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!

Saturday's Scribbles om

Good Saturday to you on this last weekend of October 2024. It has been mostly a dry and windy week here in North Iowa. Our resident squirrel has spent time burying his winter food supply in one of our pansy pots! He's going to be surprised when he can't find his stash this winter. This dry weather reminds me of Montana. I remember one day Joel took the kids and drove out to the outdoor pump in the country where we could get nitrate-free safe water. While they were outside of the car Joel looked up and saw this huge wall coming up at them filled with dust and dirt. He yelled at the kids to get in the car and they quickly got inside, rolled windows up and sat as it rolled across the land and over them and kept going. He said it was fascinating to see.

Joel has been busy this week with yard work, a little wood working and fix it projects and yesterday he took me shopping, bless his heart! I am not the shopper in the family, he is. Especially now when it's difficult for me to see in the stores where they have all the bright lights. We were looking for a winter coat for me. I have two winter coats ...one is 20 years old and one is 25 years old but I still think they look pretty good! I figured I may need to get more in style.. haha.. we found two coats that we got on sale and now I just have to decide if I'm keeping them both or not! Everything is always too long in the arms for me to get it to go around my middle. I'm pretty short and round. I'm still thinking I like my 25-year-old cold the best! 

I have been walking and I finished At Home in Mitford, the first of the Father Tim series and found myself kind of sad to have it be over. I spent 19 hours listening to it and found it quite a comfort at this time. I'm now reading a mystery series that actually brings up God quite often and I am impressed by that. Ellery Adams is the author of The Hope Street series. 

We've been watching a couple new shows, Matlock with Kathy Bates,  High Potential and our usual NCIS original series. We also discovered some documentaries that we've enjoyed on the Pacific Islands and American Islands. Martin Clunes does them. There's so much Beauty out there to see and experience!

This is not my first draft of Saturday scribbles this week. I had it all written out and was almost finished and it all disappeared off my new computer. I have searched and searched and cannot find it. I am more than a bit annoyed because once I write it down it's out of my mind pretty much. It is  a big enough challenge to be on a laptop.  Speaking of that, we continue on with the eye drama Journey and hope to hear next week fr om Mayo ophthalmology. It has been rough at times as it was two years ago now that the retina doctors were trying to save my left eye....and now here I am trying to hold on to the vision in my right eye. So difficult to accept.   For now we're covering it all in prayer and doing a lot of deep breathing. And thank you for your prayers.

Joel's cousin Luther sent him a manila envelope this week and inside was Joel's seminary graduation program and a bulletin from his ordination service in 1980.  Joel's Aunt Harriet (Lther's mom) had saved them for all these years and as they sort through her "stuff" they came across these items.  It was fun to look back and reminisce about those two important days and dates in Joel's life.  In all our lives.  

Today is our daughter N.'s birthday.  A big one!  Happy Birthday honey!  We love you so much and are so grateful for you in our lives.  Enjoy the next decade or two or three!  May they all be filled with joy and adventures.

Grateful this week for the trace of rain we had.  Grateful for the doctors working to get me help.  Grateful the urology report this week was good.  Grateful for Fall weather, squirrels so busy, and sunshine.  Grateful for Father Tim series.  Grateful for walking, bike rides for Joel, and good TV.  Grateful for our Na's birthday.  For our Na......   Grateful for new winter coats.  Grateful for phone calls with kids, texts, and emails....and so much more.  

Saturday's Scribbles

 

Good Saturday to you from our corner of Iowa where the views are beautiful as Autumn show off..   It is a little warmer than usual right now but so many amazing colors on display. Again nature is giving us it's very best. 

Speaking of very best, yesterday as we were eating lunch Joel pointed out the dining room deck door and asked if I could see the bird outside in the bush.  It took me a little while to discover it but there it was,  an amazingly beautiful male cardinal all decked out in it's red finery. They say Cardinals are messenger from God and I'm going to take comfort in that. This bird clung to that bush even though the winds were in the twenties moving it all around for at least the 10 minutes that we watched it,  if not longer. Mr. Cardinal sometimes looked directly at us or so it seemed and I thanked the bird for sharing his beauty with us. Cardinals have always been my favorite bird. Always. This Cardinal encounter was a timely gift from God.

It was a stressful week....a bumpy ride. Tuesday I went to a medical appointment  where I encountered God showing up.  I shared that story on Facebook about the young woman who's battling stage 4 cancer with three recurrences so far. An ugly beast it is. Wednesday I saw the oncologist which was quite informational and at the same time overwhelming.She wants to refer me to Mayo Clinic regarding the eye and medication issue because they did find articles linking lack of hormones with glaucoma getting worse but is there a connection?  The medication I was on takes the estrogen out of my body at a high level.  So even though this is a possibility not a probability,,,,there it is. And my oncologist says this is outside her realm.......I dread going back to Mayo and going through tests and talking to doctors and just all of it.  We have had so many emotions surface.    I have longed for Heaven more than once.  Heaven has looked good!  BUT we have put this in God's hands and when I feel like I've had enough I just rest and keep telling him to take over. So now we wait for phone calls. And appointments - possibly. We are both working hard to stay in the "We have today"  place and believing that God will guide this journey.  

Friday Joel and I went on a little trip to just find some gourds and little pumpkins and also big pumpkins. First we stopped at the Dollar Tree for cards and then headed out to a market on the other side of town where most of their stuff was on sale. Then we came back to the local Lutheran Church it has a pumpkin patch this year. We also voted in between so that is done. It was wonderful to do something "normal".  And now we are looking at many good fun fall pumpkins and gourds in the house and outside. Joel says they are "gourdgous".......Ha   Thursday Joel went on a bike ride with members of the church. It was his normal route but it was so very windy. I think winds were sustained at 24 to 25 with wind gusts up to 35 that day. He did a slow ride with other members and they had a good time. He also has been doing some wordworking and yard work.  

I'm reading a new audiobook which I really enjoy. I waited on a list for it for 2 months.  It's called "At Home in Medford by Jan Karen and I think I mentioned it last week.  The book is 19 hours of listening and I only get 2 weeks to have it so I'm keeping busy taking it with me everywhere in the house! I do have the book here on my bookshelf if I run out of time. I've done some walking I baked cookies for Joel and I made quick bread for myself this week. The last surgery was 3 + weeks ago so I'm much better!

This book, this Father Tim series really warms my heart and calms my soul.  When I read it years ago I wished for a town that size where you ran into people you know, a place filled with characters bigger than life.  The quiet theme throughout is based on prayer and God hearing our prayers.  It is an amaziing series and I am so grateful I "found" it again.  Dont we all need the foundation of faith to be fueled by prayer!  Trusting God.  Communication with Him.  EVEN and ESPECIALLY when we don't understand God's plans.

So this is where I am leaving Saturday's Scribbles today.  Sitting in God's presence as we exprience His mysterious ways.  Gratful for all the Fall colors, smells, and sounds. Grateful for the Cardinal showing up at lunchtime and showing us how he could hang on while the winds were knocking him around.  A messenger with a message from God.  Grateful.   Grateful to vote.  Grateful for a normal fun adventure to find pumpkins and gourds.  Grateful for baking smells.  Grateful for God connecting me with the young woman on Tuesday who is fighting for her life....our promises to pray for each other.  Grateful for the cancer nurse who told me God must have a reason for me to still be here...... Grateful for all the phone calls, texts, emails. prayers.  And so much more..........

Enjoy your weekend!

Saturday's Scribbles

 

Good Saturday to you from our corner of Northern Iowa where Fall is showing off in so many ways. The trees are turning all my favorite colors here.....browns and golds greens rust and oranges. What's not to like! The most beautiful tree in town is right here in our cul-de-sac so we can see it every single day. Nature and its best.

 Speaking of nature, we actually got to see the Northern Lights on Thursday night right from our front yard! They weren't vividly strong but they were there. I could see the pinkish color somewhat and Joel could enjoy all the greens and reds and pinks! After I went to bed Joel went back out and saw them again. He noticed our neighbors lights were on and knocked on their door and they came out and looked too . It was on our bucket list to see them and we're very thankful to have been able. Especially now.

It's been a rough couple of days here getting news that we were hoping not to get. I saw the eye doctor on Wednesday and after the testing she told me that my right eye, the only eye I have now, is only seeing half of the vision field. the top half is gone due to the glaucoma. She believes that since it happened two days after the first surgery on the 14th that I actually had a drop in blood pressure in the surgery which did something to my eye,  causing a stroke in the optic nerve. This happened because my eye is very fragile. For us it was very sobering to hear.  It is really not a matter of if I will lose my vision it is a matter of when I will lose my vision. Next week I see the oncologist and we decide whether the drug that I've been taking for 4 years to keep the cancer away is part of the problem . And so the journey continues and at this point we are trying to process it all and what it means for our future. For those who are open to prayer we ask that you remember us with the decisions we have ahead. 

Joel has been able to get in some biking and some yard work. Enjoying his conference pastors and coffee group.  He has ridden 1000 miles this summer so far,  We are very grateful that our next door neighbor  picked up four and a  bags of leaves for us with the riding mower that he has. So very nice!  I made pancakes for lunch today but have kept close to the house  and sofa in recovery mode.  Been listening to an audiobook and just startd a new one by one of my favorite  authors, Jan Karon.  "At Home in Mitford" is the first of a series about a small town and it's well loved Episcopal priest Father Tim.  Wonderful series!  Joel and I actually went and saw her in person at Luther Seminary and had some of our books signed....so many years ago. 

Giving thanks today for Fall, for our favorite cul-de-sac tree showing off, grateful for seeing the Northern Lights.  Grateful for Joel hitting his goal of 1,000 miles.  Grateful for moving forward in recovery, for good doctors, for God being in the future....whatever it holds.  Grateful for comfort food....pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream. Grateful for phone calls, texts, and prayers...and so much more.

Enjoy your weekend

Saturday's Scribbles

Good Saturday to you from our corner of Iowa where fall is blessing us with so much Beauty! All the Fall colors are starting to come out and the temperatures have been lovely. Warm and dry. There is just everything to love about October!

Speaking of October,  my sister Jan arrived on the 3rd to spend a few days traveling with a friend who has a daughter in a nearby town. While I'm on the sofa she's in a nearby recliner and we are definitely enjoying each other's company. It is all good!

As I write this Joel is on his way to Rendezvous Days in southern Minnesota just 45 minutes away. He makes a yearly trek there to spend the whole day stepping back in time during those days of trapping, muzzle loading and campfires. It will be a bit more challenging today as the temperature is supposed to get up to 89°, which is insane for October! He will lstill have a good time and he'll come home smelling like wood smoke with a bag of kettle corn and stories to tell.

It was a challenging week in some ways with me spending a lot of horizontal time trying to get some energy back. Slow moving but making progress. Joel has been keeping things going at home and getting in a few bike rides. He also stepped in as nurse to take the stent out of from my kidney and bladder. There is something to be said for that "for better or worse" part of our marriage vows.   He was also able to catch up with his Bible College roommate John and his wife Joan and cousin Norma. Norma lives in town and they were able to get together on Tuesday. I hated to miss it ...they had a good time. It has been a long time since John and Joel roomed together! Somewhere around 56 years? Okay then

A short scribbles today with so much gratitiude for getting through two more surgeries.  For recovery moving forward.  Grateful for Janey being here to visit and hug on.  Grateful for Joel's help.  Grateful for the beauty Fall brings.  Grateful for porch sitting and flowering mums.  Grateful for old friends (John) and new.  Grateful for phone calls, texts, and so much more.

Enjoy yiur weekend!

 

Good Saturday to you from our corner of the world where we celebrate the first official day of fall tomorrow. This past week the temperatures has been pretty hot and humid but starting today they are going to be more "Porch Sitting" kind of weather. The geese are gathering, and the other night we opened our window to listen to an owl serenading us from a nearby tree.  it was rather comforting and made us both smile to listen to our resident friend. Some of our flowers are finally winding down but Joel brought home two big beautiful mum plants this week for me to enjoy. What a nice gift. We are looking for rays of sunshine where we can find them...

It has been kind of a rough week here in the Dahlen house. Recovery from surgery last Saturday was challenging for a few days but it's much better now. Normal enough now to be ready for next week's kidney stone surgery.  Unfortunately, on Monday I noticed that my eye had an area that was shaded. At first I thought it was from the surgery because I do have a funky eye but on Thursday morning I called the retina doctors in Des Moines and was told to call and go into the clinic here in town to see what was going on. The doctor on call said to me after testing, "Well I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is that your macular in the right eye is stable that's not the problem. The bad news is the glaucoma has gotten worse. I have had a tendency to forget about the glaucoma because that has been quiet for so many years. So it has been scheduled that I will go in for a visual field test and a treatment plan two weeks after the next surgery I  have. This coming Thursday the 26th is surgery. It does not seem to slow down. I am working hard to continue to trust God while praying and waiting for my healing.  Losing my vision is not a death sentence, but it darn right scary to think about.  I trust you God.  

Joel has been able to do some bike riding, some putzing in the garage shop, and quite a bit of caretaking. I have been listening to the book The Women by Kristin Hannah who is an amazing author of historical fiction. They are very few books available on the Vietnam era and especially regarding women nurses. She has done an amazing job combining history with fiction in a powerful story. I waited 2 months on hold through Libby to be able to get the audiobook and it is well worth it. Of course all the talk about Vietnam, the climate,  the environment, and military really brought up a vast number of memories. While living in the Philippines Joel was a forecaster of weather for the pilots that flew to Nam and other places. We both participated in operation baby lift when Saigon fell. But we stood on the outside looking in really and had no clue about all the experiences our soldiers, doctors and nurses were going through. Yes we were in the military during the time of War protests where soldiers were treated like crap when they came home. We didn't experience it ourselves.  Some soldiers became extremely broken by Nam and self-destructive or just plain destructive. Enough said.  The book is an eye opener and I highly recommend it.

A couple that we met at Hope Lodge in Rochester Minnesota while we were staying there for radiation,  are coming by to see us tomorrow.  We are excited to see them.  It will have been 5 years ago in December that we stepped into Mayo Clinic for radiation to begin. Five years already.

On that note I am closing today's scribbles.  Laptop work is more challenging than ever but I am grateful I can still see to do it!  Grateful for two beautiful mum plants to enjoy.  Grateful the stent is no longer making my bladder complain.  Grateful for being done with antibiotics and recovering enough to move forward.  Grateful that Joel can ride bike and get out in his shop.  Grateful for fall temps coming. Grateful for Kristen Hannah's book, The Women.   Grateful for porch sitting, a friendly owl, noisy geese and even Friday night football we can hear from our living room.....another sign of Fall.  Grateful for texts, phone calls, emails, and so much more....

Enjoy your weekend...