Snoozing in the Sun

Snoozing in the sun, before they even got going.
Maybe they
talked too much last night!
Renee also has really not had an over abundance of energy since the surgery. The day we walked to the park in the snow and to my birthday dinner, is the most energetic she has been in the last little while.

You can see the reflection of me in the mirror.

Flower Power

Saturday had been a very exhausting day for me ...many different emotions, disappointments, and things were involved.

Some place along the way, I was reminded of the song, "Standing on the Promises of God."

Sunday morning, even although I had a very nice long sleep...better than I'd had for a very, very long time, I was still too tired to go to the early service at Trinity. Decided to stay home and catch up on my Bible reading. I also read a bunch of my journal entries from 2005....very refreshing!

On September 29, on the way home to Manitoba for a few days, I wrote many pages, to keep my emotions under control. It was very hard leaving Renee when I had been with her day and night for three months without a break.

Here are a few glimpses of what I wrote:

" This is an ongoing battle. It will not be finished till we see Jesus face to face. 'God, help me not to give in to the fear and discouragement that Satan tries to get me down with. The battle belongs to you.'......They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength......wait means to be intertwined. 'Your arm is around me and my arm is around you. You will not let me go and I need to hang on to You and just rest in You, knowing you will not let me go. You have promised that your love is unfailing.' 'The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.' I have to remind myself of that again and again."

That was two and a half years ago. The truth of what I wrote then has not changed. But God has brought about changes in me. Some times I hardly feel like the same person. But sometimes it feels like the change is too slow or like I will slip back to my old ways.

These beautiful roses were presented to me on Sunday after Ray came back from church....nice "surprise!" Belated Happy Valentine's Day! Better late than never!

In the evening we all went to Redeemer Presbyterian, including Renee and Lynne. In his message, Tim Keller talked about how we need to fall on our faces before God now, so that we will be able to stand, and stay standing at the Judgment. If not, our feet will give out under us and we will fall to our knees when Jesus returns, but it will be too late.

Count your Blessings

After that depressing blog I should write another one about counting the blessings. But I'll leave that for tomorrow.

This is the Day the Lord has Made

This day did not start off very good. Hopefully it will get better before it is done.

I think it was just an accumulation of all the dissappointments of this past week. Although I experienced many answers to prayer and many blessings from the hand of God, there are moments and days when due to my own weak human flesh, I feel discouraged and overwhelmed.

When Ray found out that he did not have access to our family website, nor LifeLight because somebody at Vidir Machine messed things up...nobody seems to know who is to blame....somebody is not telling the truth...very disppointing and frustrating.

I was also still dissappointed about the whole Valentine's Day thing, including the e-card thing. I spent half the night finding one that I thought was so hilarious...should have known that an e-card company that supports environmental causes would not be appreciated...the song that was being played on the card was a song Ray had heard millions of times....should not have wasted precious hours of sleep on that one...Oh well....whatever!

The restaurant we went to last night was also a disappointment. I am so tired...had not got the laundry done before Ray came back....Ray's comings and goings have always been hard on me, like when he was selling computer systems. He would be home in body, but not in spirit for one week and then gone the next. I wish I was more like Ruth Graham who seemed to be able to adjust flawlessly whether her husband was home or not.

Another thing I thought about as I was listening to all the songs on my iPod...still need to get more songs...is that I was expecting Ray to meet needs that can only be met by God. I am willing to be changed, but sometimes the progess seems to slow.

I want to keep rejoicing in the Lord who is my strength, my joy, my hope, my comforter, the source of all that I need.

Medication, smoothies, and coffee

Pills and smoothies for Renee and coffee for me. Renee has not been drinking a lot coffee in the last little while.

Central Park in the Rain

February 13

On the way to the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Birthday, Christmas, and Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!...whether you have a sweetheart to share it with or not....just spread a bit of love around to whoever is in your circle of influence.

"Do They Know It's Christmas?" by Barenaked Ladies, is playing on my iPodi. I'm going through all the songs in alphabetic order. Renee made a CD for me from her collection before Christmas...including some Christmas music. This CD will always be a very precious treasure. I need to upload some more music!

Back to Tuesday, February 12...which was my actual birthday, although we started celebrating on Saturday due to the circumstances. It was snowing on Tuesday. I had always wanted to see Central park with snow. Now was my chance. Renee was feeling well enough to go with us. We got a few nice photos, although it was dark but the time we got there.

A big thank you to God that Renee felt good enough to go out and thanks to my wonderful parents-in-law, who sent the money along with Gloria for this birthday dinner. If Renee would not have felt good enough, we would have ordered in food, but that is not the same as eating out. We went to Persepolis...a Persian restaurant. They claim they have the oldest cuisine in the world. We had a very pleasant evening.

Yesterday, the 13th, Gloria and I decided to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Gloria, who lived in Egypt for over three years wanted to see the Egyptian exhibit which was very okay with me, since I had never spent very much time in that part of the museum. The whole thing is so big it could take several days to see everything properly.

It was pouring raining. We were quite soggy by the time we got to the museum. We went through the park, so I could take some more pictures. And we did a photo shoot in the Egyptian Room which has a big glass wall on one side. That was fun! (It seems like I can only post two pictures on this blog, so I will do some in a seperate blog.)

It was so nice to have Gloria here, but then before we knew it, it was time for her to leave! Her next stop was Ottawa to see Bernie and Caroline, who are also going through a very difficult situation in their family. Pray for them.

Another big thank you to God for answering prayer. Ray's visit to Vidir Machine went a lot better than he had expected. I am so happy that he had the freedom to visit with the staff for an hour, presenting roses to Chris, who has been his assistant for many years and to the other ladies in the office. Flowers would have been appropriate for this occassion, no matter what time of the year it would have been.

There is still a lot of grief and anger that we have to deal with by the grace of God.

Ray had a quick bite to eat with Alayna, Justin, and Kara for Valentine's Day, before Alayna had to dash off to work. The other three were going out for dessert after that.

Renee and I might go out later for a bite too eat or maybe just for dessert and tea to celebrate Valentine's day. Right now she is sleeping. I should go to sleep, but there are so many emails and blogs to write and phone calls to make.

Later....

I don't think we will go out yet. It is 10:01 already.

All day I thought it was Wedneday, but tomorrow is Friday. I don't know how that works. Each day seems at least as long as two days and yet the weeks go by surprisingly fast. How does that work?

Anyway, that means that Ray is coming back tomorrow, and maybe we can go out for a little Valentine celebration then!

South Street Seaport

My Birthday... is it 29, 39, or 49?!

What difference does it make? February 12 was when I, the fourth daughter of Henry and Tina Reimer was born (notice I didn't mention the year?) I came after their only son who was born in 1950. That sort of gives it away!

We had a delicious gourmet dinner of AFRICAN ADOBO-RUBBED TUNA on Saturday for my bithday, while Kara was still here....Gloria had arrived and Renee had just got out of the hospital. She walked all the way to the apartment. Every day I am thankful that we got this place so close to the hospital. I had thought maybe we could just order in some food...but when I saw that recipe...Renee and Kara planned the menu...I knew we could not order in anythng that would even compare to this gourmet dish.

I really appreciated that Kara wanted to bake a Cocont Rum Cake for me, but it just didn't work out this time. So we decided on Banana Split with Gingered Chocolate-Coconut Sauce with Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia Ice Cream for dessert instead of the cake.

Renee convinced Ray to give me an iPod for my birthday. It arrived this morning, so Ray had the joy of actually giving it to me! He left right after all that excitement, and took off with the key again! But this time I thought about it right way... he was only half a block away!

Renee is still having quite a bit of pain, and some nausea. Her recovery from the surgery was faster than expected, which was a little bit of something positive in the midst of all the suffering. Further details of the treatment plans can be found in Ray's blog.

THE PARK AT NIGHT

loading pictures to my blog takes too long and the pictures are no good, so I will quit now.