Been busy

since returning from Diana. Traveling man goes every morning to spend time with his mom at the rehab center. He usually gets home anytime between noon and 2p. His mother's dementia seems to be getting worse. Physical therapy has helped strengthen her legs but she still can't walk more than a couple of steps unassisted. She has to have help getting as far as the bathroom and, you know in a hospital room it isn't far to the bathroom.
Consequently we have decided to forgo Michigan this summer and stay in Knoxville - where it has been hot, hot, hot. Sure hope we have come cooler days coming. We are at the Escapees campground here and it is nice. I do like having a pool available. Also there is social hour every afternoon at 4p and ice cream on Sundays. It is good to spend more time with our church family and friends here also.
Our 50th high school reunion went well. Everyone had a good time. Why is it that the old high school seems so much smaller that it was 50 years ago? It was wonderful to see so many old classmates, even if we didn't recognize them! Hurrah for name tags! Friday night was casual, meet-and-greet and open mike. Fun listening to some of the memories and Fred's lame jokes. Saturday night was more formal (but still had lame jokes) and there were even more people there. Our class president gave a nice speech and issued a challenge to us. Our main speaker had to cancel at the last minute because of illness. Though we missed him, the time was put to good use socializing and some were dancing. Kudos to those who worked hard putting all this together. It was great fun and I am sorry for those who missed it.
Guess that is about all for now.
God Bless

The Doctor's Devotion

A "Love Inspired" novel by Cheryl Wyatt.
www.cherylwyatt.com
https://facebook.com/CherylWyattAuthor

Lauren has a problem. Having not been home to see her Grandpa Lem in 5 years, she believes that someone else has taken her place in his heart. Does Mitch really love Lem or is he looking for something? Despite her jealousy, Lauren tries to make friends with Mitch. Lauren insists her live is in Texas, not Southern Illinois. What will end of summer bring?
There are many twists and turns in this book that keep you enthralled and anxious to see what is going to happen next. Through it all, there is prayer and reliance on God. Each of the characters come to life and you might find yourself praying for them also. This a heartwarming story showing God's love and guidance.

This wonderful book will be in bookstores June 27.
God Bless

What a Gathering!

at Diana. A number of campers and lots of work to be done. The first week was mainly the heavy work; like moving the pews and repairing some of the buildings and painting. I let Don work on that. There was also opening and stocking the gift shop. A number of the things that were left from Sept. were already priced, but there was new stuff coming in all the time to be priced and displayed. As things came in our displays had to moved and/or rearranged. Actually it was kind of fun; especially since being there early and doing the work got you first dibs on the stuff. I picked up a number of things.
The first week was the Gospel Meeting. Robert Hatfield was the evangelist. A very talented young man and well-grounded in the scriptures. It was great to get to know him and his wife, Emily.
The last couple of days before the singing was the "last minute" stuff. Helped put out song books and receive and stock items in the ham shed.
One of the fun things we did when not busy in the gift shop was work puzzles. It had been so long since I had done puzzles that I felt pretty useless at first. But I was soon in the swing of things.
Friday night, June 8, was amazing! There were about 2,000 people there to sing. To me, the greatest gospel music is ACapella. We bought the recordings for that night's singing. (Also made good money in the ham shed and gift shop.)
Saturday was not quite as good. Probably had only 700 people show up, but they were still enthusiastic in their singing.
Sunday after services and potluck, it was time to put things away and close up until Sept. We also broke down much of our camp, as rain was expected.
We drove home on Monday. We had a couple of short, but intense showers; otherwise was mostly cloudy and some sprinkles.
Was a great couple of weeks that went by quickly.
God Bless

Diana

We had a busy week in Knoxville. All kinds of this and that to do. TM spent some nights with his mom and then spent all day Saturday over there.
Friday, Apryl, Joanna (her neighbor) and I went to Spirted Art and painted a picture of a peacock feather. Mine turned out ok. I put in some white even tho they didn't tell us to use white, and I think it makes it pop more. Apryl and Joanna are more experienced at this painting thing -and more artistic than I am. We had fun. I spent Fri. night at Apryl's and Sat. we did some shopping. First we had a color change on our toes, then we hit Stinemart and Off-Broadway Shoes. Then we went to Gigi's cupcakes. Hard to pick out just one. We were going to Nita's to pick up some plants when we realized we didn't want to take the new car over there. Went back to the house and got the Volvo since it was already dirty. Sure glad we did that as the plants made a bit of a mess in the trunk. Nothing that vacuuming won't take care of.
After I dropped her off, I went to Buddy's and picked up bar-b-q for TM, Mom and me. Then I went home.
Sunday after services we went to Panera for brunch with our friends Doug and Glo. We had a delightful time with them, as always. Then Sunday night we went to Lakeside Tavern with Apryl, Jeremy and some other friends. Had a great time there also.
Monday morning we were up early to get closed up and head for Diana TN. TM drove the truck and I followed in the Volvo. We had a safe trip even if I was sleepy.
So here we are, in the heat, helping prepare for the Singing on the 8th and 9th. We are supposed to get some cooler weather this weekend. Sure hope that weatherman is right.
God Bless.

Spring Lake

Had a nice Mother's Day with brunch at Panera. Spent the afternoon with my mil.
Tuesday had lunch with my friends Brenda and Nita.
Then on Wednesday morning we headed to Spring Lake RV Park in Crossville TN to spend 4 days. Those days just flew by. We were camping with our friends Dave and Patti. They made the reservations after telling us that this was their favorite campground. Let me tell you it is beautiful there. There is a spring-fed small lake and lots of shade. We also got the Escapees rate of 15% off!
Mostly we sate in the shade and chatted. TD2 enjoyed himself too since he spent most of his time in someone's lap. Patti and Dave have 2 dogs so we all enjoyed walking around the campground.
One morning TM and I went to the outlet mall. Friday evening we all went to Cumberland Mountain State Park restaurant for catfish buffet. Yum.
Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights we had nice campfires. The campground has plenty of firewood at no charge. The nights were cool enough to make the fires really enjoyable. On Thursday we roasted marshmallows. TM had picked them up at the store, but forgot the Hershey's and graham crackers. I am sure the marshmallows were bad enough for us without the other.
We are now back at Raccoon Valley and it rained today.
God bless

Knoxville Week 2

Well, we had our doctor appointments first thing Monday morning. All looks good. Dr. Danner's office had sent the information about my ear surgery here, so I did not have to explain that. But Dr. Suleman's office had not sent anything about my echo and TEE, so I was glad I had gotten that info from him and just give it to Dr. Harmon instead of having to try and explain it. I told him how much it hurt when they gave me the potassium by IV. He was surprised they didn't just prescribe some pills. Later in the week I got all the blood test results and they all are good.
I gave platelets on Tuesday morning. Thought about going to lunch with Brenda afterwards, but didn't feel real good so went on home. TM was there so we went and got something to eat. Felt much better after that.
Wed. TM went to his mom's about 4:30, so missed Bible class. I went to supper at the church and then to Ladies Class. It was pretty interesting, but I missed a lot of what others said due to the poor acoustics. Yes, I had my hearing aids in.
Thursday had lunch with my friends Brenda and Nita. As usual, we had a good time together.
Thursday evening I called our friend Al about our plans for lunch on Friday. He called back with an unpleasant surprise. His wife had a heart attack (the docs call it minor) and was still in the hospital with pneumonia. Praying for her to rally quickly.
We spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at Apryl's. We were keeping the dogs so that Apryl and Jeremy could go to Virginia. He had some cousins visiting from Norway and they went up there to visit with the cousins.
TM spent a lot of time working on the platform for our chairs in the toy hauler portion of the trailer. It is finished and works well. We still need to stain it. Don't know when we will get around to that.
God Bless

Knoxville week 1

Easy trip in and got a prime spot at Raccoon Valley Escapees Park. Gonna hate to give it up in a couple of weeks.
Made a call to Dr. Rogers on Monday. Since he couldn't see me until the 14th, I asked for med refills. Got a call back within the hour that they had an opening on Tues at 1:40. Grabbed that one. Then I call the allergist for a med refill and they wanted to see me (popular aren't I?) so made a Tues appt. for 4:30. If that isn't enough, had a birthday party to go to at 2:30. Made for a busy day.
The party was for a man at church who turned 90. What a great guy and doing so well. He is still building dulcimers and other things in his wood shop.
TM is staying with his mother at night to give his sisters family a break. That means TD2 and I have the rig to ourselves. Took me a couple of nights to start sleeping well. TD2 had problems also, he thinks we should all be together.
Had lunch with my friend, Brenda, on Thursday. It was so good to be with her again. And to eat at Copper Cellar, where they have the best strawberry shortcake, yum.
Saturday we moved over to Apryl's to be closer to our doctor's office because our appts are early on Monday. TD2 already messed up, he peed in the bedroom. So it will be the cage whenever we don't have him in our sight. Actually he was good, but then we all left he had to let us know he was not happy. At least I guess that is what it was.
That's about it for now.
God Bless