April brought sickness, several visits, a birthday, storms and more

April brought in with it sickness for Kaia.  104 temps and missing out on the Eater egg hunt at school.



Jason took Tenley out to dinner and to play at a play place 

and at Home Depot. She was having the time of her life!

Kaia was sick for several days.  But it wasn't long and she was back to playing.  They are into tea parties these days, using Grandma Lois' Japanese tea set.

And they are in their princess phase.

A friend showed me a picture of their play times back in the 1940s.  This kind of play has a whole different context these days, doesn't it.  But back in our growing up years, playing good guys and bad guys was just the way it was.

Our daughter showed us what phase she is in.  Look what is hanging in her closet - a graduation gown and a wedding gown.  One daughter leaving high school and another anticipating a wedding soon!  

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I went to another funeral.  My third this year.  Gerald had planned his funeral and it was so very impactful.  He had picked out verses for each of his kids and written them on a rock.  The pastor gave the rocks to them.

They have 22 grandchildren and they sang.  One of the girls skipped back to her seat after.  So sweet!

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Easter Sunday we had a sunrise service and served at Presbyterian Manor in the evening for hymn sing.

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I went to a watercolour class offered by our Christian book store.  There were others from our church there also!

We each had our own way to do it.

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Our son-in-law celebrated his birthday.  Happy birthday, Jason!

Look at the steak he had when he and Mindy went out to celebrate!

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A bunny I named Petunia (we also have a Peter) decided she wanted to make a nest in my planter on the deck.  But it was pulling out the roots.

In this sweet book I read to the grandchildren, Bunny is looking for a home.  The tree where the robin lives is not for her.  The bog where the frog lives is not for her.  And the deck where the plant is, where Debby lives is not for her either!  We tried various methods to keep her off the deck but with no luck.

So we brought the plant inside until I found chicken wire to cut and lay above the dirt.  Petunia found another place, a hole under a bush outside.

A birdie is trying to make a nest in my front door wreath.

I am going to see if this snake will frighten it.

***

We drove down to Arkansas.  We met Josh and Staci at Kitakara in downtown Springdale.  The kids were at their Friday night show of The Music Man.  We would go see it the next day.

 

The Music Man production was such fun.  The kids do so well.

This was their Easter family picture.

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We didn't go to church Sunday morning as we had our sibling get-together back in Kansas.  We listened to the service on-line.

We hadn't been on West 400 in years.  Al still recalls when he was maybe in 7th grade when they were making this highway; he helped bale the hay to put over the newly planted grass to protect it.

Gayle surprised us by inviting a few of the cousins also!  What a great family time!

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My walking partner's dog ran away.  He was gone 2 weeks.  He came back and was not quite so frisky anymore.  It would be so neat to have had a camera attached so we could have watched his adventures!

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We went to see Arbour Season perform in our friend's back yard.  

"Arbour Season is a husband and wife, Indie/Folk duo who travel full time in their converted school."  Look them up!

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I had asked my friend Mary Ellen (whose house we'd gone to above) if she would be willing to give an end of year talk to my young mom's Bible study and she was excited to!  A great way to finish off our year.  Unfortnately, several were ill or had other appointments.  We have one more day at one of the girl's farm to visit and play with baby kitties.

We take turns teaching my "old women's" Bible study (one lady told me it is "experienced women".  Perhaps, but the truth is most of us are just plain old too).   I taught a lesson on Diving Deep.  The Bible is so rich and so deep that it is inexhaustable!  You can never reach the bottom!

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I enjoyed visiting my dear friend, Joyce. (The friend whose brother is in that shoot-em-up picture!)

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A storm rolled through.  We stepped out on the back deck.  I told Al that the clouds were rotating.  And descending.

When we went out front, this is what we saw.

Someone took this picture of it from the highway north of us.

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My brother invited us to come visit him and his wife in Kansas City.  I had morning classes with World Bible Seminar in Wichita in the morning so we left after lunch.  We had a lovely time with them!

We had steak filets, baked potatoes, salad and Linda also made a cherry pie!

After church, we ate the rest of the pie for lunch.  Ha!  Dave took us to an oriental store where we picked up some Japanese food.  

We were all on our phones, watching the weather.  We felt we better leave before the storm hit.  We had to drive south to try to avoid it.

We were going to go west at 54 but ran into this storm.  Storm chasers were parked by the side of the road.  Decided to head further south before heading north once more.

A lovely detour so that was good.

***

"Be not afraid, Jesus is watching you, through the dark night, He is protecting you."  This is a song I sing to the little girls.  I recently purchased them each a Bible.  A little boy in my Awana Cubbies class has it and I thought I'd order it for them too!

Closing with a picture of Kaia who is now all well!

In the next post I go visit them in Colorado!