Good Saturday to you from Iowa where the weather is warm. the winds are strong, and sunshine is filling the day. I am sure nature is smiling down on us this weekend with temps near 80 expected. A little warm for April but delightful.
Speaking of nature Joel went to a secular talk at church this week on the "fear of nature". It was interesting he said. Most animals and bugs in the Midwest are not harmful. What I "fear" in Iowa nature is nasty ticks....and the Lyme they carry. Ugh. Of course I mostly experience nature from the front porch or on our walks at the park and along the river road. Once years ago we went for a walk in tall grasses close to the Mississippi river in western Iowa and by the time we were back to the car we had so many ticks crawling on us....but thankfully none attached and we did not encounter any rattlesnakes. I guess you can run into them near the cliffs of the Mississippi. We've lived where rattlers, cobras, giant lizards. and scorpions live....but we kinda like Iowa's type of nature best.
Joel has done some biking and sermonizing this week. Along with a couple of medical appointments. Our SUV was in for some repairs and they gave us a Ford F 150 pickup as a loaner. I had a doctor's appointment so we had to get me into that truck to get there. I am only 5' 2 1/2" and I'm pretty short on the leg end of that...... so we used a foot stool for me to climb up on the running board and then we hoisted me in from the running board. It was not pretty and my sister Jan asked me if Joel took pictures. His reply...."Not if I value my life!" Considering I am 76 and vertically challenged, I think I did pretty good on this little adventure. I like pick ups but they are a bit like climbing Mt Everest for me! We are celebrating two good reports this week from the retina doc and from the urologist. Something very interesting came up with my urology doctor. He asked me the name of the drug/injections I was getting when I lost my vision in the left eye and then said after we talked about your eye issue he had had two diffferent patients come in saying they got infections in their eyes after eye injections...from the SAME medicine as me, and one lost his vision in his eye. Their doctor told them it was a contaminated batch of shots that was the culprit. This was at a different specialist in a different city.....but we are going to look into it. It was a year ago yesterday that I had surgery to remove the center of my eye. Glad that is all in the past.
Joel had fun skipping this week at his check up. His primary told him he's in good health...nice to hear. Another celebration! He encourages staff to skip with him. Some do, some don't. the nurse told him she saw he was coming in so assumed there would be some skipping going on. His doctor asked him what he had been up to and he told her about his second book. She had read the first one and really enjoyed it she said and wants to buy the second...He told her he had a few copies that are not the finished product in the car and she bought them both. Yesterday he was at the mechanics and they were chatting, including about Joel's healing story, and one of the men asked Joel if he had any copies of his books. He thought his wife and he would like to read them. Joel did explain that the first book was a bit "wild" for some, but the guy wanted to read about healing. Holy Spirit shows up in the most unexpected places for Joel to share his heart and God's love with others. Joel shares his story when he feels nudged by Holy, and sometimes it goes well and other times it does not. His books are the same way. He prays a lot, writes, and publishes. The rest is up to God.
I am writing this with the doors and windows open, letting in fresh air. The fresh air is blending with the aroma of oatmeal cookies that I made for Joel this morning. So nice to be able to have the outside filtering in. This week was mostly doctor and dentist appointments for one or two of us plus the usual routines, some biking and walking and a few TV shows in the evenings. Joel is still riding his 10 miles and I am still walking in the house 25 minutes. On that note it is time to close my Scribbles.
Grateful today for fresh air, the smell of cookies baking, biking, walking, a pick-up adventure, the SUV getting maintenance, putting Joel's books in the hands of others, ALL good reports from our doctors, reflections on a year ago and leaving that behind. Grateful for Iowa's neutral nature. Grateful for audiobooks, music, worship online and at church. Grateful for Joel's ability to skip! Grateful for texts, pictures, emails, phone calls and so much more.....
Enjoy your weekend!
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