Giving Thanks

We GIVE THANKS TO GOD for the family and friends who continue to bless our lives! These are just a few of those we've enjoyed time with during the past two weeks:

Sunday breakfast friends
Stan & Carrie, Ann & Cal

Coffee with my niece Margie and her friend
(plus Beckie who took the pic :)

Sophie loves Ernie

Abby loves to dance!

Anna showed the kids the science lab her Hope students experimented with - they were fascinated with the 'memory wire'!

Noah did it over and over and over...

We love seeing sweet Amelia (and Laura and Ben, of course) on the computer!

Amelia shares her snack with Elmo :)

Bill went to the Thanksgiving feast at school for Abby, Sophie, and Noah. The kids love having Grandpa available during the day!

Noah's feast :)

Abby

Our Michigan 'fam' came for supper on Thanksgiving Day. Ty left before the picture was taken - I know he'll be sorry about that....

What a WONDERFUL bunch!

We enjoyed supper out with friends Tom & Kathy and their daughter Sarah - always great!


We love spending Sunday evenings with Steve and Lynn. It's great to see Zac more often now that he's finished with his college studies. Here's a pic of Tori decorating their Christmas tree:

Tori has become a great knitter! She made a beautiful scarf for Lynn
and is now working on arm warmers for herself.

An update on my Mom: the lumpectomy is behind her and we are very thankful that no lymph nodes were involved! There is no indication that the cancer has spread but, as a precaution, she will have with some radiation treatments after their visit to Michigan for our family Christmas celebration. Thanks for your continued prayers that the cancer has been completely eradicated.

Joys

Just a few pics of some of my favorite people, taken in the last week.....


Mary, my beloved sister-in-law, celebrated her 60th birthday! Her kids threw her a great surprise party, decorated with Mary's favorite things - beautiful flowers and lots of candles.

Ron and Mary

Amelia calling Grandpa via Skype :)

We celebrated Jacque's birthday with dinner and dessert. After our traditional toast, she shared the key lime pie :)

What a gift she is to me!

Joey and I were fishing a 'foreign substance' out of his coffee :)

Last night we spent lots of time with John and Jo, first at dinner and later at our favorite coffee spot - perfect! Such great friends they are!



We hung my birthday gift from Tom and Anna and kids over the fireplace on the porch - it's absolutely perfect! I know the Bible verses about 'earthly treasures', but......


Tori wants to earn some money, so she did some baking for us. She made the MOST delicious 'gooey fudge brownies' - yummy!!!


Tori is working on her Michigan project for school. She's creating a miniature version of Oxbow campground where her family spends a lot of time during the summer. She's now in the process of painting all the little trailers and she will later add the river and docks - just great!

May you always be encircled by family and friends
who add joy to your life!

Some Things Should Never Change

Miscellaneous pics from the last two weeks:

The young children at church are prayer partners for my beloved 'old folks' at Joy Club. The kids made these great treats for us to enjoy at our Bible study. What a great treat!



Our friends are priceless!

Sunday brunch friends

Great time w/ great friends at Pete's

21st annual birthday lunch with my friend Rachel


Our dearest and best, who treated us to dinner for my birthday :)

A fun and yummy dessert - a tradition at every dinner with Dick and Jacque :)

Lyda celebrated her 80th birthday.
Love that woman!

Ali and Gerrit - friends since forever

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my family!

Tori's new hat :)

Amelia caught our kisses on her cheek - all the way in California :)

Sisters!

I promised Rick I'd post this one......


Lunch w/ Margie and Beckie :)

We had a great time with Abby, Sophie, and Noah at their school's Halloween party! These pictures include some fun at home, too :)

Steve and Lynn had our family over for a birthday dinner for Steve and me. Steve is now 39 years old - hard to believe. What a great, fun guy he is - we are SO proud of him!

Steve and his goddaughter Sophie

Opening gifts from Steve and Lynn

Tom and Anna and their kids made an incredible gift for my 60th birthday - a mirror with tiles that they painted and decorated with 60 reasons to smile :)

Do you think I liked it?

A close-up view - wish you could see and read all of the tiles.
They include funny comments, things I enjoy, and people I love.
All are meaningful and they DO make me smile :)
THANK YOU, TOM & ANNA and ABBY, SOPHIE, and NOAH!!

These pictures were taken when I spent a day downtown with my sisters, enjoying the Art Prize entries. One of the locales was the beautiful Ryerson Library where I spent hour after hour when I was in junior high and high school - before the days of local libraries and the Internet.....

This is the very room where I worked on research projects. The tables and bookshelves look exactly the way they did in the '60s. It's wonderful that it hasn't changed a bit!

One thing that will never change -
my family and friends will always be my greatest blessings!