Barb - I am glad that you are feeling better today. It is so frustrating to not be comfortable with digestive problems. Pigpen and football baby are so cute. You have a photogenic family.

It seems everyone else is busy today and have not posted other than Barb and I. We had church service then went to eat lunch with a friend. She had just come back from vacation in Kentucky that was not so pleasant. She just needed to talk about how she was feeling and coping during this season. Her husband died a few years ago around Thanksgiving and her birthday. After we came home, we went grocery shopping with our daughter, I did some cleaning and then had a leaders meeting via zoom. I am hoping to get to bed a little earlier today then the 2am I did this morning. I was tired when I went to bed and miscalculated by a 1/2 hour as to when I needed to get up for church. I realized it when the alarm went off so I jumped out of bed and rushed through my shower and getting ready. We were there on time but I hated to have to rush so much. Next week we have a candlelight service at 5pm followed by a potluck so I will have plenty of time to get ready.

Judith, we must have posted at a similar time. I think you missed my last post before this. Glad you saw the tree though. It really was beautiful. Yes, church luncheon was very sweet. It was good to share a meal together. It was also bitter sweet. We had a 'last sermon' from our friend who knows he is dying. It was about heaven and focusing on heaven as the prize for living our lives according to God's will. I won't forget his sermon or him.

Yesterday's appointment at the Diabetes clinic went well. Colin has an insulin pump that is smarter than ever. The Clinic will monitor him in coming weeks and months, but the new pump should learn how to anticipate Colin's high and low blood sugar readings and give him a great result. We're thankful.

Susan - I am so glad that Colin got a new monitor. It is amazing what these little monitors can do. As you said it can learn and respond appropriately. How is your friend who is on hospice? I believe you said he was a minister. Is this the same one that preached on heaven at your Sunday service? That sounds like it was very impactful to all of you.

Judith - I am so sorry that you had a bad day earlier! I am so glad that it only lasted a day and you say you are feeling better now. I agree with Barb, it is good to hear that the postal service will start again tomorrow. I hope you do not have so much mail backed up that you get tired reading it. LOL

Barb - We got our leaves picked up last week. I was very glad that it was done because we had some wind a couple of days that looked like it was going to blow the leaves away into someone else's yard. I am sure they would not have been happy over that! We still have some leaves on the trees but the majority have been raked up and are gone. We did leave some on the rose bushes to protect them over the winter.

I got the floors mopped and we went to the church to pick up tables for our Christmas celebration tomorrow night. They are decorated with little Christmas trees, candy canes and candles. I have to make cherry pie, bake rolls and make baked beans tomorrow and I will be all done. It is nice that the whole family is able to bring parts of the meal so I do not have to work so hard. Since my family is coming to our house at 6pm after work, they probably will not be able to stay long. Granddaughter Addie (age 4) will need to get to bed but the rest of the grandkids will be fine with staying up longer.

Good morning from hot, humid Queensland where it has been raining all week. I have the air conditioner on dry to keep the air breathable. Our river is rising do we don't walk along the bank. There's local flooding which is normal this time of year. Yesterday they opened the sluice gates for Wivenhoe Dam which always causes flooding in the western suburbs, but it means the Dam is full which is a blessing.

Judith, praying about the flooding in your area. I also am glad to hear your postal workers are back. I hope the weather doesn't stop delivery. They must wonder if the strike was a good idea, now they have to deliver so much! Praying about your upcoming medical appointments too.

Linda, it's house cleaning day here too and yesterday I got the towels all washed and changed out, and another load of everyday washing is going in as I type. I need to keep working on my cards that I plan to hand out to neighbours and groom the dogs today. Your Christmas party plans sound so warm and the tables sound so pretty. Enjoy your family. It's very special. ❤️

Barb, yes, the Insulin pump for Colin has been a blessing to him since 2006. He has to have one to keep from having what they call brittle Diabetes. He is a type 1 Diabetic. He wears both a pump, a monitor in his arm and a canula in his belly. I would think HH had type 2 Diabetes during her pregnancy. They probably gave her an arm monitor to see what her sugar levels were going? Did she control her levels with tablets? Colin's insulin pump actually acts like an artificial pancreas and gives him insulin 24/7 as needed. It's amazing. He doesn't use tablets as his Pancreas doesn't work at all. They think his Pancreas was destroyed by a virus he had in his 30s and now he is 68. No one else in the family has Diabetes.

About our friend who preached on heaven, yes, it was he who was told about two weeks ago that he was dying. He has cancer that started in his spine, slowly moved to his legs and travelled up to his brain. It is now attacking his heart. He was allowed home with medication and is receiving Palliative care. He was a missionary in Niugini for most of his life after he was saved in his 30s. He and his wife (who also has cancer) have total faith in the Lord. They do all things in His strength. They remain cheerful in the face of everything, caring more about others than about themselves. Bro Joe really pushed himself to give us a devotion on heaven last Sunday and stood for half an hour to do it. We were all deeply touched by him and the evidence of God working in his life. He and his wife Eileen are well loved by us all. Colin visits them almost every day. You should hear he and Joe bantering. But they always talk about heaven and the Lord.

Judith - I pray that you are safe from the flooding that is predicted. We had a cold wind today but no moisture associated with it. The news said that in an area that had a big wildfire several years ago they were going to do some "controlled burning" to get rid of dry plants and grass to prevent another wildfire. They were not able to do it today due to the wind in the area.

Susan - it sounds like you are having problems with possible flooding also. I am glad that you are on the higher ground and usually do not have bad flooding. I agree that you should not go near the river banks. If a flood does happen, the current can be very dangerous. I did not realize that Colin was a Type 1 diabetic. Having a pump would be so helpful for him since he does not produce any insulin himself.

Barb - Spritz cookies are one of my favorite especially in Christmas colors. They are not as sweet as some cookies or cakes that are popular at this season. My favorite is the flavored popcorn that they sell in the stores. I do not care for the caramel corn but the other flavors are good. They are full of artificial flavors and lots of salt so I do not buy it but I loved when people would bring a tin of it in at work for us to munch on as we worked.

We had a wonderful time with family tonight. We had plenty of food and fun. My son has to get up at 4:30 every morning so they could not stay very long but I appreciate that they came. They have a 30 minute drive to come to our house.

I wanted to come on here early to wish Marilyn a happy anniversary. I hope you and your husband have a great day celebrating the times you have had together - both supporting each other during hard times and the joyous times you have. 🎂💕

Since it is early, I do not have a lot to say or to respond to. Judith I am glad that you have not had any problems with the rain you are having. Stay safe and warm in your house today.

We have the house cleaned up from the party and now I am back to the mundane "regular" tasks like laundry. I will start that when Glenn gets up and can carry the laundry hamper down two flights of stairs for me. I feel I am getting stronger with walking up and down them but it is hard when carrying a heavy load. I am going back to Vail to see my doctor tomorrow for the two month checkup and with x-rays. I am expecting a good report although I have not been doing my specific physical therapy exercises every day. I have been getting lots of exercise just with walking and stretching my thigh with the longer gait. I will be sure to do them today.

Judith, it's OK about not realising we had floods too. I was always safe. We did notice a lot of standing water when we were out yesterday and the ground is saturated. We get a little break from rain today. I hope your medical appointments are bearable today. Thinking of you ❤️

I had no trouble posting in threads except MFP changes the page I am on quite often, especially if I go look something up elsewhere on the Web while I am posting. How strange that it locked you out of the Bible reading and commentary thread only.

Barb, I am praying for your family and remembered everyone here in prayer just now.

Our lunch yesterday was so lovely. It b is always good to see those friends and we chatted and laughed together for 4 hours!

Today nothing much is planned so maybe I will hand deliver some Christmas cards around the Village.

We hit a bump in the road and my hand hit the post button. Oops!

Susan - I'm glad that you were able to have a fun lunch with friends. I'm also glad you are getting a break in your rainy weather. Since we live in a dry climate, I don't know what it is like to have flooding from rain. I do remember all day gentle rains growing up in the Summer. Those days were spent lying on my bed reading and listening to the rain on the tin roof outside my window.

Judith I'm praying for your doctor's appointment. I'm assuming that your appointment is not as quick and pain free as mine was. I wish things were different but God did not make mistakes when He allows things. I have a friend who has frequent appointments and frequent surgeries. She says her mission field is the hospital staff.

Barb, yesterday we had Humidity in the 90% range and it was hard to breathe without the air conditioning on. I left it on till midnight. Glad your sister didn't get a flooded basement. Yikes on the underdone pork. They may not know it needs to be well cooked in the US. They may not know about the roundworms there. I'm sure they cook pork in Hong Kong but may not have the roundworms risk. I hope they learn soon! How lovely that you got to see Evan perform as Pigpen! I think he would have loved you being in the audience.

Linda, that is such good news about your hip! Well done, you! I am glad you are past the worst of the pain. I know you have a ways to go but that's excellent. Yes, rain here is monsoonal, so we get heavy troughs of rain that sweep the country. When they move slowly we get a real dumping. There is often hail in the summer too, some as big as lemons or even bigger.

Judith, thinking of you and hoping you are alright after yesterday's appointments. 🙏

I was up till 1 am finishing tasks and was so wide awake I only got 3 hrs of sleep. I feel like an old sack of potatoes today. Today Shaun and Inara are visiting while mama works. I have a recording session with Uke Jam this afternoon so just practiced our songs as well as the hymns for church tomorrow. Colin took Inara and Shaun out so I could do that but they will be back soon. We'll have lunch together.

Till tomorrow!

It is getting late and I am tired from being at the hospital for 7 hours while my daughter had surgery then we had to hurry to get to the Cultural Center to see the White Christmas play. That was another 3 hours. Tomorrow I will get on earlier and finish the threads.

Judith - I am so glad that MFP is working for you now. I have redone one of the threads several times because I said to save draft and it did not. MFP can be frustrating! I am sorry that your two weeks in a row of seeing the doctor was difficult. Was there a reason that he needed to see you so often? I am glad that you said you had a break in the weather. I love to see the sunshine to help my mood.

Susan - what a difference there is in your and our weather! You have 90% humidity and we have 16%. I would love to have some of your moisture to help my dry skin. The manufacturers who make lotion are making a lot of money on me to help moisturize my skin these dry days. I am sorry you did not get much sleep. Feeling like a "sack of potatoes" does not sound very good. My friend gave me a weighted blanket and I tried it last night. I usually lay in bed for at least an hour before falling asleep even if I am tired. Last night I put it on the bed and I do not remember laying still waiting for sleep at all. It is hard to roll over with this blanket though. It weighs 20# and is supposed to feel like a "hug" to help relax for sleeping.

Barb - I am glad you got to see the play with your grandson's appearance as Pigpen. He is one of my favorite people in the Charlie Brown stories. You are having a lot of guests. We also try to keep the guest room ready at all times for visitors. Right now it is a mess with all the things we were doing getting ready for Christmas. When we get back there I know I will have plenty to do to keep me busy for a while straightening up.

As I said last night, yesterday was a very long day. My daughter is doing well after surgery. I made up a bed for her downstairs so she did not have to go up the stairs but she said she thought she could do it. She slept 11 hours last night so I hope she has more energy. What was bothering her the most last night was her brain felt foggy from the anesthesia. That should wear off in the next few days. While we were waiting for her surgery to be over, we worked on our Christmas cards. I was so glad to get them done so our waiting was productive. I know we are really late and we did not have a postal strike like Canada to blame it on. We will mail them today and hope they get to their destination by Christmas. We probably have cards waiting for us when we get back to Grand Junction. We are not sure when we will go back. It depends on how my daughter is feeling and a few other things that may get scheduled. The joy of being retired is that we can be flexible with our schedule. Several people have keys to our house so I may need to ask someone to water my plants if we are gone too long. We really enjoyed going to see our S-I-L in White Christmas show. He was one of the main characters and also did a lot of tap dancing in the show. He is so talented in so many ways. He has his creative outlet in things like this show and then he is also an electrical engineer that is so opposite to doing the shows.