Beckham Barking - Real life goes on and the neighbor's dog still awakes us at night
Chocolate Milk - It's so good in Costa Rica, isn't it Chris? Come down and try it sometime, everyone! Since I choke on water here and lately it tastes like cigarette butts thrown in a Coke can, I've been drinking a lot of chocolate milk. (I wouldn't know butts in a Coke can, but that sounds pretty awful!)
Dysfunction of all kinds
Efficiency - Woody and Kari (and others on the team) have had to gear up to create a system that allows me to be well-cared for, yet stay on top of important ministry issues
Fighting off pains I'd never dreamed of
Garage bags can find very creative uses!
Hallitosis Usually my own!
Ideas While vomiting for three solid hours in the hospital, they tried every drug they could think of plus the nurses' brought me cotton balls soaked in alcohol. I wasn't sure quite what to do with them, but I sniffed them, just in case. (They didn't work, either!)
Jonathan Bird - We have never seen this bird, but it makes a fascinating chirp in the night and early AM. We named it after our grandson, because for a while Jonathan made a sound like that bird. I really like the Jonathan bird. (I really like Jonathan Ophus, too!)
Kathryn and Tascha Kieft. Our "nieces" who have joined ITeams stayed with us several days before they began to study Spanish in prep for going to Ecuador. You know you have to love nieces. You have no choice. If I had to choose, these two would hit the top of my list!
Lindsay and Chino - I cried over missing their wedding, but I am glad Woody got to go.
Morphine anyone? I get it regularly slow-release by mouth. I does no miracles. But, IT HELPS!
Night Nurse - We were able to hire one for 5 nights a week to help me and take the weight at night off Woody and Kari, allowing them to rest. What a help that's been, and the insurance company might actually pay for her salary! ($200 for 60 hours. Hmm... isn't that a little over $3 an hour??) It's a ministry opportunity as well. (Ask me about it!)
Out of Order (Me!) I feel like I am good for almost nothing. (Feel free to argue with me!) Typing takes me hours. This update, for example! I make tons of mistakes I'm constantly correcting. Like on this entry, I accidentally wrote, "I am goof for almost nothing."
Precious, precious, presence of Christ in our lives
Quiroga family continues to mean the world to us as they minister in Cochabamba, Bolivia and as our daughter Norma and her family Howard, Natatasha (who just turned 12!!!) and Adrian just re-joined them. Quirogas sent me an Eeyore stuffed animal and Eeyore and I are almost inseperable. Our eyes droop almost identically!
Rockford Files - Our taste in evening rerun shows indicate what a low level we have dropped to in trying to distract me during painful evenings.
Sleeping in the living room. There's no shower downstairs in our house. For a while we used Gustafsons' kiddie pool on the kitchen floor for a creative shower option! I'm able now to climb upstairs to shower once a day, sitting on a yard chair in the shower. Yay!
Tapioca is a GREAT medicine chaser. This idea is worth marketing!
Undergo - Just learned I must undergo some blood tests. We were JUST at the clinic (a long, painful trek) and now we'll have to return for bloodwork! Oh, phooey!
Versatis Patch- A new, creative medical idea I'm using. I wonder if it really works! It's a Lidocaine patch that is absorbed into the root nerve area that is most affected, causing pain.
Woody - Along with Kari, are my angels. They have become A#1 nurses! They both give shots, coordinate medicines, position me in bed, and do other tasks only nurses don't give a second thought about.
X-rays - Did you ever think about how HEAVY x-ray images are? If we have to take all my films, we'll have to be careful about the weight limit on our luggage!
Yarn - If only I could get enough focus to dive back in to a crochet project I'd really begun to enjoy in June!!
Zest- O, God, give me a zest for life, even when life seems pretty wretched. "Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am faint,; O Lord heal me, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in anguish. The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayers." Psalm 6:2,9
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