Companionship, Coffee, and Comfort

I must make a confession here; before starting to write this post, I decided to catch up on some other blogs. So now, I'm really not feeling very spiritual or Christ-centered, after reading the recent posts from my friend at Life and Godliness.

However, to try to redeem myself, I must tell you that the last couple of weeks I've been working on my annual Christmas letter/poem, and it always reminds me of the many blessings I've enjoyed, and especially how thankful I am for my family and good friends. I've also been concerned about the spiritual needs of my adopted daughter and her children. I was talking to her the other day, and I said, "I really want R.J. and Nyla to grasp the real meaning of Christmas". Nichole said, "Oh, they know! I asked R.J. the other day if he knew when Christmas was and he said, yes, it is in December on 2-5 (he said the numbers one at a time). Then I asked him if he knew what Christmas was. Immediately he said it is Jesus's birth." So Nichole said, I was glad that he thought about Jesus first, not Santa Claus or presents.

Now, back to my original theme for this post. Ever since last year, I have been wanting a Keurig coffee maker. I just felt it was probably an extravagance, and I didn't really need it. A couple weeks ago Nichole, who was working at Kohl's, said that she had been checking out Keurig coffee makers all day and bagging them up, because they were on sale. Well, of course by the time she told me they were no longer on sale. BUT, she said they would be on sale again the day after Thanksgiving.

Well, I have made it my policy for many years now, not to go shopping on Black Friday. But I told Lynn that the coffee makers were going to be on sale. So my best friend and companion for life, my hubby, said, why don't you get one and let it be my Christmas present to you. So at 8:00 am on Black Friday, I made my way to Kohl's. The crowds really weren't very bad by that time, as most people had gone shopping at midnight and were going home to bed. AND, they still had coffee makers left--and I had a coupon for an additional 15% off!!

I brought it home, and it was still in the box. So a couple days later, Lynn said, "when are you going to open your coffee maker?" I said that I thought it was for Christmas. He said, I don't want you to wait, you need to enjoy it now.

I just want to say, I am so very much enjoying my Keurig. I can sit in my comfy chair, read, and have a cup of coffee, tea or hot chocolate, all of which are ready in just one minute. It seems to please my loving companion to see me thoroughly enjoying his gift. Last night he had been working hard, and came in for a break, and I was able to make him a hot cup of tea in just one minute! What can I say--Life is good!

Finally--A Real Home!

Almost 3 years ago now, I started writing to a young woman, Nichole, who was in prison. Those of you who have followed my blog have seen posts about her from time to time. I got in contact with her grandma, Colleen, and we became good friends. I also was in contact with her 2 kids, R.J. and Nyla. Over those years, I not only wrote, but I started going to visit her about every 2-3 months. After I got to know her grandma she would go with me to see her. In the last several months before her release, I began to think of her as my "adopted daughter" and she started calling me her "adopted mom". (Her own mother has chosen to have no contact with her for over 5 years.)

Nichole was released in August, and had been staying at a sort of "half-way house" the last couple months. However, she now has a job, and as of November 7th she is now in her own apartment. She is so excited, and it's so good to see her finally getting established in her own place.

The picture above is of her living/dining area. When I first saw the empty apartment, I thought it wasn't going to be very big! But this room is actually nice size, and has good lighting, and holds all the furniture that she needs. The beautiful dining table was given to her by a friend of mine. The dining chairs (which go with the table beautifully!), along with some lamps were given to her by my sister. Four other small tables, including the bedside table by her bed were donated.

This just shows one corner of her living area with the lamp and table. That closet that you see has some wonderful shelving, so she's been able to set up a pantry in there.

Behind this partition you can see her kitchen; it is very small, but will be adequate for her. She has a stove and frig, and does have a microwave also.

I couldn't really get a good pic of the bedroom. On the wall at the foot of her bed is a really large closet with shelves. The door to the room is on the left hand side and then to the right of the door is a little alcove where she has a dresser.

She has custody of her 2 children, but they are not with her full time right now. She has them on her days off from work. But she will need to figure out child care, etc and sort of get on her feet. They are with their father the rest of the time, which is where they had been prior to her release. (I went to her place yesterday; the kids were there and Nyla was sleeping, but R.J. was so excited! He said "Grandma Donna, we have a new house!)

I could not be more proud of her, and excited for her. I don't think any of us (unless we've been there) can understand what a big adjustment it is to get used to living on the "outside" after having been in prison for so long. She has done extremely well. She goes to church with us when she's not working, and she spends a lot of time with her grandma.

It has been a blessing for me to see her progress, both in getting established with a job and a place to live, as well as seeing her growth spiritually. She has a bubbly, out-going personality, and has endeared herself to almost everyone she's met. I'm happy to be able to call her my "daughter".

Of Dolphins and Discovery

While at Hilton Head, we decided to take a boat tour to see dolphins. They guaranteed that we would definitely see dolphins. It was a cool morning, and we enjoyed sitting in this restaurant area while we waited for our boat "captain".

We boarded the "Gypsy" and it was almost an exclusive tour, except for one other family with 3 kids. They were a very nice family and we enjoyed visiting with them during the boat ride.

Look! There are 2 dolphins right out there! (Don't try enlarging the picture, because it was almost impossible to catch them on film.) We did see several, but they came up only briefly and right back under the water. Still it was very enjoyable.

On Friday, our last full day there, we went to see the Discovery Museum. It wasn't exactly what you would think of as a museum. We got there just in time to take the guided tour. It was actually more like a botanical garden atmosphere. The real purpose of the tour was to explain the importance of the marsh lands, and the various kinds of fish, etc that live in them.

They had this cage under the water and our guide pulled it up to show us these blue crabs. I made certain I wasn't within reach of their claws.

We also saw some beautiful trees, most of them were live oaks, and they had this beautiful spanish moss. We also learned about spanish moss, that it is neither spanish nor moss. It is also not a fungus. It is called an epiphyte plant, which is a plant that lives on another host plant or tree, but doesn't depend on the host plant for it nutrients. It is seen mostly on the live oak trees in the southern states. ( the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida).

The above picture shows some of the marsh grasses. I also happened to get a pic of this white herron. The guide was very informative and we learned a lot.

They had a lot of different and unique plants all along the pathways. However, I took the above picture to show my friend Rebecca, so that she can possibly avoid it in the future! (LoL).

These were just a couple examples of the many plants that were there. I've always said that everyne should learn at least one new thing every day; I definitely learned some new things at this very interesting museum.

Scenes from Savannah

While we were at Hilton Head, we spent a day in Savannah. We took an on/off trolley tour, so we could get on or off at any of the stops. It was even more interesting to me, because I had started reading the book Savannah, by Eugenia Price and the book talks about how the city was originally laid out in squares, and mentions all of the streets we were on in the historical district.


There is a movie called Something to Talk about with Julia Roberts. One of the scenes from the movie is at this Six Pence Pub. (We rented the movie while we were at HH, but we were not impressed! We actually didn't even finish watching the movie).

Above is the Savannah College of Art and Design. There are many buildings throughout the city that are a part of the college. I can't remember how many student are there, but it's huge! Our nephew, Micah, is there, but of course we had no idea how to find him or contact him.

At one of the stops on the trolley we had a visit from Forest Gump. He was suppose to meet someone, so he had to "run". He would have shared his chocolates, but alas, he'd eaten all of them.

The Pirate's house has been there since the late 1800's and there is now a restaurant in it. I believe the other house is the Foley house. Most of them are named for their owners and most in the historical district were built in the late 1800's.

The fountain above is in one of the "squares" (most of them now are beautiful parks). This particular location is used a lot for weddings because of the "ambiance". The house above is called the Owen Thomas House. I would have liked to tour this one and a couple others. (Also there was at least one beautiful church that is open to the public, but they were having a service there when we were at that location.)

This Scottish Pub is where we had lunch, right in the historical district. The food was delicious--it was hard to choose what to have. These 4 lovely ladies are waiting to get back on the trolley after lunch.

Our last stop was at the river front. This bridge is
very impressive. (I can't figure out why I was frowning on so many pictures!)

The trolley on the river front stopped right in front of this store. We just had to have a picture here, as we do (did) have an Aunt Fannie.

The other picture below shows the row of shops along the river. We found some wonderful shops, including a candy shop where we could watch them making salt water taffy.

This was a very interesting story. Apparently, from the time she was a young girl, this lady would welcome the ships as they came in and wave to them as they left. It is said that she did this for 30 years,and never missed welcoming or waving to any of the ships. (I'm not sure it was exactly 30 years, but it was a long time!).

Apparently it is not going to let me type under these 2 pictures, so I will take that as a sign that I am to end this Savannah Saga. It really was very interesting, and we had a great day!

(When I previewed this, I see that it once again decided on it's own order and arrangement. Maybe I should have lived in the 1800's and worn beautiful dresses, and not had to deal with all this technology!)

Fun and Sun in South Carolina

(Disclaimer: This totally got messed up as to order and placement, but I just couldn't spend any more time trying to fix it. I think I kept making it worse!)

I can't believe it's been a week since my two sisters, my sister-i-law, and I spent a week at beautiful Hilton Head Island. The weather was perfect (mid to high 70's).

As you can see, with 4 of us, the car was packed. We somehow managed to take everything we needed.

There's no way to actually show in pictures or describe how beautiful the scenery was, driving through Kentucky, Tenessee, and South Carolina! We had mostly sunny days for driving and we totally enjoyed all the beauty.

We were blessed to have the use of a beautiful condo in Palmetto Dunes. It had 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, a spacious living room, kitchen dining area and a patio overlooking a pond.

We were only about a 5-10 minute walk from the beach. The ocean was beautiful! My SIL, Sheila, especially enjoyed the beach, the sound of the waves etc. All of us took some walks on the beach, and were able to find a few sand dollars to bring home.

Brenda, Sheila and I went out to observe the sunrise one morning. It was cloudy at first, and we thought it wouldn't really be exceptional, but we were wrong. (I really should have included a couple more pics of the sunrise--it was hard to choose just a couple.)

We also enjoyed the use of the pool, which was also just a few minutes walk from the condo. Even though it is an outside pool, it is heated, so with the sunshine, and warmth it was restful and relaxing.

.

We watched a couple movies while we were there; also the world series and dancing with the stars. ( I know I shouldn't get hooked on that program, but I am--what can I say.) They enjoyed it with me.

I felt like a princess, with the spacious master bedroom all to
myself. A queen-size bed, a TV, a door going out to the patio. It was great! During the week, we often said we were enjoying paradise. It almost seemed that way, with the beautiful palm trees everywhere, and a great place to stay.

Besides the pool and the beach, we also took some day trips, but I think I will need to save that for another post. I was overwhelmed when I saw all the pics I had taken! We spent a day in Savannah, took a boat trip, and went to a Discovery Museum. But, that will be another day!

Psalm 8:3-4 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him?

Psalm 19:1 The Heavens declare the glory of God; th skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Psalm 118:24 This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!

The Four "F"s--A Great Combo!

FRIENDS (AND FOOD!)

Last Friday night we had a lovely outing with our friends, Gary and Rebecca. It had rained during the afternoon, but cleared up and it turned out to be a really beautiful evening. We headed for the BIG metropolis of Zulu, Indiana.

Now, pretty much all that Zulu really has is "Billy's", a Mexican restaurant. I was very amused at the sign in the restaurant (above) because I was thinking that Billy's was the entire downtown Zulu!

I forgot to take pictures until after our food was gone--hence, no photos of our flauta's and burrito and Combo plate. It was all very good, except my hubby thought the combo plate was a little extra spicy.

On our way home, we stopped at Janelle's place (Lynn's daughter), and visited her pony, Star. You may remember a post about the birthday party we had for Star some time ago. Don't Gary and Rebecca look right at home on the farm?

FAMILY (AND FOOD!)

For many years now (maybe 14 or 15?) the girl cousins on my dad's side have gotten together for a reunion in the summer. This year we went to Archbold, Ohio to the Heritage Inn. We all grew up in Archbold and/or the surrounding communities.

There are actually 12 girl 1st cousins, and we also now include the girl cousins-in-law. We have not been including the male 1st cousins (we did have 4 but two have passed away); but this year we decided to include the remaining 2 male cousins. So there would be a total of 17. But as you can see only one of the male cousins was able to come and enjoy the festivities. My brother and his wife were unable to come, and 2 of the girl cousins were unable to come, so this was our group of 13.

FOOD is a big part of what we do when we get together. Tuesday evening we enjoyed a great meal at Stella Blue, a restaurant in downtown Archbold.

On Wednesday we took a drive to the little town of Grand Rapids, Ohio, which is right on the Maumee River. We ate at a delightful restaurant there, LaRoe's. Most of us had a sandwich and soup lunch, with 4 different kinds of soup--all of them delicious.

I put this next picture here for 2 reasons; it goes with the "Food" category; and also you may see a trend in my picture taking. I seem to be getting the best side of everyone in these pics!

We stopped on the way home from Grand Rapids in Ridgeville for an ice cream cone.

Most of us are farm girls and used to the country smells; but as we were sitting there attempting to enjoy our ice cream there was suddenly a very strong, fragrant odor from the very common fertilizer used in the country! Sadly, we had to go to our cars to finish our cones!

Later on Wednesday evening, we had a wonderful birthday dinner, in which we celebrated ALL of our birthdays. (It was the actual birthday of my cousin Carol--so we had celebrated with her all day, including a free dessert at LaRue's. I failed to get a picture of the feast we had, which was prepared by a few of the cousins that still live in Archbold. But my sister, Brenda took this photo of the two wonderful dishes prepared by the real birthday cousin, Carol.


And these were our cupcakes, which besides being very nicely decorated, were also displayed in the shape of a "G" for Gisel.

FUN, FUN, FUN! It would be hard to describe the dynamics of our group, but whenever we get together, we absolutely have so much fun. We end up laughing until we cry--which is actually very healthy for us, as it increases our store of endorphins.

One of the fun things we did, was to take a Canal Boat ride while we were in Grand Rapids. Our guide on the boat did a great job of explaining all the history. But basically these boats ran up and down this river during the late 1800's and early 1900's. They were pulled by mules who walked along the edge of the river and were attached to the boat by a rope. In it's prime this canal route had several locks to go through, but we actually went through the only lock that is still functional at this time. It was a great history lesson and a fun ride.

(May I just say that once again, I have captured the better side of some of our group in this picture!) What was I thinking? I could have at least asked them to turn around for the photo!

AHA! Finally, a picture with all of us facing the right direction! This was taken just before our canal ride, and one of our guides graciously agreed to take the picture for us.

This girl is a student and does this as a summer job. She did a great job of not only giving us a thorough history of the canal boats, etc, but also helped with the working of the boat at times. What a hot, summer job, but she seemed very enthusiastic.

I couldn't get a good picture of the mules while they wer pulling the boat. This is Molly and Mabel (actually, I'm sure it's not Mabel, but I forgot the name of the second one!

This is one of the gals who helped with the boat. The had to unhook the mules from the boat when they went through the locks, and she was helping to steer with the rope. She's actually walking on the wall along the lock, and they often walked on top of the boat to maneuver it at different times.

This just shows them opening the gates to the lock in order for us to go through.

Before we left that area, we stopped to see the Providence Dam. I'm always impressed with the amount of force and power the water has going over the dam.

Now that I've written a book, I will bore you no further. I just wanted to share some of the fun activities I've had recently involving, Friends, Family, Food, and Fun!