Tues. 1/21/25, No school again because of cold temps, went to Texas Roadhouse to write out our vision for 2025

Our friends, Doug and Sue gave Bill the Cheese Ball ornament.  He had me put it on our tree right away when we got home.  Sure gave us a good laugh while we were in Iowa.

It was another cold day, -3 when we got up and blowing wind made it even colder.  A good day to hibernate.  I set Kit Kat’s food out and she came out of her house right away.  I picked her up and gave her some attention.   Bill and I read our Bibles, drank our coffee and when we were done, we ate some cereal for breakfast.  I put blueberries in mine.  

Bill went into town to deposit a check in the bank.  I swept all the hard floors and then cleaned the bathroom, washed the rugs, and then mopped the floors. That’s a job I like to do when he is gone.  I always feel better when it is done.  I was all finished by the time he got home.  We relaxed for a while, then he asked me if I wanted to go to Texas Roadhouse to which I said yes.  I got ready and then we left.  On the way there, he asked me if I brought the cards to write our vision on.  I thought he got the stuff together because he always has, but he didn’t this time.  We got in right away at the restaurant and had a really nice waitress.  We each had sirloin steaks, a baked potato, and a salad.  Then they always have the best rolls and butter.  We had a coupon for a free appetizer so we used that and got boneless chicken wings.  They are like small chicken strips there and were so good.  We have one more coupon for a free appetizer to use from our fundraiser order for Evan.  When we got to the Jeep, Bill saw that we got ducked again and told me.  It was a cute little beach duck with sunglasses.  Just what we needed to see in these cold temperatures.

We came home, went through the mail, and changed into comfy pjs.  When I went to sit down in the living room, Bill had turned my electric throw on for me so it was nice and warm.  He does that a lot for me and I sure do appreciate it.  I do it for him too, if I’m the first one to sit down.  I worked on my blog and he took a short nap, although he was holding his phone, like he was using it.  

 

Monday, 1/20/25, Happy Birthday to Stacie!!! We love you! Inauguration Day! Yay! We slept in, watched the Vice President and President being sworn in, went to Vikki’s,

Happy Birthday Stacie.  You are beautiful and so caring.  We love you!

                                                                                 

Adam, Isaac, Peyton and Eli at Vikki's

Christmas Cactus has been blossoming since Thanksgiving.  Still has more buds coming.  Behind it, the tall Crown of Thorns plant has blossoms too.  They must like that window.

President Trump being sworn in for the second inauguration, 45TH President and now 47TH president.  Praying God uses him again to Make America Great Again!

Vice President Vance being sworn in! This is a great day in America!  Going back to being one nation under God.  It’s about time.  Thankful that God moved in the hearts of most of the people in the United States to vote for Trump and thankful he spared his life when he was in Pennsylvania!

 We slept in.  Started laundry when I got up.  Fed Kit Kat and fed the hungry birds.  Watered my plants.  They did good while I was gone.  Ate breakfast and drank my coffee.  Vikki called us to invite us over to watch the inauguration at her house. Kimmy, Jared, Adam, and Eli were going to come too.  She said she was going to invite Melissa too.  

President Trump was going to be sworn in in 6 minutes, so Bill and I didn’t want to miss it, so we watched it and then went to Vikki’s.  She ordered pizzas for us.  She forgot she had to go to Therapy today, so when she left, the rest of us got ready and left shortly after.  

Bill and I went to Bay City to pick up an electric wrench he found of FaceBook Market Place.  We stopped and picked up my prescription after that.  We also went to Sam’s Club to get prizes for BINGO.   Ordered a couple of Christmas gifts for this Saturday’s Schaard Christmas Party.  We got home and relaxed. 

We called Stacie to wish her happy birthday and sing it to her.  We talked to her for a long time since DJ and Kody were at soccer.  Will be getting together with them next week hopefully.  

Sunday, 1/19/25, could get sound on our live church service, stopped on I-80 at Gramma’s Restaurant. Had great roads til we got on 94 in Michigan, got the girls praying,

Yay! Pure Michigan!

Ran into bad weather and bad roads with whiteouts a short time ago after we got in Michigan 

Bill driving on the bad roads.  Accident just happened on the other side of the expressway

Bill and I at Culvers enjoying our food and concrete mixers

We got up early, got ready, got up and packed the Jeep, got our coffees from the breakfast room and left.  It was -8 degrees out and -29 with the wind chill.  It made my face hurt.  At least Bill had warmed up the Jeep.  All but Teri and Bill and Jeff met at Granny’s Restaurant for breakfast.  We all had a great visit and the food was delicious.  I told the Waitress it was Debbie’s birthday and she bought her a big brownie with ice cream and for big swirls of whipped cream on the corners on the plate.  It looked really good. We were all so full she shared a little with whoever wanted it.  Bill took the scoop of ice cream.  Then we turned it into a Run for the Sun fund raiser and everyone who took some gave her a $1 for a donation.

We said our goodbyes, then each couple headed home.  We wives were texting each other as we traveled.  When Bill took I-94, I couldn’t believe it because Mel had just told us he looked it up and there was lake effect snow and a winter weather advisory for that area.  We got a text from Sue and she said they were on the same road and were in snowy conditions.  We were about 15 minutes behind them.  We got into it and it started getting worse with icy conditions and whiteouts.  Sue and Doug were about 10 miles from their house so offered to let any of us stay the night if we wanted to.  We all wanted to get home so kept going. Debbie texted next and said she had just woke up and Paul was on the same road as us and hadn’t consulted her.  We ladies all heard Mel, but the guys who were sitting on the same side of the table with him didn’t hear.  Mel and Betty ended up on the same road too.  If we would have went farther east and up, we would have missed all of this snow.  We were all praying for each other.  I texted Vikki, Kimmy and Melissa to get them praying too.  After a half hour, the roads were clear and we could see a long way.  Yay!  We let all of the couples behind us know.  We let each other know when we were home.   I texted Teri and they went up through Wisconsin because they live in the U.P.  So did Art and Pat.  They all had sunshine and good roads the whole way.  Bill and I stopped at Culver’s when we got close to home.  We saw Christopher there.  We headed home after that and were so happy to be home  sweet home.  We unpacked everything and put stuff away.  The laundry will get done tomorrow.  

Saturday, 1/18/25, ate breakfast, went to church, awesome worship, great messages from the Word of God., great food and great fellowship! 7 degrees in the morning with high winds, high of 22 degrees. No snow at least

 

Dining hall

N it was time 

John Jr. Is an anointed Evangelist

We ate breakfast with all our friends at the hotel!  Then we went to the church.  It was really cold this morning and the wind was really blowing which made it colder. The church was nice and warm.  We worshipped first, then we heard more state coordinators share great messages. We had lots of time to visit and meet new people.  Had delicious food and lots of yummy snacks. After our chicken dinner with baked potato and a salad, we hung out more,  I helped Lucy, pack up their candy, fidgets, and other stuff on their table and then it was time for

worship for the closing service.  Afterwards we all helped take down our tables and haul them to the storage area.  Teri and I worked together folding and carrying the table.  That was done in no time with everybody helping.  We made plans with everyone to leave in the morning and meet at a restaurant 2 hours away to eat together.  We watched the Lions game!  Bummer that they lost.  

Friday, 1/17/25, Ate breakfast at the hotel, went to the church, worshipped, listened to Ann’s morning devotion, listened to Jay and the different state coordinators share messages God put on their hearts, Jay had Bill share his vision great lunch and dinner served to us, John and Holly Ogden both gave great messages in the evening, 46 degrees here today and sunny

Got up at 5.  Bill got up at 6.  We got ready, read our Bibles and then went down for breakfast at our hotel. They had really good food!  We headed to the church at 7:15.  It was 30 degrees which is great for here.

We worshipped and the worship team did an amazing job!Ann gave a wonderful devotion, then Lyle spoke, then Jay  spoke, and then Bill.They shared good messages and Bill did a great job sharing the Vision God gave him in 1980, along with a good message on being ready to go along with it. He had many people come up to him afterwards and shared how it touched them and  how they loved hearing it.

We went to lunch in the dining hall.  We had delicious vegetable soup and salad.  They also had tomato soup.We went into Goodies and picked out stuff to give to our Michigan chapters for events the will be having this year.

We heard lots more good messages took breaks then our area reps Goodie reps and us put our chairs in a circle and discussed things we needed to talk about that will be coming up in the riding season.  We also prayed for Doug and Paul who have some health issues.

We went to dinner and had tacos, nacho and rice.  It was really good too!

Holly Ogden spoke next and then her husband, John shared after her.  Holly heads up the international CMA chapters, and her husband is an evangelist.

We left and came back to our hotel.  It got up to 45 today, but when we left it was 30 and super windy Which made it cold.  It was an awesome day learning about how important it is to have a relationship with Jesus and to be ready because he could come any time

Thurs. 1/16/25, Ate breakfast at the hotel, arrived at Best Western in Newton

Community Heights Alliance Church

Went to the church and helped the goodie reps put CMA Shirts and other things on tables in Goodies where we all get to shop. Pat from the UP helped too!  Bill set our stuff out on our Michigan table.  We worked until lunchtime, then checked into our hotel.  We went to a cute diner for lunch.  Paul and Debbie and Pat and Art were there so we talked with them.  We got breakfast and it was

S delicious! We went to Walmart and got pillow cases because Bill accidentally shut the back Jeep door on his pillow and got grease on it.

I texted out new U.P. Goodie reps to let them know the area reps were all getting together at Pizza Ranch at 5. We went back to our hotel and relaxed for a couple of hours.  At 5, we went to the church and met with Jay for a state coordinators meeting.  First we ate pizza they ordered, then we had our meeting in another room.  We went and shopped in the Goodies Store after that. We got some things to give to our chapters for events they do and for bike blessings.All of us got together at 7 to watch the movie, The Forge!  Such a great movie.  I’m going to buy it.  We put another tablecloth on a table a

Head of our long table because we have so many from Michigan here!  Only one couple couldn’t make it.  John Ogden Jr. and his wife Holly are here from Arkansas to share a message

He with us. They are an amazing couple! We cam back to our hotel after that.

Wednesday, 1/15/25, Packed last minute things, made egg salad sandwiches for our lunch, Bill loaded the Jeep, left at 7:40,

 

Bill driving

Us at 5 Guys.  We sent the picture to Melissa for her to show Max because it’s one of his favorite restaurants

I got up at 5:30. and got ready, and Bill got up at 6:30.and got ready.  After we packed everything, Bill put it in the Jeep.  I made egg salad sandwiches and packed protein drinks and water bottles in the cooler.  I also packed  crackers and peanut butter snacks and trail mix.  

We stopped at Tim Hortons and each got a donut.  Bill got a coffee, but I just drank my yummy coffee crop from home.  We each had a pack of crackers and peanut butter about an hour later.  Then we had a banana too.

We had clear roads all the way and no snow at all when we got to Iowa.  We got gas and then ate our egg salad sandwiches at noon. We wanted to stay at the Comfort Inn we stayed at last year in Davenport and tried to put it in our GPS but it didn’t take us to the Comfort in I typed in.  We decided to stay at a Comfort Suites in Coralville, the next town.  We checked in and it was a very nice hotel.  There was a 5 Guys a few buildings down, and a car wash a couple of buildings past that.  We went through the car wash, then to 5 Guys, then back to our hotel.  We read our Bibles.  They had nice reading lights extending from the bedside lights.  I could have read without my glasses.  I did my blog then we relaxed!