oh the yardwork!

I moved to a patio home to get out of yardwork ... but, so far, it hasn't worked!

For starters, the one I bought leaves "the beds" to you. That really means, they mow the grass & everything else is yours. Once I have time to rework the beds (which won't be until next year at least and may take 2-3 years to do), that won't be so bad. In the meantime, I spent one Saturday trimming trees that hadn't been trimmed in years and another one weeding.

Then there's the matter of the house on Stoneborough that still hasn't sold. I have been extremely blessed by my next door neighbor there, who had mowed for me (and probably more likely for Mom!) the past 2-3 years had continued to do so for me until it sold. When I went by today to check and see how bad the other "yard maintenance" issues had become, he saw me there and came over to tell me he really doesn't have time to do that for me anymore. So, now I have to see about getting that place mowed as well as getting over to weed the beds and trim the 150'+ of 6' high juniper hedges and also trim some limbs off the trees that are overhanging the house. The worst part at this point is trying to figure out what to do with all the trimmings. I used to cut them up small enough to bag them so the trash service would pick them up. (That takes 2-3 times as long as the trimming!) But now, I have no trash service there. So, it is either bag them and haul them home to be picked up here -- or find someone with a truck who is willing to let me borrow it to haul them to the dump (during hours when it is open).

I am really ready for that house to sell!!!!

celebrating a new life!

Some covenant friends of mine (the prophet under whom I minister & his wife) have a daughter! (Well, almost. Details in a minute.)

Annalee was born on Saturday, 6/7/08, at 6:54am. (Easy numbers to remember - 678 & 654!) She weighed in at 6lb 15oz.

They were able to bring her home late Wednesday.

For those who do not know them, after years of trying to have children of their own, they have been trying to adopt. They have had two boys, brothers, that they have custody of through the Foster Care system and have been trying to adopt for nearly two years. Those adoptions are still not final.

After many ups and downs, they were able to get Annalee through a standard adoption negotiated directly with the mother by their attorney. The only hurdle left is the father signing to sever his rights (which is not expected to be an issue, but prayer is welcomed).

I haven't seen her yet, but in the pictures she has chubby little cheeks. :-) I am anxious to see and hold her. No later than sometime tomorrow!!

the weekend & Monday

The 4-hour "treatment" at Beau Monde on Friday was wonderful! The problem is you don't know what you are missing until you've experienced it once -- then you know! I'm not sure whether to thank the friends who gave me the package as a gift again -- or blame them for introducing me to how "the other half" lives!

Saturday, I ended up starting to do some of the yard work needed at my new home on Glenmoor. I spent 6.5 hours triming trees & one section of hedge that had overgrown a corner to the point you couldn't mow around it. Well, really it was a little over 2 hours trimming - and the rest cutting up the limbs & pieces into sizes I could bag or bundle in a way that the trash service will pick them up. What fun! I had thought I could do all of that and the weeding "in a couple of hours" and then go do a little at the house on Stoneborough. So much for my time estimates! I was "one tired pup" (as a friend of mine says).

On Sunday, we had a fellowship dinner after church. I've been going to the church in Ark City for almost a year now and this is the first one I have been able to attend for one reason or another. This one was a cookout. It was good to get to visit a little with some of them.

Then I came back to Wichita and went by to visit my friend's brother. He had been having a rough day. He can't keep anything down, which means he continues to lose weight and get weaker.

Today, I attended the funeral for the little boy I wrote about yesterday. It was a very sad situation. The great-uncle (mother's uncle) who did the service really did an excellent job of speaking about what his short life had meant, the people it had impacted, and our Hope for the future. The whole service was very well done. It focused on worship and hope.

another very sad situation

I learned today that the 4-year-old son of friends passed away this week.

Not quite two years ago, this little one drown in the bathtub when his mother stepped out of the room briefly. He was revived, but had suffered much brain damage. The case got much media attention first because of the situation and then because the family fought a legal battle when the doctors wanted to run one final test, expecting it to determine that he was brain dead with no hope of recovery, at which time they would remove all life support systems. Now, because of their battle, families get to make that call, not the doctors. The family took him home and have loved and cared for him through it all.

In these almost two years, there has been much evidence that he was not brain-dead. He did respond to people. However, they never saw the miracle they had stood firm in faith believing to see. They have continued to pray over him, even after he was pronounced dead. Their family and friends are part of a growing number that believe Jesus really meant what he said in Matthew 10:8. If He left us His authority, why should we not be able to work the miracles He worked, empowered by the same Holy Spirit that worked through Him? Especially, given that He specifically told us to "raise the dead."

Saddenly, thus far, those prayers have been like the many, many prayers for his healing. For whatever reasons, known only to a Soveriegn God, they have not (yet) been answered. There are still quite a number of people continuing to pray - and we will continue to do so up until his little body is lowered into the ground. After all, the widow from Nain was in route to bury her (only) son when Jesus interrupted the funeral procession to raise him from the dead. All things are possible!

things to do ...

The furniture I purchased in Kansas City in late May was delivered today. I finally have the TV in the living room up high enough to see it from the kitchen (over the kitchen bar & living room built-in bookcases). I also purchased a couple of small side tables for chairs in the living room and a "butler" for the kitchen. The butler has "some assembly required" so it is still in the box. I will try to get it put together this weekend, if I can do it without having to get someone to help.

I look at my "to do" list and wonder what to tackle first. I need to:

• put together the kitchen butler;
• do some yardwork in the beds at my new home, including some weeding and creating a bed between the front wall and where I had the sidewalk poured (the other landscaping will have to wait until next year);
• do some yardwork at the house on Stoneborough, including weeding and trimming those 6' high junipers (again!);
• trim trees both at the house on Stoneborough and at the new one on Glenmoor;
• finish unpacking & straightening all the storage areas at the new home, including the garage;
• put knobs or handles on all the cabinets & drawers (in the kitchen, all three bathrooms, and the utility room for a total of 54 knobs & 15 drawer handles); and
• stain or paint several pieces of furniture.

The weather will have to cooperate for the yardwork. It's either been thunderstorms or wind advisory conditions for the past week or more. We've had 3 or 4 hailstorms since Memorial Day weekend. The last couple of days, there has been severe damage from the wind - gusting at times between 80 and 120 mph in places. (Seriously.) The "straight line wind" took the roof all of some houses and other buildings and even topppled two 75' grain elevators this past week.

Brief bunny trail: I will always remember the first time I saw a straight line wind. I had never even heard the term that I could recall. I watched it coming towards our house on Stoneborough Court late one Saturday afternoon. I had been working in the yard and was just to the point of putting things away when the wind picked up suddenly and viciously. I could see the storm in the distance, but it was different than anything I could ever remember seeing. I quickly put things away, including moving the grill into the garage, and headed in the house just as it was approaching. There was no rain; just a ferocious wind & lots of dust. From inside I watched various neighbors' lawn furniture and a kids swimming pool go flying down the street. I was glad I had pulled the grill around and put it up. The only sight I could remember seeing that looked similar was when the dust storms would roll in off the desert ahead of the rain in Phoenix.

So, we'll see how the weekend shapes up and what I really do. I am also still going to the hospital daily to see my friend's brother ... and staying in touch with Dean's wife to keep the blog on his condition updated.

I do have a little "fun" planned for the weekend as well. I have an appointment tomorrow (Friday) at Beau Monde - a spa. Friends gave me a gift package there LAST year for my birthday and I have never slowed down long enough to use it. After finally scheduling it and then rescheduling it twice, I am going tomorrow. It's a 4-hour treatment, including a massage, facial, manicure & pedicure. Then on Sunday, we are having a baby dedication and a fellowship lunch afterwards to celebrate it. (Hopefully, the weather will cooperate since it is to be outdoors.)

it's a new month

May 2008 did come to a close. And finally some GOOD news...

• My friend's brother was moved from MICU to a regular room yesterday.
• Dean was moved to a rehab facility today.
• And I got an email this morning sent by a long-time friend late yesterday announcing the birth of his son earlier in the day. Yea! Something to CELEBRATE!!

I even got another "chunk" of the unpacking done this past Saturday. I got the china & crystal unpacked and put in the hutch. I also got the pink dishes (some depressionware and some other) that my "other" mother gave me last spring (before she passed away last November) unpacked and in a curio cabinet.

With the boxes that had been sitting in the dining room unpacked, I also moved the stack of all the boxes that had been unpacked & broken down out of the dining room to the garage & a storage area. So, the living room / dining room combination is looking pretty "homey." I am not hanging pictures yet. I want to replace the dining room furniture, but that will not happen until the other house sells. And I don't want to start hanging pictures until I know I have furniture where I want it.

Now, it's time to start unpacking and organizing the storage closets. Or time to do a little landscape work in the yard. Both of those will likely wait until I catch back up on the yardwork at the other house.

The month has started well. Hopefully, it will end even better -- with the sale of my other house!