She said they had so much fun doing it.

Jack, Evan and Max decorating the cookies.  All the decorations were included in the package with the cookies.  It was in a packaged box of goodies at our rental house

Max waited all day for his brothers to get home to do this

Max is giving them a thumbs up.  Looks like the raccoon on his shirt is eating one too lol.

Jack with a cute cookie

Evan was very detailed decorating his pumpkin cookies

So cute!

Eli at his band concert

Picture of us with our Eli after the concert

Went out to the garden in the morning and pulled corn stalks out and put them in garbage cans.  Also pulled zinnia roots out.  Wanted to get the cans out by the road for trash pick up today.  Bill added a couple of his own cans that he filled.  

Vikki sent me a text saying she was dying laughing.  I watched the blooper video she put together of Bill, me, Vikki, Peyton, Isaac, Kimmy, Jared, Jacob, Adam and Eli making a video for my nephew, Marks, wedding.  We had to do so many do overs because we kept forgetting to say Mars since he legally changed his name to Mars, then we kept say his fiancé's name wrong.  I laughed hard and was in tears too. The actual finished one turned out nice and Mark loved it.  He thought the blooper one was pretty funny.  

Went in the house and had my oatmeal.  Just drinking water today, no coffee.  Did prayer and Bible Study on 1 Peter 3 after I ate.  God’s Word is so good!  

Washed glass bird bath and brought it in the garage for the winter.  Emptied big flower pots on the deck, and cleaned pots.  Let the air out of swimming rings and hammock mattresses for the pool, and put them in bags to go under the pool deck.  I blew the leaves off the deck and Bill picked them up with the lawn tractor.  

Bill went and spent time wi Max at 4.  When he got home, we got ready and went to Eli’s band concert.  The 6th, 7th, and 8th grade bands all sounded so good.  Eli did great and looked very handsome!  I thought his band was the best!  

Kimmy told us Jacob will be playing in the CMU honors Band on Sunday with other Central Michigan High School students. They have practice on Saturday where they have to learn the songs.  Wish they were playing on Sat.  We have a wedding and will be in Mt. Pleasant.  On Sunday, Bill's brother Fred and wife are coming to visit, then we have a Michael W. Smith concert to attend in the evening.   Busy Busy!  Boo Hoo!  Glad Kimmy is videoing it.  Such an honor for Jacob!                        

Monday, 10/24/22, Went to Melissa's, Blew leaves off the deck, put some things on deck away for winter, Vikki and the twins, and Kimmy and family came over, Made video for Mark's Wedding

Beautiful sunrise this morning looking out the kitchen window

Kit Kat loved her house and was in it lots today

Max sure can carry lots at a time

Peyton couldn't wait to rake leaves

Isaac either

 

Isaac hurried in the leaves

Peyton and Isaac had so much fun raking the leaves in a pile and jumping in them

Adam

Jacob

Kit Kat was in her new house this morning.  She sure loves it!  We put her in it last night, but she would get right out.  I put her special blanket in it and now she knows it her place.  Thanks again Kimmy, Jared and Eli.

I did my Bible Study lesson and reading, then went to Sam's Club to pick up Nesquik for Bruce and Melissa.  I dropped it off at Melissa's and visited with her and Max for a while.  It was so nice out, that Melissa and I were hot in our sweatshirts.  Max was wearing his Raccoon shirt.  I dropped off pumpkin shaped cookies to decorate.  Max wanted to do it right then, but Melissa told him he had to wait til the other boys got home.  It sure was a fun visit.  Bill mowed and picked leaves up with the tractor.  I blew leaves off the deck.  Vikki came over and Isaac took over my job.  He did great too!  He and Peyton had so much fun playing outside, raking the leaves in a pile and then jumping in them.  After that, they played on the swings and had lots of fun too.  They were outside for a long time. 

Jacob texted me to let me know he made first chair in the CMU Honors Band.  What a great accomplishment.  I am so very proud of him.  He works hard and is gifted at playing his clarinet.  I love listening to him play.

Kimmy, Jared and the boys came over so we could make a video for my Nephew, Mark, for his wedding.  It took us many many tries, but finally we all got it right.  One would get it right, but another would mess up, so we were always starting over.   I had made nacho's and Kimmy brought rice, so we all ate.  Bill had an elders meeting, so we had to wait til he got home, to try some more til we got it how we liked it.  We were all so happy when it was done.   Vikki sent it to Mark and he liked it too.  Jacob, Adam, Kimmy, Jared, Vikki and I did get to play Skip Bo.  Jacob and Adam were the winners.  It was sure a fun game.