Prayers Needed

I had hoped that 2008 would be less of a roller coaster than 2007 but I'm beginning to have my doubts.

Our family needs your prayers right now.

My Grandma Woodruff is on oxygen to help her breathing plus she has a hospital bed and adult potty chair in her living room now.

My Mom's eye doctor found "red dots" and "white dashes" in her eyes on Monday and made an appointment to see her doctor because these can mean either diabetes, high blood pressure, or both. Mom's appointment is tomorrow afternoon.

My Dad is driving although he's not supposed to be while the doctor's work on his medications to try and figure out why he has strange episodes every 3 to 4 months.

Our oldest cat Midnight is at the vet hospital here in Plain City. He began vomiting last night, stopped temporarily, and started vomiting again this afternoon. The doctor had to sedate Mid in order to draw blood to do testing. The doctor just called and his white cell count is elevated. There is a chance this could be normal or he could have cancer. While Mid is sedated, the doctor is going to do x-rays to check for any blockages and call back with another status. Mid will stay at the hospital overnight tonight and receive fluids.

When I got out of bed at 4 AM this morning so that I could get to Starbucks at 5:30 and review employment applications before my friend Pat arrived at 6:30, I thought the worst thing today was going to be that I'd be tired.

If only I had been right.....

Strength of Serenity

God, please grant Jon and I the strength of the "Serenity Prayer".

Although misplaced at the moment, I have a beautiful card with the prayer on it that I was given when I was in the MOMS Group at church. I have a copy printed from the Internet posted on my bulletin board at work.

We're both dealing with things beyond our control right now and strength is waning (mostly from lack of sleep!).

Your strength helped me get through the IDPA meeting in Jon's basement room that I thought would never end!

Your strength will help both of us get through an OSNA board meeting later today. Jon needs more strength than me because he has to sit in the "meeting with no end" listening to windbags!

Please help us get through to the end of year when Jon's on-call period ends at work and he turns things back over to his co-worker Rich. Just in the past week, Jon has been called so frequently and had to go in off-hours that he's earned enough overtime to pay for the fancier than planned counter stools we bought with enough left to buy me the low-end digital camera I want for my birthday! The added money is a benefit but it comes at the sacrifice of sleep for both of us, especially Jon. Although I don't sleep well while he's gone in the middle of the night, I can at least lay in bed and nod off but he's at the office trying to resolve issues.

I know there will be more times when we need your strength and we will call on you unless you see our needs first!

Amen.

Called to Serve

Since passing my final Certified Manager's exam last week, I received a calling. I prayed because I was confused at first. The time in prayer cleared up that I was being "called to serve".

Many years ago before Jon and I had our son Jonnie, one of the state K of C head honchos for the state chose the theme of "Called to Serve" for his term. I remember the program book and a t-shirt that Jon received that had a stained glass looking picture of Jesus in a circle and the words "Called to Serve" on it. We have long since given that t-shirt away to someone who needed it more than us but the words "called to serve" still ring strong with me.

Just in the past week, I have committed to being a Fish Fry Baking Angel, requested more information about the St. Martin de Porres Society at our church, agreed to attend a meeting on the 3rd about our "Journey with Jesus" vacation bible school program, and I'll be leaving short to go to the Plain City Food Pantry to do cleaning and painting for what is hoped to be a thrift store area.

Of course, I have not forgotten my mission trip to New Orleans at the end of March! I just remembered that I need to try and get my old car seat out of my car so that I can give it to a couple who collects and stores items to take to Appalachia.

I have a little voice inside my head that wonders if I'm starting to bite off more than I can chew. At this point, it does not seem to be an issue. Once shooting matches start up again, things might change. At this point, my calling to serve others less fortunate is drowning out the other voice!

I need to wrap this up. Jon sent out dues bill for two Knights organizations last month so we've had payments arriving over the past several weeks. I finally had time to get caught up on the payments that had piled up and I'm now able to process payments that arrive as they come in. I need to take some membership cards to the post office so they can get to their respective Knights and then it's off to the food pantry. After I get home, I'll have about 4-5 guys coming over for chili and shooting match planning in the basement! Hopefully, they'll share the chili!

Have a Blessed weekend!

Reflections on this week

I thought I'd take a few moments to reflect on this week.

I was dreading this week because Jon and I had to carpool while his van was at the body shop being repaired. Despite my dread, I hated to find out Jonnie had pink eye. We were lucky that we found it on Sunday night and could get to Urgent Care and have an action plan before we officially started the work week.

Jon had meetings on Monday and I thought my schedule was clear (I did forget a conference call, oops, but a co-worker stepped in for me) so I was the one who stayed home while Jon had my car. I was rather nervous about him having my car so far away unsupervised but it all worked out in more ways than one. Jon called me on Monday morning and said "Your car (expletive deleted) stinks!". I'd been telling him since November that I thought I was smelling fuel shortly after I had some work done on it. He told me to get an air freshener. I did and my car smelled like jasmine and fuel at times. It was not until Jon was in my car driving to and from work that he realized that it did smell. He also could not believe his eyes when he looked at the gas gauge after going 40 miles round trip to work because it was down to 3/4 of a tank. I had just filled up on Sunday night.

I had the car on Tuesday so that I could go to work while Jon stayed home with Jonnie for his two required days home to allow the antibiotics to work on his eye.

Wednesday came and all 3 of us were piled into my car. I felt like a sardine. Jonnie was in his booster seat behind me. My briefcase and purse were in Jonnie's old car seat (I haven't found the directions to figure out how to deinstall it), and Jon was in the passengers seat with a bulky coat and a box of dues notices. Timing worked out and a bus pulled up right after I dropped Jon off at the bus stop. His bus was going by as I was walking from my car to the building. I offered him curbside service that afternoon and picked him up at his office where he reminded me again that my car stinks. Oops, somebody forgot to call Jim Keim, huh?

Today, we all piled in like sardines again. I dropped Jon off at his office so that I could get him early and get him to the body shop to get the van before it closed at 5. We got there with a few minutes to spare. I'm going in early tomorrow to make up time where I was late this week from carpooling. When I get off work, I have to drop off my car at Jim Keim and have Jon pick me up. I should be able to get my car back on Saturday. The good news is that when Jon called the dealership and explained the issues with my car and how it seems to be related to the work done at the end of October, they were more than willing to have us bring it over to fix it for free.

Well, Mid is sitting here pacing across my desk impatiently waiting for my chair so he can lay down for nap. We have other chairs in the house that I think are more comfy than my office chair but I think Mid likes to "blend in" with the black fabric of the chair. Wow, that was a big yawn. I'd better sign off and let my cat sleep!

Called to be a Missionary

It's always been a dream of mine to take a mission trip within the United States to help those in need. Up to this point, it's not materialized.

This changed when I was reading the church bulletin while eating lunch yesterday. Our youth minister wrote about an opportunity coming up at the end of March to take a bus trip to Louisiana to help continue rebuilding after Katrina. I jumped out my seat and ran the to garage where Jon was washing the inside of the van. I told him how much I wanted to go and he is supporting me. I ran to the computer (meanwhile, my turkey chili got cold) and emailed our youth minister to see if adults were welcome. She said the trip welcomes anyone who wants to go.

I'm so excited about the trip. Kelly and I talked briefly at our Ephinany potluck last night and I told her that I've already gotten the time off work and that Jon is willing to watch Jonnie while I'm gone. Jon did realize he has a shooting match while I'm gone so we're going to have to track down an all day babysitter.

The trip also changes our Easter plans. We were going to head North for dinner at Aunt Nina's but since the bus leaves on Easter Sunday night, I think we're all staying local. Jon didn't like the idea of leaving me behind since I'll be gone for a week so that he and Jonnie could make the trip North.

I told Jon that if OSU wins the National Championship against LSU that I will pack an OSU shirt to wear every day during my trip. He just laughed at me and my Mom chuckled when I told her about it.

I usually get monetary gifts for my birthday so I am going to put the money toward the cost of my trip. I also want to try and find a pair of work boots.

My excitement was dampened slightly when we got to the Ephiany potluck last night and realized that Jonnie's eye was very red. We stayed for the skit, prayer, and eating. We went to Nationwide Children's in Dublin and Jonnie's out of day care for two days and antibiotic eye drops for a week. Seeing that Jonnie's perking up has helped me gain more excitement about my trip.

I have to remind myself that I have an exam that I need to take on the 19th which, hopefully, will allow me to become a Certified Manager. Before that, we need to get through this week of vehicle sharing while Jon's van fender is being repaired. Jon has my car today and I get the car tomorrow while Jon stays home with Jonnie. It's very weird having to share my car.

Anyhow, I should wrap this up and get back to Jonnie.

Have a great week!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, Everyone!

It's hard to believe that Jon and I actually were awake to see the ball drop last night. Usually it's been Jon who was awake and me who was asleep. Both of us kept nodding off while watching TV after Jonnie fell asleep before 10. I had to make some changes to our phone system at work so I needed to stay up at least until 11 PM. I fell asleep and woke up at 11:15. I made the changes I needed to make, washed up for bed, and decided that I might as well stay up. Jon fell asleep on the couch so I nudged his feet so I could sit in the one corner. We changed over to ABC to see Dick Clark. I'd forgotten about him having a stroke and I felt my jaw drop when he started talking. I admire him for not hiding the fact that the stroke impacted his speech.

It's very windy here in Plain City. I woke up before 7 and our pork roast and sauerkraut is in the slow cooker for today. We still have tons of leftovers in the frig. The dinner I made for Jon last night turned out really well. Neither one of us could eat all of our steaks. The peas and pearl onions even tasted good to the point that I chewed the peas instead of swallowing them whole. An sauce made of reduced orange juice with some garlic, pepper, and a little butter seemed to help a lot!

Jonnie helped Jon open his birthday gifts except for the big box. Jonnie told Jon that he might get too tired. Jon's not very emotionally so there is always a doubt of whether or not he likes anything you did for him or bought him. He seemed to think his Jimmie Johnson license plate frame, Jimmie Johnson t-shirt, Jimmie Johnson polo shirt, and Jimmie Johnson corn-hole or corn-toss set were okay.

After the gifts we moved on to the cake that Jonnie and I made on Sunday. I took the lid off the cake saver and was mortified. The top layer slid about a quarter of the way off the second layer. Jon managed to pick it up and put it back on the bottom layer so that he could cut the cake. It was delicious! I guess I know why chefs cheat and use chopsticks to secure the cake layers together. You just have to be really careful when you cut into the cake.

Other than going to mass a little later this morning, I don't think we have any big plans. We talked about going to the OSU rec center but I think maybe we'll just stay at home. It's too cold and windy to go out if we don't have to!

Have a wonderful New Year's Day and may you and yours have a wonderful 2008!