Let's Talk About Church Things...

A few months ago the organ broke at Church. We have waited for a very long time for the right part to come in so it could be repaired. A couple of weeks ago, they managed to get it repaired. I received a text from the Bishopric asking if I could go over and play it to be sure it was okay for Sunday. I happened to be visiting Papa and assured them that, after I returned him to the nursing home, I would go and play it and respond to their text after I finished playing the organ. I did this and played all the hymns for the next Sunday. Yippee, it worked!! They were very happy and made sure the other congregation that meets in our building knew we now had the organ for Sunday services. 

Then on Sunday as I entered the chapel Gail Rowand came up to me and said, "The organ is working!!" I assured her I knew this and was also very happy we had an organ to sing with again. It was fun to listen to the number of people who commented on how great it was to hear the organ being played for services again. You just don't think that many people really notice it. We have had the piano and it has all been good but there is something special about the organ. This Sunday our opening hymn was "The Spirit of God Like a Fire is Burning". This is a favorite in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is robust and full of energy and meaning for each of us. I put on lots of fun stops and we filled that chapel with voice and music that must have made the angels smile. After singing the hymn, a member of the bishopric stood to announce the rest of the meeting. He commented, "It is so nice to have our organ working again to sing a hymn like that!" Amen. 

Along the way to Michigan, we stopped for gasoline. On Sunday Marissa Noe gave a talk in Church about her experience with making Christ the center of her life. It was an excellent talk. As I waited for Claude inside the station, I was looking at the books on the shelf. I found this one with a very interesting title. I took this picture and sent it to Marissa explaining I felt like it fit very nicely with her talk. It is an interesting question, "What if God wrote your to-do list?" Bet it would be a little different than what we find important enough to spend time putting on a to-do list and then accomplishing. The title just gives me pause for thought even without reading the book. I love this title.

Claude and I work in the Self-Reliance Services program as our Church callings. We had a person who has taken the Personal Finance for Self-Reliance class and now wanted to participate in the Starting and Growing Your Business for Self-Reliance class sent me a text stating this. I assured her I would post to wards (congregations) Facebook pages in our area to see if others were interested. Sure enough, we had others interested. This last Sunday I facilitated the first of this 12-week course. I love these classes. I have no interest in starting or growing a business. But I love the friendships that are developed while taking these courses and the spiritual uplift from studying a gospel principle each week that connects with a practical principle, I am looking forward to facilitating this topic. 

Tidbits...

So we experienced changing the clocks because of Daylight Savings Time...again, on Sunday, November 3rd in the wee small hours of the morning. Ugh!! I had this picture pop up on my Facebook Newsfeed. I took it several years ago on the night Daylight Savings Time changed. A friend from our Maryland days, Kim Smith, posted this Time Change Song. The verses are for which ever time change we are experiencing. I thought it was cute and wanted to save it. Claude and I have changed all the clocks in the house and our cars. I still haven't changed the time on my two watches. Let's see how long it takes before I notice they are an hour off!

Monday I experienced a wake-up moment. During the weekend my car put a warning on the display that told me to change the oil in my car soon as it was down to 8%. I have never had that happen. I had checked it a little over a week ago and thought I had some time to wait before changing the oil. Guess the trip to Michigan used up those miles. I called Monday morning and asked when I could get in for an oil change. The young man asked how quickly I needed to get it done. I assured him as soon as possible and why. He said I could come in that afternoon. At 3:30pm I was at Frank Shoop's dealership to get my oil changed. Something was different. Kim was not at her desk and it was clean like she hadn't been there all day. We have lived in Sadieville for 15 years. That entire time we have used Frank Shoop for all our oil change and service needs for our cars. In February 2017 we each purchased a new car from Frank Shoop. During all that time, Kim has always been at work. I asked the young man checking me in if Kim had a day off. He assured me she was in the back working on paperwork. Then he shared the devastating news that Frank sold the dealership to Dan Cummins and Kim had been offered a position at Dan Cummins in Paris, Kentucky. Kim had turned this down and would no longer be working at Frank Shoop...soon to be Dan Cummins. Well that just takes the cake. I was blown away. 

I went to the lounge to wait for my car to be serviced. I positioned myself so that I could see Kim if she walked past me. I full well intended to find her and at least say good-bye before I left that day. I crocheted a blanket for her baby when she was born. Kim knows and cared for Papa when he was driving. When we went to Japan with Frank Shoop, I assured him he needed to give Kim a raise as she was definitely worth her weight in gold. Frank agreed to how important she was to his business. So I was looking to say good-bye to this person I consider a friend. 

Sure enough, she walked by and as soon as she finished talking to the person she was working with, I called for her. We talked. She had tears in her eyes. We hugged. I will sorely miss this sweet Lady. 

As I drove home my heart ached for her. Several of the employees who have been with Frank for 20+ years will no longer be employed there. I don't know what the new owners will be like. I hope they are as thoughtful and kind as the dealership has been under Frank Shoop. If they are not, I will need to have words with them. I will give them all my respect to be sure we start off on a good footing. But it threw me for a huge loop when this part of our Kentucky life was tossed around like this. 

Tuesday was Election Day. Claude and I went to the polls here in Sadieville at City Hall together to cast our ballots. Then we went to breakfast at Hardee's. It made for a nice morning. I watched the results a bit in the evening. All of the state offices were won by the Republican candidates for which I voted. Our governor, Matt Bevin, appears to have lost by a relatively small margin. The percentage for him and Andy Beshear was each 49%. However, Andy Beshear had about 5,000 more votes that Matt Bevin. Personally, I don't care for either of them to be governor. As far as I have heard today, Bevin is wanting them to check on the vote numbers to be sure they are accurate. Beshear gave an acceptance speech last night. Bevin gave a speech saying it wasn't over until they were sure all was accurate. Oh My!! My complaint with Bevin is that he is a smaller version of Donald Trump. There is not a great filter in what comes out of his mouth. His loss in this election will be of his own making. There are so many times he could have accomplished more with helping people to understand things had he been a bit more tactful in his approach instead of the 'my way or the highway' approach. Rudeness is just not necessary. At all!! But I feel strongly about the importance of voting for everyone, not matter their political leanings.

I was also able to take Papa out for a car ride on Tuesday. He was so very happy to be out and about. We had a good drive and then got him a little root beer and sat in my car while he played his game on my old Kindle. Good afternoon with Papa.

Helping the Infirmed...

Our granddaughter, Katelyn, had gall bladder surgery. Claude and I have both had this and had very easy recovery periods. A few days at most and then back to our old selves. Katelyn was not so fortunate. She also has two little children. The oldest is three and the baby just turned 6 months. She was told she could not lift the baby for a period of time. Claude assured her if she needed us, we would come to help. Katelyn and Drew, her hubby, used family and friends and then did need additional help. Katelyn called us on Saturday, October 26th, to ask if we could still come and help them. We did some setting up of hotel rooms, getting laundry done, planning for Papa, paying Papa's bills, etc. to get ready.

Monday, I went to visit Papa in the morning. When I got home we put all our things in my car and pointed it northward. We took a different route this time from Cincinnati through Indiana to Grand Haven. We made fairly good time and arrived in the evening. We checked into the hotel. Then we went to the Roper home.

The plan was for me to spend the nights with the Ropers so I could take care of the baby, Emelia, during the night. Then Claude would come over in the morning and I would go to the hotel for my shower and a quick nap leaving Claude to do all the lifting. We thought this would keep us both as rested as possible since the little ones schedule is not our norm. Also, Claude has been recovering nicely with his back pain and we wanted that to stay in good shape. We visited with the Ropers a bit and then Claude left for the hotel. We were on our way to help through Thursday.

Tuesday morning I took these two pictures of our great grandmonsters as they filled their morning. I have a matching game on my Kindle just for Raelyn. She always asks for it as soon as she sees me. She is playing the game so she can get to the kitten that you cover in bubbles and then dress it up with all kinds of costume things. She did impress me this time with finding the truck part of the game and playing in that part some.  

Tuesday evening we all packed up and drove to Muskegon to have dinner at Pizza Ranch with Nissa, our daughter, Todd, her hubby, and Aubrey Anne, our grandmonster. There was a packed house at Pizza Ranch but we all enjoyed our meals and had a very nice visit. We weren't sure if we would be able to see everyone with this being a helping kind of trip. So we were extra happy we got this time together.

Wednesday I found Miss Emelia enjoying her little chair. There is a mirror on the chair and she was particularly happy with the cute baby in the mirror. I took this picture and titled it, "Mirror, mirror on my chair, I'm the fairest one of all!" This was truly fun to watch. 

Claude was able to get Emelia to sleep three times when it was nap time for her and she was needing a little help to get to the sleeping point. She seemed to love his big shoulders to sleep on. Needless to say, this pleases him no end. 

Wednesday afternoon Paul came for a visit. He works the evening shift and was able to come for a couple of hours prior to going to work. It was great fun to see him. I brought lunch for everyone when I returned from my little hotel respite. So happy we got to see our Paul.

Thursday was our begin the journey home day. I started that morning by telling Katelyn there is not much sweeter in this world than looking into a baby's face in the middle of the night. After we got home, someone posted a meme on Facebook about just that thought. I copied it and sent it to Katelyn. It was a delight. I have to say that Emelia, laying there with closed eyes and her little button nose, looked just like the Precious Moments children. Perfect little features in the most angelic and pure moment. Loved it.

Raelyn managed to dress herself in one of her princess outfits. She is really, really, really into princesses. We played a lot with her little princess dolls and her doll house. I was amused that one time she had a tummy ache and had to go to the hospital (doll house). I think she was acting out some of the feelings she had about her Mommy and her surgery. She did it in such a positive helpful way. No fear or concern. More like, these are the things you do when this happens. There is lots of power in her princess imagination and play.

Claude took Emelia in the afternoon and she loved that his shirt had a zipper with a leather tassel on it. She looked up at him as she played with his collar and his shirt zipper. I was amazed she didn't grab his beard or his chest hair. She played like this until she was ready to take her next bottle and fall asleep. Lots of smiles and grins from each of them.

We stayed until Drew was home and ready to take charge. Katelyn had been testing her waters to be sure she was ready to lift Emelia. She stayed up on Wednesday night and gave Emelia her last bottle before bedtime. During the day Thursday, she was moving around in her kitchen and even lifted Emelia a time or two. She was ready to carefully get back to full Mommy mode. Once Drew was home, we headed out for Chelsea, Michigan. There was rain with snow mixed in it that day. It was not fun for Claude to drive in but we made it to Chelsea safe and sound. 

We met Jake at Coney Island for dinner together. He got there first and secured a table by the window. We joined him and I was looking at the menu carefully to see what would work for me to eat. They have really good chicken fried steak. I am a sucker for that meal. As I looked at my menu the server came and took Claude and Jake's orders, they were all waiting for me to look up and tell her what I wanted to eat. I finally looked up to see the most disgusting of witches as our server. Facial make-up was done in an excellent fashion. Sure took me by surprise. The server and my boys all got a kick out of my reaction. You know, trying to be kind but very surprised. It was a fun moment. I did have the chicken fried steak.

After dinner we went back to the hotel and checked into our room. Jake came and we sat and ate our Halloween candy while we visited. Katelyn sent me these pictures of the kids trick-or-treating in the bad weather. Emelia is very bundled up in her stroller. Raelyn was sporting her new stocking cap which Katelyn purchased and assured her was just right for Rapunzel. Rapunzel is Raelyn's very favorite princess. I think she is really stylin' in those boots!

This is a picture Katelyn gave me of our girls not bundled up and in their costumes.

Andie sent us this picture of Bailey and her less than lovely but very well done make-up for Halloween. This girl is over-the-top fun and Raelyn seems to be her blond clone.  

So a good Halloween was had by all. 

Friday morning we were up early so we could get on the road and home in time for me to visit Papa. Someone posted this cute picture of a cat with bunny ears. I sent it to Bailey, who loves all animals, and to Katelyn to show Raelyn. 

Katelyn sent us these pictures of Raelyn trying to brush Emelia's hair. Oh My!! Katelyn said Emelia was very patient and Raelyn tried to be gentle. What a merry-go-round these two will lead their parents on.

It was a good visit. If I didn't have Papa to visit daily, we could have been there for more of this fun. But we are very grateful to be in a position to have been able to help in some small way for these days. We do love our family.

And the Race is On...

Time for tradition...

The Mini's have a week of fall break each year. We established a tradition of a sleepover with them during this time. For the last three years, part of that tradition has been a visit to Keeneland. This is a very nice race track in Lexington for thoroughbred horses. There are two meets at Keeneland each year, a spring and a fall. The fall meet happens to be the month during which the Mini's have their fall break from school. Hayden's Boy Scout troop auctions off four tickets to Keeneland and Claude has bought them the last three years. This year we asked the Mini's if they wanted to still go to Keeneland before Claude placed his silent bid on the tickets. They both assured us it was tradition. So Claude kept his bid the highest and we supported the Boy Scout Troop for Hayden and created another memory opportunity for that tradition. We went to see Vince Gill at the Louisville Palace on Thursday night, then arranged to go to the Marx home after and spend the night. Everyone could sleep in a bit on Friday morning.

We woke up to some cat madness. It seems Bailey was given money to buy her lunch on the bus ride home from the state cross country meet the weekend before. She opted to use $3 of it to buy a Halloween sweater for their cats. We were entertained as Bailey made sure the cats tried out this new sweater. Raelyn loves to get mail or pictures so we opted to take a picture of the Mini's with Claude and me and their huge cats to send to Bailey. Bailey took the picture for Pip in the sweater enjoying a view of the back yard.

About noon we left to go to Keeneland. It was a cool day but the rain let up and it got a little warmer so we enjoyed a great afternoon outside.

When you enter Keeneland you walk past the paddocks where they walk the horses to warm them up for the next race. Bailey is taking a picture of a gray horse. She has a soft spot for every gray horse. She would bet on every gray horse that races simply because of its color. We have known several adults who bet on horses this same way. 

Then we watched as they closed off the tunnel for the horses to walk from the paddocks through the tunnel to the race track for their race. 

Bailey wanted us to find our seats before we had lunch so we located them. We sat in a different section this time. It was the last weekend of this meet and Keeneland was pretty well sold out. To get our four seats in a row Claude picked sitting behind the winners circle. Turned out to be excellent seats. I have made note of that in my Google Keep file so we can ask for these seats every time we go to Keeneland. When we got to the seats, they were putting the starting gate in place for the next race. We opted to sit and watch this race before getting lunch. The man plays a very long trumpet each time the horses come into the track area and then again when it is time for them to get into the gates. Claude got two good pictures of me, Bailey and Hayden enjoying the race and our excellent seats.

We wandered down one story and through the halls to the area from which we wanted to purchase our burgers. Food in hand, we made our way back to our seats to eat. 

One of my favorite things to watch is the march of the John Deere tractors around the tract. They do this several times during the afternoon. This time there were five tractors and they staggered themselves as they drive around the entire track smoothing out the surface of the dirt. We enjoyed a race on turf. And before the afternoon was over for us, we watched a horse throw his jockey and take off around the track without a rider. He was running as though he were in a race by himself going the wrong direction. There is always a person on a lead horse and a rider on a horse taking up the rear that are there just to get the horses running that race onto the track and set the bounds of where the horses and jockeys can walk and warm up on the track before the race. Also, each jockey and horse has another horse and rider walking with them to be sure each race horse stays calm. As soon as our errant horse tossed his jockey and took off the wrong direction, two of these extra riders and their non-race horses were after him. They caught up to him at the end of the track and the race horse simply turned and ran back the way he came with these two riders in chase. By this time some of the other riders and non-race horses picked up on the catching process and managed to get the errant race horse at the opposite end of the track. They were able to walk him back to where the horses enter the race track for each race. This disqualifies the horse and jockey from their race. While very amusing and quite entertaining to watch all this transpire, it is sad for the horse, jockey and owner of the horse. A lot is put into getting a horse to the point of a race, that is gone when this happens. This is the second time Claude and I have watched a horse take off like that. The first time the jockey was not tossed off and was able to get the horse under control a lot quicker. The horse was still disqualified. The third picture is the errant horse being walked out of the track area.

Claude has been having back issues. He chose to stand a bit. I got this fun picture of Bailey getting her Grampa snuggles. This is what the afternoon is about. Love watching this moment in a granddaughters relationship with her Grampa. 

We didn't stay for all the races. We left and headed to Crank and Boom for ice cream. Yum!!

Then it was off to Sadieville for an quiet evening with our Mini's. We did have dear friends from Church (Josh and Katie Werner) come to our home with a loaf of homemade bread. This was greatly enjoyed by all of us. 

The next morning, I got up early and went in to sit with Papa. The Mini's would sleep in late. After all it was their fall break. When I got home, I went downstairs where Bailey had made a nest for herself and was just stirring on the sofa after a good nights rest. I asked her if she was ready to come upstairs. Her reply, "The bed has accepted me as one of her kind and if I leave now it might reject me!" I sent this comment in a text to Andie and asked where in the world Bailey gets this stuff. Andie's comment, "Bwah hahaha! Her squirrel brain is powerful!" Oh my. 

We took the Mini's to Fat Katz for pizza on the way back to La Grange. We enjoyed mini' pizzas of our own choosing and filled our happy bellies. 

This was a very fun break with our Mini's. Love this tradition. As the Mini's grow older, who knows what will happen. But for this weekend, we kept the tradition and made some good memories.

Vince Gill...

One of my favorite vocalist to listen to is Vince Gill. He is a tenor so I can often sing melody along with him. He has come to Louisville and performed in Whitney Hall at the Louisville Center for the Arts. Claude and I have enjoyed both of these concerts. When I saw Vince Gill was coming back to Louisville, this time to the Louisville Palace, I asked Claude if we ought to go see Vince again. He was quick to say, "Yes!"

Thursday, October 24th, we went to the Louisville Palace to see Vince Gill perform. The Louisville Palace is an amazing old theater with all kinds of ornate interior decorations. This time I took several pictures from the entry to inside the theater. Here they are in case you might ever want to visit this beautiful theater for an event.

As Claude and I sat waiting for the show to begin, we both noticed a couple to our left below us. They looked so much like our friends Fred and Bevy. I took this picture of the back of them and sent it to Fred and Bevy. Sure miss riding motorcycles with these two.

Claude and I were both very impressed with this show. Vince had one of his band members open the show for him. He is the young man second from the right end in the picture below. He was very good. Just played his guitar and sang his songs. Excellent start to the evening. The men on steel guitar, bass guitar, drums and piano/organ have all been with Vince Gill for many years. The man on the left front also played some things on his own. He has also made several albums. The back up singer was phenomenal. She was also invited to perform as a solo vocalist with the band backing her up. Claude and I appreciated the lack of ego on Vince Gill's part. Each of these young people is trying to make their own career. They are very, very talented or they wouldn't be in this band with Vince Gill. We loved that they were each highlighted and given time to shine in their own right. We all paid to see Vince Gill but we left feeling treated to other excellent artists and that they all truly enjoy working together. It shows in their work. 

The other thing that impressed us was the lack of an intermission. Vince Gill performed the entire evening with the exception of the opening act. He was backing up the other members of the band as they had their moment in the sun or he was the artist singing new songs and old favorites. Throughout the evening, each of the other band members got their required break time while leaving other band members to play with Vince. Vince never left the stage for a break. 

If you ever have a chance to attend a Vince Gill concert, it is a treat. Do it!