March 2017 Update

Top o’ the marnin’ to ya!  ♣


Birthdays since I wrote last:  Caitlin on 2/18, my brother, Ken, on 3/6, and Kortney today!  Also, Ella and Cody celebrated their 3rd anniversary on 2/22, and Caitlin and Ben celebrated their 1st anniversary on 3/5.  We didn’t have parties for any of these at my house, but we remembered them all!


Krista and I had a chance to get away to Niagara Falls late in February for a few days.  My son-in-law, Kevin (Hannah’s husband), has a membership with Embassy Suites, and he was able to help us get a good deal for a stay at their hotel in Niagara Falls, Ontario.  We enjoyed going on the Journey Behind the Falls, walking along the river, romantic dinners (is Rainforest Café romantic?), and beautiful views. 

We had reserved a Canadian falls view room, but this was what we saw when we walked in

If you got into the corner of the room, you could see the Canadian falls, so technically they weren't lying

Journey Behind the Falls

Happy couple by the Canadian falls

Happy couple across from the American falls

At the bottom of the Falls Incline Railway

At the top of the Falls Incline Railway

We changed rooms to get a better view.  This is from our 2nd room looking left...

...and then right.  Much better view!

My valentine at Rainforest Café with a fancy light-up cup

My valentine in front of the glittering lights of Clifton Hill



Panoramic night-time shot from our room, red lights are the casino, green lights in the middle are the American falls, and green lights on the right (through the mist) are Canadian falls



On 3/5 our pastor was away, and I had an opportunity to preach again at my church.  I just learned that there was a problem with the recording, so I’m afraid you can’t listen to it online.  If something changes, and they’re able to get it, it will eventually show up on our church’s website www.gracebrockport.org under the Sermons link.  Even if mine doesn't make it, there are a lot of other excellent sermons you could listen to!  But if you want, I can email anyone who asks my notes and slides, and you can try to recreate it on your own.  J


We’ve had some interesting weather around here the past two weeks.  Last week we had a wind storm with winds in the 80MPH range.  Lots of trees were blown over or lost branches, and many homes lost shingles or siding or were hit by falling trees.  Of course, there were power outages too.  We had no power for about a day, and it took another two days before our Internet and cable were restored.  But that, of course, is not a big deal, and we thank God for how easy it was for us.  Several people were without power for over a week or lost a lot of property.  My work was closed for two days because of power issues.


Then this week we had two days of steady snow that dropped about 2 feet on us.  I had to work from home for two days because it was not safe to travel.  My snowblower finally got lots of use!  Krista, Abigail, and I went over to Abigail’s boyfriend’s house to help him dig his car out after Abigail and Seth returned from Philadelphia where they were visiting his brother and her sisters.  While I was struggling to get the snowblower started, my car keys fell out of my pocket, but I didn’t realize it until about an hour later.  God was gracious to us, and Seth found them on the sidewalk near his house.  He thought they would have been buried in blowing snow in another few minutes, so we thank God for His kindness! 

Levi in a little cave he made

You may not be able to tell, but there's a road there

All that fell in two days

Picnic table covered up past its benches

Also, this week, right at the start of the snowstorm, Cai and his girlfriend, Amy, and two of their college friends came to our house for their spring break.  “Spring” of course needs to be in quotes because it’s not really spring, and it definitely didn’t feel like spring!  But they got to play in the snow, experience the joy of garbage plates (if you don’t know what those are, come to our area some time and enjoy this culinary delight), and play games together.  Cai and Amy went to Niagara Falls for the day yesterday as well (their other friends went home yesterday morning).


Hopefully, when I write next in April, it will be warm!

 

February 2017 Update

I feel like I should put a disclaimer on these updates.  That being, they are subject to my memory (faulty).  I keep getting facts wrong, and when some of my family get these updates, they correct me.  I’m thankful for that, because I’m trying to do this right, but my memory was never great, and now it’s worse.  Grandpa Taylor used to tell me never to get old, and I’m understanding why he said that more and more lately.

Anyway, when I am corrected, I make the needed changes here so that it is accurate, in case anyone cares.

So, here we go again, and if you want to make sure you get the correct version of everything, check back here in a week or so.

We celebrated birthdays again since I wrote last:  Jemmie’s was on 1/21 (her party was on 1/22), Abigail’s was on 2/2, and my son-in-law, Cody’s, was on 2/11 (we had a combined party for Abigail and Cody on 2/12).  Ella made the dinner for their party, and Krista made their desserts.  Also, I remembered my brother, David’s, birthday on 2/14.

Jem with her birthday cake

Obviously, I caught this mid-movement. But I liked it because it looks like Alma is flying

Cody and Ivy at Jem's party

Jem with her presents and nieces

Somehow these two little girls tend to end up half naked...

Cody's cookie cake

The birthday boy and girl (picture by Ella)

Levi started playing basketball in our community kids’ league this year.  It’s been a fun learning experience for him, since that’s a sport he hasn’t really done anything with before.  On 1/25, his coach took the team to see the Brockport High School varsity game.  They high-fived the players as they came out and got to play on the court a little during half time.  It was good for them to see players who have more experience at the game since most of them are just starting out and beginning to develop their skills.

Levi (left) and his basketball team at the Brockport varsity game

On 2/4 was our annual Awana Bible Quiz for the T&T group (3rd – 6th grade).  Levi competed on the boys’ team for his grade, and they did a great job, taking first place.  I’m thankful that he is putting God’s Word into his heart, because I know it will help him all through his life as the Holy Spirit brings His Word back to him when he needs it.

Levi's first place team

Of course, 2/5 was the Super Bowl, and, although it didn’t turn out the way I’d hoped (I tell people I cheer for the Seahawks, the Bills, and whoever is playing the Patriots), I have to admit (grudgingly) that the Patriots are impressive, and their comeback made the game much more exciting.  I was even pleasantly surprised by the half time show.  I am not even close to being a Lady Gaga fan, but she put on a good show.  We watched the game at Ella and Cody’s house, and everyone chipped in with great food, so we had a fabulous time.

I feel like I’m forgetting something, but I’m sure my family will let me know if that’s true.  J

Talk to you in March!

January 2017 Update

Happy New Year!

We had a very nice Christmas celebration.  Everyone (plus a couple of wonderful extras) was able to be here for at least part of the holidays, and I got to meet my Minnesotan granddaughter, Daisy!  At our peak, we had 25 people here for a crowded but fabulous time.  The extras were Cai’s girlfriend, Amy, Carissa’s mother-in-law, Rhonda, and Abigail’s boyfriend, Seth.  We went to the Christmas Eve service at our church where several of us sang an arrangement of “I Wonder As I Wander,” and we enjoyed the singing and the gospel message of God becoming man to reconcile us to Himself.  Then Christmas morning was busy with it being on a Sunday this year.  We did stockings first thing, got ready and went to church, then did our usual Christmas brunch, and finished up with the presents under the tree.

Krista feeding Alma at a family dinner over the holidays

Alma returning the favor

Family dinner over the holidays

Ready for Christmas morning

Christmas morning stockings

Christmas brunch

Grandpa with Daisy

Since 12/25 is also Carissa’s husband, Matt’s, birthday, she made him a cake while everyone was here so we celebrated him too.  Also, Ella’s daughter, Hazel, turned two on 1/6.  Hannah and Kevin skipped out on Hazel’s party, but Alma, their daughter, represented the Mickle family there.  They had a pretty good excuse for skipping:  they were in the hospital, and Hazel got a birthday twin!  Alexander David Mickle was born on 1/6 at 8:08PM.  He weighed 10 pounds, 5 ounces, and was 23 inches long.  They are all doing very well, and we praise God with them for this gift to their family!

Grandpa and Alex

Alex ready to go home from the hospital

Of course, everyone eventually went back home after the holidays, and that’s always a little sad.  We also had to say goodbye to Amelia for the first time.  She went with Kortney and Mat and Daisy and is living with them in Minnesota.  She is doing all kinds of new things, like finding a job (she started working as a bank teller this week), getting into a new church and Bible study group, and living with her sister and brother-in-law.  I’m proud of all the new things she is doing and how well she is doing them!

Our downstairs is mostly done.  I need to finish off the flooring, and we need to do the trim, but it is very usable, and we’re very happy with how it looks.  It was great to have that space available when our house was so crowded!

This shows our downstairs renovation as it is now (before we decorated the tree and moved furniture in for Christmas)

For contrast, here's the same corner midway through the demolition

I guess that’s it for this month!

December 2016 Update

Greetings from the frozen tundra of western New York State!  This past week has been very snowy here with close to two feet falling over that week.  Thursday’s commute for me was awful, taking over twice as long as usual.  Thankfully, I made it to and from work with no mishaps.

This was taken out my front door during our blizzard Thursday 12/15

Birthdays we celebrated since I wrote you last were Zach’s on 11/23 and Amelia’s on 12/3.  Of course, we also celebrated Thanksgiving with all of our local family.  Unfortunately, our family in Philadelphia and Minneapolis couldn’t join us, but we had delicious food and a wonderful time together at Ella and Cody's house.

Happy Birthday Zach!

Happy Birthday Amelia!

A small part of our Thanksgiving feast

Our downstairs project is going very well.  We decided to hire someone to do the drywall mudding for us to save time (although not money), and he did a very good job in a very short time.  Now we are painting it, and we hope to have that done by tomorrow.  By “we” I mean Abigail’s boyfriend, Seth, who has done all the painting so far, and probably will end up doing it all.  We are very thankful for his skill and availability!  I have neglected to mention all the people who have been helping us with this.  My son-in-law, Cody’s, father, Matt, has been the most tremendous help.  He has lots of construction experience and has been invaluable in saving us from mistakes and saving us money in getting the project done.  Matt and his wife, Cathy, go to our church, so we’ve known them for a long time.  Another guy from church, Steve Morse, has done all the electrical work downstairs for us.  Also, Cody, Seth, my son-in-law, Kevin, and my kids have all helped with hanging drywall, clean-up, demolition, cabling, etc.  We bought the flooring we wanted last week, so we’re excited to think it may actually be usable for Christmas when everybody is here!

On Sunday 12/11, we went to the Bills game against the Steelers with Ella and Cody.  Cody had gotten suite (and sweet) tickets through his work, so even though it was a cold day, we stayed nice and warm.  We even got to go on the field before the game with the passes he had, so we were within a few feet of the Bills as they warmed up.  It was a lot of fun, even though the Bills didn’t win.  I guess they didn’t warm up enough.  In my life I’ve been to three Bills games and they are 0-3 when I go.  Maybe someday I’ll go when they win.  But I was proud to watch the Seahawks game on TV when they clinched the NFC West.  Now we just need them to keep on winning while Detroit and Dallas lose!

This was our view.  Hannah, Kevin, Abigail, and Seth, and some of Hannah's friends are in this picture (somewhere).  It was full by the time the game started!

Bills selfie! (with Cody, Ella, Ivy, and Krista)

Cai came home from college for the Christmas break this past Friday.  It actually turned into Saturday because his train was delayed in Albany.  He was supposed to arrive just before midnight Friday, but it turned out to be closer to 3AM Saturday morning.  But he made it safely, and we’re very glad to have him home for almost three weeks.

Last night at church was our kids’ Christmas program.  Only Jem and Levi are still in these things, although Zach helped with sound, and Abigail helped direct the program.  They did a great job presenting the gospel through the Christmas story in a fun and interesting way.

Levi and Jem (on the right) in the play

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!

Ivy (left), everybody at Caitlin's wedding (middle), Daisy (right)