Amy, LBI, Another Puzzle and the Latest Book

We didn't just sit around at home this week. Monday was Amy's birthday and I had some gifts to take her, so we went up on Sunday after church and spent the afternoon with her and the family. I made a cake on Saturday that everyone enjoyed after our lunch together.

It was fun seeing them all and spending some time with them.  Can you believe it that our baby is now 34 years old?????

Isn't she beautiful?

Here is the evidence of some of the craziness:

 

Silly kids!

 

Traffic wasn't too bad on Sunday afternoon even on the expressway, although there were some pockets of "slinky traffic." That was Andy's term for the speeding up/slowing down phenomenon. 

Andy had been hinting that he wished we could take a vacation. But after explaining again why we can't go away, he was ok with my promise that we'd take day trips to the shore or other places close by. So when a friend last week invited us to visit them at their shore house, we decided to give it a go. Their place is on LBI so it was only an hour's drive from our house. It's been hot and humid here, but there was a sea breeze that day so it was a nice break to enjoy the outdoors and be a little cooler. We enjoyed lunch together, then went to the beach and sat on a bench at the top of the dunes, looking out at the ocean. 

Bob has a hard time walking, he's unsteady on his feet and his legs are shaky. So he walks with a walker or cane. He has been feeling depressed because he's slowing down and not able to do what he has all his life. I was amazed, though, by the way Andy interacted with Bob. He was engaged, asking questions about Bob's business and his family. The questions were perfectly normal and appropriate. He still has his pastor's heart. When we left, I felt like they really appreciated our spending the time with them.

I love looking at the ocean.

 

As much as we enjoyed the time, though, we were exhausted the rest of the week. We just can't seem to do even the simplest of excursions without it taking its toll.

I've been thinking of Andy and how it is around here. On the one hand, he is very forgetful, not even knowing what day it is. This morning (Sunday), after his shower, he put on a blue t-shirt and shorts. In fact, it's the same outfit he has on in the above picture! When I saw how he was dressed, I told him it was Sunday. He knew he needed to change into a nicer shirt and long pants. Later, when we sat down to have our morning coffee, he still hadn't changed. I asked him if he was going to change and he asked why. I reminded him that it was Sunday, and he said he didn't know it was. 

On the other hand, he is so sweet, kind, loving, good-natured and gentle. He's constantly concerned about the other person. In most cases, that's me. But at church, he's very much attuned to others, even when he's very tired. He was so tired this morning, he couldn't stand for all of the singing. But after the service, when people were talking to him, he interacted and talked to them as if everything was normal. Oh, sometimes, he goes off on a totally different direction from where the conversation was going. But in his mind, there is some connection. And everyone is so kind and loving to us. 

We worked on a very difficult puzzle for the last several weeks. With each one we do, we comment that this is the hardest one so far. But this one really was. We were able to do the white pieces, the clock, the man and outer edges fairly easily. But all the brown around the clock took twice as long as the whole rest of the puzzle.

But we finally finished it. And we're on to the next one now. I confess that I like doing the puzzles. I'm not sure Andy does, but he humors me by helping out sometimes. I think it's good for him to try and he does it because I ask him to.

Yesterday, Dawn stopped by with Kira and Kasey. We played with them for a little while over at the neighbor's house with the neighbor kids.

I finished a book this week loaned to me by a friend, Sensible Shoes. It's the story of the spiritual journey of four women. It was fiction, but not typical fiction because there was a lot of deep spiritual truth taught in a way that was engaging and riveting. I don't usually go for Christian fiction but this book was enjoyable and challenged me in my own spiritual journey. I highly recommend it.