OK, the calendar says it is late April, but no one told the weather men that! It was sunny today, but cold, cold, COLD at the track meet tonight!
Caleb ran the 3200 meter (2 mile) race. That was the first race of the evening! Cameron ran the second race of the evening...the 4 x 800! Then....we sat in the cold and waited an hour or two til Cameron's last race...the Open 800. Brrrrrrr! But it was fun to watch them run again! Hope you enjoy the photos!
Caleb
Cameron
We should have lots of beautiful flowers next month if the old rhyme holds true. You know the one..."April Showers bring May flowers" We've had more than showers around here lately! Monday through Wednesday of last week were beautiful, but then the rains started. (Oh, yeah...and today it was SNOW!!) It rained really hard all Thursday night, and we had some severe flooding here in town. School was canceled on Friday because so many roads were either under water or impassible. What a MESS. There is still lots of high water around, but it has gone down quite a bit. Here are some pictures from around town.
This is a normally a beautiful park with walking trails and such. There is a creek that runs to the left of the picture (the creek wouldn't even be IN the photo, normally). You can see the edge of the highway in this picture. For a while on Friday morning , the water was across the highway.
Here is the tee box for the 6th hole on the golf course! What a MESS will be left there!
The creek normally just goes under the big bridge there. It's not a very big creek! But the water has sure gone rushing through here lately!
to the left is the green on hole #5 at the golf course. See all the corn stalks that have washed up there? That also shows that the water had gone down a little before I took the picture!
We attended the final performance of the SF High School concert band last week. They had an outstanding performance! What a treat!
Cameron (he's had a haircut since then!) and his trumpet!
Caleb and his tuba (He's had a haircut, too!)
I was blessed to be able to spend a couple of days last week at a Pastor's Wives retreat through Deer Ridge Ministries. The retreat was held at Highpoint Inn in Freeport, IL. We were pampered and spoiled with absolutely delicious meals while we were there, including Chicken Enchilada casserole, a tuna salad with all kinds of veggies for a light lunch, delicious stuffed pork chops, a quiche, and the final evening was a prime rib dinner, and the dessert....well...you can scroll down and look at the photo of the Crème brûlée and beautiful chocolate covered strawberry! There was CHOCOLATE available all the time (that in itself can make an event perfect in my mind :-) The main speaker for our 3 day event was Mary Whelchel. We had the opportunity to hear her speak several times. We also had small group time, where we were able to get to know 4-5 other pastor's wives a bit better. One of the best things for me was the 1-4 or 4:30 time frame where it was unscheduled. My friend Kelly and I were able to enjoy God's beautiful gift of warm breezes and sunshine and walked both days through Krape Park in Freeport. We laughed and talked and didn't have to listen to a single kid complain! What a blessing and treat that was! And I didn't mention that all of this was offered for absolutely no cost! WOW!
I also had the chance to reconnect in person with my friend Donna. I've known her for almost 10 years through a pastor's wives email list, and it was great to see her and visit again!
Sadly, Kelly and Donna made me promise not to share any photos, so...you'll just have to IMAGINE the fun that we had :)
I just have to say a HUGE thank you to the Decker's, who are the directors of Deer Ridge Ministries. They have SUCH a heart for pastor's and their wives, and making sure that they take the time for rest and renewal. Their ministry makes that possible for many of us! What a blessing they were to ME last week!
This fun little fruit bowl was delicious and beautiful! It's just a small idea of how we were pampered at each meal!
And there is the Crème brûlée and chocolate covered strawberry! Beautiful, and oh my GOSH was it delicious! I could go for one of those around right now!
At least...I have hope of spring! Here is the reason for my hope!
Of course, my REAL hope is not for earthly things like good weather! My REAL hope is in Christ my Savior!
Tonight is Prom! I can't believe that I've got a child old enough to go to prom! Wow! I sure don't FEEL old enough to have a child that is old enough for that!
So....here is Caleb, right before he left to pick up his date, Katie. Isn't he handsome??
They had a "Grand March" at the high school. That was really nice to attend! Lots of beautiful girls, and handsome fellas. None, of course, as beautiful and handsome as MY son and his date :) Don't you agree??
Then, we went outside and took a few photos of Caleb and Katie, and their good friends Justin and Nikki.
I sure hope they are having a great time tonight! Prom dinner, dance..after prom party at the school and then AFTER after prom at a friends house. Wonder how much of Ron's sermon he'll remember tomorrow?
After secondary fermentation is completed, it's time to bottle the beer!
The first step in bottling is washing up all the bottles. First, soak them in the sanitizing stuff.
Then, rinse the bottles thoroughly.
Next, transfer into a clean bucket.
(Be sure to have a beer or two available to quench your thirst while working SO very hard!--the cheap stuff will do in a pinch!)
Then, begin siphoning the beer into bottles. (I SO enjoy helping my husband with this hobby! Can you tell?)
Cap the bottles.
Yep...I'm STILL enjoying myself...
Be sure to get EVERY last drop out of the bucket...
Drink the left over that doesn't fill a bottle completely, and declare "OHHHHH...this is gonna be GREAT beer!"
Ethan sang away at the elementary spring concert on Tuesday! They sang fun songs like "Old Dan Tucker" and "Flicks are For Kids" and "Seven Silly Songs"...they closed with the 3-5th graders singing "Good Night". Awesome job, Ethan!
After the beer sits and "works" in a cool, dark place for about a week, the next step in the process is transferring it to secondary fermentation. Ron did that on April 13 (sorry...I'm delayed in getting the pictures posted :-)
Then, it has to "work" in a cool dark place for another week to ten days.
