UPS Strong

Les had an outing to UPS this past week.  His old supervisor, Rick, retired.  On Rick's last day there was a morning party - similar to what Les had on his last day.  I needed to get Les up EARLY that day - not an easy feat!  He is pretty groggy in the mornings.  But, we made it by 8:45!  It was so fun to see all the drivers come rolling in.  They are always excited for cake and coffee!  Les was greeted very warmly by his old buddies.  Les got very emotional - what he wouldn't give to be going to work in his brown uniform and complaining about the load on his truck.......

Rick and Paula have been so great to us.  They come to church with us quite often.  They stop in with fresh picked raspberries and blueberries and homemade breads.  Les enjoyed Rick as a supervisor;  Rick has gone above and beyond since Les retired. 

This is Janna.  She starts EARLY in the morning and is pretty much the glue that holds that center together!  She also makes awesome chocolate chip cookies.

This is Ed.  He is the driver that delivers to our house.  I should have a picture of him sitting on our couch visiting with Les - because he does that OFTEN. 

 Les gets visits quite often from current drivers and retired drivers.  I don't have pictures of all of them, but here are a few:

Flash back to a year ago and the UPS golf tournament.  We continue to use money from that tournament to pay our medical bills.  SUCH A BLESSING!

Les continues to lose strength in his left arm.  This causes lots of frustration for both of us.  He is still "training" on his eye gaze computer, but that tires him out quickly.  We are having some "boards" made up with the alphabet and various phrases, etc. that we can point to and he can say yes or no to.  Not fun stuff.  Have I mentioned what an awful, nasty disease this is?  We try to continue to focus on just today.

 Our Iowa friend Rachel recently sent a letter and this is what she had to say:  "I wonder sometimes why we aren't told more about heaven in the Bible.  Is it because we are so incapable of understanding that we wouldn't really be able to appreicate it?  Or is it because God has it wrapped up like a gift, and if we were able to open it up too soon we'd lose the excitement of anticipation?  I guess for now, we really need a strong faith to believe that it will be SO far above anything our 'earth-bound' minds could ever dream up."  Les is counting on that last part!!

Visitors

We've had some fun visitors recently!  Having people around sure makes the days go by quicker.

We had a visit from Danny and his sweet wife Kati and their two darling girls.  They live in Moscow.  I first met Danny on a mission trip we went on together - many years ago.  Before they were married, Kati lived in our basement for several months.  It was such a treat to have them visit!  I was so excited, I didn't get a picture!  BUT I found this one from way back when........

Some of my cousins on my mom's side were here for a family wedding.  My mom made a yummy lunch for all of us.  It was so great to catch up with these girls!  Now it's my turn to get to their stomping grounds.

Brielle lives in Phoenix.  She made a point of spending an afternoon with us when she was visiting "home".   We are family friends from way back, so we spent some time watching old home movies.  Oh dear, hilarious!!  Thanks for taking the time Brielle!  It meant alot to Les (and me!!)

My cousins from the eastern side came for a visit.  Les went on a hunting trip with Jody before we were even married and those two formed some sort of bond on that trip.  People say Debbie and I resemble each other........that's not a bad thing in my opinion!!  We had a great visit - thanks so much for taking the time to hang out with us! 

Les' brother Howard came again for a week.  He stayed with us.  He was a big help with cleaning some stuff up - washed vehicles - helped with Les' care - took Les out for drives.  His wife Vicky must have given him a speech when he left home; he was very good about helping himself with meals and cleaning up after himself - even did his own laundry!  Pretty cute!!  It was a hard good bye.  You are a good big brother Howard.

Friend Dan gave a tour of the new cold storage in town!!

My baby sister Becky was back recently.  She took her daughter Jenae along and they also stayed with us.  Her hubs Darrell came later for a couple of nights.  Again, they were very helpful to have around.  Becky even cleaned out my fridge and some cupboards-- cleaned up some nasty sticky stuff in the fridge that has been there for awhile and we finally dumped the Christmas cookies in the cupboard that were waiting to get frosted!  My brother Don, his wife Sue, and Gretta and Nick also came up for the weekend, but again, I was so excited I didn't get a picture of them!

Sweet nieces!

If you have a couple of minutes, please don't hesitate to just pop in for a quick visit.  If it's not a good time, I will let you know.  Les has long days and he loves it when people just stop to say hi.  Please pray that his left hand doesn't get any weaker.  He continues to deteriorate but we are praying that he can continue to use his hand for communicating.