November 10, 2009

Emily had an appointment with the eye doctor recently.  She will be needing new glasses and is trying to decide whether or not to use the same frames one more time.  She has probably used them two times already, so we will see. Dr. Kirby said that she does not have glaucoma and he will continue to monitor her for that.  He noticed that she is beginning to develop cataracts, but they are not yet at the point where they can be removed. 

Today at lunch Emily went with some friends from Gideons for a lunch date at the Southern Star Restaurant downtown. It was an enjoyable outing for her. 

This afternoon she went to WalMart and finished up the shopping for the Christmas Child Shoebox project that they will be putting together at the church tomorrow night.  She has shoeboxes, which she wraps so that the child can keep the decorative box even after opening it to get out the presents inside.  She has always loved to go the extra mile to make things special.

It has rained a slow rain all day long coming our way from Hurricane Ida. There is a flood watch in effect for our area until sometime late tomorrow.  It should not have any consequences for Emily unless another big old industrial dumpster gets carried into the "creek" behind her house.  Actually this slow long rain is probably a really good thing for us right now. 

November 9, 2009

Emily says that she is trying to get her house and her life reorganized.  She is busy coping with the mail and things that come in related to Gene's insurances or his pensions.  It is somewhat overwhelming for her at times.

She went shopping this afternoon for the Christmas Child Shoe Box project.  It's a project of the mission team at Cumberland Presbyterian and they fill boxes with things that children can use.  Emily bought underwear, and socks, and an outfit for a little girl and one for a little boy.  She put in candy and bubble gum and so she also got them toothbrushes and toothpaste.  Each of them got a couple of small toys as well.  She has asked Lynn to get the school supplies paper, ruler, pencil sharpener, and pencils.  The kids who get these boxes will be well supplied!

This evening she had a session meeting at the church. They are planning Dr. Carver's installation as the minister.  He was so faithful in his visits to Gene during his time at Erlanger and Kindred.  His installation will be the Sunday before Thanksgiving during the worship service. 

November 8, 2009

Emily went to church today and seemed to enjoy the service. 

Russ and Tina had driven up to Atlanta to take care of some house business so they just drove on up from there this morning to have a visit with Emily.  She made lunch for them and they had a nice visit.  Russ had an opportunity to look over  They had planned to spend the night with her, but Hurricane Ida made them have second thoughts and so Russ headed south to take care of business. Tina stayed and visited a bit longer and then went on back to Atlanta to finish up business there. They had their huge dog Luke with them, and he did not think it necessary to stay in the fenced in back yard!  So he got out a couple of times.Emily enjoyed seeing him.

Emily spent the afternoon in the yard filling up her bird feeders and getting the garbage can out. She went to clean up the bean vines and found enough broccoli for lunch today and enough green beans to have another mess.   The beans have been making beans since about the last of May.  Emily has canned 19 pints and still had enough to have fresh green beans for the table.  She is sharing some of the canned green beans with Gregory, and is actually putting together a package of green beans to send to him.  She's discovered that using the Post Office flat rate boxes save her lots of money on shipping.  Tonight she is going to work on cutting out quilt pieces for the quilt she is working on for Elijah.

Emily misses Gene lots of times but especially in the morning at breakfast time. He would get up early and get his coffee and then go and sit in his chair and read or write and watch the birds.  Emily would make breakfast and they'd sit down to eat together.  She said that often if she had made eggs, they would be cold by the time he would finish praying, including everyone he had on his prayer list.  It was a comforting routine for them to start almost all their mornings together. 

This week she went to clean up the bean vines and found enough broccoli for lunch today and enough green beans to have another mess.   The beans have been making since about the last of May.  She has canned 19 pints and still had enough to have fresh green beans for the table.  She is sharing some of the canned green beans with Gregory.  Tonight she is going to work on cutting out quilt pieces for the quilt she is working on for Elijah.

Pray for Emily as she finds her way in this new way of living.

November 7, 2009

Today Emily to a Gideon's Area Luncheon at the Silverdale Baptist Church, a large church with over 2000 members attending weekend services.  Her friend Sandy, who is  the president of  the Gideons Auxiliary   of the East Chattanooga Camp where Gene and Emily were affiliated picked her up and took her.  There were also three other ladies from the chapter that Emily was pleased to see. At the luncheon, there was training on varioius aspects of the Gideons work, such as the goals of the organization, and Bible and scripture distribution.   Emily said they had a delicious lunch of pasta salad with ripe olives and artichokes and a chicken salad.   They also enjoyed special music.


This evening she went to Lynn and Alan's to have a birthday dinner for Liga and Valdis.  It was a lovely evening with Mommy Anne and Mia and Clyde also there.  Tonight she is getting together some of the financial papers that have been coming in over the last couple of weeks so that Russ will be able to look at them when he comes in tomorrow.  He's coming up for a day or so and will arrive sometime tomorrow.

Please continue your prayers for Emily to have peace and strength as the days and weeks without her life partner stretch ahead of her. 

November 6, 2009

Emily is working hard to organize her life in a way that is comfortable for her.  She has changed some furniture around and is getting up every day with a long list of things she wants to do.

Emily continues to get mail dealing with Gene's death.  Today it was mail from his Kentucky Utilities Retirement and more forms to complete.  She has to go to court in order to formalize being the executor of his will. And through it all she is just amazing.  She is working in the yard, getting things done in the house, and beginning to get re-involved in her activities.  Tomorrow she is planning to go to lunch with some women from the Gideon's auxiliary.  She says that although she won't continue being a part of the auxiliary, she will definitely continue to stay in touch with them.

Tonight she made potato soup and cornbread and invited Lynn and Alan down for dinner.  It was a lovely evening.  Russ is planning to come up for a short visit this weekend, and she's looking forward to having him here for a bit.

Please pray for Emily to continue to have good days and the strength to deal with all that is coming her way.

November 5, 2009

Emily continues to move through her days taking care of things that need to be done - she is pretty amazing.  Every day she is confronted by things that have to be done that are reminders that Gene is no longer there.  She took care of his prescriptions and the medicine that is still there at the house the other day.  She's sorting through and reorganizing the sheds out back.  Each day it seems there is mail about his death or mail addressed to him.  Each time a reminder for her.  She said the other day that it still just doesn't seem right that he's not there.

She is beginning to get herself back into some of her regular activities.  She has gone to church a couple of times, and has attended a meeting of the women of the church.  She will soon be getting back into the meetings of the PEO group as well as the book club. 

The other day she spent most of the day working outside in the yard.  She said that the first year she retired from teaching that she spent almost the entire year outside because she had spent so much time inside during the years she had worked.  She does love to be outside, and her yard always looks beautiful.  She has such a way with flowers and landscaping. She has already gotten pansies to go into the front flower beds for the winter! 

November 4, 2009

Gene was incredibly involved in all kinds of activities. 

One of the things that he did for a couple of years, when Clyde went to school at an elementary school nearby, was volunteer to read to Kindergartners and 1st graders.  One day when he was at school, he discovered that the kids were studying weather and had been talking about storms.  He composed the poem below and the next time he went to read to the kids he read this with great inflection.  They loved it.
You may too.  If you have someone read it and close your eyes, you may even find that you feel you are in the middle of a thunderstorm in Southeastern Tennessee!  It was composed 2/22/05.

THE STORM

Glimmer

Glimmer      Glimmer

Glimmer Rumble Glimmer

Flash-------Rumble-------Glimmer

Flash----------Booom-a loom----------Rumble

Flash---Flash---Boom---Boom  Rumble Rumble

Flash ---Boom---Bang---Rumble---Rumble

Flash---Wham---Boom---Rumble---Rumble

Flash---Crack---Wham---Boom---Rumble---Rumble

Flash---Crack---Boom---Rumble---Rumble

Flash---Boom---Bang---Rumble---Rumble

Flash---Boom---Rumble---Glimmer

Glimmer---Rumble---Rumble

Glimmer---Rumble---Glimmer

Pitter---Glimmer---Pitter---Patter

Pitter---Patter---Pitter---Patter---Glimmer

Pitter---Patter---Pitter---Pitter---Patter---Patter

Pitter-Patter-Pitter-Patter-Pitter-Patter-Patter

Patter-Patter-Patter-Patter

SPLASH!!!