2014 Week 5: Enjoying winter and one another

Our annual church celebration dinner usually falls on or close enough to our anniversary that I make a point to have someone take our picture. I also make sure I am wearing something different for each year. So here is our Sunday photo. Because it did not show off my new Christmas gift sweater, I took a couple of selfies. Our culture is into the selfie photo trend, which I hear is supposedly helping people appreciate their unique beauty. Still learning.

Monday was this cool dude's 9th birthday. Is that why the schools were closed?

Elijah

 Oh, maybe not 'cause Tuesday was another snow day.

These deer spent a lot of time laying down or lazily traipsing across our yard.

Classes resumed on Wednesday, so Mike was back at the Red Barn with a group of kids and one helper, teaching, guiding, managing the comings and goings, and having a little fun of his own. 

What do you think, is the sculpture a male or female?

Sadly there had been a break-in over the weekend. Notice the cardboard in the window.

We were asked weeks earlier to share our stories with a ladies' group on Thursday, January 30th.

Oops! If someone had not called us that morning we would have forgotten. So, with only an hour or so to prepare, I decided to focus on our love story as our 44th wedding anniversary was coming up the next day.

I dug out the letter Mike wrote with a pre-declaration test to make sure I was the one.

Elijah poured 12 barrels of water on the sacrifice and the wood before he asked the Lord to set it on fire. [I Kings 18:30-38] Rita, I'm going to do the same thing by giving you 12 points to consider and accept if this is how He is leading you. If the fire still burns in you after these 12 I look forward to working with you this summer so that we can really get to know one another and more from there...

It was great fun to reminisce and share together about that and many other stories.

Oh, you want to know about the 12 barrels? Come back another day this week.

The ladies took another anniversary pic. Which do you like best?

Friday I got up very early and drove the half hour to Sam and Kristie's. I rang and knocked and waited. Sam came to the door and said, Why so early?  It was supposed to be eleven not seven!
Memory fails. . . hearing loss. . . What else will go with age?
Actually I realized that Sam has a soft quality to his voice, similar to mine. We agreed next time it would be best to text.
It was fun to visit with each member as they got up and prepared for the day ahead.
But, what to do for four hours? I texted Mike about meeting me somewhere for an anniversary breakfast. It was a good plan as he was going to spend the day in Muncie anyway to get projects ready for the Saturday all-day robotics session.

I had fun with the little ones. . .

. . . and got to see Sam before and after his doctor visit.

Monday when the sutures were removed, the incision had not yet closed completely so he had to wear the bandage all week.This time all was well and he was released to go back to work, tho' gradually as his strength and stamina return.I realized after publishing last week's post, that I had said nothing about Sam's progress on my blog.
You can now read Kristie's Praise--a 12-point summary of how God helped and intervened on their behalf  throughout this ordeal.

Saturday Diane and I tried out a new eatery in Marion. I am in a writer's group with the girl that works there, who grew up in Brazil and whose family owns and runs the business.
I tried the harebrained ham with apple crepe and Diane the moonstruck cheesecake with strawberries.

This morning, Sunday February 2nd, we woke up to a winter wonderland.

We are enjoying the real winter we are having. We get the feeling that we are in the minority. However, son Stephan agrees with us. He's having fun this weekend in Canada competing at a famous ice carving competition--the Ottawa Winterlude.

Reef Secrets: in progress and finished
Stephan says: "This was a fun project. The competition started with 18 300 pound blocks and was held over 30 non consecutive hours.