He's Gone

I would like to thank each one of you for your thoughts and prayers and wonderfully sweet comments on my last post.  My brother-in-law Mike passed away peacefully during the night with my sister Melanie by his side.

Our family would appreciate your continued prayers, especially Melanie and their children, Michaela, Mitch and Jarrod.

Mandy is still flying in today with Piper for their visit and if things go as planned, after we take them to the airport next Thursday, Dennis and I will drive to Omaha for the Memorial service which is tentatively scheduled for June 30. 

Thank you all for your love and support.  This has been a very hard few years on Mike & Melanie and their family.  The end came much, much faster than anyone thought it would, but we are very thankful that he is now at peace and painfree.

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.  My Father's house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."  John 14:1-3

Many Blessings to you all,

Betsy

Fun Times Ahead

Another week is here and it's a big one!  Mandy and Piper will be here tomorrow.  Yippee!  Then Jamie, Kyleigh and Caleb will be here on Friday for the weekend.  All three grandbabies together for the first time in about 5 years!  We are so happy.

I have an issue happening with my computer again.  No photos that I have taken in the past week have moved to the laptop where I have to blog from.  I have a few really cute ones from Mandy of Piper and her cousin on my phone but can't post them.  I will ask Jamie to look at it this weekend, otherwise, without photos, my blog is pretty boring and I may be finished. Kaput.  I can still comment on your blogs but mine will be a goner.  Maybe it can be fixed though.  We can always hope. :-)

Meanwhile, I took these before the issues began.  I always like flowers outside the door of our trailer in the summer.  The little angel was a gift from a gentleman at our church and my angel windchimes make a beautiful musical sound.  This makes me smile.

 I planted a few different coloring geraniums in a pot by the trailer hitch.  Since this photo, Nita has added some tiny white filler flowers that I have no idea the name of.  It looks much fuller and happier now.

 We have lots of iris at the lake too.  Yellow, purple, chocolate brown.  Many different colors.  The rhubarb at home is still producing too.  I'm getting tired of rhubard. :-)

Four blankets are finished for the Crisis Nursery.

You may recognize these mittens.  I took photos this weeks newly finished ones, but can't post it, so here's a reminder of what I'm working on.  The new ones are green and red and I have 10 more pair done.

I have done some knitting on the socks I've had on the needles for quite some time.  They are easy to take along to doctors appointments and that's about the only place I've been knitting on them.

Piper spent some time at the aiport with her Daddy and Grandpa while they were working on the airplane.  She is a natural around planes and loves to help Daddy.

 It was a pretty hot day there in Nebraska on this particular day so she had something to drink and sat in front of the industrial fan for awhile to cool off.  I love this picture of her hair blowing in the breeze of the fan.

 Life has pretty much gone on about the same.  The rhythm of summer has set in, although we haven't been at the trailer as much this year as we had planned.  Things keep coming up that we need to be in town for.  We're starting to make some retirement plans for a few years down the lane and are still trying to figure out what we want to do.  It's REALLY hard when your family is scattered to the four winds.

I the past I have asked you to keep my brother-in-law Mike in your prayers.  Last week we found out that the cancer has spread again and he will now be on hospice.  Please pray for him, Melanie and their kids.  It's hard.  I can't even begin to imagine their thoughts and feelings and I have no words.

Not much else is new at our house, except the excitement is building for our babies visits.  And yet, they aren't babies anymore.  Kyleigh just finished her first year of middle school for goodness sake!  How in the world did that happen?  I am trying to plan some food for the visit.  With Piper allergic to all dairy and Kyleigh and Caleb with Celiac disease, planning meals and snacks is definitely interesting.

We are looking forward to a wonderful time with them all.  I hope you're all enjoying your summer, (winter down under for you Shaz), and that life is good for you.

"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10

Blessings,
Betsy

Lake time

Hello Everyone,

Would you believe I've been working on this post for three days?  Yep.  I even took the laptop to the lake because with my phone hotspot I thought I could post there.  Well, it would have been just words, words, words, because our cloud thingy is at home and there were no photos without the cloud thingy.  Oh well, here I am, home again for a few hours for Bible study today and I thought I would take this opportunity to post something.  I am able to read all of your blogs even when I'm gone, so I try to keep up with them.  You all have so many amazing flowers and seem to get so much done daily.  I'm impressed. :-)

This was us on Saturday evening.  We had to put the awnings on the trailers in because of strong winds, but we still had a good time.  Visitors from down the road came calling.  You never know who will be out for a walk and stop by.  It got down to 39F that evening so it wasn't long after I took this picture that the coats came out and blankets were thrown over our legs so we could keep talking.  The campfire helped a lot.

 All I've knitted on is mittens.  Eight pair here and one and a half more pair completed that aren't in the picture.  I'm on a roll!  :-)  Bored, but on a roll.

 I have been watching this holder with six glass bottles in it for a couple of months.  It was at Michaels.  It started out at $19.99.  No way would I pay that even with the 40% off coupon.  Then it went to 50% off.  Now we're talking, but I still didn't want to pay $10.00.  The other day I was in the store and it was 75% off in-store special.  So I bought it.  For $5.00!!!  You can buy the bottles individually for $2.50 each which would be $15.00 but I got the holder AND the bottles for $5.00.  Patience paid off.  Yippee!  I got the little silk flowers for $.65 as a bush and then cut it up.  I love it!  All for $5.65.  I'm a happy girl.

I had a few little stalks of the flowers left so they went into a vase on top of the Hoosier Cabinet.

 It looks nice and spring/summery to me.  What do you think?

 I've hung my 4th of July banner on the kitchen island.  I know it's a little early, but I want to remember the sacrifices our Veterans have made for us and not take our freedoms for granted.

 One last photo I took at the lake this morning on my walk.  No swimmers this morning, but in a week or so this place will be hopping all of the time, day and night, once school is out.  The past few weekends the beach has been packed with kids AND adults.  The kids don't surprise me but the adults do considering the water is still far from warm.  The lake was completely frozen over just two months ago.

I've been doing lots of running around this week doing paperwork, etc. for various things.  Only one night was spent at the lake since Sunday night, but I'll be going back early tomorrow morning for the weekend.

Could I please ask for prayers for my brother-in-law Mike and sister-in-law Karen?  Mike is my sisters husband of 40 years and Karen is Dennis' baby sister. 

Mike has been fighting cancer in various places for a couple of years.  This morning they  found two more suspicious spots on his brain.  I know God is in control and we've been praying for Mike along with many, many other people.  Now I'm asking you, my friends, that if you believe in the power of prayer, to join us.

Karen is fighting either pancreatitis or pancreatic cancer.  She had an MRI this morning which showed no change since her last hospitalization a month ago.  She will now be scheduled for another biopsy.  She has been in horrific pain for months and just wants an answer.  Of course, we're praying that it is NOT cancer.  Would you join us in that too?  Just the not knowing is terrible in itself.

On a bright, bright note, Mandy and Piper will be here in a week and a half!  Yippee!  Then Jamie and Kyleigh and Caleb will drive over for the weekend.  Grandpa and Grandma can't wait.  It's time for lots of hugs and kisses.

I hope you all have a blessed and peaceful weekend, filled with the things that make you happy and bring contentment to your life.  The older I get, the more I realize contentment is very important.

"But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him." Jeremiah 17:7

Blessings always,
Betsy