Another Foot Picture

My foot did seem to be swollen more than it should have been for a bruise. But I kept feeling better and better. I was feeling so well, we went to the zoo for a couple of hours on Tuesday, the 22^nd. My foot felt pretty good and I was able to walk with very little pain. We had fun, and Becca enjoyed the fish, monkeys, elephants, and the carousal. We made it back in time for afternoon school. Our trip to the zoo was our school field trip for September.

That evening, around dinner time, my foot started to ache. It didn’t just throb; it hurt no matter what I did. A week earlier, I had scheduled a trip to the doctor for the 23^rd to see if I was well enough to go back to work. When the doctor saw my foot, he decided to have an X-ray done. How do you say, BROKEN ANKLE! The X-ray tech wouldn’t even let me walk back to the doctor’s office, she had to put me in a wheelchair and take me there. The doctor put me in the boot you see and told me to leave it on even when I slept. I thought, “Ya, like that is going to happen.”

I was able to drive home, and my foot did feel better in the boot. However, I did take it off to sleep, but after 20 minutes out of the boot, the foot started to hurt again, so I put the boot back on. I slept ok, but I kept waking up when I would hit myself with the boot.

The doctor made an appointment for me with an Orthopedic doctor for Friday morning, and I drove there while Marty picked up Jacqueline and JD. They stayed with us until Saturday morning. The doctor said that I did indeed have a broken ankle, but that it was in a good spot. There was no need to cast it, and I could wear the boot as long as I wanted, as long as the pain was there. When I thought I didn’t need it, I could take it off. He said that I would need to do therapy on my ankle. He said to draw the ABC’s with my foot, and do that about 3 times a day. I asked him if I was supposed to use a pencil or an ink pen, and he went on to explain that I just needed to draw them in the air. I hate it when people don’t get my humor!!

He did say that I would not be working for at least the next two weeks. Really glad that I have enough sick leave to handle this. What an adventure this has turned out to be. Who knew riding a motorcycle would have such long lasting effects on a person? (Duh……….from Marty!)

09-14-09 Another picture

Here is my left foot 3 1/2 days later. I hope it gets better soon.

09-11-09 Celebration??

Friday, 9-11-09 will be remembered here for an entirely different reason than 9-11-01. I was on my way to work, riding the motorcycle. It was a nice morning, with the high reaching 87 that afternoon. What a nice day to have the wind blowing as I enjoyed one of the last good riding days before fall and the rains. Well, an odd thing happened on the way into work that morning. I was on the freeway, getting ready to turn off onto my exit, when the truck in front of me slowed down. I slowed down, but I was fast approaching the truck. So I pushed harder on the brakes. Not a wise thing to do. I should have just driven around the truck, but I wasn’t thinking, I just wanted to slow the bike down.

At least one of the bike’s tires must have grabbed, and the bike made a violent swerve to the right, and then as I was going down I said to myself, “This is going to hurt.” And then I felt pain and saw the pavement sliding along under my helmet as my eyes were parallel to the ground. Then everything stopped, well, except the pain in my left leg. I was able to get up and hobble around, trying to get the pain to stop. A guy in the truck behind me stopped, and asked if I was ok. What do you say at a time like that? I think I said that I would be ok. He asked if he could help me, and I had him help me get the bike back up. He did, and I got it running again, and I headed home.

I got home at 8:16; I’m supposed to be at work at 8. Marty was surprised. She said, “What are you doing home?” I told her that I had a little accident. After the shock of seeing my shredded pants and my bloody knee, she vacillated between wanting to kill me for having the accident and thanking God I was alive.

I tore the skin off my left knee and my left ankle must have been holding the weight of the bike off the pavement because it was really sore. It swelled up rapidly. But I could walk, so no broken bones. I also had a rasberry on my right hip and some skin taken off my right elbow, which I didn't know until later that day.

Lesson to self and to anyone else who wants to learn a lesson without the pain I experienced. We do not know when our days here on earth will end. Mine could have been 09-11-09. Are you ready for that day? I have no doubt I’ll be with my Savior, Jesus, when that day comes. Where are you going to be?

The Ants are BACK!!

We have had a great time with our family in Michigan. It was great seeing most of the family and being at the wedding of our niece, Tania. The challenging part was finding places for all the family to stay. Our son and his wife, Josh and Jessica came along with their two children, Jacqueline and Joshua, Jr. Our middle daughter, Abby and her husband, Dustin also came. So there were 10 extra people living in my mom's 3 bedroom mobile home. To help the crowding, we borrowed another niece's motor home, and put that in the storage lot about ¼ mile from mom's. Great move. We picked it up on Tuesday, got it set up and ready for occupancy on Thursday when our kids came.

On Wednesday it rained a little over 2 inches here, so it was really wet. On Thursday, the 4 brothers, plus Andy, Dustin and Jim's son-in-law, Dan, went golfing. That night, Dustin, Abby, Andy, Becca and Marty slept in the motor home. I stayed at mom's home, and Josh and family arrived about 11:30 that night. We got them to bed, and things were great.

Friday afternoon, we spent time with Marty's family. Everyone was there except for Jenn and Elizabeth's husband, Ryan. It was a great time.

That night it began to rain again. Rained about ¾ of an inch. We had the same sleeping arrangements. When I went down to get them Saturday morning, I opened the door, Dustin stirred, and then said, I see some ants! Oh no, I thought. I quickly picked up Marty's CPAP machine and there were at least 72 ants under the machine. Then I pulled out the water humidifier, and started shaking out ants in the sink. I quickly took the machine outside and shook off more of them.

I had to bring it back to mom's place, left it outside on the deck, and then had to go to the store and buy some screwdrivers to take it apart again. I got it apart and took care of the ants. Just to make sure I took the main pumping part of the machine apart, and no ants in there.
No these are not the same ants from Africa, but they were about the same size. They are about 3/8 of an inch long. Not sure what happened here in Michigan. We figured the rain drove the ants into the motor home up the electrical cord. Guess this is something that we just have to get used to. However, we might start looking around more closely for ants before we set the machine up.

Oh, the fun of having a CPAP machine.

We live in WA not DC

The year is 2009 and we live in the information age. Have you met anyone recently who didn't know simple United States geography? Sometimes where we live in Washington, people don't know much about the eastern side of the state. Washington is separated by the Cascade Mountains, and there are a log of people who live on the west side who have never been across the mountains to the eastern side of the state. It is an entirely different area, both in terms of land use and topography, and weather. So, there might be an excuse for those in the Seattle-Tacoma coridor not knowing where every town is in Eastern Washington. However, what we experienced at the car rental counter in Detroit, Michigan, really shocked us.

During our check in to get the rental car, the woman at the counter took our information and since we were checked in through the web, she went over to the self serve kiosk and started to input information over the counter. I went over to help her, and she was having problems putting the state in the form. She put in DC. I told her we were from Washington State, and she said, “Yes, that is DC.” I said, “No, we're from the state of Washington.” She said, “Yes, that is the area around DC.” I said, “No, we're from the state of Washington. It is a long way from there. The state is WA, not DC.” She looked at me with this puzzled look on her face and said, “Really?” She acted like I was kidding her. I told her that I was sure and she watched as I put in WA in the state spot. It took it and she looked at me again and said, “No one ever told me that before.”

At another time and place, I might have burst out laughing, but this was not funny, not at all. The woman, who looked about 30 -35 years old, didn't know there was a state in the union named Washington. How sad is that? Then I surmised that she must have been a product of public education. Can there be a future for an America who produces high school graduates who are as uneducated as this?

We certainly didn’t imagine the change that God had in store for us over 8 years ago when Rebecca came into our lives.  How God brought her is a story for a different time.  This is a story about Becca’s 9^th birthday. 

This year it started on May 15^th, as we drove up to Bellingham to celebrate Abby’s and Becca’s birthdays.  Once Andy’s birthday was over, she would see something and say, “This is what I want for my birthday.  And we’ll have a party and we’ll invite _____ and ______ and on and on.”  Then something else would happen and she would see something else and say the same thing only this new thing was what she wanted.  And the party seemed to move from our home to Disneyland, to a swimming pool, to a water slide, to a park, to a _____.  So, the planning has been over a month, and the celebration itself was 11 days long. 

It began with a trip to Bellingham where we all spent the weekend with her sister, Abby and her brother-in-law, Dustin.  Saturday morning, Becca opened her first present, a bag of carrots.  CARROTS??  What am I going to do with carrots?  Becca then found out that they were to feed the horse she was going to ride later that morning.  She was excited.  She got to ride the horse around for half an hour.  Not only did she get to ride, but she controlled the horse with the reigns while the owner walked around in front of or beside the horse.  Then Becca got to feed the carrots to the horse. 

Then we went to a beach and played lasso golf and had a great picnic lunch.  The weather was super and the wind was blowing enough so we were able to get the kites up in the air.  Then off to a playground in Blaine while we visited with Taylor and Mindy Swedberg, friends of Dustin and Abby. 

Then back to the Terpenings, where we had cake and enjoyed the evening.  Sunday we went to church and then had a great dinner and more cake, then to watch Dustin play soccer.  On the way home, we stopped by Deception Pass Park to visit with Ed and Karen Purkey, friends of ours from Seminary, 40 years ago.  Ed retired from the ministry and they now live in an RV year round.  They make arrangements with parks around the west and volunteer as park hosts in exchange for a place to park their motor home.  They will be 15 miles from our place starting July 1^st. 

The following Friday, May 22^nd, Nathan, a friend of Becca’s from preschool, invited her over for a party at his house.  There she had a special cake, balloons, gifts and a good time with Nathan.

On Saturday, the 23^rd, her actual birthday, after breakfast, we went to Pet’s Smart and bought 5 gold fish.  That was the present she finally decided she wanted for her 9^th birthday.  Before we went, we got out the fish tank, cleaned it up and got it ready for the fish.  They are now swimming around very happily in the tank in her room.  Of course there was more cake and singing “Happy Birthday.”  Later that day, one fish already went the way of all fishes, and we had to flush her down.  But not to worry, we replaced her with another one on Monday. 

But Becca is not done celebrating, on Sunday after church, Auntie Margaret came over for dinner and there were more presents and more cake. 

Becca’s 9^th birthday, lasted for 10 days, and 4 candles and cakes and singing.  What more could a 9 year old ask for? 

 

Happy Birthday Andy

Andy wanted to go out to eat at Black Angus for his birthday, so we went on Monday, the 13th.  And Andy did, as Andy often does, started talking about many things.  We talked about what it was like the day he was born and how his birth and life changed ours.  He has surprised us often since that day 26 years ago, and tonight was no exception.  For some reason, he said something about what would happen, where he would go when we died.  Then Becca said something about heaven.  Andy looked across the table at me and said, "When I get there and God and Jesus see me, they'll say, 'Welcome Andy.  We've been waiting for you.'"  And of course, he is right.  That is very similar to what Paul tells us in II Timothy 2:15, "Work hard so God can say to you, 'Well done.'"  (Living Bible)  The boy comes up with some things that really amaze us.  He is a very amazing son.  Happy Birthday Andy!!