A New Baby

Our oldest daughter, Meredith, had a beautiful baby girl on Friday - baby Georgia. She was a small one - or at least for our family she seems very small - 5lbs 11oz and 19 inches long. She is also a miracle baby according to all the doctors that saw her because she had a true double knot in her cord. According to them she could have died and it was a good thing our daughter was having some blood pressure issues so they decided they needed to take the baby early. We are just happy that she is here and doing well. Welcome baby Georgia!

What's Going On Here

Things have been pretty slow here since we are home all the time. But, we have managed to stay busy and find things to do and we have been pretty content.

We would have been going to our daughter's graduation this month except, of course, there are no graduation ceremonies going on right now. But, our daughter, Abigail, has worked very hard and graduated from nursing school this month - minus the ceremony. We are very proud of her and a little sad she had to miss out on her graduation as we know she has looked forward to it. But, she graduated summa cum laude and has a job starting in July. We are so proud of her and now we have two nurses in the family. 

I was thinking about doing this post the other day and asked Abigail to send me a few pictures of herself. So, she sent me this. It's her when she was probably 2 - I'm not even sure. And next to her is her nephew, Finn that is almost 2 - we think they look a lot alike. 

This one is of her and Jonathan - they will be married this October. We feel so blessed that Jonathan will be joining our family. 

Most of our time lately has been spent reading aloud and cooking. We read every day several times a day and it has been a very relaxing time. We have also been cooking a lot. Definitely a lot for us. We have tried lots of new recipes and I think we have liked everything we have made. Today we cut up a ton of onions, green, red and jalapeno peppers - new dinner recipe. Tess helped me cut a lot of the peppers as she loves to be in the kitchen. All the kids like to watch though. It was a very pleasant day as we sliced and diced veggies and mixed 6 or 7 different spices and then more veggies while we played music on the record player that Abigail and Katie gave me for Christmas one year. The kids loved it and it was so nice to all be together in the kitchen as it rained and rained outside. 

Not only do we cook inside, but the girls have started cleaning and working in their outdoor kitchen. It was a real mess and a lot of their stuff from last year seemed to be missing. But, they cleaned and swept and rebuilt their oven and got a lot done. Now they need to put up their clothesline and get a few old dish towels from me. They always love doing this every year. 

After they cleaned and raked and got things looking a little better, they did actually play in it for a little while. Sometimes the cleaning and getting it ready can be as much fun as  playing in it later.

I'm glad to see them back in their kitchen working and playing and just having a good time together. 

I would like to end my post with the most important thing going on in our lives right now. Though we have had a lot of quiet and peaceful days here lately, we have also had some sad and hard times. One of our very dearest friends is so very sick right now. He is in ICU on a ventilator in a drug induced coma with COVID19. We pray continually that he will get better soon. Our families have gone to church together more years than I can remember. He is one of the kindest and most thoughtful men we have ever known. We pray and hope you will all join us in praying he will get better soon and go home to his family. 

New Skills

With lots of time on our hands we have been doing a few things we have wanted to do or planned to do one day and just never got around to it. For example, I have wanted a raised vegetable bed for several years, but just been too lazy or maybe just didn't care quite enough to actually do it. Well, for some reason since we have been home all this time I have been motivated to do some of the things that have been on my list for years and our raised vegetable garden was one of those things. I am really happy with our gardens and so glad we finally have not one but two raised gardens, and now I am actually thinking of where I can put more. My older daughter commented to me the other day that she loved seeing all the things that people were doing while staying home. It is rather interesting. 

Bethany has also been trying out a few new things and one of them really took me by surprise. Several months ago I asked Bethany and Tess if they would like to learn how to knit as I saw a place that was giving lessons this summer and it sounded kind of fun. I also think I wanted them to learn as I kind of wish I had when I was young, but never did. Well, Tess said yes and Bethany had no interest at all. So, when the other day Bethany got off her vest and said she had learned how to knit I was kind of surprised and asked how that happened. Nobody in this house has any idea how to knit or crochet. She said she found a video and watched it and since she did not have knitting needles she just took the smore sticks we had and broke them and used those. Well, she had made something and I have no idea if it is correct as I know absolutely nothing about knitting, but she is having fun doing it and it looks like she might be doing it right. Maybe I will get her some real needles one day soon. 

We also got two of our new jump ropes the other day - still waiting for the other two to arrive. Bella has been practicing and practicing. 

Fly Away

Today was the day we let the butterflies go. We had fun observing them for several days, but it was time to let them fly. We took them out on the front porch and let them go and most of them flew away immediately. One did light on Bethany's finger before he flew to his freedom. 

What We Are Reading

We have read quite a few books lately so I will only name a few. We read The Vanderbeekers and the Hidden Garden by Karina Yan Glaser and it was another book about gardens. We really liked this book a lot. The Vanderbeeker kids decided to plant a garden in an old run down area next to a church when their neighbor has a stroke and they want to do something that will cheer him up and help heal him. The area is in horrible condition and they meet lots of obstacles, but they are determined. It is a sweet story and I think I liked it because of the garden and I love garden stories this time of year. They kids also enjoy a good garden story and especially since we are in the process of planting our next garden. And we loved the way the kids cared so much about their older neighbor. It is definitely a book worth reading. 

We also read Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher and enjoyed it. This book was about Elizabeth Ann that lives with her aunt and has been over protected all of her life and can hardly do a thing for herself. She is sent to another relative when her aunt gets sick and there things are totally different for Elizabeth Ann. She is expected to do for herself and to actually become useful and help do things on the farm. Elizabeth Ann slowly becomes a different child and has to face up to a lot of fears that she has. It was a nice read. The kids enjoyed, but I don't think as much as some we have read lately. The closer to the end we got the more they enjoyed, though. 

We are also now reading Among The Pond People by Clara Dillingham Pierson. The kids love this as it is about nature and animals. We have not finished this book but will be done in a few days. 

Also, on Thursday I got to see my new granddaughter. My daughter brought her over and we sat on the front porch and visited for an hour or so. I had only seen baby Kennedy one time since she was born over 5 weeks ago since we are all pretty much staying home as our governor has told us to do. It was such a nice visit and I am so glad I got to see Kennedy. It's hard practicing social distancing when you have a brand new granddaughter. I will say it was definitely a cold, rainy day for a visit, though.