My first out of state order. Okay, so it goes to my cousin in Kansas but it counts anyway. Well, the big news here is Jess went yesterday for her ultra sound and IT’S A BOY!!!! My heart is happy. It amazes me to think of how good the God I serve is. To come from being a woman who thought she would have no babies to being blessed with children is just an example of how God loves to surprise His children. God is good!! Temperatures here are still cold. The high today is 24 degrees, wind chill of about 15. This is the warmest temperatures we have had in about one week. We have managed to keep the water running in the kitchen, but the bathroom has been frozen for several days. Oh well, at least we still have water. We went down to Jessica’s yesterday to watch Daniel while she went for her ultra sound. It was 32 degrees when we left her house, got back home to 16 degrees with a wind chill of about zero or below. Have I mentioned I do not like cold weather? This will make me appreciate spring more when it comes, right. I am making homemade rolls today and it is time to put them in the oven. Better go. God Bless.
Wall Hanging
This is my latest project. What do you’ll think? I have never been very good at hand sewing, however I have decided to hand sew each of my girls a wall hanging. Notice I did not say quilt(much too big a project). I thought though that a wall hanging would be do-able for me. I gave this one to Jess and plan to start one for Julie soon, then Grace. It really was a lot of fun. I guess because it was kinda different for me. I always enjoy trying new projects. Well the big news around here is the temperature. COLD!!! The actual temperature was around zero this morning with a wind chill of somewhere around 15 or 20 below. VERY COLD!!! Dave and Jess and Daniel came up this weekend. Of course, they are now accustomed to more southernly temperatures so they were very cold. But then we were very cold too. I really pray it doesn’t stay this cold all winter but I do recall one January about 5 years ago, the temperatures stayed like this for the entire month. Have I mentioned I don’t really like cold. Oh well, maybe this will kill out all the squash bugs that attacked our garden last year. We will (hopefully) find out Tuesday if Jess is having a boy or a girl. Sometimes those babies are shy and don’t want to let anyone know. Anyway she is starting to show her pregnancy and getting some flutterings which is very exciting. It was very good to have them up this weekend, they had not been here since Halloween and thats way too long. It’s almost time for our Sunday Night Study so I guess I better get busy. I’m taking leftovers from yesterday’s feast. God Bless.
Doll Bunkbed
Hubby’s latest project. A doll bed for Barbara’s grandchild. I hope she likes it. It was a lot of fun making. It fits the American girl dolls or any 18″ dolls. We will deliver it this evening. We are going over to our friends, the Horns, for tacos tonight. The girls can hardly wait. The ice storm predicted for this morning didn’t happen. I’m glad. Dave, Jess, and Daniel will be here tomorrow about lunch time. I think we’ll have ham, baked beans, pasta salad and homemade rolls. Maybe red velvet cake for dessert. Sounds pretty good! Guess I better get started on some of that food. Happy New Year and God Bless.
Good Morning!
I thought everyone might enjoy a little sunrise. God decided to sent us this beautiful sunrise yesterday morning and I certainly was glad. Whenever I see a beautiful sunrise or sunset, it always reminds me of the majesty and power of God. I think we all need a little reminding sometimes. Nothing much going on here. School as normal. Things are getting back to our normal routine. It was very cold here this morning. Lots of wind. The actual temperature was about 14 but the wind chill was much colder. Hopefully, weather permitting, Jess and Dave will come up this weekend. I need me some MawMaw time. She will be going for her ultra-sound soon to find out if the baby is a boy or girl! I’ll let everyone know when we know. The girls are wanting me to play a game with them before school starts. I better go. Playtime awaits. God Bless.
More Ice
The ice storm did come on Christmas morning. Not as much as they predicted but enough to do damage. So far, Praise God, we still have electricity. As you can tell from one of the pictures, one limb is hanging over the power line. George will have to work on this after the ice stops. Christmas dinner did occur. Lots of good food. Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, baked beans, sweet potatoes and homemade rolls. I wish all the family could have been together to enjoy it. Oh well, I guess we’ll just have to eat another big meal next weekend. Life is tough sometimes. Today has been spend playing board games, cards, and other fun activities. I pray your Christmas has been as enjoyable as mine. Maybe next post, I’ll put something summery and cheerful. God Bless.
Winter Wonderland
More winter pictures. The snow is still around. Almost all of it. Today was the first day that maybe some of it melted. Not very much. I guess it will be safe to say we will have a white Christmas. We ventured out today for the first time. It felt pretty good to just see other people. Our kids in N.C. have a stomach virus, so I guess our weekend plans are changed. Oh well, that’s life. Forecast for the weekend is calling for sleet, freezing rain, etc. so we probably would have had to change them anyway. I hope the weather holds off. We are wanting to go to the candlelight service at church. It is always so beautiful. I pray all of you will have a blessed Christmas. Enjoy family, friends and life. God Bless.
Snow
Today is a beautiful day here in Floyd. Lots of snow. It’s really hard to get an accurate measurement here because of the wind but we know we got at least 8-10 inches, drifts are much deeper. The girls have already played in the snow and we have made snow cream. For those of you who do not know what snow cream is, you put snow in a large container, add sugar, vanilla and evaporated milk. Stir it up with a mixer and you have snow cream. Very good! The amount of ingredients vary so just keep tasting until you get it right. This is a favorite of ours whenever we get snow. I think today is a quilting day. You know one of those days where I just snuggle in with a project and enjoy the life the Good Lord has given me. I guess there will be no church tomorrow. I really miss going to church but it just can’t be helped. The roads are too bad to go anywhere. Jess even got snow in N.C. I wish I could see Daniel’s face when he gets to play in it. They do not get snow very often there. So it will be a treat for him. Well, I think I hear my quilt project calling my name. Enjoy your day and God Bless.
Flowers
I thought with winter so hard on us, we could use a little summer. These are from my flower garden this summer and I thought they looked very cheerful. The girls and I did something new this week. We made butter. This was a new experience for us. It was a lot of fun. We collected cream from our milk, added a little salt, put it in a quart jar and began to shake. No we did not have a churn, but it was not necessary for the small amount we made. We had about 1 cup of cream to begin with and ended up with about 1/2 cup of butter. Pretty exciting stuff. I also made a batch of laundry soap this week. We all went yesterday and got much needed haircuts. Gotta look good for those Christmas pictures. The weather forecast for this weekend is snow. Perhaps many inches of snow. I love snow! Hopefully we won’t have to postpone our visit with Chuck and the grandkids. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. The other morning our pond was completely frozen. A goose was walking across it. I ran to get the camera, however by the time I got back the goose was gone. It would have made a great picture. It’s time for us to start working. School and all that fun stuff. God Bless.
Gingerbread House
Today was spent doing a very fun project. Our gingerbread house. Last year the girls and I made our first gingerbread house. We decided it needed to be a tradition at our house. So much fun. Here’s a picture of our gingerbread house. Not competition material but great for our house. This will be our centerpiece until Christmas. When I do things like this with my girls, I can’t help but be thankful for our lives together. The laughter, the Christmas music, a warm fire. I am a very blessed woman and I thank God for his blessings. George had some work to do today so we didn’t get to go to Jessica’s this weekend. The girls and I are doing girl stuff today, the gingerbread house, some Russian Tea Cakes and maybe some peanut butter roll candy. Temperatures were cold again last night. 7 degrees when we got up this morning. Not much wind though so it doesn’t feel as bad as yesterday. The weather forecast says freezing rain for tonight and early Sunday morning. YUK! Hopefully it won’t happen so we can go to church. Oh well, I guess we’ll see what tomorrow morning brings. Well time to make some more memories (Russian Tea Cakes). God Bless.
Fire
For those of you who do not have the comfort of a wood fire to enjoy, I thought I would share ours. One of the girls(I’m not sure which one) took this picture. I thought it looked so warm and cozy. Today I cooked chicken and dumplings over that wood fire in my cast iron kettle. YUM! Very cold temperatures this morning made us really appreciate that wood fire. The temperature was around 8 degrees with a below zero wind chill. COLD!!! Today it warmed up to the mid 20’s and the wind has laid down some but it is still very cold. Oh well, I quess it’s that time of year. Today was bible study day here at my home. One of the ladies brought some wild rice soup to share with everyone. Thanks, Barbara. We have about 2 weeks left on our Peter study and then in January we plan to start Beth Moore’s Esther study. We will be taking a 2 week Christmas break. Well I guess I better get some work done. I am working on a quilt. I will try to post a picture when it is finished. God Bless.














