Surprise

For those of you that had given up on me; yes, I am still here, and will give you a brief rundown on the past month.

Everett and I left for SD the 24th of October and spent the next 3 weeks away from home, for the most part. We had a good time in SD for about 10 days, with family, and spent a part of every day at the nursing home with Mom. We did take her to Ken and Margie's house twice while we were there, and she seemed to love the change of scenery even though she was ready to go back after 2-2 1/2 hours. Each time I talk with her she tells me she is waiting for me to come back. Brother Glenn is planning on going to see her in December, and we are planning to go to be with her for her 87th birthday the 20th of Jan. The days are long for her and I am sure she has very little she looks forward to. It gets harder and harder for me to leave her. One thing that was very special to Mom was a large plaque that Phil Stel had bought for her. It says "Faith is not believing that God can, it is knowing that He will". What a statement of faith, and a comfort for Mom and all of us.

We did have an enjoyable time with the rest of the family while we were there. We had dinner at Dorothy's house and saw Jaylon and Gloria that evening. Gloria also came to Ken and Margie one evening and played cards with us. What fun.

We also spent some time talking to Ken and Margie about our upcoming trip to the Netherlands in April '09, and we plan to extend our stay to look up some relatives and find out more about our Vander Tuin heritage. Everett has recently made another connection with his Dad's mothers side of the family ( Groen), so we may have a very interesting time.

We were home two days and then flew to CA so Everett could attend his Pacific Island Ministries board meeting in Grass Valley, Nov. 6-7. The board meeting was very successful and went well for all concerned. There were some heavy issues, so it was good to have resolution.
We spent the weekend with Emily and finally had a tour to Alcatraz. We had inquired a few times, but the tours were always filled, so this time Everett bought tickets on line. It was the only drizzly day, and the fog was very heavy on the boat ride back. It is a very interesting tour and well worth the 2 1/2 hours. The headphones let you take the tour at a slow rate of speed and you can turn it off it you want to take a break.

We did spend some time relaxing and shopping, and then also met our nephew Derrick and his wife Ruth and their darling baby Noah on Sunday evening. We went out to dinner and then back to their house for tea and cookies. It was so good to see them, and Noah is such a good little guy.
Ruth folks Jake and Ada dropped in for a bit and it was nice to see then too, once again.

Since we came back I have spent time getting the basement ready for the grandkids so they can play there during this Thanksgiving weekend. They were down there this evening and having a good time, with just a bit of parental refereeing. The girls out number the boys 5-2 and it was not going so good; the girls were a bit power hungry.

It has also been busy with babysitting grandkids, various appointments, and Coffee Break meetings.

I did go see the Dr. about a toe that I had stubbed 3 months ago when I tripped over the vacuum. The toe did not hurt but stayed red and swollen. He told me after x-rays that yes, it was broken and had tried to heal, but had not been successful, b/c of too much movement. Now the broken toe and the next one are taped together for support and I have to keep them this way for a month, going in once a week to have them retaped. Hopefully it will heal or surgery would be the next option. I will be good, b/c he said it would be surgery similar to a hammertoe.

The next few days will be filled with activity, as we have our church service tomorrow morning, and then our bid dinner about 1 PM.
Friday we will try and get the house decorated for Christmas as we will be celebrating that on Sat. Emily flew in today at 3:30 and will be here until 8 PM on Mon, so we are going to have a party every day!! We are all invited to Brenda and Joel Friday evening.

So that is a quick summary of life at 8900. Not exciting, but very enjoyable.

HAVE A BLESSED THANKSGIVING, AND REMEMBER TO GIVE THANKS FOR ALL OF YOUR BLESSINGS.