Saturday's Scribbles

"Born in America

A long long long time ago!"

Good Saturday to you from our corner of the world where a steady rain is nourishing the parched soil.  We are expecting thunderstorms throughout the day, possibly small hail and high winds.  So far it has been a summer storm with rumbling and rain.  It is a good way to start the day.

Speaking of a good day, it is Joel's 77th birthday today and we are giving thanks for so many years of life for this man,  Yesterday for his birthday we purchased him a new phone....his old one is around ten years old so this was definitely an upgrade!  It has been a pretty easy switch which is a good thing!  We started discussing this idea of a new phone around two years ago soooooooooooo as you can see, it took awhile to accept the idea!  Ha...

Joel managed a couple of bike rides earlier in the day this week as the temps were in the high 80's every day. One ride was with a few people from Trinity Lutheran church....a 12 mile round trip with breakfast in between.  He continues to enjoy his recumbent bike for sure.  Thursday he met with a colleague at the local park.  He has been part of a colleague group for around 25 years now and they meet monthly.  Today he is wearing a shirt our oldest son gave him 27 years ago on his 50th birthday that says.........."Born in America.....a long, long, long time ago!"  The shirt is pretty frayed but he wore it to Gabby Grandpas this morning.  

Joel was able to talk to 4 of 5 kids on Father's Day which was very nice. I had made Joel a rhubarb pie, his favorite.  He saved half of it for his birthday too.  We went to church outside and spent the rest of the day pretty low key. Our youngest had a birthday on Father's Day too.  Next week is our anniversary.  It all kind of bunches up towards the end of the month.....

I spent most of the week home, dealing with the neuropathy and balance issues this damaged nerve is producing.  Some days good..........like Monday when I had nearly zero symptoms and some days bad where I am sleeping sitting up on the sofa.  Okay then.  When it is a better day we take advantage of it.  Still walking daily and still mostly inside.  Bright sunlight is a bugger!  Enough said. 

We have been watching some Jesse Stone movies this past week.  Tom Sellack is such a good actor in our opinion.  This series is kind of dark at times, but low key too.  There is really little to watch on TV anymore.  Seriously, just a lot of garbage.....not that we have an opinion about it!  We have been watching America's Got Talent some. Porch sitting draws us outside most days or nights for awhile.  It would be hard to live without a porch now, but expect we would adapt.

I have so little to write about today that comes to mind......

So, I am grateful today for my husband Joel, a faith-full man who loves the Lord, his family and friends, and the many congregations he has served.  Grateful for his positive attitude, laughter and joy.  Grateful for his energy and caring personality.  Grateful he is doing so well in body soul and spirit.  Grateful for some days being better than others for me, for friends who stand with us for breakthrough.  Grateful for rhubarb pies, pizza, and all that delights us.  Grateful for a new phone for my hubby.  Grateful for our wonderful porch ( and lack of mosquitos right now).  Grateful for old movies, phone calls to brighten days, texts and pictures to make us smile and stay connected, and the love and prayers of so many, 

Enjoy your weekend!

Saturday's Scribbles

Good Saturday to you from beautiful Iowa where summer is taking hold.  The crops are in the ground, gardens are planted and growing, and flowers are showing off all their colors,  We searched 4 garden centers before finding a bright red hanging ivy geranium this week.  We ended up paying too much money .....and of course today it is now half price.  Ha  Either way, we are enjoying a favorite of mine.  Bright Red Geraniums.  Joel has been trimming a few branches up front, sweeping up a lot of pods off our trees, and making wire containers for some plants in the hope of keeping deer and rabbits away.  He is mostly hanging out in the yard when the smoke from Canadian fires doesn't chase us inside.  We enjoyed a bit of porch sitting yesterday, and a neighbor came by for a nice visit.   Joel is able to bike some too with the air clean and safe!  I am mostly walking my daily 20 minutes inside.

Speaking of biking, while he was biking earlier in the week he came across a dumpster full of wood pieces, flooring, etc.  He talked with the guy in charge of construction asking if he could go through the dumpster and gather anything he could use.  The guy said "SURE", so Joel took the SUV back and came home with some wood pieces he will use in creative ways.  It reminded me of what happened recently.  We had to get a tree trimming company to come and assess our downed limb, etc.  As the owner and Joel were talking Joel reminded  him that when he was tearing down his redwood deck in our association Joel had taken home several long sections of old redwood to reuse. He had taken up to 115 staples out of each piece....then smoothed it, etc. and out of the redwood boards he made over 150 redwood boxes (mostly one piece) and then added covers to many.  He went in the house and came out with a few and asked the guy if he wanted a box made from his old redwood deck~!!  A full circle moment!

Speaking of a full circle moment, this past Saturday noon we received a phone call from a woman whom we went to Bible College with.  N. had her cousin John and his wife Joan were visiting and she wanted to know if we were free for a short visit.  John was Joel's college roommate!  So off we went to see them them, N. lives not too far from us.  The visit was bringing us back to LBI but also bringing us forward to the present moment......especially as we watched Joan and Joel skipping outside.  Joel taught her the cross-over skip and backwards skip.  It had us all laughing as they skipped up and down the street.  It was great to see them all.

This past Tuesday we headed over to Rochester to Midwest Eye Labs for three appointments set up at 9 am, 1:30pm, and 4:45 pm.  We left  before 7am and arrived home just before 7 pm. And I came home with a new "eye".  The Ocularists worked with my eye socket, and molded, shaped and painted an eye.  Once they had it as they wanted it, the prosthetic eye  was heated, treated, and polished.  By the end of the day I had a new prosthetic eye. We are happy it is done!   I found it easy to adjust to with minimal care needed to keep everything healthy.  Of course the damaged nerve has complained ever since and challenged me, but we know it will quiet down again.  

Last weekend we watched the Hallmark movie, "The Dancing Detective:  The Deadly Tango" and enjoyed it very much. We started watching a Netflix movie last night that is supposed to be the best and most watched movie on Netflix.....we watched the first 15 minutes and with the lies told, the language used, and the immoral "stuff" insinuated.....it soon was turned off.  Their A+ went to our D- rating.  Seriously, comparing those two movies, one funny and clean and positive, and the other NOT, the Hallmark movie was the best.   We find that we tolerate less and less "crap" going into our minds and we like it that way! 

Speaking of good things to fill our minds with, our grandson Eli, Kevin's son, called us on his 21 birthday to say thank you and visit awhile.  So nice to visit with him and share some Kevin stories with him.  

Joel just got home from his Saturday "Gabby Grandpas" coffee gathering and is back outside doing his getting in touch with nature routine.  You can take the boy away from the farm but his genetics still take over....and you can't take thee farm out of the boy!  It is a good thing.

Speaking of good things, we are so grateful this week for seeing friends....John and Joel were roommates 67 years ago!  Grateful for good movies to watch.  Grateful for a new "eye" that looks real!  Grateful for God's promises to hold on to.  Grateful for bright red geraniums and other flowers to brighten our days.  Grateful for Eli calling.  Grateful for Joel dumpster diving (?).  Grateful for phone calls, texts, emails, and so much more.........

Enjoy your weekend~

Saturday's Scribbles

 

Good Saturday morning to you on this cloudy day here in Iowa. We have had beautiful weather this week making it easy to have our windows and doors open. Pleasant temps and little humidity.  Joel has been out biking and we have been doing some porch sitting.  It is just to nice to be inside all the time.  My yellow pansies are still blooming and so are our petunias and geraniums.  Their bright colors cheer a person right up.

Speaking of cheering up. last weekend we went up north in Minnesota to attend our granddaughter's graduation party.  We were able to spend time with three of our kids, a few grands, and many family members.  It was so great to hug on everyone.  So great to laugh together.  So great to watch our family....one of my favorite things to do is just observe how well they do life.  It was challenging for me physically, but not as hard as we thought it would be.  We are so glad we could go!

Speaking of challenging, with my commitment to be fully honest here, the pain continues.  Three words that seem to try to consume my life.  The pain continues.  It has been at a 4-5 but the last three days has gone up to 7-8, once again waking me around 4 or 5 am.  Again, just being honest, this increased pain has also increased my anxiety and low energy.  And I expect some of that is knowing that this coming Tuesday I will spend the whole day in Rochester getting fitted for a prosthetic eye.  Four appointments ending with a artificial eye being put in.    I should be excited for this but I am anxious for how the damaged nerve will react to it.  As I have said before, I have lived for decades with Lyme damage (pain) and did fine managing it.  This ophthalmic/trigeminal nerve pain?  It has me in a wrestling hold that I can't get out of.  The MRI tests are not until July ( busy time for them?) so the wait continues for treatment.  I don't know if I need to continue to write much about this.  The bottom line is,  my life has changed lagain and some days are good and some are bad and even a few are ugly.  I expect a pain medication is in my future ....................unless...............until.............

And this is where we stand on the unless.....which we are declaring is an until..................

Until God comes through with the promises I received two weeks ago from Julie Meyer, the woman I have never met who had words to share with me from God.  So personal..........so spot on in some areas..........a promise for breakthrough.  A Matthew 7 command to keep asking.........seeking.....knocking.  A promise for joy replacing tears.........I am holding on to these promises.  Sometimes, I confess, by a thread, but I am holding on.  Holding on to God and HIS promises.  Cuz....I'm still here.  

Speaking of still here, I have questioned the reason at times .....I know there is a book I feel I am to write, and I was on chapter three of this book titled "Adventures In Faithful Living" when I lost the vision in my left eye.  My right eye is seeing through beige dry macular degeneration, with strange images and when I look at a white computer screen my vision blurs in and out...yep.  it's challenging but I do Saturday's Scribbles so feel I can do this book one day at a time....for a few minutes, etc.  I am putting it "out there" in the public so as to motivate myself.  Anyway, below is a picture that shows what I am seeing through....or at least similarly.  If it is bright out then the swirls are brighter.....if it is dark, darker.  But always there.  Always.  The retina Dr. says my brain is trying to stimulate itself from losing my vision in my good eye, and creating things that are not there.  There's a name for it.  Okay then.  So, next week I am stepping out in faith and into writing a book to self publish in the future.  So many stories to share that reveal how God has woven his way into our lives.  

So today I am thankful for what I can still see!  Thankful I am still here....thankful that God sent me  reminders this week about writing the book.  My sister Jan has been after me.forever......and then my friend (and author) Linny mentioned I need to write a book...and so did Elaine....and Janet.  When I get something in threes I pay attention.  So again, thankful that if God calls me to it He will see me through it.  Grateful for our trip to northwest Minnesota, for hugs, laughter, so much love, and so much family to erase the loneliness.  Grateful for Joel and his continual love and support, for everyone's prayers.  Grateful for flowers that brighten the days.  Grateful for fresh air and nice  weather.  Grateful for God's promises which are always yes and amen.  So grateful.

Enjoy your weekend!