November Features

OK, lazy me, finally getting to post the “regular” features for November.

For the birthdays:
November 6 – My nephew Paul
November 16 – My niece Amy’s husband René
November 16 – My granddaughter’s husband Carl
November 21 – My nephew Gene
November 23 – My great-granddaughter Briana
November 25 – My great-great-niece Annelise
November 28 – My half-sister Lois

My father was born on November 23, 1877, and passed away September of 1967
My half-brother LeRoy was born November 25, 1921, and passed away in 2000 (August, I think, or September).

Magnacalendar!
Magnacalendar images:November

Baby Svana was scheduled for surgery, I think it was Monday November 9. I’ve heard nothing further. She had growths where the previous surgery on her esophagus had taken place, making swallowing difficult and painful. She had to go full-time to the feeding tube. Prayer that the surgery will be successful & permanent.

I’ve got a great deal of clean-up done in my yard this summer! I can now haul stuff in the wagon right behind the house where the ground is flat. There is still a lot to go, and I want to get some more work done in the garden before winter really sets in.

We got almost a bucket full of apples from our two trees. A very late frost destroyed most of the developing apples; others were affected in such a way that they had a rough scab-like surface on the skin, and it kept them from growing to full size. However, they got very ripe, and even if they afford just a few bites, they are delicious!

I ordered a bunch of books for Mike & me. One of mine was lost in the mail, and I was reimbursed for it. I’ll probably reorder it later.

Good news for my niece Suzanne! She & her husband Bob have the date set for going to the location of their missions assignment. Keep them in your prayers.

October Already!

I am getting lazy about my blog. I have had things I could have written about, but just don’t think about it when the opportunity is at its best.

The news about baby Svana is still good. She is going to need back surgery some time in the future, but as far as I know, she is doing fine otherwise.

Monthly features:
Birthdays:
October 10 – My son Mike
October 27 – My brother-in-law Tony
My great-great-niece Emmah also has an October birthday, but I don’t know the day.

The October “Magnacalendar” :
Magnacalendar images:October

I started this several days ago, intending to post it on Saturday. I’ve been kinda sick, and not up to doing much thinking.

I went to a dinner at the Richardsville Social Center on Saturday before Labor Day. Saw a lot of the new friends I had made at the Richardsville Road get-together last year.

Last Sunday we had a carry-in dinner for pastor appreciation Sunday. I got to the church, and realized I didn’t have my purse. I wound up having to borrow $5 to put a little gas in my car.

I changed my car insurance, and I’m saving nearly $400 a year, and have better coverage. I was putting my new insurance cards in my car, and I found a bank envelope in the glove compartment with $2 in it. I know I never put that there. It has the last name of the previous owner of the car on it – and I’ve had this car for 6 years now!

This week is our high school reunion – #55. We will be meeting informally at one of the homes on Friday night. The reunion dinner is Saturday night at the Country Club. One of our members will be serving a lunch to any interested on Saturday at noon. I won’t likely go. In any case, more than anything, it’s for the convenience of those who come from out-of-town. They also have a brunch on Sunday morning, which I never attend, since I’m in church at that time.

My brother’s high school reunion was in the local paper last week, and they had his name wrong.

On top of all this, I get to go to work Saturday morning! Hooray! (NOT!) We were supposed to go in every quarter to see that the secretary was keeping stuff in order so the audit would go more smoothly next year. But she couldn't “find stuff”, and this is the first time we’re getting to check it out – should have been in June. This will go toward next year’s audit. I think they need to start looking for a new secretary for the township.

Edit to update birthdays: Emmah's is the 23rd - and the same date is also my great-nephew Alex's; he's Emmah's uncle.

September features and other things

Last weekend was a good time. My brother Tommy, his wife Pat, and my half-sister Lois were down from Michigan. Tommy was here for his high school reunion. They stayed at Middy’s. I was down there most of Friday and Sunday afternoon. We don’t see them often. Tommy brought us a bunch of apples. On Sunday, I guided them to the cemetery where our mother is buried. Her parents are also buried there, and her brother and two of her sisters. Lois’s father and his parents and one uncle are also buried there, as well as two of her full siblings – Lucille, who died as a toddler, and LeRoy who died just a few years ago.

For those of you interested in the story of baby Svana, she is now home, and almost up to normal for a child her age. She still has some problems with feeding – she has to have supplements via artificial means because she is not yet able to eat enough to sustain her.

And now, for the monthly “features”:
Birthdays:
September 4, my great-niece Kathryn
September 26, my grandson Christopher
September 27, my sister-in-law Pat

I hope to keep building up my list of family birthdays; there is still a large number of them that I don’t have any birthday info on, and some that I do not have all. I’m not making a practice of posting the birth year, but I do want to get all that information in my own records. I have just recently added several more, which will show up when their “month” comes up.

And now the “Magnacalendar” for September:
Magnacalendar images:September

Blogger's note - once again, I have to edit my blog to correct the relationship of one of my grandchildren.

Svana

Svana is nearly 2 months old now, I think. She “should” be dead. She had many things wrong with her. Her esophagus went nowhere. Fluid leaking into the cavity around her lungs caused them to collapse. Other issues led to her being on a machine to “replace” her heart as well as her lungs. She had no rectum.

When she was about 2 or 3 days old, some men from the church her grandfather pastors gathered around and prayed for her. That evening, she had a bowel movement. Her grandfather said, “I don’t care if I am a Christian and a pastor – the first doctor who suggests that the original diagnosis (no rectum) was a mistake gets my fist in his face.” The issue with her lungs was up and down. She had surgery to connect her esophagus where it belonged. She has had other surgeries; I don’t know the details of all of them.

But while she was on the breathing machine & heart machine, there came a point where the doctors said, “She’s used up all her reserve. She has nothing left to fight with.” Her grandfather said, “She may not have any reserve, but we have – in God.”

The next thing we knew, Svana started improving. The lung machine was removed and she was put on a ventilator. Soon that was removed, as well as the heart machine. Her parents were able to hold her for the first time. The last I heard, they were even able to dress her. Interesting, isn’t it, that she has been improving steadily ever since the doctors said she had no more reserve?

Her grandfather is the pastor of the Brookville, PA, Assemblies of God Church; her great-grandparents are retired Nazarene missionaries.