Israel Oct.11, 2011 Day 1-2

Jesse dropped me off early at State College so he could head to IL to help with babysitting while Olivia was having further cleft palate surgery.
I met the rest of the group of 13 before we boarded our short flight to Philadelphia.
From there we boarded a US Airways bus to Tel Aviv. Two hours late getting off the ground. My roommate for the trip hurt her foot quite severely so was unable to make the trip. Two weeks before our trip I tripped over our bed slats and bruised my shin and knee. One week before the trip I had pneumonia and seriously considered cancelling. Because of my knee I bought walking sticks.
As we were boarding the plane and I was looking for my seat, I saw a Muslim woman and thought "Oh I hope I don't sit with her!" Well, that was my seat! She was friendly and told me her Mother that she lived with died 6 months ago and she had spent a month in Toledo with family. As I looked at her-her hands looked like "man hands" My overactive imagination went into overtime-was she a man dressed as a woman who was a terrorist? Should I tell someone? How stupid would I feel if it were nothing? She then asked me how old I was and I replied that I turned 67 the Friday before. She then wanted me to guess how old she was. I told her that I NEVER guess ages-that I am not good at it but I said you're over 20. She then told me she was 45-so glad I didn't guess the 60 I was thinking.
My 1st views of Israel flying into Tel Aviv. Then our purple bus that was our transportation for the next few days. We rode to our 1st motel in Netanya called Blue Bay. We arrived after dark and there was a full moon for our 1st night in Israel on the bank of the Mediterranean Sea. Even though it was too dark we walked down to the beach and tried to take a picture. We arrived on the day before the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot, Feast of Booths) Leviticus 23:42-43 Live in booths for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in booths so your decendants will know that I had the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God. The full text is Leviticus 23:37-44. On this day we 1st heard of the "Shabbot" elevator. It stops on every floor so that a devout Jew would not have to do any work and push a button. We had a buffet dinner at 7 p.m. I have no clue all the types of food I ate but I do remember eating a small piece of fish that was very salty and I didn't care for that. I started out taking pictures of everything so here is the buffet and a picture of the shower in my room.

May Trip to Michigan and Illinois

I wanted this at the end but...it takes too long to figure out how to upload on blogspot. Anyway Keith bought an Ultralite plane-something that doesn't make his Mother very happy!!!

Jesse, Leo, Phyllis and Elmer-Jesse's brothers and sister at our favorite Michigan restaurant for breakfast. Every egg has 2 yolks!




Keith and Linda are raising chicks for eggs and the roosters will be supper! Unfortunately the kids are naming them all and said they wouldn't eat them :-D
This should be me on the couch-I was worn out just watching Linda work. She homeschools all 4 children and is cooking continuously a diet that is helpful to Alex's digestion plus does special exercises 2 hours or more a day with Olivia and Alek. Whew!



The 10 big chickens liked it under the motorhome.






We went to the Field Museum in Chicago. Alek loves monkeys and has asked Grandpa to make him a monkey quilt.










This is my name in hieroglyphics-at least that is what the lady told me!

















Heather, Kelly and Grandma Judie.













Heather has been helping out with the cooking.













Kelly and Heather next to the "chicken tractor"
It is to put the little chicks in so the big chickens don't peck them and it will be moved around the yard. I always learn something new when I visit!





Grandpa and Alek.













Grandpa and Olivia













Keith and Olivia













Me and my twin sister, Debra. Our joke is that people have trouble telling us apart! Actually she is 3 years younger but...it could be the other way around!




Me, Jeff, Thelma, Jazmend and Jynnejah

HAHS 2009 Graduation

Jesse and I at the graduation party for our local high school in our new chairs. Last Sat. the chair Jesse was sitting on collapsed and caught his finger. 5 stitches and an tetanus shot and 4 hours in the ER and we were on our way. Eleven graduates from our church-all with high honors and Pastor James' daughter, Hannah was Valedictorian.
We were at Raystown Lake. It was a lovely day and a lovely party.








Antonio and his daughter, Kaleigh.
Antonio is originally from Portugal. His wife, Cindy-not pictured-met him when he was a chef on a cruise ship. We are blessed to have him in our church. Miss Piggy was the star of the graduation party.

Redbud Quilt Show-Jesse and Sandie

Daisies in the Cabin-a Pam Bono design.
Jesse pieced it and I quilted it.



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My Sister's Closet Jesse pieced this quilt out of his stash and quilted it.

Redbud Quilt Show 2

The Legendary Dogwood
Shirley pieced this and I quilted it.






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Shirley and I with 3 ribbons. First in our category, Judge's choice and Ann Overmeyer Award (she was the founder of our guild)

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Why Jesse likes quilt shows!

Jesse and Mary












Jesse and Renae












Jesse's quilt-Rose Log Cabin













Jesse's Quilt-Circle of Stars












Jesse and Cilla












Jesse and Janet-Lee











Jesse and Kimmy













Jesse and Carol

Jesse Cataract Surgery

Jesse right after cataract surgery on his right eye. Doesn't he look cute :-) The eye is now 20/20 for far vision. Getting the left eye done on March 10th.

Windstorm Feb. 2009

This house is 2 houses away from us. Luckily for all involved the tree landed in the street and not on the two houses that were closest to it.

Unfortunately the tree knocked down at least 3 poles and we were without electricity for 2 1/2 days.














We have wood heat so we had heat and were able to heat up leftovers on the wood stove plus we could plug in our refrigerator and freezer into the generator on the motorhome.

Scrapbook Retreat

This is the loft. There were 2 bunk beds and 2 bedrooms and 2 aerobeds up there. We had problems with the steps up and down to the kitchen. Two women fell. I was extremely careful going up and down. The man built them too narrow.
This is Cindy facing and Kelly behind her. There were two people assigned to each meal. We didn't go hungry!

Here is Krista-the one who planned the retreat after her shower. I got specific orders for no pictures of anyone in PJ's. Andrea is in the right background.

Marsha and I picked a room close to the bathroom-big mistake. It was something like -18 that night and no heat in our bedroom. I brought an extra quilt but my nose was frozen all night!

This is Michelle










This is a view from the stairs looking down. Cindy in the front right. Marsha in the middle and Kelly to the left. My little sewing corner is off to the right rear of the picture.





This is Lisa hard at work.











This is heading down the hill on Sunday. The owner with 4 wheel drive is delivering me to my car at his house because Fri. my car got stuck on the first hill when I hit an icy patch. I tried to back down but...the back end slipped into the snowbank. It took me and a couple of men with one driving to bounce my car out of the snowbank. Not a fun start to my weekend.
Only those with 4 wheel drive made it to the top without the owner's transportation.