January 30 and 31 with Emma

Saturday/Sunday:  I can hardly believe this is the last weekend in January already. Now that I am officially an "old lady," I really do think time goes by more quickly than it did when I was young. I picked Emma up at about 7:30 from her place and we settled in here to just relax before we went to bed.

I wasn't sure what we would watch tonight--it's difficult to find anything decent to watch that we haven't already seen once or twice already. I casually asked if Emma was a "trekkie." Whoa. Her reaction was not at all what I expected. I thought I would get a simple "yes" or "no." First, she asked me what on earth was that! I simply answered that "trekkies" love all things to do with Star Trek. Her eyes got huge and she raised her eyebrows and said, "Don't ever call me that again!" I started laughing and told her I hadn't CALLED her anything! I just wanted to know if she WAS one for pity's sake! She gave me a definite, "No." So I re-framed my question and asked her if she had ever watched any Star Trek; and if so, did she like it. "Yes," she did and "yes" we could watch the first movie (2009) which would get me more up to speed since I hadn't watched Star Trek since it was on TV when I was young.

 The movie was well done and I enjoyed watching it with Emma. Leonard Nemoy was even in it playing Spock as an old guy. 

We worshiped at Calvary this morning. Pastor Tom taught from Revelation 11.15-18 about God's eternal kingdom. It was encouraging to be reminded that God's promises will come true.

We came home, ate a good lunch, and then Emma told me her beautiful winter coat had two tears in it! One tear on each pocket! Those tears could not be left unrepaired or they would get worse, so I told her I would mend them up for her. But do you think I could find a single NEEDLE in this house? I looked, I searched, I opened drawers, emptied containers, took out everything in my sewing bin ... NO needle!

I felt very strongly about getting this accomplished for Emma today and my heart was sad that I couldn't find a needle. I told Emma that I would just have to repair it NEXT weekend ... but then I just silently prayed that God would help me find a needle ... like now! I went back to my sewing bin and at the very bottom was a plastic bag with some scraps of material from an unfinished sewing project (from years ago) ... and at the very bottom of the bag was a spool of thread AND a needle! YAY! Thank you, God! I had black thread, no problem. So I was able to repair both tears this afternoon. The pockets are very thick material and it was difficult to get the needle to go through all of it, but I used a pair of pliers to help me! I poked myself a few times, but ... it was worth it. It made my heart really happy to fix these tears for Emma. I love her so much.

Emma also mentioned needing practice with parallel parking. She has her driver's test this Tuesday at noon and she is pretty nervous about the parking part of it--nothing else is bothering her except that. So we went to the parking lot at my community building and did some parking, but Emma felt it was too small of a lot for her to really practice--so then we drove over to Calvary's parking lot and spent about 30 minutes parallel parking--even though we weren't parking between two cars. We kind of parked as closely as we could to one of the out-buildings, and then also by the garbage bins ... Emma keeps telling herself that she CANNOT parallel park and I kept saying that she COULD and that she WAS and ... we had fun laughing. I know she hasn't had much practice at this--perhaps for some reason, she will not have to parallel park to pass her driver's test--no matter what, I am going to ask the Lord to help Emma pass and be able to get her license. She has waited patiently for it for quite awhile. I suggested that she talk to God about it too--afterall, He wants us to be near Him and tell Him about all the stuff that worries us. 

Praying ... and thankful that God will do what is best.

January 30 Kaity sledding

Saturday afternoon:  Kaity had mentioned, rather mournfully when I was dropping her off Thursday evening, that she STILL hadn't gone sledding yet this winter! I suggested that we DO IT on Saturday--which got a really positive response and a HUGE smile!

Just two doors down from where Kaity lives, there is a church with a parking lot and then a medical building ... but also a really nice HILL. I suggested we try there, since it was so close to home, and we could just run back to Kaity's if we had any bathroom needs ... so I picked Kaity up at 3:00 and away we went.

This is the hill (below), which both Brendan and Kaity went down on sleds two years ago without a single fear! But Kaity refused to sled down this hill this year! She said it was too steep and too scary. She tried some tiny hills made by the snow plows that surrounded the church parking lot ...

But THEN, Kaity reminded me of the great hill over by Maranatha Church--which is where Kaity goes to Awana Club every Wednesday night with Kensey and Harper. I reminded Kaity that the bathrooms would not be opened, but she didn't hesitate and voted that we drive over there ... so ... we did! It's on the way to my house!

There is a really nice big hill at Maranatha with a few different "runs" that go down. There is kind of a medium steep run ... but there is also a crazy steep one--which again, Kaity went down a million times last year! But she would NOT do it Saturday! It was pretty crowded with children and she watched and laughed and played, but she only went DOWN using her snow suit as her sled. She told me she felt "more in control" that way. 

Near the end of our time at Marantha, she met a school buddy who convinced her to use her sled and they did have a lot of fun together ...

I was just glad we could be outside breathing the fresh cold air--glad that Kaity could run and play. She is SO happy outside.

I love these pictures of you, Kaity-Girl.

After Kaity was finished sledding, we went to my house and ate a good meal and played two foosball tournaments--each of us winning one. It was good to be with you today, Kaity!

January 29 Kirk Park

Friday Evening:  I drove from Aman Park on Lake Michigan Drive, past Grand Valley State University, and all the way until Lake Michigan dead ends into ... Lake Michigan! There is a road there (!) but I can't remember the name of it. Anyway, you just turn left and drive about a mile and then you arrive at Kirk Park. I'll tell you more later ...

When I was hiking out at Aman Park, the sky was crystal clear. I was pretty sure the sunset out at the Lake would be super nice ... but as I drove towards the Lake, some low clouds moved in.

It has been 40+ years since I have been out here to Kirk Park. The walk from the parking lot to the Lake is long and not well lit. 

If I had been closer to where I parked, I would have stayed until dark--because sometimes the sun does fabulous stuff AFTER it actually sets--the colors get deep red--and perhaps this happened out here tonight as well ... but I didn't stay to find out.

The beach erosion here is really sad to see ... I remember a wide and beautiful sandy beach when Jim and I used to swim out here in the early years of our marriage. But now ... look! The dunes are SO washed away.

It's still a very pretty place ... but not the sunset I was hoping for.

There will be other winter sunsets to photograph ... I'll try to catch one of them!

January 29 Beckoned by the sunlight ...

Friday:  I had a bunch of household "goals" to accomplish this morning and I checked each one off the list! It was nearly 2:00 in the afternoon before I actually looked outside for any length of time and noticed that it was no longer overcast but actually CLEAR and SUNNY. I considered driving out to Muskegon to the north side of the channel because I've heard there are ice caves out there ... but going alone to an ice cave doesn't sound very safe--does it? 

Then I remembered there was a whole bunch of trails I hadn't explored over at Aman Park--for one, I hadn't found Mr. Aman's grave yet! It was noted on a crude map, and I wanted to find it. I'm not very good at finding graves (i.e. my mother's) ... but I drove over to the Park with the intention to find it.

Here it IS! Jacob Aman is buried beneath this rock out in HIS woods! Who was this guy anyway? I looked up a few brief articles this afternoon about him. These noted that he was born in Ohio in 1849 and lived until June 28, 1928 when he died of pneumonia. He moved to Michigan and purchased a 10 acre farm known as Sand Creek Farm and lived there for the rest of his life. He acquired a whole bunch of land surrounding his farm during his lifetime. The entire area was known as Sand Creek Valley. He bequeathed ALL of it to the City of Grand Rapids upon his death--to be kept a virgin forest and made a park so that others could enjoy the beauty as he had done throughout his life. Thank you, Mr. Aman! 

I also read that Mr. Aman was an inventor, an accomplished carpenter, but kind of a reclusive person. I'll have to read more about him at a later time.

I took 139 more photos in the park today. After finding Jacob's grave, I took the "loop" that wound around to the opposite side I hiked the other day. It is just as beautiful over here ... but no bridge.

I have many more photographs to consider editing--perhaps I will post those later. Before I left my house to drive out to Aman Park, I got on the internet to see just how far further Lake Michigan was--just in case I got a hankerin to see the sunset over at Kirk Park ... I'll show you those pictures later.
 

January 28 My Kaity-Girl

Thursday:  One thing that I am always pretty certain about when Kaity comes over is that it will be ... PHYSICAL. This is my foosball table--it's not official sized--but it's handy inthat it fits underneath my bed when not in use AND I can pick it up and carry it wherever we want to play. Kaity LOVES to play foosball ... Kaity loves any physical activity!

Kaity is a pretty intense foosball player! We get to hootin' and hollerin' over here as we play--serious stuff! I'm trying to curb Kaity's propensity to change the game rules when it suits her ... but this is a process ... a little bit at a time you see. She does NOT like to lose at any game, not matter what! But I do beat her at foosball--not always--but enough to where it is healthy for her to learn how to lose without throwing a fit. She's working on it. Me too.

We have a lot of fun when we play foosball ... we really yuck it up quite a lot and laugh and laugh!

Here is one of Kaity's "new" dolls. She is a Baby Alive doll and her official store name is "Astrid." Kaity likes that name and I do too! We played quite a few games of foosball tonight with Astrid watching from the best seat in the house. We also played quite a few games of "Sleeping Queens" which continues to be a real favorite with Kaity. She is even getting better at doing the (very simple) math equations--but this is good for her too.

Kaity had a one-time-only 7:30 swim lesson tonight in her new Glider 3 class. She did amazing ... no kidding either. I watch her very closely--she knows this too--and she is SO pleased to see me watching her every success. We have all kinds of hand signals that we offer each other through the glass. Kaity listens and follows instruction very well. 

Tonight, Kaity learned the back stroke. She was told to extend her arms straight back while holding her shoulders up ... the kids practice while sitting on the side before they actually do it in the water.

Kaity did a really really beautiful back stroke, two widths of the pool tonight. I was watching the instructor as she moved alongside Kaity. The instructor gave Kaity a giant high-five and commended her.

You are a natural, Kaity-Girl! I'm so glad you are swimming. Thanks, Lord, for the extra money to finance this for Kaity.