All quiet now....

Even the washer has stopped for the day, having done several loads of sheets, towels, and other items from the guests. The folding can wait, but not too long. I am always in a funk when my guests leave, but it was good to be with the church family today to help me recover. 

Here is a shot of last night's super moon. I had told my sister, Kerry,  I likely wouldn't get a good shot because I stink at moon pictures, but this one is pretty good!

Thursday at Bible study at Victory we heard some very sad news about our friend, Marilyn. It was discovered that she had some sort of growth on her heart and had surgery to remove it. Not knowing what the growth was, cancer or whatever, they couldn't treat until it could seen/removed/treated. During the procedure, another surgeon was called in (not good) to check it out. It was determined to be cancer, and it had spiraled itself around the heart and in the tissue. There was nothing they could do.

Her first few days afterward were rough, as you might imagine after having ones chest cracked, and then to find out they couldn't help her....well, it was truly heart-breaking. She is well loved by her family and her friends, and we feared for her survival. I even put her on our church's prayer chain, so tenuous was her situation. We got word today via Facebook that she is doing much better, and hopes to soon have the ventilator removed. Reports are that she is alert and reacts to family when they speak to her. Thanking the Lord for sparing her this long, at least until her brother and family can get here to see her. Prayers for comfort for Marilyn and peace for her family will be greatly appreciated. 

A time to say 'good-bye'

The day began with a nice, big breakfast at Grumpy's, one of our established places to take our CO visitors. After breakfast, we met back at my house where Michael and Judy got them loaded into the van to head to Orlando. 

 This is Chris and me in the dining room. He promises he'll be back next year! 

 Jacob, his second time helping us with VBS, standing with me in the dining room. He is also a fan of the Packers!

 Jayson, his second time visiting me, was here last year with his brother, Jackson. He is such a joy to have around!

Sweet Noelle, her first visit to help with VBS, wants to be a preschool teacher some day

A group picture of the students and Michael, who rarely poses for photographs. This is a treasure!!

Justin captured me standing on the porch waving good-bye as they drove off...Jayson had asked me to not cry because he would cry and then Jacob would cry and it would be a big mess. So glad Justin was home for me to wipe my tears into his chest when they left.

Inspiring artists!

Last night my neighbor, Judee, posted this photo of her most recent painting which was inspired by one of my sunrise photographs. She did a great job, didn't she?

Judee is a student of well-known artist/teacher named Hercel, who is presently in a rehab center after suffering a stroke. The class continues to meet even though he is not there. They have been so well taught by him that they can carry on in his absence. He can likely critique their work on-line or if they take it to him at Brooks! 

The death of me!

Earlier this year it was the delivery of my new dryer which nearly finished me off. The delivery guys had to remove the washer in order to get the old dryer out and the new one in. I was a nervous wreck over that! Now, it's my new washer. Ordered last week from Home Depot, I had to wait until my guests are here to have it installed. The fine print on the purchase receipt said the faucets must be operational before the guys will install the new equipment. NUTS!! My hot water faucet is/was inoperable but we could shut off the water to the unit to accomplish the install. Nope, not good enough. The plumber had to come. Two days in a row my mouth was so dry I could barely swallow, but the plumber got the faucets replaced without incident but not without some effort. Then, today, the washer was coming.

Yesterday, because we were having the water shut off, I had to let my houseguests know that there would be no water for a while and told the young men that the plumber would have to access the bathroom in their room to shut off the supply. They barely moved a muscle despite people going in and out of the room. I was busy wringing my hands, ready to wring out water if called upon. Such a Nervous Nelly I am when it comes to water, and rightly so!  The plumber who came, Pat, brought his son to be the helper. He told his son to turn the supply back on very slowly once he had the faucets in place. Just as the son started turning the water on, the doorbell started ringing frantically. Oh, my heart! It was just Connie, coming to check on the progress. Both Pat and I jumped a foot when she did that, and ended up laughing, since the faucets did not leak. Whew!! I was so relieved to have it over. They moved my old washer into the foyer, where they observed my young lady guest sleeping on the air bed. 

When the plumber was leaving, after I paid him, I told him I needed the proper spelling of his name so I could put him in my Will. He said, "Just don't leave me this place!" Plumbers just don't like us here for some reason, and I know what the reason is!

Slaving away in the kitchen

Justin and I signed up to make supper for the VBS volunteers, not realizing what we were getting ourselves into. Yikes!  At first we were told it might be about 15 people, which is indeed a managable number. But then I was told it was closer to double that, depending upon the teachers bringing their kids along. Justin and I quickly had to revamp our strategy, since he would be working all day and not have sufficient prep time before I had to have it at church. And, it never occurred to me that we'd also need salad and dessert, too. Thanks to Betty, there was a half pan of brownies leftover from her meal served the night before so she let me use them. Whew!  

I had the job of registration for the first night, getting walk-ins signed up and making out name tags for them, etc. I also had tags already made up to give to those pre-registered and checked them in for their classroom. I counted how many students were in each group which helped the ladies making up the story-telling snacks for the kids. Judy and Tamara were doing that and seemed to be a good team together.

After I was done with registration, I stopped once again at Publix (many times this week already due to the soda sale going on!) and got the extra things I needed for the supper. I decided to make PBJ in addition to the wonderful ham and cheese sandwiches Justin was making, just to make sure I had enough food, especially since kids might balk at the poppyseeds on the hot sandwiches. 

When I got home, Justin had already begun the process of putting the sandwiches together, being careful to keep the 'wet' ingredients between the cheese and ham so the rolls wouldn't get soggy. Brilliant plan! My job for preparing them was to brush the sauce over the top and bake them once I get to church. They turned out great, were most popular especially with the adults. Most of the PBJs came home with me which will not go to waste, especially with a houseful of young people!

Young blood

Last week my neighbors, Betty and Kathy, were being entertained by their great-grand and grand children, respectively, visiting from Atlanta. Amy brought the three little ones, a pair of boy/girl twins and their younger brother, Beau, to spend some time with the family. Oh, what fun to have them around, especially at the pool. They are a hoot and bring their great grandma and grandma much delight.  

Beau playing mini-golf

On my floor, my neighbors have their daughter and granddaughter staying with them for a while, plus the infant daughter of another of their children. So besides the younger kids, we can add two baby girls to our building for the time being. And, this morning, I saw my upstairs neighbor, Debbie, carrying her infant granddaughter against her, sound asleep. Debbie put her finger up to her lips to motion to Connie and me that we should not greet her loudly or disturb that baby. We shushed....Debbie must have had her out in the car to get her to sleep or something.

In my unit, I have four teenagers plus Justin, who will soon be 27. He is the old man of the group. They don't get to spend much time with him as he is gone to work when they get up and they keep themselves fairly busy when they are back here again. A couple times they have gone out before dark to swim but got thundered out of the pool one night and it got dark quickly another night. But at least they get out there. Like today, they got done with set up at church early so came home mid afternoon and off to the pool we went. Their escort, Kelly, came, too, which was great. She is a very nice lady and relates well with the kids. I like having a bunch of young blood in the building these days!

Getting ready for VBS

Tonight I enjoyed dinner at home while the young folks were at church getting things set up for VBS. Michael C. is cooking for them, and asking Jacob to help him with the preparations. He is doing a shrimp boil! Not my favorite thing to eat, though Michael is swift to remind me that I like the potatoes and mini-corn cobs. I do, yes, but not enough to drive over there. I feel sorry for him, though, as he is suffering with a terrible head cold. Yesterday he laid down on a pew and slept for a couple of hours while the kids prepped for VBS. 

Last night I ate with them, however, as Mike S. served a smoked pork butt for dinner. There was barely a scrap left so I am glad I didn't stand by at home waiting for leftovers! Judy made a pasta salad to have with it, plus we had Italian bread. Oh, yum! 

Today after church, as is our tradition, I treated the kids plus others to lunch at La Napolera. We had to divide the kids between our vehicles, with Justin taking one or two with him, since we had their chaperon, too. I nearly drove past the place and had to do a rather reckless turn into the lot. I regret that, should have gone with my first inclination to go past and turn around. I could have caused bodily harm or an accident doing such a thing. I hate that I did this!!  

Anyway, some of us had a good laugh over our lunch plans. Judy had already made arrangements with Gretchen to dine elsewhere, and I heard her talking with Terri on the phone at dinner last night. When we gathered inside church before leaving, I said to Terri, "We are going to La Nap, and you guys are going to Sam's St. Johns..." assuming she had been asked about it. She had not! How we laughed, because it was as though I ordered her to go. Normally she is the one who gets Gretchen to go along. She didn't mind going to either place, but it just came about so funny. There were far too many in our group for us to try Sam's anyway, and we had plenty at our table with the 8 of us in our group. Terri is a good girl and goes where she is told!

Yesterday after church, I got the group together for a quick picture before the chancel would be switched over for Vacation Bible School.