Jessie's Moment With Bill

Brenda and Jess went grocery shopping, McDonald's for lunch, bowling and stopped at several stores for other necessary things.  While they were in the medical supply place in Romeo, Brenda was talking with a friend when she realized that Jessie noticed a hospital bed with a chair close to it.  Jess left her side and went to get the chair, put it next to the bed, sat down on it, put her hand on the bed and seemed to be carrying on a conversation.  Brenda said that she couldn't understand what she said, but she was clearly talking to someone. 

I was shocked when she told me this story.  I started to cry and told her that there is a story behind her actions and I went upstairs and got a picture that I had to put away because it has been too hard to look at.  Both Jessie and I would sit next to Bill's bed and just hold his hand when he wasn't feeling well.  Just so that we could be near him and let him know we cared.  Below is the picture I took of Jess and Bill on January 18, 2012:

Brenda stared at the picture and said that Jessie put the chair exactly as it is in the picture.  I wonder if she was talking to her daddy today.  Maybe telling him how much she misses him?  She's been talking about Bill every day now for quite some time. (Saturday will be the 2nd year anniversary of his death.)  As soon as she got home this afternoon she put on home videos and we've been watching Bill for hours.  Sometimes it's good for me to see and hear him.  Most of the time it just reminds me of his forever absence from this earth.  That's hard.

My To Do's Outnumber My Want To's

Do you ever feel that way?  I look around my house and look at everything that I need to do:  cleaning, sorting, washing, cooking, paperwork, etc.  Then I look at the things I want to do: scrapbooking, reading, taking a nap, nothing. There's a battle going on in my mind.  So far the to do's are overtaking my want to's.  Bummer.

Lois came this morning and we worked on various projects after we had our prayer time.  Debbie and Jessie went to KFC and bought us their dollar bbq pulled chicken sandwiches for us for lunch.  When Lois left I did paperwork then went to the post office, the bank, Walgreen's and Kohl's to pay my bill.  Seriously, I didn't leave the front check out area. 

A Usual Tuesday

Brenda and Debbie went swimming, Subway and the Library.  Jon worked and I had the "Healthy Girlfriends" over for Chapter 7 of our book.  All 4 of us were able to be here and it was a fun, informative time.  This week's chapter discussion was on good posture, either sitting, standing or lying down.  Very interesting.

I was going to do some paperwork after lunch but decided to sit and rest.  Made a quick dinner and met a couple ladies from church to discuss the newly formed Ladies Ministry at church for a couple hours.  Rachel was with Jess until Jon got home. 

Here are answers to Becky's questions

I received today regarding the rubbermaids

that I send to Lois in Haiti:

Why do you have to make a hole in the containers?  Rubbermaid lids (we use the Rough tote ones)snap down but there needs to be a way to make it harder for someone to steal the stuff inside.  Zip ties are used to secure the lid to the rubbermaids and tightened so that it makes it quite hard to open.  (That goes for Lois, too.  When she gets her boxes she needs to disinfect them then spends quite a bit of time getting the lids off!). 

What kind of things do you all send?  If Lois were to live in the Capital of Haiti, she would have access to most anything she needed for her personal use or ministry.  Being in the north of Haiti in a small town, items need to be shipped in.  If she buys in the closest town, items cost more than she could afford. When she buys on line and sends then to me or when she is home, she purchases items for herself that she feels she would need for at least a year, such as clothes, toiletries, some foods, etc.  She also buys quite a lot of  items that are used in the Child Evangelism ministry she is involved in.  All the rubbermaids are cleaned and reused in the CEF office for storage, or sold to other people who need reliable storage containers. 

An Added Note:  Shipping companies have changed over the years and sometimes the rubbermaids would take 3-6 months to arrive in her port. (Can you imagine realizing you forgot something, or ran out of it early, and then had to wait months for it to arrive?)   The current ship's owner has a much quicker turn around and she has gotten boxes in a little over a month or two.  That is a real blessing.

Rubbermaids To Haiti

 

 

Yesterday I mentioned that I'd try to find a picture of the type of boat that Lois' rubbermaids are shipped to Haiti.  Although the Lady Lotmore is not used anymore, I'm sure the ship is quite like this one. 

The second picture is of the inside with all the goods piled up high.  To get the idea of depth, there is a man in the lower right of the picture down in the hole with the boxes.  Blue shirt, red cap.  I guess on this trip over, the rubbermaids were not on top!



Thank You Debbie And Jessie For Dinner!

I left the house this morning at 8:45 a.m. and didn't get home until 4:45 p.m.  I was out all day with Lois running errands.  What a nice surprise I had when I got home and saw that the "girls" made chili and coleslaw for supper, along with Chibatta cheesy bread.  What a gift that was.  Thanks, Debbie, for instructing Jessie in how to make our dinner.  Jess ate 2 bowls of chili.  She won't even eat one of mine!

Jon's been pretty much resting these past 4 days that he had off.  He's needed it.  However, around noon he went to the range and got some shooting time in.  I was jealous.  We will have to plan a time when I can go, too!  Thanks, Jon, too, for the loads of wash you did!  I have great kids. 

A Bowl Of Ice Cream For Dinner

Oh, my.  Today was such a busy day.  I don't like Sunday's to be like this, but it was necessary.  First I went to church after Jon came home from church.  Our Spiritual Growth Conference Speaker spoke this morning.  I liked his sermon this morning the best of all his talks.  It was a great service.  It felt so good for me to be in church 3 days in a row.  Each time I got to see different people that I haven't seen in quite some time. 

Lois, Ortha, Jon, Jess and I went to Hong Kong Restaurant for lunch.  It was such fun to watch Jess attack her meal.  She LOVES chicken.  She LOVES rice.  She LOVES bread/buns.  There's not one thing served to her that she doesn't like there. She kept shaking her head in enjoyment, as if she were saying: "Mmmmm um mmmmmm um mmmmm!"

I dropped the kids off at home and went back to Lois' and finished packing the last 2 rubbermaids to be shipped to Haiti.  It is a long, complicated process and takes hours to do even one box.  Before anything is packed, holes need to be drilled through the lid and container. The Rubbermaid is then lined with 2 very large black garbage bags.  Next items are placed just so (I'm a very good packer, if I do say so myself!).  A list must also be made of each item in case of damage or loss of goods.  When packing is done, each garbage bag is sealed at opposite ends.  The lid is placed on top and each hole is filled with a zip tie that is cut and taped to prevent cuts to postal workers.  Then the entire lid is reinforced with tape where ever there might be a hole.  Address the lid, give the box a number and take it to the post office.  It goes from here to Miami by the USPO then it is put on an open aired ship to Haiti.  If I think of it for tomorrow's blog, I'll post a picture of the kind of ship that sails to Haiti.  All boxes are subject to wherever they are placed on the ship.  Either at the bottom of a huge pile or on top where ocean elements are numerous. 

By the time I got home and tried to clean up the kitchen from last night's dinner dishes that were still in the sink, I wanted something to eat.  I was going to make myself a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich, but it was too late for that AND ice cream.  So, I settled for ice cream for dinner.  I'm happy. 

Happy March 1

The Spiritual Life Conference began this morning at 8:15 with a continental breakfast but I didn't make it there until 8:30, which was really OK.  I had plenty of time to eat a donut and banana before the speaker began at 9:00.  He finished a little after 11:00. 

I called Jon and he met me for lunch at Leo's.  From there he went to Kee's Pets again and I came home to rest a bit.  I was going to go to Lois' at 1:30 p.m. and finish packing but my friend, Laura, called.  She had fallen on the ice and needed help getting to Urgent Care.  Luckily she had no broken bones.  Just a very sore right knee and left wrist. 

By the time I got her home and got home myself I was too tired to go pack.  Rachel was here all day to be with Jessie and after she left Chris called and wanted to visit.  She stayed for several hours and we had a good chat and she shared dinner with us.

We're in for several more inches of snow tonight and tomorrow morning.  Doreen said it's my fault since the only Sunday's it snows are the Sunday's I get to go to church.  WELL !!!!!