February 7, 2014

A Day of Mixed Emotions

February 7, 2014

There probably isn't a day that goes by that I am not thankful for my Cochlear Implant.  There are always things I want to hear, conversations I want to be a part of, and things I need to hear. 

I slept just a little late this morning.  Ron went to meet Jeff for breakfast and didn't wake me before he left.  When I arrived at the shop, our oldest grandson was there.  He and I had a good time chatting.  He had a news story published in a scouting newsletter for this area.  It was well done and he was proud of his first published work.  He was there until about 2:30. 

The weather in South Texas this winter has been strange to say the least!  It was 37 degrees all day here today.  We were not to be that cold.  Late this afternoon, I checked the weather on my cell phone.  I have it set up where I can scroll through the current weather where each of our children live.  The ones in northern New Mexico were 10 degrees warmer.  The ones in central Texas were just slightly warmer.  Only the one in north Texas was colder.  Not only was it cold today, it was wet and windy as well.

Most of my afternoon was spent on bookkeeping.  The bank statement had arrived so I needed to balance it.  I got one of the parts of the report for the accountant done, and paid some bills.  It was a very slow day at the office as the temperature hovered at 37 degrees all day.  Ron was out for a while on one job, but spent much of his day working on the computer in his office.  It is old and overloaded.  He has been transferring a lot of things to an external hard drive.  I left a few minutes early to pick up a couple of prescriptions and to go drop some mail at the post office. 

We met our friends the Lawlers for supper and had a nice visit.  The food was extra good tonight and I really enjoyed my supper.   

Then all four of us went to a local funeral home for a visitation to see the family of a friend who passed away this week, Billy Faulk.  Mr. Faulk was 89 years old, still working until 2 weeks ago as a lawyer.  He had served in both WWII and the Korean War.  I have a special place in my heart for this family.  Their daughter Linda was named after me and she was flower girl at our wedding.  Mrs. Faulk (Bobbie Anne) taught me to quilt.  Bobbie Anne's mom was also a special friend.  I am so glad we went to the visitation.  Several times I thought about how good it was to be able to hear Bobbie Anne.  Of course, she is saddened by the loss of her husband, but her joyful spirit could not be hidden.  She loves God and knows that her husband is in Heaven with his Lord and Savior.

Billy Faulk's brother Harry was such a strong member of our church (as was Billy for many years), but Harry had moved away several years ago.  He had not yet arrived for tomorrow's service.  The weather had his flight delayed in Oklahoma.  Harry's oldest son Pat was at the funeral home this evening, having flown in earlier in the day.  Harry's youngest son, Thomas, will be coming in with Harry, hopefully late tonight.  Visiting with these friends tonight I was so glad I could hear them.  I don't think I asked for anything to be repeated and there was a lot of talking going on around us.

When we got home.  Ron had some dessert and then headed to bed and quickly went to sleep.  I sat down at the computer to check on several things.  We have a friend who is a young man who grew up in our church.  He moved away to go to college and then married and settled in the northern part of our state.  He spent a year serving in Afghanistan and returned home this past summer.  He has had several medical problems since before he got home this summer.  Today, he was told that the biopsy on a brain tumor came back to show cancer.  He is trusting God and knows that God will be with him whatever is ahead.  It saddens me to know of anyone suffering like he is, but such a young man with a lovely wife and toddler daughter - well, I just hurt for them and for his family.  We are asking God to give the doctors wisdom and to bring healing to our friend.