2018 Week 14: Easter and more

 Despite lingering winter weather, some yellow lovelies dared face the world. 

Most family members showed up for lamb dinner and fellowship. Sam and three boys ventured out, but Malachi and Kristie, still recovering, stayed home.

We  celebrated Jimmy's birthday, belatedly--44 on the 26th. Did he like the crazy Koch song? Hmmm. . .

Here are some of the others in attendance, showing off their favorite girls.

Stephan and Karen; Uncle Skey and Rebecca; Skye and girlfriend Cassie

I do believe the day after Easter was our heaviest snowfall of the year, some 6". 

I enjoyed the beautiful snowscapes on my drive into Muncie. Sam had asked me to be there with Malachi for a few hours while the rest of the family was gone to school and work.

I was pleasantly surprised to find him enjoying the company of a couple of old friends. 

Ben, Malachi, and David

The snow was gone before I drove home. 

Tuesday, the trailer that had looked so pretty snow-covered the day before, made its way back to its home in the Madjax shop carrying precious cargo--Pixel the robot to be unloaded and upgraded. Now, 16th in the state, the PhyXTGears will be off to the 2018 Indiana State Championship, April 13-14, in the Kokomo Memorial Gymnasium.

Wednesday Michael's schedule was a bit more open so he suggested we take a meal to Sam's family. They opted for a Chick Fil-A carry-out. We loved spending time with them, and observing the amazing progress. In my mind I can still see sweet Lexi in the ICU, head bowed, sitting for hours next to unconscious, sedated Malachi. 

What a joyful contrast!

Homework duty

Just came across a photo of the older siblings some eight years ago.

Then and Now

The Thursday exercise session I attend for seniors, was quite different. Yes, we did work out some, but for a good half hour we helped support our trainer--Miss Spirit of Indiana! 

She won the title in February. The contests for the next level are in June.

Paige Harder

Her platform is "Promoting Exercise for All Generations!" so she wanted a photo with us her trainees. 

Her talent is the piano, so we persuaded her to play her competition piece--Solfeggietto. 

We may some day claim to have known Miss Indiana, or even Miss America!

Michael came home from robotics that night, late as usual and in quite a bit of pain. 

In the days that followed he concluded it was a kidney stone. 

After some research, he tried an olive oil/lemon juice remedy. 

Saturday was another even longer day at Madjax. He survived, barely. Only now is he feeling relief.

2014 Week 32: Empathy

A lovely lily sprung up at Dove's Crossing. . .

. . . even as the boxes and last items from the Broadway house kept piling up.

No matter the state of things, Monday Night Meal must go on.

Nova eyes the rabbit stew longingly

Tuesday was a big writing day. I had two goals in mind. One was a blog post--the story of what happened to our friend in the Basque Country--a life lesson in empathy.

Wednesday my ladies group had another fellowship lunch outing. The funniest moment was when Liz's order arrived--a GIGANTIC tenderloin sandwich!

Where's the bun?

Michael had planned a mini vacation for us in lieu of our annual tandem tour. We left that afternoon for Nashville, Indiana. Interestingly, just before we left I threw my back out and was forced to slow way down, and take Ibuprofen--an opportunity to better empathize with Michael as he continues to recover from surgery.


Little Nashville is a small town big on art--"the Art Colony of the Midwest" for over a century.
This stunning piece of public art had just been installed in the last month.

"Soaring"

We thoroughly enjoyed wandering in an out of galleries and shops, easy conversation with artists and vendors, amazing unending creativity everywhere.

Artist at work--Spanish surname and ancestors from Cataluña 

I took very few photos. These reminded me of someone. A couple wood sculptures for you, Stephan.

And decorated gourds for you, Leah.

Good meals at unique eateries like: Muddy Boots Cafe; Hobnob Corner Restaurant; The Sandwich Place, likely the largest Bobby Knight collection anywhere; and Miller's Ice Cream House which offers a Teeny Weeny ice cream sundae for 99 cents.

Friday mid morning we left Hotel Nashville and toured one more art gallery before heading home.

Breakfast view

I had planned to run a 5k this morning but the nagging back ache wouldn't let me. I was disappointed.
Is that how Mike feels as he waits to get back on his bike?

So, here we are, still taking it easy, catching up on laundry and putting away the abundance of produce we gathered today at Victory Acres.

Muck, Memories and More

A friend quoted from an article: "where there's muck, there's memory." The article had to do with discoveries from an archeological dig. Our muck may not date back hundreds of years, but has brought back many memories nonetheless.

When we go out to feed the cat, water the garden, and pick up the mail, it feels like we're visiting a graveyard.

Brutus hears us coming and runs out of his temporary home in the pole barn and rolls over to be petted, then purrs contentedly.

Mike is leaning over the deck to water the garden below. I harvested a dozen tomatoes yesterday and a handful of basil.
Occasionally we discover in the muck another item to salvage or let go.

Back at our fancy refugee pad, I spend hours cleaning and restoring a variety of items. These are my favorite tools.

And Mike spends endless hours working on the loss and replacement spreadsheet.
However, this week he also went to the insurance people to threaten them find out what was taking so long. Now things are moving and we were finally able to sign a contract with the builder. He is ready to begin reconstruction on Monday.

We did try out our new tandem one morning and enjoyed the 15 mile ride very much. But I only remembered to take a picture when Mike was putting it away.

The garage is half full of more items to restore or throw away. And there is a whole ozoned room upstairs of  stuff to be gone through. I have been cleaning the rescued photo albums, so full of memories! Also, for variety, I have been going through packets of letters my brother retrieved from Dad's office. Oh, my, oh my! Did I really write that many letters over the years? What a wealth of family history! Thank you, Dad, for filing every piece so carefully.

Midst the reminiscences and reflections, life in the present goes on.
Saturday we bought a used car that will replace mine.

Sunday, Kayla and I drove Skye to Miracle Camp.

From the photos on the web site, I gather he had a  great time. Malachi goes tomorrow.

Wednesday, after my hair appointment, SIL Diane and I went out to lunch. 

Chalupa lunch

Two afternoons Mike teaches ceramics at the Red Barn. This talented senior will soon be leaving for college.

Today, Saturday, Mike biked with his cycling club again after a long time absent.
And I ran a 5K with DIL Kristie. We both did better than we expected and won our age divisions. Kristie was also the second overall female runner. She still has the gift!

We chose to run as an act of solidarity with her father, my consuegro, on the anniversary of his fateful day and praying especially for him as this summer has been extremely trying. (To read about him and hear his story, go to http://deathbylethalsubjection.wordpress.com/.)

This is my weekly attempt to participate in Project 365. We aim to take a photo a day, some for love of photography, others to keep a record of our daily lives.  Sara at http://thebowyers.blogspot.com/ is our hostess, where we link up and try to visit one another's blogs. I failed miserably at that this week and have had a hard time even writing this post. I try not to miss because I know I can hardly remember what happens from one day to the next. So, here goes, this is Week 32.

God our Refuge

I was reading Joshua chapter 20. God's chosen people are settling into the promised land, receiving their assigned territory, building cities and fortresses. They were to include six neutral areas, cities of refuge, for the protection of any who had killed unintentionally.

It occurred to me that if we had such areas, my consuegro (co in law, son's FIL) would not be serving a life sentence, well, at least not in a state penitentiary. Read/hear/see his story [http://deathbylethalsubjection.wordpress.com/]. It was a drug related crime, "he struck his neighbors unintentionally [unknowingly]...he did not hate them beforehand [the key]"

Of course, even if we had cities of refuge, he would still have to remain there till judgment before the congregation, and the death of the high priest.

As it is he must stay where he is. The gloriously redemptive part of the story is that GOD Himself is his refuge, his redeemer, who has turned his life into a beautiful example. Many are being drawn to Kingdom life.

There may not be any literal cities of refuge, but God is our Refuge. Run to Him and be safe!