Reflections of last week, on to a new week

Wow - the week ended and a new one has already begun and once again I'm amazed by the passage of time. They say time flies when you're having fun, but I didn't realize I was having THAT much fun!

On Thursday morning my sis and I went to the Santa Rosa airport to pick up Ron, our darling friend, who volunteered to come all the way from Portland to help my brother with a couple of projects. Ron hit the ground running and was hard at work before we barely got into the house. Of course, we had stopped at a sandwich shop in town (one of my brother's favorites) to grab a bite of lunch for all of us.

That evening we were just hanging out and relaxing and there was a knock at the door. Lo and behold, Ron's dad and brother came from 3 or 4 hours to the south to join Ron in working on the projects. These guys and their parents have been friends of our family for more than 30 years, when Ron was in an infant seat and his brother was a toddler. They have become as dear as family to us, and certainly have always jumped in to help, just the way family does. They spent the weekend building a beautiful back yard gate to match my brother's new fence, along with completing a dozen other smaller projects that my brother is unable to do himself.

One of the things the guys did while they were here was to plant "Earl," the walnut tree. You remember Earl - I told you the Earl Story in an earlier blog entry. The ground is so hard here that the boys had to use a jackhammer to excavate Earl's new home. Then the hole was prepared with fertilizer, top soil, and a lot of water. When the time was right, we all gathered to witness The Planting, accompanied by my sister and I as we hummed an abbreviated chorus of "I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree..." You know the one.

I recorded the event with my digital camera and got some great pictures of my brother tenderly shoveling topsoil around Earl's rootball, and then supervising Ron who carefully packed the soil around the roots. Actually, my mom was close by to act as foreman of the entire process. It was really quite touching, given the sentimental significance of Earl's existence in the first place, and his grit and tenacity to survive. I am happy to report that he is doing quite nicely in his new location, in spite of suffering a slight sunburn on a couple of his leaves during our heatwave. May your life be long and fruitful, Earl (bring on those walnuts)! I should live that long!

Over the weekend two of my brother's cars left the premises. One was a 1973 Dodge Charger, a project car in need of some major TLC that my brother never got around to rendering before his illness. The guy who bought the car lives in Hollister, a couple of hours away. The other was my sister's adorable 1991 Dodge Daytona that she bought brand new. She was living with us at the time, and I still remember the day she roared into the driveway in her shiny brand new white car. It was her "baby" for forever till she sold it to our brother two years ago in April of 2006. He bought it mostly to keep it in the family, but the time has come to let go.

The guy who bought the Daytona is shipping the car to his home in Florida via auto transport. They loaded the car onto the upper deck of the truck and we watched it disappear around the corner. Now, get this - it wasn't even my car, and I'm the one who burst into tears as they hauled it away. Our emotions are pretty close to the surface at any given time these days, but there were so many reasons why it made me cry. My brother is having to give up EVERYTHING, and that was a huge factor. That, in addition to a dumb sentimental attachment to a cute little car that meant so much to my sister for so many years. Ridiculous, I know!

On Sunday afternoon we made an outing of driving Ron back to the airport. We wanted to give my brother and his sweet wife a little time without a houseful of visitors. So, what else? We did some shopping in Santa Rosa - exciting stuff like Dollar Tree (which they don't have in the towns nearby my brother) and Grocery Outlet, where we also love to shop when we're at home. We barely made it back before dark, had a bite to eat, and went to bed.

Today we changed beds and did the weekly laundry for the household, which is rather involved since they prefer not to use the dryer (in the interest of saving money on electricity, which we completely understand). Fortunately, the clothes dry quickly in this toasty weather, and hanging them on the line is actually kinda fun - makes one feel somewhat like a pioneer woman (ha!). Also, you can ignore the clothes until you are ready to fold and put them away, without them getting more and more wrinkled just laying in the dryer after the buzzer goes off (and then the next day you have to toss in a wet rag and run the dryer some more to get rid of the wrinkles - no energy savings there!).

My husband told me last night that a couple of our local churches there at home prayed corporately for my brother during their services over the weekend. They also have him on the prayer chain at several churches. Would you each please request that he is added to the prayer chain at your church. Can't have too many prayers ascending to heaven on my brother's behalf.

More later...

XOXO

MY TEXT FOR TODAY: Psalm 27:1-7 (LB)

"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear? When all evil men come to destroy me, they will stumble and fall! Yes, though a mighty army marches against me, my heart shall know no fear! I am confident that God will save me.

"The one thing I want from God, the thing I seek most of all, is the privilege of meditating in his Temple, living in his presence every day of my life, delighting in his incomparable perfections and glory. There I'll be when troubles come. He will hide me. He will set me on a high rock out of reach of all of my enemies. Then I will bring him sacrifices and sing his praises with much joy.

"Listen to my pleading, Lord! Be merciful and send the help I need."