Plans? What Plans?

Hello and happy Friday morning. We do still have plans, just not sure the details or when. We're planning to go camping soon, but will most likely be heading south somewhere. The weather is so up and down here. It's in the 70's F here for the next few days and then back down into the 30's. Do those of you in Texas, Louisiana or the vicinity know of any RV parks that don't cost an arm or a leg and are still safe? Ha! The plans now are to head south next week sometime. Maybe. Who knows until that day comes?!

Meanwhile, Miss Piper spent the day with us last Saturday. Brad & Mandy had a memorial service for their neighbor, so Papa took Piper to her Taekwondo competition. She won a 2nd and 3rd place medals which was very good since they were skills that she had just learned recently. Afterwards she came home to us and had lunch and some very rousing games of UNO before Mandy picked her up. We sure love this not so little girl. She's growing into quite a young lady. She's on the honor roll with straight A's. She also loves us and isn't ashamed to show it. 

Lizzie came over and stayed with us too. These two dogs love each other and are so excited to spend time together. Piper was working with them on their obedience training in this photo. I love Lizzie's ear flop! :-)

Mandy sent me the photo below yesterday with the caption. “She has such a rough life!” Ha! She's snuggled up in Piper's bed while Piper is at school and Mandy and Brad are working. They both work from home and Lizzie loves that. She's much like Zoey and doesn't like being left alone. We call them both our Velcro dogs. They are VERY attached to us and each other.

I put up my St. Patricks decorations yesterday. I don't know we'll be around much to enjoy them. I don't have very many, but I have a crocheted garland on the island and door decorations too. 

I started another prayer shawl for the hospital. I like the colors together. I don't normally put light brown with pinks, but I do like it.

I had my very own inspector while taking the photo. She's very particular about my work and has to make sure it's up to her standards. I cross my fingers until she gives it a passing opinion.

This happed earlier this week here in Omaha. Thankfully both of these vehicles were sitting still at a red light or it could have been tragic. Can you imagine driving into a hole like this? No one was hurt and the two gentlemen in the truck helped the lady in the car out.  Apparently the pavement just collapsed. 

The dinner at church, Florentino's, was a great success. The kids spent Friday at the Open Door Mission borrowing their commercial kitchen so they could make thousands of meatballs. They were about 3 inches in diameter! Dennis said they were delicious. I opted for chicken fettuccine and had so much that I took over half of it home for dinner the next day. The kids did such a great job with serving and clean up. They wore white shirts and black pants with aprons, just like a fancy restaurant. I can't believe that I didn't take any photos. The fellowship hall was decorated like an Italian restaurant. There were even three fountains complete with goldfish that Dennis's cousin Curt built. He used the wood from the camp bunkbeds that were demolished for the new beds. :-)

So, it was all wonderful until we got to the parking lot. We had driven another couple to the dinner. Ted is 92 and his wife Donna is 89. They have been at the church since before Dennis and I met in Sunday school class there in 1975. Ted was one of Dennis's dad's best friend while growing up. In other words, we go back a long, long way. They are a lovely couple. 

Usually they drive themselves everywhere, but not after dark. Neither of them like to drive when it's dark out. Dennis had just helped Ted into the car and I was holding the door for Donna. The car next to us had parked very close so I suggested we close the door and Dennis back out before she got in. She took a step backwards and we still don't know what happened, but she fell straight backwards, hitting her head on the asphalt. We ended up taking her to the Emergency Room. I was worried about a head injury. Her head ended up being fine, but she broke 4 ribs! I couldn't believe it. Not cracked, broken. She was moved yesterday to a facility to help her rehabilitate, learning how to get up and down. She has had both knees replaced, so she's in a state. 

We visited her again yesterday and apologized yet again. We feel responsible, and she keeps saying we didn't do anything wrong. I just feel like we should have prevented it somehow. Ted says she has fallen a few times recently, but they won't consider moving to an assisted living. They have stairs at their house and it's such a worry to a lot of us at church. If you're a praying person, would you pray that she'll heal quickly? She wants to be at home and we also found out yesterday that there is covid in the wing that she's staying in. Yikes.

Well, the state of the world isn't improving is it? I pray that if you don't know the Lord, you would consider reaching out to Him. This could all end very badly with all of the weapons held by different countries. I would love to know that you would be in Heaven with me some day. 

Blessings and love to you all,

Betsy

What If It Were Today?

Text and Music: Lelia N. Morris

1. Jesus is coming to earth again,
What if it were today?
Coming in power and love to reign,
What if it were today?
Coming to claim His chosen Bride,
All the redeemed and purified,
Over this whole earth scattered wide,
What if it were today?

Glory, glory!
Joy to my heart 'twill bring,
Glory, glory!
When we shall crown Him King;
Glory, glory!
Haste to prepare the way;
Glory. glory!
Jesus will come some day.

2. Satan's dominions will then be o'er,
O that it were today!
Sorrow and sighing shall be no more,
O that it were today!
Then shall the dead in Christ arise,
Caught up to meet Him in the skies;
When shall these glories meet our eyes?
What if it were today?

Glory, glory!
Joy to my heart 'twill bring,
Glory, glory!
When we shall crown Him King;
Glory, glory!
Haste to prepare the way;
Glory. glory!
Jesus will come some day.

3. Faithful and true would He find us here
If He should come today?
Watching in gladness and not in fear,
If He should come today?
Signs of His coming multiply,
Morning light breaks in eastern sky,
Watch, for the time is drawing nigh,
What if it were today?

Glory, glory!
Joy to my heart 'twill bring,
Glory, glory!
When we shall crown Him King;
Glory, glory!
Haste to prepare the way;
Glory. glory!
Jesus will come some day.

Snow?

 Hi Everyone! Is it warming up where you are? Not here. We've been SO WARM around here. Yesterday was 66F. Today it feels like 12F. We're supposed to get anywhere from 3 to 12 inches of snow. School was cancelled for today because of the forecast and it is now 12:30 pm and we have yet to have a flake fall. Who knows if we'll actually get anything or not. Personally I hope not, because we want to go camping next week. :-) We were thinking of heading south for a few weeks but that's a lot of diesel fuel and we've had such nice weather around here that we had changed our mind and decided just to go to the state park here. We'll see what happens in the next few days with the weather. We have a funeral to attend on Monday so we'll be home at least until then anyway.

I know Valentine's Day is long gone, but I thought I would share the photos of our 2nd Annual cupcake decorating party with you. Nothing spectacular, just lots and lots of laughter and fun. We first had pizza and then we decorated and then we sat and talked about nothing and everything. A very happy and fun evening and a great way to brighten up the mid-winter blahs.

A plateful of yummy. I baked 72 cupcakes on Saturday morning.

Amanda had 24 of her very own since she has Celiac disease and can't have gluten. She had so many to decorate that she went fairly plain with her cupcakes.

Yum!

Left to right, Dennis's cousin Curt. Our pastor Jeff, his wife Angie. Dennis and Barb, Curt's wife on the left.

Right to left. Amanda, Barb, Curt, Jeff and Angie.

We sure do have a great time together. This is the same group that rides bikes with Dennis in the summer and all of us except Amanda camp together quite a bit too.

***Edited to add that most of the cupcakes were taken to Sunday school the next morning and shared there.

I had my CAT scan yesterday. The "thing" on my adrenal gland must not have changed since last years scan, because after the radiologist looked at the first few scans he determined that I didn't need to have the contrast added. It was nice not to have to be poked for yet another IV. I'm still waiting to hear back from the endriconolgist, (I didn't spell that right), to let me know all of the results of the scan and the bloodwork from last week. I'm feeling pretty optimistic though. No news is good news.

We're planning to go to the first fish fry of Lent at the Catholic Church down the street tomorrow night. We'll go with Curt & Barb and another couple that we've known about 45 years, Tom & Sheryl. We've done this together every year since we moved back to Omaha. This particular church feeds about 1500 every Friday night of lent. It's quite a production and helps pay for the extra's for their school.

We're also hoping to go to the big RV show here tomorrow during the day. We really like looking at RV's although we have absolutely no plans to get a different one. We are very happy with our new camper even though it was technically 2 years old when we bought it. It was brand new, but still on the lot. Sales had slowed down a lot in the past few years. We got an amazing deal on it because they just wanted it gone to make room for the new models. Anyway, back to the RV show. It's always fun to see the new things they come up with.

I hope you're all well and staying warm and dry and we'll all keep dreaming of summer. :-) I'm praying in particular for the people of Iran, Israel and the entire Middle East right now. It seems that things are reaching a boiling point and hopefully the Iranian people can cast out the regime that has been imprisoning them all since 1979. 

Blessings and hugs,

Betsy

When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder

Text and Music by: James M. Black

1 When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, 
and time shall be no more,
and the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair;
When the saved of earth shall gather 
over on the other shore,
and the roll is called up yonder, 
I’ll be there.

Refrain:
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

2 On that bright and cloudless morning 
when the dead in Christ shall rise, 
and the glory of His resurrection share;
When His chosen ones shall gather 
to their home beyond the skies,
And the roll is called up yonder, 
I’ll be there. [Refrain]

3 Let us labor for the Master 
from the dawn till setting sun;
let us talk of all His wondrous love and care.
Then when all of life is over, 
and our work on earth is done,
and the roll is called up yonder, 
I’ll be there. [Refrain]

Warmth!

 Hello and happy Wednesday to you all. I've been hit and miss around here recently and I'm sorry. Monday we had 73F and we decided to play outside most of the day. We went to the cemetery and put flowers on my parents and Dennis's parents graves and then took a long walk around the grounds. It really is a beautiful place. We're planning to order a headstone for Dennis's sister and have it put on the last family plot, next to his Mom's. Karen was cremated, but we would like to have a place to put flowers for her and I know she would like to have it close to Mom's. 

Then we came home and just spent time outside with Zoey since it was so nice. I wasn't allowed to eat at all Monday because of the surgery yesterday so we were also trying to distract me from food. Ha! Look who was in the field behind our condo building. Rusty, our resident fox that the neighbors have named.

In these two photos we watched him catch a mouse and...

...carry it off towards his home. We all like that he's taking care of the mice. Apparently they have been much less of a nuisance this year. We've never had an issue with them but I'm glad he's finding something to eat. Where you see those trees on the far left is the beginning of a big ravine that goes for blocks with trees and a small stream. Lots of wildlife live in in. We've seen the fox, coyotes, hawks, bunnies, etc.

I'm making a little progress on the cross stitch for the new baby. I've had too many distractions this week to get much crafting done.

I did finish another pair of socks. These were made with the Opal yarn I bought from Denmark while we were in London. The pattern is Petty Harbour and was a free pattern on Ravelry.

I've put up the Valentine's decorations for our 2nd annual cupcake decorating party on Saturday. Our normal group of friends that we camp with and did gingerbread houses together, will be here. I'll bake about 60 cupcakes and I bought lots of decorations, frostings and glitter to put on them. We'll provide pizza for dinner and have a grand ole time! :-)

Just a few fun things around the condo.

Some little hearts I embroidered a long time ago.

Outside the front door.

I made this Scandinavian Heart banner many years ago with the pattern from my dear friend Teresa Kasner.  She was a blog friend who lived near Portland, OR that I visited very often. I had four blog friends that lived in the area and we always got together for lunch when I visited Mandy, who lived in Portland for over 10 years. Teresa passed unexpectedly a few years ago and it was devastating to many people. She was very multi-talented and was also very active in the community. She freely shared all of her knowledge and skills with everyone. She designed these little Scandinavian hearts and provided the pattern from on her blog home page to whoever wanted it. I think her blog is still up if you're interested in reading about her. It's named "Teresa Kasner". I would love you to get to know her.

I had the surgery to remove the mass from my colon yesterday. It was 33 cm long! That's 12 inches! I can't believe it. The labs came back about an hour ago and it was NON-CANCEROUS! Praise the Lord! It says they took it out in 76 pieces! The surgeon look young enough to be my granddaughter. My nurse told me that he chose her to take care of both of his parents when they needed a similar surgery. That's a pretty high recommendation. That made me feel better going in. It took a little over 1 1/2 hours and they sent me home right away. That's just crazy to me. I'm a bit wobbly and very tired today but I guess that's to be expected. The GREAT news is that I get to have another colonoscopy in 6 months to make sure it hasn't grown back or turned cancerous. Oh goody!

Next Wednesday I have a CAT scan with contrast to check out a nodule on my adrenal gland that they're keeping an eye on. Labs for that are tomorrow. Who said getting old is relaxing? Ha! I've been blessed though with nothing serious coming of any of it. The Lord is watching over me and I feel it. As Christians, we're not promised that we would have no problems in this life, but a wonderful promise that He would walk through it with us and the promise of life everlasting with Him. That's what I'm looking forward to.

If all goes well with the next tests, we're still hoping to head south with the camper by the end of the month for at least a few weeks. We have to be back by the end of March for Dennis's doctor appointment. Although, it's so warm here, it may be better to just hang out here. It's 57F here right now with more 60's and 70's in the forecast for next week. It's really unusual. We've broken several records for warm weather while so many of you are freezing. March will probably be a humdinger!

Take care my friends. I'm praying for all of you and this crazy world we're living in. I sure appreciate my friends in blogland who bring sanity and love into my life.

Blessings and love,

Betsy

WHO IS ON THE LORD'S SIDE?

Text: Francis Ridley Havergal

Music: C. Luise Reichardt

1 Who is on the Lord’s side? 
Who will serve the King?
Who will be His helpers, 
other lives to bring?
Who will leave the world’s side? 
Who will face the foe?
Who is on the Lord’s side? 
Who for Him will go?
By Thy call of mercy, 
by Thy grace divine,
we are on the Lord’s side. 
Savior, we are Thine.

2 Not for weight of glory, 
not for crow and palm, 
enter we the army, 
raise the warrior psalm; 
but for love that claimeth 
lives for whom He died. 
He whom Jesus nameth 
must be on His side. 
By Thy love constraining, 
by Thy grace divine, 
we are on the Lord's side. 
Savior, we are Thine.

3 Jesus, Thou hast bought us, 
not with gold or gem,
but with Thine own life-blood, 
for Thy diadem.
With Thy blessing filling 
each who comes to Thee,
Thou hast made us willing, 
Thou hast made us free. 
By Thy grand redemption, 
by Thy grace divine,
We are on the Lord’s side. 
Savior, we are Thine!

4 Fierce may be the conflict, 
strong may be the foe,
but the King’s own army, 
none can overthrow;
Round His standard ranging, 
Vict'ry is secure,
for His truth unchanging 
makes the triumph sure.
Joyfully enlisting, 
by Thy grace divine,
We are on the Lord’s side. 
Savior, we are Thine