Happy Thanksgiving (Almost)
Well, what can we say - uh, it is November and it is just
over 7 weeks until Christmas!! And…..we will be here in Iowa for Christmas! In
fact, we are looking at being here until February at least. You know we really
just have to laugh about this – can you imagine the dust that has built up in
our house? I certainly hope that I didn’t forget something in the refrigerator
that has now grown a great case of mold on it! We may have a whole science
experiment in the refrigerator!
October started off with a visit with our good friends, John
and Denise Hulsebus, from home (they were here in March also) – they took the
train from Roseville leaving on a Sunday and arriving in Mount Pleasant, IA
(about an hour from here) on Tuesday around noon. We had a great time with them and we feel
like it is such a blessing when we get to see friends!
Mid-October I drove to Des Moines for the day to have lunch
with my girl friends – there were about 12 of us there. Some of us have known
each other for a very long time – I won’t say how long other than to say it has
been since grade school! It was really fun. I got a chance also to visit Whole
Foods which just opened there this fall and also the big mall.
October is birthday month for Charlie and I and we got the
biggest surprise ever (no, not a liver, but the next best thing) – on the
weekend between our two birthdays, Meg and Doug surprised us by flying here. We
had been out shopping and upon arriving back at the apartment there they were!!
Needless to say, we were stunned, thrilled, shocked speechless
- the later being rather rare for me! They came on Friday and flew back
home on Monday. We still can’t believe
it and it was such a fun weekend. The
morning before they came, we had both commented that we were feeling very weary
of all of this and that we so missed the kids and their families! We are so
thankful for them and they were so thrilled that they were able to pull it off
without out us guessing – of course, they did not tell their children until the
night before or we would have known!!
Charlie had his 22nd endoscopy a couple of weeks
ago – 4 varices banded and then last week had an ultrasound, lab work, and
visit with the liver doctor. The result of all of this is that he is staying
relatively stable and his fatigue etc is to be expected as the doctor said,
“You have liver disease!”
October was truly a beautiful month here and we so enjoyed
the beautiful trees and cool, crisp weather. My favorite time of the year has
always been fall and Iowa truly has beautiful ones! But…winter is approaching,
we have had several frosts.
As we said at the start, we will be here for Christmas (at
least) and both families are coming here to be with us! Once we realized that
there was no way we would be back home by then, the family all made plans to
come and we are very thankful! Once they get here we hope that we will have
snow!!
Several have wondered what our address is so here it is: P O
Box 5278 Coralville, IA 52241.
We wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving – we are hoping that
Charlie is in the hospital and that we are eating Thanksgiving dinner there!
Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for the update. You two are quite a model for patience and gratitude. I'm so glad the families will be there for Christmas. I know you will all have a grand time!
ReplyDeleteThanks Elise and thank you to you and Jim for being "on call" to head to Seattle to take care of Lucy when this transplant starts to happen!! You are patient also!!
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