The wait is over...

...and the sorrow sinks in. The sheriff announced this a.m. that a positive identification of the child's body in the landfill in GA, where our trash is hauled, has been made. It is over, the child is found. While our prayers were that the little girl would be found alive and safe, it seems she was already dead or dying before most even knew she was missing. In reading the news postings on-line there are many thoughts circulating about the who, what, when, where, and how of this tragic case. The sheriff has declared that there is going to be an all-out effort to find the killer and bring them to justice. It was impressive but terribly unfortunate how the community rallied to find this child, as I wish more of us would be actively involved and concerned with others all the time, not only in times of crisis.

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I know the man who led the search team at the dump, he actually came here with his family to watch the space shuttle launch one night when I was not home. I wrote about this just a week or so ago when I bought this new laptop, as I saw this man's wife, Lorrie, at Office Max. They have a young daughter, too, and I am sure he will hold her closer from now on, the way I hope many other parents are doing, too. In Pastor Prange's sermon at Timmy's funeral, he mentions how the entire congregation was affected by this loss, how people are even more cherishing of their children after this tragedy. Yes, that is the feeling people have, to appreciate what they have, and to appreciate how quickly things can change in our lives.

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Several weeks ago there was a young man, aged 20, who was killed in the student apartments where Justin resides. This totally freaked me out and I was so glad to hear his voice the next day to know he was okay. In fact, he was unaware of any troubles on the property as it is good-sized place with many units. Justin said he was more "concerned" about the place since the management, in order to fill the empty units, started renting to people not in school. Things changed, just as they did in Mom's apartment building from where she moved in September. To fill the empty apartments, the owner was taking in subsidized tenants, some whom required being checked on several times a day. Yes, that is pretty scary stuff. Anyway, three men have been arrested for the killing, which is the result of a drug buy gone bad. It was already bad to start with, but someone was killed during the committing of one crime. To read the on-line comments, everyone involved was good, pleasant, honor roll people...sure they were!

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In recent weeks someone evidently got hold of Lisa's bank card information and proceeded to spend all their checking account money. She is not sure where or when but guesses it might have been when they traveled up north in WI for a funeral. Or the medical office where they used the "old-fashioned" method of taking the credit card information, the machine that makes an imprint of the card face, perhaps leaving a carbon behind. Whatever or wherever it happened, she has been assured by the bank, where she froze her accounts so no more could be taken out, that the bank will replace the missing funds for them until the mystery is solved. Certainly the bank has methods for tracing backward when the unauthorized transactions took place and I hope somehow the criminal will be caught, and brought to justice.

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My eyes feel like pokers as much of the evening was spent in tears about this little one. It is so not about me, but yet the feelings come rushing back, knowing keenly how this mom is feeling. Justin mentioned how helpful it was for him to be with the Dohner's, our next door neighbors/friends from the previous neighborhood, the night his brother died. The distraction "really helped", he told me. I will be with him today at Bible study and probably lunch so we can talk some more, if we want to. Our subject matter, End Times, is going to be so right on given the news of recent days. Yesterday, I was so not interested in the health insurance debacle whereas Martie and I would have chewed that topic over and over until we could spit. But not yesterday, it was about Luther, and the search for Somer.

A Justin connection

Martie and I had a wonderful breakfast at Cracker Barrel. with me having the cherry-topped pancakes and Martie, French toast, eggs, and bacon. She ate every bit of hers but most of much came home with me. Martie will take it for Ernie to devour as he is a great fan of leftovers. My Tuesday night waiter, Seth, took care of us, though he normally is not there in the mornings. Timing was great! When he brought us our food, he came back moments later with my to-go box. He knows me so well!

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We came back here to tackle the Luther project and I am quite pleased with how it came out. Using the black presentation board we matted and mounted a number of pieces about Luther from Gretchen's collection, including one article about Luther's influence in the hymns. It wasn't until I took it to make the copy that I realized who the author was---Victor Prange!! He looked quite young in the picture, from 1983, well before he retired. I mounted that article on paper with musical notes on it, which looks quite nice. I am pleased, I will say it again, with how it came out! Now, the transporting of the finished product will be another thing!

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Today the workmen came to clean my air conditioning ducts, another step to alleviate the dust, and eliminate "bacteria" from my air system. Owen stopped in to see how they were coming along and to bring me the bill (ahem, ahem...) and we had a nice visit. The one service man complimented me on how clean the A/C unit was, and I thanked him for that. Owen chuckled and said, "I have no doubt about that!" knowing I rarely use it in the summer time. Winter, well, that's another thing. The tech said he did see lots of white dust in the lines, most likely the remodeling and drywall dust probably back to when I had the wallpaper removed and the walls were skim coated, sanded, and painted. It was expensive to do this but I am so glad I did it, as now my ducts will certainly pass the white glove test. But will my furniture and glass????

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While Owen was here, Justin called. It seems that he has a minute connection to the family whose child is missing. In fact, he informed me, they are eating off of my old dishes!!!! The Pfaltzgraf dish set had been part of the rental house we owned in Brookstone until the new renters wanted to use their own furniture, dishes, etc. Justin's job, well over a year ago, was to remove the items from the house to Habitat for Humanity and other places. The dishes went to his father's friend's friends house, the Thompson's. In fact, he told me, he was in their house!! Whether he met or saw the kids I do not know but he just told me who these people were and that he had been at their house, they were eating off his mama's dishes! And I had just told Mom earlier this month that those dishes were sold at the Yard Sale at church---it must have been a different set then.....hmmm....

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It is a lovely day, which is good for the search teams. Justin informed me that his father is also out searching, due to the "connection". I received an e-mail from a friend to report that the governor was coming to the command center at 4:00 pm and that another Realtor was taking collections of Gator Ade at her house just off of Kingsley Avenue for the police and Search and Rescue teams from NAS/JAX. While I love seeing the community come together like this, I am so sad it has to be about something like this. Please please pray for the safe return of this little girl, Somer Thompson.

Orange Park on the national news

I just watched a press conference on Fox and Friends from Orange Park where the mom of the missing child was interviewed, begging for her child to be brought home. Of course, the hearts are breaking for this mom and the missing child's family, as the community rallies to help locate Somer. The child's twin brother is sick with worry, thinking he was responsible for her running ahead, being separated from the rest of the kids, who sometimes number 50, walking home. The child's dad lives in the Carolinas and was not here for the interview.

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On another note, I must take a ride this a.m. to check on Sandy's house in Middleburg and then am meeting Martie for breakfast at Cracker Barrel. She forgot to make the appointment for the massage somehow so that is not on our agenda for today, making it possible for us to dedicate more time to the Luther presentation. I have Friday as a fall-back day if we fail to make much progress today. Saturday I might be heading to Palm Coast and then will take the display to set up that night. Sunday will be so incredibly full that I should not put off putting up!!!

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Bible study first and then worship on Sunday, break for lunch and perhaps a rest, and then back over to church for combined choir rehearsal (they have a 25 minute ride over to Orange Park from their church!) at 2:30 pm, the bell choir will practice, too, and then the joint service at 4:00. If I sound excited about this, I am! This Reformation time of the year makes my heart swell with joy and so look forward to all the recognition it gets within the churches. The Sunday school kids will be concentrating on Reformation the following week, coloring their Luther Rose, watching a short video, and a couple other take-along things to help them learn about their Lutheran heritage.

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Time to jump into the shower so will sign off for now. More is coming, stand by. Please pray for the safe return of Somer Thompson, ask the Lord to watch over her and keep her.

Still no word

Orange Park is all over the national news today, starting already last night, I guess, because we have a missing child. A seven year old girl, a twin, was walking home after school with a group of kids, got into a snit with one of them, and took off ahead of the rest. She has not been seen or heard from since. Nothing good can come from this, there was no shiny balloon ride scare for this little girl, named Somer. She just vanished. Cindy from church reported that last night a visibly shaken policeman searched their property and the woods behind it for the little girl. Please, all, ask the Lord to bring this child home safely to her mom and siblings, please....

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For other news, my fingers are aching again today but not necessarily from the cold. In fact, the temps are over 70 at the moment, with Saturday looking to be in the high 80's again. I rejoice over that! Instead, I was busily addressing envelopes for Joanne last night and again today, finishing all the names on the lists for both her monthly mailings and the holiday cards. If there are names added to the list for the cards I can sort them and address the envelopes as the names are submitted to me. But, for the most part, I am done!

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Martie is coming to help me work on the Luther project for Reformation on Wednesday. Her back is giving her a fit and she is trying to get an appointment with Carol, the magical massage therapist, tomorrow at some point. Regardless of her aching back, she wants to help me out because it is better if she keeps busy---I will take her word for that and keep her busy! Besides the addressing of the envelopes, I have been busy with doing my laundry, including hanging it on the line! No, not really, but what I do have is my comforter draped over the railing in my courtyard in attempts to get the dust of it. My mattress pad is washed and dried, as are the sheets so we shall see if that helps with the dust control in this room or not. Maybe it's too much paper...

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Last night I had an Outreach meeting where only three people besides Pastor attended, with only two of us being what could be considered, producers. The other person I am sure has good intentions but really is not the type to do reaching out. But Kelly is excited to get busy with a few things so this is good, this is real good! There are others who will and do participate but cannot do night driving or meeting attending. I will be having a meeting of the Greeters in the next two weeks to go over some of the "responsibilities" of serving and can hopefully scare up a few more people to help us out. Now I am excited, too!

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Tonight is Bible study and tomorrow am taking care of the Luther presentation. We are meeting early for choir rehearsal to fine tune our anthems for Reformation when we combine with Victory's choir. Those of us who do not read music are challenged by the unfamiliar melodies and need more work to be comfortable with them. Thursday night is the Open House at Precious Lambs and the kindergarten, which reminds me, I need to print a few more brochures for the kindergarten classroom. I only made enough for the preschool the first time around. My printer has since caught its breath and is ready to produce yet a few more. Pastor said last night that he was impressed with them and are just what we need to show the non-member parents what else we offer at Good Shepherd. I love doing whatever I can, while sitting down!

Doctor, my eyes....

....have seen the years and the slow parade of fears..." My particular fear recently is I might have to give in and get reading glasses. The text on the e-mail page of this 'up-close' laptop is smaller than my desk top, which is also further from my face when I use it than is the laptop. Working on the envelopes for Joanne is like trying to read the phone book and I find myself holding the page further from my face, especially when night falls. It might be time to surrender to age on this one. While the LASIK bought me some time, the eye surgeon did tell me he could do nothing about age with the surgery taking place over 9 years ago. There are some cute fashion frames out there, off the rack-style magnifying lenses, which will make getting older fun for me!
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Oh, there is a man on TV who stole my job with the government! He is doing something with exercise, supposedly with the Dallas football cheerleaders, describing himself as being the "Fat Czar"! That was going to be my job, and with a tidy salary for my services, too! Humphf! What is one more czar added to the long list? "Jay" conducts some sort of boot camp for fitness, whipping these cheerleaders into shape. I wonder what time frame it took to get these ladies looking like that.....might look into this...... I often wondered what I would like being about 8"taller.
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Some cheese popcorn was just thrown away, a bag partially consumed. When Justin and I were coming home from WI after moving Mom, I bought a small bag of cheese popcorn at the gift shop and it was just so delicious. Sunday when I stopped to get the potatoes, I saw a bag of this type of popcorn in the deli area and took it along home with me. It fell far short of the delightful bag at the airport. Not only was the flavor lacking but the hulls simply took over my teeth. Guess I am over the hankering for this type of cheese popcorn for awhile.
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Joanne asked me to do another favor for her in my down time, and that was to research the value of some art pieces from her parent's home. They had about 25 or more pencil/ink drawings by an artist from Germany named Eberhardt. She simply wanted to know an approximate value so she could get insurance on them plus the contents of her storage unit. This artist did primarily animal and bird sketchings, making them appear more than life-like. Thanks to the Internet it did not take long to get a few estimates for her. Since the piece she left for me to price is quite small compared to some of the others, it seems if she ever wants to sell them, there will at least be a nice market for the artwork.
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Speaking of getting the right price, the other day when I spoke with my sister-in-law, Barb, they were in the process of listing their Packer tickets on e-Bay. My nephew was there to help get them listed, a pair of tickets, north end zone, for the Packer/Viking game. I was beside myself as to why they were even thinking of selling the tickets versus use them. Barb said that pairs of tickets for this game were going for $500, so say no more! As dwellers in Brown County, where the team is located, they get put into a lottery for tickets, and this was the game they drew. Jackpot! Hopefully they will see ten times the value of the purchase price, paying for their CHRISTmas expenditures. That must mean one of them has my name! I did get my envelope with the names inside and can do my shopping when I am up in WI----oops, did I just give it away???

So starts the week

God morning all! Finally I decided to throw off the covers and climb out to face the world. In my bed I could use the "laptop" while burrowing under the comforter but here at this desk, the sun shines on my face and warms me. My feet are cold, because they are bare, but my face feels nice. The cupcake is still on my desk, staring at me and smelly entirely too delicious but it can just wait for me until I get home later on. The first order of business today is Bible study and then lunch with the ladies afterward.

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My sister-in-law, Barb, told me last night that Justin's and my exchange names for CHRISTmas should be arriving any day now so I have another reason to hit the mailbox other than at the beginning of the month when my check is expected. Once a week or longer sometimes, I stop at the box to torment myself with yet more paper to cover to my desk. Garbage in, garbage out! Much of it, anyway. Soon the lobby trash receptacle will be re-installed near the mailboxes and the sorting of the junk mail can take place well before bringing it all up with me. But I will watch to see whose names we get so my brain can start working on that. If I can take care of it when up in WI for ThanksLiving, I will. Barb's parents, the Petska's, did the name draw for Justin and me, so only they know who we have, the big secret!

Here is Justin and me with Harvey and Clara in their kitchen last CHRISTmas. We look a bit blurry because the photographer was not familiar with my camera, it was sort of heavy for him to support. I am in my Jaguar outfit and Justin in his Florida Gator jacket.(When I looked at this picture, I looked a bit like Barb---had to do a double-take! I have my red driving glasses on which makes me look like her, too, I guess!)

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Time to leave for Bible study so must dress my feet in the appropriate footwear. By the end of the week the temps will be back up to the 80's but right now, it is snowshoe weather---44 above zero when I woke up! Yikes!

Man, it sure was great to see everyone again!!

Am I hungry? Can't be! Was it the meatballs with barbecue sauce? Perhaps...Cannot be from the chocolate fountain because I kept myself a safe distance from it. (Martie and I put something on our "Bucket Lists" today though----stick our faces in a chocolate fountain before we die....) I only had half a peanut butter ball and half an espresso ball for dessert, plus two Halloween Oreos. Hmmm, my tummy is rolling as though it is hungry, but really, I should not be. In fact, I am having a stare-down with chocolate frosted cupcake decorated with a giraffe pick brought home with me from the baby shower, and at this writing, think I will win this one. Will make a delightful breakfast tomorrow.

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After mentioning what I did not eat, I should report what wonderful treats I did enjoy. Homemade lumpia, hand-rolled by the ladies, and cooked today by the grandfather-to-be, Paul. His wife, Cindy, the "lola" to-be, was hostess for a baby shower for their son and daughter-in-law's coming baby. The ladies of the house made food items familiar to the Philippines, hence the lumpia and the lo mein dish plus rice and beans. Besides two lumpia, I also had an innocuous ham sandwich and three meatballs. I went a bit nutso for the fruit salad, yes, I said fruit salad, which was just delicious. I had two helpings of that which might account for the revolution taking place in my tummy. The dessert table was laden with creations from the hands of Christie, the soon-to-be 'aunt extraordinaire' to baby Noah. She is quite the baker and decorator. Christie made all the cupcakes and chocolate covered cake balls, like you see in magazines, or on her Facebook pages!!

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Martie and I left after the future mom opened our respective gifts because Martie's back was bothering her, especially after sitting so long an ottoman shared with our friend, Lauren. What was so wonderful, besides the food, was seeing some of our old scrapbooking friends from years back, and Cindy's sister, Ginger. Amber, the mom-to-be, was only about half way through the pile of presents and I can tell by the first half that this will be one well-dressed, sports minded little fella!

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On the way home, after dropping Martie off, I stopped at Publix to get potatoes because I neglected getting them yesterday at Winn-Dixie. My sister, Kerry, was talking about having baked potatoes with butter so I used the rest of mine to make baked potatoes for me! Now my supply is replenished for when the spirit again moves me to bake some. Tonight might be good because the temperature in here has gotten down to 76 degrees. Some might find that a bit warm, but I do not. Not by a longshot!

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The Packers won today, and the Jaguars won at home in overtime, yippee! I saw the F-18s circling about prior to the game for the flyover after the national anthem is sung. There were only two because one of the three had a hard-landing at the airport yesterday and broke its landing gear. They had to get by with two and I must say, I was impressed!

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Bible study and worship this a.m. was terrific, too. We sang our anthem in place of the regular psalm but I was quite concerned to be the lone soprano today. Kristi went to the football game and I was left on my own, not entirely comfortable with my part. During the run-through, I totally missed my notes and ended up singing melody with the altos, which Kathy said was alright, do what you must. But, as we gathered to sing our anthem at the appointed time, somehow I found the notes. After church some came up and said how nice we sounded with a couple mentioning being able to hear me. Whew! Not sure if they were the right notes, but they could hear whatever it was I was singing!