Merciful

Mom had scheduled hip replacement surgery for today with much consternation and concern on the part of her family. But she has made it through the surgery and is doing well and we are hoping that she will do as well with the rehab. The resident's comments to mom before the surgery were that this was high risk and her test results were less than favorable; the dr's comment after the surgery was that the hip was a real mess. Contradiction seems to be mom's watch-cry. Don't really need evidence of His willingness to bless us but I am always in awe of that willingness...His blessings are abundant and usually undeserved but abundant none the less.

Monday

Trying to make a weekly post...we will see how long that lasts. Kerry home today which is a fairly rare event. Kind of fun to have him around. He helped me with a bit of Christmas shopping. Something tells me the holidays are going to come crashing in this year. Then he spent two hours on a conference call with President Rawson and Kunz. Nan and I went and finished a bit more shopping while he was otherwise engaged!
Marisa called and said that the ultrasound for the baby went well and that they can hear a heartbeat. That is exciting news! She has 'morning sickness' medicine now and so we hope that will help. Babies are wonderful. Nan working and getting excited about holidays as only she can. Corey about done with this year's rotations! That will be a great day. Chris is sick tonight with a headache. Bless his heart. They have been dumped on by the remnants of Hurricane Ida in Virginia. Allen Johnson came for a visit last night. He is Kerry's high school buddy/college roomate and the kid that helped him take the discussions and join the church. He comes to visit his daugher and grandaughters in Houston once a year. Fun to have him. A very interesting guy. And totally blown away by the whole Stake Presidency counselor thing/call! He knew Kerry when he was a total knucklehead! Makes me smile.

I will post a fun picture[s] that will once again be highly random! So the first photo is of a Bar Mitzvah at the Western Wall (otherwise known as the Wailing Wall) and the second one is a statue at the {Greek} Orthodox? Church that was built very near the Garden of Gethsemane...in fact, on the grounds of the garden...a little blast from the past of two autumns ago! Have a great week!

I'll Huff and I'll Puff

I really have days when it would be OK if the big bad wolf showed up at the front door and huffed and puffed and blew my house down. I would at least feel like it came from an outside source as opposed to the slow painful demise that currently is at work here. The roof people replaced the roof after a hail storm a few years ago (not a hurricane mind you, a hail storm) then we had air conditioning and ceiling leaking problems that seemed un-related but now have proven to be connected. So the ceiling had to be repaired on two levels of the house and the air conditioning continues to function below minimal levels and now the plumber is here trying to resolve a back up in the system that seems to have been the source of the air conditioning overflow problem which caused the ceiling issues.AHHHHHH!!! And my floors ans walls are getting beat up in the process and the house is in serious need of some cosmetic and routine maintenance work and all in all, as hard as I try to keep it maintained, it has outpaced me! Just a fun Monday.
In other news, Kerry was released as Bishop yesterday and promptly flew out to Mexico City this morning (those are un-related events as well unless he doesn't come back!) He will feel a void in his life from the hole that the Bishop thing will leave in his heart and schedule but he won't have much time to worry about it. He has plenty of other items that will require his attention. Nan is having work scheduling issues......Corey and Stephani are fielding responses to his application(s) for transition programs and residencies. He has a one year transition program that is required in his field of endeavor and then the residency begins after that for four? years?. So twice the applications and twice the interviews. And twice the expense of flying to interviews. Bless his heart. Chris and Chira are heading to Utah for Thanksgiving. Lisa and Ragnar are in the throws of beginning season NBA basketball. Marisa is counting down her student teaching and very excited to be able to announce an impending birth to their family. Ran to Killeen to watch Jon play football and see Jana and the kids...then a week later that horrific assault occurred. Some are calling it a terrorist act.
Halloween was fun.....last week I took Nan to Mary Poppins and that was fun. Lots happening at church......and the holidays are coming on! So I'll huff and I'll puff and keep going along!

Sunday

Sundays can be one of my more energy sapping days. It is all good in that I really don't worry about a single thing that is related to home management or property management. That is a delight. But just for instance, today was choir then church with an opportunity to sit with a 2 year old whose mother leads the music in sacrament meeting and whose dad works on Sunday...so Sacrament Meeting was busy but fun (is it supposed to be fun?) with Daxton and the Children's Sacrament Meeting Program. Then Gospel Doctrine that was condensed to 20 minutes which is fine but the prep is what it is whether it is five or forty five minutes. Then I subbed in Primary with a little lesson so the Priamry teachers could have a break after rangling children for an hour and a half in Sacrament Meeting. Then home to get ready for a Bishop's Fireside that we were having here at the house. Now don't get me wrong, I have plenty of time and resources for this stuff...and I am not complaining....and with frozen pizza for dinner and cocoa puff for breakfast...the lagging commodity here is energy! Hooray for Sunday!

Been A Long Time

Here are a few more photos from the trip to Guatemala. Been trying to find these for a while to get a few posted. I was going to do a bit each day. I find that doing anything consistently is the hardest thing I do in the world! Journal-ing, blogging, exercising, letter writing, reading, cooking, budgeting etc. etc. etc.test me to the max..........Been working hard on getting the house dug out and re-arranged now that my darling boarders are gone. Lisa and Ragnar are happily ensconced in their new little abode in Atascocita and my house is empty and and a bit too quiet but I am glad for them to be able to be on their own. It is a much nicer way for little families to live. Nan and I and the dog rattle around here. Nan is working a bunch more. She has to work this Sunday. Kerry has a pile of stuff on his plate that is pressuring him. Some fairly heavy responsibilities for a month or two. He just got back from Bucharest. Corey and Steph are in the winding down phases of this year's rotations....he is finished in November and has December and January to fly around the country interviewing with transitory program directors and residency program administrators. Chris and Chira are 'potty training' and 'binky breaking' and 'big boy' bed switching Caden in prep for their new little fella that is coming along early next year. And Marisa is finishing a fairly stringent student teaching assignment that has stretched her expectations of providing care and teaching to disabled populations. Grateful that the kids are well and that they are getting along ok. Loved General Conference and the General Relief Society Broadcast a week or so ago and am always grateful for the blessings of the gospel in our lives.

PS The stuff that just popped up on the blog with some past dates have been sitting in 'draft' for a fairly long time so don't let that stuff fool you...I was trying to import photos and kind of finally did it! These photos are of Palnenque and then our trip down the River Usi-something heading to Yaxitlan. The children (four and five and six year olds) live along the river and when they see tourist boats coming along they hop in the canoe and paddle out and offer to let us take their picture for a dollar (one dollar one dollar!) They are desperately poor and to die for adorable. Women washing babies and clothes all up and down the river.

Home a Week

Survived our Mexiguateduras trip and been home a week. I thought I would try to post a couple of photos before I continue with my day. Haven't seen John and Madi for a million years so I get to go say hi this afternoon and then I pick up Lisa and fam from the airport later this afternoon. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that we(my family) would be traipsing around the world like we are wont to do! Lisa and Rags in Germany and Chris and Chira spent the long weekend up in Boston; Kerry and I tramping through Mezzoamerica; I think we are home for a while. Lots of catch up to do. Kerry has only been home to sleep since we got back a week ago and he leaves for Romania a week from today. I hope you can catch a glimpse of the ancient civilizations that we explored and get a sense of the environment in which they carved out their lives.

This is My Day!

This is my day,
My Baptism Day
Life in God's kingdom begins in this way........
Congratulations Johnny, I can't believe you are eight!
We were so happy to be a part of John's baptism. He was baptized in the same font that Corey baptized Marisa in 13 years ago! Who would have thunk it!