when you get that phone call...but it's really okay!

 I heard Paul telling someone to call 911.  I was out on the deck, sitting in the sun, with a few of the kids.  Paul was in the house, we had the big door open to let in all that beautiful warm fresh air yesterday.  Then he came out with his keys and his wallet....Sonja hit a deer, he said.  She's okay.  He was going to pick her up.  So of course I called her right away, and yes, she was upset.  She hit that deer going 55-60 miles per hour, in Paul's truck, she was heading to work at the college.  She hit it hard, the airbag deployed, she was shocked and upset and didn't know what to do.  She said that deer came running out of nowhere, it probably got spooked as it was enjoying the first snow melt in weeks and weeks, that yummy grass finally exposed.  

So she it it hard, was very sore yesterday, but she's okay.  That's the important thing.  It's such a shocker to have an accident.  I called her boss for her and told her what happened, and that Sonja was probably too shaken up to go in. 

There was fluid leaking out, and sadly, it might be declared a total wreck.  We don't have gap insurance, but we do have regular collision insurance, which means we'll get what book value is.  We can NO WAY replace it for what they will give us, if it's totaled.  

Poor Paul.  Another kid, another car.  He took it well, but pray for him, that he continues to take it well.  It was a really nice truck with low mileage and 4 wheel drive, and it's almost paid off.  We do believe that all things work together for our good, and that God never gives us more than we can handle, and we do have to be tested in these beliefs, right?

I did notice that when Paul left yesterday to go get Sonja, he was very calm.  This is how he takes things, he really works with things, not because he is a patient person, but because he works on it!  My own father would have been ranting and raving, and we would have all been on edge, so when things happen, I naturally expect the yelling to start, but it doesn't happen with Paul, and I'm still very thankful for that!

I packed up my things for Florida last evening, and brought most of it over to Emily-Abigail-Mariel's house to shove into the one giant checked bag we are taking.  We are flying a cheap-0 airline, so we can only bring one personal item, like a backpack.  But hey, for a hundred bucks, it's not bad.  

Evelyn Joy is such a good daughter, a good sister...she reserved a hotel room for Friday night for her, and Sonja, Charlotte Claire, and Camille...she's 21, and has a car and a job, and thought she would do something fun with the girls.  She called a few places and made sure the hot tub and pool would be open, and chose something, they are very excited.  

Ah well...Paul is over at the collision place getting his belongings from the truck...it's rather sad.  But Sonja is okay, that is the important thing.

We're leaving for the airport in a few hours, I'm bringing my laptop so I'll be blogging, and I'll take lots and lots of pictures.  Some of you live in Florida, maybe I'll see you there!  I'll be with three gorgeous girls, my three oldest daughters, so if you see us, give us a wave!  

warmth to my very bones!

 Remember the Sunshine song?  Jon Denver...

"Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy

Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry

Sunshine on the water looks so lovely

Sunshine almost always makes me high.."

Well, we have had a snowy few months here in central NY state.  There were days and weeks where it didn't even melt in bouts of flurries.  We still have lots of snow in the yard.

But yesterday, we had sunshine peeking behind some clouds, melting the snow and...I was barefoot on the deck, no coat, sleeves rolled up (gotta tan up the pale white arms!), and it was...48 degrees.  When those rotten little clouds sailed between my sunshine and me, brrr!!!!  Then, aaaah, warmth again.  

Wulf and I were outside for three hours.  We walked around the yard a bit, but where the snow has melted it is very muddy.  We walked down the road a bit, and threw some stones into the creek.  Mostly though, we stayed on the deck.  He alternated driving the little four wheeler, the motorcycle, and the Cozy Coupe, aka the Rain Car.  (Emily named it the Rain Car when she was small, because it had a roof...)

In that last pic, he is delighting in putting his cold hands on my arm, and me shrieking.  He was picking up chunks of ice and throwing them through the railing, then warming his hands on me...:)

Today, Molly is coming over, so I have corned beef, tiny baby potatoes, some red potatoes, baby carrots in the crock pot, and cabbage will be added soon.  I want to make something nice for dessert, something low sugar, as she's eating healthy these days.  I do have to go to the store for a few things, important girly things we have run out of, and then some essentials like cheese sticks, and tortilla wraps.

I got up bright and early and touched up my roots.  What?!  Should I not tell?  I am just not old enough yet to go gray!  The grays come in all curly and springy and ugh...anyway, long story short, I used an opal color this time, it was only $2 on clearance at Walmart!  You can hardly tell, but it did cover a few grays.

I have to look my spiffiest best, so as not to embarrass my three oldest daughters, Miss Emily Anne, Miss Abigail Marie, and Miss Mariel Joy...tomorrow we are "sneaking off to Florida", as one of my blogger friends put it last time I went.  Or maybe that was the time before.  And I don't want to belittle her fear of travel, this blogger friend who commented a while back.  She is a NICU nurse, and has the best intentions for staying safe.  I know my daughters who are in medicine are very careful too, but now are also vaccinated.  

But we actually are going to Florida tomorrow, just a long weekend of sunshine, and I am very excited about it.  We're visiting Grandma, yay!  She has been all alone there, and Paul's brother died a few weeks ago, my heart breaks for Eleanor being down there and not able to travel up here, 91 years old.  I can't imagine losing a child, even if you're old and your child is all grown up and old too, so we're going to go see her and be with her for a bit.  We are also going to the coast, and there will be sand and salt water and sunshine...the forecast is looking good!

So in essence, all those years ago, having all those babies, with the comments and yes, some derision from some, as we sometimes were tempted to question our own sanity, but deep in my heart I knew it was right to accept those babies as gifts, directly from heaven, from a loving God who knew exactly what we needed...it was tiring and chaotic at times, but now these kids have grown into wonderful friends to me, blessings.  These kids of mine have grown up and  completely blessed me back, and I am truly thankful for them...

37 years! what?

 A Kindergarten Love Poem for My Dearest Paul...

37 years...

The joy - the tears!

And, the changing gears...

     From blissfully slow,

   to GO GO GO!

And back around to slow...slow...slow.

Through thick and thin (try not to grin!)

Sleepless nights

There were no fights...

God has done a work in you,

You're patient, kind, gentle true.

Our lives were a mess back in the day,

Busy, we had no time to play!

But never ever did you say,

  You had regret..

   That we had met.

You held me up, encouraged me

Blessed me when I didn't see

The things from which I wasn't free.

Responsible and kind and good,

There's no one else that ever could,

Put up with me and love me too,

Very glad, thankful for you.

As we age and rock gray hair,

You on the couch, me in my chair,

May our hearts be knit together more

As we live out our years, rich or poor.

Gaining wisdom and grandkids too,

Still ready all God's will to do!

He's blessed us far and wide and vast,

And these good years have flown right past!

I love you.

...Margaret is here with the kids, working from home from here...so it's not quiet and boring!  Paul is also working from home today, on our 37th anniversary.  He gave me a nice card and two dark chocolate bars, one with raspberry, mmmm.  So off I go, to write Wulf a ticket...he likes to ride around on the balance bike, going "speedy fast", and saying, "Grandma, I think I need a ticket..."

road trip on a cold sunny weekend...

 

Patty, Cathy, me, and my sister Cheryl in Connecticut.

We were at a beautiful airbnb, simply gorgeous...would you like to see some pics?

I should have taken more pics!  The bedrooms had four poster beds, and there is a second kitchen upstairs.  The living room has a warm gas fireplace, and sliders opening onto a back deck.  It was fantastic.  We had some friends over, afternoon coffee, evening wine, oh it was nice.

We saw friends we hadn't seen in months, and words cannot describe the joy.  

Paul had dinner all made when we got home, mmmm, taco salad.  It's always nice to get away, but even nice to get back home, especially when you're all fired up to put some good exhortations and encouragements to good use!  God is good!

One fun thing, we went to a local ice cream place...a place that makes ice cream from the milk from the cows they own, at their own dairy farm.  I know, it's not such a complicated concept, but hey, I grew up in the suburbs, where ice cream was just from the carton at the store.  This ice cream is made fresh right there, and the waffle cones are too.  I had one scoop of coconut almond, and one of pumpkin...the pumpkin was better.  It was amazing.  When you rarely eat stuff like that, and then you do, wowza.  mmm hmm, it was good.

Okay, good night then...I just wanted to check in and say hello.  I haven't had much sleep because for some reason I didn't sleep well for the three nights we were there...the bed was plenty comfy enough, I think I was just excited to be there, and couldn't fall to sleep...then when I did, in no time I was awake again, all ready for coffee and fun!  My brain was ready, that is.  Ah well, hopefully I'll sleep better tonight....goodnight!!!

we all need a little dose of....

 ...thankfulness!  In no particular order, here are some blessings:

1.  India, my friend's daughter who was found unresponsive in the water, with an 80 degree body temperature, has woken up, and is speaking!  This is nothing short of a miracle.  She still has a long way to go to strengthen up and heal, but wow, God is good!

2. Our home.  I complained recently about winter, that I'm tired of being cold.  Then I realized how much colder I could be.  We have heat, yeah, we keep it low, but we have blankets!  We have slippers!  It's NOTHING to complain about!

3. Spring is coming.  The snow WILL melt!  It's snowing right now, but, it's March!  Last year it DID snow in May, but we won't think about that.

4. I am going away to Connecticut for the weekend, leaving in a few hours...  I am so thankful that we are able to do this!  The numbers are going down, people are going to be able to get together more, it's very hopeful.

So I ordered some fresh local coffee, (for gifts for a few friends in Connecticut ) it was roasted this morning, and I'm leaving to go pick it up.  Did you know that we live near the only city in the whole U.S.A which has a maximum security prison within city limits?  This coffee place is one block from that prison.  And shh, I never in my life told my kids that they had better behave, or that's where they would end up, as we drove by the prison, really slowly...

Tuesday to target....

 You know how it is when your little girls want to do "something fun"?  One needs tights, and the other just wants to get out of the house...and you need a birthday present....(it's Molly's birthday next week!).

We went into TJMaxx first, but what do you know?  We left without buying a single thing!  I did tease that I was going to buy one of these two shirts...

The one said, "My love language is food".  I didn't really buy one.  And don't you love the glasses-on-the-mask look?

Target, we found a few things...razors:  when you have 11 daughters, you have probably spent hundreds on razors alone!  There was a four dollar off coupon, and then a five dollar Target gift card if you bought two, but they were nine bucks each!  That made them actually seven, then the gift card, so like five...ugh.  I got a few snacks, and that was it.  I'm almost thankful when I walk through the store and there ISN'T anything good, phew.

It was a very cold day, but lovely!

  The sunset on the river on the way home...

Here's baby Tennyson from yesterday:

And Wulf (and Sonja K.!)

Those Hess trucks though!  Jonathan saved all of his, now the grandkids love them!

I think Emily took this of Paul talking to six of our daughters...:)

Cookies I made on Friday...

Dinner tonight was Chinese food, homemade.  I cut up chicken breast, soaked it in lemon juice, to tenderize it, then browned it in olive oil and pepper.  Into the crockpot with a bottle of sesame ginger sauce, from Aldi.  I trimmed and cut two pounds of fresh asparagus, and put it in the refrigerator.  When we got home from shopping, I stir fried the asparagus and some frozen veggies (broccoli with carrots, red peppers, ect.), and Camille made a pan of Basmati rice.  I also fried up some shredded cabbage with carrots, in butter, as I don't eat rice.  The kids also had frozen egg rolls they cooked in the air fryer.

Our governor here is in some hot water.  It's strange, because I do not care for him much, but I do not delight in his troubles.  I just feel sorry for him.  He has been very arrogant, and I do hope he gets those executive powers stripped, but sometimes it seems like haters jump on bandwagons, so ready to take someone down.   I don't care if he's a Democrat, or a Republican, he should be more respectful of women, and he obviously hasn't been truthful or upright in his responsibilities.   In fact, he behaved like a dictator, a king.   That doesn't mean I want to see him suffer though.  I'll be glad if he is removed from office though!  Does that make sense?

We've been lounging around, haven't cleaned up dinner yet!  The fake fireplace is roaring, the white string lights are on, it's cozy in here.  I like these winter evenings when we are all home.  But, time to go wash a few dishes!

Monday's mixed feelings...

 Today was a good day, as they all are, because they are days which the Lord has made.  Sometimes, though, there are sadnesses in them.  I have a friend, a church/blog/Instagram friend  I met in Real Life when we went to Norway in 2019.   I spent a glorious afternoon with her, with my sister, and her sister...she's just such a lovely girl.  She lives in Norway with her husband and eight kids, and last evening I found out that one of her daughters, 13 years old, had an accident.  She fell into an icy pond and is in critical condition. My heart is breaking for her...if you are a praying person, please join us in praying for little India.  She's in a hospital in Oslo...

Today, Margaret worked from here, as she works "from home".  She brought the boys, so I had plenty of entertainment.  Wulf rode his trike, the Little Tikes car, and his balance bike, around and around, I had to write him some traffic tickets.  He was the doctor and gave both Jonathan and I checkups.  He played with Hess trucks, and I made him pancakes, which he appreciated so much he said, "I love you, Grandma."  That almost makes up for the times he's contrary, and says he doesn't like me, ha.  I rocked baby Tennyson to sleep, and he slept in my arms for an hour, that was excellently, wonderfully, amazing.  It's like my favorite thing.  When he woke up, and had that freshly awake face, that innocent baby wonderment, well, it's the best.

In the afternoon, Molly and I went out and about, just to Marshall's and to Aldi.  In Marshall's, I found a few sweet things for the two baby granddaughters we are expecting this summer.  It's bittersweet to be so excited about Kathryn and Grace's babies, I AM excited, but am also sad for Ben and Ashley, as their baby was due in June, and that is so hard.  

Life is a mix of things sometimes, isn't it?  

We went to the calling hours on Saturday for Paul's brother, and it was very sad.  It was nice to see family that we rarely see, but to see them in those circumstances is...sad.

It's a cold and windy night, and snowy, again.  I am feeling almost done with winter, so I hope it's almost done with us.  

This coming weekend, some of us are going to a small church conference in Connecticut.  8 of my daughters, my sister, a few of her girls, and some of our friends are going.  I am so very excited!  We are a border state with Connecticut, so we can travel there.

Well, the wind is raging here tonight, I think I'll go fill the kettle in case we lose power....