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|  Happy Thanksgiving week!
So much to be thankful for. In the midst of all that happens in my daily life is always my relationship with the Lord. He is so faithful and leads me on each day.
His word is my comfort, my strength, my food and drink, a treasure, and such a gift. We had a great time of worship and prayer yesterday evening. I am thankful for the likemindedness that comes when we all meet and go before the Lord together...so many personalities, all united together. And coming home, being with Bob and David on these first chilly nights, talking, reading, being cozy. Our David had some problems with his back again. He has been having spasms between his shoulder blades. The Chiropractor, who lives on our street, even made a house call on Saturday night and adjusted David. Then I took him into the office on Sunday morning before church. But he was hurting badly again by Sunday night. They prayed over him last night after the meeting. One of our elders felt the Lord was saying it is because of David's rapid growth. We stopped on the way home and bought a new hot water bottle, and some tiger balm. That helped a lot, also gave him some aleave so he could relax and sleep. He is feeling better today.
I have lots of projects for the week. I love these Fall arrangements above. They were at the florist during our visit to Roger's Garden center. I have lots of pretty leaves, fruit, and gourds for our center piece... butjust loved seeing these. I usually do buy sunflowers as they are so pretty in the mix, and Trader Joes sells a bunch for $3-$4. I am having Thanksgiving dinner at my house, so have a list of things to do in the next days:
finish fixing and recovering dining chairs...Bob did this over the weekend!!
menu - call family on what to bring
Shop for food
Clear dining and living room of excess stuff and put away
Straighten office
wash patio door and picture window
clean deck and put out twinkle lights
Rug? - there is a big spot in the dining room
Clean house
Decorate
Set up entry table for desert
Set up laundry area for service of food.
shine silver
cook pies
Life has been too busy for some things of late. I just had Bob get out the Fall decor box this weekend...so it will be a quick visit this year. In and out again for Christmas. He couldn't find the box with my Fall wreath so I am just putting some Fall color onto the grapevine wreath I already had up. It works! 
So, David is reading, I will give him some more schoolwork to do while I go water the garden and run off to the store.
I cropped some photos of the pictures Nana painted. They are nice without the frames that I cannot manage to photograph straight...these had the feeling of Fall.
I enjoy Thanksgiving. It is a holiday that is so much about spending time together and thankfulness to the Lord for all He showers on us. Do you feel that way too?
My older boys and their wives will not be with us this year, but we will talk to them, and enjoy those we are with!
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Almost forgot. News on Colton for those of you praying for that dear little boy. They are now home and continuing on the Ketogenic diet. Too early to know if it will stop the seizures, but we are hoping and praying so. The richness of the fat is hard on his little stomach, so pray he would adjust and that they would all have strength and grace in this.
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|  Colton on his super neat bike that keeps him safe Prayer request - Please pray for my Cousin's son Colton. He is four years old and suffers from epilepsy which does not respond to meds. He is at Stanford Univ. and started the Ketogenic diet yesterday. Please pray it stops his seizures and heals him. He had 30 yesterday and 20 already this morning. Please also pray for his Dad and Mom, John and Chase for strength and grace.
Colton yesterday as they check his Oxygen levels.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We have been catching up on our sleep around here. First night last night with our light down comforter as the nights are turning chilly. David and I both seem to be sleeping hard and long. I guess that is part of recovering when you are sleep deprived. I felt like I was catching something this weekend, I had a very scratchy throat. So I have been gargling saltwater solution, as I read that will kill the germs, and feel so much better today. I will continue to gargle to make sure.
Friday, David and I, had a nice outing with my mom, sister Mary, and Brianna. We went to a favorite nursery that has wonderful displays for Christmas and Thanksgiving. I will be posting more about that soon. It was a nice time together, and we finally celebrated my mom's birthday!
We received a call from the center that Grandpa is living at, they said he was doing so well that we could come down for a visit. We went and had dinner with him on Friday evening. We arrived at 5 PM for dinner and he was already eating his soup. The server moved him over to another table so that we could all sit together. He looked good, very groomed and clean shaven. He did look tired and was a bit confused. It will be good to go during the day this week to see him when he is a bit more awake. We stayed about three hours and wandered around with him to see everything and find his room. It has a bed, nightstand, amoire, and dresser. Bob and David took an easy chair down last night with a blue afghan that Nana made. Then he can sit and look out into the courtyard garden from his room. They told us he likes the garden and goes out there to sit a lot. He did look like he was tan from sitting in the sun.
We also collected paintings from his house this weekend that Nana had painted to put up in his room. He has two walls that will hold quite a few paintings. I am also going to hang the Lord's prayer that Nana did in stitchery. Grandpa wondered how we found him, so I know he feels a bit lost. He was pretty content with us all evening, and only asked to go with us when we were leaving, and Bob took him to his room.
sorry...I find paintings hard to photograph!! These ones are of the pacific Northwest. I also have a beach scene, a green barn, a Fall scene, and an adobe mission to put up in Grandpa's room.
  
There are many things we like about Grandpa's new home. The activites, nice facility, great staff, and his roommate is very upbeat and friendly ( they have found that most do better with a roommate ). We are a bit concerned about the evenings when not much is going on other that snacks and TV. They are trying to have the residents dial down then, but we saw that many are much worse off than Grandpa, and wonder if a smaller place might be better. But then you give up all the area to roam in and the scale of activites. We will continue to visit, pray, and look around at options. We ate pudding and yogurt at one of the little dining areas during the evening. Then Bob, David, and Grandpa played a game with one of the plastic containers and their spoons hitting it around. Grandpa is very co-ordinated and keeps up well. We laughed a lot. People that lived there looked interested, some happily, some frowned. We enjoyed a golden retriever dog, and two furry cats. All the animals are very friendly of course!
"Pray in the Spirit at all times with all kinds of prayers, asking for everything you need." Ephesians 6:18
Saturday we went up to Grandpa's house to try to sort things out now that we are free to do that. There is a lifetime of things there. I felt sad missing Nana again as I began to go through her things. Bob gave me a big hug as I started to weep. It was alright, I was thankful to have had such a wonderful love and friendship with my husband's mom. We talked again about how we would like to love others as Nana did. Nana's best friend, Shirley, came over and took a lot of her clothing away. She and some other ladies from church would pick things they would like and then she will donate the rest. I picked out photos, and paintings for Grandpa. I took pictures of a lot of the personal things like china and decorative things that family members might like so I can get their input. We also took measurements of a couple pieces of furniture that we will bring home.
Bob was gathering some things together that he needed to take care of, as well as going over buisness things. He arranged some more care details with one of the tenents from in the back apartment. David swept and raked and made the front of the property look better. There is a lot to care for, the biggest job for us is to take care of packing things up and all the furnishings. Bob is going to have the house reroofed. I had hoped it could just be patched,but it is too old and needs it. We will then have the inside painted and the carpets cleaned.
We brought home true treasure... a very old family Bible from 1883. Bob is thinking that he will use it at home as it is such a large format it is really nice to read from.
Sunday we enjoyed time at church. Many miracles going on in peoples hearts and relationships that we heard during fellowship time. It is good to see the Lord's work of restoration.
" You were taught to be made new in your hearts, to become a new person...Made to be like God- made to be truly good and holy. " Ephesians 4:23-24
In the afternoon I puttered around here at home, rested, read a book, and went over to the garden to water and pick greens for dinner. Bob and David went and played more disc golf. They have been bit by the disc golf bug!
Here are some more pictures from last weekend with Dan and Heidi.
We went to two different courses over the weekend. The first in Huntington Beach.
Looking over the map and figuring out where we go next!
We only had time for 9 "holes" but it was fun. My family is over to the right in this shot working at getting a disc out of one of the big trees. They finally got it with a big softball from the pro shop.
The other course we went to play at was this lovely course in La Mirada, across the street from Biola University, where Dan and Heidi met one another.
At the first tee!
 
It was a beautiful Fall evening!
We were loosing light so tried to play quickly as the sun set.
one of the basket/holes.
I like the small hop as David tees off.
 
This is the most walking I have done since hurting my knee. I got tired and achy but did well. It even seems to have helped some. The knee is taking its time, still stiff, but not so sore  My back and hips are better too due to the enforced rest.
We played until it was getting too dark to see, then gave lots of hugs and kisses good-bye to Daniel and Heidi. They went and had dinner with college friends before heading home.
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We have been preparing paperwork for Grandpa to go to a Senior living center for day care. They specialize in patients with Alzheimer and Dementia. He went for a few hours over the weekend while Daniel and Heidi were visiting and did very well. Talking and praying over the last few weeks, and quite a few melt downs by David and myself, we made the decision that we could no longer be the full time care takers of Grandpa. He has been getting up almost every night and opening the front door, even with locks and barricades. Turns on lights and wakes up David and myself. Bob sleeps through pretty much everything! The fuse box was open on Weds. morning. Of course during the day there is a lot to taking care of Grandpa with meals, explaining things over and over, toileting, and showering, washing clothing or bedding, tending to his skin, taking for walks, and oh so much. During the summer it was a challenge, but since the school year has begun we have been struggling more and more. It is difficult to get seven subjects done, yet alone think straight! David has struggled with feeling sick, from lack of sleep, and from the smells of caring for the elderly. I have been blessed by his maturity and acting in love, even when he didn't "feel" like it.
Grandpa and Bob looking at old photos together
Tuesday we sure needed a break after another rough night, so I brought Grandpa down to the center for a day visit. I wondered if he would go in willingly after being there before, but it was no problem, he went in and said," hiya fellows" to some men waiting by the entrance to go out. Then he went with a young lady to see what everyone was doing in one of the recreation rooms. I talked on the phone to one of the directors and asked about what we needed to do to place Dad permanently, she said," he is here now, you can just leave him here. It is better to do so than wait til it is an emergency". Wow. You see we already had the paperwork and medical all done, but I never expected it to happen so smoothly or quickly. I talked to my husband at work and he said to go ahead. I felt so many emotions, and I cried. When you care for someone as a woman, it brings out all your nurturing, I felt relief, yet deep sadness in taking this step. I told Bob that I felt I was letting him and Grandpa down, plus I felt like I was pulling a fast one on Grandpa. He assured me that I was not to feel that way. It also helps to know that this is what Nana wanted for Grandpa. She knew how difficult he was to care for and tried to get us to promise we would place him in care. I told her I could not promise, but if it was too much that we would. If it was just Bob and myself, I would continue to care for Grandpa, even though difficult. But I saw the blue shaddows under David's eyes, and the inability to do our homeschooling, the continual struggle. Right now he is a higher priority as our son. I too feel like I am old and wrinkled. Worn out.
They called to say that Grandpa was doing so well that they were going to waive the move-in fee of $4000! They normally have to assign someone to shadow and wait on a new resident for 2 weeks or so to get them used to the community. They said he was doing so very well, and was such a nice man that they would not need to give him so much attention! That must be the Lord. We were amazed. Dad IS a nice man, but we have always said he was stubborn and argumentative, even before.  Nana definitely would have got a kick out of this! I had told them that he was very social and would behave himself, as we always saw him politely greeting people at church and various places, even when he doesn't know who they are. We take this for granted, but it truely is a blessing in this culture to have manners! Convicts me to continue to show grace and love to those around me. I was raised this way, but sometimes have to get past my own shyness to reach out to people.
The center is only about 6 minutes away and we can go to visit frequently once Grandpa is settled. It is hard right now because we need to leave him for awhile so that he has a chance to settle in and not want to leave. We saw this when he moved in with us, he kept wanting to go home, but after a couple weeks he wanted to stay here. I wish I had a little viewer that I could look through to watch how he is doing. I collected together Grandpa's clothing, washed a few things,and Bob took it down on Tues. night. I have been praying for Grandpa,and thinking about him so much. There is relief to be sure, but also a loss. You feel like something is not right. You know when you are used to taking care of your children and then they go off with Grandparents, you keep feeling like you should be doing something? It is like that.
David has been vacuuming and moving furniture. Moving back into his room that he gave to Grandpa. After two nights of sleep he looks better. Hopefully we can get back on track with school. He is a young Junior, having just turned 16, so it is really not a problem if we decide to take longer with his schooling. We will see how it all goes.
Now that we have more time available we will be driving up to LA on the weekend to work on the house. Now more than ever we need to get it all cleaned out and ready to rent, as we will be using the rent to help pay for the residence Grandpa moved to. It is a very nice place. It is decorated like a house/hotel/resort. It is community living, so not quite like a house, but done up so nicely with furnishings, carpet, linens on the tables in the dining room, pictures, a garden in the center, cats and dogs running around, an aviary, recreation rooms, TV rooms, small kitchens with snacks, and more. Not at all like a nursing home or anything like that, though they do have nursing staff as well as all sorts of helpers (voted by employees as a top place to work). They told us Grandpa would most likely even improve after he gets used to things as they have so much designed to entertain, exercise, and help him. He will sleep better too. We have had reports he is a good eater and likes ice cream!! We knew that As a veteran of WWII it is likely that he will qualify for some extra aide toward his care. Not anywhere near the cost of care, but every extra bit will help towards the total.
So that is the big news around here. I want to know how Grandpa is today, so will go make a phone call.
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| We were so happy to hear that our eldest son, Daniel, and his wife Heidi would be coming to visit us for a few days. They arrived in the wee hours of the morning on Thursday , as they came down after work. Most of that day was spent sitting and talking with them, and taking it easy.
 
geranium flowers on the deck and apple bread
 
David and Dan hanging out and talking
Bob had gone in early to work so that he could come home early and spend time with them. As soon as he arrived home we all headed off to one of the local parks to enjoy the view and play around with Daniel's discs.
 
He and Heidi have taken up disc golf recently, as they live right next to a course in their town of Merced, and it is a great group activity. We used this park to practice using the various disks, just using tree, poles, or trash bins for the targets.
It was a beautiful evening. I tried to get some photos as I was enjoying the family. A challenge at times as they were all moving about!
 
Bob and Grandpa throwing discs. Grandpa did fall down once, but it was when making a lunge for a disc. He got a big bruise on his elbow...but thankfully that was all due to the soft grass.
 
Father and two sons...fun to see how alike they are, yet unique!
Brothers! Dan is 10 years older than David. But the little bro is catching up in height. I see how much he has to grow still when next to Daniel.
My favorite shot of the weekend...Daniel, Bob,and David!
Dan and Heidi celebrated their 3rd anniversary in October.
The sky was turning so beautiful with these clouds.
I love being with my family!!
Lining up for the next shot
 
Heidi throws with so much energy and grace! These are her beginning and ending poses.
 
Playing through and under the canopy of trees.
We pretty much played disc golf all weekend...so I will follow with some more on this!
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Grandpa had his first visit to Senior care over the weekend as we couldn't take him everywhere with us. He wondered why he was there but two of the girls there offered him coffee and he went off happily with them. It went well overall, he liked the icecream and wanted to show Bob and David around when they picked him up. He did think that we should just "stick with this operation". I think we will be moving him into live full time this month as we are seeing too much of a strain on David's schooling and sleep. It is a difficult thing to do, though I think Grandpa will be happy once he is used to it, and it is only a few minutes away. We went to the new Doctor's office down here today and that went really well. He just needed a TB test and had his BP and a quick check of the lungs. Everyone is always amazed to hear an 87 year old doesn't take any meds! Grandpa is always very confused when other people are here, and worries about the food. There is always enough so we just let him know that.
Off to have dinner now. Hope you all are having a good Monday! Blessings, Jenny
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On the next day in Colorado, Nick and Alicia both took off work so that we could spend the day together. This was another favorite day, scenery, and time with my family!! We decided to drive to Rocky Mountain National Park. Even though it would take longer we decided to drive there by way of one of the Scenic Highways, and it was beautiful, and very scenic the entire trip up.
We stopped to stretch our legs, and make a pit stop at a small town on the way...very pretty with fun little shops. Alicia bought some chamomile to flavor the Gelato at work.
Saw this quaint little church along the highway.
We continued driving until we arrived in Estes Park, CO. We stopped before we even drove into the park because we came upon these Elk.
Many elk were wandering across the road, and into the various yards and fields, so we pulled over to watch them.
We thought this guy was beautiful...
And this big guy literally stopped traffic.
We enjoyed watching the elk in this field, and helped shoo some of the elk away from one of the flower gardens, as the lady that lived here came out and was shooing them away from her home. That was a nice meeting as she told us a bit more about the elk and what it was like living with them.
From here we drove into the park, stopped to talk to the rangers and look at the visitors center, then onto this lovely area.
We ate our picnic lunch next to this stream,below the cascades, before heading into the mountains in the background. We soon had a cute little visitor very interested in our lunch!
 
David was busy climbing around even during lunch!
Alicia enjoying the chipmunk
David
Nick
Water is so restful and melodic as it splashes over the rocks, and lunch eaten out of doors is so welcome!
I always enjoy seeing my boys together.
...and of course our cute couple.
beautiful colors...
We got back in the car and headed up the pass over the Mountains. You can see the area that we picnicked , down below and over to the left. The road we drove up is on the right.
It was very windy, look at Alicia's hair! Very brisk too.
Beautiful views to enjoy off the edge
And this lovely bird. When he would fly it was in a swift zooming and twirling motion, and very pretty black and while wings.
Up and up to about 12,000 feet,and we saw this herd of elk grazing in the upper meadows.
Stopping and looking out at the many mountains and alpine lakes...it was so beautiful.
We hiked up to the top of the area...you did feel on top of the world...or at least this part of the Rockies. It was a very exhilarating feeling. I tried to think when I felt this way before, and I recalled that it is when downhill skiing. I enjoyed this day so very much...pure happiness!
It would be wonderful to come up here when all the wild flowers are in bloom. The Ranger said that was about a month before our August trip. It varies year to year depending on when the snow melts. We still found the meadows beautiful as there were some tiny flowers and so much color in the grasses and on the lichen covered rocks.
The marker telling about all the surrounding peaks and sites.
It was quite chilly, we told Alicia she was being a real Colorado girl in her shirt sleeves.
 
The camera batteries ran out while on the walk and David ran down to the car and back so we could have photos of all the flowers and views. Even our long-legged guy was puffing when he returned at this high altitude. The next day his chest was sore from running at this altitude.
We hoped to see some Marmots on this hike, and finally saw this fellow on the way back down. Can you see him right in the middle amidst the rocks?
A busy fellow putting on a layer of fat for the winter.
David captured the beauty of the rock, grasses, and flowers
We continued down the other side of the mountain. There were beautiful yellow, pink, and red wild flowers along the road in spots, but no where to stop, so we just had to enjoy them as we went! On the other side there is an area of meadows, streams, and the headwaters of the Colorado river. We were told that there were moose sightings along here, so we kept our eyes open.
We stopped here when we saw a lot of people on the side of the road. You can just see the head and ears of the mama moose over the log. Someone else was nice enough to tell us that there was a moose further down the road that was easier to see. They also told us to look for a certain bridge. We were happy for the directions as we would have driven right by and this mama moose who came right out of the bushes!
Here she is checking on her baby, which we saw briefly, but was scared away when a noisy motorcycle drove by.
Alicia was delighted to get to see the moose!
Our last wild life sighting of the day was this osprey nest next across the street from a lake.
David took this shot by putting the camera lens up to his field glasses.
We headed back down the mountains to a quick dinner and off to Nick and Alicia's church. They were both teaching the youth that night and needed to get back!
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A long post...but that was such an enjoyable and scenic day full of wonder!!
Dan, Heidi, and David are off to Six Flags today. They slept at my mom's last night so they could all be rested. Grandpa was up prowling around in the night, so it is good they were not here. I am tired today and achy, but hope to get a few things done during this quiet day sunny Fall day.
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