Lots of good stuff the week before Thanksgiving

I haven't posted here in so long I will definitely have to do two separate posts to catch up.  Somehow, my life in the past week-and-a-half has allowed me no time for sitting here and writing.  But it was all good. 

I'll start this post with a pretty picture I took a week ago, probably the only nature pic I've taken this whole time.  It was our first snow.  Of course, it was soon gone.

The vasculitis on Dick's legs is very slowly, but surely healing.  They determined from the biopsies that it was drug-induced, so two more meds will now be on his allergy list.  Unfortunately, the healing is almost more uncomfortable than the original outbreak because it's itchy and sometimes leaves raw marks where dried skin peels off.  On the whole, however, he is feeling really good. As I write he's at the hunting cabin in Juanita County with his dad and brothers and nephews.

Now, back to where I left off last time.  I had mentioned that a long-time friend from Grace Community Fellowship in Manheim was coming to spend the weekend.  Steph arrived Friday evening.  The three of us had fun reminiscing and looking through the book that our friend Diane put together about the church's history.  

After Dick went to bed Steph and I talked late into the night, laughing sometimes, crying sometimes, using a ton of tissues, haha!  It's hard to even explain the bond we have - she's younger than any of my children!  We both are surrounded by loving, supportive friends and family.  Maybe sometimes it's just easier to bare one's soul with someone who feels no responsibility to help fix anything.  Anyway, it was a precious time.

Saturday was a cold, rainy day.  I was hoping to take Steph to Sower's Harvest Cafe in downtown State College for brunch, and we did actually drive downtown.  But there was a big Penn State home game that day and everything was crowded.  I was not at all sure I could find a place to park, and if the cafe had a line out the door as it often does on Saturdays, we decided it was just too cold and miserable for that.  So we drove on by and decided to go to Bellefonte, away from the football crowds.  Waffle Shop in Bellefonte did not have a line out the door this time, so that's where we had our long delicious brunch at a cozy two-top in the corner.  And we talked and talked and talked and talked some more.  I never even thought of taking a picture.  Steph's job as a therapist at Philaven hospital's Clinic for Plain Communities is SO interesting.

We had the most wonderfully lazy afternoon.  Dick came home from work after he got off at noon, his planned outdoor work couldn't be done in the rain, and besides he was glad to watch Penn State's game.  Steph and I each claimed a couch, Dick had his recliner,  and we alternately slept, checked our phones, chatted.  Rarely do I have a chance to just do nothing at all.

But doing nothing at all gets boring after a while.  So I looked for movie possibilities.  The one that sounded best to Steph and I was not even showing here in State College, but in Altoona, 45 minutes away.  I asked Dick if he was up for driving in the rain to Altoona.  Of course he was.

But wow, it was really horrible driving.  He did not mind it at all, but I would have just HATED driving in the dark pouring rain and wind.  So thankful for him!

We ended up being the only three in the theatre that was showing the movie Marshall.   It was beyond our imagination how we had never heard about this movie and that nobody else was there to watch it.  (There were plenty of people there to watch other movies, so it wasn't just the weather.)  It was SO GOOD!

Sunday morning came soon enough, and Steph went with us first of all to our service at Greater Buffalo Run Valley.  The congregational singing since we have brought all three locations together is just amazing!!  I can't even hear myself, and anyone who knows me well knows that that is a rare thing, haha!!   My choir sang Dennis Jernigan's Thank You, Lord.  It was awesome and emotional.

We went directly from there to Calvary.  And we had an extra passenger!  Lori had brought Hunter to us at the end of the GBRV service because she and Austin were leaving for Disney from the nearby University Park Airport.  Anthony was working in the cafe at Calvary that morning, so that's how we worked things out.  Calvary's service was so good, both the worship and especially Pastor Dan Nold's message.  Lots of things to ponder afterward.  Here are a few I wrote down:

* In every growing move of God there will be some messes and conflict.
* Sometimes an unstoppable force can also be an unspeakable mess.
* History has never seen a revival that isn't messy.
* Don't shy away from a move of God for fear of the messes.

We brought Hunter home with us after the service at Calvary, grabbing some freshly made pizzas at Weis on the way home for our lunch.  Steph left for home mid afternoon, Hunter took a nap, and so did we.   Later we took Hunter home to Anthony.  Hunter still does not have much of a vocabulary, but that does not keep him from talking - a lot and with so much expression.  It's so cute.  Here's a conversation we were having in the van on our way over to Anthony's that evening.

We hung out over there for a while before heading home for the night. 

When I went to bed that night, and especially when I woke up the next morning, I was very, very, very, very thankful.  I knew that my Sunday, November 19 curse was broken.  Here's the back story:

On Sunday November 19, 1995 Dick, Jeremy, and I were hit head-on on our way to worship team practice at church.  We all had to be hospitalized.  I had a severe concussion complete with short-term memory loss.

There was not a Sunday, November 19 again until eleven years later in 2006.  On the evening before, I wrote the story of our accident on my blog, because I knew that I had many readers who had not known me eleven years prior.  That Sunday morning something came over me in church (in my head) and later in the day, as short-term memory loss was becoming obvious, Dick took me to the ER and I was hospitalized.  I was ultimately diagnosed with an episode of TGA, Transient Global Amnesia.  Absolutely bizarre timing, especially with the TGA and concussion manifestations being so eerily similar.

My sister-in-law Faye Stauffer thought I may have been experiencing body memory and that I should have prayer for inner healing.  Of course, life has always been busy, and I never followed through on that.  But I have always been aware that the next time November 19 occurred on a Sunday would be in 2017.  In fact, I have been so aware of it, and fearful of it, that when I was hospitalized in February for my spiking blood pressure/mild heart attach incident and the nitroglycerin patch caused my blood pressure to drop so dramatically that it triggered another episode of TGA, one of the questions I immediately was asking was, "This isn't November 19, is it?"  I definitely knew that I would be seeking special prayer for the fear I had of that date.

I had talked with Sherilyn Jameson, the teacher of my women's Bible study at Calvary, and also Lynn Nold, the prayer ministry coordinator, about it.  After our Bible study on Thursday the 16th, four women gathered around me and prayed.  It was a precious, powerful time with concrete things I could keep praying in the following days.  I also told Steph about it on Saturday.  She was too young to remember our car accident in 1995, but she did remember my experience in 2006.  She agreed to be praying throughout the day.  I got follow-up texts late Sunday and Monday from both Sherilyn and Steph.  We all were so thankful that I could now lay that ridiculous, but nonetheless, very real fear to rest!!  Woohoo!!!!!!

Lori and Austin were at Disney from Sunday to Wednesday, so I did some extra helping with Hunter those days.  Picking him up from daycare is so fun.  He's obviously very loved there by the staff.  Can't say I blame them, haha!!

Lisa and Sophie came to Disney Monday into Tuesday to spend time with them.  I can't possibly love this photo enough!!  Because I love these people so dearly!

On Wednesday Hunter's daycare was closed so he spent a few hours here with me.  

Well, this is where I'll end this post.  Lori and Austin did get home Wednesday evening, and the first of our Thanksgiving company arrived that evening.  That's where my next post will start.