Such is Life: The Good, The Bad and The Sad

Well, there is a lot going on around here, so this is long.  There is some good, bad, and sad stuff happening in and around Mayberry. 

This next story is just bad and good, but mostly good.

On the Sunday before last, one week after Mom turned 77, she and my nephew E. and his son A. were minding their own business, driving along as they ran some errands.  A group of three teens didn't even slow down as they ran a red light and smashed into Mom's side of the car.  Nobody was seriously injured, but both cars were totaled.  Good and bad.

The girl driver was cussing and screaming about how E. had run the red light and ruined her car, and of course that made him pretty mad, since she was totally on offense when she should have been on defense and apologetic.  There is some speculation as to whether or not she was texting, but nobody will ever know unless she had Flo's camera in her car, and then they sure wouldn't let that info loose.  F-bombs were flying around pretty heavily during the heat of the moment, and Mom said that it was just a mess all the way around.  Bad.

So, my Mom has been without a car now for nine days.  Even with whiplash, she has been walking to were she needs to go for the most part.  (We thought that they had borrowed a car from Ethan's friend all week long.)  She is a "Hedrick Trooper", and always looks at the glass as half-full, and says that the walking has made her body feel better.  Well, that's good.
 
Mom has another car that my bro and sister helped her buy a couple of years ago.  It turned out to be a car with a mystery illness (it overheats and then stops) so they haven't been able to use it.  My Uncle and Aunt have stepped in to help her fix it, and my Uncle is taking it to his mechanic this morning.  That is a good thing.

Cary has been throwing fits about my Mom walking around with whiplash, getting groceries and walking to physical therapy, and rightfully so. He had his eye on one of our employees cars, which was coming up for sale.  And though her other car is getting fixed, he decided to just go ahead and buy her a second car, one known to be super reliable.  Right now, he and our friend Dave are delivering it to Mom, two hours away.  That is another really good thing!  My husband is a generous and very kind man, and now my Mom has gone from no cars to two cars!  Yay!

This next story is super sad.  I haven't even wanted to put it on here, after my victory post in August.  My brother-in-law, Ken, has been in the hospital for the past month or so.  After many procedures, they have determined that his cancer has returned with full force, and has spread to other parts of his body.  Ken is super, super sick now, and returned home just the other day.  He is now on hospice.  There are some options to buy him more time, and he is weighing them out.  

The good part of this story is all of the loving people who are and have been helping and supporting Ken and Julie ever since they discovered Ken's esophageal cancer back in April.  We continue to pray for a miracle (and there is an experimental clinical trial option that just may do the trick), as we hope for the best while preparing for the worst.

These two people are true love.  They have it for each other, and spread it to others like frosting on a cake.  

Here is a beautiful song that Ken wrote for Julie, "The Day Together".  (He has lots of cool stuff on his You Tube channel, if you want to take a look.  If you do, you will see why we all love him so much.)
 

Then, there is my Chicago friend, Melissa.  Melissa has a different sort of cancer than Ken, and I feel in my heart that she is going to be just fine after all is said and done.  So, that is good.  Here is a shout out to Melissa about what she is up to now:

 

My friend Melissa Bradley (from over at Melissa's Imaginarium) is making and selling these beautiful bracelets just in time for Christmas.  Melissa is fighting Stage III cancer, and has recently lost her job.  She is working hard on trying to keep the bills paid, and this is one way that we can help support her.  The bracelets come in different designs and stones, and cost $10 to $15 each.

Another way that you can help is to go to Melissa Bradley's Go Fund Me Page, and make a donation. If  you would like to order a bracelet, you can leave a comment on her blog so that she can give you contact information.

Thank you so much for your prayers, purchases, and help in advance!  I ordered a bracelet from Melissa made out of jade.  I can't wait until it gets here.  Here is a sample of her work:

And here is a sample of my work.  I have been crafty lately, and would have gotten much more done if my sewing machine didn't break on me.  I kinda thought that was bad, but in the scheme of things I can drive into Bend and get it fixed.

Here is some more good stuff.  I have been knitting scarves . . . :

. . . and making pillows and bean bags:

. . . and experimenting with creating things for ECE classrooms:

Here is a short tutorial on how I made a matching and sorting game.  First, I Googled "free dinosaur clipart" and found some cute ones.  Then, I printed off two copies.

I cut them out, and glued them onto white index cards, just because I had a lot of them sitting in front of me.

When that part was done, I laminated as many as I could before I ran out of laminating packets.  (It was a start and stop sort of a week on my crafting.)  You don't need a laminator to do this though, you can use clear packaging tape instead.

Then, I cut them apart . . .

and gave them to our niece for her pre-school class (the kids thought that was good):

I am sure that there is more, but I am getting tired, and you probably are too.  Thanks for stopping by and reading about our lives.  We appreciate your prayers for our family and friends.

Hugs,

Kathy M.

At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot!  All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.
 

Hello from Blue River, Oregon:

Last month on a drizzly day when we were on our travels up the McKenzie River, we drove to the little town of Blue River.  They have a store, a park, a library, a garage and a few other places there. They have schools there too, but they are way on the other end of the town loop, and we didn't drive that far. 

Some of these pictures are from the park.  The rest were taken when I walked onto the bridge crossing the river.
 

Here is a shout-out to my patient driver and BFH, Cary.  He makes it a lot easier for me to hop out and take my photos.
 

Now, what in the heck is this business below?  It mars the beauty of the fall foliage, if you ask me...
 

Remember, folks ...

I know, I know, I am preaching to the choir!

Sorry that I have been behind on my return visits.  I will be by to see you guys soon.

Hugs,

Kathy M.

At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot!  All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.
 

The Petting Zoo and More at the Central Oregon Pumpkin Company at Smith Rock Ranch:

One magical part of the pumpkin patch is the petting zoo.  It was closed the morning that we were there, but the animals came over to say hello.  

A picture is worth a thousand words, so I am just posting several thousand words this morning.  It is an easy post, unless you are reading it on your phone.

 

Alpacas are cuddly cute!

The bunnies and ducks were enjoying their down time.  They didn't even look up at us:

The goats and chickens were a different story though ...

I think that the new kids on the block will be arriving soon around here.

Next to the bank, the pony rides are located.

 

 I think that the Camero shoots pumpkins on the weekends.

Next to the pony rides is New York City ... and Godzilla!!!

The corn maze was closed too.  I think that the weekends are the best time to hit this joint.

 

Wait a minute.  I thought that we were in New York City, not San Francisco.  Hummm...

You could still buy pumpkins ...

  ... go to the store ...

 ... and ride on the zoo train:

If you are in the area and get the chance to go, you will certainly enjoy yourself.  Jeri and I sure did.  Please see the post below this one for more photos of our trip to the pumpkin patch.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope that you have a wonderful week ahead.

Hugs,

Kathy M.

At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot!  All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.