Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the lands!

Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into God’s presence with singing!

Know that the Lord is God!  It is he that made us, and we are his;

We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise!

Give thanks to him, bless his name!

For the Lord is good;

His steadfast love endures forever,

And his faithfulness to all generations.

Psalm 100

Hello my dear friends.

Yes ..I have missed you greatly.

I am ok and learning to grow old gracefully. I have been blessed with a group of college students that have enjoyed for up to four years of  coming to our house. Of course I cook them a nice meal, ask them to invite their friends...which they do.We have good discussions in our Bible studies.Then  play games afterward. They do get very competitive.

 They planned together and shopped for food. With my approval they came to my kitchen and cooked all afternoon on friday while I was at work. They served a delicious birthday meal for me. It was one of those times when 'your kids' come in to make you something nice and they want it to be perfect . So there are lots of whispers, giggles, and rib nudges. Some of those imperfections were the cause of finally outburst of hearty laughter from all. For sure it was 'you had to be there' to understand the humor'! I still thought all was delicious. I helped load up all the leftovers for them to take home.

They voluntered to clean up but I said I would do that part. They had managed to use every large container I owned and each tasty menu item claimed 2-4 containers to clean. LOL Many items needed soaking so I am close to getting finished.

Saturday I rode for an hour with a special church sister that I have known for 35+ years to a Ladies Day in a town south east of us. t was pleasant driving out in the countryside  in nice sunny weather. The harvest here in central Illinois is in and the fields are readied for winter. Our recent rain Has brightened up the grass to look like golf courses. My friend chose not to drive the interstate highways ...so we saw lots of barns and country side vista. We started out early and enjoyed a beautiful sunrise and also the sunset before arriving home.

It was a joy to see old friends again. Yes.. some of them are getting much older but still in good health. At the end of our speakers session they gave out some gift bags. They ask for those over a certain age to raise hand. There were so many white haired ladies..but the oldest lady was 91. I felt so young. I am blessed always.

After driving home we meet up with our hubbys and went out to dinner. Not fancy...just Denny's ...but good meal . Our friend paid for ours as a birthday gift. It has been a good week.

I hope you all have had a simply marvelous weekend!

Take me out to the ball game.....

And that is just what hubby did saturday night. We also went last week. They are young college boys working themselves up the ladder to where the "big boys" play. It is a fun night of people watching. The last week game had fireworks after the game. This week we went in to extra innings and won in the 11th  inning. We got home at 11:00. The radio personality has little interesting games and challenges between each inning. It turned out a little less muggy and a slight breeze too that was a relief!!

On thursday night we went out to our Muni for the broadway show "Suessical" It was so much fun. It is a story/musical including all of Dr Seuss.books. It is lots of fun in this outdoor setting of Broadway under the Stars. We were comfortable in our own lawn chairs sitting next to the sound box. I wish my grandkids would have seen it too.

Today I am seeing the Eye Dr again. Hopefully most of the fluid is better so we can progress to the needed laser treatment. I will be in the bat cave tonight. Life is good.

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo................

No, I didn't fall off the side of the earth................I'm still here... sometimes.

My work has been more demanding of my time so....sometimes I never get a chance to get on line to chat with anyone.But I do think of my very special friends I have met here and wonder what is going on in your lifes. Some I remember special prayer requests....and some I just need to stop by and see your kitties. I have missed you.

I have always made list  so when I finish something ,I check it off. I still do that but now everything stays on my list longer. I still get a feeling of accomplishment...but find myself celebrating smaller acheivements often. And I don't feel guilty. that is a jewel of information. LOL

I have made cards lately to keep up with birthdays, anniversarys, graduations, thank you, and get well. I have decided to make the same style in multiples of 6-8 each time. So that is 8 childrens birthday cards, 8 womens cards,8 thank you cards, etc, etc,etc. I have also made a cardstock frame for all the pictureswe took of our ladies at our Mother and Daughter  Dinner. The ladies were glad to get a memory picture.

Today I finished a part of another little project. I planted petunias in flower boxes and large planter pots on my deck. I planted geraniums last week in big pots on back deck and in front by the door. I still need to plant remaining petunias in flowerbed in the front yard around light post .Maybe with the warming weather we can cook out and enjoy our deck a little more. Even if it gets to hot , and it will, I can always look out the patio doors and enjoy my favorite  colorful petunias.

well today is the day I get to go back to my eye Dr. to see if he can give me a shot. I hope so...It has been harder to get good visuals lately. I think I have scratched my glasses also so that doesn't help. It is just one of those things...

It is thursday night at our house.

That is when we have some college kids over for a bible study.

We served a dinner the first night with hubby's intentions of just

having dessert or popcorn each thursday afterwards.

 Well, if you have ever had college students around then you know

just how much they like to eat. We have had a variety of dinners.

I decided we had enough of the regular stuff and went for oriental style.

For all of them it was their first time to eat with chopsticks...and no one left hungry.

The centerpieces were later used at our mother and daughter dinner.

...theme of butterflys.

Menu: steamed rice, sweet and sour chicken, egg rolls with plum sauce,

mandarin oranges,and hot green tea.

One of the girls was so pleased that we treat them so well ,

 and  had so much fun, that she volunteered to cook for the next week.

She served us peppered steak served on rice, brocolli,califlower,and carrots,

green salad, and pound cake and ice cream for dessert.

 We dressed the table up a bit for her dinner.

The girls insisted on cleaning all the dishes before they left.

We were missing a few but the smiles show those present were

 pleased with her efforts.

.

The next week we promised a cook out. One of the guys wanted

to do the cooking and his girlfriend helped. The wind was pretty strong

so we ended up inside after all.

This cutie was so tickled we were having a real bar-b-q.

She got pretty good at taking her own picture with others.

This was the night of the Mother and daughter dinner. So sweet!

I invited all three to be my adopted daughters.

This was an area we set up for photoes of each M&D groupings.

She was taking pictures on the side.LOL

This is one of my church sisters that always comes with me also.

 I also work with her.

At the close of the evening we invite the little girls up for a song.

This was very new for the little girls this year. The one in denim

kept pulling her dress up to show her tummy. Sooooo funny!!