The year
2013 is almost half gone and what a year it has been! We thought we would take
a few minutes to summarize it for you.
Most of
you know that Barbara was told at the end of 2012 that she needed a hip
replacement and that she had that done early in February. We were glad to have
the help of our daughter, Shannon, who came from Brussels, Belgium for the week
after the surgery. Many of you prayed for her during that time. You will be
glad to know that she has made a good recovery – progressing from a walker,
(Zimmer Frame) to a cane, and then to walking unassisted. She began walking in
the neighborhood holding unto my arm but gradually worked up to doing two miles
without me. (The current heat has put a damper on that). Last year stairs were
a problem but now she does them with ease and she says it is so good to be able
to do her housework again – though she still likes a little help from me. For a
time she thought she would never be able to sleep in bed again and spent some
time sleeping in her recliner, but she now sleeps though –with the help of a
pain pill. We are so very thankful for all this progress.
You may
recall that we bought a house that was built 39 years ago and had only one
previous owner, a widow. She took good care of the house but as one of our
neighbors commented, “She liked her wallpaper.”Fortunately she confined it to
the kitchen, dining room and two of the 3 bathrooms. We dealt with the kitchen
and dining room before we moved in last year but the bathrooms continued to be
an issue. They were right out of the 1970’s with colored fiberglass shower
stalls and matching sinks and toilets – the inefficient water-wasting kind. We
decided to have the fiberglass showers repainted to match new white sinks and
toilets and have ceramic tile put in to replace the worn and outdated linoleum.
Oh yes, the wallpaper in the one bathroom was removed and the walls painted.
The work stretched out for two weeks as one stage had to dry before the next
could be started. We are delighted with the result and we got both baths for
half the cost of replacing the fittings in the main bath alone by one of those national
companies you see on TV.
Barbara
has an eye for decorating on a budget. We got a new shower curtain for the main
bathroom that had water lilies on it. Then she said, “We need a bold picture in
blue that will blend with the shower curtain and will occupy the wall that is
straight in front of you when you enter the bath”. We did not have anything
like that so we started looking and found nothing in the shops. But we made a
trip to Longwood Gardens (see below) and their famous water lilies were in
bloom. One of them was a blue water lily. I took the photo to Wal-Mart, had a
poster made and bought a simple frame. Done – for under $14.00!
The trip
to Longwood Gardens was part of a celebration for us. On June 16th (Father’s
Day) we marked our 50thAnniversary. (It was also Father’s Day the day we were
married, as we were married on Sunday so that we could be married on my
parents’ 48thwedding anniversary and, sadly, their last. Although our children
could not be here for the festivities, they did not forget us and honored the
day in various ways. Friends, family and neighbors sent cards and a group of
about 50 people had a dinner for us at the Carlisle PCA Church on the Saturday
night. We were also invited to dinner at the home of friends and by the
neighbors directly behind us.
You may
recall that I had to do a lot of the travelling by myself last year because
Barbara could not manage it with the pain she was in. We decided to go away
overnight as part of our Anniversary celebration – just one night to see how
Barb got along. She did well. We went to the Brandywine area and visited the
Brandywine River Museum, which houses a collection of paintings by three
generations of Wyeths, N.C., Andrew and Jamie, as well as a few by other
artists with whom they were connected. The next day we stopped at the
Brandywine Battlefield where the British under Lord Howe beat the Americans
under George Washington in the largest battle in North America until the
American Civil War. From there we went to Longwood. Barbara was able to walk
the gardens for two hours and we enjoyed every minute of it.
One of
my hobbies is our garden. Last fall I saw an article about mixing flowers and
vegetables in the same bed and since our back yard (garden) is shaded for much
of the day I decided to try it in our front yard (garden). During the winter I
dug up the area I intended to plant – removing nearly a ton of rock, bricks and
other debris from the soil. There were a couple of existing beds that needed
some serious attention and I wanted to try a raised bed in the one spot in the
back yard that would get enough sun. I have done these and have two more
construction type projects for the garden that I want to finish before our
daughter, Shelly, arrives.
Shelly
and Mark and their three children are coming from Australia in July. Mark is a
pastor at one of the churches we started in Perth in the 1970’s. Their oldest
son, Kyle, is going to enroll at Columbia International University (our Alma Mater) to do a one-year intensive Bible
course before transferring elsewhere to pursue a degree in physics. We are
looking forward to having them with us in July and again in September before
they fly back to Perth.
On the
church-front: we have decided to make Trinity PCA in Harrisburg our home. It is
29 miles away, but we decided that it was not wise to settle at the Carlisle
church, where I was the organizing pastor. They have a new minister who is in
his first solo pastorate. I have had a couple of opportunities to fill in
preaching at Trinity and likely I will be asked to help in the Sunday School at
some point. Meanwhile Barbara has been asked to be a mentor at a MOPS (Mothers
Of Pre-School children) program in the Carlisle Evangelical Free Church and she
has been asked to teach a Bible Study for women that meets in the home of a
friend. I also continue to serve as the Clerk of Presbytery in the Susquehanna
Valley Presbytery of the PCA.
So life
is busy, full and rich. We are blessed with many friends around the world, a
loving family and a faithful Savior. What more could we ask for?
David L Cross
Pasted
from <http://pilgrimpca.org:2095/cpsess207500415/3rdparty/roundcube/?_task=mail&_action=show&_uid=35&_mbox=INBOX>
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