Out of touch way too long!

SEPTEMBER
Life seems to be going in slow motion.  Marj is recovering from the knee replacement surgery she had on Aug. 7th.  Things seem to be going well.

This month we took a drive up to the Mountain States Children's Home in Longmont, CO to deliver 5 quilts that Marj, Dale, Ken and Donna collectively made in the past few months.  This is the second delivery we have made to them.  The four of us have made several quilts for the kids at the Home. 

Photo: Marj, 2 ladies that work in the office and a new student to MSCH holding one of the quilts Marj made.  This little gal is one of the younger students.  Most children that come to live at MSCH are in their teens.

Mountain States takes in children in crisis.   They have a 155 acre farm with several homes where house parents  watch over and guide the students until they can return home to their families.  While there at Mountain States,  the kids not only experience stability but are taught the love of Jesus. When they come to the Home, most of the students are one to several years behind their peers in their education.  But, with the help of the "one room school house / home school" enviroment many gain confidence, catch up quickly and are able to return to the public school system in the area.

A lot of times when the child arrives they have nothing but the clothes on their back.  The Home likes to issue each child their own homemade quilt that is theirs to use and take with them when they leave.  We contribute the lap quilts in hopes that it will be a warm and lasting memory of the time they spent among Christians at the Mountain States Children's Home.

With Marj "on the mend" we took the opportunity to take our 5th wheel out for our "maiden voyage" the last week before Marj had to return to work.  Since it was our first time to actually camp in it and we were not sure  if everything worked properly , we choose to go to Cherry Creek State Park,  just a short distance from where we live.  Not to mention, we have lived here 9 years and had never visited the park!   We had a great time and fortunately did not run into too many unexpected problems.  Dale was surprised to find a leak under the kitchen sink.

The previous owners had replaced the faucet and much to our dismay it needed a little fixing.  So, the benefit of staying close to home, we made a run to Ace Hardware and were back to the park in no time. The weather cooperated with sunny days but our first night had us waking up to a very chilly morning.  Fortunately, we found the heater works great!  Since it was the end of the season we have not had the chance to go again but are looking forward to it as soon as the weather breaks.  That is unless we sell our condo.  Then we will move into the RV and head south!

OCTOBER

We received notice this month that Dale's Social Security Disability was approved.  Now, that does not lessen the pain or make it go away but it is a relief that we no longer need to worry about having some sort of income.  It has been over 3 1/2 years since the surgery so we were very relieved that he was approved. 

NOVEMBER

Good news!  After 1 year on the market, we have finally sold the one-bedroom apartment we bought several years ago as a rental.  All things considered, we have been very fortunate to have some great tenants but with wanting to live in our 5th wheel and travel, we would like to be debt free.  We signed the closing papers early in the month and are very glad to be one step closer to our goal of leaving Denver.

About the same time, we also listed the place we currently live in.  Dale and Marj have always been "do it yourselfers" so listing with a realtor really goes against our nature.  But, we live in a condo in a secure building with rules that make it very difficult sometimes.  Like, not putting up any kind of signage.  However, the "rules" are the very thing that make Heather Gardens a very desirable place to live.   With the approaching holidays, timing was not on our side.  It is a real challenge to keep every room neat and tidy and ready to show everyday.   We really don't look for our place to sell before spring but we are leaving it up to God to send just the right buyer at just the right time.

November 19th we flew to Sacramento where we enjoyed a wonderful week with our youngest daughter, Amy and her family.  Because Amy's house is quite full, there was no room for us to stay there.   But Amy made arrangements for us to stay with their dear friend Cynthia.  What a blessing to meet that lovely lady.  She was so gracious and hospitable.  Each day, we would go over to Amy's and spend time with the grandkids.  It was so fun to see little Sammy take his first steps and to hear Grace read!  Little Noraa was quite the helper when Grandpa did a couple little "fix-it jobs".   And oh, how they love books!  We loved all the hugs and snuggles we got while we read oh so many books over the course of the week.

We also drove the 40 miles down to Stockton a couple times to visit with Dale's mom and sister.   Dale's niece, Heather, surprised us by joining us.  She and her three children were there to share in the great lunch Lois fixed.  We also shared some special time with just Mom catching up with her and exchanging stories of our aches and pains.  :o) 

Photo: Dale's mom, Jerry showing Marj her new knitting loom.

The day after our lovely Thanksgiving dinner at Amy's, we all went downtown to Old Sacramento along the river.  You can see from the photo that the day started a bit chilly but soon the sun came out and it turned out to be a sunny California day! 

Photo: Amy, Aaron, Noraa, Grace and Sammy. 

We all walked around enjoying a step back in time.   Old Sac has many restored buildings that have been turned into gift shops and food vendors.  We loved seeing the boats, trains and horse drawn carriages.  We had a great clam chowder lunch at Joe's Crab Shack at the riverside and had a treat watching the draw bridge go up to let a pirate ship go through.  It docked right by the restauant to let its passengers out.

From there, we said our goodbyes and we returned to the airport to turn in our rental car and fly home to Denver.  A good time was had by all.  Thank you Amy and Aaron for a great stay!



DECEMBER 7TH

Meanwhile, Dale continues to get our "little rolling house"  outfitted for the road.  He has several routine maintenance jobs to do as well as purchase new tires.  Because the tires are so important for safety, he has spent countless hours researching the kind we need.  He has finally found a local tire shop that can order and install the tires for us.  Currently, the 5er has been in the hands of an RV shop getting some "recall" work done.  They are finally done and then we will be taking it to Camping World to completed the rest of his check list.  :o)