Forgotten?

I haven’t forgotten any of you, although I haven’t posted on anyone’s blogs for a few days. We were in the ER with mom all day Friday and then she spent the night in the hospital Friday night. I had to stay there with her because she wouldn’t let anyone touch her without me there. Then, yesterday after church, we stopped to get lunch and last night in the late evening Dennis got really sick and in the middle of the night I got very sick with nausea and vomiting and other fun bathroom events. Fun times huh!? I also have a fever over 102 so we’re not sure if it’s food poisoning or influenza. Dennis is absolutely fine now. It only lasted a few hours for him. I’ll be back when I can think straight again.!

Take care everyone

Blessings and

Betsy

Good Morning

Hello and happy March! In like a lamb, but within a few days, a blizzard. Yes, we were in a blizzard warning last evening and all night. Today it's just high winds. Typical springtime in Nebraska. It's supposed to be in the 70's by Monday again, so the snow won't last long, but the kids aren't happy about another snow day because it means another day added to the end of the school year. 

I have a few St. Patrick's Day decorations up, because according to my Mom, she had a tiny bit of Irish in her. :-) I found this garland at Hobby Lobby for under $4.00 so I snapped it up. The sign is from the Dollar Tree.  Nothing fancy at all.

Here is my beautiful Piper waiting to go back and get her braces put on:

And right after getting them. It's been a couple of weeks and after a few really painful days, I think she's beginning to adjust. She plays the baritone horn in band though, and I'm not sure how that's going. I keep forgetting to ask her. Isn't she beautiful? I just love her smile.

She has recently redid her room a little bit. Gone are the Eiffel Tower and Paris scenes comforter Papa Queen bought for her. She's liking more grown up bedding, although she still loves Paris decor. And our precious little Lizzie is always right there. She adores Piper and so does Zoey. And of course, so do we!

I have a few more pairs of mittens made for the school kids.

Another baby blanket for the Open Door Mission. It's called the Floating Squares Baby Blanket and I don't remember where I got the pattern from. I think it was probably a YouTube video. I used a J hook and  Caron Yarn.

I'm working on this one now. Just a few more inches long and then the boarder.  This is made using Bernat Baby Sport yarn.  Dennis is volunteering at the Open Door Mission's food bank today as he does every Wednesday. Tuesday he goes to the donation drop off center to volunteer. He just called and said it's been pretty slow because of the bad roads, but they expect it to get busier this afternoon as it warms up. He usually doesn't even have time to call me as they are so busy giving out donated food.

I went to the neuro-surgeon last week and his recommendation is to not touch the cyst on my spine unless it grows. It is actually touching my spinal column and they would have to remove part of my spine and put it back together with screws. There is no guarantee I wouldn't be worse off than I am now. I may have to face it in the future if the cyst keeps growing, but I'm hoping to ignore it until then. After returning from London, I may have some other procedures to try to stop the spasms, but again, there is no guarantee they will help. It could be worse and others deal with much more serious issues so I refuse to complain. (At least I try not to.) Ha!

I usually don't get political on my blog, but I can't pretend that I'm not disappointed in the way some of our leaders acted last night during President Trump's speech. Whether you do or don't agree with him, everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I truly respect that. That is the beautiful thing about our country. But the disrespect shown to the people who were honored last night was incredible and awful to see. Some leaders could not even clap for a young boy who has beat cancer or a prisoner and his mother who was was just freed from a Russian prison. I have no narrative. I don't even care much about politics, but to not be able to show respect to the family of the man who died last summer or Lakin Riley's family is beyond my comprehension. These people have done nothing to be disrespected for. May God have mercy on them.

Again, I apologize for bringing up politics. It's not something I usually do, but I actually cried last night when that little boy got his Secret Service badge. You could tell it meant everything to him. And half of the people on that floor didn't even move. No cheers, no clapping, no standing in respect for him and his battle. He was supposed to be dead years ago according to all of his doctors. What kind of a nation are we when we can't be unified enough to be happy for him and his family? My heart breaks for our country.

Blessings and love,

Betsy

The Church’s One Foundation

Text: Samuel J. Stone

Lyrics: Samuel S. Wesley

The church's one foundation
is Jesus Christ her Lord;
she is his new creation
by water and the Word.
From heaven he came and sought her
to be his holy bride;
with his own blood he bought her,
and for her life he died.

Elect from every nation,
yet one o'er all the earth;
her charter of salvation,
one Lord, one faith, one birth;
one holy name she blesses,
partakes one holy food,
and to one hope she presses,
with every grace endued.

Mid toil and tribulation,
and tumult of her war,
she waits the consummation
of peace forevermore;
till, with the vision glorious,
her longing eyes are blest,
and the great church victorious
shall be the church at rest.

Yet she on earth hath union
with God the Three in One,
and mystic sweet communion
with those whose rest is won.
O happy ones and holy!
Lord, give us grace that we
like them, the meek and lowly,
on high may dwell with thee.

Cccccold!

Goodness, it’s cold outside! Do you want to see what the temperature is right now? This is a screenshot of my phone’s weather app right now. Do you see the “feels like” temperature is -24F. And it’s just supposed to get colder and colder through Wednesday night. Then we will have a nice warm-up for a few days. Winter really just started about two weeks ago here but I’m already done with it. 😂

I took this photo of our balcony this morning. I’m sorry it’s through the screen, but I wasn’t about to go outside in my PJs in the cold. It snowed for 24 hours straight beginning before midnight Sunday night. There wasn’t a huge accumulation, but this doesn’t accurately reflect how much we actually got since a lot of it blew off of the balcony. Since the wind was blowing, it’s hard to get an accurate picture of how much snow fell.

Dennis and Curt went to the church and did a little bit of maintenance work in the bathrooms yesterday and while they were gone, Barb texted me and asked if we wanted to come over and have some chili with them for dinner. Since they only live about two blocks away, of course we said yes. If it had been much more of a drive, I think we would’ve opted to stay home as the roads were getting pretty slick last night. The church is about a 20 minute drive on the interstate from here and they said the visibility was pretty low and the roads weren’t great. That doesn’t seem to bother the guys much though. It’s like it’s something for them to conquer! What is it about men?

The guys are off together again this morning to volunteer at the Open Door Mission and after that they’re going to a young man’s house from church to help him build a table. Those two always find something to get up to! I do hope the roads are improving a bit though, since he lives clear on the other end of town closer to the Air Force Base.

I’m happily staying at home with Zoey and knitting on more mittens…

And showing off the baby blanket I just finished for the mission.  She turned her head, just as I snapped the picture as you can tell by the blur. She doesn’t hold still for very long, but she does like to show off my knitting and crocheting.

This is another blanket using the “Grace” pattern, which is free on Ravelry. I used Caron yarn in the Carrera Marble

Colorway. Using an “I” hook, it ends up measuring about 36 inches square.

Yesterday we were discussing when we might be going to London again to see our kids there. I decided to check plane tickets for March since that’s when “baby J” will have her third birthday. We’ve missed her first two. Lo and behold, the tickets were very reasonably priced so we immediately booked them. We’ll be going during the last couple of weeks of March and we’ll get to spend her birthday with her! We also had to apply for the ETA, the new visa that’s required for Americans to go to the UK. It wasn’t too difficult and it lasts for two years, so I think we’re all set. As much as I dread the plane trip because of the tight quarters, (my long legs just don’t like those tight spaces,) we’re excited to see our kids again.

They’ve been traveling for a long weekend and headed home to London yesterday. We were able to FaceTime with them for an hour or so while they were waiting to board the train. “Baby J” said she wanted us to come for her birthday. Well, that’s all it took! 🥰 As soon as we hung up, I got online. How do you say no to such a cute Granddaughter!!!? As much as I hate flying these days, especially with all of the plane crashes lately, it will be worth it to see her. So, we’re off again. Please pray for me that I don’t get sick. The last two times we’ve flown over the Pond, I’ve managed to sit next to a very sick person on the plane and I ended up sick the entire time we were there.

In other news, all of the test results came back from the endocrinologist, and although a few things were a bit low, she said it would be OK for another year, when I’ll need to repeat the CT scan with contrast and 11 vials of blood again! My next doctor appointment is next week with the neurosurgeon. We’ll see what they have to say. Getting old isn’t for sissies.

Meanwhile, except to take Zoey outside to go potty, I’m planning on staying home and out of the cold. Dennis can go gallivanting around town with his cousin Curt, volunteering at the Mission, helping fix things for other people, etc. I’ll be happily at home in front of the fire with my crochet hook or knitting needles in hand, watching movies and snuggling with my puppy. I hope you are all warm, safe and dry. Spring will come eventually.

Blessings and love, 

Betsy

No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus

Text & Music- Charles F. Weigle

I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus,
Since I found in Him a friend so strong and true.
I would tell you how He changed my life completely;
He did something no other friend could do.

Chorus
No one ever cared for me like Jesus;
There's no other friend so kind as He.
No one else could take the sin and darkness from me;
O how much He cared for me.

All my life was full of sin when Jesus found me;
All my heart was full of misery and woe,
Jesus placed His strong arms about me
And He led me in the way I ought to go.

Chorus

Every day He comes to me with new assurance;
More and more I understand His word of love.
But I'll never know just why He came to save me,
Till someday I see His blessed face above.