Happy Wednesday to everyone! It's been a rainy, cool week so far here in the midwest of the USA. I'm enjoying the break from the heat and humidity we had all summer, but not too excited to hear the weather people using the detested four letter word-snow. The long range forecast is saying possibly next week! Oh no. Not ready for that at all.

So far my back seems to be doing much, much better after the ablation last week. I even did some chair exercises yesterday trying to strengthen the muscles a bit. I'm starting out just every other day because I don't want to be too aggressive and be back where I was, unable to do much at all.

Dennis is at the Mission today, distributing groceries and I'm just doing a few things around the house. Yesterday I finished the Christmas ornaments for the kids and grandkids, sewing them up and stuffing them. I'll take a photo and show you after the holidays since I don't want them to see the chosen design before they open them.

I also finished a sock I began on Sunday. I'll start the second today. Here are the socks I've finished since I last blogged. All are plain vanilla as I'm in production mode!

These are the five prayer shawls I have finished. I mistakenly said I finished six in a previous post. Oops! I  must have miscounted and now I still have another five to make. I used the Iris crochet stitch for most of these, maybe all. I can't remember!

A few of you commented on the fact that we bought a double kayak. Here's a photo of it when we inflated it in our bedroom to make sure it held the air. We didn't want to miss the return date if it was defective and we probably won't use it much until spring. Many of you shared that you wouldn't be getting in a kayak. I feel the same. To tell you the truth, I'm terrified. I do not like water and can't swim. I do like boats though and Dennis bought be a brand new life-jacket and promises to rescue me if I fall in! :-) He really wants to do this but won't go with our friends without me because he doesn't want me feeling left out. He's missed SO much the past several years because of my back, so I'm determined to at least give this a try for him. He is an amazing guy and I'm so glad I've got him by my side through this crazy life.

See the tan sock on the dresser? Somehow the washer or dryer ate it's mate. I'm hoping it will show up and Dennis can have a matching pair again. :-)

I thought I would share a photo of the table by our entryway. I enjoy the fall decorations around the apartment and usually put them up the beginning of October and leave them through Thanksgiving at the end of November. In December, Christmas decor usually appears but I think that since we'll be gone, I probably won't decorate this year. Just the nativity will be put up, because you really can't forget the reason we're celebrating can you, and I'll leave it out for awhile when we return home.

I was asked if we'll return to London next spring when the baby is born. We haven't talked about it, but much will be decided by the price of the airline tickets. They can fluctuate wildly, depending on many factors, so we'll need to decide that closer to the time.

I hope you're all doing well. The world is continuing to continue it's crazy course so I just keep praying, knowing that ultimately the Lord is in control and works all things for the good of those who know Him. I do hope you know Him too. He is the source of peace and joy and I can't imagine living in these troubled days without Him by my side, loving me. Stay well and I'll be back soon!

Blessings and hugs,

Betsy

We sang this song in church Sunday for the first time and I fell in love with it. I hope you like it too.

Hello Again!

 Hello! Guess Who this is?

My computer has been in the computer hospital for several weeks and has a new hard drive. My iPad and iPhone still won't work with blogger, but since my computer was released from inpatient today, I'm going to try a short post and see if it will work now.

Biggest news around these parts is that after three rounds of deep injections on my back in the past three months, I had an ablation done on Tuesday of this week. No idea yet if it will stop the spasms permanently (or even semi-permanently), but I have high hopes.

We purchased an inflatable kayak for two people during Amazon's prime days a few weeks ago. We had one in our cart for several months just like one some friends have. They've taken theirs in the ocean bays and in lakes all over the country so we hope it's going to work for us. Hopefully by next spring I will have exercised enough to be able to get in and out of it! It could be quite a show for onlookers. :-)

I think the last time I was able put up a post we had just returned from camping with our friends and I had a bad "cold." Well, it was actually covid and I still have a lingering cough from it. That's my third bout with it and I'm hoping my last, although I wasn't nearly as sick as I was last spring.

We took our last camping trip of the season last week and winterized the camper. It was lovely time. Quiet and gentle rain during the evenings. Leaves were turning and we had a wonderful relaxing time. We have high hopes of going south in February for a month or so if the roads cooperate and we can get the camper out of storage. You never know in advance how deep the snow will be in February. Then, in May we're going camping to a tulip festival in Pella, Iowa with friends for several nights. We'll sprint back through Omaha and along I-80 to be in Salt Lake City to go to a camping meet-up with some YouTube friends on May 13 and then hopefully to the Grand Canyon where I've never been. Later in the summer w'll take Piper somewhere, maybe to Helena, MT to see her cousins and end up the summer in Spokane, hopefully in September. That's the general plan anyway. God may have other plans in there so we'll have to see what He decides. 

Miss Piper also became an official teenager on September 29! Who can believe that? We had a nice birthday party for her with her other grandparents. The next day she did some fun things with her friends. How I love this girl.

In some wonderful news, Baby "J" in London will have a new baby brother or sister due in April 2026. We're very excited about that news. We bought tickets last week to fly to London December 10 and back home on the 27th.  Our daughter in love is happy that we'll be there for Baby "J" last gymnastics lesson of the session on the 13th so we can see her in action and not just in the videos they send us. Alex is excited for us to experience Boxing Day in the UK and all of the Christmas decorations around London. We're mainly excited to see all of them. Since "J" is in school all day now, they no longer have a nanny, so we will get our old room back at the very top of the house where the windows look over the rooftops of London. I love that room and could happily just live in it forever. :-)

I delivered 12 baby blankets to the Open Door Mission on Wednesday and was able to see where Dennis volunteers every Wednesday from 8-5. On Tuesday's he's at the donation center at the other end of town. 

I also have 6 prayer shawls for the Med Center one since I last posted. I have another 4 to make before the end of the year, (I hope).

I also finished cross-stitching all of the kids and grandkids 2025 Christmas ornaments and just have to sew them all together which I hope to do next Monday. I think they all still like getting them every year. I like the idea that the grandchildren will have at least 18-20 ornaments made by me when they move out and have their first trees of their own. When I have them finished I'll take a photo and post it after I've given the to the recipients. 

Now I'm working on all of their socks that they get for Christmas, plus I've added our daughter-in-laws parents to the sock list because they like to "borrow" the kids pairs when they visit. :-) I love it!!

Since this is just a practice post to see if it even works, I don't have a lot of photos for you. We are still here and I've just been waiting to get my computer back. I'll see if this actually posts and if I can comment on your blogs. If it all works, I'll try to show you some of the socks and things I've been working on.

I hope all is well with all of you my friends. I have been reading your blogs, just unable to comment.

To Diane in Northern Wisconsin who has been so sweet and asking about me, THANK YOU. I didn't have  an email to write back to you and I couldn't access blogger at all to let you know I was okay, just no technology to us to communicate.

Billie Jo, thank you for checking on me too. Hopefully I'm back. :-)

Blessings and love to you all,

Betsy