Snow in Livingston Manor

Loved this picture, looks like there is a fire and all it is, is the sun behind the trees, sunset. Took the picture on the way to Livingston Manor 20 miles north west of us.
Daytime
Night time, same tree. Somehow it looks like there are lights on the tree. A trick of the camera, I have no idea how it did it, but it looks pretty cool.

Thanks Giving weekend

We passed someones dinner running across the road. Guess they will not be enjoying Turkey today. We actually saw about 12 wild turkeys.
Spent Turkey Day with President Murphy and his family, Danny, Wife Becky & Kylie, in Sparrow Bush, 22 miles south of where we are. They live in a log cabin home in the woods. We brought the Elders with us. Yum!!! it was so delicious. We played "apples to apples" and "Mormon mouthful". FUN FUN FUN
Sister "Mama" Burgos and husband. Dinner appointment with them the day before Thanksgiving. The day after Thanksgiving, we drove back up to Livingston Manor, 20 miles north of us, to pick up "mama" Burgos and drive down to the city to go to the temple. Picked up sister Crystal McCune on the way, met Pres. Murphy, his kids and Luis Maldanado at the temple for baptisms for the dead.
"Mama" Burgos insisted I wear her goofy slippers to keep my feet warm and wanted a picture of us. The Santa hat was a must too.

T H A N K S G I V I N G

A few things I am Thankful for.....
T errific Husands
H ealth and strength
A wesome Family
N ever ending Love
K isses & Hugs
S ervice and the opportunity to SERVE
G od's Love for me...Gift of his Gospel
I nfinite Atonement
V ery blessed life
I nternet connections to our loved ones
N oble examples
G orgeous Grandkids

I just hope to "live in Thanksgiving daily for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon me."

update from Monticello

After district meeting, Elder Miller (our zone leader), Elder Gale and George followed us down to Sparrow bush where we have been cutting and splitting wood so we can cut down a tree the wind blew over and got lodged into another tree. Sister Fuller is worried about it falling on her house. Here the guys are trying to get the chain saw unstuck. PUSHHHHHHHH!!
This tree was so unusual. It was rotten at the base, hollow. It had twisted from the wind and had blown over into another tree. Around the base where it was rotten, it was kind of petrified. Weird!
Doug had to cut it 5 times before it fell over. It was lodged so tightly into the tree it had fallen on. The elders split the wood once it was cut into rounds.
We helped get these heaters for the elders down in Middletown. They haven't had heat in their place for the past 48 hours and it has been darn cold. After the Zone football game we took them the heaters and Doug and Elder Wilkinson tried to figure out how to get the boiler furnace in the basement working. Thank goodness the "Real" plumbers came and fixed it.
P-day Zone Football game. The field was muddy, the air crisp and cold, but the "boys" gave it their all, a lot of male testosterone floating around. I'll bet there was many sore muscles and bones for the next couple of days. I know that Doug came back with a sore knee. Below, district meeting activity, volleyball off the walls and ceiling. A fun game.

Elder Berganza, recooperated and back in Middletown

Doug spent the day on Monday down to Port Jervis with Elder Berganza at the hospital. Surgery went well and they were back just in time for me to head out to FHE. An all day adventure. We enjoyed having him here and getting to know Elder Berganza while he was recooperating. The first two nights were probably the most difficult for him after the surgery. This is his second hernia surgery since being here on his mission. He is now back in the Middletown pad and back to work but taking it easy. The Doctor says he is healing great and doing well.

Witnessing Priesthood Power in Unity

Elder Berganza if the Elder in front swing the maul.

Today at district meeting, 6 Elders gathered around Elder Berganza in faith and prayer as he was blessed with the priesthood power. I am always so humbled to witness blessings bestowed with priesthood power. The right and power to act in God's name for and to his children. It warms my heart to know that these young men respect, honor, testify and use their priesthood to bless the lives of others. Experience is a great teacher for them as they learn by doing. I cherish my opportunity to be amongst God's army of Righteous priesthood warriors here in New York.

Doug accompanied Elder Berganza down to Port Jervis to have in and out ,same day hernia surgery this morning. Of course it has turned into an all day event. 3 hours later they finally have him in surgery. Doug will then bring him home to re-coop for a couple of days here with us. Elder Berganza is from Chicago Illinois area, with his family originating from Guatemala

Just call me Dr. Beth

The red spots on the bandaging is where the wires were put in Doug's back, then taped to his back as they traveled to the connections into the leads.
The little holes where the wires were put in are down towards the bottom of the picture. Where the bend in the wire is is where it came out of his back and that end was connected to the lead connection and then to the stimulator. I couldn't believe how long it was in his spine.

Yesterday Doug called Dr. Chapman to see if he could come down to the city to get the wires pulled out of his back. It has been a week since they were put in. The test period has been awesome. A true miracle. But now he is very anxious to shower and the tape and lead conections taped to his back are keeping him from getting much sleep and driving him crazy. (He is just getting tired and cranky) Dr. Chapman is in conference all day and unavailable. When he finnally called back last night he said that I could go ahead and take out the wires. "They should just come right out, but don't be alarmed if they keep coming and coming. They are in Doug's back about a foot." A FOOT? You've got to be kidding! ......No he wasn't kidding. I pulled them out slicker that slick, came right out. I was amazed. Doug couldn't feel the first one on his left side come out. But the one on his right side smarted a bit. His back is sore today, but was able to sleep alot better. He was so excited to get into the shower and relished the moment for at least 30 minutes. We will be headed back down to the city on Wed to see the Dr. He will check out his back and then we will see about scheduling the permanent implantation. The Stimulator company tech, Larry will be there to let us know how it is going with the insurance company. They really don't want to pay for this spendy procedure. We will keep you posted.

Helping Hand

We spent the afternoon over at a members house (Annie Pyrum). She is a widow raising 3 semi-handicapped granddaughters. They are very active and regulars at our FHE. Annie used to be a Evangelist Pentecostal preacher. She is raising her oldest sons 3 daughters, Olivia, Selina, and Mary Kathrine, 19,17,15. Their mom is a crackhead and the dad is in prison. Annie has full custody and therefore full responsibility. She is also taking college class over the computer so she can get an office job in social services. Her physical health is not very good and has a difficult time getting around. She wants a job that she can sit at a desk. Her house is heated with oil. She has a tank that holds 300 gallons but can only afford $100.00 worth which is about 37 gallons. She was having a difficult time trying to light the furnace, so she called Doug and asked him to come take a look at it. He was able to learn how to bleed the tank so that the furnace would stay lit. Surprisingly even tho it has been raining off and on for a couple of days, pouring right now, the temp has been in the 60's and hi 50's. Doug is looking forward to next week. The temp is suppose to plummet and be cold enough for the rain to turn to snow.

Yesterday we spent down in Port Jervis, 22 miles south of us, at the Doctor with a young Elder. he is going to have hernia surgery and will be staying with us to re-coop. We are so happy to be able to help Pres. Searle and his wife, as they are so extremely busy with ALLLLLL the mission stuff.

Last night we were able to help Crystal McCune with a few things in her new apartment. She has been living in a scary Motel for the past month waiting for section 8 inspectors to inspect the apartment she found so she can move in to it. Crystal is on government assistance because of her health. She has a deteriorating back and can hardly get around. She has two little girls, Deloris 7 and Kylie 5. Her son is in a juvenile detention home in a neighboring town, Jon is 15 and her oldest daughter Rena who is 17 and married with two kids just moved down to Alabama. She is from the west coast but here in the east to escape a very abusive ex-husband. She is so excited about her new place that to me is veryyyyyyyyyyy scary. I guess a little water and some paint, a vacuum and mop can make a world of difference. (MAYBE!). Anyway, we went to walmart to get her a few necessities. That's is something we are good at. All her possessions have been in the motel with her and her two girls. It only took about three car loads trips to move all her stuff. I don't think I will ever complain again. It took me days to just pack some boxes to mail when we moved out here for our mission, and weeks to prepare our house for our kids to move in. (This was the little family we tied quilts for in FHE)

1 Y E A R mark

What's in a number? Why do certain dates have such an impact on us? We look forward to them, we fear them, we plan for them, we want to forget about them, we celebrate them, we can't believe it when they arrive, we rush thru them, we want them to linger longer, and when they are over - we set the next date to go thru the whole bit of emotion again.

My personal take on dates on a calendar, is that it is important to always have something to look forward to, something to plan for. They will come and go and there is nothing we can do about that fact. But we can set goals with them to better our lives. We need to make each moment count so that we aren't merely existing, we are LIVING. We will always have the memories to look back on how we did LIVE thru all of them. I say let's not have any regrets.

We are celebrating this 1 year date, we are better people for being blessed with the last years experiences. Blessed to have met the people that have crossed our paths and that the Lord has put in our paths. We are looking forward to all we can learn and do and experience this next year. Many opportunities await all of us. May we live each moment with purpose, love and appreciation. XOXOXOXOX

Last of the Wood project

This little doe was right on the side of the road coming home from deliverying wood. She didn't even budge when we pulled up right next to her to get a picture.
We loaded the dump truck twice today, first load went to Pres. Murphy's home, all stacked up for him.
We loaded up the last bit of wood into the dump truck and it will be delivered to Bro. Silva in a couple of days. Just in time for the cold weather we have been experiencing. It only got up to about 44 today. Thanks to Elder George, Gale today for helping load the truck twice. Couldn't have done it with out you, as Doug isn't suppose to lift more than 5 pounds with the leads in his back. But he is a bad boy, he doesn't mind very well and has a very sore back tonight.

FHE "The Lords law of Finance"

Here we are divided into groups counting the play money and learning how much to pay for Tithing, and how to fill out the donation slip.
Many learned for the first time what all the other donations go to on the tithing donation sheet. Everyone in the room is first generation members.
We had a great surprise with Carlos and his mom Lisa coming to FHE. Doug had a great visit with Lisa and answered some concerns she has.

Tonight we experienced a miracle. It is our turn to teach the FHE lesson. Doug has been planning the lesson on Tithing. A couple of hours before we were to leave he got really sick. The antibiotic medication he is taking for the temp. implant makes him very nauseated. Thus, he was not feeling well at all 20 minutes before it started. We always have to leave early to pick up two different families. He couldn't get out of bed. So I took off to pick up the families and planned on trying to give his lesson. Just as I pulled into the church parking lot, the elders came out and said that Doug had called them and said to tell me when I arrived to go back and pick him up he was feeling better. The Lord blessed him instantly, as he gave a great lesson and was able to chat with a new convert who has been struggling with this concept. They had a great visit and the Lord truly blessed him.

Happy 23rd B-day C L I N T I N

It's a great day to celebrate our CLINTIN D ELLETT. How grateful I am for memories. As I sit here and ponder about our Clint, the memories flood my mind and bring a smile to my face.

* The twinkle in his eye when he smiled,
* The way he experimented with all colors of hair
* So curious about things, would take them apart, sometimes they would get back together again
* Always surrounded by friends
* The MAN with a PLAN
* His love of rollerblades, then skateboards, then trick bikes, then motorcycles, 65 chev, actually anything with wheels
* always finding away to get out of his chores or work
* his arm around me when shopping
* his love of little kids
* very smart, but no desire to prove it to his teachers, would do the work but wouldn't hand it in
* No was not an option
* he loved collecting baseball cards
* loved animals, especially dogs
* loved his family and friends
* didn't like to appologize, he was always right
* could melt you with his smile
* he was a busy bee from the get go
Famous comments:
"My boobs a jiggling"
"Fury"
"Gotta get me some fat wacker"
"short-round"
To know Clint, was to love him. I am so grateful to KNOW that I will see him again. That we will all be together again, a forever family. He loved little kids and to know that he probably had the opportunity to be with all our little grandkids before their arrival here on earth is very comforting.

Love you so much bud, time is getting nearer to when we will be together again. Keep busy serving the Lord. Thinking of you always. XOXOXOXOXOXO

Modern Technology

Drove down tot he Mission Home and spent the night, received a priesthood blessing before driving to the city for a miraculous procedure.
Sorry for the fuzy pics, This is where the leads come out of the spine area and are taped to his back and attached to the leads that go to the stimulator.
Dougs new best friend. Now try sleeping with this machine.

What a blessing we are experiencing with the gift of Modern Technology. The ANS - MTS System. (Advanced Neuromodulation Systems - Multiprogram Trial Stimulator) Now that's a mouthful. This system enables you to try spinal cord stimulation therapy that delivers low-intensity electrical impulses to selected nerve fibers as a method of pain control for certain types of chronic pain.

We went down to the City (NYC) for a procedure in Doug's back. We have found a Doctor with the Pain management clinic and have been going to him for the past 11 months, due to the pain Doug lives with everyday, due to a disease called Pernitious Anemia that has damaged his periphereal nerves in his legs. (Long story over the past 20 years.) A couple of months ago, Dr Chapman told us about this stimulator that he has had great success with. Gave us some literature on it and told us to think about it. For some reason, Dougs pain maintenance medication hasn't worked as well as it has in the past. Hence, he has had a lot of pain and we decided to look into this new technology. With this stimulator, they offer a test, trial period of about 2 weeks. The purpose of the stimulator is to mix up the pain signal being sent to your brain when you are experiencing pain. The electrical impulses are believed to stop the pain messages from being transmitted to the brain and replace areas of pain with a tingling or massaging sensation called paresthesia or stimulation. The Doctor uses an epidural needle (similar to when a women gets an epidural when having a baby) and fishes two leads(wires) into the back near the spinal cord where the nerves travel. The leads are left in the spine area and taped to the back where it is attached to cables that are attached to the stimulator that is a battery powered external device which generates electrical impulses and sends them to the leads. For the trial this stimulator is kept on the outside of the body and worn on your belt. It has been set with 4 different programs that Doug can manage on his own.

So far so good. The epidural spot is extremely sore and will be for a couple of days. It is hard for Doug to get up and down, bend over, roll over in bed. But the most exciting part is that IT IS WORKING!!!! It is scrambling the pain messages. The trick will be to get accustom to the new stimuli. After the trial period, the leads will be taken out and we will have to schedule the permanent implantation. This will require a hospital stay for a couple of days, unlike the office visit for the trial application. The stimulator that will be permanent is about the size of a silver dollar and lies right under the skin in the back and will be connected to the leads in the spine area. Doug will then carry a remote control in his pocket that will control the stimuli sensations. The battery has a ten year life. Well, now you have had your medical health lesson for the week. You know as much as we do about the ANS-MTS system. (Thank Heavens our Wood project is pretty much done.)

A special thanks to all of you who have loved, prayed & fasted, and supported us here in NY. Luv u Much!!!!!!!

Antique Dump Truck

Some little bird lost his home.
Its empty
Now it's full, holds about 2 cord is all.

Today we were cutting down a tree and needed to use the dump truck to pull a tree over. The chain-saw was caught at the base where Doug was cutting the tree down. We attached a chain to the tree and then to the truck. Doug started to drive the truck up hill until the chain was tight. Apparently the air brakes had bled out when he was in park attaching the chain. As he went forward to pull the tree down, the chain tightened, pulling the tree over, but because of the weight in the truck, being full of wood, and the brakes not working, the truck started to roll backwards. There was nothing Doug could do. Guardian angels are definitely his companions. Instead of going all the way down the hill backwards, the truck rolled into a huge tree just as it was going to roll over the burme off the side of the road. Long story short, the tree fell over in the right direction, the saw was released in good condition, the truck is now parked up at the top of the hill in one piece, still full of wood. We are grateful for guardian angels.

I am sure everyone is tired of hearing about the wood adventure, we are too, so glad that it is almost complete.

Finishing up with the Wood project

We had three of the elders from Middletown helping with the end of the wood project. All we had to do is finish splitting the wood and stack into a pile. All said and done we probably cut, split and delivered about 10 cord. It's a good thing too cause it has been down in the 30's at night. We have two more dump truck loads to deliver then we'll be done.

Zone meeting, lunch, then bowling

Crystal McCune and her kids, Kylie, Deloris and Jon, friend Will
Young Women in our Branch, Olivia, Mary, Niecee, Selina
Bowling in a dress
Deloris dancing to the Juke Box music, Go girl!
The Elders, sporting their bright bowling shoes.

This morning we headed to New Burgh for Zone meeting. Became acquainted with the new Greenies and transfered Elders in our Zone. We were to play dart wars, but it has been banned from the mission because of injuries. Everyone has a piece of PVC pipe and foam darts. Apparently a missionary was running around a corner with pipe in mouth preparing for shooting and someone ran into them and cause substantial damage in the mouth. Ouch!

After our ZC we went to lunch with the Farnsworths. It is always a treat to share time and happenings with other senior couples. We sure enjoy being with them.

Had to hurry back to Monticello to help take Sister Crystal McCune and family to the Bowling alley in Kiamisha. It is Crystals b-day and she invited the young women to celebrate with her for a YW activity. Since Crystal does not have a car she invited the missionaries to the activity so she could have transportation. We haven't bowled for a very long time. We had a great time. Except for the fact that I was in a skirt. Have you every bowled in a skirt? Even tho I slipped and fell right off the bat, very slick floors and the non-slip bowling shoes, were VERY slippery,
I bowled the highest score with our group. Doug, I and the Elders. Surprised? Me TOO!