Jan. 6-11, 2020 Grace Classes and Bible Study Classes Resume, Flu, Chicken Coop Repair

Jan. 6-11, 2020 

Grace Classes and Bible Study Classes Resume, Flu, Chicken Coop Repair

Grand Rapids is a very wet, high precipitation area and moss/lichen seems to shine year-round!  

 Hello, Friends!

The "Holidays" are officially over and we all have to get back to our studies.  Dd spent the last days leading up to her classes trying to get her homework done; she had somehow failed to tell me she had homework over break!!!  I had no idea or I would have really pushed her to not wait until the last minute.

Flooring/ Stairs:

You might remember back in August we started putting down hardwood flooring, but we had to stop so Dh could figure out the connection between the stairs going to the basement and the hallway on our main floor.  This week Dh has been removing one or two treads on some evenings.  One tread (step) had 27 nails that he had to pull out to get the step off!!!  We will be using a few strong and dependable screws when we put down the new treads!  Nails are a poor choice in this situation and has caused Dh hour after hour of extra work.  We are testing different finishing options and trying to decide which finish will be the least slick...don't want to fall down our stairs.  We will be replacing the old painted particle board with red oak treads.  We will put our hardwood flooring on the landings; we have lots of it leftover from the early job.

North Trail Association: Accountability

I'm putting this up to encourage myself to follow-through with this goal I have.  We have a local office for hiking Michigan parks on our local Main Street.  I've wanted to walk in there for over four years and finally accomplished that goal this week.  I got the information on how to get hooked up with a group to hike with; potentially, that is.  I talked with the receptionist and she gave me a contact and some websites to check out...now to do that and hopefully, it won't take me another four years to do it!  Maybe before February?  I'm trying to stretch myself out of my comfort zones and meet more people like me.  My absolute favorite thing is hiking and I'd like to do it more often and in new places.

1) Bible Studies: Thrive with Ada Bible Church:

On Monday, the Thrive group started back up and we were introduced to our new leader.  Our first leader was having some troubles and asked for a substitute to take over for December, and then after the month decided to back-down and ask for a permanent replacement and we now have our THIRD leader!  I've really, really enjoyed this first book; I actually finished all the lessons although we still have two weeks of classes with it.

An Unexplainable Life: Recovering the Wonder and Devotion of the Early Church by Erica Wiggenhorn

Henry on a hike

2) Bible Studies: Bible Study Fellowship:

Wednesday morning re-started our study on Acts and Letters of the Apostles curriculum.  I've learned a lot from these materials and so approach the 'whole-bible' approach this study uses.  I am constantly flipping back and forth throughout my bible in every lesson.  I just wish I would have clicked with the women in the group better, but I don't think that is going to happen.  But, academic growth is outstanding.

Flu:

This was my week for the flu, at the start of it...as it isn't one to quickly move on!  Dh was hit in December so I guess I was over-due.  

Furnace: 

Dh hasn't been able to get the furnace working...trying to figure it out.

Hiking Henry:

We actually had sunshine on Monday and our hike was especially nice.

Chickens:

We had some nice days this week---sunshine and 30-degree weather, so the chickens were able to free-range most days this week.  I really make it a priority to get them out and let them scratch in the woods and find bugs and greens for their health.  I also took advantage of the nice weather to do repairs on the coop---the plastic I have on one wall hasn't done well, I've fixed it repeatedly.  This time I put plastic on the other side of the fence too and leaned two pallets against it as well.  I hope this final repair will be the last for this winter.

Dd's Academic Progress This Week:

Bible:

Church with Seth at Ada

Youth Program at South Boston 

Independent Bible Study--a book Heather gave her on Proverbs

Reader:

A Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Franke

Read Aloud:

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Art:

Besides her art class, Dd has been doing watercolors at home.

Music:

Tuesday: 40 minutes on Violin and Flute

Thursday: 40 minutes on Violin and Piano

Grace Co-op Classes:
Science: Anatomy and Physiology  (Apologia)

Art: Painting Studio

History: American Civil War

Writing/English: Analytical Writing for Essays and Research Papers (IEW)

Math:

Tutor for Algebra II (Saxon)

Work/Job:

Pizza Shop job is going well!

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Dec. 29, 2019 to Jan. 4, 2020 Return from Indiana, New Years, Snow and -7 degrees, Dresser Handles, Yoga Class

Dec. 29, 2019, to Jan. 4, 2020 

Return from Indiana, New Years, Snow and -7 degrees, Dresser Handles, Yoga Class

This is Henry being an obedient dog; which he really is...

  

But, what you don't see...is that when he isn't being patient with me he is running like a squirrel on fire!  Lightning!

Hello, Friends!

We had enjoyed our Christmas party, with Dh's family in Indiana, on Saturday, but on Sunday morning we had to wrap up our visit to the farm and head back up to Michigan.  The family got to meet Henry (our dog) and Seth (Dd's first boyfriend)...both guys were accepted in immediately, though Henry was hugged a lot more!!!

The past few months have been awesome for our usual daily hikes in the backwoods.  I love this time of year; hiking with Henry and refilling our cups!  The burrs are about gone, as are the fleas and most ticks...and we just love hiking together as often as possible!

Weighted Blanket:

This year seems to be the Year Of The Weighted Blanket!  At the Xmas party, the two youngest nieces each received their own weighted blanket and Grandma Giz got one too!  Dd liked it so much she ordered herself one before we had even left the party.  Her blanket arrived this week and she is also loving it!  It was fun to see the big trend coming to our little family!

Snow:

We finally get out the snowblower for the first time this winter.  It was so cold and we had about 7 inches.  The snow in the woods is always so beautiful, but it does make you worry about a tree falling on the electric lines.

Dresser:

A few years ago I found a nice solid wood dresser at our local thrift store, but it doesn't have any hardware to open the drawers.  They built in wooden decorative molding that is supposed to be your 'handles,' but you have to use both hands to open a drawer.  I found some pretty brass handles at our thrift store about 6 months ago and I finally took the time to sit down and measure how to put in each of the handles for the six drawers.  The extra bonus was I used my Christmas presents to do it...my new cordless drill and bits.  Bonus, now I can open my dresser with one hand!

Carpal Tunnel Left Hand:

This week marked a month since my surgery.  My hand is healing, but there is so much more pain than I thought there would be.  My right hand seemed to have less pain and heal faster, but I also rested it more.  My patience for not using my hands is long gone!  

Can you see the round dark thing in the very middle of the picture?  It's a hornet's nest from last summer---I've enjoyed watching it disintegrate over the winter.

New Year's Party:

I was SO pleasantly surprised that Dd and Seth were able to do our traditional party---sparkling cider with a round-table of what we were thankful this year until we had finished off the two bottles.    Up until this week, Seth hasn't been able to come to our house.  He works for a chicken company---they have thousands of chickens laying eggs and they sell the eggs.  There is some weird rule where they are totally not allowed to go onto any property with other chickens because they could pick up some bacteria or germ and that could infect their chickens and chaos...  It has been so hard not having our house be a place where they could visit each other and I get the chance to get to know him better. I brought out our brass thing with the angels circling above the heat from the four candles below---the same kind my grandmother celebrated New Year's with us.  It's important to keep up traditions.

Close-Up of the hornet's nest

Yoga Class:

So, I've been doing yoga and Pilates since the birth of my daughter---almost 18 years ago!  I've never gone to a class before, I just like doing my workouts at home.  But, our library is having a yoga teacher come and offer a free class on Saturday morning and I went this week.  I'd been waiting for my hands to improve, plus I've figured out how to work around my hands--using my elbows or knuckles.  I had a great time!  It was fun---hope they keep this up!

Furnace:

Our furnace stopped working!  Luckily we have a back up GeoThermal system we can switch to when this happens, but it runs off electric instead of gas and that is much more expensive here.  I hope Dh can figure it out soon.

Dd's Weekly Progress:

Bible:

Church and Bible Study

SAT SIGN-UP:

We *finally* signed Dd up to take the SAT in March! Yay for us!  

Read Aloud:

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
I'm loving every chapter and trying rub off my excitement on Dd!

Movie:

Dd and Seth took Hailee to go see the new Star Wars movie--Rise of Skywalker.  I think that was her third time seeing it?  But, Hailee had not seen it yet and Dd had to be a good buddy!

Baking:

Dd made two batches of this Oreo Cookie that her friends love...I couldn't eat them, but they looked good.

Three-Month Anniversary:

Dd and Seth have dated three months now!  They celebrated by going to Olive Garden with the gift card Giz had given Seth for Christmas.  

Next Week:

Back to my Bible Studies after having a few weeks off!

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