Finding some winter joys

Winter, winter, winter.  I do not love it, but I try hard to find anything possible to give me encouragement.  One evening last week I noticed at 5:30 pm that it was not yet dark, so I just had to stop what I was doing and go outside to snap a picture  

Whenever we can, we love to watch grandson J’von’s live-streamed basketball games. His team just keeps winning!  Last evening they won their 16th game, no losses!  

It was senior night.   Here's J'von with his dad (our son Frank), his mother Danielle and his stepdad.

And here's an adorable picture of Frank and J'von at our place in 2006. These little guys grow up so fast!

 

One evening last week Alex brought Elizer out to the living room after his bath. I told him he looked like a little Amish lady, haha!

More adorable pics of him later.  

I'm afraid I'll jinx myself if I share this collage -  the picture on the left taken in June and the one on the right taken last week.  In June I decided to try intermittent fasting.  For the most part I do not eat until 12 noon and try not to eat after 8 pm.  If anything, I think it has decreased my appetite.  Anyway, I have been loving how much better my clothes have been fitting this winter.  I think I've lost 15 pounds since then.  I have not shared this collage on Facebook because I'm not trying to make a big deal about it.  Like I said, I hope I'm not jinxing myself now, haha!

On Saturday we all left home before 6:30 am!  Destiny was buying a car from someone in Mount Joy (Lancaster County), and he was meeting us at a AAA near Harrisburg.  There was so much winter beauty as we drove.  When we saw this rainbow ahead, Alex exclaimed that we were almost at the pot of gold!  But alas, the rainbow disappeared before we got there.

The car transaction was successfully completed, and Alex, Destiny, and Elizer headed back home.  She had to start work at 1:00.

Dick and I went to Manheim.  His brother Bob and wife Doris were visiting from Minnesota and we didn't want to miss getting to see them.  We had a precious time catching up with them at her sister's house. 

From there we went to visit Grandma Arlene.  Doesn't she look amazing at 90 years of age?

There had been plans for a Stauffer gathering on Sunday, but it had been cancelled because some family members had contracted COVID.  So at least we got to see Bob and Doris before they went back home to Minnesota.  

Another wintry scene on our way home that afternoon.  Ice!

I made a pot of chicken corn noodle soup for dinner.  Elizer ate his standing up, but it went into his belly just the same!

On Sunday morning as Dick and I were ready to leave for church, he put his hat on Elizer's head and I got these adorable pics!

We had more snow that day, and we were glad that the Stauffer gathering had been cancelled.  It would not have been a fun trip home in the evening. 

And now I gotta tell you the craziness that was going on around here.  Destiny's car, a 2008 Honda Civic, worked just great on their drive home from AAA on Saturday.  But when she was going to leave for work a bit later, it absolutely would not start!  They determined that it had disabled her key as theft protection. (Something like that, I think.)  So that evening and all day Sunday Dick and Alex and Destiny and Alex's dad (via phone) watched every imaginable YouTube video, tried every suggestion you've ever heard of, all to no avail.  On Monday AAA towed it to a Honda dealership in Altoona (45 minutes away) for a new key.  The State College dealership said they did not have a key for that car.  

Later in the day I took them to Altoona to pick it up.  As it turned out she did not need a new key!  The technicians at the dealership had almost been stomped too in trying to figure out the problem. THEN they decided to remove a piece of "bling" on Destiny's key ring.  Voila!!  The car started!  When Destiny had driven the car home from AAA on Saturday she had used just the key given to her from the previous owner.  After they got home she put the key on her key ring.  And then the car would not start.  Whatever that piece of "bling" was had put the car into anti-theft mode.  Needless to say, Destiny has removed the bling from her key ring!  (This is my understanding of the situation.  I may or may not have gotten some things mixed up, lol!)

On our drive to Altoona we were so awed by the scenery of mountain range after mountain range outlined by the snow.  Destiny took these pictures.

While I waited in the van with Elizer at the dealership we had fun playing peekaboo through the opening between my seat and the head rest. 

Monday was also our Florida granddaughter's 17th birthday!!  Sophie was our first biological grandchild, and it's almost impossible to believe how quickly she has grown up.  This is a picture from our week at their place in May.   How we love her!!  Track and Field is starting soon, and we're excited to watch her compete!  This girl is FAST!!

Tuesday was Sophie's mamma's birthday.  Lisa was our firstborn.  Her birth is one of my most treasured memories.  She was such a beautiful baby girl.

This picture was also from our visit with them in May.

My Christmas cactus is finally blooming, just a bit late.  And just one bud.  But I'm loving it!

I think that's all for this time!  Stay warm, wherever you are!

Our wintry week

Saturday

It's a cold Saturday here, currently 8 degrees, feels like negative 4!  The sun is shining, so it looks much warmer than that.  I haven't stepped out there yet.

Here are a few pictures of the sky I took last week.

Last Sunday (9th) we had an ice storm.  Our church service was cancelled.  We had a relaxing day at home enjoying the beauty of the ice.

And now for some pictures of this little man in the house!

How cool are we??

He watches the song, "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" and shakes his finger.

One evening we were relaxing in the living room (the adults, that is) and Dick got this picture of him ready to pounce on us like a cat!  

He looked so adorable in this outfit on Saturday morning. 

On Friday evening we watched grandson J'von's basketball game against my alma mater, Lancaster Mennonite.  His team (Columbia High School) won AGAIN.  They have had no losses this entire season.  On Saturday they played another game and won again.  Their record is 12/0!  The Lancaster newspaper had some amazing pictures the following day.  J'von is #2.

Like Frank always says, "Remember the name!"

Monday

Last evening the storm that was coming up from the south reached us.

During the night we got some rain mixed in with the snow, so this morning it was a heavy mess.  Dick used the snow blower before he left for work, and later Alex shoveled everything else.  Destiny and I both had appointments today, but we cancelled them.  It has been snowing lightly and blowing most of the day.  

Look who is thirteen today!!  Austin Mitchell Stauffer!!  I cannot believe it!  We lived in Lancaster County in 2009 when he was born, but nothing was stopping us from making the trip to State College to see him that day!  How we had earnestly prayed for Lori to get pregnant after several years of failure and treatments!  I will never forget this first glimpse of him when we arrived.  It was a Holy moment seeing the goodness of God.  

Because of the snow coming, Dick and I went over to their place yesterday afternoon to take him his card and gift and the chocolate chip cookies I had made for him.  

Tuesday

And now it's Tuesday morning.  Gotta get this finished up!  

I'm going to end here with a video of a song I sang for our prelude on Sunday morning.  It's one from the 80's that I used to lead at Grace Community Fellowship in Manheim, and I have always loved it. Just a simple cry of the heart from the Psalms. My dear friend Cheryl in Ohio has breast cancer, and at this point there do not seem to be any good solutions.  Singing some of these favorite songs for her is a simple thing I can do. And of course I pray - for her and for several dear loved ones facing cancer and experiencing treatments and side effects.

Our first week of 2022

It's a dark, dreary Sunday morning with freezing rain.  Our church, as are many here in our area and beyond, is closed this morning because of it.  We actually were going to be having church via Zoom this morning because COVID has come too close, but we aren't even doing that because our "skeleton crew" of which Dick and I are a part, would need to go to the church building for that to take place. 

Here are some sunset pictures I took this week.

On Friday morning we had a few inches of snow.  

Alex was excited for Elizer to get his first chance to play in snow, so we bundled him up.  He LOVED it!

It was very cold and windy, so we couldn't let him be out there very long.  He was SO upset when he had to come inside!  A full blown melt-down!  

Destiny and Alex cleaned the snow off our cars.  Alex even helped a lady up the street to clean off her car.  She was so surprised and said that in the years she's lived in this community no one had ever offered to help her before.  Bless him!

I didn't take a lot of pictures this week, so I'm trying to remember what I did all week, haha!  I know I cooked for Anthony and Lori's family three times as usual - Jamaican Rice and Peas and Curried Chicken on Monday, Szechuan Pork and Green Beans Stirfry on Wednesday, and grilled sausage sandwiches with onions and peppers on Saturday.  I always make extra for us too.  Destiny cooked on Thursday - rice and beans and fried chicken.  Last evening Destiny and I got groceries and got some pizzas for today.  Our fridge was so full we decided to keep them in the van overnight.  I hope the van doors can be opened when we need to get them out, haha!  Freezing rain out there, you know, ha!

Of course I have a few cute pictures of Elizer.  We brought out the tunnel one evening when he seemed bored and cranky and he had fun with it.  

When he sits down with a book I need to get a picture QUICK because he doesn't sit very long!  

Yesterday was Dick's stepmother, Grandma Arlene's 90th birthday!  Four of us daughter-in-laws were planning to have a take-in breakfast with her in her apartment at Pleasant View Communities.  Dick and I were planning to leave at 6:30 am so I could be there by 9:00.  But on Friday our plans had to be cancelled due to one of us having a cold which we did not want to take the chance of spreading.  I talked with her on the phone yesterday morning and she was so calm and gracious no matter what, just as she has always been.  What a treasure she has been to the Stauffer family since she so bravely took on the whole crew when she married Dad Stauffer in 1982.  (Dick's mother had died the year before at the age of 53 after battling cancer for a few years.)  Can you find Dick and me and our four children, Miki, Lisa, Anthony, and Jeremy on the picture below?

I posted the above collage on Facebook and Instagram yesterday and said that if anyone wanted to write a birthday greeting I would pass it along to her.  There were many!  If you want to do that in the comments here I will pass it along to her as well.

I saw that people are doing a "ten-year challenge".  I have no idea what the challenge is, but here is mine, 2012 and 2022.   Sometimes I really miss my brown hair, but I do not miss the upkeep.

I saw this yesterday and loved it!  One of my former students said that her due date is that day and I told her she needs to name her little girl "Tuesday."  Wouldn't that be a great story as to why she was named that, haha!

Yesterday I got our Christmas things put away.  We didn't have nearly as many things out because of Elizer, so the job wasn't as big as usual.  I took this picture of my sink window before I dismantled it. I will miss this.  

I came across this ADORABLE picture last evening from ten years ago.  Destiny playing her violin for Sammy. He loved it!!

I think that's it for this week. It's 8:45 am as I finish this post, and the rest of the household is still sleeping!