December 31, 2014

Good-bye to the Old Year 

and Welcome to a New Year!

December 31, 2014

What a year this has been for us!  There were so many things to celebrate.  We were able to have all or most of the family together more than we had expected.  God has given us so much to be thankful for.  This year we gained a new family member with Stephen's marriage to Kristina.  We are so glad to have her in the family.  Almost all of the family was together for that event in early November.

In mid-May many of us gathered for Stephen's graduation from Criswell College in Dallas where he earned his Master of Divinity Degree.  He has worked hard for that and graduated Summa Cum Laude.  He was able to do that while working full time.

July we all gathered for a long weekend in on Lake Travis near Austin for our Family Gathering.  We had done several of these the last few years around the time of Ron's and my anniversary.  This year the time was decided by a trip Bob and Vickey were making to that area while she took a training class to start preparing to become a certified speaker on the personality types.  She finished that training this fall in Albuquerque. 

When I compare 2013 and 2014 the differences are astounding.  2013 in January was when I went deaf.  In June of 2013 I had two surgeries, one for the Cochlear Implant so I could hear again and one for the elbow I broke a week before the implant surgery.  Then in September 2013, I had surgery to put in an artificial radius cap in the elbow since the healing from the first surgery did not allow me full usage of the arm.  At that time, I also had the hardware removed that was put in for the break (pins, plate, screws).  That same month, Ron had surgery to remove plates and pins in his leg that he broke 20 years earlier.  January 2013 also was when Ron took a very severe case of flu that took him months to recover from.  I am not sure he is back to where he was before that flu even now.

2014 saw no surgeries for us!  Yea!  We continue to have a variety of medical issues that mostly come with age, but none have been serious.  2014 was filled with so many things that were good.  The only negative that comes to mind is my mom's health this fall.  After a fracture in a vertebrae, she spent 3 months recovering in the Ft. Worth area but is now home and continuing to regain her strength.  Each day is better and she is delighted to be back in her home.

My brother, Mom, and me, the weekend before Christmas

It was a very busy fall this year, but I was healthy and was able to make a couple of trips to Dallas alone which last year I would not have tried.  It was still challenging and I made each of those long drives in 2 parts, staying with David and Diana in San Antonio on my way up and back from Dallas.  It was good to know I can do it if I need to.  I prefer for Ron to do the driving when we travel, but I can do it if needed.  I am learning to use a GPS after getting lost A LOT on those trips - not on the trips to and from Dallas, but when in the Dallas and Ft. Worth areas.

I have gained a lot of confidence with the Cochlear Implant.  Many times I don't even think about it.  The hearing of voices is very normal.  (Ha, ha!  I just reread that sentence and it make it sound like I am hearing voices.  So I will clarify.  When people talk, their voices sound normal.  I do have trouble identifying voices on the phone.)   Music, background noises, and assorted loud noises are hard to identify.  Today Ron was out of the office for several hours and when he got back I told him that there are a lot of strange sounds in our office when it is quiet.  I have two printers in my office - one is mostly used to print invoices and high volume items.  The other is the one on my computer.  The high volume one is a great printer, but it will just make random sounds when it hasn't been used for a while.  It can really scare us if the building is quiet and we think we are alone and all of a sudden it starts making sounds.  We have a bottled water machine that used to do that a lot.  But I guess the important things is that I CAN HEAR those sounds. 

My elbow is doing very well.  There are times it will ache a little, but I don't think about the injury on a daily basis.  Sometimes if I pick up something heavy with my hand turned in an odd position, it will hurt, but that is rare.  I need to work on strengthening that arm and hope to get back to going to the gym soon.  I guess the one medical problem I had out of the ordinary aging this year was a broken toe and it has kept me from the gym for a long time. 

As for my day today, I got some news on my camera that I sent in for repairs about 10 days ago.  Best Buy called and talked to Ron this evening and said that they can not fix my camera, so I am to come in and select a new one and they will apply the total of my original purchase price to a new one.  So this weekend, I guess I will go camera shopping.  I have taken thousands and thousands of photos with that camera and have enjoyed using it.  I won't enjoy the process of selecting a new one, but I will enjoy having a new camera.  As I mentioned a couple of days ago, Best Buy warranties are usually very well fulfilled.

That is in contrast to the one on my refrigerator so far.  Ron called the warranty company Monday.  They said a particular company would call within two days to schedule a repair.  They didn't.  Ron called.  That company said they only service units they sold.  Could someone have let us know???  So he called the warranty company again.  They said they would send a work order to a second company and they should call within an hour.  They didn't.  Ron called.  After several calls, we have an appointment for this Friday afternoon.  Hopefully they will be able to fix it. 

This evening I finished the puzzle our granddaughters gave me for Christmas.  It was fun.  The last bit was hard, but it is a good puzzle.  Thanks, girls!