It's been a long time

I'm so sorry I haven't posted for a while. I guess you all know that I had walking pneumonia and then it quit walking and just settled in my right lung. Being one who is rarely sick, I can say that I have a lot more empathy now for those who are. I coughed so much I think I damaged my vocal cords for a while. But I feel so much better now. The family wouldn't let me do anything over Thanksgiving, so I did a lot of supervising and sitting. (What a bummer!). And I have been informed that I'm not allowed to ever be sick on Thanksgiving because we forgot the dressing, the rolls and the cranberry salad.
I'm feeling much better now, so today I'm making cranberry salad and I may have to eat the whole thing. I have two more days of this terrible anitbiotic. I say terrible because it has fouled up my digestive system. Christal told me to eat lots of yogurt and I have been, but it still has messed me up. If you have any recommendations from you who have taken Augmentin before, I'm up for it.
Anyway, I hope to be back to normal soon and will be better about posting. We did have a great time over the Thanksgiving weekend. I pray that one day we can all be together on a holiday soon.
Love you all

On the mend

I guess you all know by now that I have been sick. I thought Icould get over it on my own, but apparently pneumonia takes more aggressive action. I'm still coughing and have not energy, but I should be well by next week. We had our holiday dinner at church yesterday, so things are going to quiet down there for a while. We don't do much in December. I have been so depressed over the election, but I guess it's time to move on and look to 2010. So, we start to think about Thanksgiving. Also, we must keep Matt and Christal in our prayers. Her job may be in jeopardy and I just heard this morning that Citigroup will be cutting 50,000 jobs. Matt works for Citi Bank. They really could not afford that at all. So keep them in your prayers.
Love you all

Just a little fun

I hope this cartoon comes through. I know after last Friday Melissa will really appreciate it. This is just another wonderful fall day in Indiana. I can't believe how beautiful it has been. I hope it lasts a while longer. My favorite time of the year.

Hurricane Ike

We didn't go to Gustof, but we are still on alert. If Ike goes into the gulf, we will be called out. Probable this weekend or on Monday. There are several teams down there now and still lots of chain saw work to do. They are going home this week, so they need replaced. We went up Monday and got our mudout trailer cleaned up. It hadn't been cleaned since it was used by the people at Worthington. It was a horrible mess. So, we are in a wait and see mode again. It's when you don't buy any fresh produce and only buy milk in 1/2 gallons.
Yesterday I picked two gallons of rasberries and made it all into jelly. And there are at least that many green berries out there. Avril, Alex, and Ireland would love it. And I'm sure the rest would too, if they could come and pick.

Windows Live Hotmail

Windows Live Hotmail

Hurricane Gustof

Yes, we have been put on alert. We don't know when or where we will be going, but it will be some time next week, we think. It will all depend where the need is. At this point throughout the US, there are 23 of our feeding units and shower units already on the field. The expect to serve over 500,000 meals a day. We will go when they call out the mud out units and the chain saw units. We are hoping that Papa and I can run a shower unit somewhere. We did that in Franklin, IN and really liked it. Anyway, keep those people in your prayers. You can't imagine the devastation when you lose everything you own and then we have to come in and finish tearing up their homes. Love you all. We'll try to keep you posted.

oops

Somehow the picture didn't come through...I'm so computer literate. So check your e-mails....

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Windows Live Hotmail
Meet Bennie. The lovable new pet at the Bolin house. He had gotten away this morning and this is his happy to be back smile.

Don't faint

Now gang, I have a news flash for you. The Bolins have an indoor dog..that's pretty amazing in the first place if you know Sheri. The flash is that Sheri actually likes him. He's a lassa apsa (or however you spell it). He belonged to K.C.'s boyfriend's little brother that was killed in the car accident a year ago. The parents have gotten jobs that require them to be gone more and they just couldn't take care of him. And it's Nate's senior year of high school, and he's working at a store, so he won't be there, so they asked the Bolins if they would take him and amazingly, they said yes. K.C. said she even heard Tim talking baby talk to him the other day. He's really cute. I'll try to get a picture today. Also some Bolin news. Michael was offered a job at a coal mine for quite a bit more money, but 72 hours a week. He went an talked to his boss yesterday and they counter offered, so he has chosen a career over money. It would have really cut into his music at church and lots of other things. We all think he made a wise decision. He's looking for a place of his own now.

Finally working on our house again

Whoopee! Today there is a wonderful Christian couple who is putting up guttering and covers on our house. We have had a problem with water getting under the siding because it just runs off the side of the house. We were going to do it ourselves, but the idea of us two old people up on ladders for a few days just didn't seem good, so we did some searching and found this Christian business in Dale that will do it for just a little more than it would have cost us to do it ourselves. And they are putting up leaf guards, so we won't ever have to clean them. I know this isn't terrible exciting to you all, but it's a big deal around here.
Lumpy is doing much better. His breath has cleared up and he only has a problem when he meows too much, which is too often.
And if you haven't heard, Adam had his appointment with the neorologist yesterday. Nothing difinitive, so they are making appointments for an EEG and a MRI. The MRI is to see if he has extra white matter (whatever that is0. Meanwhile he is to be monitored as much as possible to see when he has these seizures and how long. And Taylor has been sick for a week. He has run a temp of between 100 and 102. She finally got him to the doc and he's on antibiotics, but don't know what the problem is.
Please pray for Christal and Matt as they battle these problems.

Lumpy's problems

Just a little update on our house... We don't have kids at home to worry about, so we worry about our cat. People who don't have animals don't quite understand how you can get so attached to a cat, but you animal people understand completely. Anyway, Lumpy was having trouble closing his mouth after he yawned or meowed. So we took him to a vet and come to find out, he has gingivitis and infected lymph glands. We knew he had terrible bad breath, but we didn't connect that with infection. Now he is on antibiotics and we have already noticed his breath has cleared up. He still has a little trouble closing his mouth, but I think it's helping. We take him back in three weeks and they will probably do oral surgery and remove those back teeth and do some blood work. If nothing else they will clean his teeth. Who would have thought it??
Other than that, all is well here. We are getting ready to purchase guttering and down spouts for our house and while the weather is giving us a break, we just might get it up. Our garden is winding down. We've made several quarts of salsa and have lots of green peppers. And waiting for the cantalope to ripen. I hope we have foiled the deer this year...last year they got all the cantalope.
Uncle Lester and Aunt Vi are celebrating 50 years of marriage on the 23rd of August. We probably aren't going to make it. We are trying to figure out if we can come that way on Labor Day. Dad wants to fly... I on the other hand prefer to drive and fifth wheel it. We'll see who wins out. Probably the pocket book....lol

Wonderful 4th

I'm sure you all have heard that we had a wonderful time over the weekend. Butch/Scott and Tammy were great host & hostess. The meals were great and went off without a hitch. Tina and Corie did a great job with breakfast. The one hitch was that so few of us knew about Tammy's new allergy which is nuts. It has just developed over the past few years and she doesn't broadcast it. So Sheri brought snacks with lots of nuts in them. It still was okay because I would have eaten way more than I did. The pinocle tournament was great...with the "old" woman winning.... again. When will you ever learn?? It was so great to have nearly the whole family together. But I will never be satisfied till we are ALL there at one time. It just isn't right when there is a missing element. So now we all start planning for next year. We were invited to stay at a family's home that has a spare queen sized bed....Maybe Papa and I will just take them up on it... And today we are getting a much needed rain. They don't need it up north of us and are getting it anyway. But we are loving it. We are through with Disaster Relief for a while. It is too wet to start the rebuild and we need to get some stuff done around here...
We love you all.

VBS week

This is VBS week, so things are really busy around here. We are doing Game Day Central which based on a sports theme. Right up my alley. But when you live 19 miles away, it gets very hectic. And then our state Disaster Relief director calls and wants Papa to go out on a callout for the next two days. You know him, he'll be leaving this afternoon at 2:30 and be back Saturday, but he isn't coming home. There is a HAM radio overnight thing on Sat., so he's going to that. So, I get to be the director for VBS and do the missions study also for the next two nights. Then we get to get ready to go to Berea for the 4th. I can hardly wait. Wish you all could come. It is going to be so wonderful. Love you all.

Twilly and Itsy Bitsy

Pictures

Here is a sample of what it looks like at the kitchen as we prepare meals to be taken out by Red Cross.

disaster relief/ the kitchen

Finally home

We got home yesterday after 10 days helping disaster victims in Indiana. We started in Franklin and ended up in Terre Haute. Papa/Dad/Jimmy went around and evaluated the situation to find people to help. I stayed at the church that hosted us and helped with the feeding unit. Boy, is that a lot of work. And the Red Cross sent mostly frozen food to be cooked. Usually they send canned food that just needs heated. When you are cooking for 1200-1700 meals, it takes a while to just heat canned food, but frozen is a whole different thing. The cooks were getting up at 3:30 to have it ready for the ERV's. ERV stands for Emergency Recovery Vehicle. They are the box trucks that Red Cross uses to take the meals around to victims. We came home yesterday, but they will be feeding until Saturday. Our rule is that we can only stay out 10 days...good rule! Now I have two days to get ready for VBS. We have our block party on Sat. and start on Sunday. We will be so ready for the trip to Berea for the 4th and seeing all of you wonderful people.

darn disasters

We have been super busy with all of these tornados in Indiana. We were up in Indianapolis Monday and Tuesday to help clean up an RV park. We were supposed to stay till Wednesday, but there were tornado warnings, so we came home. Actually we were in between tornados as we were traveling. Well the warning was too real because today Papa/Jim is up in Moscow, IN helping clean up that town. I opted not to go because I have strawberries that are rotting if I don't get them put up. Besides, Corie and Frank and the kids are coming tomorrow. And we are told that on Monday we will be back up in Indy to help clean up some more. I don't handle the heat very well, but I'll try my best. And on the 21st we start VBS. So this week, I have to finish decorating for that. Wait, ...this week is almost gone...Oh, well, I guess it will get done sooner or later. There's always Sunday afternoon.
Love you all...

Okay, I'm so glad that you want some of the dolls. Kimmi wants Rainbow Brite and her dog, I presume..You've got it. And a couple of Mandys. And I'll start making some simple clothes. Hopefully I'll have them made really soon. Then I'll get them in the mail to you. And Corie and Avril will choose what they want when they come up on the 23rd. We will be heading to Alabama this weedend to tie balloons for a Kids Ranch We are going in a church van from Bloomington, so it won't cost us any gas money to go. They are providing a motel and all. That's the kind of trip I like to do. This gas price is killing us. But the sun is shining and the garden in growing, so God is good and we love Him. Have a great week.

Finally!

Wow! We've been without our computer for nearly a week because Papa....decided that we needed a better spy program and he put one on that was way too complicated for us. So the poor computer went into a spasm.. It took them wiping our hard drive clean after they backed up all of our files. The rule in this house now is: IF IT AIN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT!! But, now all is well after it took me several tries to get back into my blog. Had to get a new password and all.
What I wanted to tell you girls..which is mostly who reads this... My wonderful grand daughters! I have several dolls that I would like to get rid of. They are Fisher Price Mandy dolls and some others. I haven't put Samantha in the mix because they all want her and we have too many little girls for just one. If your little ones would like any of them, I will make some new clothes and they are most welcome to them. I will try to get the pictures of them on my post. It's a challenge for me to do it, but I'll try.
Love you all.

Shaking in IN

And now boys and girls....Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri shook us up yesterday at 5:30 AM. Those of us who have lived through many earthquakes in Southern California knew immediately what was happening. but the flatlander, Tim, was quite confused. We were awakened out of a sound sleep with the trailer shaking like crazy. It even woke Lumpy up. The epicenter was about 50 miles from us to the west.
Then we spent the day out in the garden. We are getting our beds ready for planting. We plan to have a lot in the garden this year. Maybe if we grow our own vegetables, it will ease the cost of eating for a while. The rasberries are doing great as are the strawberries. Now, if God will just turn off the water faucet for a while we can finish and then He can water all He wants.
We are getting ready to go up north in a week to help open the Baptist camp with Campers On Mission. I hate being gone in the spring, but they need help, so we will go for a week or so. This coming Saturday is KC's last prom...We must be here for that.

Shaking in IN

3AM

Here it is 3 o'clock in the morning and Papa is snoring and I can't sleep. We have been working on the church for two days. We are remodeling the stage area and the baptistry. When they put the baptistry in when the church was built probably inthe 50's, they didn't finish it. And so we went and put trim work all around. Also there was a mural on the back wall that was way outdated. When we took the mural off, there was a painted picture of a mountain that looked like it was in Japan. Problem was, it was mostly black. So, today, I painted over it with KILZ paint and then more paint. I think we can paint it with the regular paint tomorrow. We removed the rail that they put up for the choir. I don't think chuches have put up modesty rails for about 20 years...but we had one. Now we have the problem of hat to do with all the stuff we had back there. Now it can be seen. So I woke up thinking of what we are to do. And I forgot to take before and after pictures. Papa is going to make a cross to put there. It will look so much better.
I love all of you.
I'll try to get back to sleep now....Love you

Papa's big day

We have reached a milestone!! Today Papa took the test to become a HAM radio operator. He could only miss 7 questions out of 35 to pass, so he passed it with 100%. He is so very proud of himself and I am too. If he had taken that test a couple of years ago, he would not have remembered all the information, but I guess the medication he's on is finally working right and he is able to keep things in his mind. He has been studying for two weeks and it has really paid off. He bought a hand held radio and will have his call signs in a week. Then he can qualify to get on the North American Mission Board's Ham team to go out on national disasters. Sometimes that is the only communication that we have and it will be nice to have it at home. There are lots of rules and regulations to operating a HAM station, but he is good with rules, so it will work great for him. I didn't tell him, but with him working his mind so much, it helps to ward off allhymers {sp.}. Have a good day, all. We're getting ready for more rain tonight. I think we'll just build an ark.

finally in our home

Here are pictures of our front room. It's almost finished. Just have to put the finishing touches on the curtain rods. I crotched the edge on the blinds to match the curtains because I'm too cheap to pay $40.00 for them. We have been very busy getting things put back and deciding what we are getting rid of. Then the TV went out and we had to purchase one. That was a good old magnavox. We got it in 1992 in Green River. So because our insurance was so good to us we were able to afford a nice flat screen hdtv. It should last us the rest of our lives...
Lumpy likes his new house except for the floors. We had to put a rug in front of his perch at the window because he couldn't get a grip on the floor. Now he's pretty happy.
He had to explore the shelves before I could fill them. Then he settled down and fell asleep in the box that has a quilt I'm working on.
We may be going to Missouri next to work on the flood. They are just now getting to a point where we can help. We'll know later this week, I think.

I've been tagged

Well, Kimmi, and all, I would love to tell you that our life is as organized as yours is....However, our life runs around what is happening in the world. But we do kind of have a schedule.

Monday is usually our shopping day. We get up whenever we feel like it, but we usually feel like it between 7&8. Then it's off to Jasper to Save-a-Lot and Wal-Mart to get our groceries and whatever else we need. Then Tuesday we try to stay home and get whatever projects done that we have going. And believe me between Sheri and me we have lots of projects. Lately it's been just moving back into the house. Tina and Corie came on Thursday night and worked like crazy yesterday to help me get the glassware and kitchen back together. They were great help.
Anyway, Wednesdays we are at church all day. I clean it and Papa does the administrative work and we visit the nursting homes if we have time. Then it's church that evening.
Thursday we go to school at 1:00 till 3:00 to help with JAM club. It's third and fourth graders. They are great.
Friday is cleaning house or whatever else I think is important. I rule, you know.
Then Saturday is taking out the garbage day. We don't have garbage pick up because it costs way too much out here. So we take our own garbage to the landfill. It's an important job, you know. But then there are Saturdays like today and we had to be at an Indiana Farm Bureau breakfast at 8:00. We tied balloons for the kids till 10:30.
This Sunday afternoon K.C. is in her last school play. They are doing God'spell. We heard that she is the hit of the show. They had opening night last night. I can't believe she is that near graduation. She has been accepted at Oakland City University and has 75% of her tuition paid with a scholarship. She will live at home and commute at least for a while. It's only about 22 miles, so it won't be too hard.

Quick trip to St. Louis

This weekend we went to St. Louis to see the kids. Tayler was in a Guitar Hero tournament and it was his last basketball game and it was Adam's school's festival, so it was a good time to go. We had a good visit with them. Their life is crazy as usual with Christal's working nights and all. Matt started a new job on Friday and will stick with it until a better one comes along. He's still hoping to get back with Citibank soon. This week we will really work on getting settled back in our house. Of course, we have to go to the church on Wed and we have JAM Club and then on Thursday we have to take the Disaster Relief trailer back to where it's stored. That's a 3 hour trip up and back and Jimmy has a meeting while we're there. It seems we can't get consistent block of time to get things done. Oh well, I guess we have the rest of our lives and some things just don't matter....Have a good week all.... Love you..
Be sure and pray for Kimmi and the girls and Chris.

Life at our house

Well, your Papa/Pa is falling apart. We went to a hand specialist on Monday. He has arthritis very bad in both thumbs. He seems to get problems in pairs. The Dr. said that arthritis is rated on a scale of 1-4. His is a high 3 in the left thumb and a mid 3 on the right. So he gave a shot in the left thumb....it hurt really bad.. And had the therapist make some braces for both of them that he is to wear for two weeks. Then we go back and they will decide what they are to do. Most likely they will fuze the joint on both thumbs. That will take away some of the mobility, but will take away the pain. He hurts so bad that he has trouble holding on to things. It's the pits getting old.

About Flat Stanley

I said I would tell you about Flat Stanley....but first, I must yell...Whoopee!! We went and got our new washer and dryer today. Of course it isn't in yet, but it's on the back of the truck and will be in tomorrow after church. Poor Papa/Dad is having such a hard time with the arthritis in his thumbs that he can't work very long without having incredible pain. So Monday he is seeing a hand specialist...Hope he can help.
Now, about Flat Stanley... He was a good little boy that liked to travel, but his parents could't really afford it. One day he was flattened when a book case fell on him...So, his parents thought it would be a good idea to just mail him around the country so now he gets to travel. That's the story of him and the kids in first and second grade get copies of him and color him and send him to people around the world or the U.S. We got him from Adam and went around here and took pictures of Stanley at different places like in the fifth wheel with Lumpy. Then we went to Santa Claus, and Lincoln's childhood home and took pictures. Then we sent him and the pictures back to Adam where he shared them with his class. Tayler sent his to an author that I've never heard of. I haven't heard if he came back yet. It is very disappointing if Stanley doesn't come back. So if any of your kids get to do Flat Stanley when they get bigger, it would be fun to do it again.
We are just about out of the deep freeze. It was actually 33 degrees today and it was the first day I was out of the house for three days. Love you all....

Home again

We didn't get to stay long down in IL because of the ice storm. We came home last night after supper because of the storm coming in. I'm so glad we did because we are totally iced in today. We have about 1/2 inch out there. Haven't even tried to get out of the house because both of our doors are frozen. I'm glad I still have the WY habit of storing lots of food. We can get along several days without going out. So, I was able to get our clothes put away and get some stuff done on the house. We go permission to go pick out our washer and dryer, but that will have to wait till Sat now. All of the cabinets are finally in, and I ordered the new curtains.
We were able to help 11 families down in IL in the day and 1/2 that we were there. We may go back the first week in March if they still need help. Or we may be doing work around here if this storm does damage. Hopefully it will be a better day tomorrow. Love you all...

Back home again

Well, we moved back in the "big" house yesterday. Still no blinds, curtains and it needs trim, but we moved anyway. We got called out for Disaster Relief to go to southern IL on Tuesday, so it is best for Lumpy that he is in the house. We are hoping that by the time we come back on Friday that they will have the trim done, the washer and dryer back in place and the cabinet in the laundry room. That's asking a lot, but maybe, just maybe. Anyway we get a change of scene to go do some chain saw work for those who are in worse shape than we are. It puts it in a little better perspective, I think. You all have a great week and I'll get you up to date when we get back....This picture is Lumpy and his friend Flat Stanley. I'll tell you the story of Stanley later