Operation Christmas Child Box Destination

Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child in the past sent an email telling the destination of one's box if one paid for the shipping online and thus had a tracking barcode.

This year I had to go to the website and find the tracking tool and input my email address. I was surprised to see it showed the destinations of several years' boxes, not just this year's box. Last year the box went to Mexico. I knew that already.

This year my box went to a "Hard-to-Reach" country; I will not know the specific country because the people sharing the Gospel might be tracked down and persecuted. The governments of such countries do not condone evangelization and the spread of Christianity. It did share some stories of the effectiveness of the boxes in these types of countries which warmed my heart. I sent a box for an older girl in the hopes that as she is married and starts her family in a few years, she will have become a Christian through this ministry and thus have influence on future generations.

My first year putting together a box I was sort of begrudging the time and money spent, but now I embrace this ministry as a way to have a part in the growth of the Body of Christ. 

Frosty Morning

We had a slight chance for snow or rain and snow mixed for Christmas Day, but it mostly was just overcast. This morning we have lovely sunshine but frost on the trees and roof tops.

I hope my little winter aconite tubers are sleeping well and will be ready to pop through the soil by March to give me some bright yellow blooms.

My husband's two sisters and one b-i-l came to our house for noon Christmas dinner. I had purchased a BOGO deal on pork tenderloin awhile back and froze them. I served them with an orange sauce and green-bean casserole and wild rice. One sister brought a fruit salad; one sister brought a cherry pie and a pumpkin pie. We ate off of the fancy china.

Last Saturday my husband and I went to the Cow Shed in Nappanee because we hadn't seen a jigsaw puzzle to our liking locally. The farmyard scene was a great hit on Christmas Day and at 750 pieces we actually managed to finish it in the one day. 

This morning I went to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to renew my driver's license. The state of Indiana allows you to renew up to 6 months early. I had planned to renew before Thanksgiving but of course that didn't work out. I brought in all of the documentation for the Real-ID verified license that will be required for airplane travel in 2020. The new license should arrive in 2 weeks, well before my cruise to Panama and adjacent areas. The photo on the receipt looks a tad better than my new passport photo, but both are unflattering. It would help if they let you smile for the photo. I guess I really am that old lady in the photos. 

We have my husband's December 31st birthday to celebrate and then New Year's Day. We pray that 2019 will be a more merciful year for us. 

December Bloom of the Month

In Mourning

We received word this morning that my husband's brother in Wisconsin died. He was in the hospital with post-surgery complications, but his death was unexpected. We have heavy hearts. 

Heaven is crowding up with our loved ones. 

A Little Lamb Goes Home

My mom, 94-years-old, died November 20th. I arrived home late last night after being in California for the funeral and to help clear out her assisted-living apartment.

She is now with Jesus in heaven reunited with loved ones and friends. Her funeral was November 29th at Rose Hills in Whittier. 

It will be a somber December as we mourn her absence at Christmas and remember her on December 19th, what would have been her 95th birthday.

November Bloom of the Month

I was hoping that Martin's would provide a nice fallish bouquet for November. Hurray! They did.

Windy Saturday

The wind swept over the land. Changes keep happening.

It has also been very cold at night, 15-20 degrees below average.
Glad for sunshine today instead of yesterday's clouds.

From golden glory to stark emptiness. The barren time will soon be upon us.

A Day's Difference

It was pretty cool yesterday, but we did have sunshine in the afternoon.

Early this morning snow started falling. We may get a bit more later today. Tomorrow no snow but gusty winds which probably will knock lots of leaves off the branches. Next week we may get some more snow and have several days in the 30's. Already starting to feel like winter around here. At least the roads are navigable with such light snow accumulation.

Lilly Center for Lakes and Streams

The Lilly Center for Lakes and Streams at Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana, hosted an interactive learning experience for children and a nature hike for all ages this afternoon.

An 875-gallon hexagon aquarium in the lobby of the new Dane Miller Science Complex building houses local fish species. Other aquariums are set into the wall. 

Kosciusko County and the surrounding northern Indiana area has abundant lakes, rivers, and streams. Guarding the eco system and teaching the community how to preserve and wisely use these waterways is part of the mission of the Lilly Center. There are teaching opportunities in the local schools as well as outdoor fieldtrips in cleaning up litter and brambles and blockages in the local rivers and streams. 

Kosciusko County is the location of the north/south Continental Divide, with the north watershed eventually reaching the Great Lakes, St. Laurence seaway, and into the Atlantic while the south watershed flows primarily to the Wabash, Ohio River, Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. 

The children today colored outline pictures of fish. Once completed, the drawing was placed on a special platform that photographed it digitally and caused it to be projected in an underwater mural scene on a wall of the room.

 A sand table looked like a pile of sand until a computer program was projected on it and when the children scooped the sand deep enough "lakes" and "ponds" appeared around the contours.

A turtle was available to touch.

While the children were busy, my husband and I walked thru some of the science building. The Cooley Science Building has been merged with the new complex to appear as a seamless whole.

Dr. Dane Miller was a founder of Biomet, an orthopedic device developer and manufacturer. Biomet is now owned by a competing company Zimmer. The Millers created a foundation which has been very generous to Winona Lake and Grace College. Dr. Miller is now deceased, but the foundation which is run by his wife is still active. She was the one who chose to honor her husband by supplying the main financing of the new complex. 
The curved wall is actually a rain collection area, with a living roof of plants on top to percolate the water into storage rather than running off unused. The only green roof in this area.

The new building has been designed with seating for students to enjoy the view of the campus.

Dr. Nate Bosch, the director of the Lilly Center, led today's hike. The college is blessed with wooded acreage including wetlands which allow the students to have hands-on experiences. The trails we hiked have only recently been developed.

It was slightly chilly (high 40's) but mostly sunny. The group stopped at several locations to be given educational information about the woods and eventually the bog.

The young man in the Grace College tee shirt had picked up this chicken of the woods fungus as we were hiking. It grows on trees. It is edible. He was quite knowledgeable about fungi.

There were some inclines to access the trail, but otherwise pretty flat though one had to watch out for tree roots and step over fallen tree trunks.

Mostly golden yellow in these woods. We are expecting a mixture of rain/snow next weekend so I was glad to have this opportunity to explore nature in an area new to me before it gets too cold and nasty to be outside.

Time For Operation Christmas Child 2018

Operation Christmas Child has a new box option this year: a green and red plastic box. They also offer the cardboard box, and of course one can provide their own box.

The big gift for the 10-14 years-old girl recipient in my box is a tote bag.

Besides the tote bag I included a package of combs, toothbrushes, a washcloth and small hand towel, a black ballpark cap, a ribbon-covered headband, a wallet purse, two bandanas, and two bracelets. The bracelets and the headband were provided to our church by someone who does that kind of work and had left-overs from craft sales.

 I am still hoping to find a small item or two at the local Christmas craft shows tomorrow. Sunday I will take it to my church to join the boxes that have already been done. November 11th is the deadline. 

How is your box coming along? Better hurry.

Autumn Lunch

I took time to savor my lunch of butternut squash soup, half a croissant, and a Fuji apple. I hadn't eaten a Fuji in quite some time and had forgotten how good it tastes. I was trying to jolly myself out of my crabby mood. It took me twice the usual time to complete my grocery shopping this morning.

Yep, the Owens/Kroger store is moving everything around again. I knew they had laid new flooring in the produce section and were painting walls throughout the store. Some of the shelving is empty so they are not done yet with rearranging things.
The produce clerk tried to help me find specific things, but even he wasn't sure where some things were located. In the past, they have had a "helper" at the end of the center aisles to tell people where to go, but none today; I guess because they are not done. 

I went to Fort Wayne Wednesday to make the last installment payment on our winter cruise. Then since I was in the city, I spent some time at the mall and at Costco. Bought another batch of croissants. I did put most of them in the freezer because they are quite addictive, especially when warmed slightly in the microwave. At Costco I bought my first Christmas gift though I have been reflecting on what to give others. 

My husband does woodworking projects with a man from our church. The man asked if he and his wife could come to our house to watch the World Series first game. They only have antenna TV.
I am not a big fan of baseball. Too slow for me, but I thought well at least I can root for the Dodgers, my hometown team. LOL. It turns out Em, his wife, attended Red Sox spring training camps in Florida as a girl. Her aunt, an artistic person, had created a poster of Ted Williams pitching with the ball large as if in your face. She had all of the Red Sox players autograph the ball in the poster. She had also drawn a picture of Ted Williams, and he signed it for her. Em was wearing a Red Sox pin on her blouse when she arrived. She had baked brownies and brought to share. Fortunately for me, I am not a big baseball fan because the Red Sox won handily. 

A Beautiful Autumn Day

Wow! What a difference a few cold nights make. As I drove King's Highway in Winona Lake and towards Warsaw on Center Street the trees were bursting with color. I said thank you for the sharing of the fall beauty. 

I had some donations for Goodwill to drop off. When I browsed the books, I found 6 paperbacks and 1 hardback. Two decorating books will be perused for photos for my decorating folders. The cherry on top is that this was Senior 50% off day, and I didn't even know it. 

$4 for 7 books and that included rounding up for a donation to the Work Center. 

I am especially looking forward to reading this book by Ellen Stouffer as Thanksgiving approaches.

It is illustrated short stories.

I even have some time to play Qwirkle and Text Twist on my ipad before dinner. A great day.

A Merry Lea/Pisgah Kind of Day

I made the effort to get up by 7 a.m. this morning so we could drive to Topeka, Indiana, to eat breakfast at Tiffany's. As we headed east we viewed a colorful sunrise. Too bad I was riding in a car so that I couldn't get a good photo. I tried to shoot thru the windshield as we approached a traffic light but by that time the dark reddish pink had lightened up a lot.

Tiffany's is an Amish-run restaurant. The food turned out to be pretty mediocre but the plate was piled so high I barely ate half of my scrambler (scrambled eggs with onions and shredded potatoes all mixed up together). We had eaten the lunch buffet here years ago, followed by pie. The pie is really the star of the place.

We drove to Merry Lea Environmental Center southeast of Topeka. Last year we experienced a sorghum pressing. This year we parked on the western edge of the property as we only explored the eastern part on our first visit. I guess we really weren't supposed to be hiking in this part. It is for educational programs. There was an old gravel pit and a geodesic domed building. The few marked trails petered out.

Not much fall color yet. The spell of hot weather we had in the first half of October slowed down the changing of the leaves.

Though we had a few moments of sun, the cloudy setting didn't make for good photography. 
We drove west to Indiana 5 and headed south. We saw the sign for Pisgah Marsh and decided to stroll the boardwalk. It has been a few years since we visited Pisgah.

There was a little bit of fall color but not much yet. We saw hundreds of birds flying and lighting on trees making such a racket. I'm not sure what kind of birds they were. We had run into this racket at Merry Lea as well in one spot. Were they massing together readying for a migration? Usually you can see sandhill cranes at Pisgah; we saw two in a harvested cornfield north of the marsh, but none at the marsh. We did see way off in the distance Canada geese in the marshy pool.

Those are birds not dark leaves in those skinny trees above, but big swirls of them were moving around.