Cataracts!

One vivid memory that I have of my mother, is the ridiculously big sunglasses that she wore after she had cataract surgery. She continued to wear them long after her surgery and it was a common sight to see her in the passenger seat of the car with her humongous sunglasses covering her regular glasses and most of her face. It is a recollection I remember fondly. However, fast forward twenty years and it is not so cute when I am the one wearing these gigantic sunglasses. 

About three years ago, I started to realize that even with an updated prescription my vision was deteriorating. I went back to my eye doctor several times, complaining that I couldn't see clearly. He tried to readjust my prescription but eventually said that he could do nothing else because I had cataracts. At first, I was in denial. In my mind, only old people got cataracts! When did I get so old? Eventually, I came to terms with it and decided that it would be better to see again than to continue to refuse to believe that I had cataracts. I went to the specialist that my eye doctor recommended and he scheduled me for cataract surgery.

I had surgery on my right eye on January 29 and surgery on my left eye yesterday. Everything went really well and I am so pleased to be able to see clearly again. It is absolutely amazing! The only downside was the sunglasses. As Steve drove me home from my first surgery, he looked over at me in the passenger seat and laughingly said, "how's it going, Edith?" Fortunately, I really didn't have to wear them very long. I kept them on for most of the day after surgery because it felt good not to be exposed to light, but by the following day I was fine in the house. When I am outside or in the car, I wear "normal" sunglasses and not the ones given to me by the doctor.

Yesterday, after my second surgery, I was camped in the basement with my wonderful sunglasses on and Megan came for a visit. We chatted about some stuff and finally she blurted out, "Mom, it's really hard to take anything you say seriously when you are wearing those crazy glasses!" We had a good laugh and I decided the glasses had to go.

I had my follow-up visit for my left eye today, and the doctor says everything looks great. I am very happy and relieved to have good vision again and I am delighted to officially retire those sunglasses! Unlike my mother, who continued to enjoy her glasses for years, you will not see me wearing mine again!

For Sale Update

2/28/18 - When I write this blog, I always assume that nobody really reads it. I was surprised how many people commented to me about my For Sale post. Unfortunately, our property did not sell on the 22nd. Although a good many people came, none were bidders--they were just support for us or curious. So, the twists and turns of our life continue. Our realtor has confidence that the property will still sell, but we will see. Meanwhile, we wait. We are pretty good at that. We've had a lot of practice over the last year and a half.

Well, if 2017 was a year to forget, hopefully 2018 will be a year to remember. Many times over the past year, Steve and I both thought that what life was throwing at us was too much for us to handle. I don't think a public blog is the place to explain in detail everything that has been happening to us but suffice it to say, life has been difficult. Almost harder than being forced by a government agency to shut down our business, was the lies and accusations that a few of our neighbors and local and state government officials, told about us and that the news media latched on to. After reading in the newspapers and online what was written about us and how inaccurate it was, I am left wondering if news people ever get any story right. They certainly did not in our case and I suspicion that is often the way it is.

When you are going through a difficult time, you feel like your situation is worse than anyone else's. During the past year, several people have told us, "everyone has problems, your problem is not as bad as ...."  Even though that may be (and probably is) true, this is NOT what you tell someone who is currently in a very difficult and stressful situation. It's a lot like a death. You don't tell someone who just lost a loved one, "tough luck, everybody deals with death in their life." Instead you say, "I am so sorry. I know you are hurting," (or something similar).  I do understand that most of these people were just trying to make us feel better and we need to appreciate that they care and not take what they say too seriously. We are tremendously grateful for all the wonderful support that we receive from family and friends and neighbors (yes, we do have neighbors that appreciate us!). We are incredibly blessed to have such a great support system and I don't think we would prevail without them. Even though at times it has felt like God was very far away and it was hard to pray, our faith is deep. It may be shaken but it is not destroyed. We believe and know that God is in this situation and we are trusting him to see us through.

So...we have decided to leave the past behind and move on. We are downsizing a few years earlier than we anticipated but now that we made that decision it feels good. The sale of our house and property is just two weeks away and we are excited about it and looking forward to the future. Where will that take us? We are not sure but we do have some ideas. Hopefully fairly soon I can share them on this blog. In the meantime, I've got a sale to think about.

Christmas 2017

All 16 of us!

Grandpa continues his tradition of making gingerbread houses with the grandchildren. In this picture he shows Awstin how to put the icing on his house.

Hannah puts the roof on her house.

Alexis carefully works on her house.

Lydia ponders what she should do next.

Kristen gives Mark a helping hand.

Happy New Year!

Hannah is 3!

Several weeks ago we celebrated Hannah's birthday. Her actual birthday is the 21st but it is easier to keep the party a little bit away from Christmas. This bubbly, happy little girl is an absolute delight. I never get tired of listening to her chatter and seeing her beaming smile. She may have three older siblings, but it often seems like she runs the show!

Her cake was a Candy Land design. I think Kristen was a little horrified at all the candy she had to put on it, but it made for a really cute cake. Hannah loved it!

Here is the birthday video. Sorry it's a little blurry at times. I'm really going to have to get a better videograher :) Also, I love the way Alexis takes charge and tells her what to do when blowing out the candles!

What a wonderful celebration with this charming little girl and her family!

Bridge Built - Mission Accomplished

Group picture l-r Emily, Wendell, Steve, Me, Clinton (homeowner), Beverly (homeowner), Merle, Ralf, Pat, granddaughter of Clinton & Beverly, Bernie, Mary (yes, there was another Mary), granddaughter of Clinton & Beverly, Spencer (in a group picture, not everyone can be looking, right?), Justin, Susan, Peter

It's kind of hard to believe that in one week this group was able to rebuild a bridge but that is what they did, and that is what Mennonite Disaster Service has been doing every week that they bring a crew to West Virginia. I believe in total they have repaired or built around 40 bridges. Peter and Susan Thiessen have been the directors for almost all of them and they plan to come back in February for another eight week term so more will be built then. They have one more bridge to build next week and then they are going home to Canada until February.

Here are two pictures of the inside of the auditorium of the church where we stayed. The water did not reach this floor and everything was still in place from the last service that the church had there before the flood. MDS came in and did some rearranging to make accommodations for volunteers.

This is from the back of the sanctuary. Our little room was in the door to the left of the pulpit. MDS put some partitions in to divide the sanctuary but nobody was sleeping in the sanctuary this week. In the front (under the cross) where the pulpit would have been you can see some partitions with towels hanging over them. That is where Wendell slept.

This is the right front of the sanctuary. Behind that door was another small room just like ours where Emily slept.

On the last day, Susan, Emily and I went out to the work site for the dedication of the bridge. Because they were not able to get concrete on Thanksgiving Day, they had to wait until Friday to pour the concrete. The next group of volunteers will need to come out on Monday to this bridge and finish a few things up, including putting railing along the side. Because the concrete needed to set, our group was not able to do this.

Notice the hand prints. Clinton and Beverly's (the homeowners) grandchildren put their hand prints into the cement.

Right side of bridge

Left side of bridge

We had a prayer of dedication and then Susan presented Clinton and Beverly (the homeowners) with a quilt from MDS.

Susan presenting Clinton and Beverly their quilt.

All the volunteers signed their name under the bridge. This is a picture of Steve as he was coming back up from signing his name.

After the dedication we went back to the church and packed up and headed home. It was a great week and we were happy to be part of it. The smiles on the homeowner's faces as they surveyed their new bridge are something we will remember for a long time.

More Bridge Building

We did indeed find that we were on the local news on Monday evening. Here is a link to it if you care to watch it. (Sorry about the ridiculously long ad you have to watch before the video begins.) Steve is visible near the beginning and at the very end and I am hidden somewhere in the middle. See if you can find me. Hint: I am taking a picture in the background.
http://www.tristateupdate.com/story/36892705/flooded-homeowner-gets-new-bridge

There is a man (Ralf) on this project that writes a daily blog so if you really want to read the nitty gritty everyday stuff that the volunteers are doing you can read that at https://ralfhamm.wordpress.com.

Here are a few more pictures of our day to day activities.

This if the office. Notice the green chair that we bought at Goodwill. It is very comfortable and the one that I am using.

Susan and Peter going over some invoices. Peter likes the chair too!

Our amazing cook, Emily.

Sitting around the dinner table. Notice Bernie at the other end with the bandana on his head. The three young guys from Canada are a lot of fun and really good sports. Steve said they are great workers and not afraid to get their hands dirty.

Merle was determined to fix the tape measure (in the end he had to give up and throw it away)

Whoops! Ralf had to do the limbo to get under the tape measure that Wendall is holding for Merle.

Mexican restaurant that we went to for dessert last evening.

Today is Thanksgiving and the crew is out on the job. Susan and I tried in vain to reconcile the bank statement, but alas we are still approximately $36.00 off. We decided to take a break for awhile so I am updating this blog. Meanwhile there are some amazing smells coming from the kitchen. Happy Thanksgiving!

Building a Bridge (in West Virginia)

Steve and I are spending this Thanksgiving week volunteering with Mennonite Disaster Service in West Virginia. Steve is working on a bridge building project and I am shadowing the office manager.

In 2015 and 2016 areas of West Virginia were hit hard with flooding. Many privately owned bridges were washed out and people were unable to afford to replace them. Without a bridge, people couldn't even get to their house with a vehicle. Many people actually had to park along the road and wade through the water to get to their house. If they were lucky they may have been able to find a place up or downstream where they could drive down the bank and through the water and up the other side if the bank wasn't too steep. Here is a picture of a place that still doesn't have a bridge so they have no way to get to their house except through the water.

A bridge that was washed out

MDS is working with the state of West Virginia and replacing some of those bridges. Usually, with about six to ten volunteers one bridge can be built a week.

Steve and I were told to arrive in Griffithsville, West Virginia around 6:00 on Sunday evening so orientation could begin at 7:00. We got there mid afternoon and found the fire hall where MDS was staying and drove around the area for a little bit. We thought it strange that there was no MDS vehicles in the parking lot but concluded that the long term volunteers must have gone away for the day and would be arriving back later. We still pondered that there was no MDS tool trailer but decided it must already be on the job site. We could see a few signs that MDS was there. There was an empty trailer and some cement blocks and a camper by the side of the building. 

Since we were told to have our supper before arriving, we drove back to Charleston for a bite to eat and then returned to the fire hall at 6:00. There was still no sign of anybody and we were getting a little concerned. We double and triple checked our instructions from the email that I had on my phone and assured each other that we had heard nothing different. In fact, Steve had talked to Peter (the project coordinator) on Thursday and he had made no mention of coming to a different location. To make matters worse we had absolutely no cell phone reception so we could not call Peter either. We decided to wait until 7:00 and if no one arrived we would drive about 15 minutes back until we had cell reception and call Peter. 7:00 came and nothing. We drove back toward Charleston and finally Steve had a few bars. He called Peter and the connection was terrible but we managed to hear that we were at the wrong location. The base had moved to Clendenin a week ago and somehow we were not notified about the change. We were about an hour away and the worst part was that we had to backtrack and drive through Charleston again to get to the correct location. Needless to say, we were a little frazzled by the time we arrived around 8:00. However, everyone was friendly and understanding and we were just glad to be at the right place. We were pleasantly surprised to see that Merle Sollenberger (a friend from New Danville Church) was part of the group. It's always nice to see someone you know when you are away from home. 

Instead of a fire hall our accommodations are in a church. The church was damaged by flooding and the church didn't have the means to repair it. They offered it to MDS and MDS fixed it up for volunteers and that is where we are staying. Steve and I have a tiny room that is at the front of the church to the left of the pulpit. There is one identical to it on the right sight that the cook is sleeping in. Here are some pictures of the outside of the church.

Front of Church

The church sign still stands and MDS added their sign below it.

Back of church

There are a total of 13 of us here for the week. Ten are working on the bridge. Susan (the office manager and Peter's wife), myself, and Emily (the cook) are the only ones not actually going to the work site each day. 

Everyone is pretty good at taking pictures, and they are happy to share the ones with me that have Steve on so that is mainly what I will be posting. Steve is running the track hoe and chipping in wherever else he is needed.

Here are a few pictures from the first couple of days. On Monday, Susan, Emily and I actually went to the site because the senator was coming and there was a lot of excitement about that so we decided to join the fun.

Just beginning the bridge. You can see how close the bridge is to the road. They will have to stop traffic on one lane sometimes so they can work.

Lots of painting was done the first couple of days. Three young guys from Canada are on the crew and they pretty much come back each evening covered with paint.

That's the senator in the brown coat walking across the bridge.

The senator chatting with MDS Regional One Director Rodney (sorry don't remember his last name).

The man with the hat and brown coat is the homeowner, Clinton. He is so happy to be having his bridge replaced. He said he was more happy to see MDS than he was to see the senator!

News media. We are not sure if it was on the daily news or not.

Working hard.

Steve's designated job for the week is running the track hoe.

He does  get out of the track hoe at times and work on some other things.

The unit needed another office chair. We went to Goodwill on Wednesday and bought this one for $4.00. I had the privilege of  pushing it out of the store, across the parking lot, and to the car :)

I am enjoying learning the office work. There are a lot of details to remember but fortunately I have been keeping business records all my life so it doesn't seem too difficult. Susan is a great teacher and a very friendly person!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day but it is a work day here. We will miss not seeing family, but we are happy to be spending this year in this place building a bridge for a family that will be so thankful to be able to once again drive their car from the road to their house.