Crazy Busy

Crazy busy. That’s what our life has been like for far too long and why I haven’t been too faithful with the blog.  I’m so looking forward to the school year being over.  Besides our insane weekly commitments, there’s been a few new things added into my schedule and life is passing me by at break-neck speed. 

A month ago we finally bought an RV.  I’d been staying up late at night surfing the web for Class C motorhomes for months on end.  We took drives all over western Washington looking at possible ones, but the ones in our price range were not in great shape and the ones we really liked, cost too much.  I kept praying the right one would show up before our Norwegian guests arrive in June.  We’re planning on going to Yellowstone with them and we really needed an RV to make the trip work. 

So the story of how we got our latest blessing is that I saw it on Craig’s List within an hour of it being posted – and it was down in Marysville.  I was at church, about to start praying for the Confirmation kids, when I saw it.  The price was about ten grand under what it should have been.  It looked clean and had low miles.  I called Kory and told him to meet me so we could rush down there and look at it.  Another guy had already given a deposit on it, but we showed up with cash and didn’t need to get any financing, so he sold it to us!  At least ten people called while we were looking at it and one guy offered to buy it sight unseen.  We were lucky.  We took it in to the shop to have it checked out and there was nothing wrong with it.  It’s really nice and we are thrilled new owners.  The travel possibilities are endless!  It sleeps six so Kaleb will be able to bring friends along, so this is a good time to get one.  I’m just happy to cross that task off my list and not spend so many hours shopping for one.

Kaleb’s confirmation classes are soon over too as he gets confirmed this Sunday.  He had a retreat last weekend with the kids in his class so he couldn’t join us on a quick trip to Oregon.  We had to go down to a meeting so we used the time to visit with good friends, buy a few things tax-free and pick up some driftwood off the beach for our pond.  Kory’s been reworking our pond after I jack hammered out the sidewalk next to it, so the home improvement projects don’t end either.  I’ve been so thankful for the sunny days we’ve had lately.

Overall, I’ve been kinda bummed though, at how many of my friends have been suffering serious health issues.  My good college friend, Don, whom we visited last Fall on the East Coast, had a massive heart attack on April 1^st and was in ICU for nearly 3 weeks, on life support.  Crazy to think of him hooked up to machines. He has a long recovery ahead of him, and he just turned 50.  Other friends are needing surgery and being diagnosed with things that make my skin crawl.  I feel so blessed that I’m as healthy as I am.

I guess the best news happening in the last few weeks is that I think we finally pinpointed the cause of Kory’s heart problems.  We’ve been praying about this for a long time and I think the answer has come.  Kory clogged up way faster than what is normal, so I knew something else was going on besides his high metal toxicity, which he is finally addressing again and starting another round of chelation to eliminate.  When I went with him to the Naturopathic doctor last week, I asked what could possibly be causing so much inflammation in his arteries that he’d clog up so quickly.  The doc said any type of low-grade infection would do it.  Ah ha!  Kory gets bladder infections all the time.  We just found out about a year and a half ago that it’s because he has a birth defect – a little annex on his bladder – that collects all kinds of bacteria and unless he drinks enough water to flush it out, he gets into trouble.  Even with antibiotics, the infection never really goes away because it’s an on-going issue.  This was a hallelujah moment. 

The urologist said back then that he’d be happy to do surgery to remove that problem, but he wouldn’t do it until Kory did something to fix his clogged heart – this was before he’d even had his first set of stents.  I remember clearly that the doctor said that and then that very night or the next day, Kory was sitting down watching a movie and got angina in his arm - which was the first time he’d ever gotten angina while NOT exercising.  All along we’d asked God if He wanted Kory to do anything medically with his heart problem, that he would get angina while sitting down – and here was the clear sign he should do it.  So he did it.  Now we are full circle with his heart still clogging up and the cause of it seems to be this non-stop infection in his bladder!  At least now he can have the surgery to fix it, since his heart got fixed (twice).  So I’ve scheduled an appointment with the urologist and hopefully he’ll get that fixed before we go to Norway this year.  There is light at the end of the tunnel for this fat-free vegan lifestyle!  This is exciting news! 

So Kory will finish his metal detox, get the surgery, then clean up any existing bacteria and infection in his body, naturopathically, and he should be good to go.  He might even get to eat fish again someday.  We are thanking God for the way He leads and guides – sometimes not as clearly and directly as I’d like but I can see the wisdom in the wait.  We’ve learned how to eat healthier and I’ve learned a lot more about nutrition and cooking smart.  God is good.

Now, if I could get some additional wisdom from God to figure out what to do with a hormonal teenager, my life would be so much sweeter.  I get drained just having to talk to him some days.  Fortunately, we’ve had company drop by here and there, which breaks up the tension.  

My friend Dee and family came on Saturday just an hour after we got home from Oregon, and I put on dinner for 10 at the drop of a hat.  I even impressed myself.   I was more impressed with her though, since she went down Kaleb’s zip line – which is something I’ve yet to do. 

 

Oh, and we dog sat a few dogs for a week which was fun for Kaleb, but I'm still picking up poop in the yard.  And I've taken on the lead role for organizing short term mission trips to Mexico with our church so I've been busy getting the first team and associated paperwork ready for that AND I've started teaching an adult Sunday school class on prayer.  Whew,  I knew I'd been busy, but still and all, life is good. HALLELUJAH!

Good Friday

Our last day in Texas was diverse and interesting.  Peg felt the urge to drive out to a nearby town where a tornado had touched down about ten days prior.  The big storm that hit Dallas while we were in Texas was actually supposed to hit San Antonio, but it blew further north so we were spared.  Apparently some other folks weren’t so lucky the week before we arrived, so Peg loaded up gloves, garbage bags, shovels and who knows what all and off we went.

It was a lovely drive east as we stopped a few times to see if anyone knew the location of the damage.  We got the directions and headed on down the street.  It was hard to tell a tornado had gone through there though because all the damage had been cleaned up already.  Even the trees had been limbed and all the debris hauled away.  It was incredible how efficient people had been in the clean up process.

The only way we could tell we had the right spot was because several houses had blue tarps where their roofs used to be.  We saw a few concrete slabs where we assume houses used to be, too, but there wasn’t even a stick in the yard that was out of place.  They work fast!

We passed all the houses that were damaged then turned around and went back by them again just to see if there was anything we could do to help.  An elderly Hispanic man was walking like he was in a daze around his driveway.  Peg pulled in and asked him if he spoke English and if there was anything we could do to help.  His house lost one outside wall, the chimney was down and all the windows had blown out.  He said we could ask his wife, so we knocked on the door and waited.  She had been going through things in the house, looking for what she wanted to salvage.  Apparently many, many volunteers had come right after the storm and bagged up all their personal items in huge garbage bags and placed them in the house.  She invited us in and the destruction was sad to see.  All the floors were covered in broken glass.  I asked if we could pick that up and she said they would be tearing down the house so there was no point.

Julia was her name and she told us she was so thankful her son, who lived in the house behind her, was with them when the storm hit.  His house isn’t there anymore.  Either is her neighbor’s house.  A few people died in the storm but Julia and Ernesto and family just huddled in a corner of their living room – kind of like an alcove – with no windows.  She said they stayed below the guardian angel on the wall and the picture of Jesus, and they all made it through.  It was easy to see she had shell shock as both her and her husband were dazed and confused.  So sad.

Peg, who wears a pin every time she leaves her house that says, "How can I PRAY for you?",  offered to pray for them and they didn’t turn her down.  We formed a circle in their driveway and as we prayed we asked God’s favor on them and quick response from the insurance company so they wouldn’t have to live in the hotel for too long before a new house is built.  We asked God to open their eyes to see the good in the situation and what Satan meant for harm, we asked God to turn it for good.   It would have been nice to do something tangible for them besides pray, but I’ve been praying for them every day since then and I trust God will see them through.

We headed back to Peg and Don’s house for lunch and Don was feeling well enough to finally join us on a little outing.  We went over to see the Japanese Gardens and it was the perfect day for such a thing as the sun was shining brightly and the flowers were in bloom.  We walked around the park and then back to the car to head down by the riverside again and walk along the trail system they have there – checking out some of the cool artwork they hand from under the overpasses.  It was all very nice.

We had a relaxing afternoon and there was no final mad dash to the airport to catch our plane home – everything just happened according to it’s own time. 

I discovered I’d left my coat on the airplane on the trip to Texas so we said a prayer it would be in the lost and found – and sure enough – it was.  I was also concerned about carrying on a bottle of liquid smoke and a rake that I bought, but those items were allowed.  I’ve never traveled on Good Friday before and it was kinda eerie as to how few people were in the entire airport.  We had no problems with anything and the flight home was smack dab on time.  Perfect trip in every way.  We felt so blessed to have such a wonderful time with Peg and Don, to see the city from a local’s’ perspective and to be able to do a little volunteer work in the midst of having so much fun.  It really was one of our best family vacations.  Hallelujah!