Mysterious Moving Magnets

Hello Friends!

I really do consider you friends. I think about you during the week and wonder how you're doing. I wish I could just travel the country and visit each one of you, stopping for coffee, conversation, and a big hug. I hope you're doing well.

I forgot to tell you I took Beth to the bowling alley last week to pick up her bag. She absolutely loves it! It's hard to be the only one without, and now she has the same type of bag as all her friends.

Okay, onto the story behind the title.

I like to collect refrigerator magnets. The rectangle ones are good, I've purchased some of those, but my favorites are the unique ones. Even our girls will sometimes bring one back when they've been traveling.

These tell the story of our lives. Places we've visited, adventures we've had. Sometimes when I'm waiting for the tea kettle to get hot I'll just look them over and reminisce about how we've had such a good life. And I've experienced many things others have just dreamed about.

These are just a few:

One day I come out to the kitchen and notice one or two of the magnets are missing. I can tell there are empty spaces where they used to be. Interesting. So I move them around a little to fill in the spaces and go about my day. 

A week or two later, same thing. Empty spaces. This went on for a while. And I notice the side of the fridge is becoming full. 'What in the world? How did they get over here?' And I'd put them back on the front. 

Then one day I see Beth taking them off the front of the fridge. When I asked her why she was moving them to the side she said it was too busy. "You have too many magnets." 😄

Family Stuff

 Hey everyone,

There's a lot happening in and around the family these days.

Diana is due any day now. The midwife says the baby is 'really big' so Diana's hoping he/she comes soon! We get to visit her and Peter next month and can't wait to see them and hold that new precious baby! Plus Adelaide! We're so excited!

We video chatted with them the other day. Adelaide is so articulate I have to keep reminding myself she's only two!

Sharaya and Ally have been exploring this summer. Sharaya always finds the best places. Summer school has started so she's driving busses, as well as doing dispatch. They came over for dinner last weekend and we played Mexican Train afterward. I didn't take a single picture. 😞

She took this of Mount St Helens. It's about 4 hours south of us and erupted back in 1980.

Beth continues to bowl and sing karaoke every week. Plus she works one day a week, and grocery shopping on Thursday. She's still trying to make better choices when she buys food. 

Here she is at work, getting disinfecting wipes to go clean the door handles, push bars, light switches... all those high touch areas around the church.

Hmmm, which orange juice to buy?

All done and heading for the registers.

Chuck and I are doing well. Jobs, yard work, house work, and watching TV fills our days. Course we just got back from Iowa and are planning for Pennsylvania next month! Chuck pulled a muscle in his back last month and was on L&I for a week or two but he's not in pain anymore and is back at work. 

I started to get sick in Iowa, but it was different. Just a cough for the first day or two. Then I had a sore throat for one day. The next morning my throat was fine but I had a stuffy nose. It's been a month and I still have the occasional cough but everything else is gone. I feel fine and am back to work.

We're having warm, sunny weather and that's always nice! Certainly lifts the spirits.

The alarm on my phone keeps going off, I need to go read the Sunday school lesson for this weekend. I'm teaching the kids about Samson. I know the story but I like to write out what I'm going to say so I stay on track and don't leave anything out. I should close and go get that done.

It's always great 'chatting' with you! 'Til next time -

Donkeys, The Sea, and Fire

 We flew out at 2:20pm PST on May 15th and after a 4 hour layover in Frankfurt Germany, we landed in Tel Aviv at 7:30pm on May 16th (Tel Aviv time.) By the time all 94 of us arrived at the meeting place in the airport, went through security, loaded onto the busses and drove the 30 minutes to the hotel, it was 10:00pm. The amazing hotel served us a delicious dinner and we fell into bed around midnight.

 

We had to be up and on the busses at 7:30 in the morning. And that began nine days of the most incredible journey!  

 

Our first stop was Caesarea National Park, right on the Mediterranean Sea. We saw the remains of Herod's palace and the harbor he had built. We visited 46 sites in our 10 days on the ground. It was a whirlwind trip but one we will never forget.

 

 

 We also went to Mt Carmel, where Elijah confronted King Ahab, then he prayed and God rained down fire on the altar and it consumed the wood, the altar and the water around it.

 

We visited a Jewish village where we got to put on robes like they wore, pick and grind wheat, some rode donkeys, (Chuck and I didn't) and just experience what life would have been like back then.

 

Incredible experiences for our first day!

 

I'll Be Back!

In less than 24 hours we'll be in the air, on our way to Israel! This is my first international flight, never been on a jumbo jet before. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. I'm headed to bed soon but don't know how much I'll actually sleep.

 

Please take care of yourselves and I'll write when I get back!

 

I took this in May of last year coming home from San Diego

 

The Biggest Change

 A month ago I posted about 'big changes coming'. One of them is my job. That transition is to begin in the next week or two.

 

The other... has been harder to write about. The tears are already starting as I type this.

 

Diana and Peter are moving back to Pennsylvania. Due to job changes, the 'Seattle Freeze' as it's so often called, (Seattle is the least welcoming city in the nation it seems. Many people who have moved here from places east say we're not as friendly, not as willing to help each other out...) the housing market is better back there, just lots of reasons that made them decide to move back.

 

They are going to pack all their stuff in a rental truck, then Peter and Poppy are going to drive back east. He'll drop the truck and Poppy off with his sister, then he and his parents will fly back out here and the 5 of them will spend a few weeks driving east, sightseeing as they go.

 

They'll be gone by the end of this month. 

 

We've tried to spend as much time as possible with them and wouldn't you know it, Chuck and I tested positive for covid this weekend. Our very first time getting it. Diana and Adelaide were supposed to stay here while we cleaned their place but that will have to change. 

It's just killing me. But what can you do.

What Does One Wear?

Computer's fixed! I'm excited to share our weekend with you!

Our flight left at 11:30pm and after a two hour layover in Detroit, we landed in Newark, New Jersey at 10:30am NJ time. I'd never taken a red-eye before and I actually enjoyed it. It was fun to just hit-the-ground-running once we landed and start the vacation right away! 

It was a massive plane. They told Sharaya very few people are flying internationally so they're using these planes when they can. There were two seats on each side and four in the middle!

We flew in on Friday and came home Sunday. Every day was filled to the brim but I want to start with Saturday. The main reason we went. 

Me, Diana and Sharaya met Peter's mom and sister for brunch, then we headed to Ashley's Bridal. The search for the perfect dress was on!

 

I'm only going to post this one photo. This is Diana with my veil and silk bouquet, somewhere around 1998-2000. She's been looking forward to this day for a very long time. 😊

 

We were a little surprised to have a guy helping her (I whispered to Sharaya that she might have to go in and help her get dressed) but he was so good! She told him what style she was looking for and he would hand her the exact designer she wanted. When she was ready he'd help button the back and fix the dress once she was out with us. If she didn't like the sleeves he'd hide them, he answered all of her questions, he really was fantastic. She ended up trying on a total of 4 dresses. And in the end....

 

She said YES to the dress!! It looks absolutely stunning on her! We all cried, definitely didn't bring enough kleenex! Once she found the dress she was able to facetime her best friend back in Seattle and SHE cried! We all went to dinner afterward and Peter's mom asked her, "So what type of dresses do you want us to wear?" 

She said, "Well, we're kind of getting married in a castle." Oh, that's true! This is a picture of the venue off their website. So now I have a question for all of you.

What does one wear to a castle?

Saturday Snippets - Add More Things to the List

Beth and I had eye appointments yesterday and we found out she has Keratoconus in her right eye. It causes the cornea to become misshapen and thin. Plus she has Amblyopia, or Lazy Eye in her right eye. With Lazy Eye the brain and the eye don't work well together and after a while the brain just ignores the visual input of that eye. Her previous doctors have never mentioned any of this or tried to correct it! I can't imagine what her vision is like! So now we're going to see a specialist in a couple of weeks. 

Keratoconus

Amblyopia

 

 A friend called to tell me her son has melanoma and is going to have the same treatment as Chuck. We talked for about a half hour and thankfully I was able to give her some positive information. Things really have been going well for Chuck and when we hung up she wasn't as nervous as she was before.

 Chuck's sister R had back surgery a month or so ago and was released from rehab this week. The doctors say she can't live alone anymore so she asked if Diana could fly out and help her clean her house a little and help with PT. She basically wants to prove to the doctors that she can live alone. Diana rearranged work and was on a plane the next day. What Diana didn't realize was R has become a hoarder. Have you seen those shows on TV? Yep, just like that. Diana has discretely sent us some photos and oh my word. Poor Diana is trying her best to clean areas of this house in preparation for the nurse and PT on Monday. R is very strong willed and is refusing to let Diana toss anything out. There's no place for Diana to sit let alone sleep there. Thankfully she talked R into going to a hotel for a couple nights. I was up during the night last night, praying (and worrying, I'll admit it) about Diana's health and what she might come across. When I got up I texted her:

Do not go back into that house!

You need to book the hotel for quite a few days

When the nurse sees the house, she won't go in. 

 PT definitely won't happen. 

When they come to the door, explain the situation

After a lot of back and forth, Chuck got time off work, booked a flight and I was driving him to the airport at noon today. He's going there to help Diana stand up to R. (R doesn't know he's coming.) They've got to get R into assisted living even though she puts up a fight whenever Diana has brought it up. It's her doctor's orders! I don't know what our options are but I told Chuck they may have to give R an ultimatum and just say goodbye if she refuses. It breaks my heart to think she'd stay there when she can't walk (she had a severe stroke many years ago) and is recovering from surgery. It's really a sad situation. And if R does go to assisted living, we'll then have to try to get her house cleaned (Diana called a company and they told her it would be between $5000-$7000) and then try to sell it. It's going to be difficult no matter what happens there this weekend.

 2020 just keeps throwing us curve balls! 

I'm so glad the Lord is in control! He still has a plan for each one of us and is working even when we can't see it.

Blinding Colors, Yummy Pastries and Bridge Designs

We flew in late Tuesday night and it felt so good to be home! What is it about that feeling you get when you've been away from home for a while and then you walk through that front door?? There really is no place like home!

This will be short as I'm still on east coast time and my body thinks it's 11:15pm but I wanted to share a few pictures with you.

Vermont was spectacular! The colors were so vivid that sometimes when the sun hit the reds or yellows, it was almost blinding!

Look at all that color! Almost every tree is a different shade of red or yellow or orange...! Here in Seattle we have so many evergreens and there are some deciduous trees mixed in but it looks nothing like this!

We went to church in Queens, New York; bought dessert at Mikes Pastries in Boston, Mass; and drove through the beautiful state of Connecticut! The line at Mikes was out the door and down the street, but oh so worth it! I had a Cannoli for the first time, we bought some cookies, everything was SO good!  

That's Diana on the far right. 

(I don't know those other three, but they were headed to church too!)

Driving by Manhattan

 

Connecticut was so beautiful! Even their bridges, every bridge, every overpass had a different design. It was so pretty there.

Have you ever been to New England in the fall?