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So Good

God is so good to us! We are so lucky to have a God that cares and gives us so many blessings! Yesterday, we went fishing. God provided so much for us. The beauty of Northern Michigan, fish and vegetables to sustain.

Our catch!
Sunrise
Praying Mantis. I find them rather interesting. Even insects pray to their Creator.

A couple years ago, it was so hard to get canning lids. I purchased some online and they have not proved to be good quality. Last night, while processing tomatoes, I was removing a jar that had one of those lids. When I placed it on the counter, the lid blew off!! 😳 Boiling tomatoes came out of that jar with such force!! All over the counter, walls, appliances, floor and unfortunately, on my hand and lower arm. I immediately rinsed off the tomatoes with cold water and applied lavender oil. I kept a bag of frozen corn on it for awhile. It was quite painful. This morning, the pain is gone and I have just a few areas where I missed putting lavender oil on that have blistered. I am so thankful that I had lavender oil on hand. Lucky!!!

Despite this mishap, I feel so lucky and blessed for God’s provision and that I didn’t have my face down there!

One thing I find interesting, is that I never felt I had anything in common with my grandmother. This year, as I ponder things… I find that we do have some similarities.

When I was 10 years old, my grandmother slipped on a rug and fell into her bathroom. Our dog, “Lucky” snuggled up to her all night keeping her warm in the old farm house. In the morning, she crawled across the large farmhouse kitchen and pulled herself up the refrigerator where the phone was kept on top to call us for help. She had broken her hip. Similarly, when I fell in our driveway, I crawled to our shed and pulled myself up the upright freezer and I also had broken my hip.

My grandmother always had a brown spot on her cheek. When asked about it, she claimed that a pressure cooker blew up in her face while canning. Her face was burned but she applied a Swedish liniment that she called Pitsi and the brown spot was an area that she had missed. Hmm. Similar! In any case, we have much to be thankful for.

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Leonard likes to “scrap”. Due to the fact that I am more of a “I’m sure you can find a use for that” person. It is a bit of an annoyance to me, as we travel around the area, he is always scouring the side of the road for items to take apart. Yet,as God’s hand is on us through it all, we have “lucky” moments of blessing. This last week for example, there were appliances on the side of the road. Of course, these were too large to fit in our little SUV, so with that in mind, Leonard headed home in record speed to get our pickup. He found me some gloves, so that I could help him. This caused me much anxiety as I talked to the Lord silently. Is it long enough after my surgery to be lifting such items? Lord, this is not what I had in mind today. We pulled up to the appliances on the side of the road and as I was putting the gloves on…a man, came driving up and asked if he could have the kitchen range. He said his mother-in-law’s had broken. He called his mother-in-law, and it seems that she had already bought a new one. Even so, this man offered to help Leonard load the appliances! What? Really? Thank you, Lord for orchestrating this man to come to my rescue. A positive side of scrapping occurred on Labor Day. We were on a leisurely Monday drive and one of the summer residents was putting out some patio chairs and a patio umbrella (our current umbrella was broken). This time, it was a “good find” and not something to be taken apart. I am thankful to the Lord for His provision.

Leonard with the “new” umbrella and patio chairs. He’s pretty excited!

Another “lucky” fishing adventure.

My long-time friend, Chris asked myself and seven other ladies to do a study of this book

Our conversations were only via group text messaging. I only knew my friend and another friend that participated. This last weekend, I had the pleasure of meeting three of those ladies for a picnic at one of their beautiful homes. I feel so lucky to have met these women and the opportunity to visit with my two long time friends. It was so enjoyable.

Another blessing that I find interesting is that Leonard will on occasion, pick some wildflowers and put them in a vase. He knows that I like daisies. Even though, these are not daisies, they put you in mind of them.

As I notice God’s blessings everyday, I will always claim that.. We certainly are the Lucky Ones!

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Moments in Time

Some moments in time to bring joy to my heart. Over the last few weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of some enjoyable moments, from nature…

To family and friends…

Ladies get together
Cousins meet at Elk Rapids
My sister-in-law’s birthday picnic ❤️
Isaac in Petoskey
Andrew and Lucas hoolahooping at the Farmers Market
Hyunjin hoolahooping
Tree climbing

To my daughter sharing this pic of this car with me because I like Smiley Faces.

Yes, we are the lucky ones to have friends, family and beautiful landscapes to enjoy!

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Who Would Have Thought

Who would have thought that in my elder years that I would become a fisherwoman??? !!! And yet, that seems to be what I have become.

God provides! Leonard has been title-ing me, “The Perch Whisperer”.That is so funny! Yes, we continue to be the Lucky Ones!

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Thank you, Jesus

We have gone fishing a little in the last few weeks. Other than a couple small pan fish, we have gotten “skunked”.

Before dinner each night, we hold each other’s hand and I thank God for this day and for providing. Last night, Leonard added to my prayer and asked for Him to provide fish.

Later in the evening, we went fishing. I wish I could have captured it on video as the fish gave a noble and lively fight, but I was busy getting the net to scoop up Leonard’s opponents.

First thing that came out of his mouth was, “THANK YOU, JESUS!” and same thing with the second one. When we got home, he stated,” I know I’ve already said it, but “THANK YOU, JESUS!!!”

He was so excited!

We ARE the lucky ones, for our God cares about us so much! When we get discouraged, He lifts us up and He cares for even the smallest things in our lives.

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Number forty-two

Yesterday, was our forty-second anniversary. In the last few years, we have gone somewhere for a few days to celebrate. Although, due to having therapy, we could not do the same this year. Even though we didn’t do anything exciting, I feel most lucky this year. It seems that it is during hard times that draw us together more than the good times. It is the same with God. We tend to take those closest to us for granted until something major happens, as we do with God. God has sustained me for many years and am so grateful for His hand in my life. He has shown me so much mercy. At times, I wondered if I married the right person, we are so different. God in His mercy, prepared for me the perfect mate to make us one. We went out for an enjoyable lunch, a walk on the boardwalk in East Jordan and in the evening, my sister-in-law asked me to come to her aid with help with her computer. Yes, not very exciting, but all we did, we did together. Isn’t that what marriage is about? Forging out this life together? I like to take a pic on our anniversary every year. This year, it was no different..we were not dressed up-just time together. Below, is the pic my sister-in-law took of us.

As for my doctor’s appointment, even though the doc said that I was progressing ahead of schedule, he advised that I stay off work another month. He said that it would be 6 months before I can be off many restrictions. I had felt that I needed another week or so, and yet,I feel a bit guilty for staying off work so long, yet this has been such a hard break, I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize my health and recovery. Hearing him explain all that he did and how he had to reconstruct without seeing what I looked like before was eye opening. I bet that if I would have insisted on going back to work, he would have let me, but I am following his lead on this. One exciting thing is that he said that if Leonard tested my reflexes as to whether I could stop quick while driving, I could drive again. We tested them on a road that did not have any traffic, and I did fine! Yay, I can drive! A bit of resumed independence!

Also, this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKIt5e2e498 helped me resume another bit of independence with the aid of my grabber/reach -er. You just never realize all the muscles and bones you use to do simple tasks.

Leonard took a pic of my x-ray which shows my new parts in the pic below.

Yes, we definitely are the Lucky Ones!

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We Truly Are the Lucky Ones!

God willing, next month will be Leonard and my 42nd wedding anniversary. Through those years, I have to admit that at times, I really did not have a good attitude with the person whom I decided to spend my life with. I’ve made a lot of mistakes and due to my sensitive nature, have often been hurt by what I persevered as lack of care or love or wherever. As with everything in life, there have been highs and lows. Yet, I am fortunate that Leonard has had the same determination to stick it out through thick or thin. This recent what I’ll call “low” in our life of my falling and breaking my hip and the journey of regaining what was lost, has taught me a few things. Even though, at times in the past, I have doubted it… Leonard really does love me! He has been encouraging me when I try to work at getting my body to do what I want. That’s not to say, that sometimes, because of my moodiness of not being where I want to be, have I thought that he was being as attentive as he could be. Yet, he has. I think with everything, you have to have a positive outlook. Try as I might, that’s not always the case. I know this has been hard on Leonard, too and yet, he has been encouraging me and bragging me up on any slight progress that I’ve made. When you leave things to the Lord, he just makes everything turn out right.

Ever since, I had my accident, I have been showered with well wishes, dinners, texts,encouragement, visits. How lucky is that!? I have been so lucky to know an assortment of lovely people in my lifetime. The photo below, are cards I have received, each with their own story of why they are special to me. A representation of the kindness of people. Every time, I look at these cards, I reflect on each person and their uniqueness and how much their friendship means to me.

Yesterday, I turned 63! What??? As I’ve stated before, I love smiley faces and daisies with a little Snoopy thrown in.. 🙂

Birthday gift from Brian, Hyunjin, Andy and Luke. I love it!

My day started out, with a text from a sweet lady from church, then text and call from my brother,Nels. Followed by a visit from my dear friend, Chris. A visit from my cousin, Susi and in the afternoon, my daughter, Tina and grandson, Isaac came to visit and she took us out to dinner to Cafe Sante! She also, bought me a paint by number canvas and I am excited to try my hand at it. My brother Carl and sister-in-law, Cindie left me a voice mail singing Happy Birthday and said they would visit today. Along, with that, I received many birthday cards which I cherish each one.

I don’t deserve to be so lucky… but, here I am! Leonard, has extended an offer for a celebratory dance when I recover! 🙂

These two are so fun to go anywhere with…

As parents, when we are young and raising our kids, we wonder if we are doing things right or not. I do not believe my kids are who they are by my parenting. I believe they are who they are by how God designed them. I am so lucky that God, in His infinite wisdom, designed my kids to give me what I need to live a positive life. Of course, He didn’t create them this way, just for me. He also created them this way, for all the lives they would touch in their lifetime. Tina, with her drive and determination and her fun loving and caring personality, brings me much joy. Brian, has much discipline and drive, that causes me to try and extend myself.His care and concern and encouragement and fun personality blesses my heart.

I am truly, truly one of the lucky ones!

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Never say Never!

I have all my life stated that I would not venture out on a frozen lake. I’ve seen all the devastating shows of people falling through the ice and being trapped. I have to tell you, that doesn’t sound like my cup of tea…

And yet, today I went beyond my comfort zone and went ice fishing with Leonard. It wasn’t TOO bad.

Once we got the shelter up, we were able to see clearly to the bottom. We didn’t catch any but we were lucky enough to see a big trout through the hole. I guess he wasn’t hungry or just too smart.

Also got to video chat while in the shelter with our grandsons. 🥰

In conclusion, we were once again lucky. (Lucky we didn’t fall through the ice!)

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Lucky!

I have always felt fortunate from the time he drew his first breath. This sentiment continues today.

Happy Birthday to my son, Brian. We are so lucky!