Random Ramblings!

Hello Blog Friends...Happy Autumn!
I thought I would show you a little of my fall decorations first of all...and then I will tell you what we have been doing recently. So since I went nearly a month without blogging..(other than posting a poem I wrote recently), I have a lot to catch up on. So, this will be a long one! I hope I don't bore you. I just had some pictures I wanted to post, so I thought I'd just "get 'er done!" (:>)



I saw these big sparkly leaves at a boutique here in town and added them to my table to make it feel fall~ish!



I had fun setting the table as though I was having dinner guests! Ha! I haven't had dinner guests in such a long while. Everything takes so much effort these days...and I just don't do as much as I used to do.



I set my pumpkins on the floor by the door to greet my visitors. I had fun painting a design on one of them.



I placed my two cute little turtles down there with my pumpkins, cuz I thought they were cute. (You can click on the picture to make it bigger so you can see them better.)



I sat a few little pumpkins on my sofa table too...but I don't really do a lot of decorating for the fall season.



My granddaughter Bailey walked her new doggy Duncan over to meet grandma. He is a cute 3 year old Corgi that someone gave them! They also have another Corgi named Riley who is 6 years old! They are good little dogs. The Queen of England has Corgis too.



Grandpa recently bought Bailey her first car! It's a little Ford Focus.



Bailey said she thought a small car would be good on gas mileage! Since she will be paying for her own gas, and also insurance she is wise to be aware of that.



We had 4 Autumn Birthdays to celebrate, so we finally got around to doing that. Here is Adelynn showing us her Birthday money. Grandpa gave it all to her in one dollar bills! He thought it would impress her...but she was quickly talking about getting it changed into bigger bills! (Oh and on the front he stuck a fake million dollar bill! He is such a jokester!)



Here's our daughter Lynnette showing us her birthday bucks too!



And here are all of the birthday people...Jared, Lynnette and Kyle, and Adelynn. We had birthday pies instead of cake.



We met our friend Toni and her youngest daughter Kerri at the airport in Springfield Mo., and then spent a week in Branson with them in Oct. They live in Arizona, and invited us to share their time-share condo with them for the week! It was nice, and we enjoyed time together.



We have been friends for 32 years, and we feel like sisters! And I am Auntie Linda to her girls, and she is like an Auntie to my girls.



Here is Toni and her daughter Kerri in a quaint little shopping village in Branson Mo. They have a Christmas shop in there and then a whole lot of specialty shops. The day we were there there was a man playing a saxophone and selling cd's. I bought one, cuz I love saxophone music.



This is the big Sight and Sound Theater where we went to see The Noah Musical. It was Awesome! Just an amazing production! It was the last week that it would be there and I had wanted to see it for years. Next season they will have The Joseph Story...and I want to see that too!



I just loved this statue of the lion laying down with the lamb.



This was a fun display of pumpkins at Silver Dollar City. Yes,...we went there again! (:>) We always get season tickets. And then we get discount tickets for guests. It was the fall Craft Festival, so lots of artists were there.



This is a glass chapel in Eureka Springs Arkansas, we took a little side trip to Arkansas one day. Toni and Kerri wanted to see this cool chapel, so we rode the trolley up the hill to see it. We stayed there about 30 minutes and also went inside. It is such a peaceful setting!



My friend Myrna's daughter got married there 5 years ago. It was a neat place to have a wedding, out there among the trees.



People come from all over the place to see this chapel, and to sit inside and pray. It is pretty in each different season. Eureka Springs is a tourist attraction...but it is a Victorian town and has several neat old homes nestled in the hills. They have turned several of them into Bed and Breakfasts.



When the trolley returned for us we had it leave us at the top of the hill in town and we walked down through the town and shopped in different shops. This was a neat park in the middle of town, so we sat there for awhile and enjoyed listening to a guy play guitar and sing. It was a peaceful setting too.




We took some pictures and just enjoyed the park, and the beautiful day.





There were some neat old buildings in Eureka Springs.




John liked the old advertising that was painted on the side of one of the brick buildings.



We enjoyed our day in Eureka Springs Arkansas and then headed back to Missouri before it got dark, since there were lots of winding roads that we didn't want to drive on after the sun went down.



While in Branson we also saw several shows. One of them was the brother's group called SIX. They were fantastic. We bought a cd...but nothing is ever as good as it is in person. Six is good music and lots of comedy. We loved them.



When we got home from our trip, I felt like making a fall arrangement for a bucket I bought at my friend Rodgie's antique store. I have been enjoying it.



I got my haircut when we got home too.



And then a few days later I got it colored. It is darker, so I am having to adjust to it. It will fade and lighten up each time I wash it...but if I don't get used to it I may have to have it highlighted again! (I never seem to be content with it these days! But I think it's part of me just getting older and not wanting to admit it!)



Last night my daughter Lisa and I went to see Amy Grant in concert with Michael W. Smith. We got there early and got our seat. It was in a big church here in Wichita.



It was fun and we both enjoyed the concert and being together for a girls night out.



Just before the show was over we felt like someone was kicking the back of our seats and causing them to vibrate. But after the lights came on Lisa had a text from her husband who told us we had just had a 5.6 earthquake! I have lived in Kansas for 32 years and have never felt an earthquake here. It was a little unnerving. The son-in-law said that here in Derby, he felt the whole house shaking. The center of the quake was near Oklahoma City and it was felt hundreds of miles away.

I was born and raised in Southern California, and I grew up experiencing earthquakes. When I was a kid we always had earthquake drills at school. They would tell us to get under our desks or stand in a door frame.

I have forgotten the fear of earthquakes since I moved to the Midwest and tornadoes have taken their place. I experienced one of those and it blew out all of the glass in my car and the light pole next to my car crashed on the car right next to mine, as I worked in the mall and we all had to run to the inner hallways to take cover.

Life is full of unsettling things...but when you know the Lord he is our refuge and strength!

We enjoyed singing praises to God along with Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith last night and while we were singing our Hallelujahs, the earth was moving and we didn't even realize it! Praise you King Jesus...You hold the whole world in your mighty hands!