It has been a while, the new year has found me very busy with very little time for writing. But to let family and friends know I’m not dead yet, I will give a quick update. Connie & I continue to work with all the stresses and strains that full- time work brings and of course it’s tax time. But hey, we still have jobs and taxes to pay!

Amy, Laura, and Rob still have work also. Laura is working toward taking her boards coming up soon. Amy has announced she is getting married this summer or fall, and Rob & Adelaide are busy with their new bundle of joy. Amber continues to work and has returned to graduate school. Ada continues to grind her way through college, and Esther is back in high school with all the activity that brings. There is a lot here I would like to expound on but will not.

The farm continues to soak up all the rain. I’m ready for it to dry up for a few days. I would like to plant some peas, onions and maybe a few other things. I have started pruning the apple trees in hopes we will have another year like last year. I planted lots of tulips and other bulb plants for the spring. I haven’t bought seed yet but I find myself thinking about it a lot. It’s time to stop thinking and start doing! The bees seem to be wintering OK I plan on starting a couple of new hives this year. I have sold lots of honey this year.

I continue to have concerns about the direction our country is headed. Nationalized banking, bail out money to prop up failed & failing companys, stimulus money to abortion clinics: I remember someone wrote something about empowering bad behavior. Hum, what was it?

I hope Mr. Obama is the best president we have ever had, but so far I’m not impressed.

That’s all for now, may God bless

Here is a proud grandmother with her new grandbaby. Connie and newborn, Johannes. Need I say more?

The New Year

Here it is in your face the New Year.  Gone is the old year a year of political discord, endless elections (still going on), world economic stress, wars, and endless examples of our countries lack of morality.  On a personal note I had a fairly good year.  The garden did very well, I put away lots of food, the kids all did well, and Connie & I still have jobs, not bad.  I wonder when I look around me at all the people I know and come in contact with.  They are for the most part good, honest, hardworking people.  So how is it that the so called leaders and the rich & famous seem so corrupt?  Maybe they need to balance a checkbook, and do some hard work for a change or we need to rethink our news sources, hard to be sure.  I have hope  that this year will bring a better overall outlook.

The New Year has started good Esther & I spent a goodly part of New Years day in the orchard doing some early pruning after we visited a friend of hers in the hospital.  Yesterday we took the Christmas tree down and put the Christmas stuff away.  Connie who went to Ohio to visit with her parents New Year’s Eve got to witness the birth of her 3^rd grandson.  Congratulations to Rob & Adelaide Durkin on the birth of their first child Johannes Martin Durkin born 1/2/2009 @ 6:21pm, 7lbs 9oz, 19” long after 16.5 hours of labor, a hard day’s work for Adelaide.

The sermon today was good it was titled “Now is the Hour” as what is the time in this world on God’s clock and do you have all the ingredients His book recommends in order to meet Him at His soon coming.  It has been a restful day, with Esther doing her usual visiting thing with her friends after Church.  I came home and rested.  I thought of taking a nap but didn’t.  I miss Connie as noted above she is in Ohio.  We talk on the phone frequently but it’s just not the same.