Have a Great Day!

Special thanks to Joni for sharing this!

Isaiah 55:1 “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. ESV

Luke 12:22-23 And he said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. ESV

Journal - Fire and Rain

After working in and around the house on Monday, Joni and I took Tuesday to relax and rest in anticipation of our next trip to Omaha on Wednesday.

Wednesday morning was gray and rainy as we left at our usual time of about 7:15am. We drove in the rain until somewhere around Grand Island and the rest of the trip was cloudy but dry.

There wasn’t much news from the doctor that day. He said the spot in my eye was unchanged or maybe a little bit improved. His assistant called the lab to see if there were any results from the previous week’s cultures, but still nothing. He said I could stop using the Vancomycin and Viroptic drops. I was glad about that because that only left me with three different drops to use, and the two he discontinued were the most irritating of the lot. I’m now just using Natymycin, Pred-forte, and Zymaxid four times a day each. It was a quick visit and we were back on the road. Somewhere around Grand Island we found the rain again right where we had left it. The trip home was uneventful and we arrived at about 3:30pm, making pretty good time. During this trip, Joni and I finished an audiobook called “The Probability of Miracles” that we had been listening to in the car, and also go through a short play called “End Days”. Both were very good and you can find the reviews coming up soon at Audiobook-Heaven (wink).

The real excitement came later that evening. Joni and I stepped out the back door with Sassie for her last trip outside before bed. As we were waiting for Sassie to do her business we heard a pretty loud WOOMP sound. It sounded like a pretty big fire going up and we looked around to see what had happened. We have a neighbor just to the north of us and in his windows we saw the flames. It only took a moment to realize, however, that his house was not burning, the flames were actually being reflected in the glass from somewhere to our south. We went out toward the road and sure enough, there was a huge fire blazing about a quarter of a mile up the road although we couldn’t tell exactly what was burning. There is a house down there and a lot of woods. The fire looked to be near where we thought the house was but we just couldn’t tell.

I ran into the house for my phone and called 911 as quick as I could. I remembered a house fire we had witnessed not too far from here about a year and a half ago and remembered how long it took the fire department to get there, being several miles from the nearest town. I had a little trouble with 911. My call went through to Buffalo County emergency services but when I gave my address the lady had to transfer me to Kearney County. When Kearney County picked up I gave the information again and she said she would have to transfer me to Buffalo County. I started to tell her I had just spoken to them but the Buffalo County lady was still on the line. They discussed it for a minute deciding whose territory it was and finally decided to send units from Gibbon and Minden.

That taken care of, Joni and I hopped in the truck and drove down to the fire to see if any help was needed. As we approached, we saw a car crossing the road from the fire to the house on the other side so we pulled in behind it. I asked if everything was okay over there and he said yes, the guy was just burning his brush pile. At ten o’clock at night, apparently with a large amount of gasoline or something. Well it had rained a bit that day so I guess his brush pile was all wet. The man I was talking to said he had heard my call on the scanner and I suppose he went over there to warn the guy. I got the impression that they knew each other and that my call was probably not appreciated.

So we went on back home. 10 or 15 minutes later a police car came down the road, lights and siren blazing. A few minutes after that the fire trucks began to arrive from Gibbon. There were maybe 4 or 5 in all plus an ambulance. Minden never did arrive and I assume they were called off. Even though it was a false alarm of sorts, the trucks were up there for about 45 minutes before they started pulling away again. I don’t know if they waited for it to go down or if they put it out or what. I hope nobody got in trouble for any illegal burning or something, but I don’t feel sorry for calling. For all we knew that could have been his house blazing down there.

And that was our exciting day. Omaha seemed like something from a dream after all that. It was kind of a scary deal but God was watching over and everything turned out okay.

Psalms 3:3 But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. ESV

Isaiah 43:2 "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you." ESV

Journal - Working Out

So with our latest trip to Omaha over and our tire problems taken care of, we began a new week with a few days to rest up and relax before doing it all over again.

I decided to begin the week by working out. No, not exercising exactly, I haven’t been doing very much of that since my surgery. I’m talking about working outside! Monday turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous day, temps in the upper sixties and a light breeze instead of the gale force winds that we have so often. This spring I have been out in the yard a time or two just doing little things like picking up limbs or raking or edging the sidewalk. It’s been a long time since I could do anything like that. I was blind during our first two-and-a-half years in Nebraska, and before that we lived in city apartments with no yard to work in anyway.

My first project for Monday was the wishing well. In our back yard, out toward the road, someone had put a wooden wishing well. It was just an ornamental one, although I couldn’t tell if someone had bought it or actually built it. It was about 5 feet tall and perhaps 3 feet across the middle. Sometime during the last winter it had blown over in a windstorm and when Adam tried to set it back up we discovered it was completely rotted and just wouldn’t stand anymore. So Joni pulled the truck out there and I picked up all the pieces into a 50-gallon bucket and set it in the back. Then Joni drove it around to the incinerator and I tossed it on top of some trash that I had already set to burning. It was so dry and rotten I knew it would burn up good and it sure did.

Onto that I started throwing some limbs and branches that had blown down. We have four different piles of limbs sitting around of all the blow down from the last three years and I’ve been working at getting them burned up. Each time I burn trash or leaves or something I throw on some branches from one of the piles. On Monday I finished up the first pile and got a pretty good start on the second. Most of the branches are small enough to just throw in but a few had to be cut up, which I did with my handsaw, the only saw I have.

After I had decided I had done enough burning for the day there was nothing left to do but wait for the fire to go down. The wind was light but I didn’t want to go in the house and forget about it. While I was keeping on eye on it I decided to get out the lawn mower and do a little mowing. The week before, I had gotten the mower out and done the little bit in front of the house, but hadn’t gotten to the much larger back yard yet. So I started in and got about half of that done before I was just plum tired out. Gone are the days when I could just mow and mow for two or three hours. It’s kind of fun to mow again although I have a little trouble with it. As I mow, I can’t really see the lines very well and it’s hard to tell where I’ve already been exactly. I end up missing patches or mowing over patches that I’ve already done. I don’t really mind very much, it’s just so good to be doing something again.

So with half the back yard done, I put the mower away. The fire was mostly out by then so I raked at it a bit and then took the hose and sprayed all around the incinerator just to make sure nothing caught and my workout was finished. I was out for about three hours all together and had a good amount of color on my skin, mostly red. That’s something else I haven’t done for a long time and I loved it! It wasn’t a bad burn, a little itchy and hot but not really painful at all. Four days later it’s mostly turned brown and hasn’t begun to peel yet so maybe I’ll get to keep it.

So that was my workout. It was such a beautiful day in so many ways that I felt truly blessed. This farm has been a really wonderful thing for us. I can’t imagine a better place to have spent my period of blindness, or my current period of recovery. The peace and quiet, the closeness to God and nature, and the feel of the sun on my back as I work in the yard. Do you suppose God planned it that way right from the start? Of course He did! He knew what would be best for us even if we had our doubts, something He has proven to me time and time again. I just can’t wait to see what else He has in store for us! Oops, patience…patience…

Romans 8:28 we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. ESV

Luke 12:22-23 And he said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. ESV

Journal - Flat Tire Continued

So we had the spare tire on the truck, and more trips to Omaha to look forward to. Not a very happy prospect

Well, after we had gotten home that Thursday, Joni and I let our usual people know that we were home safe and filled them in on how the day went. Right away we were offered two new tires for the truck. On Friday morning we received another offer of two tires. And just like that, God took away our worries.

Saturday morning we went up to Walmart to get the new tires. Our friend from church met us there to drop off the money for two of them. We stood and talked for a few minutes while the truck was being worked on and then her son called her and said that she should run us all out to his house. He and his family go to our church as well and had a new house built recently on the old family farm south of Kearney. So we hopped in the car and ran out there for a few minutes. By the time we got back to Walmart the truck was all done with four brand new tires on it.

In overhearing another customer in the tire department that day, I had found out that you can save $2.50 per tire if you take the old ones with you so I did that. Ten dollars is ten dollars after all and we’ve got room for the tires out here at the farm. On Sunday I took the three tires that were still whole and planted them half in the ground along one edge of the area that used to be our garden. No particular reason, I just thought I’d try to do something with them instead of piling them in a shed or something. I think they look kind of neat there. Before I planted them Joni examined them and sure enough one had a nail in it. The nail had probably caught in the tread somewhere and gradually worked its way into the tire as we drove down the interstate. Once the nail let the air out of the tire it didn’t take long for the rim to shred it to pieces.

It’s always tempting to ask why things happen. Why did God let that nail get in our tire? Didn’t we have enough to deal with without that? Of course we know that God’s plans are rarely evident to us. He had His reasons even if I don’t know what they are. Maybe by picking up that nail in my tire I saved a mother traveling cross-country with her children from having to deal with it. There are thousands of possibilities. If I saved someone like that from having a flat then it was worth it.

You always have to look on the bright side of things. If you don’t, the darkness of this world will consume you. There is good in everybody and everything if you just look for it. Sometimes you have to look harder than others, but it’s there. Keep doing that, and pretty soon your whole attitude will begin to change, and then your life will begin to change, and then the lives of those around you will begin to change. It’s a choice each one of us can make, and with God all things are possible.

Matthew 19:26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” ESV

Luke 11:10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. ESV

Luke 17:5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" ESV

Journal - Flat Tire

Last Thursday we were off to Omaha again for my next visit to the eye doctor. It had been a week since our last trip so we were feeling fairly rested and hopeful for a good report.

The day started off very, very foggy. We left at about 7:15am and had thick fog but it only lasted until around Grand Island, thirty minutes into our trip. Then it began to lift and the rest of the day was cloudy and cool.

We got to the doctor’s at about 10:45, just in time for my appointment. They took us in pretty fast so we didn’t have to wait around. The doctor took a look and said that the infection appears to be healing a little but it’s obviously not responding as quickly as he or I would like. He decided to take some more cultures. He’s already treating my eye for just about every possible problem, something that is called “throwing the kitchen sink at it” in medical jargon, but he just wanted to make sure we hadn’t missed anything. Unfortunately, one of the culture kits wasn’t present in the office at the time and someone had to go get one from one of the other offices he keeps hours in. That meant a wait of about an hour.

We had already eaten breakfast on the way there so we waited at the office, watching tv in the waiting area. I’m a little ashamed to say it but I started getting kind of grumpy as soon as Doc said we would have to wait. And as the hour passed my mood grew worse and worse. It really wasn’t that big of a deal, I just kept thinking how our long trip just got an hour longer.

Anyway, at 12:30 they called us back in and Doc took the cultures. If you’re unfamiliar with this process, as many of you are I suppose, this involves a numbing drop on the eye and then a physical rubbing or scraping over the infected spot with a tool called a spatula. Picture someone scraping your eye with a hamburger flipper. No, it’s not that bad, the spatula is small, about the size of an artist’s small paintbrush. He repeats the process four or five times to get multiple samples to send to the lab, then an iodine drop goes in to make sure the eye is disinfected. I don’t feel it at all, but after the numbing drop wears off my eye is pretty sore and irritated the rest of the day. That didn’t take very long and then we were on our way home.

The trip home was fine up until about 20 miles east of York when we got a flat. We heard a loud noise coming from the rear of the car and Joni got us pulled over right away but of course the tire was already completely shredded. Not much you can do about that at 70 miles per hour. We got out and I put the spare on, about another 30 minutes of delay. Friendly reminder here folks, if you see a car in the break-down lane changing a tire, please pull over into the passing lane. The spare felt a little low and that caused me a few moments of disquiet, but it got us the remaining 20 miles into York where we stopped and filled it up proper. Another friendly note, the Shell station at York has free air, something you hardly ever see these days. Tire taken care of, we filled up the gas tank and grabbed a bite to eat. Then we crossed our fingers that the spare would get us the remaining hour of our journey home, which it did with no problem at all.

So our long day ended. With the day behind me I finally had time to stop and reflect on things a little bit; put things in perspective. I can think of about a hundred different things that could have made that day so much worse. A flat spare, no spare, a broken jack, an accident during the tire change, I could go on and on. God delivered us from all of that. As I thought about that I started feeling pretty bad about my sour mood over the hour wait at the doctor. God is always pretty good about helping us keep things in perspective. What an awesome God He is!

Isaiah 64:8 "But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand." ESV

Isaiah 40:28 "Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable." ESV

Journal - Infection

I guess I have a little catching up to do, so here goes.

I had an appointment with Dr. Feilmeier in Kearney on March 8. Two or three days before that I started noticing some things in my eye. I’ve been down the infection road quite a few times and know most of the signs by heart: a little more redness than usual, a little more light sensitivity than usual. So I was pretty sure there was an infection starting up but since I already had an appointment I decided to wait until then and let Doc take a look at it.

On March 8, Doc confirmed my suspicions and said that one of my sutures had loosened and allowed an infection to set in. We are now five months out from surgery and under normal circumstances the sutures would have probably been out by now, but Doc had told me right from the start that he would leave mine in much longer to give the cornea some extra stability while it healed completely. This being because of my history of problems and the fact that I only have one eye, “Driving on the spare.” As Doc so eloquently phrases it,

Doc gave me two new eye drops to use, Zymaxid and Vancomycin. Zymaxid is kind of a general bacterial antibiotic which I had used for a while following surgery. Vancomycin is a bit more potent and is also used to treat bacterial infections. The Zymaxid is common and can be picked up at most any pharmacy but the Vancomycin is a special solution that has to be made to order. The doctor’s assistant called around Kearney and couldn’t find any pharmacist that could make it but finally found one in Holdrege so we had to drive over to Holdrege to pick that one up.

After giving me my instructions Doc said he wanted to see me again the following Monday (as I expected) which meant a trip to Omaha. I further expected that it would take more than just one trip to Omaha but that remained to be seen.

So on Monday the 12th we headed out bright and early for the big city. Not quite bright and early enough though, we got there half an hour late for my appointment and the doctor had already left the office. Dr. Feilmeier keeps hours at three different offices in Omaha, all Midwest Eye Care locations. Two are in Omaha and the other is across the state line in Council Bluffs. The Council Bluffs location is where he had afternoon hours that day so we made arrangements to go over there and see him. Luckily that office is only another 8 miles east of where we were.

We got there with no trouble and Doc took a look at my eye. He said things didn’t look much better but not much worse either. He made some slight adjustments to my regimen of drops and said to come back on Wednesday. I like Dr. Feilmeier a lot, he always seems so apologetic knowing that these are long trips for us, but he is very frank about the need to get things under control as quickly as possible and I agree with him completely on that. He’s a good doctor and it’s clear to me that he really cares about the outcome of all this.

Wednesday morning we left early again and made it on time for my appointment. On this visit Doc told me that in addition to the cold sore virus there was another spot in my eye and he wasn’t really sure what it was. He took some cultures of it to send to the lab to be identified. In the meantime he gave me a prescription for another drop called Viroptic, the generic form being Trifluridine, which I am very familiar with. The infection that I had a lot of trouble with several years ago was a herpes simplex virus. It’s not the sexually transmitted type of herpes, but rather the kind that causes cold sores. Trifluridine is used to combat that type of virus. As was explained to me years ago, there’s no cure for this type of virus, all you can do is try to keep it from flaring up. Since my surgery in October, I’ve been taking a pill called Acyclovir for that very reason. I was taking 400mg twice a day, so on this visit Doc upped it to 800mg five times a day. So by this time I had four kinds of drops and the pills. Doc said he wanted to see me again on Wednesday so we trudged home knowing that we would be back in two days. On our way, we stopped at the University pharmacy to pick up the Trifluridine. That was only a few blocks from the office.

By then Joni’s back was starting to give her some trouble so I made arrangements with Mom so she could drive me on Friday. On this day Doc said that the herpetic virus was completely cleared up, but the other spot was still there, no better and no worse. He called the lab to see if there were any results on the cultures yet, but so far nothing. He said those can take up to two weeks to show anything. By this time he was thinking that this other spot might be fungal so he gave me two more prescriptions: a drop called Natycyn and a pill called Doxycycline, both of which are for fungal infections. That brought the total up to five drops and two pills, the drops being used 6 times a day each. Quite a regimen. We stopped at the pharmacy again to pick those up and then headed back home with another appointment for the following Monday.

On Monday the 19th there was still no change and still no results from the cultures. Doc reduced all my drops to four times a day and sent us home with an appointment for Thursday.

On Tuesday, the doctor’s scheduler called and said he would have an emergency surgery on Thursday morning and that we would have to reschedule. So the appointment got pushed back to Friday at 11 am.

Friday came and still no change and still no culture results. Doc seemed okay with the fact that the spot was not going away because it wasn’t getting any worse either. As far as the cultures went, even though it hadn’t been two weeks yet, he seemed satisfied that this was probably not fungal in nature and said that it may just be an inflammatory reaction due to my allergies and such, this being allergy season. So out came the old prescription pad once again, this time for Prednisone, which I have talked about before. Prednisone reduces inflammation and is very good for clearing up my lungs, sinuses, and skin, although I’ve never had it prescribed for my eyes before. Since everything seemed stable, my next appointment is for Thursday the 29th.

We always stop at York on the way home for a late lunch or early supper, but since Friday was Joni’s 32nd birthday, she wanted to stop at the York Walmart as well to spend some of her birthday money. We dropped off my prescription at the pharmacy and then shopped for a bit. Joni got herself some flowers to plant outside, and she also bought t-shirts and work gloves for Adam and me. Apparently what she really wanted for her birthday was for me and Adam to be comfortable while we work out in the yard.

So that’s where we stand right now. Through all this God has been with us, giving us safe travels, keeping our aging car running beautifully, and providing financial help for all that gas through family and church. I am confident that he has a purpose in al this, maybe just to remind us that He is always in control, a reminder that I seem to need rather frequently. Whatever the case may be, I know that everything is working out according to His plan and that He will take care of everything as He always does.

Psalms 136:16 "Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them." ESV

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

The Blue Valley Creamery

Several months ago, around the end of September this was, Aunt LeeDel, Uncle Butch, and Uncle Marvin all came for a visit. Aside from getting to spend some time with my family, the highlight of their visit was when Uncle Butch presented me with a very special gift. It was an old, old cream can with a small label plate attached to it. The plate said:

Return to Louis Brandt
Gibbon, Nebr
U.P.
In case of loss notify
Blue Valley Creamery Co.

I should mention here that before I went blind I spent several years researching my family history. Also, Louis Brandt was my great-great-grandfather.

So many questions! Where did this time-traveling cream can come from? How did my mother’s brother end up with such a priceless relic from my father’s family? How old is the cream can really?

Well, I meant to do a little research on this and then present an article here on my blog, but a couple of weeks later I found out I would be getting surgery on my eye pretty soon. The cream can got put on the back burner for a while, but I recently got back to it. My research, such as it is, is complete and here’s what I found out.

The Blue Valley Creamery was founded on May 1, 1900. The headquarters was set up in Chicago with the first creamery popping up in St Joseph, Missouri. Before long, the Blue Valley Creamery had operations going all over the place, primarily in the upper Midwest, but stretching as far east as New York City and, as I discovered later, down to West Virginia and all the way down in Texas. And yes, there was a Blue Valley Creamery right here in Nebraska, just a little bit east of here. A creamery opened for business in Hastings, Nebraska in 1911. Apparently Blue Valley also owned the Topaz Dairy in Hastings. I searched the internet but never found much about the creamery in Hastings, only about Blue Valley in general. The photo here is not the Blue Valley Creamery in Hastings, but one in Louisville, Kentucky, circa 1946.

I did, however, find that Blue Valley Creamery was bought out by Beatrice Creamery Company in 1939. Beatrice was, in turn, acquired by a group of investors who purchased the company and then sold it off piece by piece, the last piece going to ConAgra sometime around 1990.

The cans themselves were owned by the farmers, not the creamery, and were typically shipped by railroad. That makes sense because there’s a very busy stretch of Union Pacific railroad that runs directly from Gibbon to Hastings. Blue Valley Creamery commonly attached labels to the cans bearing delivery instructions as pictured here.

In my internet searches I also came across several other pages mentioning cream cans with this same type of label attached. From the descriptions, and a few pictures, they sound identical to mine except for the name and town of the owner. The ones I found were from Memphis Nebraska, McCracken Kansas, Lavernia Texas, DeValls Bluff Arkansas, Dieterich Illinois, and Alderson West Virginia. I also noticed one other difference: the label on my can has a U.P. on it, which I assume stands for Union Pacific Railroad, while the one from Memphis has BURL, probably Burlington Northern, or maybe they were just Burlington back then. The one from West Virginia has C&O on it, Chesapeake & Ohio. One other has what looks like CXI&P. I couldn’t find a match for that, but I did find a CRI&P, Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific. This was the Arkansas can and the CRI&P did run through Arkansas. The others didn’t mention the railroad identifier.















So as to my questions: Uncle Butch told me that he and my aunt, in the early days of their marriage back in the early 70’s, frequently visited auctions around their home in Crete, Nebraska. He doesn’t remember specifically but assumes that the cream can was probably acquired at one of these. He told me that he brought the cream can around to see if anyone had any interest in it, but at the time no one did. I was born in 1970 and so would have been just a baby. So he took it back to his home where it sat around for about 40 years. My aunt and uncle recently sold their old house, which prompted Uncle Butch to bring it around again, as he did with several other items that he would no longer have room for in the new house. I am now just over 40 years of age and have become very interested in old items like this, especially ones that are from my own family. So in other words, it was pure and simple fate that brought my great-great-grandfather’s cream can to me at a time in my life when I am old enough to appreciate what a priceless heirloom it truly is.

My final question was, “How old is the can really?” Well, let’s see if we can deduce an approximate age. The Blue Valley Creamery in Hastings opened in 1911 and was bought out by Beatrice Creamery in 1939. That gives us a pretty narrow window already assuming that no more labels with Blue Valley Creamery on them were attached to any cans after the buyout.

I came across another interesting bit of Blue Valley history that, I believe, will narrow this window even further. Originally, Blue Valley affixed labels which read “When full ship to Blue Valley Creamery Co.” In 1925, the Federal Trade Commission ruled that these labels were an unfair practice, making it difficult or impossible for farmer’s to ship their milk or cream to a competitor of Blue Valley. Grandpa Louis’ can has the “newer” form of the label, “In case of loss notify Blue Valley Creamery”, so that would place it sometime between 1925 and 1939 when Blue Valley was bought out by Beatrice. This certainly fits great-great-grandpa Louis’ lifespan; he was born in 1863 and died in 1947.

So there you have it. That’s everything I was able to learn about the mysterious cream can. I took an old tooth brush and a little vinegar to polish up the brass name plate a little and it shined up pretty good. I really can’t tell you how happy I am to have it, and it was a lot of fun researching the Blue Valley Creamery as history has become more and more interesting to me. Something else that has become very interesting to me of late is the different ways God works in our lives. For 80 years, God sent that cream can from place to place, only to have it end up here. Maybe He did it to please me, or maybe He did it to remind that He is always in control, even of the little things. I like to think it was a little of both.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. ESV

Psalms 139:16 "Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them." ESV

Journal - Plumbing Woes

I guess it’s been a while since I wrote anything eh? Aside from audiobook reviews that is, I’m always writing those. I keep telling myself that I need to get in here and just jot some things down but I always end up working on something else instead. Well, I’m finally here so let me see…what’s been going on?

Ah yes! We’ve had some plumbing issues lately. Our house has two bathrooms, one up and one down. The downstairs bathroom quit working a long time ago. I can’t remember exactly when but it was at least a year ago. Since it’s below ground it has this pump that draws the water up from the drains and the toilet and that’s what quit working. Instead of the water being drawn up by the pump it just came back up in the shower or the toilet would run over. We got in touch with the landlord at the time but he wasn’t interested in doing anything about it. So we learned to get along with one bathroom.

At some time during the last year, our upstairs toilet started having problems. Nothing major, just one of those things where you have to jiggle the handle every time you flush it. Annoying! Then, a couple of weeks ago, the cold water stopped flowing to the toilet and the shower and the washing machine. It just stopped all at once. We still had cold water to the bathroom sink and the kitchen sink, and the hot water was okay throughout the house, but no cold to those three things. Those three things all happen to be on the same wall, toilet and shower on one side of the wall, and washing machine on the other side of that wall which is the back porch.

I got in touch with the landlord again right away and he said he’d get his plumber out here. We spent a couple of days not washing clothes and not showering and filling the toilet tank with buckets, but finally the plumber came. This was, I believe, on the Thursday before our big snowstorm, which was two weeks ago last night. Oh, the plumber’s name is Richard Matheson, also the name of a sci-fi/horror writer that I like quite a bit.

Anyway, Richard came at around 9 that morning and started looking at the tangle of pipes in our basement. It took him about an hour just to figure out which pipe fed cold water up into that wall, but he finally found it and cut out a section where he thought the problem was. He got it right on the first try. The section of pipe he cut out was completely filled with dirt and roots. How they got in there I’ll never know, and even the plumber who has been in the business for some 30 years said he’d never seen anything quite like it before. By then it was getting on toward 11:30 or thereabouts. Richard needed to go to his home in Shelton to get some tools and equipment and said he’d grab a bite to eat then come back and finish the job.

He got back here at around 1 or 1:30 and started in replacing the sections of pipe he had cut away. That cutting process was kind of interesting incidentally. He had this kind of long electric saw that he just held against the pipe and cut right through. It reminded me of those chain saws that are on long poles where you can stand on the ground and cut away high branches. Now that I think about it, it also reminds me a little of Grandma’s electric knife that she used to slice roast beef with. But I digress.

He had brought in a length of a sort of flexible plastic tubing that was colored blue. He said that’s what they use now-a-days as someone decided the old PVC tubing was poisoning the water. Quite a talker was Richard, explaining everything he was doing and discussing a great many other topics while he worked. It didn’t take him long at all to get the new pipe sections in and the cold water was flowing again.

The majority of the work he did was actually in the ceiling of the downstairs bathroom, which is directly below the upstairs one, so I casually mentioned our problems with that bathroom while he worked. I had been thinking that it was the pump that had quit working down there and that it might take an electrician rather than a plumber, but I thought it couldn’t hurt to ask him about it. He explained how the system works: a tall pipe running from downstairs to upstairs that has a float in it. When the float reaches a certain level, it kicks on the pump and the pump takes it from there. He theorized that it was probably just a sticky float and not a problem with the pump at all. He showed me the pipe with the float in it, it’s inside a small closet in the downstairs bathroom, and he gave it a couple of mild thumps. As soon as he did that, the pump kicked on and our downstairs bathroom was working again, just like that. Easy-peasy-rice-and-cheesy. And that’s what kept us from using the downstairs bathroom for over a year.

Richard checked upstairs to make sure the cold water was flowing again where it was supposed to and everything was fine. Then it was time to address the jiggly-handle problem, which I had also casually mentioned to him earlier. He took one look at the ancient innards of our toilet and said, “I’m going to replace that.” He took out the old ball-and-cock setup that was in there and replaced it with one of those new things they use which I don’t know the name for. That was good, but the jiggly-handle problem was being caused by the flapper in there that covers the drain hole in the tank. Richard said he normally has plenty of those, but he had just used his last three a couple of days before and didn’t have any on hand, adding that he would pick some up and return the following day to complete the job.

Well, the next day, Friday, was when the bad weather began to settle in and Richard didn’t actually make it back out until the following Monday. He came in, replaced the flapper, and we were in business. Our cold water was flowing, we didn’t have to jiggle the handle anymore, and we had our downstairs bathroom back!

Richard was a nice guy. I enjoyed watching him work and talking with him about everything under the sun: our families, the government, his army days, etc, etc. I admire men like Richard a lot, men who know how to use their hands to fix things. I’ve never been very handy myself, always having to call on someone else for every little thing that breaks down, even something so simple as a toilet flapper or a sticky float. Well, I guess that’s why God gave each of us unique abilities and talents, so we can help each other along.

That’s been on my mind a lot lately as the time for me to go back to work draws ever nearer: wondering what I want to do in my new life, or what I can do. I’d love to learn a trade like Richard’s, working with my hands and fixing things instead of sitting in an office all day pushing buttons at the computer like I used to. But new trades require training, and training requires money and yadda yadda yadda. All I know for sure is that as long as I keep my faith in God, He will lead me to the right job at the right time.

And my adventure in plumbing took a lot longer to tell than I thought it would! Before I get too much further from the topic at hand, I think I will end it here for now. There are a few other things I want to write down, so hopefully I can get back in here a bit more frequently in the future. Thanks for reading, and see you next time!

John 3:22 John answered, "A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.” ESV

1 Corinthians 12:4-6 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. ESV

Journal - 40 Days

It’s been 40 days since my surgery; can you believe that? I haven’t been very good about documenting things during this time so I shall try to remedy that right now.
I had a complication just a few days after surgery where the pressure in my eye dropped radically, but we got that sorted out and it’s been full speed ahead ever since. I have noticed my vision improving little by little, and the doctor has confirmed that, as I’ve gotten a little further down the eye chart on each visit. Over the last 40 days, I have gradually switched from my screen reader to my magnifying glass, and am now gradually switching up to no aid at all. That’s right, there are many things I can do on the computer now without even the magnifying glass. I still use it sometimes for print that is especially small, or fonts that are a little too fancy. Right now I am typing in 12 point Times New Roman, and can follow along on the screen without the glass. I’ve picked up this trick of squinting a little and looking through my eyelashes. The lashes sort of act like the pinholes in that thing the doctor uses. I will go over it with the glass probably when I’m done to check for errors.
So what are some things that have changed for me? Well, I can name a few. I find myself looking out the windows a lot, especially the kitchen window. That one looks east and is the only window in the house that you can really walk up to and stand comfortably. Other windows have plants or sinks in front of them. I’m seeing things out that window more and more clearly and am noticing things that are further away. Just a couple of days ago I watched a snow flurry out that window for a few minutes.
I’ve also had one change to my routine that was unexpected. I’ve been getting up earlier in the morning. I used to get up anywhere between 9 and 10, but for the last couple of weeks I’ve been getting up at 8. I just have more to do now, or rather, more that I CAN do. I started with the filing cabinet, as I have already mentioned, then I moved on to the recyclables in the basement, sorting them and getting them ready for a trip to Kearney. Yesterday I worked on the junk drawer in the kitchen. Just little projects around the house that I’ve been waiting a very long time to do, and am taking a great deal of pleasure in now. I’ve also been playing quite a bit of Star Wars: Battlefront II on Adam’s PS2 and that’s been fun too and I think I have too many 2’s and II’s and too’s in this sentence but I’m too lazy to fix them so too bad. I guess you could say that I’m enjoying having my sight back. Was there ever any doubt?
My audiobook listening time has been drastically reduced from 3 or 4 hours a day to 1 or 2. I’m not sure what that will mean for the future of Audiobook Heaven. I would sure like to continue that as I’ve put an awful lot of time and effort into it, but right now I’m finding more interesting things to do and later on, when I finally go back to work, there will be even less time for it. Well, things are kind of mixed up right now as I try to settle into new routines and so forth. Probably after a while things will begin to balance out again.
And that brings me to my latest doctor visit, which was yesterday. I was looking forward to the visit so I could take a crack at the eye chart and see how much I’ve improved since October 26. I was a little surprised, and I admit a little disappointed, that I only tested 20/50 on the pinhole test. Last time I was 20/60 and I thought it would be a lot better this time. I am making good progress though, so that’s okay. The doctor is very pleased with how well things are going. He almost sounds a little surprised when he tells me that everything looks great. Needless to say, it was a very good report. He took me off two of the eye drops I was using, and reduced the third to four times a day. Yes, only four drops a day, when I’ve been putting in 14 every day since surgery. I’m very pleased about that. But sadly, he’s not ready to let me play the sax yet. He’s being extra cautious after that problem with my pressure, and that’s okay. He also said that he wouldn’t take out the sutures until at least 6 months, much longer than normal. I miss my sax, but he can be as cautious as he wants as far as I’m concerned.
I asked him how much longer it would be before I could be fitted with glasses, and he said anytime. That surprised me because I know my eye is still healing and changing. He said it might not be completely stable for 6 months to a year, so this would be as good a time as any to get some glasses, even though I would probably need a new prescription after 6 months or so. My next visit with Dr. Feilmeier is on December 8, so they went ahead and made me an appointment with the glasses person that same day. Glasses at 10am, Feilmeier at 11:15. I’ll have normal vision in time for Christmas and bowl games; pretty good deal. I sure am looking forward to seeing some Christmas lights this year.
So that’s about it. God is doing a perfect job of keeping my eye healthy and infection free. Was there every any doubt? Well, of course there was; I’m only human after all. But God has shown me once again that my fears and worries were all for nothing. Amen!

Psalms 20:7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. ESV

Psalms 37:5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. ESV

"I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord." ESV

Inspirations - Penn State Woes

Well, the big news this week has been the tragic events that were recently uncovered at Penn State University. I confess that I don’t know all of the details, but what I gathered was that a member of Penn State’s football coaching staff was discovered to have been sexually molesting young boys for a number of years. Other members of the coaching staff were aware of this and either did nothing at all, or didn’t do enough to stop what was going on. One of these was none other than head coach Joe Paterno.
I can only imagine the anger, confusion, and frustration that must have rocked the University, and probably the entire city of State College, as this story unfolded. Of course, the result was a major house cleaning at Penn State, which is still ongoing. It was announced just a few days ago that legendary head coach Joe Paterno, at the age of 84, had also been fired after 45 years as head coach.
Which brings us to Saturday’s football game: Nebraska versus Penn State. All week long there was a lot of speculation about what might happen at the game. Would angry fans be looking to cause trouble? Would angry players be looking to hurt someone? Should the game be called off? One night on the news, there were some Husker fans saying that they were going to the game, but would not wear red in case Penn State fans might want to single someone out. On another newscast, a reporter voiced his opinion that it was good that the game had an early (11am) kickoff so that maybe people would be less likely to drink alcohol before or during the game. The truth is, no one really knew what to expect, but a lot of people were preparing for the worst.
We didn’t have to wait long for those fears to be laid to rest. Several minutes before the scheduled kickoff time, both football teams walked onto the field in Pennsylvania and shook hands. This is traditionally done at the end of a game. After the hand shaking, the players and coaches huddled together and knelt for prayer, led by Nebraska assistant coach Ron Brown. As they all knelt, a large crowd of Penn State alumni, former football players I believe, gathered around in an incredible display of support and solidarity. I don’t have cable TV so I didn’t get to see this, but I listened on the radio and you could have heard a pin drop in that stadium. I never knew 108,000 people could be so quiet.
Even as the game began, the crowd was eerily quiet. Nebraska sideline announcer Lane Grendel commented later in the game that “It was almost as if people didn’t know how they should act.” That seems a very appropriate description to me. Is it okay to cheer and make noise at such a time? Eventually, the crowd decided that indeed it was okay as they began to cheer on their teams, and I think it was the right decision. Even in the face of such tragedy, life must go on.
I can’t think of a more perfect way that this game could have begun: the teams coming together, the prayer, the silence. Could it be any more obvious that the hand of God was at work this day? What an awesome reminder that His love and mercy can overcome any trial, and what a perfect way for Him to reach hundreds of thousands of people with that message. Can I get an Amen?
Well, I hate to see my team lose, but this is one time when I wouldn’t have been too sad to see Nebraska take a loss. I’m not ashamed to admit that a part of me was rooting for Penn State. It wasn’t to be however, Nebraska ended up winning by the narrow margin of 17-14. In the final few minutes of the game, it actually looked like the Nittany Lions just might pull it off. I’m glad they made a good game of it anyway. And I hope the solemnity of the game’s beginning can begin the healing process in Pennsylvania. My prayers will still be with the victims in all this, those poor little boys, and their families. I have to assume that it will take a bit more for their own healing to begin.

Isaiah 30:20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. ESV

John 1:5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. ESV

Related Links
Read the full transcript of Ron Brown’s pre-game prayer.

TAGS inspirations, god, football, penn state, Isaiah, John

Miracles

If you know me personally, or if you’ve been following my blog lately, then you already know that I was recently the recipient of a miracle. I have a long history of problems with my eyes going all the way back to 1995 when I was diagnosed with keratoconus, a condition of the corneas. I was twenty-four years old at the time and spent the next 14 years dealing with that and other eye problems. Finally, in June of 2009, I was completely blind. I was blind for two and a half years until finally receiving surgery about four weeks ago that restored the vision in my right eye.
Yes, it was a doctor who performed the surgery that gave me my sight back, but I still consider it a miracle because the hand of God was very evident throughout.
During the two-and-a-half years that I was blind, God did a lot of work on me, and there was a lot of work to do. He taught me a lot about patience. Being blind takes a lot of patience; you have to learn new ways to do things like walking and eating and using the computer. More importantly, I learned how to be patient with God; how to wait for Him to do things in His own time, just like it says in Isaiah 30:18:

"Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore He exalts Himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for Him.”

God also taught me a lot about humility. When you’re blind, you have to ask for help. A lot. That’s something I was never very good at; I always like to do things myself, but it is part of God’s will for us to help each other, and to ask each other for help. It strengthens the body of Christ when we are all working together in that way, just like it says in Romans 12:16:

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.

And, of course, I learned how important it is to ask God Himself for help.
I could go on and on about all the different things God taught me through my blindness, and maybe one of these days I will, but that’s not really what I came here to talk about today. Today’s topic is miracles.
While I was blind, Joni and I had family and friends literally all across the country praying for us, and who had their churches praying for us. That’s really what it’s all about; the body of Christ coming together for a common purpose, and when that happens—well, that’s when miracles occur. God didn’t restore my sight just to make me happy. No, He did it so that all of those people could witness it; so that everyone could understand what a miracle this was and so that He could be glorified through it. In chapter 9 of the book of John, there’s a story of Jesus healing a blind man. The disciples asked Jesus why the man was blind, was it because of his sin or because of his parents’ sin. In verse 3 of that passage, Jesus tells them:

Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

If God doesn’t receive the glory for my healing, then it was all for nothing. It is now my duty, I believe, to make sure that as many people as possible witness the miracle that has occurred in my life. If you are reading this right now, then God has chosen you to be one of those witnesses. The big question is what are you going to do with that? Are you going to forget about it as soon as you click away from this page? Or are you going to go out into the world and tell somebody what a great and merciful God we serve? I hope it will be the latter. And remember, if you are waiting for a miracle of your own, you need to get as many people as possible involved. Get them praying for you. Ask them for help. Through God’s grace and glory, truly miraculous things can happen.

Angels Among Us - Saved By A Refridgerator

During the last two weeks, our church has had a team of volunteers working in Joplin, Missouri. As you may recall, Joplin was devastated by tornados earlier this summer. The volunteers returned home yesterday and spent a few minutes talking about their trip. Pastor Brian, who led the team, shared one story with us that I wanted to pass on.
Shortly after the tornados hit, a man was driving along and came across a refridgerator in the road. The man felt moved to stop and look in the refridgerator, and when he did he found a small boy inside.
Imagine if you will a child inside a refridgerator being picked up by a tornado and thrown heaven-only-knows how far. Imagine the grisly sight that could have met that man who stopped. Instead, the boy was perfectly well and unharmed. The man asked the boy why he got into the refridgerator, and the boy replied, “A man with wings put me in there.”
I wonder how many adults would have had the courage to say that. Only a child could have stated such a powerful truth so unabashedly.
Every year, every month, every day our nation falls further away from God’s good graces as more and more of us turn our backs on Him. Will God’s angels be on your side when His retribution finally comes?

Psalms 4:8 "In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. ESV

Psalms 9:19-20 "Arise, O Lord! Let not man prevail; let the nations be judged before you! Put them in fear, O Lord! Let the nations know that they are but men! ESV

Psalms 91:4 "He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. ESV

Passing the Time

So now the waiting truly begins. It seems that it’s easier to wait for something when you know it’s still a long way off. I really don’t feel very nervous or anxious, but there’s just this feeling in the air, kind of like an approaching storm. Something you sense more than see.
This month marked exactly two years since I went completely blind, and I was just thinking about how those two years have gone by. There were times when it seemed like time would never move again, but of course it did, and now I can’t believe so much has gone by.
I’m reminded of how much God has been with me during this time. Two years is nothing to Him, but He knew it would be a long wait for me. And He was always there with me, helping me along and giving me things to do to help pass the time.
It was way back in 2007 when He introduced me to audiobooks for the first time. God used Uncle Butch to pass that idea along to my mom, and her to pass it along to me. Only God could have come up with such a perfect plan for me. I’ve always loved books and that was just the thing. Of course, I wasn’t completely blind yet at that time, but my eyes were failing and it was getting difficult to read print.
The audiobooks kept me occupied for a while, but the novelty of it did begin to wear off after about two years. In 2009, just a few months after I went completely blind, God gave me the idea to start writing audiobook reviews and publishing them on a blog. Wow, books and computers combined in one project! Does God know me or what? For that one, God brought in the lady from the division for the blind, who loaded a screen reader onto my computer and showed me how to use it. I can’t even guess how many hours I have passed away listening to audiobooks and writing reviews and working on my blog.
Believe it or not, even that began to lose its luster after a year or so. God didn’t leave me hanging though. It was about then that he introduced me to Susan Dunman. Susan asked me if I would be interested in submitting links to my reviews to her site, Audiobook Jukebox. Not long after that, she asked if I would be interested in writing some reviews for another site that she edits, The SF Site. That put a little bit of a new twist on things and kept me going for a few months.
It was through my association with Susan that God planted the idea in my head that I could contact audiobook publishers and ask them to send me free audiobooks for review. That was a great idea because I had already been through most of the audiobooks my library had that interested me. So for the last seven or eight months I’ve been getting lots of great books directly from publishers.
Anyway, God knew just how to keep my mind occupied so I didn’t have to sit around feeling sorry for myself, or wishing the time would go faster. And in the process I’ve met some nice people that I otherwise would have never known. I even met an audiobook producer and narrator from Colorado: after we had known each other for a while, we discovered that we are both native Nebraskans; he grew up in North Platte.
It’s very comforting to know that God is always there looking out for me. Of course, I already knew that from reading the bible, but the message is so much more powerful when you witness it first-hand.

Romans 8:25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. ESV

Romans 8:28 we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. ESV

Journal - Measurements

Today I had my appointment at the Kearney Eye Clinic to get my measurements taken. I think I said earlier that the measurements were to determine what kind of lens I would need, but I found out today that was wrong. What they actually did was measure my cornea, and the length of my eye from front to back. Apparently, the eye length has a lot to do with whether you’re near-sighted or far-sighted.
To get the measurements, all I had to do was sit down in front of this machine, put my chin on the chin-rest and look straight ahead. The machine is automatic and computerized. When I say “automatic and computerized”, what I really mean is that it’s very touchy and temperamental. They got a pretty good reading on my right eye, the one that will be operated on, but it couldn’t get a reading on my left eye, which is the one they can’t do anything with. I should mention here that they measure both eyes, even though only one will be operated on, so they can make a comparison which better enables them to make sure the readings are good. In all fairness, that machine probably works perfectly well on normal eyes. My left eye is pretty messed up.
Anyway, after the first machine failed, they tried me out on a different one. I got the impression that it was an older machine and was less computerized. That one works by actually contacting the eye which meant they had to give me some numbing drops. The second machine didn’t work on my left eye either.
Believe it or not, they had a third machine handy that they tried me out on, but that one couldn’t read my left eye either. They finally decided to just go with the measurements they got on my right eye. The measurements on the left eye were only to be used as kind of an average anyway, and they seemed pretty confident with what they got on my right eye.
In all, it only took about thirty minutes to go through all three machines, so we weren’t there very long at all. After that, we stopped by the library, which is undergoing a lot of construction, to pick up a couple of audiobooks I had reserved, and we were home by 11:30.
My left eye felt a little sore and irritated the rest of the day after all that messing around, and in fact still does now at 8:00 pm. That’s not uncommon, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come home from the eye doctor with sore, irritated eyes. It should be back to normal by the time I get up tomorrow morning.
So, as far as I know, the next, and last, thing I need to do before surgery is to get a physical. I believe Elinore told me they would let me know when it was time to do that, but I think I’ll give her a call later this week and make sure they have everything they need now.
I’ve sort of been struggling a little on this, as far as what I should be praying for. I hate to be asking God to restore my sight because I don’t know if that’s His plan for me. I keep telling myself that if God doesn’t want this to happen, there’s about a million different ways He could have stopped it by now, but since May 9 everything has happened very quickly and smoothly. I guess all I can do, and all any of us can do really, is to ask that His will be done. I’ve also been praying a lot for patience, and God has really come through for me. I don’t really feel anxious about this at all. But I suppose that will all be out the window as soon as I get that phone call.

Psalms 67:1 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us.

Psalms 62:5 For God alone, oh my soul, wait in silence; for my hope is from Him.

Journal - Catching Up

Well, I guess I haven’t written for a while. The passing of time continues to befuddle me. Let me see if I can recall what’s been going on.
There isn’t much to report on Audiobook Heaven. After the flurry of activity during the first six weeks of the year, things have settled down a bit. That’s okay, I like some excitement now and then, but we always need that time to recharge the batteries. I continue to receive audiobooks from Blackstone, typically six books per month. I got a couple of L Ron Hubbard books from Galaxy Press last month, and just received two more today, although one of them is a repeat. I’ll have to contact them and see if I should send that one back. Last week I got my first two books from HighBridge Audio. The only new thing I have to report is my latest discovery, Graphic Audio. One of the books I got from Susan Dunman was from that publisher, and I had never heard of them before. I looked them up in Google and took a look at their website. They specialize in creating full cast audio productions, complete with sound effects and music, of comic book graphic novels. Can you imagine how excited I was about that? I contacted them, and they responded right away saying that they would send me some review copies. I didn’t get to pick out what I wanted, but I was pretty happy to get anything from them. Hopefully they’ll keep sending me stuff.
My Medicare became effective on March 1. I’ve spent the first half of the month getting information and making my choices for part D prescription coverage. I have part A for hospitalization; that part is free. Part B for doctor visits carries a monthly premium of $115, and it looks like there is also a yearly deductible of about $162. On part D, I qualified for extra assistance so there’s no premium or deductible. My scripts will be $6.30 for brand name, and $2.50 for generic. That ended up being better than I expected. My prescription coverage begins April 1, so I’ll be looking for a doctor over the next week or so and will try to make an appointment for sometime in April.
I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this in my blog or not, but for the last 3 or 4 months, God has been trying to get me to play my saxophone at church. I’ve been dragging my feet as usual. I’m not very good at stepping out of my comfort zone. This began right before Christmas and I thought I might play some Christmas music, but that kind of fell through. It was pretty short notice, only one week before Christmas so there wasn’t time to get anything set up. Before I could play, I had to meet with the music director, Kent. Well, after that I let a couple of months pass, then I finally approached Kent again about it. We met at the church on March 4 and I played for him. He sounds like he’s okay with me playing at church, but we haven’t set anything up yet. The ball is in his court, though, I’m just waiting for him to say when.
Speaking of church, on February 27 we had our first service in the new sanctuary. When we first went to this church about a year and a half ago, they were just announcing plans to build a bigger sanctuary onto the church, and it’s finally done. The new sanctuary has theater-style seating for a little over 900 people. I’m looking forward to seeing it. I’m not sure how many our old sanctuary could seat.
For the last several days, Charles Stanley has been doing a series of sermons about guilt, and it’s got me thinking about some things. It seems clear that God wouldn’t want us to feel guilt for sins that He has forgiven us for. Guilt is, after all, a negative emotion, and God doesn’t typically deal in negative emotions. But it sort of seems like a little guilt might be a good thing. In the complete absence of guilt, are we not more likely to repeat our sins of the past? I’ll hav to do some thinking on that.
It’s now been about three days since the disastrous earthquake in Japan. A monstrous 8.9 on the Richter. It sounds like they are stil struggling to contain the nuclear power plants. 8.9 makes this the fourth most powerful earthquake in recorded history.
Okay, I guess that’s about it. See you next time.

Matthew 11:28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. NIV

Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door an knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in with him and dine with him, and he with me. NKJV

Journal - Blessings

God just continues to shower blessings on us! On Saturday, we had a nice visit from Mom and Brenna. They brought out some Valentine cookies that they made that afternoon. We enjoyed the visit and the cookies, and I think Sassie made a new best friend. On Tuesday night, we are going up to Kearney High School for Brenna’s swing choir program, and she also has an orchestra concert later this month. I’m looking forward to that.
Audiobook-Heaven continues to be showered with blessings as well. Last week I received six new audiobooks from Blackstone, and 2 from Susan Dunman. I also made a couple of new contacts. I emailed AudioGo, formerly known as BBC Audiobooks America, and they agreed to send me some audiobooks. I picked out three books and just received them yesterday. I was also contacted by an author, who wanted to know if I would review the audio version of his book. I’ve never heard of this author before, but it’s pretty cool that he went looking for a reviewer and found me. He sent me a link and I downloaded his book. I started listening to that one today, but I had to write back to him and tell him I couldn’t do it. The language was pretty strong.
But wait, there’s more! Also today, I received the books from Galaxy Press. It was about three weeks ago that they mailed them, so I was beginning to think they had changed their minds, but here they are. Galaxy Press, if you remember, is creating audio versions of some of L Ron Hubbard’s older works. I’ve really been looking forward to those. Did you know that L Ron Hubbard was born in Nebraska?
Wait, wait, there’s still more! Also today, I got a response from another publisher that I’ve been emailing, HighBridge Audio. They have also agreed to send me audiobooks. That won’t be quite like the Blackstone deal. With Blackstone, I can pretty much pick anything I want out of their extensive catalog, but with HighBridge, I can only pick from the periodic press releases that they email out. Still a good deal, though, and very exciting.
Business is booming, as you might say. If I had any money I would probably hire an assistant or something. God has been so good to me, and I just can’t wait to see what happens next.
In other news, I’ve finally made the decision to play my sax at church sometime. I have felt God urging me to do this for quite a while now, but as usual I have been dragging my feet. I had a hard time deciding what to play. I couldn’t find karaoke versions of the first couple of songs that came to mind. So I decided to keep it simple and just play Amazing Grace. I found a nice accompaniment track at Amazon.com and downloaded it, and have been working on that for about a week now. I also emailed the music director at our church and we’re trying to nail down a time when I can come in and have a little audition. It’s a busy time for him because they are just beginning to set up the audio-video-lighting in our new sanctuary, which is nearing completion. We may have to wait until that’s all done, but I’m determined. God has been so good to me and it’s about time I started giving something back. I don’t have much money to give, but I can sure use the talent that God gave me to contribute something.
Umm, what else? It’s only a couple more weeks until my Medicare becomes effective. Starting in March they’ll be deducting $115 from my social security to pay for that. That will make it even harder to cover the bills each month, but I have to trust that God will take care of it. He’s never let me down before. Speaking of which, our church really came through for us again and paid our propane bill. Actually they paid our last two. Our energy assistance from the state was drastically cut this year. Last year we got about $1100, but this year it was only $200. They said there were a lot more applicants this year.

1 Peter 2:1-3 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. NIV

2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. NKJV

Do It For HIM

This morning I was sitting at the computer, posting a book review over at Audiobook Heaven and checking my email. For about three weeks now, I’ve been exchanging emails with someone at Simon & Schuster to see if they would send me some audiobooks that I could review. The message I got this morning made it pretty clear that the answer was going to be no. They didn’t actually say no, but just keep putting me off, which is a lot worse than a flat rejection I can tell you.
I signed off the computer feeling a little bummed about that, and all the while this nagging little suspicion was gnawing away at the back of my mind. You know that feeling you get sometimes, like something isn’t quite right, or you’ve forgotten to do something? I’ve had it for a couple of days now. Well, over the last couple of years, I’ve noticed that sometimes that feeling means I really did forget something, but sometimes it means that God is trying to get through to me, and I haven’t been paying attention.
I went into the bedroom to listen to my current audiobook, but before I put my headphones on I just sat for a minute and asked God, “Are you trying to tell me something?” I sat quietly for a few minutes and nothing much really came to mind, so I put my headphones on and listened for a while.
A couple of hours later, I got back on the computer, and I had an email from another publishing company, Galaxy Press, whom I’ve never heard of, asking if I would like to review some of their books. Galaxy Press is putting some of L Ron Hubbard’s older works on audio, and that’s what they want to send me so I can review them.
Now, was all that just a coincidence? I’ve already mentioned that I don’t believe in coincidence. Rather, I think maybe God wanted a little acknowledgement. He has been very generous to me lately, arranging for me to get free audiobooks from Susan Dunman, Blackstone Audio, Last Word Audio and possibly from Hachette, although I haven’t got those yet. Maybe God just wanted to make sure I wasn’t forgetting who the architect is here, before blessing me even further.
In a way, I guess you could say that writing audiobook reviews has kind of become my job, even though I don’t get paid for it. I don’t get any money, that is. As Uncle Butch pointed out to me recently, I get paid in audiobooks. Call it what you will, this is where God has led me, just as He leads each of us to one task or another. The mistake I have always made in the past, and perhaps the mistake I’ve been making lately, is not allowing God into a particular area of my life, especially my job. Maybe that’s why I’ve never been very successful at any of the many jobs I’ve had. I have thanked God for blessing me with audiobooks, but maybe sometimes He wants a little more. Thanking God silently in our prayers is good, vital even, but how much better to tell the whole world how He has blessed us?
During one of his sermons a while back, Pastor Mike told us about a woman he met at a restaurant. The woman was an employee, charged with wiping down tables and preparing them for the next guest, a job many people might look down upon. As she cleared the table beside Mike, they struck up a conversation and she said, “I’m just doing this for the Lord.” Another Pastor we had back in Dallas once said that if you don’t take care of what you have, you shouldn’t expect God to bless you with something better, or something more. He was talking about material possessions, but I think that applies to our jobs as well. If you constantly grumble and complain about your job, God may not be so willing to give you a better one.
The biblical reference that jumps to mind here is the parable of the talents, which I’m sure many of you are familiar with. I won’t type out the whole thing here, but you can read it in Matthew 25, verses 14 to 30, or in Luke 19, verses 12 to 28.
It’s as simple as this: if we want success in every facet of our lives, home life, work life, church life, social life, etcetera, then we need to allow God in all those areas. It doesn’t matter if you’re the pastor of a church, or a school teacher, or a farmer, or a janitor, or an audiobook reviewer, be cheerful and productive with what God has given you. You may not think your job is very important, but He gave it to you for a reason, and if you let Him rule that part of your life, there’s just no telling what He might send your way next.

Matthew 25:21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ NIV

Ecclesiastes 2:24 A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God. NIV

Journal - What a Great Day!

Wow! I didn’t know so many good things could happen in one day! God has just showered us with blessings today and I hardly know where to begin.
I guess I’ll start with Sassie. She got up today! Remember how she was just lying on the back porch all day and all night, and hardly moving at all? Well, when I got up this morning, she was lying in the hallway that goes back to the porch. After I brushed my teeth and all that, I coaxed her into the kitchen with a boiled egg. We’ve been just taking food back to her on the porch, but I thought since she had moved on her own, I would see how far she was willing to go. She came into the kitchen and ate the egg, then I decided to try one of her treats. They’re those hard crunchy bones, and of course she hasn’t been able to eat anything that needed much chewing. She was very careful and hesitant at first, but she eventually crunched the thing up and ate it.
After that I tried to coax her into the living room. Again, she was very hesitant at first, she kind of sat in the doorway between kitchen and living room for a little bit, but she finally came all the way in and lay down by the computer where Joni was sitting. After that she stayed in the house all day, lying around in her usual places. She was eating better, and drinking more water, and generally seemed in better spirits. When I had lunch today, she sat and whined for food for the first time since her accident. Joni took her out in the snow, which Sassie has always loved, and she wagged her tail and seemed happy. Sassie, I mean, not Joni. I could scarcely believe the turnaround from her condition of yesterday. I asked for a miracle, and I believe we got one.
Sassie is not 100% yet, she has trouble going up steps. She gets her front paws up, but has trouble getting her hindquarters up. Maybe she’s just sore still, but I guess she may have some lasting damage too. We’ll have to wait and see. I guess God does look after animals. I’m reminded of a line from the movie, “The Stand.” “All things serve the will of God, even big dumb dogs.”

Well, that made my day pretty awesome, but it gets even better. Today I got an email from an audiobook publisher, asking if I would like to review some of their books. That’s right, a publisher contacted ME! This is a brand new publisher that I’ve never heard of. Last Word Audio published their first book last August, and has only two books published, with a third on the way, but I think it’s awesome that when they went looking for a reviewer, they found me. I felt really honored. So anyway, this guy is going to be sending me a couple of books to review, and they don’t sound bad.
I’ve been wondering a lot lately if this whole audiobook thing is really what God wants me to be spending my time on. I truly have to believe that He is telling me to go for it. Too many great things have happened in such a short time for me to believe otherwise. I’ll take this thing as far as I can, which is pretty far with God pulling the strings, and if I get my sight back someday I’ll try to become an audiobook narrator. I’m already networking, making contacts with some publishers, so who knows where it could lead.

And to top off this really great day, our neighbor, Brett, came through this evening with a bobcat and cleared our driveway. We got quite a lot of snow over the weekend, and we were afraid that we might not be able to get out for a while, but God stepped in again and got our driveway cleaned. When Brett was out there, Sassie watched from the window and tried to bark at him, but all she could manage was kind of a little “huff!” Seeing her take interest in her surroundings again was an excellent way to top off this wonderful day.

Acts 16:31 Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household. NIV

Joshua 1:7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. NIV

Journal - Eye Doctors, Audiobooks, and Sick Puppies

I can’t exactly remember what I said the last time I talked about the eye doctor and such. I had an appointment in Omaha on January 5th, but I cancelled that one several weeks ago. That whole thing was just not feeling good to me. On March 1, I will become eligible for Medicare so I’m just going to wait until then before I do anything else. Two more months doesn’t seem like very long to wait. Hard to believe it’s been two years since I was declared legally blind. That happened back in October of 2008, but I didn’t start receiving disability payments from social security until March of 2009, so that’s when my two years began. You have to be disabled for two years before you can be eligible for Medicare. With Medicare I think I’ll have more freedom to go where I want, instead of letting someone else pick the doctor. So that’s where we stand on that.

Audiobook-Heaven is still humming right along. I finally got a response from another publisher. Someone from Hachette (ha-shet’) Book Group responded to one of my inquiries and said they would be willing to send me some audiobooks for review. On Friday I requested three books, and today Megan responded and said she would send them. I’ll have lots of audiobooks to keep me occupied I think.

I don’t really know what to think about Sassie. She’s just so listless since her accident last Tuesday. For the last several days, she has taken to lying on the back porch where it’s cold. She just lays there all day and all night and never comes into the house, except maybe just to poke her head in while we’re eating. Joni did some reading online and read that when dogs are in pain they seek out confined areas, and they also seek out cold places. That explains the porch. Of course, it’s pretty hard to tell just how much pain she is in. We’re still giving her soft foods, but she just isn’t very interested in eating. We always have to coax her to get her to eat anything, and she’s not drinking much water either. I feel so helpless and just don’t know what to do for her. I’ve been praying very hard for God to heal her, but I honestly don’t know how much God is willing to intervene for an animal. He created them too, didn’t He? I guess that’s all I can do, keep praying and hope for a miracle.

Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. NIV

Journal - New Audiobooks

Wednesday turned out to be a pretty great day! I got two new audiobooks in the mail from Susan so I can review them for SF Site. Then just a few minutes after Adam brought in the mail, the UPS truck drove up and delivered five audiobooks from Blackstone Audio. Yes, they finally came! Last time Blackstone sent me some books, UPS lost them, so I was pretty happy to get these. The shipment included three books from my favorite science fiction author, Ben Bova. Can’t wait to dig into those.
Well, on top of all that excitement, I finally got a nibble from another publisher. I’ve continued sending out requests to various publishers, trying to get them to send me books to review, and my third request to Simon & Schuster Audio finally got a response. They haven’t promised me anything yet, but the person who responded, who is only filling in as it turns out, said she would check into it and see what they could do. That would be awesome if I can get books from them, but hey, I was pretty happy just getting a response.
Now, that’s all pretty exciting, but I’m still facing a little bit of a dilemma. Not so much a dilemma I guess, but just something I’ve been thinking about. I keep wondering if this is really how God wants me spending a majority of my time. On the one hand, I worry that maybe all this is taking my attention away from Him. On the other hand, some really neat things have been happening in that area, and I sort of think they wouldn’t be happening if God was against it. Maybe this is the beginning of something big that God has planned for me. That would be cool. Well, I’ll keep praying about it, and see where God leads me.

Happy New Year!

Psalms 30:5 For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime.