Saturday's Scribbles

 

Good Saturday day to you on this last day of November 2024. It's 7° right now, no snow but sunshine and cold temperatures! I have the fireplace going as I write this. The Christmas tree is standing in the corner with its lights on....well most of it's lights on. Yesterday it was carried carefully upstairs and put in the corner of the living room, and all the lights were on but later in the day when I tried to rearrange a couple strands one whole section went out. Well not totally out because every once in awhile it blinks back on for a few minutes and then goes out again so I'm thinking replacement lighting in the near future. It's kind of like what happened with the overhead living room light. Turned it on and it went poof and the lights went out.  Fan quit running....Joel changed out the light bulbs after checking them, turned it on again and poof All the Lights Went Out or so we thought. When the kids were here one of them turned the light on and it turned on and it's been working ever since. We also had checked all the outdoor lights and they were working fine...until up and going and then one secton would not work so Joel had to re-string them.  Don't know what's going on with the electrical but I'm thinking we might need to have it all checked....unless it's us! Then we better have ourselves checked!

Speaking of kids, four of our five children were here for Thanksgiving along with eight grandchildren and 1 grand dog.  . We had such a good time. Thursday was filled with laughter and chess, cribbage,  and Yahtzee with plenty of good food and pies for dessert. Everyone just took over in the kitchen while Papa and Grandma Na tried to stay out of their way! So grateful.  It was hard to see everyone go yesterday. The house got so quiet, but I think we were pretty tired from all the interaction. Joel slept 8 and 1/2 hours last night and I slept over nine. I posted pictures on Facebook of the gathering.

Today we are more than grateful for our family. For our children and their love of God and for each other ......and for the beautiful people they brought into the world. Our Grands are now amazing young adults and adults and for that we are so thankful.  We are so proud of who they are whose they are, and who they are becoming plus the gifts they give the world. We're so grateful for each and every one of them. we are so blessed.

Enjoy your weekend!

Saturday's Scribbles

Good Saturday to you on this chilly morning in Northern Iowa. This past week temperatures took a big dip with added wind chills in the teens.  Definitely time to bring out the winter coats! Today will be 40 and then we dip back down on Monday again with an expected high of 30 on Thanksgiving Day.  Mother Nature is back on schedule. 

Speaking of nature,  Joel is still sitting outside in 30° temperatures having his morning coffee. Mainly he's been watching the crows across the street looking for our neighbor to throw some corn out again. There are probably deer coming around but we haven't seen them during the day. This is kind of the dreary,  drab season when the color is fading....Seems like it's a good time to have the holidays to brighten everyone's days. 

Speaking of holidays, our family comes to our home this year for Thanksgivin. They start arriving on Wednesday and will be heading home after lunch on Friday. We're so thankful it's our year to have Thanksgiving with everyone. And we're so thankful that the kids come in and take over the kitchen. Especially this year when we are weary,  it's nice support. 

Speaking of support, it reminds me of that story in the Bible where Moses was to hold his arms up while Israel was in battle and he got so tired but Hur and Aaron helped hold his arms up...they came and held up one arm each to support him in the battle.  That's what we're to do for each other isn't it. Hold up each other in support and encouragement. In battle.  A form of worship.

Speaking of worship that message has been coming loud and clear for over a week now... praise praise praise praise worship worship worship worship. In the process two songs have come to my attention from unusual sources. The song "Believe" that Brooks and Dunn and Jelly Roll sang together on the CMA Awards was beautiful. And another song entitled  "If  I've got Jesus"  . I've been able to put them on Alexa and hear them over and over which is a good thing. 

Speaking of Alexa,  I remember when we first got it for Christmas a couple years ago and our grandson set it up. It was all new to us and one night we were just sitting in the living room watching some TV and all of a sudden Alexis spoke and said, "Good night" in a sing song voice..."Sleep well!"  A little more than creepy. I think I replied,  Alexa you're scaring me! (Haha)  There have been rumors that say that China or our government listens to us through the Alexa boxes. One Pastor said  he sure hoped  they were listening because he had been trying to preach a message to them for years about Jesus! You certainly won't get anything useful here by listening to us.....hopefully just a lot about Jesus1 

 This past week we spent time with our oldest son and grand dog, at the Retina Dr's office, shopping for Thanksgiving, and too many hours trying to get our cable working....I walked some and Joel rode zero unfortuately.  Weather got in the way.  We have been busy getting ready for the family to come.... Cleaning, baking, shopping.    It's all a good thing.

Speaking of a good thing, I'm going to end my scribbles with what I'm grateful for. Today I'm grateful for a warm house, safe trip to the retina doctor. Grateful for good news and a hopeful outcome. Grateful for cookies and pumpkin bread baked and the house cleaned. Grateful the family is coming. Grateful I can get some walking in and we can get the shopping done. Grateful for two new songs to help me worship and focus on Jesus. Grateful for all Joel's support and help. Grateful for the help of our kids. Grateful for emails, phone calls, texts and prayers of so many. Grateful for the opportunity to praise and worship our Lord. Grateful for all this and so much more!

Enjoy your weekend!

Saturday's Scribbles

Good Saturday to you on this unseasonably warm day in Northern Iowa. We're tipping the scale into the last two weeks of November but we're still seeing temperatures mostly in the mid 50s.  Definitely a warmer fall. They talk about a bit of snow next week but it doesn't look like it all amount too much if anything. 

 Speaking of snow, Joel was busy putting Christmas tree lights on the outside of the house yesterday, which of course was complicated. He tested all the lights before he put them up and they all worked fine.   Then he got them all up, got the extension cords working and the lights did not work. He spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out the problem and ended up with a few lights not working at all and the rest working fine. Sound familiar? iWhat is it about Christmas lights that tries our patience?  We will have some outdoor lights and for that we are grateful. 

Speaking of outdoors, our pansies are still hanging on for us to enjoy.  Our Maple tree has now given us brown leaves on one side and the other half the tree leaves are green and yellow! The geese are still gathering and the squirrels are still storing food. No deer around this week but maybe they are in hiding as it is deer hunting season.  

Speaking of hunting, Joel used to be an avid hunter until he joined the military.  The first time I went hunting with him and his parents, we were crouched down watching a big buck.....when the buck moved out of sight they talked about where it was now, so being "helpful" I stood up and pointed and said "there it is!"  Needless to say the deer took off and I learned about being quiet and invisible while hunting!  Of course no one ever let me carry a gun which was a good thing.  

This has been a quiet week here in our corner of the world.  There was not much going on and that is okay.Yesterday we made pumpkin bread and we'll freeze most of this batch and then make another batch next week. We send it home with the kids every year either at Thanksgiving or after Christmas. We are looking forward to them coming for Thanksgiving this year! They are taking over the kitchen as soon as they arrive, which is a relief for Joel and I. This year our energy has gone to other things. 

Speaking of other things I have an appointment 2 hours south of us in Des Moines on Monday morning with the retina specialist. We are hoping he can give me some insights into what's happened with my right eye and even suggest a glaucoma specialist if necessary. I try to be honest here with my readers.....needless to say my anxiety levels have been off the charts regarding the future and being told I will lose my vison. A million "what if's" come into my mind making it hard to breathe at times. Yesterday I read a devotional that talked about a woman having anxiety and God telling her to name the"what ifs" in a positive way. Like what if that never happens, what if your children grow up to be strong and healthy, what if this disease leaves your body, what if...... what if..... what if. Last night I woke to seeing the name Jesus in my mind and hearing, "Do what Jesus tells you". It's stuck with me and I woke up this morning thinking .....do what Jesus tells you. In my memories on Facebook came a post that spoke about anxiety and turning your worry into worship and when you do turn that worry into worship God can make the mountain of anxiety  bow down to Him. Yesterday a friend had suggested spending a lot of time praising God regarding my circumstances. Worship andn Praise.  I'm paying attention.  These are the ways God speaks to me and when I receive more than  2-3 verses, or words of wisdom that connect, I listen.

Joel has not ridden his bike much this week. I've continued to walk mostly inside and we've done the usual baking and cleaning and TV watching.  Homemade chicken and rice soup filled our bellies for a few meals.  Tomorrow Joel preaches again at two churches south of town.  Last Sunday we went to worship at the church Joel served for 10 years.  Nice to connect with some familiar faces.  

Speaking of familiar faces,  my niece Deb has created a video of old photos and a taped conversation she had with my mom quite a few years ago.  Listening to my mom share stories of her life was interesting.  AND I learned some things I never knew.  I am still blown away by the fact that my parents knew each other 2 weeks and 2 days when they got married.  Crazy.  So glad Deb took the time to create this 1.5 hours video/audio story of my mom's history.  

So after a week of "waiting" and resting, we continue to be grateful for the doctors who care for us.  Grateful for homemade soup, pumpkin bread, and a full flridge and tummy.  Grateful for Christms lights that are not quite perfect, memories of my one and only deer hunting expedition.  Grateful for warmer temps, our Maple tree rustling leaves, pansies that won't give up.  Grateful for phone calls, texts, a grand's 21st birthday, emails, and new adventures with online food ordering!  Ha.....Grateful I can still see..  Grateful for Deb's video of my mom's life in photos and stories.  Grateful for the love of family and friends.....and so much more.

Enjoy your weekend!

Saturday's Scribbles

Good Saturday to you from our corner of Iowa on this second weekend of November. The leaves have pretty much fallen off many of the trees and the beautiful Autumn colors are now gone. Nature is preparing for winter.   

Speaking of nature,  today Joel went out on the porch to have his morning coffee and saw for the first time here a red fox making its rounds in the neighborhood. He was able to observe it for awhile.  You don't see fox very often and you certainly don't see them in town,  but we live close to the river and that makes a difference for the variety of wildlife that we see. We went for a brief walk the other day towards dusk and a large doe ran across just a few feet in front of us on our street.  The squirrels have been busy storing food and I often hear them in the morning running across the roof. Of course the geese are gathering too.  God always shows up in nature.   

 November brought with it a time change. I'm not sure why we do this to our bodies, but it certainly is hard to get things back in balance once they shift the clock. At 5:00 it is dark out and I don't like it! I'm grateful for every sunset but I wish it was later! 

Last Sunday we went to church which was nice. Monday I decided to call my retina doctor's office and get an appointment with him. We had not been hearing back from Mayo Clinic which is not unusual but I just was tired of waiting and wanted to get his opinion on what is going on with my right eye. Made an appointment for later this month down at his main office. Soon after that I received a call from the oncology nurse telling me I was on a wait list for Mayo Ophthalmology. A wait list starting in February 2025! Okay then, that's kind of a long wait when you've been told you're going to lose the vision in your only eye. It made me feel good about seeing the retina doctor. While she was on the phone I told her I'd been called to jury duty and with wondering if I could even manage that. She told me she'd look into it because she thought I had enough serious health concerns that I should be excused. The next day she called and I was excused.   So relieved.  God is working through people and I am so grateful.

It's good to see things starting to fall into place after finding ourselves in a holding pattern. It takes me back to when we first were flying into the Philippines after an 18 hour flight we were in a holding pattern and the plane had to reverse its engines in order to land on the short runway. Everything in that plane was vibrating including us. It was a scary and we didn't know  what in the world was going on but trusted the pilot who assured us.  That's how I have felt with our circumstances...we are in a holding pattern, things seem to be really really quiet or really really shaky and it's unpredictable and out of our hands.  After we've done what we can, we wait. God, our pilot will take care of it all. We need to trust Him.  

Speaking of trusting God, Wednesday we ended up in the ER for Joel. I wrote about it on Facebook. Tuesday night he had some symptoms that came up that were very concerning, and had us questioning if he needed to see a doctor. He called his nurse Wednesday morning and after checking, she said the doctor said he needed to go into ER....... where we spent hours waiting for a room and then seeing a doctor and going through tests. Turns out he's okay except for Vertigo. They ruled out stroke or heart. and even stress as the cause.   We are kind of are tired of all this for sure but grateful that he's okay. 

Joel did a little biking this week and I walked in the house most days.  Yardwork continues and baking for me.......some cleaning and even getting lights on the artifical tree stationed in the basement family room.  It's only 3 weeks until Thanksgiving and our children are coming this year. That's exciting for us. It's always a short visit but it certainly blessed us greatly.

Speaking of grateful......we are!  For Fall, for a fox showing up.  For a deer crossing our path.  Grateful for church worship online and in the pew,  a visit with a friend, Culvers salads, TV, biking and walking, Joel's good heath report. All the good nurses and doctors we encounter.  The oncology nurse stepping in to help me above and beyond!  Grateful for texts, emails, phone calls, and so so much more...

Enjoy your weekend!

Saturday's Scribbles

 

Good Saturday to you on our first weekend of November here in Iowa.   Earlier this week temperatures were in the 80s but on Halloween it was a frigid 37° when the kids came around. Still, we gave out seven bags of candy and had to close the door and turn off the lights because we ran put!  Had at least least 135 kids. Joel likes to sit on the porch but this year it was a little cold so he sat inside and watched for them to come. Mostly he gets only children who are polite and grateful. There's always one or two who are defiant or want to grab handfuls of candy, but for the most part it's a very enjoyable experience and fun for the kids.

 Last Saturday night after our online worship we watched the movie The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. It was depressing, it was sad and there was no happy ending. I really know how to pick them!  Sunday we headed off to church at Our Saviors where Joel was pastor 10 years. I had not been there for several years and it was enjoyable to be back in  familiar places and see familiar faces....well at least a few! Joel left there in 2006 so some faces are new!

It rained all day Wednesday with us getting over an inch of much needed moisture. On Wednesday night we went to Wednesday Alive at the church where we are members.  They have a meal and then they have a short program for an hour in different areas and for different ages. The last episode of ours was called the Zombies and Joel and I really didn't care for it. Zombies?  At the very end we did talk about death and if we were afraid to die. It brought to mind a quote that I heard recently, " I'm not afraid to die,  I just don't want to be there when it happens". That's exactly how I feel. I know where I'm going, I know that Jesus is waiting for me and my loved ones who've already died but I just don't want to go through the process of dying! Moving on...

Joel has not been able to get out and bike this week as it has been too windy. He has managed to do yard work, getting ready for winter. ....just like the animals around us. One of the days it was 80 so we had the back door open and I could hear the geese honking and flying overhead....Gathering Together and getting ready to go south! Love that sound. 

 Thursday we had a long visit with a friend then headed to the chiropractor in the afternoon. Friday we got our booster shot, this time from Pfizer and I have not had any side effects for the first time. Joel is off to Gabby Grandpa's for his Saturday coffee hour. So it's been a pretty normal week around here and between it all we're waiting for the phone to ring and it has not. It's almost 2 weeks since the referral went to Mayo Clinic.

This week we watched Matlock, High Potential, another Islands documentary and a couple of Northern Exposures.  And also 1 strange movie. Not too crazy about Matlock. There's so much lying and deceit that goes on and Joel and I both find that very disturbing. The show is intriguing but not very ethical at this point. It does show how big law firms can work. I know it's just a show but when the show does not make us comfortable we need to look at it and see if we really want to invest in it. 

I've been walking and I'm connectiong with audiobook mysteries at home but Im still missing Father Tim! Very few of Jan Karon's books are on audio in the free libraries.

 It is November and Thanksgiving will arrive the end of the month. We have much to be thankful for. A warm house, a long beautiful fall, visits with family and friends, Halloween with all the kids running around outside, good food good Fellowship good worship. Grateful for audio books and TV. Grateful for podcast and music. Grateful for the quiet that we sometimes find necessary. Grateful for all this and so much more.

Enjoy your weekend!