Home Alone

After a very busy week of getting ready for our meeting and company, then spending the weekend enjoying the meeting and all of our guests, it is nice to have some quiet time! Dennis left this morning to spend the week hunting in East Texas. Andy J and James S are meeting up with him down there. Now, don't get me wrong...I love my husband, and I am very thankful for the time that we have together now that he is retired. But I really enjoy it when I get a little alone time while he goes hunting! I can eat what I want, when I want. I can pretty much hibernate in the house, if I want (which I really do enjoy!), except for going to check on Dad. I can set the thermostat on the temperature that is the most comfortable for me! It has been awhile since I've had a few days to myself, so I have REALLY been looking forward to this week!

Our meeting was GREAT! We had Charles and Belinda, as well as Ben and Laura and their two girls, stay with us. We enjoyed having them SO much! We don't often have the opportunity to have quality time with them. The weekend was pretty crazy (busy), but guests like them make it a little easier to handle! I thoroughly enjoyed all of our speakers, and the singing was amazing. (Thanks to Ron, Charles and Richard for their excellent studies!) Saturday was great! The Pettits opened their place for the group to spend the day, as they did last year. They have such a great place to entertain! We greatly appreciate all of their hard work in providing for the group! We had a potluck Sunday at the Millsap Com. Center, and then our "singing service" that afternoon. Most of our guests left either before or right after lunch, to make it back home at a reasonable hour. There were a few who hung around until the very end. We really enjoyed visiting with everyone! We appreciate each and every one that took the time and effort to make the trip. These weekends wouldn't be the success they are without all of our wonderful visitors!

We didn't even remind Dad of the meeting, because we knew he wouldn't be up to attending more than Sunday morning. He was already exhausted from the weekend before. Sarah P and her sweet family did go by to visit him after leaving the Pettits Saturday evening. She said he recognized her, and he even remembered their visit the next day. He has known Sarah her whole life! I was hoping her visit would perk him up a bit.

Not long after we got home Saturday evening, my phone rang, and it was Dad. (First time he's called in months!) He was very upset and started telling me about how "they" had had a wreck, and I needed to bring him $100 to get them out of there. (I'm assuming he dreamed all of this and got it confused with reality, which he has done on more than one occasion.) I finally got him settled down and told him to go back to his room and I would "take care of it". Then I called the nursing home and told them what had happened, so they would keep a closer than normal eye on him. I guess he forgot about it, because I didn't hear back from him, and he didn't mention it the next morning. He was extra sleepy the next morning. I wasn't sure, when I went to pick him up, if he was going to make it out of bed to go. He did made it to the morning assembly and potluck Sunday. He seemed to enjoy seeing everyone, and he definitely enjoyed the food! He ate everything that I put on his plate and then hit the dessert table 3-4 times. (He actually hit the sweets first!) He stashed a big cluster of grapes and several cookies in his walker to take back to the home with him. Dennis said he kept nibbling out of his pocket all of the way back home. I talked to him a little this morning about the weekend, asking him if he enjoyed seeing everyone. He did, but he was still pretty tired from it all.

I was certainly tired from it all yesterday! I did only what was absolutely necessary and spent most of the day napping...which is MOST unusual for me! Then I slept like a log last night. I'm feeling much more rested today and have started getting everything returned to normal. I LOVE having these meetings, but they take a larger tole on me the older I get!

Well, I hope things are going well where you are! If you made it down for our meeting, thank you so much for coming! We loved seeing you! If you didn't, I hope you were able to spend some quality time with your loved ones. As we were admonished by our speakers, let's be committed, get our priorities right, and rejoice in our blessings as God's children!

And then there were two...

We are about back to normal now after all of the hullabaloo and sickness of the previous two weeks. I’m still fighting fatigue…I want to fall asleep every time I sit down. I’m hoping that will gradually get better. I did sleep better last night. The night before last I was up every hour having to get a drink and go to the bathroom. That doesn’t make for a restful night!

Dennis had to make a rushed trip to Shreveport this past Monday. He couldn’t find his birth certificate, which he needed in order to get his driver’s license renewed. There wasn’t time to order it online, so he just drove over and back in one day. He also decided to go ahead and get his passport last week, since he was taking care of his other documentation. He hasn’t had a passport since he was stationed in Germany! That gets us one step closer to our Alaskan cruise that we hope to go on next year!

I took Dad to the orthopedic surgeon last week with his hip. X-rays showed that he has arthritis really bad in his left hip. It started bothering him a few weeks ago and has been making it difficult for him to walk. The doctor ordered a CT scan to make sure that there aren’t any hairline fractures in the hip that might cause future problems. They did the scan Friday, but we haven't heard the results yet. If there aren’t any fractures, then he’ll do a steroid injection this Friday to try to help with the pain. If there are, then he’ll admit Dad to the hospital and put some pins in his hip. It will be minimally invasive surgery, if they do that. Hopefully, though, he’ll get by with just the injection. He is still declining in pretty much every way. The best description I can come up with is that he is just fading away.

I spent the biggest part of last week resting up from the previous two weeks. Dennis did a little hunting (hasn’t killed anything yet, unless he got something this morning). It was nice to be back to cooking for just the two of us again. I mostly just fixed “kid friendly” foods while the littles were here. I’m still making my yogurt about once a week. With just the two of us, it will last us about a week.
I did do some CASA training last week...and finished up my required 12 hours for the calendar year. Even though I've been on sabbatical, I still have to keep current on my training. I'm hoping that I can be ready to start on a new case after our meeting.

I started fixing up our extra room for a grandkid/guest room. I ordered and received the bed last week. We still haven’t picked out a mattress. I wanted to get one of those mattresses in a box, but Dennis has read a lot of reviews that complained about moisture problems with them. So we plan to do a little shopping around before we decide on what to get. We eventually plan to do some structural renovation in that room, but it will be awhile before we get around to that. Right now, we just need to get it ready for our meeting in two weeks!

The honeymooners should have gotten back home last night. I am looking forward to seeing them and hearing all about their trip!

Saturday we are planning to go to my Aunt Coez’ 90^th birthday party. Dad wants to go with us. I hope he enjoys it. He doesn’t seem to get much enjoyment from anything these days. He has quit playing bingo, and doesn’t say much, if anything, to anyone who tries to visit with him. I’m hoping it will perk him up a little to see a lot of the family. After that party, we are going to Sheila and Matt’s house for a fall party. They really have been enjoying entertaining! Sheila enjoys the fall as much as I do, so she is really excited to host a fall-themed party. That “girl” has always loved to host a good party!

That’s what’s been going on in our lives. How are things going in yours?

Grandparenting, Sickness, and a Wedding to Remember

Before anything else, I want to thank everyone who joined in the celebration of Ricky and Amber’s wedding: Don and Cheryl, who went above and beyond in providing a beautiful site for the occasion…even at the expense of having 100 people track mud through their house and barn; Ken and Kelli, who worked hard at whatever needed to be done…even running all over town at the last minute looking for clear umbrellas; Joe and Leanne, for all of the hard work and expense in throwing a beautiful wedding for our kiddos; Karley, for being available for whatever needed to be done; Jeremy, who did a beautiful job of “tying the knot”; and for everyone else, who drove hundreds of miles to show your love and support…some who weren’t even able to attend after doing so due to health problems. But most of all, I want to thank God for bringing these two together. It has been a joy to watch them grow together in their love for one another and their devotion to Him.


Now, a quick summary of the couple of weeks leading up to the wedding….


Dennis and I had grandparent duty for eight days and had big plans for our special time with our three youngest. Things started out good, with daily trips to the park, lots of reading and playing, and the littles “helping” Grandad trim the tree in our front yard. Then strep reared its ugly head and everyone ended up sick, except for Dennis. We ended up mostly hanging out at the house and doing what we had to in order to get by. Stephen and Mandy made it home Tuesday, and then we all hit the road first thing Wednesday morning to drive to Ruidoso. The Hays family cooked up some yummy enchiladas for supper that evening and had all of us over. We visited, sat around the fire pit, and watched some nice mule deer bucks hanging out in the yard.


When we got to our hotel room that night, Dennis had chills and a fever, so we spent a couple of hours in the ER getting him checked out. He didn’t have strep or the flu, but the doctor gave him some steroids and antibiotics and told him to avoid contact with others unless he was wearing a mask. So he stayed in the hotel all day Thursday, while the rest of us rehearsed and then went out for the rehearsal dinner. Charles and Belinda had arrived early, but Charles had also ended up in the ER with a UTI and spent the weekend in bed. Sheila and Nam also arrived on Thursday, having broken up their trip with a stop in Lubbock Wednesday night. (Nam was loving his first out of state road trip!)


We headed out to the cabin around noon on Friday to set out the pecan pies that I’d brought. Then the photographer was ready to take some pictures of the groom’s family and attendants. Dennis was feeling some better, but he mostly sat outside on the porch and avoided crowds. During this time, we found out about Diane’s fall, which left her with a broken arm and bumps and bruises…and kept her from making it the final few miles to be able to attend. It broke my heart to hear the bad news!


Finally, it was time for the ceremony to begin. Due to the fact that it had been raining almost continuously for 2 days, the wedding ended up being held in the barn, rather than outside where the kids had hoped it would be. It was still a beautiful setting! The parents and grandparents were ushered in, then the wedding party made their entrance. Then it was time for the 3 littles! Then came the moment that we’d all been waiting for! Joe escorted his beautiful daughter down the aisle, and I doubt that there was a dry eye in the place. Amber and Ricky were both fighting back tears, which had me boo-hooing. Jeremy led them through their vows, and then did something I’d never seen before. He had them face the audience and told them that they would never be alone, because each face that they saw before them would always be there for them. It was beautiful! Then he pronounced them man and wife, and the sun broke through the clouds and the rain stopped. So they were able to get the gorgeous outside pictures that they had hoped for before the drizzle started up again. We all enjoyed the finger foods that Amber’s family and friends had provided, then the happy couple cut the delicious cake that the bride had baked and decorated herself. A final group picture was taken, then we all wished the couple well as they took off on their honeymoon. By this time, Dennis and I were both totally exhausted and headed back to our hotel room. We grabbed a quick supper with Sheila and Nam and then had an early bedtime!

After checking out of our hotel the next morning, we dropped by Stephen and Mandy’s cabin to wish Shepherd a happy 5^th birthday, and tell them good-bye. Since we would be going the same direction as Sheila and Nam for a few hours, Nam rode with us for a while. It was nice to spend some extra time with him. We had all been missing one another, since it had been close to a month since we’d seen one another. We finally parted ways and made it the rest of the way home. I managed to get a couple of loads of laundry started before crashing for the night. We were both totally wiped out!


We picked up Dad this morning to go to church, and he was really struggling. We left immediately after the assembly to take him back home, then grabbed some lunch and crashed again. We are both still coughing (and I’m still wheezing), but mostly we are just tired and worn out from the past two weeks. Other than taking Dad to a doctor’s appointment Tuesday morning, we don’t have any other outside commitments for the week. So we plan to try to rest up and recuperate!


I hope we didn’t share any of our germs with anyone else at the wedding!