Most of you know the important news of the week. Tuesday we saw Dr. Lattanzi, the oncologist. He was kindly, but the news was not satisfying. There was a 70% chance chemo would shrink the cancer. It would not cure it or eliminate it. It would return at some point in the future. It would buy time. Surgery was not an option, there were too many seedlings in the abdominal cavity. He was pleased we would get a second opinion at MD Anderson in Houston next week.
I continue to feel remarkably well. Only occasional pain... and that seems to be diminishing and pretty good energy. It's probably as good as it's been in the past few years.
Friday Tom had his colonoscopy. It went well. Three small polyps were removed. Looked good.
In between all this we sandwiched healthy stuff like juicing, tai chi, getting the ingredients for Essiac tea and making it, starting on parasite cleansing, going to Richards for Qui Gong energy healing, and listening to several hours of videos on cannabis and its health benefits.
We also went to the movie: Tomb Raider. It was a good diversion. A friend introduced us to Sudoku. I had not been a fan of "guessing" games. But she insisted it was good for the brain and wasn't guessing. As she explained it, I could see how it worked. This is the kind where 9 squares each have numbers 1-9 and also the horizontal and vertical lines have 1-9... without any duplicates. So you have three ways to figure out what the number might be. It gets addictive. I've been doing it while waiting for doctor's appointments.
This week Tom spent cleaning up the woods area behind the house and burning downed wood. He gathered up the saplings we cut to put in the fence and cleaned that up. It looks much better. A rental house had a leak under the sink and he fixed that.
Tom's also been working on the antique love seat. He stained the replacement wood and glued it into place. The next step is to put in the webbing and then the springs.
It looks like Rebecca will come to visit for two weeks in the summer. We may get together for a family event. It's always nice to see kids.
Sunday, March 25, 2018
Sunday, March 18, 2018
Getting Healthy
Who knew getting healthy took so much work? There's exercises to do, deep breathing, visualization, people wanting to help with reiki, energy medicine and my Chinese healer. I'm doing tai chi three times a week. I'm juicing and eating odd food that takes preparation time. And this week I spent hours setting an appointment at MD Anderson and filling out their questionnaires and paperwork. MD Anderson is the top cancer treatment center in the USA and I wanted to go there for a second opinion.
My PET scan was scheduled for Wednesday with a follow-up doctor appointment on Thursday. So I scheduled MD Anderson for the following week. However, the scanning machine broke down.... so I pushed MD Anderson back a week.
The machine was back up by Friday and I was able to have my PET scan taken that morning. It was interesting to learn they can tell the difference between aggressive and non-aggressive cancer as well as cancers that are dying and where and how they are going away. This gave me hope that they might be able to see positive results from the natural healing I've been doing.
I actually feel very well. I mostly have energy and the size of my stomach area has shrunk since the colonoscopy. ( I also lost weight... but even after the weight quit going down, the stomach area reduced in size.) So I hope this is all good news.
When I went to schedule a follow-up appointment with the oncologist, I learned he would be gone all next week. There was no way I could see him and keep the new MD Anderson appointment. So I asked for another doctor. I will see Dr. Latanzi. I've heard good things about him. We'll see what his treatment plan is.
Monday I will pick up the PET scan report and also the images to take with me to MD Anderson. I may be able to understand some of what is said on the report.
While it seems like health takes up an inordinate amount of time, I did get a few other things done. On Monday I went out visiting teaching. I'm pleased I get to keep visiting these ladies. They are so nice and I enjoy the visits.
Monday night I called a lady who was a friend of a friend who had just finished cancer treatments for colon cancer. It was helpful to listen to her experience with surgery and chemo. Didn't make me eager for either of them. She was totally delighted with her surgeon, so I might consider using him. He is near Miranda's so I could go stay there.
I spent some time weeding the front garden. Tom spent the week gathering up dead-fall and burning it. We cut some saplings as we cleared the fence line for the new fence. He's done an excellent job cleaning all that up.
I finally finished the last of the Chad promo and sent it off. I had the Eagle promo that was going to be left undone...because I was leaving. Since I'm not leaving, I thought I should volunteer to finish it if they wanted. I sent a few emails and go no reply. Finally the last email got a response. As far as the marketing director knew, it was languishing on an editor's desk. I haven't heard back. I think I'll just let it die. I offered...
Tom and I have been working on Croatian... albeit slowly-- poloko. I feel like I'm making some headway learning numbers, especially as I have to count deep breathing and acupuncture massage rotations. So I can count up to 100... mostly. Sometimes we learn phrases only to have them disappear from our mind the next day.
This weekend Miranda and Dan and family came. It was so nice to have them here, even if Rachael had a fever and residual ear infection and was less than her usual happy self. I played legos with Camden. Tom played connect four with the boys. And everyone went outside and picked up limbs and contributed to a humongous bonfire. The boys especially had a great time riding in the bucket of the tractor. Later the boys roasted marshmallows and had s'mores.
Miranda helped me thin the irises and Tom and Dan hacked down the huge rosebush over the arbor. I was sorry to do it, but 70% of it was dead wood and some of the live stuff grew very weird with bursts of many shoots off one tip. This pruning will either heal it or kill it. I'm hoping for the healing.
Saturday night we had the missionaries over for hamburgers and a belated Pi day. Tom was so happy he had two pies-- Chocolate Truffle and Tollhouse Cookie. My favorites. But I did not eat them.
Church was good. I'm continually surprised at how many people are still concerned about my health and are still praying for us. 95 year old Br. Cubr came up and said, "We pray for your three times a day." Another sister said her little niece, Piper, who is about three years old starts every prayer with, "Please bless Sister Fox." How sweet is that!!!
Today we learned about being spiritually nourished. That the spirit is light and truth. Elder Uchdorf said:
"It means that there is a power, a strong influence, that emanates from the Savior. It proceeds “forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space.” Because this power enlightens, uplifts, and illuminates our lives, the scriptures often call it light, but it is also referred to as spirit and truth.
This profound insight—that light is spirit, which is truth, and that this light shines upon every soul who comes into the world—is as important as it is hopeful. The Light of Christ enlightens and saturates the souls of all who hearken to the voice of the Spirit.
The Light of Christ fills the universe. It fills the earth. And it can fill every heart."
Then he equates this light to the sun. Darkness is simply the absence of light. When the sun goes down, we don't worry that it will be dark forever. We know that in time, the sun will rise again and darkness will flee.
So with spiritual problems. We can trust that God is there, even if we are temporarily in the shadows. He said, "Darkness is not an indication that there is no light. Most often, it simply means we’re not in the right place to receive the light."
So happy to hear the good news about Jim going home from the hospital. We hope and pray he will continue to progress to full recovery.
My PET scan was scheduled for Wednesday with a follow-up doctor appointment on Thursday. So I scheduled MD Anderson for the following week. However, the scanning machine broke down.... so I pushed MD Anderson back a week.
The machine was back up by Friday and I was able to have my PET scan taken that morning. It was interesting to learn they can tell the difference between aggressive and non-aggressive cancer as well as cancers that are dying and where and how they are going away. This gave me hope that they might be able to see positive results from the natural healing I've been doing.
I actually feel very well. I mostly have energy and the size of my stomach area has shrunk since the colonoscopy. ( I also lost weight... but even after the weight quit going down, the stomach area reduced in size.) So I hope this is all good news.
When I went to schedule a follow-up appointment with the oncologist, I learned he would be gone all next week. There was no way I could see him and keep the new MD Anderson appointment. So I asked for another doctor. I will see Dr. Latanzi. I've heard good things about him. We'll see what his treatment plan is.
Monday I will pick up the PET scan report and also the images to take with me to MD Anderson. I may be able to understand some of what is said on the report.
While it seems like health takes up an inordinate amount of time, I did get a few other things done. On Monday I went out visiting teaching. I'm pleased I get to keep visiting these ladies. They are so nice and I enjoy the visits.
Monday night I called a lady who was a friend of a friend who had just finished cancer treatments for colon cancer. It was helpful to listen to her experience with surgery and chemo. Didn't make me eager for either of them. She was totally delighted with her surgeon, so I might consider using him. He is near Miranda's so I could go stay there.
I spent some time weeding the front garden. Tom spent the week gathering up dead-fall and burning it. We cut some saplings as we cleared the fence line for the new fence. He's done an excellent job cleaning all that up.
I finally finished the last of the Chad promo and sent it off. I had the Eagle promo that was going to be left undone...because I was leaving. Since I'm not leaving, I thought I should volunteer to finish it if they wanted. I sent a few emails and go no reply. Finally the last email got a response. As far as the marketing director knew, it was languishing on an editor's desk. I haven't heard back. I think I'll just let it die. I offered...
Tom and I have been working on Croatian... albeit slowly-- poloko. I feel like I'm making some headway learning numbers, especially as I have to count deep breathing and acupuncture massage rotations. So I can count up to 100... mostly. Sometimes we learn phrases only to have them disappear from our mind the next day.
This weekend Miranda and Dan and family came. It was so nice to have them here, even if Rachael had a fever and residual ear infection and was less than her usual happy self. I played legos with Camden. Tom played connect four with the boys. And everyone went outside and picked up limbs and contributed to a humongous bonfire. The boys especially had a great time riding in the bucket of the tractor. Later the boys roasted marshmallows and had s'mores.
Miranda helped me thin the irises and Tom and Dan hacked down the huge rosebush over the arbor. I was sorry to do it, but 70% of it was dead wood and some of the live stuff grew very weird with bursts of many shoots off one tip. This pruning will either heal it or kill it. I'm hoping for the healing.
Saturday night we had the missionaries over for hamburgers and a belated Pi day. Tom was so happy he had two pies-- Chocolate Truffle and Tollhouse Cookie. My favorites. But I did not eat them.
Church was good. I'm continually surprised at how many people are still concerned about my health and are still praying for us. 95 year old Br. Cubr came up and said, "We pray for your three times a day." Another sister said her little niece, Piper, who is about three years old starts every prayer with, "Please bless Sister Fox." How sweet is that!!!
Today we learned about being spiritually nourished. That the spirit is light and truth. Elder Uchdorf said:
"It means that there is a power, a strong influence, that emanates from the Savior. It proceeds “forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space.” Because this power enlightens, uplifts, and illuminates our lives, the scriptures often call it light, but it is also referred to as spirit and truth.
This profound insight—that light is spirit, which is truth, and that this light shines upon every soul who comes into the world—is as important as it is hopeful. The Light of Christ enlightens and saturates the souls of all who hearken to the voice of the Spirit.
The Light of Christ fills the universe. It fills the earth. And it can fill every heart."
Then he equates this light to the sun. Darkness is simply the absence of light. When the sun goes down, we don't worry that it will be dark forever. We know that in time, the sun will rise again and darkness will flee.
So with spiritual problems. We can trust that God is there, even if we are temporarily in the shadows. He said, "Darkness is not an indication that there is no light. Most often, it simply means we’re not in the right place to receive the light."
So happy to hear the good news about Jim going home from the hospital. We hope and pray he will continue to progress to full recovery.
Sunday, March 11, 2018
The day we didn't leave
Today, Sunday March 11, I mourn just a little more. This is the day we would have left to go to the MTC. It's a bit hard to get accustomed to the different path we are journeying on now.
Monday we canceled our travel tickets for our mission. We also trimmed fruit trees. We have one more pear tree to go. It's gotten ceder rust blight the last two years. I don't know how well it will do if we seriously hack it back... which it needs.
Tuesday I got a much needed haircut and felt better. I also started keeping a journal of this cancer journey. I also sold some bitcoin and used it to pay off the last of our mortgages. We are now mortgage free! Whahoo! So when cryptocurrencies tank, I think, "I don't care. I paid off two mortgages. I've more than gotten my money out of them." Still... I'm eager to see them rise again.
Tuesday and Thursday Tom and I got up in time to be at a 7am tai chi class. It's a healing class with lots of "bone marrow rubbing" and things to wake up the body and strengthen it. I recognize some of the moves from when I was taking a martial arts class.
I don't know that we really accomplished a lot this week. We finally got a stain for the wooden piece that we need to fix the antique settee. Tom has worked on it and it nearly matches the rest of the wood. Once that's glued in place we can start with the springs.
Friday we had the appointment with the oncologist. I learned a little more about colon cancer and saw the CT scan and he pointed out shadows of interest. He ordered a PET scan that will show blood flow and better pinpoint cancer. He also ordered some tests on the biopsy to see if there were markers that would indicate it would respond better to specific kinds of drugs. We will meet next week to discuss results of the test and formulate a treatment plan.
My goal at this point is the get the results, listen to his proposed treatment and then get a second opinion. I have been exploring options this week. I looked at Dean Ornish's work with reversing prostate cancer and heart disease. It looks like he's focused on those areas, even though the research says it should work on other cancers too. The diet is quite restrictive.
I also saw a naturaopath and spent a good hour plus discussing his credentials, possible treatment, and his track record. Seems like a nice guy. I wasn't impressed to go that route right now. However, he did mention essiac tea and said he had a reputable source. So I might follow up on that.
I've had two Reiki sessions and they seem to be comforting. So maybe that means they are effective and promoting healing.
Saturday was a delightful day. We traveled to Springdale for Samantha's baptism.
Andy and family (except Nathan and Katie). Jonathan’s family (except Kristy) and Miranda’s family all came as well. It was a lovely mini- family reunion. I lead the music and Tom spoke on the Holy Spirit. I love this photo of the kids all lined up eating refreshments afterwards.
Deborah made Café Reo Chicken for after the service and each of us brought part of the meal. Rachel just tried some applesauce.
Deborah completed Katie's quilt she started for Christmas. I love the leaping and sleeping foxes on it. I think Isabelle would have liked to have taken it home with her.
While the parents chatted in the background. The kids had a great time pushing the table cart around the cultural hall with it's load of joyful children.
The assembled picture shows Christopher's broken wrist. It happened yesterday on the Monkey Bars... or as a result of a fall from them. I guess it's a compression fracture and should fix itself pretty quickly.
Monday we canceled our travel tickets for our mission. We also trimmed fruit trees. We have one more pear tree to go. It's gotten ceder rust blight the last two years. I don't know how well it will do if we seriously hack it back... which it needs.
Tuesday I got a much needed haircut and felt better. I also started keeping a journal of this cancer journey. I also sold some bitcoin and used it to pay off the last of our mortgages. We are now mortgage free! Whahoo! So when cryptocurrencies tank, I think, "I don't care. I paid off two mortgages. I've more than gotten my money out of them." Still... I'm eager to see them rise again.
Tuesday and Thursday Tom and I got up in time to be at a 7am tai chi class. It's a healing class with lots of "bone marrow rubbing" and things to wake up the body and strengthen it. I recognize some of the moves from when I was taking a martial arts class.
I don't know that we really accomplished a lot this week. We finally got a stain for the wooden piece that we need to fix the antique settee. Tom has worked on it and it nearly matches the rest of the wood. Once that's glued in place we can start with the springs.
Friday we had the appointment with the oncologist. I learned a little more about colon cancer and saw the CT scan and he pointed out shadows of interest. He ordered a PET scan that will show blood flow and better pinpoint cancer. He also ordered some tests on the biopsy to see if there were markers that would indicate it would respond better to specific kinds of drugs. We will meet next week to discuss results of the test and formulate a treatment plan.
My goal at this point is the get the results, listen to his proposed treatment and then get a second opinion. I have been exploring options this week. I looked at Dean Ornish's work with reversing prostate cancer and heart disease. It looks like he's focused on those areas, even though the research says it should work on other cancers too. The diet is quite restrictive.
I also saw a naturaopath and spent a good hour plus discussing his credentials, possible treatment, and his track record. Seems like a nice guy. I wasn't impressed to go that route right now. However, he did mention essiac tea and said he had a reputable source. So I might follow up on that.
I've had two Reiki sessions and they seem to be comforting. So maybe that means they are effective and promoting healing.
Saturday was a delightful day. We traveled to Springdale for Samantha's baptism.
Andy and family (except Nathan and Katie). Jonathan’s family (except Kristy) and Miranda’s family all came as well. It was a lovely mini- family reunion. I lead the music and Tom spoke on the Holy Spirit. I love this photo of the kids all lined up eating refreshments afterwards.
It was wonderful to feel the love of the family.
I have just felt really blessed to have such confidence and a positive outlook. I really feel like the Lord is walking with me and all will be okay. It probably helps that I've also been blessed to feel healthy. Except for some abdominal discomfort after I eat and before I poop, I'm pretty much normal... or as normal as I've ever been.
I have been humbled and uplifted by all the well wishing and prayers of so many people. I had not realized we were so loved. This Sunday I got two jars of chicken soup, some Essiac tea, two books, a pamphlet on healing, and a lovely water color painting of a fox done by a ward member artist... along with snickerdoodle cookies for Tom!
Sunday, March 4, 2018
Change in plans
This past week has
been filled with unexpected events. I went in Monday for a fairly routine
colonoscopy and learned that I had a mass that would need to be surgically
removed and require a few months for recovery.
We were stunned. We
were so focused on going on a mission. Our every thought was… what needs to be
done before we leave… and now we worried that we were disappointing those depending on us to show up in a few days in the mission.
Then we realized, this is the Lord's work. This is his church he is in control. If this is his choice for us, then he will arrange other things for the mission.
We would not be leaving on the date
planned. At best, it would be a few months later.
As the week progressed
the news continued. Cancer had taken up residency in my body. It had spread
outside the colon. There were several masses that needed to be dealt with.
We spent the first few
days in mourning. And the next few trying to find a sense of direction and
focus. Moving from mission to healing.
One of the wonderful
blessings has been feeling the outpouring of love from family, friends and our
wonderful ward family. It humbles me and I am grateful.
At this point we are
walking day by day.
Regardless of the
future, this much I know.
I am a daughter of
God. He loves me!
Jesus is my Savior and
He is walking beside me every step of the way.
He knows my pains, my
fears, my hopes and my joys and He feels them with me.
I Trust God. I know all things shall work together for my
good.
I know my Savior is
strengthening and supporting me through this and all things.
I am confident that I will have a wonderful renewed body in the Lord's time and the Lord's place. All will be well.
Andy and Kera's family came up on Saturday and helped out immensely. They cut down a tree that had fallen against our new fence. They helped do some cleaning. Tom gave Katie Model A driving lessons. The zipline was heavily used and fun was had by everyone... I think. Except perhaps not to those who lost to Tom's mad Connect Four skills.
Today we had a powerful fast and testimony meeting. We have a wonderfully supportive ward family. I got lots of good advice. I know people just want to help out.
This evening we went to West Plains for a Self Reliance meeting for Tom and I got to chat with a few friends.
Hope you have a great week.
Sunday, February 25, 2018
Week Three Down
We had such a nice time with kids visiting, it was sad to see them go. They were a great help. Deborah kicked off the packing up of the downstairs. Dan helped Tom finish the fence, and Miranda made our front and side yard stick free.
Monday Miranda and I tackled the downstairs kitchen. We found space for some things in the pantry. We decided some things needed to be tossed, and we filled trays with things Tom needed to deal with or I needed to find places for. It felt pretty good to get most all the kitchen done.
The rest of the week was spent on more downstairs boxing and moving. Tom got some of the videos packed up. He pretty much cleaned out the linen closet and the Harry Potter (under the stairs) closet. We organized the food storage pantry better and made room for the sewing dresser to fit inside. I think we've emptied all the drawers in the suite.
We still have random boxes and bedding for when Andy and crew come. And we still have the antique settee that needs to have the springs retied ... still in all it's loose stuffing glory.
Mid- week I was feeling pretty overwhelmed, but by the end of the week things were looking better.
I had hoped to be entirely done with my writing by now. I'd sent off the Eagle draft two weeks ago. Done several followups, and finally got a message-- the editor who is looking at it says it needs a lot of work... and maybe we'll get it back to you by Tuesday. Ugh! They know I only have a week more to work on it. So that was a bummer. My hope is that with further examination, they'll say, "We'll fix what we don't like, consider it done." That's my hope.
My other job is winding down. Deborah did some copy editing for me and I hope that by Tuesday it can be on its way. Since this client likes most everything I do, I don't see a problem with this.
We had a session with a language buddy and our language coach and both were productive. We find that when we follow the study plan, we learn faster. We are learning.... but there's a whole lot to learn.
I spent time this week feeling sad for Cynthia and Jim. Jim has been slow to regain cognitive function. He's been frustrated and disoriented-- wanting to go home, right now. Our hope and prayer is that with time, he will return to normal. He is getting his strength back.
This week we checked three more health appointments off our list. I got a cavity filled. Tom got his teeth cleaned, and he had a small basil cell carcinoma removed from his back. Hopefully that's the last of the back procedures for a while. Today (Sunday) begins the prep for my colonoscopy tomorrow. Then that will be over!
Thursday we went to dinner at the the house of the bishop whom Tom replaced-- at their Carlton Resort. It was a delightful evening with good food and good conversation.
Friday we had a ward dance-- maybe a belated Valentine's dance. It was fun to go and visit and eat some tasty finger food and even do an occasional dance.
We've had an amazing amount of rain this week. Over five inches! Part of that was when Tom drove to Bentonville to see Katie swim in the state championships. She improved her time and in the relays they had faster times, too. So nice to see them working hard.
Sunday Tom and I both spoke in church. Tom talked about how small and simple things can create a big change in our lives. He showed how small things helped us join the church. And simple things like prayer, scripture reading and keeping the commandments keep us strong in the gospel.
I talked about the joy of missionary work. I went back through the blog book from our last mission and was impressed once again about the joy and fun we had on our mission. When I read the posts, I recognize that there were hard times. Times when we had no electricity, no water, no internet. Times when friends died and people disappointed. But through it all we were strengthened by the Lord and felt a true sense of joy and satisfaction.
People ask us if we are excited to go on this mission. The truth is... we're focused on getting through all the things that need to be done before we leave. I expect once we get on the plane to the MTC we will be excited to be going. Now, it just seems like there are too many hurdles to jump before that time comes. However, in reading the old missionary blog, it did make me excited to be going.
Monday Miranda and I tackled the downstairs kitchen. We found space for some things in the pantry. We decided some things needed to be tossed, and we filled trays with things Tom needed to deal with or I needed to find places for. It felt pretty good to get most all the kitchen done.
The rest of the week was spent on more downstairs boxing and moving. Tom got some of the videos packed up. He pretty much cleaned out the linen closet and the Harry Potter (under the stairs) closet. We organized the food storage pantry better and made room for the sewing dresser to fit inside. I think we've emptied all the drawers in the suite.
We still have random boxes and bedding for when Andy and crew come. And we still have the antique settee that needs to have the springs retied ... still in all it's loose stuffing glory.
Mid- week I was feeling pretty overwhelmed, but by the end of the week things were looking better.
I had hoped to be entirely done with my writing by now. I'd sent off the Eagle draft two weeks ago. Done several followups, and finally got a message-- the editor who is looking at it says it needs a lot of work... and maybe we'll get it back to you by Tuesday. Ugh! They know I only have a week more to work on it. So that was a bummer. My hope is that with further examination, they'll say, "We'll fix what we don't like, consider it done." That's my hope.
My other job is winding down. Deborah did some copy editing for me and I hope that by Tuesday it can be on its way. Since this client likes most everything I do, I don't see a problem with this.
We had a session with a language buddy and our language coach and both were productive. We find that when we follow the study plan, we learn faster. We are learning.... but there's a whole lot to learn.
I spent time this week feeling sad for Cynthia and Jim. Jim has been slow to regain cognitive function. He's been frustrated and disoriented-- wanting to go home, right now. Our hope and prayer is that with time, he will return to normal. He is getting his strength back.
This week we checked three more health appointments off our list. I got a cavity filled. Tom got his teeth cleaned, and he had a small basil cell carcinoma removed from his back. Hopefully that's the last of the back procedures for a while. Today (Sunday) begins the prep for my colonoscopy tomorrow. Then that will be over!
Thursday we went to dinner at the the house of the bishop whom Tom replaced-- at their Carlton Resort. It was a delightful evening with good food and good conversation.
Friday we had a ward dance-- maybe a belated Valentine's dance. It was fun to go and visit and eat some tasty finger food and even do an occasional dance.
We've had an amazing amount of rain this week. Over five inches! Part of that was when Tom drove to Bentonville to see Katie swim in the state championships. She improved her time and in the relays they had faster times, too. So nice to see them working hard.
Sunday Tom and I both spoke in church. Tom talked about how small and simple things can create a big change in our lives. He showed how small things helped us join the church. And simple things like prayer, scripture reading and keeping the commandments keep us strong in the gospel.
I talked about the joy of missionary work. I went back through the blog book from our last mission and was impressed once again about the joy and fun we had on our mission. When I read the posts, I recognize that there were hard times. Times when we had no electricity, no water, no internet. Times when friends died and people disappointed. But through it all we were strengthened by the Lord and felt a true sense of joy and satisfaction.
People ask us if we are excited to go on this mission. The truth is... we're focused on getting through all the things that need to be done before we leave. I expect once we get on the plane to the MTC we will be excited to be going. Now, it just seems like there are too many hurdles to jump before that time comes. However, in reading the old missionary blog, it did make me excited to be going.
Monday, February 19, 2018
Sunday, February 18, 2018
Hurrah for Family!
Our dryer has been making noise. More and more it's sounding like a rock tumbler. Tom found the warranty and we are still within warranty for the engine for the next few months. We called Shays and they came out and checked it out on Monday. Yes, it appears to be coming from the engine and there's one other place that could be causing problems.
They will order the parts. We will have to pay some of the cost, but should have a functioning, quieter dryer for a fraction of the price of a new one. In the afternoon, I went visiting teaching.
Tuesday morning we had an appointment with the attorney for new powers of attorney, living wills and durable powers of healthcare. It's a bit sobering to make end of life decisions. But better we do it than leave it for the kids to guess. We hope we've given the kids all the powers they need to take care of any affairs they need to in our absence.
I thought I'd be home sooner and made an appointment for my friend to come over and work on her website. But our appointment ran over. I called my neighbor to keep an eye out for her. And she arrived just a few minutes before I made it home. We were finally able to transfer her website to her domain. We'd been struggling with getting all the pieces together for weeks. After that I spend some time working on the Chad promo.
When Tom came home he went to the neighbors and with another friend, got the last of her leaves collected and hauled off. Tom's project for the week has been to work on the fence along the back of our property. He bought some hefty wooden posts and has been out digging, leveling and pouring cement. In the afternoon, I went out and helped him for a little while.
That evening our friend John came for scripture study.
Wednesday morning, Tom had a re-check at the dermatologists. He thought the incision from the last melanoma looked good and was healing well. However burned off a few suspicious spots on Tom's face and he found another small mole that looked suspicious and biopsied it. It turned out to be a basil cell carcinoma-- not so bad... but still needing some additional attention.
We were supposed to meet with a Croatian speaker over Zoom a bit later... but we never got a way to connect. We've been trying to be a little more diligent with our language training... but it's easy to find other things that seem more urgent. Wednesday I felt like I made serious inroads with the Chad promo. Wednesday evening I started feeling really puny.-- headache, stuffy nose, cough. Even a little achy. Gakk. I had to be healthy for when the grandkids came.
So I started taking Inner Defense every 4 hours. When I got up in the night I took it. And I put Oregano on my feet... as I prefer that to diluted drops in the mouth.
Thursday I finished the hopefully last draft of the Chad promo and sent it to my copy coach. I soaked in the tub for a while. Margaret came over again and we spent about 3 hours working on her website. We finished just in time for our meeting with our language coach. We seem to have a hard time getting the time right-- our time or Mountain time. So we called an hour early. That was good because his other couple he was coaching at that hour was ALSO going to the Adriatic North Mission. And we will be in the MTC together. We are about the same level on the language, so we all worked together.
The hard part was that Miranda arrived just as our coaching session began. So we said a delighted hello, and then abandoned her for an hour.
The good part was that I was feeling better by that afternoon.
Another good part was that I was scheduled to have my colonoscopy on Thursday, but it was postponed because the doctor was sick. I'm so grateful it was postponed. I don't think I could have done the prep while feeling sick. On the other hand, it would have been nice to have it over.
So the fun began! We got to hang out with Miranda, Rachael and Alex Thursday evening. It was so nice to see them.
Baby Rachel is such a happy baby. She smiles at everyone and the boys love her.
Friday Miranda raked up sticks in the front yard, while Alex helped her pick up sticks. While we were away, strong winds blew them down.
The cow's owner came over and he and Tom put in 200 feet of fencing along the back. He was a great help man-handling the roll of fencing and putting it in place. I went out and helped a bit.
Then on Friday afternoon, about 4pm, Deborah and kids arrived. We had been trying to finish up food in the freezer. So Friday we had hamburgers... 12 gone! Dan and Miranda's last two boys arrived later on Friday evening.
Saturday Tom wanted to continue with the fencing, but it was raining when we awoke. So we worked inside. We went through the food storage closet and some of the kitchen cabinets to see what canned goods we were not going to use in the next few weeks. We found some OLD stuff that no one should ever use and tossed that out.
Deborah was a big help packing books from the downstairs book shelves. We have three of them... plus a few other photo albums hiding here and there. She was a careful, orderly packer. I know we will appreciate that when it's time to put them back on the shelves.
We had a turkey in the freezer for a while..... Somehow, with turkeys things always get out of hand. We decided it made sense to have turkey for Saturday lunch when we had invited Vela over to visit with Miranda and the rest of us. But if you have turkey... you need to have potatoes and yams and desert and... So Miranda made rolls and funeral potatoes... which were delicious! But somehow the blackberry cobbler didn't get into the oven until just before lunch. So things were a bit hectic and the stuffing never got out of the package.
However, we had a delightful lunch with Vela and spent hours catching up on things. Then Tom and Dan went out to work on the fence. After lunch was cleaned up, Deborah went back to book boxes and Miranda and crew went out for more stick picking up. I went out to help with the fencing.
Ummm. I forgot to mention that Tom invited the sister missionaries over for dinner at 5:30. As I was coming back from the fencing area to check on Deborah, I realized it was 5:10! I walk in the upstairs and there's monopoly, Jenga, and connect 4 on the floor in the living room. The dining room table has two trays of plastic beads and trays (the iron to set kind) plus string and beads on the other end for stringing necklaces. Not to mention the legos and card games on the floor downstairs. AKK!
I called all the kids in to clean up. And they did a really good job! Good thing we'd decided to have turkey sandwiches for dinner. But then I realized some of the kids wouldn't like that. So I took a count of those who preferred quesadillas for dinner and was in the process of making them when the Sister missionaries arrived. Everyon pitched in and soon dinner was on the table. Dan took a hit for the team and went off to buy milk and ice cream to go on the blackberry cobbler we did not eat at lunchtime since Vela brought wonderful chocolate chip cookies.
After dinner Deborah bathed her kids, put them in pajamas and headed home. It was one jam-packed day. On the plus side, we had lovely visiting, we met a new sister missionary, the kids played well together, and Tom and Dan strung another 200 feet of fencing. We watched just a little bit of the Winter Olympics before crawling into bed.
Today there was no choir practice. Tom went in early for meeting and later was released as Young Men's president. For the first time in 7 years, he will not need to go to church on Wednesday. Still, he has worked with the youth for all that time and has a great love for them.
We had good talks on keeping the Holy Spirit in times of trial. Our Stake theme for this year is becoming perfect... eventually. It was encouragement to work toward perfection, but recognize that it's a more-than-a-lifetime goal. To not get caught up in looking at others seeming perfection-- as shown on Facebook and twitter. And to recognize this is just their best side... not necessarily their real side. We can't compare ourselves with others. Only with where we've been and where we want to go.
They will order the parts. We will have to pay some of the cost, but should have a functioning, quieter dryer for a fraction of the price of a new one. In the afternoon, I went visiting teaching.
Tuesday morning we had an appointment with the attorney for new powers of attorney, living wills and durable powers of healthcare. It's a bit sobering to make end of life decisions. But better we do it than leave it for the kids to guess. We hope we've given the kids all the powers they need to take care of any affairs they need to in our absence.
I thought I'd be home sooner and made an appointment for my friend to come over and work on her website. But our appointment ran over. I called my neighbor to keep an eye out for her. And she arrived just a few minutes before I made it home. We were finally able to transfer her website to her domain. We'd been struggling with getting all the pieces together for weeks. After that I spend some time working on the Chad promo.
When Tom came home he went to the neighbors and with another friend, got the last of her leaves collected and hauled off. Tom's project for the week has been to work on the fence along the back of our property. He bought some hefty wooden posts and has been out digging, leveling and pouring cement. In the afternoon, I went out and helped him for a little while.
That evening our friend John came for scripture study.
Wednesday morning, Tom had a re-check at the dermatologists. He thought the incision from the last melanoma looked good and was healing well. However burned off a few suspicious spots on Tom's face and he found another small mole that looked suspicious and biopsied it. It turned out to be a basil cell carcinoma-- not so bad... but still needing some additional attention.
We were supposed to meet with a Croatian speaker over Zoom a bit later... but we never got a way to connect. We've been trying to be a little more diligent with our language training... but it's easy to find other things that seem more urgent. Wednesday I felt like I made serious inroads with the Chad promo. Wednesday evening I started feeling really puny.-- headache, stuffy nose, cough. Even a little achy. Gakk. I had to be healthy for when the grandkids came.
So I started taking Inner Defense every 4 hours. When I got up in the night I took it. And I put Oregano on my feet... as I prefer that to diluted drops in the mouth.
Thursday I finished the hopefully last draft of the Chad promo and sent it to my copy coach. I soaked in the tub for a while. Margaret came over again and we spent about 3 hours working on her website. We finished just in time for our meeting with our language coach. We seem to have a hard time getting the time right-- our time or Mountain time. So we called an hour early. That was good because his other couple he was coaching at that hour was ALSO going to the Adriatic North Mission. And we will be in the MTC together. We are about the same level on the language, so we all worked together.
The hard part was that Miranda arrived just as our coaching session began. So we said a delighted hello, and then abandoned her for an hour.
The good part was that I was feeling better by that afternoon.
Another good part was that I was scheduled to have my colonoscopy on Thursday, but it was postponed because the doctor was sick. I'm so grateful it was postponed. I don't think I could have done the prep while feeling sick. On the other hand, it would have been nice to have it over.
So the fun began! We got to hang out with Miranda, Rachael and Alex Thursday evening. It was so nice to see them.
Friday Miranda raked up sticks in the front yard, while Alex helped her pick up sticks. While we were away, strong winds blew them down.
The cow's owner came over and he and Tom put in 200 feet of fencing along the back. He was a great help man-handling the roll of fencing and putting it in place. I went out and helped a bit.
Then on Friday afternoon, about 4pm, Deborah and kids arrived. We had been trying to finish up food in the freezer. So Friday we had hamburgers... 12 gone! Dan and Miranda's last two boys arrived later on Friday evening.
Deborah was a big help packing books from the downstairs book shelves. We have three of them... plus a few other photo albums hiding here and there. She was a careful, orderly packer. I know we will appreciate that when it's time to put them back on the shelves.
We had a turkey in the freezer for a while..... Somehow, with turkeys things always get out of hand. We decided it made sense to have turkey for Saturday lunch when we had invited Vela over to visit with Miranda and the rest of us. But if you have turkey... you need to have potatoes and yams and desert and... So Miranda made rolls and funeral potatoes... which were delicious! But somehow the blackberry cobbler didn't get into the oven until just before lunch. So things were a bit hectic and the stuffing never got out of the package.
However, we had a delightful lunch with Vela and spent hours catching up on things. Then Tom and Dan went out to work on the fence. After lunch was cleaned up, Deborah went back to book boxes and Miranda and crew went out for more stick picking up. I went out to help with the fencing.
Ummm. I forgot to mention that Tom invited the sister missionaries over for dinner at 5:30. As I was coming back from the fencing area to check on Deborah, I realized it was 5:10! I walk in the upstairs and there's monopoly, Jenga, and connect 4 on the floor in the living room. The dining room table has two trays of plastic beads and trays (the iron to set kind) plus string and beads on the other end for stringing necklaces. Not to mention the legos and card games on the floor downstairs. AKK!
I called all the kids in to clean up. And they did a really good job! Good thing we'd decided to have turkey sandwiches for dinner. But then I realized some of the kids wouldn't like that. So I took a count of those who preferred quesadillas for dinner and was in the process of making them when the Sister missionaries arrived. Everyon pitched in and soon dinner was on the table. Dan took a hit for the team and went off to buy milk and ice cream to go on the blackberry cobbler we did not eat at lunchtime since Vela brought wonderful chocolate chip cookies.
After dinner Deborah bathed her kids, put them in pajamas and headed home. It was one jam-packed day. On the plus side, we had lovely visiting, we met a new sister missionary, the kids played well together, and Tom and Dan strung another 200 feet of fencing. We watched just a little bit of the Winter Olympics before crawling into bed.
Today there was no choir practice. Tom went in early for meeting and later was released as Young Men's president. For the first time in 7 years, he will not need to go to church on Wednesday. Still, he has worked with the youth for all that time and has a great love for them.
We had good talks on keeping the Holy Spirit in times of trial. Our Stake theme for this year is becoming perfect... eventually. It was encouragement to work toward perfection, but recognize that it's a more-than-a-lifetime goal. To not get caught up in looking at others seeming perfection-- as shown on Facebook and twitter. And to recognize this is just their best side... not necessarily their real side. We can't compare ourselves with others. Only with where we've been and where we want to go.
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