September 2005

Our lives continue to undergo changes, most of them being good. We did go through a rough time in April. Mom went to the hospital for a week and was diagnosed with pneumonia, blood clots in her lungs and congestive heart failure. When she came home she was so weak that I had to go to her apartment to help her get out of bed or off her chair both day and night. Mom and Sophie have a close relationship. She keeps fruit snacks by her chair to give to Sophie when she comes over, and has a small box of little toys where Sophie can play with them for a few minutes if we stop by and I help Mom with something. The good news is that Mom is feeling as well now as she did before the pneumonia. Her medication is adjusted now (it took a while for the Coumadin) and she only has to have a blood test about once a month. Mom no longer needs the oxygen either at home or when going away from home. She is able to do her own cooking and goes shopping and to worship services.

This summer Mom was feeling well enough for me to leave her a few days to go to visit our friends in Eudora. We had an enjoyable time, and saw so many people. I think it made us miss Eudora even more.

Mike and Maria came to visit us the first part of July. Connie and Eric let Sophie spend one night with us, and they came to eat and play games one day while Mike and Maria were here. Mike and Maria enjoyed Sophie's ornery side. She "mopped" Mike's hair with her play mop!

Joe didn't work this summer, and doesn't plan to work summers any more. He thoroughly enjoyed the time off. We took Sophie several times to Legacy Park in Lubbock.  Sophie is had a blast and when she was swinging she kept telling Grandpa Joe to push her "higher."

Joe has a new job this year at New Deal high school. It is a lot smaller than Plainview, and a lot closer to home (only about 12 miles). With the price of gas being so high, that is a plus. Even though he makes less income, the job is much easier on Joe, and more like what he was used to in Eudora.

We still get to see Sophie about twice a month, and usually get to keep her all night every two or three weeks.

The best news is that Sophie is going to be a "big sister." She loves babies and little ones, and I know she will be very loving and helpful. She has a long wait, as the baby isn't due until the first part of May. Sophie has gone back to Sonshine School again this year on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Eric, Connie and Sophie moved to Connie's house in Lubbock and sold his house in Shallowater. We are very thankful that they want us to be part of their lives, and that they are going to let us be a third set of grandparents to the baby. Sophie has been enjoying her third set of grandparents -- Connie's folks -- who treat her just like they do their other two grandchildren (which is what we want, of course!). We have gotten to be friends with Dayton and Jewel Parker and enjoy visiting with them now and then when we eat out together or attend a social event.

Sophie will be three on October 13, 2005. We look forward to celebrating with the family. We already gave her part of her birthday present -- a Dora house -- to leave at our house. We have several rooms of furniture that I bought different times, so last time when Sophie was here, I twisted Joe's arm to let us get the house to put the furniture in. She had seen it at Toys R Us, and told me right away that was what she wanted for her birthday! The doorbell works, and then you can hear Dora talk in English and in Spanish. It's so cute. It folds up fairly small, and then opens up to be a large house.

With extra time on my hands, I have finished a second preschool Bible lesson book (I edited and added to material written by Keri Hobgood), and am close to sending it to the printer. I have completed five chapters of a planned thirteen, for Joy In the Morning, which will be sold primarily for Ladies' Bible classes on the topic of recovering from losing a close loved one, or facing any serious tragedy. In studying what the Bible says about joy, and from personal experience, I know that during this earthly life we seldom experience times of complete joy with no sorrow. Although we will always miss Angie, we are growing to have more times of joy and fewer times of the intense sorrow. I will leave you with a passage about the Israelites, which I feel fits our situation:
 

"The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad.... They that sow in tears shall reap in joy" (Psalm 126:3&5).