March 15b

Sunday afternoon:  After our LIVE Stream church service and our lunch, I "suggested" to Emma that we take a little drive out to the BIG LAKE ... so, of course, we DID. I'll just basically run the pictures without much narration--except to say that this verse in II Thess. 3.16 (NLT) has meant a lot to me for many years--especially now in this COVID-19 world ... no matter what happens, the Lord of peace HIMSELF will give us HIS PEACE.

 We actually drove, or attempted to drive, to Pere Marquette Beach; however, my usual "way in" encountered a ROAD CLOSED problem. So we parked the car and walked over the crest of the hill to one of my favorite views of Lake Michigan.

 Sunday afternoon was a gorgeous, PERFECT weather day ... if you discount the fact that it was 41 degrees and a bit windy ... but what the hay! Look at that sparkle on that deliciously BLUE water!

 We did a little bit of walking southwards on the beach itself, eroded as it is ...

 The beauty here is breathtaking to me ... it never ever even one time gets old for me. It is music to my soul. It refreshes me down to my toes. It revives my heart and draws me near to God.

 Looking north to the breakwater light and the pierhead light ... very tiny in the distance ... can you see the lights?

 I snapped a couple (!!) pictures of dear Emma ... very candid ... I love each of them (and her) so much.

 Can you even believe how gorgeous it is here? How did God ever think up this kind of beauty? How did He know it would bring such deep joy?

 This is actually the view that is seen as you round the bend and head on down to the Lake. The lake has eroded SO much that on high wave days, the water crashes over the road--so they have closed it.

 I asked a random local person how people were supposed to get close to the lighthouses when the road was closed? They gave me directions to an alternate road. Emma was skeptical that I would find it (as was I), but when lighthouses are involved, I'm kind of a die-hard.

 And look! We made it! YAY! I know that this is not THE most beautiful lighthouse in Michigan ... but it is beautiful to me. I love this little pier and the summer life that goes on all around here. I have about 1 thousand pictures of this light at every possible angle ...

 See what I mean about the lake level? These are the DOCKS where the NOAA boats are stationed all spring through fall. It's going to be a little bit of a sloshy walk to get on the boats this year!

 After we walked around the lighthouse a little bit, we drove south of Pere Marquette to Norman F Kruse Park. I love this place. There are the neatest boardwalks that take you up to the TOP of the dunes. I love the view from up here.

 Emma, naturally, was about 30 steps ahead of me at all times ...

 And look! You can see the lighthouses from here! Emma was NOT impressed with seeing the lighthouses from this far away ...

 Isn't this such a great place?!?!?

 Emma! I'm so glad we did this today!

Thank you, Lord, for safe travels to and from the Lake today--and for the gift of Emma being with me.

March 15a

Sunday:  Emma and I worshiped at Calvary this morning via their LIVE feed. We have been asked to follow the guidelines for social distancing that have been suggested by our local government here in W. Michigan. Since public schools have been forced to shut down the next three weeks, an email went out to all at Calvary to worship on-line. Emma and I joined some 2000+ other people and had such a wonderful time. It was a beautiful "service" in every way. We sang encouraging songs and lifted our praise--I love to listen to Emma sing too.

Pastor is starting a new "mini-series" within the book of Titus that deals with living a quiet life. We talked today about "temperance" and "self-control" and what that looks like, especially in our society that values so highly high achievement and people who are driven to succeed. It was a wonderful teaching. Jim encouraged us so much to give ourselves over to the God who made us and loves us so much--to not be afraid--God is in control.

 We also joined together in communion, a completely unique experience for Emma and I, but everything worked out beautifully. How amazing God is!

 I'm so thankful we got to be part of this unique worship service. I am glad to be part of Calvary Church! Thank you, Lord!

March 14b

Saturday evening:  After Kaity and I left Aidan's party, we went over to my house. I had promised Kaity I would put up the tent in the playroom. She was SO excited and she was super helpful to me with getting it put together.

 Kaity brought in special friends to share our tent time.

 And she ate a little snack ...

 We brought Matey inside the tent for awhile ...

 He wasn't too sure about being closed up with us in a tent ...

 This is Kaity (below) after Matey peed on her hand ... she was NOT happy about it. So we took Matey out of the tent and went and washed our hands thoroughly. Poor Matey. He doesn't usually pee on people--I think he just felt overwhelmed.

We went back inside our tent with many of our dolls and stuffed animals. Kaity asked if I could make up a scary night-time story. So we turned out the lights, turned ON our flashlight, laid back on our pillows and I made up a camping story that included howling coyotes and spooky noises in the night. Kaity was very pleased with our time together tonight--I was too!

March 14a

Saturday:  Today was Aidan's #3 birthday party. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions upon all communities, the turnout was small. But this little cutie-pie was not phased whatsoever. He had himself one good time!

 Little Erin was full of JOY too!

 Brendan and Kaity played Mario Kart on Brendan's Ninendo Switch. Look! Brendan and Kaity are the same height!

 These littles watched the bigger kids playing their game ... 

 THIS is SO completely Aidan Paul (below)--isn't he an Obrien through and through?!?!?! I love this little laddie so much.

 And here he is holding Kaity's gift (a Mario Bros. special edition Matchbox car!) ...

 Aidan is not one to rip open packages indiscriminately ... he usually hands his presents off to someone else to open for him--which is a scream actually ... this gift and card Dylan is opening is from Aidan's godparents and family (super sweet people).

 Among other things, they got him this super soft cuddly plush toy which was really adorable.

 Maxwell the Monkey came out to play with all of us for awhile. He kept getting carried away with his tickle bugs and cracking everyone up.

 This is Maxwell photobombing my pictures.

 And Brendan showing me Aidan's race track that can curl up and the racecar fits inside and runs all over the place.

 Brendan wanted to take a few pictures of our newest puppet, so I handed off my camera to him.

 Nice job, Brendan!

 Here is Max hanging upside down ... like a ... monkey.

Aidan had yummy chocolate frosted moist birthday cake, but I missed out taking any pictures of him blowing out his candles and totally neglected to photograph the beautiful cake--it had a rainbow and puffy clouds and was super decorated. Happy #3 party, Aidan. You are so loved.

March 13

Friday:  I had no grandchildren today, so I worked on making a few cards. This picture and quote was used on one of the cards I made today! I love George Macdonald's writings very much, and I especially love this quote.

Something pretty unprecedented occurred today. You see, in the last month (or perhaps 6-8 weeks), there has been a new virus identified in the world: COVID-19, which is being referred to as the coronavirus. It started in Wuhan, China in November but for some reason the outbreak was "covered up" and we never heard about anything alarming until about mid-January here in the USA, AND we had no reported cases until two weeks ago (I think). 

But as of today, we have the virus in 21 states--something like 1600 cases and 40 deaths. The governor of Michigan announced today that all schools K-12 will be closed until April 6 (that's three full weeks). In my lifetime, nothing has occurred like this in Michigan. People are afraid and many are rather panicked, which is sad. 

I went grocery shopping yesterday (as usual) at Meijer's and for the first time in my life I found the toilet paper aisle EMPTY. No kidding! Good thing I have an adequate supply. 

With the governor's announcement of school closings, I think she also announced a ban on all public meetings with greater than 200 people; consequently, most of the larger churches in Grand Rapids have cancelled Sunday services. Calvary emailed that they will do an online service. Wow. 

I am glad that I am unafraid of this "thing" mostly because I am not afraid of dying ... ONLY because Jesus already died--and not only did He die, but He came to life again conquering death forever. But I do think it is a good thing to look out for our neighbors and not be unkind to people who are truly freaked out about this thing. Sigh. How weird it feels to have a world-wide, a global pandemic. Science ficture is not my favorite genre by a long shot, but I'm pretty sure people have written fiction that is matching what I am seeing today. Pretty remarkable.

March 12

Thursday:  Dear Kaity-Girl came to play this afternoon. I decided to try and stay a step ahead of her today to see if our play time was less stressful (for me). 

 As soon as she walked in, I asked her to decorate my window for spring. She was VERY enthusiastic about this little project and did a very nice job too!

 We had forgotten all about our alphabet robots, but got them out toeay and did a bunch of different things with them ...

 Kaity is very mechanical and loves to work with her hands. All of the younger grandchildren enjoy fooling with these cute robots.

 We also spent a LOT of time making a train track. Actually, Kaity was very emphatic about us dividing everything up between us so that we could each build tracks and then JOIN them later ...

 So that's what we did!

 We played a lot with Matey too.

 We even coaxed him into the kitchen sink for awhile to play with his little bathtub. He was so cute in there! And then Kaity requested that her LEGO Friends come to play too. Sometimes you just have to let kids be kids ... it's not that hard, actually. We had a super nice time together tonight, so my heart was very thankful.