Thankful Thursday 11/17/11

1. So glad for our medical facilities. While we may get an appointment as soon as we want I would rather be sick or have a health issue in the US than in any other country.

2.  I'm finally starting to breathe again following a pretty nasty cold and I stayed awake all day despite a miserable night with a lack of sleep.

3. Only an expected hour and 20 minute wait for my oil change right now rather than the 2-3 hours I thought it may be.

4. Excited to have a photographer on the Israel trip share pictures from Arnon since we couldn't take cameras.

Under the waterfall being reminded about God's love being full bore.

Kind of hard to see but Renae is next in line to climb the rock and I am right behind her.

Thankful Thursday 11/10/11

1. Andrew's birthday. He's one of the three greatest nephews in the world. It's great to see him grow into a many who loves God.

2. A family weekend celebrating a milestone birthday for my sister.

3. Today was my going away lunch. I've worked with some really good people for the past 7 years and I will miss them beginning Monday.

4. For 2 1/2 years I've played foosball every week. Hopefully I've improved and Jason has gotten exponentially better. I will miss playing.

A Weekend Birthday Getaway

What a great weekend. I psuedo surprised my sister for her 50th birthday. Saturday morning my job was to occupy her while her husband and daughter's put together a surprise pancake breakfast. Mary and I went to Chik-fil-A for a chicken biscuit and then off to a manicure. Thankfully the plan worked well for us to stop at the clubhouse to "pick up some tableclothes to take back to WalMart." She followed me in and was surprised as she was expecting a potato bar lunch at 1:30. Her husband did a great job of getting someone for almost every phase of her life there. An aunt and uncle from IL drove down, and other guests included a childhood friend we grew up with, a couple from the church in which we grew up, a missionary friend from Antigua, previous work friends, family, and church friends.

I also got to meet my first great niece. Emma, you are so sweet and I loved you sleeping on me Saturday afternoon. I think you found the Alabama sweatshirt to be quite comfortable.

Despite the awful outcome it was great to watch the AL/LSU game with people who cared about the game. Sunday was back at CBC. It was great to see Dad leading the singing with Greg at the piano. Then we had a great lunch with Duttons. I think I'll buy a boston butt pork roast and try some hints Dusty gave me, but I'm not buying a Green Egg to do so.

Had a nice quiet evening with Joey and Mary who graciously watched "the trip" pictures and asked a lot of questions. Monday morning was back to MI.

Meeting Emma

Making Morton Pumpkin Festival pumpkin pancakes

Aunt and two nieces

A childhood friend--everyone looks so innocent!

Great grandmother, GrandMom holding Emma, and Great Grandpa

...And We Don't Drive Model Ts Anymore

Ever since I can remember being able to read which would mean our first year in Decatur, every day except rare occasions I have held the newspaper in my hand to read it. As kids we would race to the yard to be the first to get the newspaper and by far one of the best times of the week for me is when I first get up on Saturday morning. I put on the coffee, step out the front door, pick up the paper and then read it.


I have a set order to read a paper. Typically I'm a section A to the end kind of reader, but the GR Press puts the comics at the back of section B so here on weekdays my order is A, C, B. Yes, that's one of my quirks. And don't start me on people who read the paper before I do and don't put the sections back together very nicely. OK, that's my second newspaper quirk.

Every time I've moved (pause for all the groans and comments people are saying or thinking about the number of times I've moved!), about the first thing I would do after finding a place to live was to order the newspaper.

Yesterday the GR Press announced that they are doing away with home delivery on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday!!! I am devastated. It is not the same to hold a laptop and read "the paper". I like the feel of the newspaper and the Press on-line doesn't include features that I like such as the advice columns or comics. The Sunday paper lists many sporting events for Saturday as TBA and the Saturday morning paper announces the teams who are playing.

I'm pretty sure I'm not getting dressed to go out and buy a newspaper on Saturday mornings.

I realize this is a sign of the times and many people don't subscribe to the newspaper anymore, but this is a serious change to my weekends and weekday life, and I don't like it.

Thankful Thursday 11/3/11

1. This morning I woke up to a text message from a niece which read "Love you and hope you'r having a great week!" Wow!!!

2. Went to a Straight No Chaser concert last night. Apparently Renae and I are the only over 40 year old women in the GR area who had never heard of this group, but we both really enjoyed the concert. I texted a nephew to see if he had heard of the group. His quick reply was "Absolutely. The acapella group from Indiana University." I took a picture of the group on stage and replied, "You mean this group?" He said "very cool" to which I replied "Yep, that's your Aunt Rhoda--the epitome of cool."

3. Saw a tree with the most vibrant red leaves last night. It was beautiful especially since our color is past peak and many trees have their winter look.

4. Thankful for my sister and that she will celebrate a milestone birthday this weekend. The distance makes it essentially impossible to get to big events like that. Happy Birthday anyway.