Tim, Dad and Mothers

Mothers are special people.  This is a picture of my mother with my sister and I.  It was taken a long time ago.  Thought it was kind of a cool picture to share being the weekend of Mothers' Day.  Happy Mothers' Day to all the Moms out there.
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I made it home safely from my short trip to Florida.  It was basically 3 days, but it felt like I was gone alot longer than that.  I had 3 really good days with my Dad.  My Dad isn't able to do many of the things he used to do, but he can surely play cards.  I had to recall my cribbage skills to match with the master, and I actually beat him on one match.  He doesn't miss a trick when it comes to cards.  He seems to be in pretty good health with the exception of his weak legs and his short-term memory.  He was exceedingly happy to have me there.  I haven't spent that much continuous time with him in years.

My brother is progressing in a positive direction although he has many ups and downs as he gets through his days, but with time, patience, and much prayer, I am confident that he will be restored to good health.  I had to keep my visits with my brother on the short side because he tires easily, but my father was able to go with me to visit Tim a couple more times than he would have if I had not been there.  I did go to visit Tim once without my Dad and I was able to take Tim for a ride to get him out of the house.

Thanks to anyone who may have been praying for Tim.  It is amazing to see how far he has already progressed, but he is still in need of prayer to get him through this rough time.  He continues to experience bad headaches, and cannot get much restful sleep.  You know when you don't get enough sleep, that alone can give you a headache.  Also not knowing what might have been the catalyst that caused this is causing some anxiety for him.

I praise the Lord for allowing me the opportunity to go to Florida to visit my father and brother.

Apple pie is done

 

The quilt is done... after many votes for red and several for green, I decided on a red and green binding.  With just the binding in question, it probably would have looked good either way. 

On the status of my brother... Praise the Lord, I was able to talk to Tim today, and he actually sounded pretty good considering what he has gone through in the past week.  He is definitely not out of the woods yet, but his progress is moving along in a positive direction.  His daughter said that he went for a walk with her a couple times already.  He will still be in the hospital for another week, but with the number of people who have been praying for him I know he will be home soon.  He again told me that "God is in Control". 

It's a beautiful Friday

It's been a while since there has been anything new here.  The last week or so it has been very eventful.  Last week at this time I was getting ready to leave for a ladies retreat where I was going to be a facilitator for the craft event that would follow the speaker for the evening session.  I'm not a jewelry maker, but I can string a few beads without a problem.  I have lots of beads and ribbon and I think you can come up with some pretty neat creations with beads and ribbons. It was strictly the "fun factor" that was most important. The event went over pretty well with lots of variations in the completed "necklaces".  Of course another reason that I was elected to go was to drive the church bus.  I get that honor bestowed upon me often when it's a ladies' event... being the only "lady driver" of the bus.

When I was on the way home from the church on Saturday, I got a call from my sister to let me know that my brother had a stroke.  Now this is a younger brother, and it totally took me by surprise.  I thought he was a pretty healthy, strong individual.  Saturday night while at the hospital, he had a heart attack... and my sister calls me again on Sunday morning to advise me I should call to speak to him before he went in to surgery for the brain aneurysm.  He was in a lot of pain and was not able to talk a lot, but he was able to let me know "God is in control".  Well his surgery was successful, it was determined that he definitely had a heart attack, but here it is Friday and last I heard he was able to pick up a fork and feed himself.  Praise the Lord!  I won't go into the ups and downs that he has gone through this week, but he is still not out of the woods, and he still needs lots of prayers, so if you are reading this please add my brother Tim to your prayer list.

The whole week has been very busy.  I made a decision on the binding color for my apple quilt, and I will post a picture when I get the wall hanging quilted and have the binding complete.  I decided on a red AND green binding.  Thanks for all your votes.

I belong to a smaller quilting group that meets on Thursdays twice a month in a little cottage in a rural setting. It is a really neat place with quilts all over the walls, and antiques all around.  I got a call on Wednesday that the creek was up and it would not be good for a normal car to try to drive through, so I was asked to have the girls come to my house for quilting.  So yesterday I had 7 ladies here quilting.  We had sewing machines all over the place.  I think it was a pretty productive day for everyone.  It somehow seems that meeting in a different place adds to the fun.  We did a lot of laughing and story telling... and did I say that no one went away hungry didn't I?  Of course I had to show everyone my "mini" garden before I would let them come into the house.

Now Fridays are good days.  Ron and I used to go to dinner on Friday evenings.  That was what we did every Friday... kind of like date night.  A few months back we decided it might be fun to make a few changes.  We changed the time.  Instead of going out to supper, we go out to lunch... and we changed the place... actually every week is different, usually anyhow.  We head to San Antonio and beyond sometimes.  Because we are going to San Antonio, we wait until Friday instead of making a special run to Lowe's or Joann's or the big WalMart or anything else we might need up that way.  Doesn't mean we can't go other times, but if we know we are going on Friday anyhow, we can typically wait.  Instead of repeating the minimal selection of restaurants they have in our little town, we try to pick something new and/or exciting.  We've been to Chili's a few times because we love those "burger bites", and their desserts are wonderful, and there is this really neat Italian restaurant way up on the NW side of SA.  I found out that IHOP had cheesecake pancakes... if you have not had these and you like cheesecake... you need to try them.  We sometimes target an area for the restaurant and then find some place interesting or fun to shop, or at times we have something particular we need to shop for so we shop then look for some place that looks like a good place to eat.

Now it wouldn't be the same without a picture, so here is a clip of the restaurant we visited today. I have to tell you about this little restaurant I remembered visiting with some friends a couple years ago when we went to a quilt show in New Braunfels.  The name of the place is Huisache Grill, and if you don't know where it is, you could drive in circles trying to find it.  I guess if you are from New Braunfels you would know about it, but you cross the railroad tracks and there is one block of buildings then an alley.... you have to know it is down the alley cause there is no sign.  Boy what a neat place.  I convinced my husband that I could find it and it would be worth finding... so we ate there today, and lunch was wonderful.... and he agreed.

The sun is out and it is quite beautiful, so we drove home with the top down on the Miata.