Miscellaneous Hodpodge!

We have been so busy this year I have not taken time to write here. This post will be some of the highlights!

Travel:  We wanted to go out of state each month for a trip, and so far we are meeting that goal!

January - San Diego, CA for the American Farm Bureau Annual Convention
February - Outer Banks, NC because we had never been there and did not want crowds of summer
March - Nashville, TN to see sister Carol and Earl, Mia, Tom and Diane were there as well
April - Gifford Pinchot State Park, PA when we went camping with all the kids and Joe and Diane
May - Fenton, MO to visit Mom and Dad and family. We were there for their 65th wedding anniversary and Mother's Day this year.
June - Edgewater, NJ and Manhattan, NY to see Earl and Mia and my college roommate Gail
July - Gettysburg, PA for the Vintage Base Ball Festival with Joel, Katie, Becky, Joe and Diane
August - ??

Last week's baseball game was the Brandywine Base Ball club of West Chester, PA. These teams play by 1864 rules, including equipment, (no gloves, different bats, etc.), uniforms, game rules, umpires (called an arbiter), etc.  Injuries to the hands are common!

Happy New Year! or Happy 2015 anyway!

It looks like time really ended for me back in August! I am not even going to try and go over the last 4 months! The things that I do  remember include the following.

In September I had arthroscopic knee surgery.  As soon as I recovered from that it was time for the Sprick Sibling reunion and we headed to Nashville, Tennessee. From there we were in St. Louis to visit my parents for a very short trip.

November brought home remodeling - we replaced all the carpet on the upper floor, which meant three bedrooms, the hallway, and the main steps. After preparing for the promised installation day, we learned that a guaranteed 72 hour installation is not guaranteed!! The carpet had to be ordered (not told to us at the store, and not mentioned on the label on the carpet sample which said "72 hour installation guaranteed"!

Then came December and all the holiday activities. In January we went to San Diego for the American Farm Bureau's annual convention.

Here are just a few photo highlights of the end of 2014.

This was one of our activities with the Sprick siblings.









During the carpet removal, we had all items out of the bedrooms upstairs - they wound up downstairs or in the bathrooms - where ever I could put stuff!!

Our December fun included taking our grandchildren on a tour of the Christmas lights in our area. We always like to see these tractors lit up, with the first one taking the role of Rudolph!
Then we were able to go to the Tuba Christmas concert at the shopping mall. Last year it was cancelled due to bad weather. It was really a great experience, made more enjoyable since we shared it with friends who are musical! He is a past high school band director and taught us about the tuba instrument family.

Lenten Photo Challenge Day 37, 38, 39, 40 -What happened?

I feel like I need to explain the past week for anyone who was following my Lenten Photo Challenge - I did not make it to the end.
**Wednesday, Day 37, I was preparing for my first cataract surgery the next day. Praise God that physicians have the knowledge to do operations like this. I am looking forward to greatly improved eyesight in the coming days.
**Thursday, Day 38, I had the surgery and found that it was best for me to take it easy and not try to use my eye too much. No Maunday Thursday service this year. We did remember that special meal that Jesus shared with his disciples and were glad to celebrate it on Easter morning at church.
**Friday, Day 39, I had a checkup with the doctor and my reading vision was not as he expected it to be. I will wait for time and continued healing. Distance was excellent though. I did make it to the Good Friday Tennebrae service at church that night.
**Saturday, Day 40, we went to see all our kids and grandchildren at the Cardinals/Nationals baseball game in Washington, DC. It was so good to see everyone having a good time and the Cardinals won!

I think the Bible verse I had chosen for Day 40 may tie up these final thoughts and is for the word relent:
  "For their sake he remembered his covenant, and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love."  Psalm 106:45

How comforting it is that even though I was not able to complete the challenge I tried this Lenten season, God relents and forgives us. How comforting is the abundance of his steadfast love, which never wavers or forgets us.

Lenten Photo Challenge Day 36 - Crowd

Crowds can be exciting or overwhelming. Five years ago we had a family reunion with about 85 immediate family members present. These are the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren (with spouses and fiancees) of Emil and Helen Sprick. It was an amazing time, visiting with some family that we had never met!

 Do you believe in "mob mentality"? Sometimes people in a group or crowd find themselves doing things that they would never consider doing when alone. This kind of group would not give the same happy feelings shown in the photo above.

Crowds gathered around Jesus throughout his ministry: Matthew 14:19-21, with the feeding of the five thousand; Matthew 15:30-31, when he healed the lame, blind, crippled, and mute; Matthew 21:9-11, when he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. These groups saw his power and love for people.  However, the same people may have been in the crowds described in Matthew 27:17-23, when Pilate asked "Then what shall I do with Jesus who is alled Christ?"

I also have found myself caught up in crowd mentality - when a group makes plans for a Sunday morning outing, when friends want to see a movie that I personally would never go see on my own. It is a constant struggle to stay in God's word and do his will. May each day grant me the strength to what God has planned.

Ephesians 3:14-19 - "for this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may granat you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith -- that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

God gives hugs!

Wow, what a month. I did not get to post because we had several things planned, but then several unexpected things happened.

My husband, Wayne, put our feelings down for a different post and I am just going to use his words here. It is simply a way to show that God is always with us, especially when we think our plans have been interrupted.

Seventeen days on the road and we made it home last night….. (October 3)
Irene and I just returned from a very purposeful, safe trip visiting and staying with family and friends. The hospitality was great but man it was good to wake up in OUR bed and use OUR shower again this morning!!
When we left we were planning to celebrate Irene’s mother’s birthday with her, honor a former high school teacher of mine, visit my brother Lloyd and Judy – we had not been to their home for 25+ years and to connect with many other friends and family we had not seen for a long time. We were able to do all that and more. As it turned out we delayed the start of our return so we could see more people.
After delaying our return we learned that Bill, my sister Carol’s husband, was very sick, (thinking gall stones) and in the hospital. It became obvious that his condition was much worse than gall stones and we decided to return by way of their home in Clarksville, TN. When we arrived at the hospital on Thursday we learned that his condition was advanced small cell carcinoma and he was not expected to be with us very long. I visited with the hospital pathologist and was told that he was not expected to make it through the night. He died early that evening. We are very glad that we were able to be there with Carol at Bill’s death and be part of her support team. Though we do and will continue to miss him we know that Bill is with his Lord and Savior. We feel it was the hand of the Lord guiding us to see more people in Missouri forcing us to extend our trip so that we were available to return by way of Carol’s home.
While in Clarksville we were also able to spend time with Carol’s family and see Bill and Brad, her sons, and grandnieces and nephews whom we had never met. For the service on Tuesday two brothers and spouses, Don and Marvin arrived from Missouri. Diane and husband were able to change vacation plans to be with Carol as well. They will actually be gone from home and travel further than we did.
Carol appears to be doing well but keep her in your thoughts and prayers. Irene and I are most thankful that we were able to be part of her support group at a needy time.
Seventeen days, 5000 miles can have a cost – Being there when needed is PRICELESS!

Time is flying...

Well, since we went to the Sprick sibling reunion time has been moving very quickly. I do not have to make any plans to keep busy! There were 14 of us Spricks at Meramec State Park in Missouri for four days. We had cold, then hot, then rainy weather, but it did not slow us down. Talking, playing bocce ball, Farkle, talking, Catch Phrase, visiting Meramec Caverns and talking kept everyone busy. We also had a night of "home movies" where we watched a slide presentation of photos from the past. Everyone enjoyed seeing their personal "back to the future".

My May quilting UFO has taken a back seat this month - it is a small wall hanging that just needs to be quilted, but I have not started it yet. We did not get home from our travels until May 7, went to a 4-H/FFA livestock show and sale on May 8, and then got to take care of three of our favorite kids while their parents were in New Orleans for 4 days! By then it was May 13 and I still had not begun work on the May project. Fast forward a week and we were able to have other family friends live with us for a week while they were between homes - their house sold a week before they were able to get into the new house!

Maybe I can get some quilting done after Memorial Day!