Beach Bumming this weekend....

Makenna is having her birthday party at the beach this weekend.  Blake, Cora, Hannah, and I are going to help her celebrate!  Happy 3rd birthday on Saturday, Mak!

Three Amigos?

Monday night there were three frito banditos in my kitchen planning a video presentation for their Spanish class. They'd get an A for having fun if I was their teacher!  Wish we'd had the photo of Connor to put in the senior soccer video....

I've heard the phrase "tough love" before, and let me tell ya, it is not an easy kind of love.  I took this photo of Chuck a few days before he left our house and ended up at his sister's after three days of no food, no shower, no clean clothes, and in the end....upchucking blood.  Kitty and Chico were his buddies, and the dog especially pined around here for a few days for him.  But after Mario visited him in the hospital last night, I know God's hand was guiding it all.  He told Mario thanks for giving him the boot, because he knew he needed to be in the hospital but would not take himself there until he knew he had no other choice.  After just 4 days in, Mario said he already looks the best he has seen him look.  No beer, no cigarettes, 3 meals a day, and somebody (most likely female!) checking on him every 15 minutes.  So now he is where he needed to be when he arrived here in early September.  Lord, help us know where he goes when this treatment is over.  He'll be back to Square One again.  He says he is going to work on not just having Jesus in his head, but also having him in his heart.  Good place to start.

Cora and the 7th grade band, orchestra, and boys' choir play and sing for the Veterans' Home

Thanksgiving '10 at Kathy's house

 Mario always finds an audience for his card tricks...Ricky, Caleb, and Sarah

 Two cheerful dishwashers and one ??? teenager

 The cook and the cook who taught the cook

 The Duffy Family with their new addition, Stella

 Blake and Chico

 Cora with Chico and Leo; Hannah with Murphy

Good food, compliments to the cook, thanks to the hosts, and a fine day for our family.

Got the team letters in the mail for TEC #270 today.  That was a big job!  Waiting patiently for SIGNS presenter....
Basketball at QND tonight.  The boys work very hard.  They were ahead by about 20 points by halftime.  Got to see a colleague from my early days at QND--he was the athletic director and a gifted athlete in baseball and basketball.  He was the only person in my whole life who tried to teach me how not to throw like a girl!  It was great to see him.  He and his wife are pastors of a congregation of 16,000 in Tulsa.  35 or so years ago, I would have never seen that coming!  But he is very happy and loves the Lord.  I am sure he is an inspiring pastor.
I didn't shop today.  I've splurged on Park Lane jewelry and have a trip coming up to celebrate Makenna's 3rd birthday, so no spending for me today.  I hope it was a good shopping day for everyone who went.  Sounds like Carrie and her friend Wendy had a good shopping night.  She got in at 6AM.  I don't think I ever did that.  I might have stayed up in Vegas in my 30s til 6AM for a 99-cent steak and eggs breakfast.  O those were the days....

Chuck voluntarily checked himself into the hospital today.  We pray for recovery.

Happy Thanksgiving....

Be good to the cooks, and be appreciative of the abundance of blessings we have here.  After hearing stories from someone who went on a mission trip to Guatemala,....there was very little food there.... I will share more.  No complaining.  I am grateful.

Have a great Thanksgiving. 
Continue praying for Chuck.  He may be putting himself in good hands tonight. 

Getting Ready....

Today I got my head into the game for TEC 270.  The roster is complete, and the team letter is written.  Over the next couple of days, I will get it in the mail to everyone.  This is joyful work. 

DWTS--Caught bits and pieces tonight.  Will have to watch the DVR replay to get the full picture, but from what I saw, looks like Jennifer and Derrick are the top pick based on overall performances.

At St. Peter's, we are through the first phase of stewardship renewal--the couple who spoke to the parish did a wonderful job, and we are hopeful that our parishoners will give thoughtful consideration to their commitment of time, talent, and treasure.  We are looking forward to the arrival of our new pastor in January, Fr. Leo Enlow.  His parish in Effingham for the past 21 years is using the same stewardship process, so he is already familiar with what we have been working on for the past year.

As I head to bed, I am thoughtfully reflecting on the time I have spent over the past 3 months with Chuck.  We had some joyful times, and I know he has seen God's love in this home and through all the people who have tried to help him.  He has shared some happy memories from his youth, and he has trusted me with some deeply personal hurts.  Tonight I ask God to bless him as he once again falls into a place of despair with his addiction.  I trust, and I pray God; he is in your hands.  Please bless him.

Middle of the Night Thoughts

I've had a couple of days of  rest to throw off a sore throat before it gets hold of me.  Mario's had it too, but he gets rid of such things more easily.  However, he is beginning to appreciate the finer points of good medical care AND medicine.  His blood pressure was "SKY HIGH" a couple of weeks ago, so now he is taking high blood pressure medicine.  He'd been having severe headaches for about two weeks before I MADE him see the dr.  And now both his primary care dr. and another dr. in his office are looking after him.  YES!  It had been over 4 years since he'd been to the dr., so no telling how long the high blood pressure was going on.  His mom had it, and Carrie has it also and has to take meds for it every day.  So there must be a gene for it?  Well, anyway, I don't think he'll be fighting the idea of going to the dr. for a yearly physical anymore.

I haven't said anything about Chuck recently.  We have been fighting a mighty battle with that evil force, (Satan, the Devil, Lucifer, whatever you call him), and we are winning.  Chuck had his best days this week from Tuesday to yesterday.  He had a seizure a couple of weeks ago while mowing grass for New Start Men's Mission, and they didn't want him back.  Said they didn't know what to do for him when he has a seizure!  I kinda laughed and said, "Well, I don't know anymore than you do, but I'd call the ambulance just like you did."  Mario and I are both committed to parenting/guiding him, and he is responding well to the help he is receiving from many directions, including medical support through the Community Outreach Clinic and counseling from Transitions.   He is still in the program at the soup kitchen which includes Bible study every Monday morning at 9AM.  He responds especially well to Chris, the young guy that runs that program.  The end result of participating, if all continues to go well, is a job.  So if you are praying for Chuck, please keep him on your list!  Transformation can be in an instant, and it can be in an undetermined time length.  I keep hearing the question in my conscience, "Am I who I say I am?"  By helping Chuck, I am certain of the answer to that.  Tonight he is staying with his sister Katrina.  She has a very cute little blond-headed daughter named Madison, and she and Chuck have lots of fun together.  I am hoping this relationship with Katrina will continue to grow and be a trusting one for both of them.

I hope to begin this week choosing who is giving what talk/meditation on TEC 270 in January.  Our buddy George McDonnell is co-directing with me, and Mario and Betty will be there too.  I will be able to do the planning and organizing of meetings beforehand, but actually being up and moving on the weekend for 3 days and two naps won't be possible for me.  So George and I will work hand in hand to make sure it is a great opportunity for everyone there to have a Christ-centered weekend (with a little fun on the side, of course!).  George and Mario can be just plain nuts together, and now there is Aiden, the chip-off-the-old-George-block.  He'll be in the room as a resource, and Jerry E. will also be around, so there will undoubtedly be some silliness in the midst of the spiritual work we are there to do. 

Well, that's all I can think of for now.  Back to bed.  It's cute how Chico sleeps right by me while I am on the computer.  As soon as I get up, he will wake up and follow me back to bed!

Carrie had a good story for me yesterday.  Seems that she is now letting Cora and Hannah go off in the store on their own for a few minutes while she is shopping.   Well, in ten minutes, Cora returned, dolled up from head to toe.  She'd found just the right hat, sunglasses, jewelry, and apparel to please herself as she told her mom she was just "playing dress-up" in the store.  So some girls are 12 going on 18, and some are 12 going on 8.  Cora is in that latter group, and I think we are all very happy about that!

Son Chris will be 30 in a week.  Hmmm.  Why can I so well remember the labor and delivery that got him here?  It took 19 hours from start to finish to get Carrie here, and all but 3 or 4 of them were HARD!  But with Chris, I worked all day, knew I was in labor, had a pain about once every hour throughout....I remember some boys were helping me take down the volleyball nets from PE class, and I stopped for a minute to let one of those little pains work itself through.  They were scrambling, thinking they needed to get someone or call the ambulance.  "No fellas, I'm fine.  Just getting ready to have this baby sometime in the next day or two."  I finished work, went home and put my feet up, then fixed dinner.  Along about 8:30PM, the pains starting coming fast and harder. and we were off to the hospital.  Chris was born less than 4 hours later, and the whole thing could be called easy compared to what it took to get Carrie out of there.    It is an amazing quality of the brain that one can remember details from 30 years ago, but not from yesterday afternoon.  Well, anyway, my baby boy is turning 30 on November 14.  O Joy.

Loss

We've lost a good friend in Hoon.   He passed this week after complications from heart surgery.  There are many memories of softball games at the KC field on Thursday nights.  And those 3 beautiful little daughters and his wife Susan....when they first came to Quincy, we had them for a picnic and went to the riverfront for our community's 4th of July celebration.  Hoon loved Tony's cheesy potato dish.  I think he went back 3 times just for the potatoes.  He was Carrie's ob/gyn dr. and delivered Nolan 5 years ago.  Carrie told me at the time that he was disappointed that Mario wasn't there for Nolan's birth.  (Is the grandpa usually there?)  He loved Mario and Mario loved him.  Good, good guy.  Will be missed.  God bless and keep you Hoon.