After the good report the other day on Steve's business partner, Mark
Things took a turn for the worst.
I have no followup except to say please pray for his heart functions, God's healing power and the whole family involved.
Thanks
Sue
Always be Grateful
Always be Kind
Thank you my dear friends for all the prayer and support.
I am so thankful for all of you.
Update on Steve's Business Partner... Mark is still sedated but the doctors feel that all of the tests have proven negative. They are reducing some of the meds he is on and his wife says that the Drs. will probably remove the intubation tube today. Mark has a long road ahead of him. That's all I know at this point about him.
Son Steve is starting his 3rd day of this weeks camp. The camp is about 3 hours drive from our house, so he lives there for the entire week and comes home on the weekends. He is at the camp to record all of the activities that the kids do each day. This week it is about 200 junior highers doing their thing.
The internet is very sparse in the mountains so the communication is minimal. Things are going well there and the camper staff is so supportive and are happy with whatever Steve can do. Steve sent this picture to his wife and she passed it on to me.
He titled it Solo Rodeo.
I'm guessing that the camp theme must be about cowboys and all things western.
Continued prayers would be most appreciated for Steve and especially Mark.
I will update when I find out any more news.
Always be Grateful
Always be Kind
As you probably know, our older son Steve is in the professional photography business. He has a business partner named Mark Berhens.
Mark and Steve have been partners for many years and have traveled the world together. This request is for Mark. Mark has been in the hospital for almost a week.
First they couldn't identify the infection and now things have turned into pneumonia with a collapsed lung and fever. He's been intubated also.
This illness couldn't have come at a worse time. They have been working on a big project for one of their sponsors. It was due today. Steve had written the script and some of the software dealings, but Mark was suppose to finish the video end of things. Needless to say it wasn't completed which Steve has been trying to do on his own. He can do it but its not easy.
Then today is the beginning of 4 church camps. Each runs a whole week. They do all the photography and video for the entire week. Its a major job with a really nice paycheck. Now Steve went up north to the camp and is doing double duty to record everything for personal photos and for advertising too. He needs much prayer to accomplish everything in the contract.
So all that to say Prayers appreciated and will update as I find out anything.
Our son Steve on the left and Mark his business partner on the right.
This guy can thrive on pressure but he is also a very dear friend to Mark too.
Lots of stress for the rest of July.
Thanks friends.
Always be Grateful
Always be Kind
THANKFUL THURSDAY
Monday evening Dave wasn't feeling so good so I said I would go out and turn off the sprinklers for him.
Well the hose and I got tangled and down I went! Right on our cement walkway...
Right down on both knees and kind of banged up my arms a bit too. The worst of the damage is to my left knee...its the one that always seems to take the brunt of any disaster.
Being 81 makes a fall that much harder. I was really shook up and after checking everything out I confirmed that I was Still Alive and nothing was broken ... no blood ...
Next on the agenda ... how do I get up from that position ???
It was the only time I went out without my phone. It was still on the arm of my chair.
There was nothing to grab on to to use as a brace. Believe me I did some desperate praying and managed to do it..oh it was not a pretty sight but up I got.
All that to say, I thank the Lord for sparing me. I am turning some lovely shades of black and blue.
And so, life goes limping on.
Always be Grateful
Always be Kind
Well we survived the weekend and I say on to better days ahead.
We are so ready for uneventful times and just to enjoy each day we are blessed with.
Dave still isn't feeling up to par but hopefully amoxicillian will do the job. That's all I am going to say about that at this time.
Now on to some poster boards I finally looked at after many years.
At a bible study I attended way back in the late 1970's, we were given a project.
It was to, through photographs, show our feelings and thankfulness about someone we love and care for.
Big surprise ... I chose my husband. Now remember this was before digital processing and all I had was a point and shoot camera. I have retaken some of these with my phone now to preserve the "oldies but goodies".
I'll just show a few of the photos close up to explain what you are looking at.
Dave has always been the life of the party and was so loved at Sears for the 30 years he worked there. Lots of the staff meetings had him dressing up for something. He made a Big Bird costume and was a baby one time. Dave got to wear the real Winnie the Pooh costume and be Winnie for a promotion.
The photo on the bottom left is from 1961 when he sang with the San Francisco Opera company in their chorus of Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg. It was all in German and they just sang it phonetically not knowing any German.
Dave way back in 1965. He played SATCHMO and sang while our Pastor Roberts played a mean ragtime piano. So much fun to be able to let one's hair down.
Dave and Steve playing together.
Dedication of new born son Mark.
Dave as President Lincoln at a church function.
Dave singing in his college group quartet.
Loving on our best friends daughter and he really is that wild and crazy guy playing at his folks property in our "just married" days.
There are many more photos but I think that's enough for today.
Its just fun to reminisce about the years that have flown by.
Always be Grateful
Always be Kind
Wordless Wednesday
You know ...
Wordless Wednesday is going to be a major fail. I just can't go without adding my own two cents worth to the post.
One year ago today we went through financial fraud. It had a profound effect on our lives. Through the Grace of God we have survived and I do believe we are stronger for it.
Always be Grateful
Always be Kind
Thank you for all of the wonderful comments these last several weeks.
We are so blessed. Both Dave and I are finally feeling more or less "normal" now.
The house is quiet and we have begun to put things back in their rightful places.
One of the things we tried to sell was what we call "Mark's Throne". It is an antique that Dave's Dad bought at auction at least 75 years ago.
What to do with it since its still in our garage?? We tried it several places in our house and it sure didn't look like it belonged. This is where it finally found its home. I think it looks pretty good and doesn't block light or has it become the "elephant" in the room. Mark thought it looked pretty good there and its still his chair, if we can ever sell it or he can get it back up to Oregon some time in the future.
We moved another chair to the other side of the table .
And so we think this will work.
On another note;
In reading Myra's ( Respice, Prospice ) latest blog post I was fascinated by her Mildew Mary picture.
I have a similar thing with my Funky Froggie. My colorful Frog has sat on a rock in our backyard for 18 years, officially 18 years as of today! Now he is all blue and well worn. I just can't seem to say good bye to Frankie, so there he sits through all kinds of weather.
I do love Frankie's expression.
I'm so grateful for the neighbor's bougainvillea that peaks over our fence.
Its such a bright spot behind our grape vines. It doesn't look like we will get any fruit this year but at least the leaves look healthy.
The "lawn" is pretty bad but its still our space to enjoy.
Two nights ago the skunk visited us again. Fortunately we had our sliding glass door closed but he came right up to the pane and looked at us, then waddled away. No smell but I just don't like a "Peeping Tom" in our yard.
Praying for a good week ahead.
Always be Grateful
Always be Kind
Family is all gone and we are back to our daily routine.
What a wonderful time it has been to have our sons and family together.
I am so very grateful.
Believe it or not I even got several "honey-do" things accomplished by Mark.
We desperately needed a new shower head put on in the master bath.
Of course that was a simple thing for Mark to do, but , we found out that the main faucet needed to be replaced to make the whole thing work without having any drips.
So we had to buy a new faucet which came with no Instructions !!!
Thank goodness for uTube...and things didn't fit exactly right the first time. An hour later we have a new combo that works and has more pressure than ever before.
How to spend your final day ... Son and Dad spending time together in the bathroom. 😃
Yay, it was so nice to take a shower and have enough pressure to get the shampoo out of my hair. The appliances don't match but I don't care. They get the job done !
Our final meal all together was at a new restaurant that just opened.
It was called Habachi Buffet. The place was huge and there was every manner of Asian cuisine and American palate. Delicious... We certainly got our money's worth. Not much on the ambiance but our tummies were full.
We love our Family and will cherish this special week together FOREVER.
Always be Grateful
Always be Kind
Well, we are getting to the last few days of the family being together.
Yesterday we took it easy and the sons and our granddaughter, Maddie prepared for our Bountiful Crab and ETC. dinner last night.
Blessed conversation around the table and finished off with Granddaughter Amanda's homemade chocolate cake...
It was so good but there wasn't even a single photo taken of it.
I love our family and am cherishing every minute we have together.
Always be Grateful
Always be Kind
This definitely has been a Whirlwind Weekend ...
The great thing about it is our kids are still here for a few more days.
I am one Happy Mama.
Our garage sale/yard sale was a huge success. We made over $600.00 cash ... Yay ...
Money will absolutely help out our pocket book. That kind of money could not have been made without the hours and hours of hard physical labor and team work by our 2 awesome sons, their wonderful wives, our precious granddaughter and her husband and our sweet granddaughter Maddie.
My heart is so FULL !!
Here are a few photos of our prep time and the actual day of the sale.
A gazillion signs being prepared to put out and about and the beginnings of getting costume jewelry ready for sale too. I am so blessed to have family that is willing to come and work after they worked all day at their jobs.
Then after that process all the tables were brought back into the garage fully loaded. It was a dream at 6:30AM to just pull them out onto the driveway and we were pretty much ready for action. Of course there were lots of added things to display but the majority was ready for action. We said we were open at 8, knowing dealers would be there before 7:15. It just made thing so much more hassle free.
I just can't say enough good things about the way things went and the clean up was so speedy. Physically I have to admit, that was really hard for Dave and I and I am forever grateful for the way things were accomplished. Stuff was divided into donate and keep for further times.
So grateful for Amanda and Billy bringing us pizza for lunch and gobs of Gatorade to wet our whistles.
We all slept good that night.
Bright and not too early Sunday morning we were off to San Francisco. Why did we go the next day after the sale? Well Steve and Sigrid both had to work on Monday and the Fort was only open on the weekend. Its a little over 2 hours drive if the traffic is good. So much construction makes it a pain.
We headed first to Sausalito for deli sandwiches and then headed to the bunkers at the Marin Headlands. The wind practically blew us a way but its always like that at the entrance to the Golden Gate.
Before that it remained closed for many years until Dave's Dad and the Ft. Point Museum Association was formed and these wonderful Military men developed a new future for the Fort.
Dave's Dad was honored by his photos and history shown through out the the Fort.
One thing I wanted more than anything was my 2 sons and their dad to be seen by the Legacy photos of their Grandpa and Dad.
I got them and will treasure them forever.
We were greeted by the most wonderful Park Ranger who knew the people that were involved at the fort. It made Dave's Day to have someone love the Fort as much as he does.
And so today Mark and family will be over and do a few "Honey Do" things for us and just visit and enjoy each other's company.
Its fun to say "TO BE CONTINUED"
Always be Grateful
Always be Kind
