Moments to Remember

This past Friday I was up early and off to the state capitol. One of the bigger sleep conferences was being held at the Kellogg Center on the campus of Michigan State University. I had no idea how bad traffic was going to be so I was on the road by 5:30am. I arrived about 6:45am and had plenty of time to check in.

The conference was one of the best I have been to. There were some great sessions that talked about dreams and their connection with trauma, another one about “sleepwalking’ crimes, and a discussion about later school start times. The speakers were good, so it was easy to stay engaged.

The highlight for me was running into one of the gals who was in the sleep program with me. She has moved up in the world and is now working for one of the companies that does home sleep studies. She noticed me first and called my name. When I turned to see who it was, there were hugs all around.

We had to do presentations in class on a certain sleep disorder. She totally went out and bought one of the “old man” hats I always wore, got some felt and made herself a mustache and goatee and presented as me. It was hilarious! There was so much to catch up on. We’re hoping to get the families together to catch up more soon.

On Saturday, the kids had a birthday party that they were invited to. It was held at a bowling alley. Ella has only been bowling once and this was Andrew’s first time. They started out using the ramps to roll the ball…

It didn’t take long for them to just start throwing them without the ramp. Andrew somehow managed to throw the ball and get it stuck between the gutter and the bumpers. Ella was just happy to get the ball to knock down pins. Andrew decided to relax as the ball rolled down the alley.

My brother came up from Ohio this weekend. He had asked me if we were going to be around and that was before I knew about the birthday party. So after the birthday party we went to Frankenmuth where the Scarecrow Festival was going on.

They had pumpkin bowling, bounce houses, pumpkin launching and more. Many of the little shops had their own pumpkin scarecrows outside. Guests could vote for the best one on their phones. The kids liked seeing many of them.

The weather was mild, so it was nice enough to walk around without jackets. We walked around the Riverplace shops and also went to the Castle Shops and visited the bakery. Cookies all around!

Whether we were just too busy catching up or chasing the kids, my brother and I only got to grab one picture while we were there.

Around 6 all the fun stuff outdoors shut down. We were all hungry, so we decided to go to this little Italian place just outside of town. Neither of us had ever been there. It was delicious. I had lasagna which reminded me of a place my folks use to eat at all the time. Ella opted for spaghetti (which is noodles with butter and no sauce for her.) I usually cut it up for her, but she decided to eat it right from the bowl. I love this picture of her …

Andrew, who loves spaghetti, threw me for a loop when he asked for a grilled cheese and French fries. How do you make that Italian? If you look closely at his plate, you will see that he has put parmesan cheese all over his food.

When we left to go home, it poured rain. It was monsoon rain. There was thunder and lightening, which Andrew thought was really cool to see at night.

My brother and Stacey stopped over Sunday and hung out most of the day. They brought the kids Happy Meals and some gifts. Ella got a Barbie and Ken doll – both were decked out for soccer. Andrew got some monster trucks and this cool thing that you toss up in the air and it floats around. You control it with your hands. It was pretty cool.

Our visit was cut short because I had to give the kids baths and get them in bed for school the next day. They are always glad to see them. One day I hope to be able to make the drive down to Ohio with the kids to see them.

I’ll wrap up with something I just thought was cool. I love high school football. One thing I’ve noticed as years have gone by is the increase of the presence of law enforcement at games. At one high school the policemen really got into things. They were cheering for the home team and telling folks they had better, too.

Check out these two law officers being held up by the cheerleaders. I love the sign: Cheer or go to jail!

I love seeing stuff like this! Kudos to these officers – and the cheer team!

Friday Photo Flashback

Every now and then I find a picture that I have taken that I haven’t posted anywhere. In searching for another photo, I actually stumbled on one. Now, I didn’t take it, but we had someone take it for us.

For newer readers to this blog, back in 2019 I shared the story of how my wife and I came to be wed. It was a three part blog. First, how we met, dated, and such. The second was the proposal and finally our wedding.

I proposed to her on a horse drawn carriage ride in Frankenmuth, MI. The story is one that always seems to get a laugh or two. This photo was taken at the end of our ride and after she said “yes.”

For those who don’t know the story, you can read it here – The Proposal.

I forgot just how good this picture is. I wish the horse hadn’t moved, though.

Tune Tuesday

Merry Christmas Eve! It was on this day 206 years ago that one of the most beloved Christmas songs was performed for the first time.

In the little town of Oberndorf, Austria, the St. Nicholas church was plagued by a broken organ. It seemed it would be a silent night… But out of that silence rang a song, collaborated from the hearts of two men, that would change the world forever…

The lyrics for Silent Night were written by Joseph Mohan in 1816. It was Franz Xavier Gruber who added the melody. On Christmas Eve, 1818, Mohr brought the words to Gruber and asked him to compose a melody and guitar accompaniment for that night’s mass, after river flooding had damaged the church organ.

The church was eventually destroyed by further flooding. The Silent Night Chapel was built on the former site of the church, as a sort of memorial to where the song was first performed.

A replica of this chapel is located down the road from me in Frankenmuth, MI. You can visit it for free at Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland.

I have a few versions to share with you. First, the Austrian version.

This was the song soldiers sang in the famous World War I Christmas Truce.

The version I was most familiar with was by Bing Crosby. I heard this often growing up and it is one of the better versions.

The group Pentatonix recorded Silent Night a couple of times. Their “Yule Log” version is said to be one of the most beautiful arrangements.

Finally, Dean Martin recorded Silent Night for his Reprise Christmas album in 1966. However, that isn’t what I want to feature.

I had picked up an album that featured various Christmas songs by Rat Pack members because it included some cuts I did not have. One of those cuts is Peace On Earth/Silent Night.

My first listen blew me away. I loved the interplay between the two songs Melodies. What really struck me was that I was aware that Silent Night is written in 3/4 time. Peace on Earth is in 4/4 time. When the two songs blend, it sounds magical. Give it a listen.

Thanks for reading and listening.

Merry Christmas Eve to you!!!

Our Yearly Christmas Tradition

Today’s blog is part of the Comfy Cozy Christmas, hosted by Lisa and Erin. Their blogs/websites can be found in the above graphic. By going to their sites, you will be able to read Christmas themed blogs by other participants.

I have probably mentioned in past blogs about this tradition, but have never devoted an entire blog to it. At the encouragement of one of our hosts, I am doing that now.

If you were to do a search on ‘things to do when visiting Michigan,” it is often recommended that you stop by Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland. The world’s largest Christmas store.

It truly is an amazing place. You could easily spend a few hours there finding the perfect Christmas ornament. We are lucky that we don’t live very far from there.

Our tradition was actually started by Sam before we were even dating. She and I do the same work (sleep technologist) and that’s how we met. When she graduated from the program, she bought an ornament for her tree. There are no real “sleep tech” ornaments, so she went with one that had scrubs on it.

The idea was that she wanted to have an ornament on the tree that was a reminder of the “big event” of that year. The following year was the year that she bought the home we currently live in.

Sam and I were just friends when she bought her house. Soon after, we began dating and fell in love. She changed my life and I couldn’t imagine life without her. I proposed Sweetest Day weekend while in a horse drawn carriage in Frankenmuth. She said yes less than a mile or so from Bronner’s! That year’s “event” was our engagement.

It goes without saying that when we were married a few months later, that was to be the big event of that year. There were plenty of wedding themed ornaments, but we liked this one best.

The bigger bulbs like that make it so easy for them to personalize.

Our first year of marriage brought about our first fur baby. A cat that sadly is no longer with us named Moe.

We’ve talked about getting some sort of ornament with the other pets, but each year after had bigger events. At some point I suppose we’ll get around to it…

In 2019, Sam was expecting. She was 7 months pregnant at Christmas. One of my favorite pictures is of her standing in front of the tree showing her baby bump. I just loved the “You, Me and Then Baby Makes Three” ornament.

The year 2020 brought COVID to the world. The world shut down and almost every Christmas tree had some sort of ornament that had surgical masks or toilet paper on it! For us, however, we welcomed our first child together, our daughter Ella.

I loved this ornament because they were able to put her name, birthday, weight, etc.. on it. One Christmas later, when Andrew was born, we went back and got the same ornament… In blue.

We try to go before Thanksgiving to get our yearly ornament. After that, it tends to be extremely busy at Bronner’s. When we went last year, there really hadn’t been any “big event.” We decided to get a plaque to hang on the main entry door.

After our trip to Bronner’s, tragedy struck as Sam’s sister Grace passed away. Her presence is missed daily. I decided that I wanted to do something for Sam and her parents. So I went to Bronner’s on my own and had a memorial ornament personalized with Grace’s name for both of them. Ours hangs near the top of the tree.

We’re a bit behind this year. We’ve had so many medical appointments and such with Andrew that we have yet to go to Bronner’s. I suppose the big event is getting our puppy, Daisy. I would imagine that they have some sort of ornament that will fit that event.

Sam and I will probably take our tradition and change it up a bit next year. I’d guess we’ll continue to get that one “event” ornament, but we think next year, we’ll have each kid pick out an ornament for themselves to hang on the tree. I have a feeling that will be something they will always remember.

I’d love to hear about your annual traditions!

Christmas in September

To say that the past few days have been stressful is an understatement. There have been some very good moments and I tried to just take them all in. However, something was on my mind all weekend.

I’m not going to get into detail on that. I could, but I won’t. Let me just state that it is stress related to things outside of my home life. Read into that however you wish.

At any rate, after a particularly emotional and crappy Monday that was the culmination of all the things on my mind, I needed something – anything! My Monday evening walk with the kids helped. I was out in the neighborhood, counting squirrels, saying hello to our “puppy friends” and listening to AJ babble and Ella sing.

Sam knew the weekend and Monday had taken a toll on me. She never said it was her plan, but she suggested taking a trip to Bronner’s in Frankenmuth to look for our annual “ornament hunt.” Bronner’s is “The World’s Largest Christmas Store” and I have blogged about it before. You can read about that here:

“Christmastown”

We packed the family up in the car after Sam got home and we made the short drive there. It was the perfect day to go. Tuesday morning in September. Sure, there were people there, but not the normal crowd that is there. The sounds of Christmas music were playing through the outside speakers as we walked in.

(Johnny Mathis’ version of Marshmallow World was playing as I walked in. I found myself thinking that the Dean Martin version is FAR superior to this version. As a bonus, Dean’s version played before we left!)

I hadn’t thought about it but this was Andrew’s first trip to Bronner’s. He was in awe of all the lights and him and Ella were anxious to touch everything!!

Every year, we get an ornament that marks some big event that happened in the past year. We have an engagement ornament, a marriage ornament, a mother-to-be ornament, and two “Baby’s First Christmas” ornaments. So what big event could we commemorate this year?

Neither one of us changed jobs. We didn’t get a new house or new car. Now that I think about it, the only big thing that happened this year was my vasectomy! I doubt they had an ornament for that, but then again, they have thousands of ornaments for just about every thing! They probably DO have something for that!!! Maybe I will call and ask …

Instead of an ornament, we got a snowman family plaque. You have probably seen what I am talking about. It has mom, dad, and snow-kids.

The one above is not the one we got, but it is similar. So we had them put our family name on it and then each of the snow kids had their name written on them. It came out really cute and we’ll either put it on the mantel or hang it on the main entry door.

Next year, Sam has said that she wants the kids to go and each pick out their own ornaments. I think that is a great idea and a good way to make it a tradition. We want them to have that experience and then every year when the holiday rolls around, they can look back on the ornaments and relive memories.

The kids were both getting a bit antsy, so as soon as the plaque was personalized, we headed out. We stopped for photo ops and walked outside. As we exited the building, there was a huge Santa Claus. Andrew saw it and began to point to it. It was a perfect (and frame worthy) photo.

It was just want I needed to get my mind off all that transpired over the past few days. A welcome distraction with those that I love.

One thing is for sure. Despite all the feelings that are churning around inside me, especially as I think about things, I think on the reasons why I keep going. The people who mean the most to me. I think of my wife and her never ending support and love. I think of my two older sons, and of course, the two little blessings who accompanied me on our trip to “Christmas in September” …

THEY are why I continue to do what I do. THEY are the reason I need to focus on getting healthy. THEY are the reason I am happy.

“Mama’s Got a Squeezebox…”

It wasn’t until I was working at B-95 that I discovered National Accordion Awareness Month. My buddy Tim and I would get together quite often and think of bits we could write and produce to play during our radio shows. We came up with some really funny stuff.

It was mid-May and we were writing stuff for June. I am pretty sure that it was Tim who told me about it. I don’t recall who came up with the idea, but we produced this little sweeper to play in between songs. It was the silliest thing, but it always made me laugh. It basically went like this:

The song playing on the air ends. Then the announcer says, “B-95 reminds you that June is National Accordion Awareness Month! Here’s an Accordion Awareness Month Update!” Then we’d insert 10-15 seconds of some ridiculous accordion clip which was followed again by the announcer. “Keep it here all month long for more Accordion Awareness Month Updates – on B-95!” Then the next song would play. It was so out of place and so funny to me. I used this bit for years even taking it to other stations.

According to the National Day Calendar Website:

Through a complex construction of bellows and reeds, the accordion (also known as a concertina) produces its mournful timbre when air is forced over the reeds. While the accordion accompanies traditional polka music, the instrument has found its way into many classical and modern works of music.

For generations the accordion complimented many genres in American music. From jazz and zydeco to folk and Gospel and Blues, musicians found the accordion a fit a variety of musical styles.

The instrument changed, too. Manufactured in several different sizes, the smaller squeeze boxes became popular. The accordion fit well into country music, and when Rock and Roll made the scene, the accordion followed. Today, the instrument is no stranger to the recording studio.

Musicians such as Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, and Mumford and Sons all have recorded hit songs with the accordion playing a supporting role.

In honor of the occasion, here are some of my favorite accordion players:

The other accordion playing Yankovic – Frankie

Lawrence Welk – orchestra leader and accordion player

The fantastic Linda Lee, who can be seen at the Bavarian Inn in Frankenmuth, MI!

Happy National Accordion Awareness Month! Squeeze This!!

Twas The Weekend Before Christmas …

Three more days until Christmas. I don’t even know where the time has gone, but the holiday is FAST approaching! This past weekend I was pretty busy, and at the same time there were plenty of wonderful family moments together.

After working four days and coming home, I feel like the kids have grown and are doing things that they weren’t just a day before. I’m not sure if it is the fact that he recognized my voice or my face, but AJ was smiling and babbling so much this weekend. Those baby smiles are exactly what I needed this weekend.

Saturday night, Ella and I were playing on the floor and Sam reminded me that I’d wanted to build a “fort.” So I pulled two chairs together and grabbed a comforter and tossed it over the chairs – instant “fort.” As a kid, I used to love when we’d sit in the fort and read books. Ella loved coming in … and going out. She was in and out and in and out. Believe me, it wasn’t easy to get her to stay still long enough to take a selfie…

This weekend we gave both kids a bath. Sam grabbed Ella and AJ’s bear PJ’s and gathered them up to read….

What book did we read first?? Well, of course, it had to be….

On Sunday, we placed a Meijer order for groceries. On Christmas Eve, it’s sort of been a tradition to have ravioli for dinner. Grandma always made them, and it is a tradition that I have tried to keep going. I refuse to use sauce in a jar for the holidays, so I made a list of everything I needed and spent the afternoon making sauce.

If you are new to this blog, let me explain. I have been trying to duplicate my grandma’s sauce for years. I have gotten close to doing so, and I have yet to master it. In doing so, I have kind of come up with my own sauce. I don’t tweak too much every time, because I don’t want to mess it up too much. This time around, there may be just a tad too much wine in it. Oh well….I will make a note of it and try again ….

While the sauce was cooking, Sam gathered up all the presents to wrap them as Ella took her afternoon nap. It’s always interesting to divide up the gifts. Ella and AJ will get TWO Christmases. We wake up Christmas Eve morning with my sons and open gifts, and then we wake up Christmas morning and open more. Sam bought some two sided wrapping paper from Sam’s Club. Being the smart woman that she is, she wrapped the gifts to open on Christmas Eve with one side and the Christmas Day gifts with the other side. She is brilliant!

After the sauce had simmered about 6 hours, Sam and I decided we’d take a short trip up to Frankenmuth to drive through town and look at Christmas lights. We put on the Christmas station, loaded the kids, and went for our drive. When the kids are a bit older, we want to go and just walk around town. We will definitely pile the kids into one of the horse drawn carriages and ride around town! For now, we just drove around.

We stopped at Bronner’s, which had all their lights outside lit up and it’s always neat to just drive through the parking lot. We weren’t the only ones who were doing it either. They have plenty of things around the parking lot that can be good for picture taking. I was afraid that Ella might run into the road/driveway that was by some of those, so instead, we went to a few that were well inside the lot. She loved it!

We had a feeling that winter time was going to drive Ella crazy! She loves to be outside. There is only so much that she can do in our house. We’ve been trying to limit her TV/Screen time, so she’s getting bored. Before I laid down for a nap before work, we grabbed her boots and coat and we went for a short walk around the neighborhood.

There is still a little bit of snow on the ground, but it will more than likely be gone by Christmas. We left without her gloves, so her hands got cold when she was picking up the snow. As we walked, she realized that we were at the house where her hound dog friend is usually outside during the summer. She kept asking where the doggy was, and I had to tell her it was probably too cold for her friend to be outside.

I was really surprised that she remembered the house!

When we got home, her hands and nose was a bit chilly, but she warmed up quick as mommy had lunch ready for her when we arrived.

There was a knock on the side door before I headed off to bed. The UPS man brought the kids a package from my brother. He had told me to watch for it. Inside were pajamas for AJ and a HUGE Daisy Duck stuffed animal for Ella. I had called him a week or so ago and told him that she was all about Daisy. She was so surprised when she saw it. I wish I had gotten pictures of her initial reaction. She had hands over her eyes and was so surprised. Then she grabbed it and hugged it!

It really was the cutest thing!!!

HA! I just looked at that picture and in it, you can totally see how I messed up hanging the stockings! Last year, we had 5 (Me, Sam, Dante’ Dimitri, and Ella). This year we added the small “My First Christmas” stocking for AJ. I use those 3M hooks to hang the socks. Somehow, I marked off 7 spots instead of 6, so there are three on one side of the fireplace and three on the other and a big space in the middle. URGH. I must have looked at it 5 times before I actually attached the hooks, but I never realized there were 7 spots! THAT is why I rarely build anything from scratch …

3 more days …. I’m looking forward to the holiday….

Gearing Up For The Holidays

I feel like I haven’t really blogged about “life” lately. I kinda feel like I haven’t really even had a minute to sit down and write. Between wacky schedules at work and an even wackier sleep schedule, writing has been a challenge. So here are some highlights from the past couple weeks….

Right after Halloween, Sirius XM radio launched a bunch of their holiday channels and the Christmas music was readily available.

I took advantage of a rare 60 degree November day and put up the outside Christmas lights. I know, I know, people think I am rushing the season. The truth is, I don’t like putting them up in the cold. They have been up for a couple weeks now, and the only time I have turned them on is to make sure they looked ok.

The side porch takes the most lights. I always check the strands before stringing them up to make sure they work. For some reason, one of the strands had a cluster of lights in the middle that didn’t light up. Both ends lit up, but not the ones in the middle. I went through and tested bulbs, but couldn’t find the problem. So I put them up anyway! I just made sure the unlit portion of the lights was covered by lights I knew worked!

We don’t do much to the front porch, though I’d like to. I got razzed about how I didn’t get up and string lights on the roof by some friends. I’ve never been a fan of heights, so, these are the highest my lights will go. Besides, I only have a three step ladder!

Baby Milestone

AJ celebrated being one month old a week or so ago. It is amazing to come home from work and see just how different he looks to me after only one day! He is much more alert and his sister just loves him! He is starting to take notice of a lot of things around him. Recently he discovered the mobile on his swing.

Holiday Tradition

Every year, we take a trip up the Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth (“The World’s Largest Christmas Store”) and get an ornament for the Christmas tree that represents a big event from the past year. Sam and I have one for our engagement, our first Christmas as husband and wife, when Sam was pregnant with Ella, Ella’s first Christmas, and now we needed to go and get one for AJ’s first Christmas.

Obviously, life at our house is pretty crazy with two little ones. We had planned to all go to Bronner’s as a family day trip. AJ was napping and Sam suggested that Ella and I go, since we knew exactly what we wanted. There is an ornament that is exactly like Ella’s except it is blue for a baby boy.

Finding the ornament took all of 5 minutes. The line to get it personalized was long and we stood in line for almost 30 minutes (Thank goodness I had the PBS app on my phone, so Ella didn’t lose her mind waiting!). I had pictures of Ella’s ornament and how they did hers, and we wanted AJ’s to be done the same way. Ella and I walked around a little bit while they worked on the ornament. There are plenty of photo ops throughout the store and outside.

It was close to lunch time, so we snapped a couple pictures, picked up the ornament, and drove home. I hope to be able to take a drive up there one night when the lights are all lit up and grab a couple pictures.

Later that day, I took advantage of nap time and brought the tree up from downstairs. We’ve been trying to decide where to put it this year. We’ve moved everything around in our living room two or three times due to the addition of Ella toys or furniture, so it was unclear where it would go. There is a little nook in our living room where we had moved a lot of her toys, easel, toybox, etc…. We decided to find somewhere else for those things and that the tree should go there.

So, the tree is up and the lights are on it. However, we will decorate it this weekend or next weekend. I did have some help with the lights as I put it up …

…and, of course, little brother had to get into the act …

I’m excited for the holidays this year. Ella is at the perfect age for unwrapping presents! It is going to be a fun holiday season ….

A Wave I Want NO Part Of (and other thoughts)

The Beach Boys sang the surfing hit “Catch a Wave” back in 1963. They were the kings of “surf rock” and their songs had a “happy” sound that made you wanna grab a surf board and head to the beach. Today, when we talk about waves, it has nothing to do with surfing. The wave I don’t want to catch is the second wave of Covid-19!

Covid-19 – Wave #2

Less than a week ago, I blogged about some co-workers and a former co-worker who all contracted Covid-19. The consensus among them all was that it was awful. One said they “wouldn’t wish this on their worst enemy!” The day after I posted that blog, we found our neighbor had it. He informed me today that his wife also has tested positive. One of the symptoms is a loss of taste or smell. He developed something weird – he says that all he can smell is cigarette smoke and that he has a burning in his nose and throat.

Yesterday, I found out the pastor who teaches my classes tested positive for Covid. He was actually in the hospital and was given what the doctor called “The Trump Treatment.” He was released from the hospital and said he was resting in his “man cave” in the basement isolated from his wife. He said that it was very fatiguing. The thing that he said bothered him the most was that his eyes bothered him when he read. For a pastor who loves to read, he found that most annoying. He posted on his Facebook today that his wife has also tested positive for Covid. He joked, “Well, at least we can hold hands again!”

Our Governor had a press conference last night stating that cases were rising again. Some things were shut down again, while some things remain open and will be reevaluated in three weeks. Hospitals are filling up fast and it looks like we are in the middle of the second wave. I am half expecting our lab to shut down again, which will not be good for us. We can’t live off unemployment and I’m not sure I can mentally handle the stress of being in a Labor Pool again!

I pray that we get past this sooner than later.

Our Ella

I can’t end this blog on a sour note, so I thought I’d share a few pictures from the weekend.

My wife comes up with the some of the coolest ideas for pictures. We were putting up the tree and had most of the lights on it. She ran to Ella’s room and grabbed the “First Christmas” blanket, and set her down with a strand of lights. It took a few shots, but this one came out pretty cool. I wish I had the app that lets you keep some color and put some of the picture in black and white. I just love the way that picture came out!

I mentioned last week that we had gone to Bronner’s in Frankenmuth to get Ella’s ornament. It made it on the tree, appropriately right next to the ornament Grandma Rose gave us (the baby shoes) when we mentioned we were having a girl.

Ella loves when we read her books. Sam got some books for free with rewards points and such on Amazon this week, so I read them to her last night before bed. They were still on the couch this morning when Sam came home from work. Sam started reading them to her. Realizing this was a moment I wanted to catch on film, I grabbed my phone and caught this amazing photo –

The book is called “Your Baby’s First Word Will Be Dada” by Jimmy Fallon. I love those two with all that I am! This picture fills my heart with such joy.

Thanks for reading! Stay Safe!! Avoid the “wave”!

Wednesday Worries and Thoughts

Covid-19

Am I the only one that starts to freak out if I get one of the symptoms related to Covid-19?!! Monday, I got one of the symptoms (I will refrain from saying which one, but I visited the bathroom often), and my first thought was “Please don’t let this be Covid!” I called in to work on Tuesday, and around the time we normally punch in, a co-worker texted me with one word: “Covid??” I told her I was freaking out about it, and she told me when she had a cough recently, she was doing the same thing! Needless to say, I didn’t have a fever, I was able to taste and smell coffee, and have recovered.

Recently, a co-worker from another lab, a former co-worker, and a co-worker from one of the radio stations I work at were all diagnosed with Covid. One of them works from home, so how she got it is anybody’s guess. My neighbor (who had asked earlier in the week if he could borrow my lawnmower – but never did) texted this morning to say he just got a positive Covid test. I hope he keeps it down at his house!

Looks like this is gonna be around for a while longer ….

Classes

Over the past few months, I have been reviewing an entire year of Bible classes that I took years ago. I am finally in the finally weeks of the last semester of that year. Once I finish reviewing those, I will enter the first semester of the second year, which is where I left off. I am beyond excited to continue these classes. I have found the time in God’s Word to be exactly what I needed. Reviewing the classes is taking time, and I am glad that I chose to review instead of jumping right back into the classes where I left off. There was so much information that I had forgotten, yet so much information that I remembered.

I’ve also found myself watching live streams of church services on Sundays when the baby naps. I am lucky to have met many pastors through Bible conferences, and other believers through mutual friends on Facebook. Many of their messages have been applicable to my daily life and have been helpful to me. It’s been a while, but I am glad to see some growth in my spiritual life.

9 Months!

Ella turned 9 months old on Tuesday. It’s hard to put into words just how much we adore her. With each new day, it seems she’s doing something new! She’s got 6 teeth, crawling, standing, and will be walking in no time. It’s already a challenge keeping up with her! LOL. If you look at her and pucker up like you are going to kiss her, she will lean in and give you a kiss. It’s my new favorite thing that she does!!

Every year, we head to Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth and get a new ornament for the Christmas tree. We got one when we got engaged, we got one when we got married, we got one last year when we were expecting, and this year it was “Baby’s First Christmas.” I think that we’ll be putting up the tree this weekend. I can’t wait to tell her the story of her first visit to the store.

Incidentally, for those of you who don’t live in Michigan, this week was a great example of how we experience more than one season in a short time. We had great weather last week and right up to Tuesday (it was almost 80!). This morning, it was about 45 degrees and windy (which made it feel a whole lot colder). You’ll notice Ella wearing her warm sweats this morning in the picture below!

She was a bit tired as we walked through the store. We knew exactly what we needed, so we were in and out. The place was a zoo! We were thinking, “Who goes to Frankenmuth at 10am on a Wednesday?!” Obviously, a lot of people! Anyway, we had to document her first visit there…

Veteran’s Day

Lastly, I wanted to say thank you to all of my readers who have served in the armed forces! Whenever I am out anywhere and see someone wearing a hat that says “Veteran” or a branch of the military, I always say “Thank you.” I know that the freedoms we love in this country came at a cost. I thank every man and woman who have proudly wore the uniform and served out country. I am especially grateful to my dad (on the left) who served in the army , and my Uncle Tom (on the right) who served in the navy. They both served during the Vietnam War.

Thanks for reading!