Christmas yet to come.

 Hi Friends!  

We had such a nice weekend!  Patrick Jr. came for a visit!  We have exciting news about Patrick and his family, they are moving to Omaha!!!  Everything has fallen into place beautifully!  The job, the house, the timing...just perfect.  Wouldn't it be nice to know that and really believe it as you are approaching a big life change???  I know God tells us that he is working it out for the good ....  but gosh, we humans are such doubting Thomas'.

Okay.  So yeah.  I forgot about our clothes.  haha.....

But I got the photos!!!

*****

Do you remember when you were young and you would ask your father what he wanted for Christmas?

And he was always say, for us to be good or not to fight?

Plus there was the fact that when he wanted something he would just buy it for himself.

Well.  We are there now.  At a certain point. We have all the stuff we need.  Except for Cornishware. 

( I actually have a box stuck in Memphis, for some odd reason. It's been there since Dec. 2)

In fact, do you want some stuff.  Come on over.  You can have some of mine.  I've run out of room.  

During covid I have been stocking up, but the cabinets are full so I call putting the bags of paper towels, toilet paper and groceries under my piano my overflow area.  

Too much stuff

Too much stuff

More than enough

More than enough.

(three blind mice)

Thank you Elisabeth Elliot.  

I caught Katie singing this yesterday as we unloaded the groceries!!!

Emma and James and girls are coming to town tomorrow and so are Matthew and Melinda and boys!  

We are so happy to be together this year.  

Katie will be twenty-one on the 24th and she asked her sibs to come and celebrate with her and it worked out just great for everyone!!!

I will try to cook delicious and easy meals.  

We will make Patrick's cookies.

Hope there will be some sledding and maybe a little bowling.

And I'm sure the guys will find a football game to watch.

I have saved watching White Christmas so we can watch it together!

I'm counting my blessings.

Oh my gosh!  Tiny hat with big pompom!!!

Thank you mom!

Yes, I have a full size FP barn.  It moos.  

This ornament is the cutest.

A shiny bean to remind me of our fun visits to Chicago at Christmastime.

This little gal is on my card this year!  

Such a pretty ornament!  Thank you Nancy!

Little Matthew made this CUTE Rudolph!

Grade One!

Sending love to you dear ones.

I feel at peace and that's a good feeling to have in my heart.

Merry Christmas and love to all,

Donna Elsie

Dear Baby Jesus.

"It

I have always loved the Mary and baby Jesus Christmas songs.

These two are my favorites from Amy Grant and the Judds.

You don't hear these as often as other popular songs.

Enjoy these beauties.

Encourage one another,

Donna

kiss goodnight

 I got my Covid results just before dinner last night and I was Negative!  

My husband has never been so relieved.  So very relieved!!!

Let the kissing commence!

Encourage one another,

Donna

Hugging

 

I didn't realize the impact of hugging until a few weeks ago.  

Because of Covid my husband and I forgo our little kisses hello and goodnight.  I don't like it but I know Patrick is very cautious about germs.  He has kept a little bottle of Purell in his pocket for years.  I, personally, am a hand washer.  But I hear from him when someone comes to work with a cold.  It drives him nuts. 

So because of Covid, we cancelled our anniversary trip/wedding for niece Sarah in Phoenix.

But then my sister Nancy's daughter died and I wanted to be with everyone for the funeral in  Phoenix.  I put away my fears of flying during covid and being with large groups.  I wore a mask and social distanced as much as possible.  Washed my hands a lot and did not hug and kiss.

The waving hello was awkward and felt terrible.  It felt rude.  It felt selfish.

So I started hugging a little bit....I just needed to.  I felt so much emotion with this physical touch.  I was connected.  Instead of feeling fearful and building a wall,  I felt love and care.  

I am thankful that I have been raised with lots of hugging and kissing.  

Imagine growing up without it...what kind of person one would be if they had grown up without kind gentle physical touch.  That's pretty tragic. 

 

                *******

On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving Katie was at our house and baked a Graham Cracker cake to take to her boyfriend's house.

On Friday night she came down with Covid.  She has a mild case so far.  But of course she unknowingly exposed me.    Patrick and I both went to get tested and Patrick got a negative result already but I have not gotten my results yet.  I feel fine and do not think I have it.  I'll let you know when I hear about my test.

I have been taking lots of vitamins and have ordered Hydrocloraquine and Zinc from Americas Frontline Doctors to have on hand.  From what I have been told, one does not get any treatment from the doctor.  Just told to quarantine.  You are told to come in when you can't breathe.  I'd like to stop it before that if it is possible.  

I will also let you know my experience with the HCQ and zinc.

Like I said I do not have symptoms so think I am covid free.  But I'll let you know.

Happy December friends! 

Sending hugs and prayers!

Encourage one another,

Donna Elsie

40th wedding anniversary. Wow!

Today is our 40th wedding anniversary.  

We were married on a Wednesday night in Lake Forest Illinois.

We basically eloped but had a little service in a Lutheran church.

The pastor and the organist were our witnesses.  

I was perfectly fine with this.  I don't really like being the center of attention...and I'm frugal.

Aunt Dorothy took me shopping on Michigan Ave and we picked out shoes and a mohair cape and high heel shoes....and a darling Albert Nipon dress.  

I don't remember anything about the service.  I do remember toddling down the aisle feeling like I was tiptoeing.  

After the service we drove in the dark to downtown Chicago.

We stayed in the penthouse at the Tremont where we were greeted with balloons and 'fake' champaign.  We ate at a restaurant in the hotel called Crickets.  We sat side by side. 

The next day, Thanksgiving, nothing was open.  We wandered around the empty, cold city until we found a dive that WAS open.  Patrick remembers eating cold turkey.  I remember the big waves on Lake Michigan.

We watched It's a Wonderful Life.

 

When you go into marriage, you intend for it to last.

Little did we know how hard that task would be.

But we must have the right amount of 

stubborness,

faith, 

commitment

forgiveness,

and 

love.

Cause, trust me, getting along with each other did not come naturally!

I'd say it's a supernatural achievement.

God helped us.

He helped us chose one another and keep trying.

And when we acted unloveable...

He helped us love the unloveable.

*****

Love seems the swiftest but it is the slowest of all growths. No man or woman really knows what perfect love is until they have been married a quarter of a century. ~Mark Twain

Encourage one another,

Donna

Covid watching

 

Hi friends, 

I am headed to a funeral in Arizona tomorrow.  Please say a little prayer for protection from the virus and the ability to handle the face mask for about four hours.  Please continue to pray for comfort and peace for Ashley's loved ones.  Thank you. 

While I am gone I will leave you with this embarrassingly long list of the shows I watched during Covid Quarantine!

Covid watching

Ted Lasso.  Absolutely delightful!!!  On Apple tv

 

Offspring. A cross between ER and Parenthood.  Loved it

The Queen's Gambit. Excellent

Pick of the Litter. Documentary about training seeing eye dogs.  SWEET

Kims convenience.  Funny sweet

The Good Place.  All of it. Pretty clever.

The Politician. Over rated

Sweet Magnolias. Didn’t like. Stopped watching

Echo in the canyon. Very good. documentary about Laurel Canyon musicians

The Crown. Finished season three at the beginning of covid...finishing season four now

Diana:In her own words.   Very good

After Life. Love. Ricky Gervais. Touching.  One and Two.  

Never Have I ever. Teeny Bopper movies.  I liked them all.

The kissing booth 2

The All the Boys part 2

Schitt's Creek. Final season.  Love

Episodes.  Really Great. Matt LeBlanc after Friends.

The Last Dance. Amazing Michael Jordan documentary

Shameless. Ten seasons.. very raunchy. Embarrassed to admit.

The New Girl. All seasons. got repetitive. started fast forwarding thru the episodes

Good Girls.   Stopped watching. Like Weeds a little. Jumped the shark.

Broadchurch loved ..

The Sinner. Hated season three

Lenox Hill. Favorite. Watch this

The Social Dilemma.  Really creepy. important watching

Joan Didion doc.  Good

Tig

Betty Broderick/dirty John

Gentified. favorite.  Watched three times

Doctor Foster. British.  Pretty good.

Killing Eve. Fave

In the Dark. Just finished 

A secret love. Old Lesbian Couple

The Duchess. Nutty woman

Virgin river. Hallmark-y

The Five. Five friends.  Mystery

Tiger King. Carol did it

Hollywood. Eh. Great production.

Atypical. Gets better and better each season

Dash and Lily Love this sweet romance. brand new

Enola Holmes Really liked this!  Sherlock's little sister

Indian Matchmaking.  Really liked this

This does not include....Housewives and Hallmarks.

Patrick is watching the Crown with me so that is fun.

Along with our nightly Jeopardy, we have a nightly Crown.

I think he is ready for Downton Abbey.  Don't you?

I'll be back next week.

Lots of love and television.

Donna Elsie

River turns ONE!

 We traveled down to Missouri over the weekend to celebrate River's first birthday!

Matthew and Melinda and their children came too! 

The cousins had much fun playing and River liked having people closer to her size around.

She especially loved Asher.  

Here are some pictures of our weekend.

What a blessing to spend time with our families!!!

So thankful,

Donna Elsie

All these photos were taken with iphones by Melinda and I.  

Into my Arms.

 

I love this song.  I know it from the movie About Time.  

Which I highly recommend.  

Great music.  

Great cast!  

Into My Arms by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Encourage one another,

Donna Elsie

Gradually, you will return to yourself

           

                                             For One Who Is Exhausted by John O'Donohue

When the rhythm of the heart becomes hectic,

Time takes on the strain until it breaks;

Then all the unattended stress falls in

On the mind like an endless, increasing weight.

The light in the mind becomes dim.

Things you could take in your stride before

Now become laborsome events of will.

Weariness invades your spirit.

Gravity begins falling inside you,

Dragging down every bone.

The tide you never valued has gone out.

And you are marooned on unsure ground.

Something within you has closed down;

And you cannot push yourself back to life.

You have been forced to enter empty time.

The desire that drove you has relinquished.

There is nothing else to do now but rest

And patiently learn to receive the self

You have forsaken in the race of days.

At first your thinking will darken

And sadness take over like listless weather.

The flow of unwept tears will frighten you.

You have traveled too fast over false ground;

Now your soul has come to take you back.

Take refuge in your senses, open up

To all the small miracles you rushed through.

Become inclined to watch the way of rain

When it falls slow and free.

Imitate the habit of twilight,

Taking time to open the well of color

That fostered the brightness of day.

Draw alongside the silence of stone

Until its calmness can claim you.

Be excessively gentle with yourself.

Stay clear of those vexed in spirit.

Learn to linger around someone of ease

Who feels they have all the time in the world.

Gradually, you will return to yourself,

Having learned a new respect for your heart

And the joy that dwells far within slow time.

**********

Many thanks to Ms. K from the comments.  She left a portion of this poem in the comments a few days ago.  It was saying in a beautiful way what I was feeling.  I looked up John O'Donohue and have since posted his poem about dying and now this one.  Our Swiss Miss, Susan, just received a book by O'Donohue in the mail!  So funny when that happens....You hear about someone you just learned about from another person, almost instantly.  

I love the end....

Gradually you will return to yourself.

Encourage one another,

Donna Elsie

Six kisses when I wake

Happy Birthday Zeek!

When I have said my evening prayer,

And my clothes are folded on the chair,

And mother switches off the light,

I'll still be 5 years old tonight.

But from the very break of day,

Before the children rise and play,

Before the darkness turns to gold,

Tomorrow, I'll be 6 years old.

Six kisses when I wake,

Six candles on my cake.

We love you so much,

our little scientist!

Love Yaya

 

By faith we let them go

I read this devotional on Tim Challies website.  He is a Christian blogger and author.  He lost his son suddenly last week.  

He posted the following devotional.

I want to share it with you because it is a perspective I have never read.  

"Death strikes the best of our friends..."

How very true.

The 'why' is interesting.  I'm thinking about it.  I might say, "Wait, please". 

Have you ever heard this scripture?  Have you ever thought about death this way?

                            Ashely, beloved daughter, sister, niece, wife, mother and friend.

 

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am.

 John 17:24

O death! Why do you touch the tree beneath whose spreading branches weariness finds rest? Why do you snatch away the excellent of the earth, in whom is all our delight? If you must use your axe, use it upon the trees that yield no fruit; then you may be thanked. But why will you chop down the best trees? Hold your axe, and spare the righteous.

But no, it must not be; death strikes the best of our friends: the most generous, the most prayerful, the most holy, the most devoted must die. And why? It is through Jesus' prevailing prayer--"Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am."

It is that which bears them on eagle's wings to heaven. Every time a believer moves from this earth to paradise, it is an answer to Christ's prayer. A good old divine remarks, "Many times Jesus and His people pull against one another in prayer. You bend your knee in prayer and say 'Father, I desire that Your saints be with me where I am'; Christ says, 'Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am.'"

In this way the disciple is at cross-purposes with his Lord. The soul cannot be in both places: The beloved one cannot be with Christ and with you too. Now, which of the two who plead shall win the day? If you had your choice, if the King should step from His throne and say, "Here are two supplicants praying in opposition to one another," which shall be answered? Oh, I am sure, though it were agony, you would jump to your feet and say, "Jesus, not my will, but Yours be done." You would give up your prayer for your loved one's life, if you could realize the thoughts that Christ is praying in the opposite direction--"Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am."

Lord, You shall have them. By faith we let them go.

Allister Begg

Encourage one another,

Donna Elsie

Tears that fall for you.

“FOR THE DYING 

May death come gently toward you, Leaving you time to make your way Through the cold embrace of fear To the place of inner tranquillity.

 May death arrive only after a long life To find you at home among your own With every comfort and care you require. 

May your leave-taking be gracious, Enabling you to hold dignity Through awkwardness and illness.

May you see the reflection Of your life’s kindness and beauty In all the tears that fall for you.

As your eyes focus on each face, May your soul take its imprint, Drawing each image within As companions for the journey.

May you find for each one you love A different locket of jeweled words To be worn around the heart To warm your absence. 

May someone who knows and loves The complex village of your heart Be there to echo you back to yourself And create a sure word-raft To carry you to the further shore.

 May your spirit feel The surge of true delight When the veil of the visible Is raised, and you glimpse again The living faces Of departed family and friends.

 May there be some beautiful surprise Waiting for you inside death, Something you never knew or felt, Which with one simple touch, Absolves you of all loneliness and loss, As you quicken within the embrace For which your soul was eternally made.

 May your heart be speechless At the sight of the truth Of all belief had hoped, Your heart breathless In the light and lightness Where each and everything Is at last its true self Within that serene belonging That dwells beside us On the other side Of what we see.”

― John O'Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Invocations and Blessings

I stumbled upon this poem yesterday.  

A few hours later came news of the death of a beloved family member.  I will not share at this time because her family hasn't shared just yet.  

But this poem said things that touched my heart in the greatest way, the tenderest way, the most profound way.

May God comfort the heartbroken among us...with the promise of heaven.

Love

Donna Elsie

100 scriptures about fear/anxiety

 

Thank you Matt Fradd.  I stumbled upon Matt's youtube page and I like his content very much and his voice :o)  

It's fun to listen to this....I know almost all of these scriptures!!! Do you?

Encourage one another,

Donna Elsie

Papa can you hear me?

 

Look up child.  😚

Encourage one another,

Donna Elsie