Yes, I'm still alive...at least I think I am. What a crazy, up and down couple of weeks since I last posted.
Andy and his dad were fishing in Maine on Memorial Day weekend. They were going to be gone almost a week, from Thursday through Tuesday evening. But when it came down to it, neither of them like being away from home for long, which led to the rash decision on Sunday night to pack up and head for home. They drove all night, arriving dead tired at 6:00 am Monday morning. Andy had driven most of the trip himself. His dad took the wheel once so Andy could get some sleep, but after about 5 minutes, woke Andy up to tell him he was feeling nauseous. I remember driving home from Maine once all night. We vowed we'd never do that again. So I was pretty surprised that Andy agreed to it. I guess he was anxious to get back home. There's no place like home!
I thought that while Andy was away, I'd enjoy a long 4 days in a row all to myself. Well, that didn't happen. I ended up watching Kira all 4 days so Dawn could work at their house. Then Andy got home 2 days early, so I wasn't alone after all. Not that I wanted to be. Relationships are more important to me than time alone or to myself. Time drags and goes so slowly when I'm the only one in the house.
I love the expression on her face!
And all too soon, the long weekend was over and it was off to work again. Wednesday morning last week started off with a phone call at 6:00 in the morning from Pastor Ralph. I knew that one of our young women was taken to ER on Monday night, but when Ralph called, he told me that the families were called in to be with her. It was a blow to me, and I had a heavy heart the rest of the day. The young woman grew up with my own daughters, has been married several years with 2 very young children. Her situation was very serious, with swelling of her brain, disorientation and hallucinations, etc. The doctors could not determine what was wrong with her. They concluded that they thought she had a viral infection, but the results from those tests don't come back for 3-4 days. Even then, if it is a virus, there are so many different kinds that they still may not discover what it is. Well, for 4 days she was in ICU in very serious condition until finally on Sunday, there seemed to be some improvement. But because she is from a very involved family in our church, there was much concern, and people were calling the church to ask for updates. So the office phones were extra busy.
On top of that we had a Christian comedian booked to do 2 shows at the church on Friday night. 1,500 tickets were sold. So the phones were busy with that all week, too, because people were calling to see if we had any more tickets, or if they could switch to a different time, or the thousand other questions people ask at times like this.
There was no rest in the evenings and weekends for Andy and me because Andy went every spare minute over to Tommy and Dawn's house to work: patching holes in walls, prepping the floors for the tile work, etc. etc. etc. We also are very behind in our yard work here at our own place, so he brought home mulch some nights, then we spent the evening after dinner working in the gardens. We are making progress, but there is still much to be done. I really don't think we'll finish them this year. Well, as a famous person likes to say: "what is is what is." They still look beautiful - all the flowers are blooming - there is so much color all around the house.
On Saturday, we got to see Amy and Ricky and their kids for a little while. They drove down to check out a mini van that Andy had told them was for sale. While down, they wanted to go see Tommy and Dawn's house. Andy and his Dad, Tommy and Dawn were all there, so it was a little break for them from their work while they showed the house to the newcomers.
On Sunday afternoon, we attended the wedding of the daughter of one of our church deacons. It was supposed to be outdoors, but as we sat there before the wedding started, it began to sprinkle a little, so we all moved indoors. It was held at a beautiful mansion in Philadelphia. I love our church weddings. It's not only a beautiful reminder of the wedding vows, but we also get to visit with dear friends that we only see in passing on Sundays.
I was expecting this week to not be quite as busy as last week, at least at work. But I think I ended up working more hours each day than I normally do. And in the evenings, Andy and I worked on our gardens again.
On Tuesday, I was able to clean my house, then I made a meal for a young lady who had just adopted a baby from Ethiopia. When I took the meal to her, I got to visit with her for a little while. The baby is Kira's age.
Speaking of Kira, Dawn came over with the baby around lunch time on Tuesday, had lunch with us, then put Kira down for a nap. I just rested a little while the baby rested. She only slept an hour, then we played till Dawn returned to pick her up. She is a pleasant happy little girl and it's fun to have her. When Dawn was leaving, she asked me if I was tired from carrying Kira around and playing with her. I told her no, I wasn't. But that evening, I couldn't move off the couch. No yardwork that evening!
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were very intense at work. We had a Ladies Night Out event on Wednesday night which always generates a lot of printing, preparing and phone calls. But it's worth it, they're always a lot of fun. This one was themed: Up, Up & Away, kites and a picnic in the park.
We had some picnic type games and a bake off. I entered "my" (Sorry, Judy, around here nobody knows it's really yours) cherry pie in the pie category. I couldn't resist bragging to Andy afterwards that I had won third place in the pie category. He congratulated me and said how proud he was of me...then laughed when I confessed that there were only 3 entries in the pie category!
Amy came down yesterday to get the mini van. They decided to buy it since the car they currently have will only fit 2 car seats in the back. Since they'll have a 3rd little one soon, they needed a bigger vehicle. We will be driving it up to them tomorrow.
Tonight Andy is in charge of a Family Seminar at the church. There are over 70 people in attendance. I am home tonight, but I baked a batch of cookies as my contribution.
It's always interesting to me to note when there is a crisis or someone dies, at the same time there is a baby born or something exciting happens to someone else. Last Wednesday when we all had heavy hearts about our young friend in the hospital, I got a call from someone that a baby had been born to another young family in the church. The same thing happened several years ago the day a dear friend died, a baby was born. And another friend had her baby on September 11, 2001. It's that glimmer of hope that God gives us. He's here. Yes, there might be death, but there's also life.
We had a mockingbird that built a nest in the bush right outside my kitchen window. She's been very busy flying back and forth with food in her beak to feed her little ones. She's also very aggressive toward us if we try to go near so we can water the flowers. She sits on a nearby branch or on the garage roof and scolds and actually flew right at me the other night. I think the babies are nearly ready to fly because they've ventured outside the nest. I was able to capture a picture of one.
And a robin built a nest in the magnolia tree over the deck.
God is good and everything He does is good. Psalm 119:68.
Cousins having fun together.
So here are the birthday kids:
Naomi turned 5 on June 7.
Chase turned 4 on June 20.
And Joanna will be 2 on June 27.
All beautiful precious children.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were very intense at work. We had a Ladies Night Out event on Wednesday night which always generates a lot of printing, preparing and phone calls. But it's worth it, they're always a lot of fun. This one was themed: Up, Up & Away, kites and a picnic in the park.
We had some picnic type games and a bake off. I entered "my" (Sorry, Judy, around here nobody knows it's really yours) cherry pie in the pie category. I couldn't resist bragging to Andy afterwards that I had won third place in the pie category. He congratulated me and said how proud he was of me...then laughed when I confessed that there were only 3 entries in the pie category!
Amy came down yesterday to get the mini van. They decided to buy it since the car they currently have will only fit 2 car seats in the back. Since they'll have a 3rd little one soon, they needed a bigger vehicle. We will be driving it up to them tomorrow.
And a robin built a nest in the magnolia tree over the deck.
God is good and everything He does is good. Psalm 119:68.
