March 5

On this day, 6 years ago, we moved into our present home. The young couples in the Bible study group we led at the time purchased this plaque for our front door.

When we had our home built, our basement was unfinished. We decided to save money by doing it ourselves. In between Al's job, our church ministries, and having kids move in with us for some time, the basement remodel has taken time. We are almost done. We can see the end in the horizon.

Today we finished up the fireplace.

We thought that it turned out pretty good - at least for a couple amateurs! I love the tree that Mindy bought for us for Christmas! Thank you, Mindy!!!

Then Al added shelves to the little cove. I got out some of my boxes in storage that had my Japanese nick-nacks. It was like Christmas to see all the precious things I have from Japan!! Haven't seen them for 6 years! I put a few of them out.



March 5 is also Tami's birthday - Happy Birthday friend!

It is also Cora Paige's birthday. She would have been three today. Her family celebrated for her. Read her story here.

Along with the joys are the sorrows of this day. March 5 for us was a day to move to our new home, but it is also a day when others went home to Jesus. Today a few years ago, my friend's 15-year-old son was killed in a motorcycle accident.

So March 5 is a day to celebrate, but a day to mourn also. I remember when my mother-in-law passed away. We were so sad and I just couldn't believe how people could just go about their normal lives when we were just grieving. It seemed like everyone should grieve with us.

Recently, I read a book called "Heaven is For Real" by Todd Burpo. A wonderful story about a 3-year-old who went to heaven and it tells about the things he saw. Reading this made my heart yearn for the joys of heaven!

One of my favorite stories is "Safely Home" by Randy Alcorn. This artwork by Ron DiCianni was the inspiration behind that story. It is about persecution of believers in China. In the story, he gives you glimpses of what heaven might be like. Again my thoughts turn to being "home". What anticipation!


Tonight at our church community life supper, we sang this song - "He Giveth More Grace".

He giveth more grace when the burden grows greater;
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase.
To added affliction He addeth His mercy;
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.

His love has no limit;
His grace has no measure;
His pow'r has no boundary known unto men.
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus, He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again!

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
verse 17, 18 "And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words."

Projects

This past week the weather was just so very nice! So the girls and I worked outside; picking up dead leaves, doing some sweeping, cutting back some dead branches and such.

Then time for some fun - like sidewalk chalk

and swinging!

Today was a more chilly day. Al had the day off and we had several honey-do things on the list. First he went to help Adam plant a tree. Stonecreek had trees on sale for $26! So they bought a flowering crab to replace the poor corkscrew willow that didn't make it. While he was doing that, I began to stain the door to the baby room (which will one day be the exercize room once all the grandkids outgrow the crib).

Do you like my pants? Several years old. I used to wear them when my friend and I had a wallpaper business. So much wallpaper paste on them, the stiffness can't be washed out. I use my pants as a rag. Quite handy.

When Al got back from Jill and Adam's, the next "to-do" thing was to clean out the nest some sparrows had made in our entryway light.

Mommy and Daddy sparrow looked on and were not at all happy.

We placed a "snake" in the light to keep them away.

I love birds, but Al has a love-hate relationship with them. He enjoys watching them, like I do, but they sure can be a mess. Last spring they set up camp in the basement fireplace flue. So Al had to take it all apart to clean it out, then put a screen around it to keep them out.

After a lunch of soup to warm up our cold bones from being outdoors, and a nice nap (a must for those of us hitting our senior years) we got onto the next project - the stone on the downstairs fireplace.

The girls popped in to see what we were doing.

We ran out of time and the project will continue tomorrow. I wonder what else I can put on my "honey-do" list to keep Al busy??

Spring decorations

This morning I was reading in Psalm 50. Verse 14 says "Sacrifice thank offerings to God." Next I read out of "Today in the Word" it was from Hebrews 13. And guess what verse 15 says? "Through Jesus therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that confess His Name." I also read out of Streams in the Dessert and what is the verse for today?? Hebrews 13:15! So 3 times today, the Word reminding me to offer to God an offering of praise.



Sophia was over this morning. She LOVES to sing so we sang several times throughout the morning:

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Praise Him all creatures here below.
Praise Him above, ye heav'nly host.
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen

(and yes, she sings "Amen" too!)

Can you guess what we did this morning? Hint: Look at her mouth!



Sophia loves chocolate! And we made Waffle Iron Brownies!

Different from the usual brownie, these are baked on a waffle iron instead of in the oven.

Here is the recipe:

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs, well beaten

1 tablespoon water

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup chopped walnuts

confectioner's sugar

Preheat waffle iron to medium setting. I spray mine with Pam.

Melt butter in a saucepan. Remove from heat. Blend cocoa into butter with a wooden spoon. Stir in sugar, eggs and water. Add flour and salt; beat well. Add nuts.

Bake in waffle iron like you would waffles. It will bake in 1-2 minutes. Watch it so it won't burn.

I have a Belgian waffle maker so it took longer than what the recipe calls for. Use the tip of a wooden skewer or other sharp object to remove brownies. Let cool on rack and then sprinkle with confectioner's sugar.

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After we made these waffle brownies, I told Sophia that it was time to take down all the snowmen and Valentine decorations. After all, tomorrow is March! We had our first hail storm yesterday and there were tornadoes south of Wichita. Yup, it is Spring!

So we boxed away all those snow things and Sophia helped me place the Easter and Spring decorations around the house.

We even got out the Resurrection eggs that tell the Easter story. Each egg is numbered and you open them.

Example:

#1 - there is a flower. "In the beginning, when God created the world, it was just beautiful! It was perfect!

Each egg has something to represent the Easter story - like a cracker to represent the last supper. (Sophia opened this egg and said "A cwackoo!" and almost popped it in her mouth! That little oyster cracker is probably 3 years old so I quickly stopped her from eating it!)

The very last egg is empty to represent the empty tomb. It was fun to tell Sophie the story and I'm sure we will do this multiple times before Easter actually arrives. And I am sure the girls will want to hide those eggs too and try finding them.

I am so ready for flowers and warm weather!

* * * * * * *

Yesterday during the storm, I saw these 3 geese out in the field by the house, just not caring at all that it was pouring rain and also hailing some too. We had mostly pea size hail but a few were quarter size too. One of the geese flicked his head like he'd been bonked on the head by some hail. I would have gone for cover!

Take a look at that first goose. I cropped the picture to get a better look. It is rather blurry from the rain, but look at its' face. Not the usual Canada goose face. It actually has the face of a Barnacle goose, but the body is more Canada goose. Barnacle geese live in the East and mostly upper Canada and in Greenland and arctic Europe. Do you suppose it could be a cross-breed of a Canada goose and Barnacle goose? Or just a mutated Canada goose?

Then today in our back yard I saw this hawk.

Praise God from whom all blessing flow,

Praise Him all creatures here below...

Adventures in Kansas, February; Part 3

Our short trip to Lawrence ended and it was time to go back home.

We took Highway 59 south out of Lawrence. Back in college days, when we used to go back to Lawrence after visiting family in Pretty Prairie, we would drive up 59 from Ottawa. We remembered it as a windy 2-lane with that spectacular view of "the hill" going into town. Now this road is in process of becoming a 4-lane highway between Ottawa and Lawrence.

As we got into Ottawa, we took another "off" road instead of the faster 4-lane highway to Emporia. We are aventuring, afterall! So we took a road we had not ever traveled on before. Highway 268 west. We would pick up highway 56 at Osage City.

There were signs saying this was also considered the Old Santa Fe Trail road. Not necessarily a road for those who get car sick. Hilly, twisty.

Very unusual names of roads along the way these 2 days of travel; Mormon Road, Jack Rabbit, North Pole Road, Chicken Creek, Gray Wolf, Robbers Roost. It was fun to wonder how they came up with those names.


Al kept commenting on animal tracks in the fields.

We may have encountered Indians.

We intersected Council Grove once again, but coming from the east this time, rather than from the south.

We kept going west on 56. Never been this way before.

We had to go to Hope. Two of the girs in our young married's group have connections here. Laura J. grew up here and her mom still does.

And Heather O. teaches at this school in Hope.

When we got to Highway 15, the rest of the way home was on road we had traveled before. Kansas is just beautiful!

As I was thinking about this road trip, it reminded me that we are traveling another kind of road. Our journey with Christ. Sometimes the journey can seem long. Sometimes it is breathtaking! There are uphills and downhills. Sometimes we can get lost along the way. Often we need Hope. The car needs refueling, just like we also need to be fueled up spiritually. It is good to have a map and we have that - the Bible that will guide and direct us in the way we should go. It is good to learn from others who have gone before us, like those pioneers. We can read about those faithful ones (and unfaithful ones) in the Word, but we can also read or learn from missionaries and other believers who can be such an encouragement to us. And just like those pioneers who would stop at the Last Chance store, there is a time for all of us to make the decision that will have an eternal impact. "For it is appointed to men to die once, and after this the judgment." Are we prepared for the journey?

Kansas Adventures, February; Part 2

So, this was our destination.
Rock Chalk, Jayhawk, Go KU!
Taking the scenic side tour on the Sante Fe trail made the usual 2 1/2 hour drive to Lawrence, where Al went to pharmacy school, 4 1/2 hours! But what fun it was!
(In the olden days, it would have taken 3 days or more probably!)

When we got to Lawrence, we had to see our old stomping grounds....

our first home as young marrieds in 1975 - Stouffer Place, the married student housing.



The roof used to be flat but they added dormers and a pitched roofline.

Get a load of our plastic orange sofa!! Some apartments had green ones.

We had lots of snow in '76. (see the flat roof?)

Next, we took a look-see at the townhouse (Pinetree Townhouses) where we lived when we had Josh. Elaine Schmidt from church had this apartment before we moved there. Sam was a baby here too.


We checked into our hotel - The Oread. We had read about it in the "Kansas!" magazine that my Aunt Millie got for us (we are getting our travel ideas from this wonderful quarterly magazine!)

My mom wanted to know why it was called "The Oread". So, here is a little research, mom.

"Mount Oread sits on the water divide between the Kansas and Wakarusa rivers. It was named after the Oread Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts. The hill was originally called "Hogback Ridge" by many Lawrence residents until the Oread name was officially adopted in 1866.

For emigrants going westward by wagon train on the Oregon Trail, "The Hill", as Mount Oread is now commonly referred to by residents of Lawrence, was the next big topographical challenge after crossing the Wakarusa River near today's Haskell Indian Nations University.

According to the United States Geological Survey, Mount Oread is located approximately 1,037 feet (316 m) above sea level. By way of comparison, downtown Lawrence is about 846 feet (258 m) above sea level. Mount Oread is perhaps best known for being the staging area of William Quantrill's raid into Lawrence on August 21, 1863, during the American Civil War. Presently, the campus of the University of Kansas rests on Mount Oread."

This was the view of campus from our room at The Oread. The hotel is situated at the edge of campus in the Hancock Historic District (named after the American patriot John Hancock).

The football stadium is behind these houses.

Nice shower!

We read on-line that there weren't any coffee pots in the rooms. What??!! Most hotels have coffee makers in the rooms. Oh well, we ended up taking our Tassimo coffee maker with us and drank Starbucks coffee which is way better than hotel room coffee. They did have a coffee bar downstairs but who wants to have to get dressed and go downstairs to the lobby to get a cup of coffee in the morning??

I loved this chair in the room!

The one bad thing about the hotel was that we stayed there the night before a game so there were a lot of drunks out between 1:30 and 3:00 so we woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. There are noise machines in the room but we aren't used to those either. They are noisy!

We took a tour of campus that brought back lots of memories of the years we spent here.

I worked here - Strong Hall - for the chancellor of KU. That was pre-computer days. I worked on the mag card and it was really on edge technology of the day.

I LOVE downtown Lawrence! I wish Newton would adopt the way they do it, parking like this rather than parallel parking. I cannot do parallel parking! Their 4 lanes of traffic converge into 2 lanes at the downtown to make room for cars to park at an angle. And there is pedestrian walk-ways in the middle of the block. And access to parking lots in the back of the buildings at the middle of the block too.

The Bayleaf is still here after all these years! One of my favorite shops!

We went to the gallery on the 2nd floor of Signs of Life bookstore where Christy Veer has her photographs on display. We LOVED it Christy!!!

Allen even humored me by following me around one of my favorite antique stores!!

Of course you would find a Jayhawk there! By the way, in case you wonder, the cheer "Rock Chalk" is transposition of chalk rock, the name for limestone found on Mount Oread, site of the Lawrence campus.

What a fun trip back on memory lane!