Sunday Sabbath  October 18 2015  DOMESTIC BLISS

CALENDAR WISDOM

OCTOBER 18, 2015

You can’t do a kindness

Without a reward,

Not in silver nor gold

But in joy from the Lord.

We drove to Branson today to cut the last leg of our trip shorter.  Domestic bliss is ringing in my ears.  The dishwasher is howling (quite loudly), the washer is swishing, and Dave is watching a football game.  That is domestic bliss.  The dishes will be clean in the morning, we will have our compression stockings freshly laundered for tomorrow, and my husband is delightfully happy to be watching football.  See what you learn, when you read my blog?  Now you know that we BOTH wear compression stockings.  If you have problems with swelling in your legs I highly recommend them.  They are expensive leggings but well worth it.  A little tricky to put on though.  It is almost unbelievable as to how much more energy I have when I wear them.  Also, I have less leg and foot pain after a long day on my feet.

Our final farewell seemed to go better than I thought it would.  It was hard for us to leave Aunt Esther because no one else was left behind with her.  And she used every ploy to get us to stay just a little longer.  She even tried to get her Christmas decorations out so we could see them.  We gently encouraged her not to.  Our goal was to arrive in Branson before dark and we accomplished that goal. 

We begin a busy week ahead.  We will be heading back with winter looking us in the face.  Dave is limited as to what he can lift, as well as some other limitations so his work will be cut to a minimum.  He is having surgery on Friday to repair a large inguinal hernia.  It has become worse this week.  He is taking it easy between now and Friday (according to me) but according to him he plans to finish putting all our patio furniture away.  We’ll see.  Please pray that all will go well with his surgery and recovery.

Sunday must be Aunt Esther’s favorite day.  She talked about Sunday all week and how much she looked forward to us going to church with her.  She was excited as a child on Christmas morning when she woke up and knew it was Sunday.  She loves the Lord so deeply that she just loves to be in the house of God.  I love to hear her pray.  When she prays to bless the food she prays and prays and thanks God for so much as well as spends a little time in Praise to the Heavenly Father.  And the prayer ends.  It is only later that I realized she usually fails to thank God for the food.  I think God in heaven must be looking down upon Esther, smiling His biggest grin as she prays her sincere and loving prayer to Him.  I feel so blessed to be in the presence of such an earnest lady.  She is truly a woman of God.

I tried my best to remember all the little things that touched my heart so deeply; the things Esther said, watching her go through her treasure box full of memories, sorting through the refrigerator, one of her favorite things to do, (especially with all my food in there too), being so excited about going to church, listening to her prayers, and watching her take all the kitchen scraps out to the garden to feed the birds and nourish the land.  Even though her garden is no more she still respects the earth and in her own little way is doing her best to give back all it has given her.  There was a time when her garden fed her family, friends, and other relatives through the winter.  Nothing quite like eating her creamed corn in the off season.  I wish we could have stayed a lot longer.

On Thursday when we traveled through the mountains I mentioned the beautiful colors of the trees.  Today was even more spectacular.  There was an unbelievable climatic buildup of fall color that presented itself.  The difference in just a few days was astounding.  We traveled in the later afternoon sun and the light made the colors burst as if a magic wand was sparkling the leaves with glitter.  The shades of yellows, golds, reds, rusts, and amber became alive with animation as the light caught the facets of the leaves as they were kissed by the brilliant sun.  Again, I was driving and couldn’t view all I wanted to see but at least when I arrived in Branson I was not seasick.  Unless I am driving the winding roads I am attacked with vertigo.  Not a happy condition to be in because I never know how long it will last.  My son, as a young person, always became extremely sick on trips and it took us a few years to figure out that he didn’t always get the flue on vacation, but rather he became carsick in the back seat.  It was our daughter who figured it out.  Simple solution…he had to ride in the front seat on the winding roads just like his mother, (which would now be illegal).  It was a simple solution to not having the mess all over the back seat.  I could tell you about some horrendous vacations!  But I won’t.

We are settled in, dinner is over, appliances are now quiet with eight stockings hanging in the downstairs bathroom.  Dave is still watching the game in the downstairs bedroom but the door is closed so all I hear now is the constant humming of the refrigerator and the buzz of ringing in my ears that never lets up.  Sometimes I am used to it and sometimes I am not.  Tonight I am not.  Which means I am probably extra tired.  So I shall write my poem (whatever it may be) and go to bed.

ROMANTIC GETAWAY

By Kathleen Martens

October 18, 2015

The night is young,

My body old.

The warmth of day

Replaced with cold.

Romantic getaway

With just us two,

But it’s difficult

When football woos. (Dave wants me to change this line to: “WHEN MY BLOG WOOS”.)

I’ll go upstairs

All alone

With just me

And my phone.

And be so glad

That I can sleep

And perhaps my man

Won’t make a peep.

I hope Dave thoroughly enjoys his football.  He has been long without it.  Thanks honey!

Good night world.  Sleep tight. Don’t let the bedbugs bite!

P.S.  Last night after I published the blog on my Aunt’s Wi-Fi I decided to check my emails.  I had opened a couple and then poof, the Wi-Fi disappeared.  Esther’s son told me he had cancelled it and it would be turned off at any time but I could use it until it was turned off.  Well, the timing was absolutely perfect.  I wrote my blog earlier than usual, Dave and I proofed it, and then thinking nothing of it I worked on my emails.  AND THEN IT DISAPPEARED!  How is that for timing?  I consider it God’s timing.