Wordless Wednesday

Prayers, If You Would

If you wouldn't mind, would you please say a prayer for my grandfather?  His name is John, he is 98 years old, and he fell and broke his hip. He was originally scheduled for hip replacement tomorrow morning, but now will be receiving a pace maker, and the hip will come Sunday.  They determined that he's having 'heart block', and that is what caused him to faint, collapse, and break the hip yesterday morning.

Mimi and Liza with Great-Grandpa, Christmas 2004

Given his age, the surgery will be pretty rough on him, and elderly patients are more prone to pneumonia while in the hospital because they're not as active as they are at home.  And yes, he lives at home.  We lost Grandma over ten years ago, and Grandpa has been managing at home on his own.  I am fearing that everything will now change for him.

So if you wouldn't mind remembering him in your prayers, I'd be very appreciative.

Updated 2/26 to add:  Well, it's going rather well, all things considered.  The pace maker surgery was scrapped (cardiologist determined it was an issue with meds), hip replacement was in progress late this afternoon, and then they needed to put in a temporary pace maker during the hip surgery.   Oooh boy!
Grandpa is doing well so far in Cardiac ICU.  We're taking things one day at a time for now, according to God's will.

Updated 2/28 to add:  I went to visit Grandpa yesterday.  He is in great spirits and is doing very well.  He will now have to undergo surgery today for the pace maker.  After a total of about 24 hours (why??!!   I'm not sure...) we were finally able to secure the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick for Grandpa, due in great part to the persistence of deep conviction and a wonderful priest.

Updated 3/2 to add: This man amazes me!  He is out of ICU,  never did have the surgery for the pacemaker.  It was determined that one of the meds he was taking was causing this 'heart block'.  So far so good.  He will be looking ahead to inpatient rehab for that new hip of his soon!
Thank you for your prayers.  May Almighty God bless you.

Wordless Wednesday (Chore Edition)

Fresh Jam in February

I made jam one afternoon last week.  It smelled SO delicious in this house - like a bit of summer right here.  In the middle of February. 

Triple Berry Jam boiling on the stovetop

I prepared a few batches of jam in July, then made the appropriate preparations so that I could make more in the middle of winter.  This is the first year that I actually did this.  It worked out so well, I will definitely do it again.

Strawberry Jam

I just measured out my crushed fruit, and instead of placing it into my saucepan, I placed it into a freezer zip-type bag, labeled it and popped it into the freezer.  There it sat, patiently waiting for me for the past 7 months.

The masses were complaining rather loudly that we had no jam left in the pantry The mood struck the other day, so I just placed a few bags of frozen fruit into a large plastic container and set it all into the refrigerator to thaw. 

From that point on, I just followed the regular instructions on the box of Sure-Jell, as I do in the summer while making fresh jam.

It makes perfect sense to do this in the winter, you know.  The summer here tends to be rather warm and humid in July, the central air is humming, and here I'd stand, making more heat and steam while cranking out a few cases of jam before the berries rot over-ripen.   

It was a nice, cool winter day, and I was at my stove top creating some steamy, deliciously summery-smelling aromas to waft throughout the house.  It was fabulous.

 

Didn't even feel like a chore, as it sometimes does in the summer.

I made a total of 18 jars of Triple Berry Jam (that's a combination of fresh strawberries, raspberries and blackberries) and 17 jars of Strawberry Jam.

I have a few more bags of freshly frozen berries out in the freezer - waiting to be turned into summer in-a-jar jam.

I do enjoy giving away a jar or two of jam.  All I ask is that you return the empty jar after you lick every last speck out of it thoroughly wash the sticky jar.  

Kids

What did I find on my camera the other day?

Crash must have had a few unsupervised minutes with my camera.  That's my guess anyway.

The Scissor-Master

What does a three year old do with one plain piece of paper and a pair of scissors?

This.  And I kid you not.

I walked into the room as Mimi and Liza were busy making some snowflakes, and Crash was busy working at his own end of the table.  I looked at his "work" and asked the girls if they helped him cut anything out, and they both said, "No.  Why?"  I held this up:

   and then this:

Does this possibly resemble one of the Midwest or Great Lake States of this country?  Hmmm?  Maybe the state that we happen to reside in?  Incredible?  I kinda think so.  But I'm not biased or anything...

Crash was not happy with his shape though, because he made a mistake.  He was done and going to toss it into the trash when I nabbed it from his hand.

Notice the "mistake" he made?  Might it be the Mississippi River?!  

I don't think we could have gotten him to cut the shape of Minnesota out this well if we had drawn it for him before-hand.  

This just crazy-funny...

What is National Chocolate Mint Day?

I didn't know....    But according to Dawn,  today is National Chocolate Mint Day.  

Looks both pretty and yummy, no?

Even if one doesn't care terribly much for mint, we can still have fun! 

I did hit on my perfect combination of chocolate and mint... 

 ...together, yup, at the same time.  I've never been crazy about mint, but with these two, there is just a hint of minty yumminess.

Make time to enjoy fun days like these!

What Would You Do?

Would you be willing to die if you were accused of, and acknowledged, being a Christian?  You will be hung in three days.  Unless you deny Christ.  Are you ready to die for your faith?  You've been beaten and sexually assaulted in prison, by guards and inmates alike, all because you will not denounce your faith in Jesus.  You're ready to die?

Would you think about your wife and six children, and decide not to leave them just yet?  They've now had to flee your home, your country, fearing for their safety.  Would you deny Jesus? 

Read this article.  (Edited to say:  Note the date at the top of the article.)

Please remember his soul (and his family) in your prayers.


Hat tip:  Oldest son, Ryan

On the Feast of St. Blaise

“Through the intercession of St. Blaise, bishop and martyr, may God deliver you from ailments of the throat and from every other evil. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Blessing of St. Blaise).

What Did You Have This Morning?

"So, what 'dge you have this morning?"  is the customary greeting on cold days, like today.

I am talking COLD.   Frigidly cold.  We read minus 38 degrees just after 7 am today on our thermometer.

Duluth, MN's official reading was -24 degrees, while International Falls, MN (and Babbitt, MN , where our Grandmas and Grandpa live) dipped as low as -46.   Brrr.  Now that's cold!

Dear hubby left for work as usual this morning at about 5:20am.  No problems, thankfully.  He started his car and let it run for several minutes before leaving today.  That's to warm the engine up to help prevent any problems, you know.

Anyway, we carried on, 'business as usual' around here.  Mimi went outside at -30 to feed the barn cat, dogs and the chickens.  She bundled up, of course, and made her way through the routine.  I believe her step was a bit quicker than normal today.  

The local public schools went on a '2-hour delay' this morning.  Smart.  It'd be rough to be out there at the coldest part of the day.  It had 'warmed' to -25 at 10:00 am, so it was still pretty darn cold, but I'm sure those kids were happy to get the morning off.

Our two dogs were brought inside overnight last night.  They were happy to stay in the entryway.  But not terribly eager to venture outside this morning!  The kids asked me if the dogs could stay in all day, but my reply was, "When it reaches 10 below, out they go."  Well, it is -7 now and they are both napping contentedly in the entryway...   so sometimes I am a pushover.

A light cloud cover made it's way over us within the past hour or so, which is supposed to bring a few snow flurries our way.  Sure makes me long for the sun now.  We've had gorgeous, blinding sunshine the last three days.  It's been lovely!  Heavenly, almost.  It is so delicious and incredibly bright in here when the sun shines, that we pulled the blinds, in winter.  In fact, it is so amazing, its my favorite place to be.  All warm and cozy, cheery and bright,  no matter how cold it gets outside!

I'm Ba--ack....

Did you miss me, by any chance?

I abandoned this little speck of the blogosphere before Christmas....  So many preparations during Advent, readying our home and ourselves for Christ's birth, I just couldn't find make time to blog.

 

 Our little Noelle left the hospital late in November, and is doing very well.  Big brother Harvey is totally fine with having her around.  They're planning to spend the upcoming weekend with us, along with their mommy and daddy.  Noelle was baptized on  Gaudete Sunday.  How appropriate.

Parents and Godparents promising this child to God!

We had a lovely Christmas Season, with a house full of family, and it was a very joyous holiday.   This little house was nearly bursting at the seams on Christmas Day, and everyone here said that they had a wonderful day.  That is all that truly matters to me, that everyone here enjoys being here.  We celebrated our Lord Jesus' birthday with love and joy. 

Extended families...  his,

and mine.

I wonder though, how is it that every time I get a really great set of plans/schedule worked out near any big holiday, they usually manage to get derailed one way or another?  I did get pretty much everything done that I really needed to get done,  so it all worked out in the end, but it wasn't without some tense moments and a bit of stress that Christmas arrived. 

Gah!  Here is a picture of my kitchen island at one point near Christmas.  Do you notice the diaper in the bowl that is normally full of apples?  Who put that there!?

Crash's addition to my decorated front porch

Our middle boy and his fiancee spent ten days from Christmas Eve through New Year's with us, and they brought their snowmobiles with them.  So much fun! The week went so quickly...

Upon settling back into the regular schedule, we celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6th.  We tried to go with what we had on hand, and the girls had great fun finding suitable foods to symbolize the Twelve Days of Christmas on the dinner table.  We decided on sliced pears, Dove chocolates, French fries, onion rings, hard boiled eggs, milk shakes (which we actually forgot to make!) chicken drumsticks, and a wonderful cake that all us gals worked on for dessert.  We had scattered star-shaped cut-out cookies and Brach's chocolate stars on the table, too, symbolizing the Christmas Star that led the Wisemen to Bethlehem.

All the Christmas decorations have been carefully put away, and we are back on track with our school work.  As much as I love the Christmas Season, I really have come to adore the return to 'normal' when we reach the weekend following the Epiphany.  Crash was pretty upset when we took the tree out.  He wanted it to stay inside for a while longer.

Now we're ready for the cold snap that is forecasted for the upcoming weekend.  I've got my menu planned, the shopping was already done last week, and the regular foods will be prepared as we enjoy the winter from the comfort of our home.  Stay warm, and may God bless us all this New Year.

Happy Feast Day, St. John of the Cross

"What more do you want, o soul! And what else do you search for outside, when within yourself you possess your riches, delights, satisfaction and kingdom -- your beloved whom you desire and seek? Desire him there, adore him there. Do not go in pursuit of him outside yourself. You will only become distracted and you won't find him, or enjoy him more than by seeking him within you." – Saint John of the Cross

Learn more about him here.

Wordless Wednesday