R.I.P. Zodiac.....

Well, with everywhere that I put our name and number out - I did hear about Zodi. It wasn't a call I wanted and I never want to get a call like that again. It is like a punch in your gut. A gentleman called and said that he worked on I-80 where we lost Zodi, he had taken her body off the interstate a few days before. He knew it was her from her 2 collars that she was wearing. I pray that she went quick. It is bad enough knowing that she was out there alone, but it keeps going through my mind that she suffered. I feel like a real heal! I should have spent more time looking for her.....or something.........

bye bye Zodi - you were a beautiful dog and I do miss you!

Well, Iowa was quite the trip......

My grandma with my dad.
My grandma Sarah with my daughter Saira.
Bye bye Zodi. My mom and dad and aunt and uncle with my grandma.

We left Friday and went to Iowa. We took both dogs with us. When we stopped at a rest area in Iowa about an hour or so from Des Moines, Zodiac decided to bolt. She took off and we couldn't find her. We looked and hollered for over an hour and then it started getting dark so we had to get going. We went on to see my grandma. She is holding her own medically. Mentally she isn't remembering a lot of things. She is very small and frail now. On Sunday on our way home we stopped at the same rest area to try to find her, but still no luck. So, please pray that she found a home or someone that took her in. We did contact a lot of the farms and homes in the area and left her name and our number and name. I even contacted the humane society in that county and the surrounding ones. So, bye bye Zodi - we miss you.

Prayer request please....

Hi there. We are on our way to Iowa to see my grandmother. She is 92 and has pneumonia. We will be back on Sunday. So, pray for safe travels. Marty's friend Stan passed away this last weekend. So, it has been one of those weeks! We found a hotel in Iowa that allows dogs - so we are taking them with us. The only highlight - the hotel also has a pool. I will try to get a couple of pictures and post when we get back.

Blessings,
Kathi

Beautiful Pictures......

I took these pictures from my back yard. You can see Graafschap Church in the distance. I really can't stand the cold and winter so much anymore, but it is beautiful! God does awesome work! I love the sunshine! I hope you enjoy these pictures.

BRRRRRR! Winter is not letting up!

Today is cold. And there is still no sun! I need sun. I really get depressed when there is no sunlight. I am sooooo ready for Spring. I filed our income tax papers yesterday. Hopefully, we will get it back soon. I am waiting to pay off some bills and get caught up on others. This is the most depressing time of year. I have a lot of ideas floating around in my head.

My parents leave in April. Then Saira will get her old room back. I want to make it pretty neat for her. I am going to move all of her toys to the basement. Alec moved up to the attic with Marcus. They each have half of it. Marty will have a watch room. Hopefully, all of the watch stuff that is filtering through the whole house will get limited to that one room!!!!!! We will see. I will post all of my ideas here for the house. Then I will let you know how much I actually accomplish.

Better go for now,
Kathi

Here are some awesome pictures of the snow that we have gotten. Like I said, I don't like winter much or snow, but even I can't deny how beautiful it is. The picture with the pine trees looks cool because you can see Graafschap Church behind there. It is just a cool looking picture with the sun shining. God is an awesome artist! The other picture is of our house in the winter. My Zodiac loves playing in the snow. She jumps around like a little puppy.

My baby boy turns 13 tomorrow! Today I am making homemade pizza for his birthday. I am making gluten free crust for me and him. I am making regular crust for everyone else. Just making the regular crust made me 'headachy' and made my sinus' act up. I am also making 2 different cakes today (one gluten free). He is having a friend over. I think they plan on staying up and watching movies all night. It works because they are both homeschooled. So after they sleep on Monday they can do school, or make it up on Tuesday.

Saira is taking piano lessons now. She had her first lesson and so far she loves it. Hopefully, this is something she will stick with. It would be nice to have at least one kid in the family that can play an instrument. Although, Alec and Marcus play around with the piano too.

Well, I have to get going so that I can get ready for church.

God Bless and have a great day.

Snow, snow, snow.......

Well, we woke up today to a driveway full of snow, probably about six inches. Snow is not one of my favorite things. Don't get me wrong, I think it is beautiful. It all looks so fresh and clean - until the plows go through ~ then it loses its appeal.

I am on the 6th day of no pop. Boy do I think about it and want it. I miss that taste. But I am determined to beat this stuff. I made some gluten free cornbread tonight to go with bean soup. It tasted really good. It didn't look as good as the regular cornbread I made for everyone except Alec and me. Right now I am getting ready to take a loaf of gluten free bread out of the oven. Alec has been doing gluten free for about 2 weeks now and he says he is feeling better than ever. It is funny because I have noticed that our tastes are changing. For example, Alec never used to like chili, or bean soup, or ham and now he is enjoying eating those things. He is eating stuff with more chopped up veggies in it. It is strange how things just taste better now. I did find out that I have to make chili from scratch. If you buy canned chili beans, there is wheat in them. So, I make it from scratch now and I put 3-4 types of beans in it. It is so good! My first clue about getting wheat is a headache. After that, the regular allergy stuff sets in.

One of the side effects is that I think I am losing weight, but I am afraid to get on scales to find out. I hope I am, I have tried for so long. But with my thyroid, aspartame, and wheat all fighting me, I think that is why it was so hard. I will see where I end up. Pray for me!