The walk and the boss...

We finally got our walkway to the front door put in and it really finishes the work Lee did on building the wall out there. Adds to our curb appeal too, I guess. It will be so much more convenient! Lee will get some lights out there to assist visitors further to get them into the house - now, if only people would come visit once in awhile! We'll have to have our Community Life Group over again soon.

This is the supervisor of the cement work. He's in this one too, can you see him?

I'm up at 5:45 a.m. again today. I'm starting to get sleepy again now, so may go back to bed shortly.

I was thinking some profound thoughts yesterday to blog about, but wouldn't you know it, the brain is empty again this morning. I think I'll go back to bed now. Maybe I'll be profound after a little more sleep.

Sleep - or lack thereof

Well, I was up at 5:30 again this morning. Wish I would stop that - that little sleep really cuts into my functioning the rest of the day. I wake up and I am UP. Can't go back to sleep! - until 8 or 10 a.m. - right when I need to be either going somewhere or doing something constructive around the house! I'm getting tired of it!

Besides that, not much is going on. We have Mom with us until the early part of April, when they finish her two room suite in the Manor. She seems to be looking forward to living there. She hasn't asked to go to her apartment at all since she has been home. We haven't done a bit of packing, or organizing what we want moved to the new place. Mom does want her organ and piano moved with her. I don't know why she would want that, but I will do it for her because she asked. There is some opposition to it here, but that's what she wants and they are her possessions, so I can't refuse to have them moved! Don't know if she will have room for anything else with the piano and organ there, but like I said, they belong to her. For some reason they seem to bring her comfort, even though she hasn't played either one of them for nearly a year.

Mom hasn't been home to her apartment for 10 months! It seems a bit strange to me that she hasn't wanted to go there since she has been back in KS for a month or two, but there's no pushing her. Course, I resisted when she first came back because I wasn't sure that she could handle being there by herself. She is just kind of unsteady on her feet after having fallen getting on the plane in Minneapolis. She's much better now, except she still stumbles a bit.

Parkinsons Disease - that curse that is making Mom stumbly and causing her to move unvoluntarily - is really a curse! It causes slurred speech, lots of mouth movements without her thinking about it, slowing of reflexes, and a posture that is leaning forward at the waist, which in turn makes the back ache. This is all so new to any and all of us, that we didn't know for sure what it does to a body until we looked it up on line. Then I knew too much and was disquieted a bit by what I had read. Mom may even be getting to end stage PD. Or she may just gradually fail in her health, like she has been doing. She is such a frail little old lady now. But, I guess when you have been on this earth for 94 and 5/6 years, you might be wearing out a little bit. She has always been in better shape than I am, especially since my arthritis has flaired up.

All this aside - My mother is still a joy to have around and we are enjoying her being with us alot. When she moves out to the Manor it will seem extremely empty without her here, but knowing she is just a mile and a half away doesn't let it get toooo lonely. I can't imagine what life will be like when she is no longer on this earth somewhere! I praise God for letting us have Mom all our lives and into our older ages. Never would have thought that I would be taking care of a 94 yr old mother at 62! What a trip - and what a terrific blessing to have her with us. If I can bless her back by just a little bit, it will all be worth it.

A Look at Next Week (since this week is done)

Well, we are still cluttered, just not quite as much. I got one corner of the office decluttered a little bit, then put more clutter there when I moved stuff around from the bedroom that the Ratzlaffs will be staying in. At least the guest room is a little less a mess. Still have a long long way to go. Must keep plugging. The week is at an end, but by no means over for me. Tomorrow is the Women's Conference at church with Dee Brestin. Am looking forward to that, except that I am not sure I will do the all day thing well. I am retired and my body is used to being in a retiring mode, i.e. I may need a nap or two in the middle of the conference! Wonder if I can pull that off. Then after losing a whole hour of sleep tomorrow night, Sunday is here again - with Community Life Group, thankfully NOT at my house. But with Deanna and Eldean coming in on Sunday afternoon, that may cause a little consternation. Haven't asked the man what we are doing about that Sunday. Well - Monday may be a day of rest...maybe not. Depends on if the Ratzlaffs are staying for a few days or not. Its always fun when they are here - good visiting. Maybe we can do something interesting while they are here - unless we have used up all the interesting places with having already done the Salt Mine in Hutch and the Eisenhower Museum and Brookville in Abilene. Is there anything left that is interesting around here? Maybe the Cosmosphere. And Exploration Place. Haven't done that with them yet. On Tuesday I have an appointment in Hesston in the morning, one in the afternoon with my foot doctor in Wichita, and in the evening I have Womens Ministry Council. Ugh. Marathon day again. Come Wednesday I get to have a cataract removed out of my right eye. A 5 to 7 minute surgery and then it's done, and then do a follow up appointment on Thursday afternoon. We are also having a shower for Amber with the Bible Study girls on Thursday noon. That will be a lot of fun, so I hope I can go to it too. Besides, Marjean is making lunch for all of us, and that will be really good, I bet. She is a phenomenal cook! So that's what's happening in the future of Helen. If the Lord tarries....

Sunday

Today is Sunday. I love Sundays. I love going to church and hearing the Word preached, and attending Sunday School where we learn a bit more about the Word and God. More hands on than the church service. Then coming home after church. Having a quick lunch, or a good dinner, depending on my mood. The afternoon is the most laid back day of the week. We sometimes listen to Prairie Home Companion. I like to spend the afternoon reading, or messing on the computer. Sometimes take a little nap. Read the funnies and maybe the Parade. We have a light supper then more kicking back. I watch some t.v., except I spend most of the time on the computer so even though the t.v. is on, I don't pay much attention to it. Usually spend time on Facebook, if Erin is on and we can chat. Like we are doing now. Kind of fun. I am pretty involved in getting to know FlyLady.net. It has been good for me in that it encourages homemakers to attack clutter 15 minutes at a time. Great! You can do anything for 15 minutes! You can even eat an elephant one bite at a time. (Lee says he doesn't like elephant!)I may get the house decluttered in a while (months, maybe) by using this method. We'll see. I want to get the office decluttered before Deanna and Eldean come around the 8th or 9th of March. Man, we haven't seen the floor in the corner for about 5 or 10 years! Ridiculous. That's about all I can think of to ramble about tonight. May be back this week, may not...

One Hard Day

This has been a hard day for the young people of Grace Community Church due to the death of Cora, the 11 month old daughter of one of their couples numbers. It's been hard for almost all of us of GCC. We are hurting with our brothers and sisters in this their great loss! Death is so hard to reconcile when you are young and just starting your families and lives. Things are not supposed to happen this way. My brother wasn't supposed to die at 35 when he had a wife and three small boys - one less than a year old! Cora wasn't supposed to have cancer and die at 11 months old. It's just not supposed to be. Well, like I learned when I took volunteer training for Hospice, Everybody dies. Each of us reading this blog will die. Everyone who is born will die - UNLESS the Lord comes back for us first. Dying is part of living. It's a very hard part of living, pain is a hard part of living, loss is a hard part of living, but -"we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptations, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning."Heb 4:15 SO - He - our Savior - knows how this feels, and has felt it and got through it, and He will help each and every one of us through these hard, hard times, as we yield to Him and His love and comfort. Indeed - He is "Who comforts us in every trouble , so that we may also be able to comfort those who are in any kind of trouble or distress, with the comfort which we ourselves are comforted by God." II Cor 1:4 Our God KNOWS that this is hard for us, but it is something we all have to go through to some degree or another, just because this is part of life. It doesn't make it easier to bear while we are going through it, but we definitely can feel His Love and His loving arms holding us and loving us through it. When it gets so hard and hurts so much that you think it may do you in, run to Father and rest in His loving arms. You don't have to be strong all the time - you can't be. Thank God that He is good and that He is love. Thank God that we can trust in His love all the time even when life is hard!