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Have read everyone's updates with interest and care. Am at Dr's for a routine appointment so will be back longer next time. Have more appointments today and Anzac Day duties tomorrow...0
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Today is sunny and we are not as cold so I am enjoying the weather. Tonight I have a zoom class called "Forming" which is about spritiual formation of our hearts to understand what a relationship with God is verses a working knowledge of who he is. It is amazing that God who created the universe wants to live in me and help me become what he wants me to be. This is of course so much better than what I think I should be. He has great plans and unimaginable love that he wants to give to us. In Ephesians it says God wants us to "be filled to the measure of all the fulness of God". What does that even mean? Our puny brains can not imagine what that fullness can be. We can only understand when we worship on our knees (not sure if we will have knees or not) in his presence in heaven. What a glorious time that will be.
All is going well today. Our daughter is coming over to work in the garden to get it ready to plant. It has been pretty wet with snow so I'm not sure how much she can do but at least she can pull up all the old tomato and squash plants that were left over the winter.0 -
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Lol Marilyn. I had not thought of a Labradoodle that way before! Thank you for your health update yesterday. I hope and pray the hospital procedure will go well and will help you with your kidneys. It must be so hard to face all those treatments and procedures. The Lord be with you.
Linda, that study sounded so good and so challenging. Our finite minds can only take in so much of the infinite nature of God, yet He never asks more of us than that we can handle/bear. Thank you for sharing those thoughts with us.
It's ANZAC day here (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) and our tradition is to hold a dawn service to commemorate the dawn battle of 1915 in Gallipoli, Turkey. It's usually held outside as the sun rises, but today it was raining so all ceremonies were indoors. Our singing group sang Amazing Grace and the Australian national anthem then the New Zealand national anthem. We have an afternoon service starting at 1pm where we are singing again. This picture shows how the stage was decorated with a carpet of hand crocheted poppies (made by ladies in our Village).
The Dr diagnosed Colin with double pneumonia yesterday so he is finally on bed rest.
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Marilyn, So good to hear from you with your updates but so sorry about your head cold but glad it wasn’t any worse. I hear you when you say you are nervous about the upcoming surgery for putting the Shunt in preparing you for dialysis. Yes, it’s a big step but trusting you won’t need dialysis for a long time. Praying that they will accommodate you with the special chair to help you sleep more comfortably should you be required to stay overnight. Praying for your iron infusions that they will bring up your levels. Please let us know how the results were found in your next Blood Work up. I will continue to pray for you my friend that the Surgery and Iron Infusions are both successful for you. 🙏❤️
Linda, so glad to hear you are back from your retreat. Sorry about the accommodations but glad they gave you a discount for the inconveniences. So glad your weather is warmer than what it was in the mountains where your retreat was held. You mentioned you were only back for a few days? Where are you off to next? I look forward to hearing more about your retreat once you sort through your notes. Sure remember when I went to retreats, I took pages and pages of notes which included reams of Scripture verses. We also would receive handouts for some sessions. Did you receive any handouts at any of your sessions Linda? You asked about if I was getting enough rest; yes I sleep when I can, most days I rest in the afternoon which I am thankful. Yes I love the Seed catalogues you speak about. I receive in my e-mail one called Farmers Almanac which shows pictures of various seeds and flowers when to plant and what works best in your area. As you know I am expecting to have next surgery in June; no confirmed date yet.
Susan, my prayers continue for Colin, happy he is doing much better. Has he started physio yet on his shoulder? Trust you are well my dear friend!
Have a blessed evening and may you have a wonderful week ahead! ❤️🙏🤗0 -
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Susan - I hope you had fun in your celebrations. The poppies for the stage carpet are amazing and beautiful. Is this flower part of the celebration? When I was little, they gave out paper poppies when we celebrated Veteran's Day --- I just looked it up and the poppy is the symbol of rememberance of the blood and sacrifices that soldiers made that was connected with the battles the veterans fought. I assume your poppies are similar. I am so sorry that Colin has developed double pneumonia and now is on bedrest. He sure has had a hard time with this surgery and recovery. I hope they can get an antibiotic that can really work for him. How are you holding up? It is hard when our spouse is hurting and we can not make them feel better.
Judith - we are in Denver only for a few days then will go back to Grand Junction tomorrow if the roads are OK. The marriage retreat was half way between our two houses so we came back to Denver to get some "Spring cleaning" done like - setting up the sprinklers, the swamp cooler, fertilize the lawn, etc. It just made more sense since we were so close to come. We do not have any big trips coming up that I can think of. After going back to GJ tomorrow, we will stay there until the weekend of Mother's Day when we will come back to Denver to be close to family to celebrate. We are trying to not travel so much but things do come up that we do not expect also.
Marilyn - what you posted is so true about animals. They have unconditional love for us inspite of ourselves.1 -
Thank you Marilyn, I agree with Linda, as I sit here my “baby girl” Miss Sunshine is all curled up sleeping on my lap. She shows so much love which is good for me.
Thank you for sharing travelling between the two places, didn’t they were so close to each other so it does make sense going back to enjoy the warmer weather and get things organized and ready for Spring. Question: you have mentioned it before, I know what a Swamp is as I lived by many when living in Lafayette Louisiana but you said getting the swamp cooler set up. Can you define what a swamp cooler is used for? You mentioned you hope no further trips until Mothers Day when you go back to Denver to be with family as you celebrate. My family all come to my place now, over the years we have gone to Hope BC to be with Son and family to celebrate and to my daughters and family but travelling isn’t good for me now. I just manage to travel to medical appointments.
Susan I continue to pray for Colin and for you, thinking of you and your emotional health as it’s so hard seeing the man you love go through all that has it has to be tasking and wear on you seeing Colin in pain and having infections, please know I care and I’m praying the Lord fill you
with His Grace Peace and Strength.0 -
Judith - here is the explaination from google as to what a swamp cooler does. "Evaporative coolers, also called swamp coolers, rely on this principle - by passing outdoor air over water-saturated pads, the water in the pads evaporate, reducing the air temperature by 15°- to 40°F before it is directed into the home". It only works in a dry climate because the water has to be able to evaporate otherwise it just increases the humidity in the house. An air conditioner is what is needed in humid climates because it refrigerates the air. This works wonderfully for us and sometimes it gets so cold I have to put on a sweater while the others who are hotter than I am are enjoying the cold air.1
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Lovely thoughts, Marilyn. Gratitude and the unconditional love of our pets 💕
Linda, you sure are right about needing air conditioning in humid climates. We only had one evaporative cooler in Australia, when we lived in land so far that the air was dry full stop near the coast like we are, we have to have AC. Black mould builds up in AC over summer, so in the next 2 weeks I am getting ours serviced. We have solar panels on the roof that also get dirty due to dust, mould and bird droppings. I am getting them cleaned aswell.
Judith, I understand why it would be impossible for you to travel far right now. You need your strength for your treatments. You would also feel that you couldn't go to far away in case your medical team needed to see you. We are like that with Colin's ailments right now too. Thank you for praying for us. Colin has been receiving physio since his surgery date. They started at 1 day after surgery. He had his weekly appointment for physio yesterday. Is physio was not concerned about him having double pneumonia as he is not coughing and spluttering. She just thoroughly cleaned all equipment after his appointment.
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Thank you Linda for sharing, very good and clear explanation. I’m thinking?? “Why didn’t I go to Google myself”? Dear me must of had “Brain Fog” or something. I use Google a lot but for some reason it never occurred to me this time. I have always lived in climates where everyone used an AC. I have never heard of this system until I read it here on your post. Thanks again for taking the time to explain it! 😊
Susan, you are so welcome, so glad Colin is receiving physio for his shoulder, and happy he is doing well with it. My prayers continue! 🙏
Thank you Marilyn for another great quote! 😊
God Bless you all, have a fabulous evening and day tomorrow! 🤗0 -
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Marilyn - great quote as always. I am praying for your blood work today that will show what your kidney function is doing. Also praying for the antibiotics to work on your lungs and sinuses.
Here is a wonderful verse I read today in my Bible study. "I hope you are all blessed today as you go about your lives. Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Even if things are not going as we wanted or expected, we can still trust in him and find peace in our chaos.
I am enjoying the bird songs this morning outside my window. There is a robin that seems to really like my back yard and is finding lots to eat in the grass. I think it is the seeds off my Elm tree that cover the grass about this time of year. Elm seeds seem to be very strong in that they grow almost anywhere including cracks in the cement, in flower boxes, and gravel. It keeps me busy pulling them up everywhere. I am glad the robins as helping me clean the backyard of these persistant seeds.
Susan - I am glad that Colin is able to continue his therapy on the shoulder in spite of not feeling well. I pray that the antibiotics will take hold and completely clear out all the infection soon. I hope you are getting enough rest as you care for him.
Judith - Google does seems to have answers to a lot of things but unfortunately not world peace which we only find in God. It did not bother me at all that you did not Google the swamp cooler. When I first heard of them I thought it was so strange. I grew up in the humid central states and it just did not make any sense to add water to your already wet air. After living here and feeling like a dried up raison most of the time, I understand how arid the air is. It takes lots of lotion to keep my skin moisturized.1 -
Romans 15:13 has always both blessed me and ministered to me in all my 46 years of walking with Jesus!
I so remember the day I knelt down in my own living room as a young gal inviting Jesus into my heart and life.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16 NKJV
Thank you Marilyn for another wonderful quote. Continue to pray for you…
Susan continuing to pray for you and Colin…
It’s late so I’m heading to bed now! 😴0 -
Good evening all. It has been a busy day as I have a friend here who travels to Brisbane every month for medical appointments. She stays with us and today she wanted me to travel to town by train with her as she was unsure how everything worked. It was an hour and a bit trip each way. I'm still trying to get us dinner tonight so please forgive me for just checking in. I shall be back for longer tomorrow.
God bless you all.1 -
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Susan -It has been a long time since I traveled on a train. My parents traveled to visit us and it took them several days to get here. They had a room in the sleeper car but she said it was not very comfortable. She did love meeting people and enjoying the scenery.
Today is my husband's spiritual birthday. It will be 35 years today. A lot of growth has happened during that time and I am praising God that he has been with us all this time during this growing journey.
I have a MFP question. A little while ago when I was putting answers in one of the threads, MFP changed my answer to *kitten*. I saw it again on another team with another person's answer. Do you know why it does this? Maybe I am naive but I'm not sure why my answer was not acceptable.
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I just re-read my post for yesterday and saw how it didn't make much sense in parts! So I corrected it.
Linda, I hadn't travelled on a train for a long time either. It did create a stress free trip into town, without wrestling with traffic etc. Traffic has been so heavy here lately. The last time I travelled for a few days on a train was in 1987. Lol! I agree that it wasn't very comfortable. Congratulations on your husband's spiritual birthday and growth! What a blessing 💕😊
Marilyn, what a lovely quote for today. I hope you have much kindness and beauty in your day.
Judith, thinking of you and praying things are going well. 🙏💕 I am thinking you are needing to rest more with all the medical appointments you have had lately. They are very draining for you, I know.
Our friend left this morning so we are cleaning up a little. Colin is beginning to get some energy back, thankfully. He still has some healing to do. I hope he doesn't insist on using all his energy up! He needs some to complete the healing! I am going to prepare for a card class for next week. I know what I want to make, I just need to make it 😊0 -
Thank you Susan, there are some days I am really tired so rest extra. Reading about your friend staying with you while attending appointments. You said you rode into town with her and it was a lovely trip. I took the train, VIA Rail in 2010 from Vancouver to Toronto to celebrate my Dad’s special birthday, beautiful scenery and the service was awesome, white linen tablecloths on tables in dining car and ate on bone China plates cups and saucers, we also had our own room and was very comfortable. I would do it again if I were better! So glad Colin is improving but hope he doesn’t overdo things. You made me chuckle saying you knew the card you wanted to make, you just needed to do it! 🤭 yup been there and done it too.
Linda, please congratulate your husband in celebrating his Spiritual Birthday! ✝️📖 you had a question about the MFP thread’s? You were wondering why they changed your answer with the word “kitten” and another person in another thread had same problem. Not sure why they do it but have seen it happen in threads way back when I first joined. What has happened to me is I posted something, they didn’t correct it but it was deleted, couldn’t find it and few times when I tried to sign in I was blocked. It was only after I sent a note to the group who looks after the MFP group that it stopped, never received a reply apology or anything. Very strange.
Thanks again Marilyn for your great quotes.
Have a great evening all… 🤗❤️🙏0 -
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Marilyn I so agree, as Christians we should leave our footprints of Love and Kindness on every of our journey; to be God’s Hands Extended! ❤️✝️
I will let you read my post from last night, April 28th as I replied to Susan’s post and answered question from Linda!
Blessings all, have a Jesus Filled Weekend! ❤️0 -
It's Sunday afternoon now and I am home from church. It was about Philippians ch 4 - be careful for NOTHING and pray about EVERYTHING. It was a great sermon. Colin stayed home as he is still easily exhausted.
Judith, your train journey to your Dad's sounded so nice. Our train was a passenger train for local travel only. It's amazing how they open them so you can pass between cars without opening and closing doors now. There is no dining car or sleepers on these trains, but I did a two day journey once in a long distance train back in 1987. It wasn't very comfortable! I think the new trains would be better long distance.
Inside the train we took:
Marilyn, love the thoughts about kindness 💕
Thinking of you Linda and hoping you are having a lovely weekend.
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Today we took a trip with two other friends to visit a friend in the mountains who comes to our church. She works at the Aspen hospital and does not get to attend our services very often because the trip is almost two hours one way. It was especially hard during the winter when it gets dark so quickly and the roads as not safe with the snow. Our church service is at 4pm so it can be getting dark when she starts home. She tries to come as much as she can with the weather getting better. We had a lovely time with her just talking and having lunch. I had not traveled much in her area so it was so nice to see new scenery and different mouintain peaks. Traveling so much to Denver does not give much variety in our scenery since we have seen it so much. Today was a really nice day and the weather was wonderful.
My husband is going to teach a lesson to a church in Michigan tomorrow morning via Zoom. They start at 8:30am their time which is 6:30am our time. He tried to go to bed early so he can get good sleep since he has to get up so early. An article that he wrote was in a book a friend published and the minister wanted my husband to present about what he wrote and to have a question and answer time with the congregattion during their Sunday School time. Since it is after midnight and I am still wide awake, I will not be getting up with him to hear what he has to say. When I was younger I worked the 6am-3:30pm shift but I am not sure how I did it. I am so much more awake later in the day.
I hope everyone has a great weekend.1 -
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It seemed like it was a busy day but I can't think of anything exciting that we did. 😊 We listened to a morning sermon from the Denver church. He talked about how important that we have community around us to support us and to have that same relationship with God using the parable of the prodical son. the evening service we spent in prayer for our mission projects. We were divied up into four groups and we moved from space to space praying for our churches in Colorado, the Rocky Mountain area, the Asian churches we support and then for the world and all it's hunger, wars, droughts, illnesses, etc. It was a unifiying time for all of us.
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Linda, your prayer service sounds like ones we have praying for Missionary’s Pastors, world situations, praying for all the people and all the churches we support around the world and praying for our Country and others, much what you prayed for! I so enjoy these services as we pray one for the other and for our communities. Yes we come together in unity and love! 🙏😊
Susan, Thank you for sharing about your train and the picture of the train you took. Yes I agree the trains these days are really comfortable. The passenger trains we have went through a major upgrade so the cars were all spectacular. The Dome car was really nice to see the mountains and countryside! I’d love to do the trip again. In closing my prayers continue for Colin! 😊🙏
Marilyn, been thinking of you and prayer if for you. 😊🙏0 -
Judith, you are welcome for the picture. I actually found the double seats on the train very tight when two people tried to sit in them. Lol! That's not a problem you would have, I am sure. Thank you for continuing to pray for Colin. Am praying for you as well.
Linda, how wonderful about the opportunities for learning and service you and your husband are having. It's heart warming. You seem to be part of a beautiful community too.
Marilyn, now I am wondering, are you left handed?? I am right handed but I was thinking of left handed people I have known while reading your quote!
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My brother, late grandmother and my granddaughter are all lefthanded. They say it is hard living in a right handed world like trying to open appliance doors is difficult. They are all very creative and have large plans/goals to do.
Besides getting our little grape vine some sunshine yesterday, we also put out the patio furnature. It is so nice to have our meals outside during the warm (not hot) times. My husband loves to sit in the swing in the early morning hours to pray and watch the sunrise and clouds. Me, on the other hand, like the evenings when it is getting cooler and I can watch the birds and see the sunset. I hope to be able to do this more now that we are getting warmer weather.
We have quite a few robins in our back yard today. Some are fat and sassy while others are smaller and trim. I don't know if it is age that makes the different sizes or dietary intake. The large male bird is protecting his territory and running off the other birds. He may have his eye on a single female that I see flitting around once in a while.
I continue to pray for Colin (healing) and Marilyn (kidney numbers and upcoming surgery) and Judith (weight maintenance or gain and upcoming surgery) and for you Susan as you care for Colin and teach your classes. It is a new month with new blessings coming our way.1 -
My brother, late grandmother and my granddaughter are all lefthanded. They say it is hard living in a right handed world like trying to open appliance doors is difficult. They are all very creative and have large plans/goals to do.
Besides getting our little grape vine some sunshine yesterday, we also put out the patio furnature. It is so nice to have our meals outside during the warm (not hot) times. My husband loves to sit in the swing in the early morning hours to pray and watch the sunrise and clouds. Me, on the other hand, like the evenings when it is getting cooler and I can watch the birds and see the sunset. I hope to be able to do this more now that we are getting warmer weather.
We have quite a few robins in our back yard today. Some are fat and sassy while others are smaller and trim. I don't know if it is age that makes the different sizes or dietary intake. The large male bird is protecting his territory and running off the other birds. He may have his eye on a single female that I see flitting around once in a while.
I continue to pray for Colin (healing) and Marilyn (kidney numbers and upcoming surgery) and Judith (weight maintenance or gain and upcoming surgery) and for you Susan as you care for Colin and teach your classes. It is a new month with new blessings coming our way.1
