ending the year at Hackettstown hospital

all comfy in the hospital bed

Darryl took such good care of me

 So, I'm spending New Year's eve in the hospital.  It's been a long day....going to the doctor, going to the ER, getting all kinds of tests, getting poked, prodded, and monitored, waiting, moving from room to room.   Will be getting more things done tomorrow.  But right now all is well in body and soul.

The staff here is nice.

view from my room (the roof) 

favorite moments

I love these guys.  Even while they are sick they are thinking of me.

Ryan fiddling around with some new music

Practicing for church

Ryan had the privilege of doing the opening solo for Grace's Christmas Eve service.  He did a magnificent job!  Darryl and Ryan both did a great job!

The boys and I were supposed to sing at church yesterday morning, but unfortunately a sick bug was running through our house so we made the very difficult decision to stay home.  In the evening after supper, Kyle suggested we at least make a video of the songs we were going to do at church so that we could still have the experience of singing them together, and have something to look back on.  I'm so glad he suggested it.  So we took 10 minutes in between packing to get these wonderful videos.  Thank you Darryl for taking them.


Isn't He is the song we were going to close the service with.



We Choose You is the song I wrote that we were going to do for special music.  The boys knew how long I had planned on doing this at church and they felt bad that we couldn't go.  But I am blessed for having this video of us doing it at home.

Another really cool thing....Ryan had me record some harmony on his new album.  I'm so thrilled and honored that he asked me to do it.

I also gave Kyle a very long hair cut.  (like 2 hours?  I had to cut it at least 3 times...haha)

We had some great meals: Enchiladas, ribs, steaks, ham, stew.  Went out for Italian one night.  Went to Children's Christmas Play, went to Christmas Eve services.  Kyle taught adult Bible class once (missed one).  Had a great time singing and arranging songs together.

We had a lovely Christmas and a most wonderful visit with our boys.  I'm so thankful for them.  Now they are on their way back to Grand Rapids to get ready for a trip to Dublin, Ireland.

some homemade gifts...edible and otherwise

I tried making some gifts this year.  I ended up not doing any sewing, but decided on food gifts.

Homemade Cracker Jacks for Darryl

Chocolate covered almond butter balls for the Christmas Play,
and chocolate covered pretzels for my pastor's wife
(I also made Enchiladas for my pastor, but didn't take a picture)

2 kinds of fudge

More misc. sweet treats for the holidays

Spikes Hot Pepper Paste for Ryan

A LOT of hot peppers cooking up

finished product

Almond Butter

Owl Painting I made for Kyle

how it began

the mess I made

I really enjoyed making gifts this year.  I think people appreciate the time, thought, and effort it takes to make something special for them.  I think sometimes those gifts are more meaningful than the expensive ones, don't you?

random shots and things I think

A few pictures from Mom and Dad's house when we were there for Thanksgiving.  

This is my living room studio where I record guitar and vocals, and other interesting instrumental sounds.  It's a pretty great set-up except that the mic is so sensitive that I can't record unless the house is completely quiet.  That means no one walking around, or clocks ticking on the wall, or dryer running, or rain hitting the skylights.  And if the phone rings... eh yeah..

This is our Christmas tree.  Haha..  Josh got us this cute little guy.  One of these days maybe I'll actually decorate the tree.  Or maybe I'll let the boys do it when they get home.

So, I've been thinking a lot....actually too much.  I think when I should be sleeping.   Maybe I spend too much time focusing on singing and playing guitar.  Maybe I spend too much time worrying about it, or stressing over it, or planning it, or burdening others with it, or making other people upset about it.  Maybe I need to put it all down for a season.   I think that's what I'll do.  I need to put it out of it's misery.

For You (1)

This is one of my songs.  I have been fiddling around with the recording equipment, trying to figure out how things work.  I have a long way to go, but figured I'd post some of my progress thus far.  So, anyway, here's a basic recording of For You without any bells and whistles.  I will be super excited when I learn how to make my recordings sound more professional.

For You



This song is my story... it is about me, how I cannot keep silent.  There is always a song, a tune, a melody in my heart.  If you know me, you know I am either singing, whistling, or humming... to the point of being a bit annoying to those around me.  But God fills me with song!  I'm so happy that He has me writing again, and putting words to music.  What a thrilling venture this has been for me.

I can always tell which people truly have the love of music in them because it can't help but exude out of them!  You can't hold it in!  Ryan and Darryl are that way too!  Always pouring forth music from their hearts.  I always want to be singing for my God and Savior.  It is what fills me, what gives me peace, joy, and hope.  So many times I see those in the music ministry but have never heard them sing from the sheer joy of singing, to just burst out singing because it naturally bubbles forth.

Thank You God for filling me with the joy of singing and worshipping!

We Choose You (1)

This is the rough recording of my song, We Choose You, that I wrote for church.

We Choose You


This song was written to be a congregational song.  I imagine it with many voices joining in worshipping God.  I hope that some day others will enjoy it as much as I do.  I am looking forward to singing it with my boys when they get home.

David Phelps concert in Easton, PA

This was an awesome building we walked by in Easton on our way to see good old David Phelps.  It was a wonderful concert.  We enjoyed it a lot.  They are all suuch great musicians.

Here are a couple of pictures.  I will try to post videos later, but they don't usually work.  If we hadn't already bought the tickets, I doubt we would have gone, but since we had, we went.  I'm glad it all worked out.

Happy Birthday and Happy Thanksgiving

On my birthday, I had the second half of my root canal done and then went to church to work and do CBC.  I led the songs on my guitar.  A couple of people said I did a really good job.
 

Then we headed to Marlton for Darryl's work.  At the hotel the fire alarm went off, so we ended up outside waiting for the fire dept. to come and check things out.   When they determined it was safe, they let us back in the lobby, which I was happy about because I had bare feet.

Then we drove to West Virginia in the snow.  Saw 7 accidents.  Not a fun drive at all.  

We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner with Bonnie and David, Scott and Flo, and Mom and Dad.  I think I need to stay away from buffets; I always eat too much.  I get this weird mentality that says I need to eat my money's worth.  That's a bad way to go!!

Sometimes I feel like my life is surreal.  Sometimes I feel like I'm just going through the motions until I we can get off the planet and go home to be with the Lord.  Sometimes I feel like this is all just a waiting game, trying to play by the rules until we graduate to our perfect place, to be with our perfect Savior.  All of this here on this planet is just weird, strange, awful, painful, depressing and hurtful; sprinkled with happy moments that we cling to to get us through the days.  What is real?  I don't know.  This life of mine is so temporary, so fleeting.   I know there are friends and family who aren't saved yet, and it's only because of them that I am OK with waiting longer for the rapture.  I know God has to get all who belong to Him.  I don't know how long that will take.  But this world is decaying faster and faster with it's moral decline.

So, on a semi-brighter note, I got a rough recording of my song done.  Darryl and I are currently working on a newer version with a male vocal and harmony.  I'm really excited to get that done, and it's coming along nicely.  I will post that when it's done.

'tis the season...

...for snow, cranberries, and thanksgiving...

We got our first snow fall last night.  Not a lot, but very pretty, especially with the morning sun peaking through.  

I got some fresh cranberries and made some nice homemade sauce for Darryl.  I made some dark chocolate covered ones for me.  They're pretty good, but I think I made too many.  haha

I discovered on Facebook that my daughter got engaged.  Maybe she'll be happy now.

Update on my song recording:  I thought I had it done, but as it turns out, I have to do it all over again.  Ryan wasn't on board with some of the changes that Zuke and I made to the arrangement, so I am back to the drawing board trying to decide what to keep and what to nix.  I never dreamed it would take this long to make a recording.  It's getting very old and aggravating.  I'm working on writing my 5th song, and I want to record my other songs as well, so I want to get this done already.

I'm thankful that God will work everything out.  

Yay! My first song is recorded!

The dastardly deer ate my Hibiscus down to nothing so I brought it in the house when I brought all my garden stuff inside for the winter. I'm happy to report that it's blooming again and has lots of new buds. Cool!  I love it when stuff goes right.

I met with Zuke last week and we went over my song "We Choose You".  It was a successful session and  I'm really happy I went.  Between the two of us, we made  few modifications to the arrangement.  So today I recorded the guitar and vocals, and with Darryl's help we got it into Mp3 format now.  He still wants to add some harmony and possibly piano, but it's good enough for now.    I'm happy with how it sounds, even though it's not perfect.  I think it's pretty sweet for a first attempt at recording a song...especially having to learn it as went.

the rascally bear took it

This is the hose we found in the woods yesterday.  It's the one the bear took from our pool filter last week.  Yup, he must've been having a very fun time with it.   Here's where we found it.

In other news, my habaneros are doing fantastic in the house.  They got ripe so fast!

In December when the boys are here we are going to sing one of my songs at church.  Knowing there are people at church who don't want me singing there has made me very self conscious about anyone hearing me.  I will need to work really hard to get past that and gain back some confidence to be able to sing again.  I'm super happy and excited for the opportunity, but nervous all the same.  Looking forward to putting some finishing touches on the song.  I'm so happy that Darryl and the boys want to do this with me.  Darryl and I have been trying to record it, but there is a learning curve we are working with.  I will also be meeting with Zuke for some professional tips, and comments for doing this song live with the entire Vegh clan.

bear damage and garden renewal

the bear ripped our pool filter apart

did some damage 

broken

teeth marks

I got a lot more potatoes!

Hot peppers, stevia, parsley, chives, cilantro, lavender

thyme, mint, habaneros, dill

sweet potatoes

Darryl has to buy some new parts for our pool filter.  Stupid bear really wrecked it.  Well thankfully that's all he did!

I had fun working in my garden today.  Glad I got some things repotted and moved from my garden into the house for the winter.  I hope they continue to grow and produce!!  How sweet it will be to have fresh herbs and hot peppers all winter.

Mom and Dad's visit, the bear, Ebola and the Rapture...

We had a super wonderful visit from Mom and Dad the past few days.  So happy they could come up and stay with us.   We had good conversation and laughs.  Talked about Ebola, end times, the antichrist, Revelation, Marshall Law, Obama... yep good times.   It's hard to know how bad things will get, and how soon it will really get scary to be a normal citizen.  I think we can all agree that there is a lot more going on behind the scenes than we can ever know about.  The media is on a tight leash so it does require us to not be total morons, and not believe all that we hear from our TV's and computers.  It does look like the rapture could be a lot closer than I imagined.  Let's wait and see how this Ebola thing plays out.

A cute little pinto deer in our yard yesterday...that was after we had a big black bear climbing the rail on our deck while Dad was standing out there on the deck.... I think that seriously shook me up when I realized how close it was.  Thank You, God for keeping my Dad (and Lily) safe!!

Not much going on with singing and playing guitar these days.  Think I've had to put it aside for a while... I don't know....guess I'm fighting a bout of depression with all of it.   I don't know what I'm doing anymore, I've lost my direction and confidence.   Eventually God will lead me where I need to be.