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~ Kathy M.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

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.
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7 comments:

Grammy Goodwill said...

Hey, Kathy. It's nice to catch up with you and what's going on in your life. I am so sorry to hear the bad/sad things in here though. I'm glad no one was hurt in the car accident. How scary. I hate cancer. It takes so many people who haven't finished becoming who they were meant to be.
Those pillows and bean bags are so cute. I esp like the ones using the Dick and Jane print. (That's what I would call it!)
Take care, Friend.

Wendy said...

I didn't want to read this post because the title scared me. Then it was ok. Not so bad. And then it was just awful -- so sorry to read this about Ken. Hugs and prayers winging your way and his. And for Melissa too. THEN you ended your blog in your upbeatKathy way. Thanks for that!

Kathy A. Johnson said...

You are so right that this is life: good and bad and sad, sometimes all at once. Of course I'm sorry for all the bad and sad, happy for the good--and happy that you seem to be maintaining a positive outlook through it all. And boy have you been busy! My thoughts are with you and your family members, and I wish you all the best.

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy said...

Thanks, you guys. Sometimes I just need to get things written out to help process them. I see it as we need to give sometimes and accept sometimes and it goes full circle. Right now I have time, and am trying to give as much as I can to those in my life. So happy to have you three in it.

Hugs,
Kathy M.

Lisa Ricard Claro said...

Hi Kathy - Your post was chatty and full of news. I kind of feel like we just sat together over a couple cups of coffee. I'm sorry to hear the bad news, and will keep the prayers rolling for Ken & Julie and Melissa---and your mama, too, for her whiplash to improve. So, so happy that no one was seriously injured in that accident. Your art projects are wonderful. You're still the Energizer Bunny!

Lynn said...

Wow, you've been busy and I'm sorry about all your "downs" but I like how you are looking at the "ups" of the downs. My computer is acting up, so I can't hear the song, but will try and listen later. I'm sure it's beautiful. Love your dinosaur cards too!

Anonymous said...

Happy with the good news, and so sorry to hear the bad news.
It's good to be busy with crafting. It keeps your thoughts in the here and now.
My prayers are with you and your family.
Hugs,
Prenter.

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