Tag Archives: Life

Ten Things…

…I’ve done since the last time we met.
1. Did my taxes. It wasn’t nearly as painful as I thought it would be (it never actually is!), but I usually put it off as long as I can. I had a few quiet moments last week and took the plunge. Thank you Turbo Tax. I’ll be watching for that refund!
2. Finally finished my Year 18 Picture Book.
Untitled
Yes, the year that ended July 30, 2022. I must confess this was a hard year to process (both mentally and pictorially) so there was a lot of stopping and starting.
Untitled
Untitled
Only five months until I get to start working on Year 19! Yikes!
Untitled
3. Worked steadily on the Storyworth project our kids gave us for Christmas 2021. So what’s this Storyworth thing? Well, every Monday morning Gary and I would each get a question for us to answer, and then at the end of the year, they make it into a book. (“Oh,” said Gary when we got our subscriptions. “A Christmas gift with homework!” )The questions have ranged from “what’s your favorite joke?” to “how has the world changed since you were young?” Wait. What? So not only were some of the questions challenging, but they also came Every.Single.Monday. Needless to say, it was very easy to get behind. So our year is up, the questions have stopped and we have until April 15th to finish up any questions, edit it as we might choose, and then they will publish our books. April 15th is the deadline. And I still have four questions to go! Maybe more on that another day.
4. We moved!
Untitled
Okay, it was less than a mile (from campground A to campground B), but still, it’s a new neighborhood. And even though it was a short move, the slides had to come in, the coffee pot had to be bunged, and any movables needed to be secured. You can always tell it’s going to be a short ride when the big fat electric cord is just wrapped around the tow hitch instead of stowed neatly in its bin!
Untitled
5. We welcomed our new team members (11 new couples!)– and we’re all geared up for a great month of service here at ALERT, culminating with our big 40th Anniversary Rally beginning on March 30th.
Untitled
We’re close to 250 people in attendance for the Rally, so right now I’m feeling like my life is pretty much just one big checklist! We have a great committee, so I’m working on my delegating skills. Everyone is so willing!
6. In another move, I’m on the painting team instead of the sewing team this month.
Untitled
I miss my little Bernina that I grew quite fond of, but I’m really enjoying the ladies I’m painting with. So it’s all good.
7. I’ve been collecting quilt squares for our SOWER Anniversary Quilt.
Untitled
Fellow Sewing SOWERs from around the country have been putting together these squares and mailing them to me. During the Rally, everyone will have a chance to sign and personalize a square and then we’ll put it all together to hang in our SOWER office. I’ve been getting squares almost every day – and it’s been lovely to see everyone’s contributions!
8. Although we scoped out our storm shelter, we were spared from any major storm activity during last week’s wild weather.
Untitled
No hail, some wind, steady rain – but no need to evacuate. Thank you, Lord!
9. I spent Sunday in bed with a tummy bug. It happens. Just keeping it real, friends.
10. And I remembered anew how blessed I am to be loved by God! See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. I John 3:1

Egg-citement

It looked like this when we arrived.

Soon we were enthralled with this.


Then this-


Finally-

I confess, it was pretty exciting watching this little chick make its way to freedom and life.


Hello, world!

While we expected a couple more to hatch overnight, imagine our surprise when nine little chicks were all huddled together waiting to be moved to some larger quarters!

By the end of the day all twelve eggs hatched (although one little guy sadly didn’t make it), and they were all much more fluffy (and a whole lot cuter!) as they enjoyed their new digs .

And in another 21 days…..

The circle of life.

A Tale of Two Phones

It was the best of times.
It was the worst of times.
Like most American couples, we each have our own phones. We’ve moved from flip phones to Androids and iPhones. Currently (and mostly just to keep me from having to Google how to make something work on Gary’s Android) we are both happy with our two iPhones.
IMG_6973
But we have a problem. (And yes, I know this is TOTALLY a first world problem, but bear with me!)
From the front, they look pretty identical.
IMG_6970
Even when they  “wake up”, there is still room for confusion.
IMG_6972
So often it’s not until the facial recognition doesn’t work and it moves to the “Enter Passcode” screen and our individual passcode doesn’t work, that we realize we have the wrong phone.
But really – it’s been a nuisance, not a trauma. But then this happened while we were on vacation last week –
“Time to go meet my cousin at the restaurant.”
“Great – let me grab my phone and purse and we can go.”
Hmm, I thought my phone was there by the computer. Did I already out it in my purse? Nope. I checked my pockets. Nuthin’.  Finally I resorted to the classic “Find my Phone” non-app –
“Honey, can you call my phone? I know it’s here somewhere!”
Muffled ringing commences.
“It sounds like it’s under something. Can you check between the cushions on the sofa?”
Nothing.
“Have you checked in the bathroom?” (Don’t judge!)
Not there.
Ringing stops.
“Call again, would you?”
Now the condo wasn’t all that big, and we could both hear it, but we just couldn’t pinpoint where the ringing was coming from. We went from room to room, with Gary calling my phone again and again. It was probably only about 5 minutes of searching, which of course seemed like 15 or more at the time. I was following Gary around as he was carrying his phone, and the ringing just seemed to be in whatever room he was in. But still really, really muffled.
Finally we both stopped and looked at each other.
“Is it in YOUR pocket?” I asked??
Yep, he had picked up my phone thinking it was his and put it in his pocket. Then moments later saw His phone and picked it up. (We have pretty pitiful short-term memory, don’t we? 😉 )
Once we stopped laughing (it was pretty hysterical at the moment!), we were on our way to meet Andrea and her family, and all was well.
But at that point, I decided it was time for the obvious fix for this problem.
IMG_6979
And so the end of this Tale of Two Phones has a happy ($15 thank you, Amazon Prime) Kumquat ending!
Untitled

Like I said, a First World Problem for sure!

Getting to the Heart of the matter

Well, it might be the lungs. We don’t actually KNOW it’s the heart, but it might be. Or it could be. And we need to know!

Earlier this spring Gary began to notice that his asthma was becoming more and more a nuisance. He’d have to pull out his rescue inhaler several times a day as he found himself more and more often short of breath. You know it had to be a concern to him when HE suggested that we contact our family doctor to see about seeing a pulmonary doctor. Our GP (also our nephew, so that helps in these situations!), lined up an appointment pretty quick and off we went to see what we could see. And learn what we could learn.
What we learned was that the lung guy didn’t want to do anything in the asthma realm until any cardiac issues could be ruled out. Seems that when you combine shortness of breath with some chest heaviness and a bit of family history (we’ve been told that Gary’s birth father died of a heart attack in his early 50’s), all kinds of cardiac red flags start waving.
SO – we went back to our favorite GP (that cute nephew) and he ran some preliminary tests – EKG, chest X-Ray, and blood work. When all of those turned out to be normal (phew), he sent us home to find a cardiologist closer to where we’re parked to try and figure out just what is going on.
Miraculously, we were able to get an appointment with a well-respected cardiologist yesterday! (I know, that’s crazy fast, right?). The consultation went well, a second EKG came back normal, and a nuclear stress test along with a echo-cardiogram were ordered. The first of those will be on this Friday. Again – crazy fast!

To say that this last week has had a different trajectory than we expected would be an understatement. But oh, the way the LORD has taken care of us and blessed us these last couple of days has been amazing!

  • Dr. Mike (my nephew) was right on top of Gary’s symptoms, and got everything started to get answers.
  • Along with the pulmonary specialist (who had an opening just a day after we called!),  we also got to visit with our nephew and his sweet family.  We love those guys!
  • Since we were already ‘south’, we stopped in for a quick overnight with my sister and her dear husband.  Love me some sister time!
  • Once we returned to Montrose, we spoke to a local doctor and he was able to get us that SAME DAY appointment with a cardiologist.  Oh My!
  • Nothing so far has indicated a critical heart issue. But with the symptoms, we want to cover as many bases as possible.  When all is said and done, we might just end up looking at that asthma diagnosis again. But until we get the all clear, we’re ever so grateful for everyone’s prayers and concerns. We’re giving God all the Glory for His gracious care of us.
  • We even were blessed with a beautiful sunset on the way home!

Great is your faithfulness, Oh God our Father!

Every Day in May – check!

So there you have it – a blog post a day in the month of May. It was a bit of a challenge for me (maybe it was for you too!), but all in all I think it was a good exercise! Even after all these years, I’m still trying to figure out just what kind of blog this is and what this taught me is that it is NOT an every day kind of blog! Maybe one of these days I’ll figure out just what kind of blog this is, but in the meanwhile we’ll just call it a “Life Journal” kind of blog. Part travelogue, part ministry, part family, and part mundane. But hopefully it has all been mixed in with a bit of inspiration.

June looks like it’s going to be crazy with all kinds of fun things (including a NE and Canada cruise with my sisters!!!) and I’m pretty sure my blogging will settle down to a more reasonable pace. In fact, the blog will be quiet for the weekend since today we are taking a little weekend road trip to see family AND see a specialist for Gary’s asthma, which has been particularly troublesome this spring.  Hopefully we’ll get some answers, but I know we’ll be getting some hugs!

Thanks for hanging in this month! And every month! And through the years!  I’d love to hear from you about what YOU’d like to see in this little corner of the internet, so feel free to comment. (NO personal data is collected, I promise!)

Have a good weekend, everyone!

 

 

Oh – Yesterday’s Where in the World? That was a picture from November 2008 when we were in the Chiricauha Mountains in AZ.