Drum Roll Please

 Hi,

We're staying busy around here. We've had doctor's appointments and furniture deliveries. Things have been busy, but fun! 

Drum roll please...

We finally got our dressers! They chose a delivery day that didn't work for us so I rescheduled for 10:00am April 3, forgetting it was Good Friday. But when I realized it, I figured they'd be done in plenty of time for our 7:00 service. Chuck had taken the evening off so he could attend, but ended up missing it. They changed our delivery time from 10 to 3:00. Then from 3:00 to 7:00. I was so disappointed! Since I was helping with the kids event that night, Chuck had to stay home for the delivery. But we were thankful he had taken the night off! And we love the furniture! 

Our old dresser: the top drawer was broken and wouldn't close. And nightstands - 

And the new - 

We know it's not conventional to have different colors of the same set, but it matches our room perfectly. 

And Beth's old dresser. She's had this a very long time.

And the new - 

She loves it! She told me every time she filled a drawer. 😊

And... her glasses came in. Last time she got new glasses she refused to wear them but wouldn't say why. After many months she told us she couldn't see out of them. So this time I told her to please let us know if she can't see out of them, or if things are blurry or it doesn't seem right. I had her walk around the office, look out the window at something far away, and look at something close-up. She liked them right away!

These are her old ones - 

 And her new ones

Well guess what? I just went downstairs to get a close up of her glasses so you could see how amazing they are -

And she wasn't wearing them. She had her old ones on. I asked her why and she shrugged her shoulders, "I dunno."

"Beth I think you do know."

In a quiet whisper, "They're dirty."

But they weren't dirty.

"Beth, why aren't you wearing them? It's okay, we just need to know so the doctor can fix them."

"They're not me."

Hmm, I get it. So I told her it's like wearing a new style of shirt and I said you might look different at first, but it's still you. You just need to get used to them. I asked her if someone had said something to her but she shook her head no, "Uh uh." 

"You should try wearing them all day today and tomorrow you might feel differently."

No response. She just looked at them on the desk.

"Beth are they too tight on you? No response. 

"Do they hurt?" No response.

I told her to please wear them the rest of the day today and we could talk more about it later tonight. I brought her old glasses upstairs with me and I'll check on her later. I think if she really couldn't see she would have said something. 

This is where the second guessing comes in, should I force her to wear them? Is it truly as minor as her looks or is something more serious going on? Are they making her dizzy?

Sometimes it's hard to know.

The Greatest Sacrifice

We went to Israel in 2023 and got to see the Garden of Gethsemane. The same garden where Jesus prayed the night He was betrayed.

And we saw the steps they took Him up, to get up to Caiaphas' house, after He was arrested in the garden.

He was illegally tried, then beaten, and crucified. On the third day the women went to the tomb and found the stone had been rolled away. And an angel said to them, "He is not here. He has risen!" Mark 16:6

This is where they believe Jesus was laid after He died.  

This weekend we remember Jesus's sacrifice on the cross. He died for our sins, so we can be reconciled to God. God is holy and our sins: our lies, our greed, our pride separate us from God. So Jesus became the ultimate sacrifice - once and for all.

We also celebrate His resurrection. He overcame death so those who follow Him will live forever. He allows each one of us to choose: eternity with Him or eternity without Him. He doesn't force anyone to choose Him, but His desire is that everyone spends eternity with Him. 

After Jesus' sacrifice, we can now boldly enter the presence of God. He welcomes us into relationship with Him, now and forever! What a great and glorious God!

Christ is risen! And following Him is the path to eternal life! Hallelujah!

 

Happy Easter!

Busy With Good Things

There has been so much going on around here lately. Good things though.

Beth went for an eye test and will be getting new glasses soon. She helped me fill out the paperwork then I had her take it back to the desk. The admin thanked her and said she really appreciated her bringing it back, I couldn't hear if Beth actually said anything back to her. The tests went well and she found some new frames. It was funny to watch her expressions as she tried on different styles and colors. I suggested she look away from the mirror, then glance back at herself, she made some awful faces, "I take it you don't like those?" "Nope." And we'd laugh. The frames she ended up with are called Purple Confetti. They're due in next week.

That was last Friday, the 20th. This past Friday she had an appointment at the Dermatologist for more cortisone shots for the alopecia. Afterward she wanted to go out for frozen yogurt so we went to our favorite place: Revelations Yogurt. We were there a few weeks ago too.

After we left the yogurt place we walked around the shops for a few minutes and came across this mural. It's of the pier I often walk when I'm down by the waterfront.

Let's see, we've finally found some new dressers! We've been to so many stores, we're thankful the search is over. They'll be delivered this Friday.

They'll be delivered before we head to church to help with the Good Friday service.

Plus Beth's case worker is coming by tomorrow for the in-house assessment. Just to make sure Beth is in a good living situation. We'll take her downstairs and then Beth will show her around her apartment.

We've had a new little boy in our Sunday school class. So now there are three kids, one girl and two boys: 7, 5, and 3. They're all autistic and have many of the same behaviors. Today they did so well together, it was a really good day.

I got a framed picture sent off to my sister.

Took a bunch of stuff to Goodwill that had been taking up space in our office area.

Tomorrow we go live with our new room reservation system at work.

And next Monday Beth and I have dentist appointments.

And I think that's enough for now! :) 

I hope you all have a great week! 

World Down Syndrome Day 2026

March 21st is World Down Syndrome Day because most people have 46 chromosomes (23 pairs.) But people with Ds have an extra one on chromosome 21. So 3/21 has become a day to celebrate all those "with an extra" as it's known in the world of Down Syndrome.

We found out Beth had Down Syndrome after she was born. We called our family and asked them to come to the hospital, so we could tell them all together. We were a little  surprised because there was no inclination during the pregnancy, not even a hint that anything was different. They asked a lot of questions about Down Syndrome which we couldn't really answer because we didn't know ourselves. But we all instantly fell in love with her!

Getting ready to go home

A few months old

We were assigned a social worker who came to the house and began physical therapy.

Since she was our first baby we didn't really know what to expect, Down Syndrome or not. She learned to sit up at one year and learned to walk at two.

When she was two the social worker recommended she start preschool to give her the best possible start to education. Chuck and I talked it over and decided to try it, so with a lump in my throat I put our two year old on a school bus! And she loved it! 

Then we had Sharaya. And then Diana. And we just... raised our kids. Taking one day at a time. Trying to figure out what worked best for each of them. You know, parenting! 

Kids grow, they learn and adapt. Parents love, they set boundaries, and they teach. 

And then, before you know it - 

Sharaya and Diana learned to drive cars, got married, had kids... all things Beth will never be able to do. She struggled when Sharaya first got pregnant and Sharaya remembers Beth not speaking to her for a long time. Was Beth confused about what was happening to Sharaya (did I not explain it to her?) or was she sad that she might never get to have kids? It's really hard to know. 

But today Beth loves her life. She loves having her own apartment downstairs in our daylight basement. She's got her own space but has family close by if she needs help with something. She loves her family, her sisters, her brother, and her nieces and nephew. She loves riding DART to her day programs - Karaoke and bowling. She loves her job and the people there love her. And she loves her church. We started going there when she was just 4 years old. She knows her way around there better than most. 

People with Down Syndrome love their routines. (So do some of us without Down Syndrome! 😊) And Beth has made some pretty good ones. Happy World Down Syndrome Day.

Where to Begin?

It surprised me when I looked at the calendar and realized how long it's been since I've posted. There's been a lot going on so I'll try to update you without rambling on too much. 😊 

I took the header photo picture of Beth in front of the Brattle Book Shop when we were in Boston for Diana and Peter's wedding back in September of '21. We decided to go for a walk and when we got out of the hotel, decided to just go around the block. Then we came across this cute little book store.

Right after my last post I flew to San Diego to spend some time with my sister. We try to get together a couple times a year but as we get older it seems to be getting harder. We do our best to make it happen though.

While I was there she put her dog Nalla down. She was a German shepherd and had lost the use of her back legs. She was 12 years old and there was nothing that could be done to help her so it was time. It was really hard but I was glad I was there. Got to say good-bye to Nalla, and was a little distraction for my sister.

In spite of that, we played games, took walks around her small mobile home park, and laughed a lot.

I took this when they visited us in 2020

Bougainvillea! 

We don't have this in Seattle and it's so nostalgic when I visit San Diego

Parcheesi! This was our mom's favorite game

After I got home I realized I never got a picture of my sister and I, so here's one from when I was down there last year.

My flight home was delayed so I walked in the front door a little after 10pm Saturday night. Hadn't planned on going to church the next morning but had a meeting in the afternoon so ended up just going to that. We were preparing to host a large pastor's conference and each team was meeting to go over last minute instructions and training. For the first time in seven years, I wasn't part of the custodial team! I got to help with 'catering', which included serving the meal at the dinner Wednesday night, then making all the box lunches for the attendees and volunteers the two following days. Custodians are mainly independent and it was so much fun to work side-by-side with others!

The dining room ready for the Pastor's Dinner

Some of the servers waiting to bring out the salads

We left a little after 9:00 Wednesday night and were back there at 6:30 Thursday morning to begin making the box lunches. Our team leader said we needed to make 340 lunches - each day. That's a lot of sandwiches! We made a large assembly line and it took us about three hours to get them all done. Then we packed the boxes with a liner, sandwich, fruit, chips, cookie and napkin. All packed with prayers that the Lord would touch each heart and meet the needs of every person attending.

Saturday I sat in my recliner the entire day! We were told later that there were pastors and spouses, plus church staff from 115 churches at the conference. We continue to pray the Lord would encourage those pastors and staff members as they go back to their congregations and cities.

There's more to tell you but I'll close for now. I'm catching up on laundry today (we got the day off) and all those little things that just pile up after a while. 😊

Have a great week!

A Little of This and That - and Updates

A couple of weekends ago Chuck and Sharaya drove from Seattle down to Santa Clara, CA to join in the Super bowl festivities. The day before the game they went to the Fan Experience at a convention center with all things Super bowl related: food, activities, displays. They enjoyed that but said it was very crowded. 

The next day, even though they didn't have tickets to the actual game they found an Irish pub that was flying the 12's flag and spent the day there. 

They got there before it opened and there were enough people waiting outside that the owner let them all in early. By the time the game started that afternoon they said it was so loud you couldn't even hear the TVs, and the place was packed and people were crazy... and they had the BEST time! They were so glad they went! (I didn't go because I wouldn't be able to handle that much noise for that many hours.)

Diana and Oliver were dressed in their green to represent the Seahawks! 

And this was me watching from home without my hubby. I think it's the first big game we haven't seen together. But I was wearing my fuzzy socks, and had some hot tea and fun snacks. And we won! So I had fun!

Let's see, what else? Oh, Chuck bought a new car recently. New-to-us but still, new! It's a 2022 Hundai Tucson and he really likes it. I say 'his' car (we each have a car) but it's actually our family/retirement car. He wanted to get something newer that would last us through our golden years. We'll pay it off before he retires and we expect this will be the last car we ever buy.  

It's a little strange to be planning for the last years of your life. I'm still close with friends from high school and we were texting this morning about retirement and Medicare and mentioning how it's crazy that we're at that age now. Life really goes by so fast.

We had a few days of sunshine so for lunch one day I walked around our parking lot at work. And saw these little daffodils, they made me smile! It's a little early for them here but we've had some nice weather this winter. The plants are so confused.

Well, I think that's about all from here. Oh wait, updates! 

• Beth's foot is completely healed from where she stepped on the nail.
• It looks like hair is growing in the area where she had the cortisone shot for the alopecia so we made another appointment for next month.
• I was able to cancel the biopsy and schedule a third mammo. I asked if we could do it in Bellevue (about 20-30 minutes east of us) because I was told they have a machine where you can take pics while seated. And she curiously said, "Well, we have one of those machines here too." I don't know why the lady in Seattle didn't tell me that! But we now have a new appointment scheduled for Seattle.
• Chuck is going to physical therapy a couple times a week and his back is doing much better.

Okay now I think I've covered everything. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!