On Eagle's Wings

On Eagle's Wings
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:29-31

Followers

Monday, December 19, 2016

Weekend Fun

No Blue Christmas around here. December has been a very good month to just enjoy Christmas, lots of music, concerts, spending time with family and friends, and ... 


enjoying my Christmas present. Listening to some very old Christmas albums on my new Victrola!!! It has been at least 20 years since I have played these albums. I can also play my old cassette tapes and even record off the cassettes and albums onto a CD!




Kate spent the weekend with us and she is such a joy! We did have a bit of a dilemma involving a mythical character for one of the rites of passage in life, i.e. losing baby teeth. Here is the Facebook rant post from her mother last week. 

"The tooth fairy has forgotten to come 2 nights in a row and we don't have an Elf on the Shelf. #Momfail. Why? Why did anyone ever come up with so many additional imaginary things to make parenting even more difficult. It's hard enough as it is without having to remember to keep up with made up stuff. And then, THEN, I feel guilty about it. What!?! Merica. Rant over."

Sooooo, in the spirit of trying to help Mom out, I asked whether the Tooth Fairy ever visits the grandparents' house. We decided yes, he/she can and since Kate would be with us this weekend, the Tooth Fairy could come for a long, overdue visit. Well, after telling Kate the next morning that maybe she should check under her pillow to see, she informed me that she had NOT brought the tooth with her and if the tooth box was not under her pillow, the tooth fairy would not come. She was very adamant about that and, later, I found this on the floor. This young lady plays by the rules. And I get to keep the $5.

She just isn't buying into that and I guess she
realized we tried to fool her.

Such a sweet boy!


Let's just take Grandpa down in this pic!

On Sunday evening, just before we were to leave for another Christmas concert, the doorbell rang and what to my wondering eyes should appear! My old and dear friend, Bettye, stopped by for a minute to say Merry Christmas and, more importantly, to show off her oldest granddaughter, Shana. Oh, I loved it! I hadn't seen this beautiful girl for so many years and a couple of Christmas memories came to mind that were funny. When she was four years old, she made this precious little Christmas card holder and Bettye brought her to visit. 


She was all dressed up in her Christmas duds carrying my gift. I had a gift for her, too ... a Veggietales video ... and when I presented it to her, she said, "Oh, I hope it's not another video!" Out of the mouths of babes comes brutal honesty sometimes.


She will be off to college next fall.

Some friends from church invited us to attend the Plano Symphony at the St. Andrews United Methodist Church. What a magnificent facility they have and the concert by the orchestra and the Frisco Chorale was excellent. The huge pipe organ!! Oh my goodness! I'm used to a band at church with keyboard, guitars and drums.



Kate and Jack are with their Nana for a couple of days.
It's always a happy and special time for them with her.

Years ago, a co-worker made a styrofoam snowman for everybody in the office. I have held on to it for probably twenty years and set it out with other small decorations every year. It looked something like this, only hers was much better.


Now Jack liked that little snowman so much that he wanted to take it home. We just barely got off our street before the snowman had fallen apart in his little hands. No big loss to me, however, it was to him. So, while he is with his Nana, he decided he wanted to re-create it. Here it is!

This pic just makes me smile really big!

Nana told me he asked for two toothpicks, but when he saw the box full, he got a little carried away with toothpicks in his snowman!

This is Hunter with the doll house we sent to her. 
She was so excited over this and the video they sent of her opening it was adorable. 
She's so pretty - (wish she didn't have that binkie in her mouth though!!)

And, finally, here is a pic of my sweet friend, Liz, who was paralyzed by a stroke almost 11 years ago at the age of 22. She is a darling girl who has the sweetest spirit and attitude. Mickey, Minnie, and others visited our church last week for a hot chocolate party. Love the big smile on her face.




Friday, December 16, 2016

Friday Foto Friends From Christmases Past

Oh what fun it is to join in a Friday Foto Friends and bring up memories from the past Christmases.

Say What???!!!

Loving his Thomas the train set!

This little sweetie has my car keys in hand and
to our surprise, started my car with the remote!
Stinker!

Sweet Noah

Kate with her new table and chairs behind her.

He does have somewhat of a white beard ...
but no, that's not the scary Santa.

This is the scary Santa!

Loving his turtle pillow.


Trying out the new swing set
even if it is below freezing outside.




The delight she had in getting this scooter
brought such joy to my heart.

My sister with Jack.

I was so excited to find a little string of LED lights
to light up my Nativity.


From way, way, back yonder in Christmases past!
My sister and brother.

In addition to many other things about these three photos above, 
I just noticed the photo of my Dad which my sister found this past week.





Thursday, December 15, 2016

Recap and Christmas with the Family

This past week we were finally able to get together with RuthAnn and her Dad. We met on the square in McKinney and had dinner at a local restaurant, Harvest, which serves up farm-to-table goodness.


Love the way deviled eggs are served
on the egg carton with lettuce making a little nest under 
the egg and garnished with pecan and chives. The food
here is wonderful.


RuthAnn's Dad is 85 years old. He and RuthAnn recently made a special trip to Washington, D.C. for a weekend honoring WWII veterans. Unfortunately, the day after we had dinner, he took a fall and has been in the hospital and under RuthAnn's loving care.


Jack spent the night with us on Friday night.

He loves to play Bingo.

Jack called on Thursday night wanting to spend the night, not taking into account he had to go to school the next day. What triggered his calling was the fact that they had been at the check-out in the Dollar store all ready to buy their little toys when a fight little disagreement ensued and Mommy made them put the toys back and leave the store. He decided he wanted to come live with Nonnie and Grandpa!

On Saturday, my family arrived for a brief visit and to attend The Gift of Christmas at Prestonwood Baptist, which I had been looking forward to them seeing for the past few years. It finally happened and it was a wonderful performance and enjoyed immensely by everyone. Whew! You know when you build something up to people, you always hope it will live up to the expectations and want them to love it, too.


My niece, Robyn on the left, her Dad, Don, my sister, Roberta,
my DH front and center, yours truly, my brother, Phil and his wife, Susan.

The Gift of Christmas is a spectacular production and my sil, Susan, made the comment that they have seen many Broadway shows in NYC and this was much better! Pictures with my phone don't do it justice, but I have to post a few.

The Christmas Waltz is one of my favorites of the secular half of
the performance. So beautiful.














The Little Drummer Boy


I gave up trying to take pics after this because it just isn't possible to get good photos and trying to do so takes away from simply enjoying the program. The talent, the special effects, the music, and the dramatic telling of the Christmas story and the Gospel are simply incredible!


Susan brought her ukulele along and we sang a few Christmas carols before they all left for home.







Howie likes to hear his mommy play the ukelele.


Sara sent this cute pic of the boys.


My niece, Robyn, remarked that she wanted a little Christmas village. I just happened to have some little buildings in the back of my car that I had been meaning to take to the local Goodwill. I gave it to her and she bought a few little figurines and here it is. So cute.

And speaking of cute!
This is the boy, Lincoln, who was
delivered by his mommy in an SUV on I-44 last July!




Hunter and Lincoln