We are visiting the Metzger’s and Ter’s mom in North Liberty, Iowa and enjoying much cooler temperatures here than in Austin! Since our good friends, Ann and Nick, were heading home in their RV from a long trip on the east coast, we suggested they stop by here to see us. They arrived a day after we did and are camping about 5 miles down the road from Jackie and Gregg’s house. We’ve watched the Texas vs. Texas Tech game on Pay for View here in Iowa, gone out for a big breakfast at a restaurant in the Amana Colonies, and shopped until we almost dropped at a nearby outlet mall. However, the biggest event of their stop here with us happened tonight after wonderful grilled pork steaks courtesy of Gregg. Nick made a big pot of fudge for us — 6 lbs. worth.

The batch filled 10 plastic one-half pound containers which we will enjoy later. But the best part was the fudge left in the pot — we each got a big spoon and almost made ourselves sick eating so much of the delicious warm fudge!

What amazes me is that Nick doesn’t eat fudge — how can he resist such a wonderful tasting treat, especially when it is warm, right out of the fudge pot!

Much has happened since last time I blogged here. Between September 17 and October 5, our Kelby was in two different hospitals. He is home now and has a big incision above and below his “belly button.” After three colonoscopies, 3 nuclear medicine tests, a capsule oscopy (a small camera that is swallowed and sends digital images to a receiver), and 2 endoscopies they found a Meckles problem in his small intestine causing rectal bleeding. The fix was removal of a small portion of the small intestine including the 8-inch Meckles. Meckles is a congenital problem for a few folks — and even then, it’s usually about 1-2 inches long — Kelby seems to always be the “exception.” After receiving 12 units of blood over the days before surgery and losing about 15 pounds, he’s on his way to good health again.

Our grandson celebrated his 11th birthday and our youngest grand daughter turned 6 last month! Where are some bricks that I can put on top of their heads to slow this down??? They just shake their heads and frown when I tell them this.

Of course we didn’t set up our booth spaces at the Warrenton/Round Top show this time. We did drive over two days ago to square up our reservations with every one. The new Cole’s Antiques building where we will have our booth space next spring is very nice! Because of the hurricanes, there were many empty spaces — but they have rented out every booth in that building and are planning another building to be finished and full by the spring show! Everyone we tried to settle up our accounts with were exceptionally nice and have rolled our due rents to the next show. So, we’ll be there . . . God willing . . . in March/April.

Sometimes we forget what is really important in our lives! We are so thankful that our Kelby is back on his feet and that we had so many wonderful friends and family praying for him.