Keep On Looking

It's no secret we've been looking at various options for a new home. Our trailer is showing some wear and tear - and our van is about done pulling the thing over the mountains. The doctors say we need to find a rig I can drive. I'm not comfortable pulling the trailer with the van. The van is  still running well, and we are in no danger of it exploding; but we think it wise to begin to consider options. 

There is a man in Tucson who is convinced he "has our motor home." Maybe - but we continue to look....and you never know what you will find when you look in Eugene, OR.  I could drive it, it has 2 stories, the custom artwork on the side appeals to me....but Michael drove on by.  I guess we need to keep on looking. 

Lazy Sunday

We visited our home church. We went to the "other service," so we knew no one and it was sort of fun to see what it would be like to be an unknown visitor.  Pastor was gone - he would know us. LOL I don't know that any church feels truly like home since leaving the chapel. I am looking for more diversity than I see outside military chapels.  I'm still thinking about this thing I've noticed.

We had planned this to be an overnight trip - the kids complained they didn't have "Sunday" clothes. The girls fixed Stacia up. It's always fun to have Arielle around to do Stacia's hair.

Bella had a good day at church (Mommy is children's pastor in two services) and so BreZaak and Bella, joined CoRielle, Krista and the rest of us for lunch at the food court in the local mall. It had to be quick - BreZaak have an intensive class for their Master's program starting today and had lots of work to finish yesterday.

Michael and the boys checked out a clearance sale at Sports Authority and then spent a gift card at Barnes and Noble.  Krista and I took Stacia to Ross. All enjoyed their outings.

Back at the house we took naps, delivered lemonade to neighbors,  watched Zootopia, visited, filled out a benefits application for Arielle.

It was a good day....

Mission Critical - Colors and Dresses

I spent another day with our four daughters and one granddaughter, which makes it a practically perfect day regardless of what else happens.

On THIS day our mission was to narrow down the exact shade of elusive blue Arielle would like  her bridesmaids to wear and to see what styles may appeal to her.  

Our first stop was Joann's as we hoped to find "the color," get a sample, and then if she decides to have the girls pick their own dresses we could send each girl a color sample.  Arielle was caught by this fabric. I love Krista's expression, behind Stacia's bemused expression. We had some good laughs as we convinced Arielle dressing the wedding party in fish scales would contradict her determination NOT to have anyone in  mermaid style dresses to avoid any "Arielle/Mermaid" jokes on her big day. ::snort::

We were surprised at how hard it was to find anything in the color she loves. The one on the right is "it," but it's a textured, baby blanket material. Oh well, the color will work.

Our next stop were two  malls to hit all the stores....Bre and Bella met us. At one point we considered making sashes out of the bumpy material and draping the girls in it. LOL

There weren't many light blue options anywhere - Davids, Penneys, Kohls, Macy's, Sears, Marshalls, Ross, Maurice and numerous boutiques. There was this....but spangles on a missing midriff, one shoulder - not really Arielle's desired look.

  THIS was the only thing we found in stores that was the right color. Arielle would love yoga pants and exercise shirts....but we talked her back from that.

She was impressed with these hair style options....maybe the girls should all have the big "O" in honor of the DUCKS. LOL 

By this point in the day our worn out bride wasn't enjoying our humor. It did seem one big flower would save a lot of flower arranging time. LOL 

It was a fun day. We didn't find dresses - but Arielle found the color - we can all look online for options and she's about 70% to solution I think. LOL

Bella finished shopping about 30 minutes before the rest of us. I remember those days. We stopped off at Mom and Dad's and Arielle took a quick power nap.  Will, Sherri and Harmony stopped by. Arielle worked in the a.m., shopped all afternoon and worked from 6:45 - 11:00 p.m. that night. YIKES.  What a long day!

We are blessed to have this "unplanned" time with the girls.

#WYFF - All Things WEDDING

Today was all things wedding....a fun day for the girls, myself and my mom. We began with a meeting with Sherri, our wedding coordinator. She is also beloved Aunt and sister in law. ::grin::  It was good to begin corralling all the wedding thoughts into one big plan. Thanks, Sherri.

Our next stop was to pick Mom up from the beauty salon. We had just enough time to grab some lunch before our appointment here. Our Mission:  find a dress Arielle LOVED at a price that would comfortably fit into the wedding budget. BTW, this store gives a 10% military discount.

BreAnne and Bella joined us ....Bella loves her Aunties AND wedding dress shopping! 

Lainna, a bridesmaid, is a friend of Arielle's from New Hope

Let the serious shopping begin....I love Arielle's expression here, "What ARE you doing to me?"

THIS is what it looks like when you are a size 4 shopping for a wedding dress in America....I think the clips add a nice touch. 

Please note, this post contains no photos of Arielle in the dress she loves....and therefore, the group photos will need to wait until after 17 December. LOL  You can see more of the group in this quick video. 

#WYFF (Where's Your Feet Friday) is sponsored by Fulltime Families. View more of our Friday exploits by clicking the #WYFF tab above. 

The End of this Chapter

Thank you to those who have prayed for Michael's puzzling ailments over the years. We continue to pray for strength and healing, and yet, we  hear God say His grace is all we truly need. If His power is perfected in weakness - we welcome this platform of weakness.

Today, we received a determination letter from the Department of VA and we bring this part of our story to an end.  We have shared Michael's claim was expedited. We've been told by several they'd not seen a claim handled quite like ours. We were given an "interim rating" at 6 months, this allowed Michael to begin getting medical care in the VA system. We were then sent to see Gulf War Evaluators and they found the answers to the pesky health questions that have been growing for the past ten years.  The answers didn't lead to easy fixes, as we'd prayed, but again, just maybe we are to embrace this platform of weakness.  And here - at 8 months - we've received a final VA determination. I think they've done an excellent job; our claim was handled in a timely fashion, they gave us answers we didn't even fully know to search out and they've treated us fairly.

We are still reading through the packet they've sent, we may need help sorting it all out, but we are happy to be able to end the "VA Disability Claim"  chapter of retirement.

Receiving a disability rating is  one of those bittersweet moments in life... seeing the words permanent service-connected disabled veteran  in black and white is a bitter pill to swallow - but again God knows the platform He is building for us.

We KNOW God is not done with us yet. We KNOW He has a plan for the next 20 years, we have no idea what it will look like at this point - but we KNOW it's a good plan from the loving hands of a GOOD God.

Thank you for your prayers and advice during these months.

Clearing the Lane

We moved from an unfinished corner of the yard to work on the lane leading back to Mom G's home. We noted neighbors, mailman and we, ourselves, were having trouble sharing the lane which serves as a driveway.....the trees and brush had overgrown the fence and spilled into the road.....this narrowed the available width for traffic.   I realize this is the second week we've said we are working on the lane. Lest you wonder why five fairly energetic folks are taking so long.....First, we work with the physical limitations we have. We need lots of recovery days.  Second, this is a BIG job. The brush was 4 - 5 feet into the lane. On the yard side there is 15 - 20 feet of "extraneous" brush which we are clearing to find the lawn and garden spots.  I didn't take any before shots...but here are photos of the corner we have yet to clear.

We had hoped to finish this week. Stacia and I have some urgent wedding business in OR.....Tuesday, I was hauling a "branch" to the burn pile and felt my back spasm. I've hauled thousands, hundreds, lots of branches to the pile and not had a problem.  My solution was to stretch a bit and then go lop some trees down and drag them out of the jungle. I find satisfaction in this AND I thought it would stretch  my back. I could barely walk by the time we left Mom G's that night. I spent Wednesday in bed. Today, Michael is going to drive us up to OR for wedding shopping....so this corner will have a weekend reprieve. 

In any event, clearing the lane has involved loppers, chainsaws, hedge trimmers, brush trimmers, weed whackers and pulling trees from power lines...The kids have been essential partners in this work of love. The boys do the heavy lifting, climbing, digging and chopping for Michael. Stacia helps outside and inside. She is great at assisting Mom G with her "projects."  I love how she's willing to slow down and move at Mom G's pace. The rest of us will be able to do more of that once the yard is manageable. We really want to make use of the nice days before the rains arrive. We'll have lots of time for visiting and inside projects this fall/winter.  

Boards from the bench Alex discovered on Saturday - resulting in the ER visit

Our hopes soared as we began to find the fence....see the white post....

It's not DONE,  but it will be next week.....We are starting to feel encouraged we can get the yard in shape and move in to help with the house before winter.  Two neighbors were great encouragers this week. Both stopped by to offer their expertise and knowledge of taming some of these native species. We heard one neighbor tell a visitor - "They've done so much work. The whole thing looked like that corner last week."

It may still look overgrown to you, but it's a thing of beauty to us. The hedge in the foreground was as tall as the trees and tangled in the power line....we can see a fence along the mailbox, and a gate which hasn't been seen in a long time.....there are still two trees to trim out of the power lines and that corner.....where you see the densest foliage used to be a garden spot.

But for today - we'll break and go make wedding dreams become a reality. 

Traffic on the Redwood Hwy

The drive up the Redwood Hwy from our site to Mom G's usually takes 8 - 10 minutes. We had been told 25,000 people came to town for the fourth of July. It would appear a good share of them headed home on the 5th at 0900.  It took us 28  minutes to get 4.7 miles.....

No one got car sick on the hwy today! ::snort:: I even had time to take a video clip. 

I was a bit envious of the RV's heading up the road - our time will come. For now, we are choosing to be content with our detour....and happy that most days the traffic is lighter. LOL The neighbor assures me this is NOT normal summer traffic. Shew.