Over and over again this late afternoon I have had to reverse my podcast because for some reason or another I would lose my place or be distracted by something on the TV (muted) and not listen with even half an ear. During the first hour, I fell asleep so had to replay that portion again later. Sometimes I can hear better in my sleep than I can awake!
I heard some sad news yesterday morning in regard to the extended family. My niece in Palm Coast called me after 7:00 am to report that her mother had finally succumbed to her illnesses and died that morning. The staff at the nursing home tried to help Marian, and then the EMTs worked to get her heart started again, but to no avail. When she opened her eyes, she saw Jesus’ face. I wonder if she has seen Timmy yet….
Marian’s first heart attack and bypass surgery was when she was 44 years old, in 1992, right around the time that Hurricane Andrew tore through south Florida, as I remember we took a ride south of Ft. Lauderdale to survey the damage. Never really bouncing back from that problem, she struggled with her diabetes and ailments related to that, had knee replacement and over a year’s worth of bed sores from that, strokes resulting from the multiple heart ‘episodes’ that she’s had over the years, and so on.
I asked Tina if there was something I could do to help her and she asked me to call the Manitowoc family, so I did that. I also let my mom and Lynn know this news, plus Marian’s good friend, Marcia. Lynn is the same age within a month of Marian, and had been her classmate at MLHS for four years. All these years of expecting this phone call, and then when it comes, it is yet a shock…The good news is that the pastor serving in Palm Coast had been to see her within the last month and only this past Thursday or Friday, the vicar had been there and given Marian the Lord's Supper. I am so glad to know that!
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Lately my dreams have been the vivid type which leave me on edge after I wake up, often involving Timmy and my misplacing him. One time I was checking a jobsite and had ‘forgotten’ he was along with me. To my relief, he was in the car in this fancy seat belt/car seat rigging (I should market that!). But the franticness of wondering where he is, what did I do with my child, all the while still having to take care of business----oh, my heart goes pitty-pat. This mornings’ dream had me trying to drive a box truck without benefit of windows! Finally I stopped the truck and said, “I am not driving this truck without seeing where I am going!” What does that mean???? Some people claim they don’t have dreams, but of course they do, just not remembering them. Most of the time I like mine because I get to see Timmy’s face, and Justin’s as well, and love it so much better when I wake up smiling rather than shaking.
The Bible study was okay yesterday, as we are going through the Synod’s stewardship program. I am not a real fan of break-out groups and such to come up with collective answers, but it’s only a couple weeks’ worth of the sessions. I used to be all about the ‘spiritual gifts’ stuff....
The worship was quite nice, using the Divine Service with the entire service being included in the giant-sized service folders. Using ledger-sized paper, even the hymns, which were from the Supplement, were included in the folder. I am not sure what that’s all about, unless some folks were having troubles following along in the CWS or something. I can ask him tomorrow as Judy C. and I are meeting with Pastor to review our report.
After church Judy, Terri T., and I went to lunch at Chili’s. Judy and I in particular like the appetizer trio which is a meal in itself. Plus, half to go home! Chili’s has TVs in the dining room so I could keep one eye on the game as we chatted. After lunch I headed home to be tortured, watching the most wretched of football games EVER!!! Do I hear ‘blackouts’ come our way for the rest of the home games? I am so glad this did not happen last week on our own turf…
Tonight I was cleaning out the fridge a bit, removing unused leftovers and such. I don’t know if I ever mentioned that I made a cherry crunch torte over a week ago, using the last of my Door County cherries. The first piece was surprising sweet, and it was my opinion that normally the tartness of the fruit overrode the sweetness of the crust or sauce for the cherries. Well, it was extremely difficult to extricate future slices of bars from the pan, even though I sprayed it (seems I wrote this already…). Therefore, I have about ¾ of the torte left and it’s going into the trash, IF I can get it out of the pan!
