Christmas Greetings!

It is the Wed before Christmas and I just finished baking two batches of cookies. I made a variety of cookie mixes this year to give as gifts (you know, the ones with the ingredients layered in quart jars), so I decided it was time to actually try some out before I give them away. I tried the Raisin Crunch Cookie and the Chocolate Covered Raisin Cookie. Both are excellent! I'll be taking some to Fresno tomorrow where we're celebrating our Fry Christmas at Mom's in Clovis, in conjunction with a dinner for the housemates and families (board and care home). Peter and Noreen will be there with me and Katie. Richard will be driving and Forrest will be preaching. Ah, such is life.

On Saturday we'll gather with Dad and about half of the Hofers at Steve and Becky's for some German Mennonite food. (Our men will make it to that one!)

Katie and Forrest will be with us Sunday and Monday, so we're looking forward to that. Jim, Janelle and Ainsley will be celebrating at their home in Washington.

All that being said, I wish you a very warm Christmas as you gather together with family and/or friends, renewing your ties and celebrating the birth of our saviour, Jesus.

Christmas Events

Richard's side of the family had their annual Christmas gathering on Saturday in Fresno at a cousin's home. It's always a great time of playing catch-up and eating together. This year's theme was Italian and boy did we enjoy the eating part!
Sunday afternoon/evening our church choir had it's Christmas cantata. There were two performances with a potluck supper in between (for the choir members). It was a beautiful program and setting, and I trust a blessing for those who came. I know it was for me.

Prince of Peace

I went with Katie to Bethany Church's annual women's dessert/boutique last night. It was great fun. The speaker was Pam Farrell who has authored quite a few books. She has a great sense of humor and good presentation. Among other things, she challenged us to embrace God as one of the following: Everlasting Father, Mighty God, Prince of Peace. I choose the Prince of Peace because I find total peace in Him. Life seems to hum along a little better with that underlying sense of the Peace that only can come from God.

New Kittens

We have two new kitties at our house. I went to the SPCA on Ray Appleton Day (a Wed) and chose two - a male and a female. I had to leave them there to have their surgeries, then brought them home the next Saturday. We named them Max and Chloe. Max is a3 mo. old orange tabby and Chloe is a 2 mo. old grey tabby. I could tell at the shelter that Max had a lot of personality, which is why I chose him. After we got him home and watched him in action, we started calling him Rambo - because he was so very "rambunctious". Chloe is a much quieter, dignified girl, but my mouth keeps wanting to say "Cleo".

Unfortunately, Chloe came home with an upper respiratory infection so I had to take them both back to the SPCA Vet on Monday. Now after 14 days of antibiotics they are both still sneezing, so I took them back in today. He gave me meds for another 14 days or so, and hopefully that will take care of it.

Right now they're being house cats, but as soon as they kick the sneezing they'll be introduced to the great outdoors. We think Rambo Max will be a great little mouser, and hope that Chloe will follow his lead. We haven't had a kitten around for a very long time. We're both enjoying them a lot!

Yada Yada Book Club

We just had our first gathering of the Yada Yada Book Club. This is a new group formed through our Women's Ministries at our church. We started out with "Yada Yada Prayer Group" by Neta Jackson. It's the first book in a series of 5 (so far). As a group we won't be reading the other four, but we did enjoy this one. We had a great discussion which centered around multi-racial friendships.
It wasn't a coincidence that the club and the book share a name. At the meeting of the Women's Ministries Team, of which I am a part, we learned about the word "yada". One of the women happened to bring the "Yada Yada Prayer Group" book to use in decorating the book club booth at our annual Women's Fall Faire. We were looking for a name for the club and . . . . .well. . . . . it seemed like a God thing.
According to the book itself, in Hebrew Yada means "to perceive, understand, acquire knowledge, know, discern." It also can mean, "To be known, make oneself known, to be familiar". So it's a pretty good name I'd say.
Our next book will be "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd. I've read this one and loved it. I'm looking forward to re-reading it and sharing it with others.

Thanksgiving

We had a great day here at our home with about 15 around the table. Richard's brother Phil and wife, Joy, their two kids and families and Joy's sister and her family, and Dad Egon all came to the farm to enjoy each other and a delicious meal. We do the turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy and they supply the rest. Always good.

We were happy to have Phil and Joy spend the weekend with us, along with their beautiful dog, Charlie. He's a wolfhound mix who is just the cutest. He certainly enjoyed having lots of room to run!

Even though we were short in number compared to past years, we all had a good time of "family". We are so grateful for our family members and look forward to our annual Thanksgiving Celebration together.

My brother Jim's visit

My younger brother, Jim, from Seattle, was just here this last weekend to see my mom. He stayed here with us and we had a great time. He was able to spend a lot of time with her, which made her very happy indeed. He went to church with us Sun morning which was fun. We don't see each other often so that makes it special. He and I are the night owls in our family, so, needless to say, we lived up to that. He left late this afternoon. Thanks again for coming, Jim!

Welcome to my blogspot!

Well, here I am. I think it's alot of fun to visit my cousin George VI's spot and catch up on what's happening in his life, so I decided to try it for myself. Hopefully I'll blog often enough to make it interesting. I don't know anybody else who does this except for him and his daughter, Sara, who has a new beautiful baby girl, Georgia.