Our New Life

Hello Everyone! This is Lez, posting for my husband, in his absence. He's been after me to post something for him, for us, and I haven't gotten up the courage to do so until now. I thought I'd surprise him with something new to read when he gets home!

I know we get teased about our infrequent posts...here's my thought to you on that--if you had a husband gone as much as mine is, you'd understand!
Maybe I'll start posting more; then you'll be kept in the know about our life, how's that?

Vern is in his second week of his sophomore year at ASU, and is enjoying being back in school again, though has already become easily overwhelmed at his workload and especially Biology Lab. His days pretty much consist of leaving here by either 7:15 or 7:45 AM, depending on the morning, having his day of school, trying to find time to study if he has any space between classes; going straight from school to work, eating lunch along the way, and then working until 10 PM, M-T, and until 8 on Fridays, generally. He is able to study there at UH after suppers sometimes, when he isn't needed to walk patients as late, though he seems to get called right at clock out time to go pick someone up from xray, or whatever the case may be then. So yes, we both have long days.

If you're wondering what I do with my days (and nights), I've not lacked things to do so far! Getting everything straightened around here, thank you notes written, pictures reprinted and handed out, the office put into order, just keeping order around our house, and running around here and there with the many errands and what-have-you that crops up more often than wished for sometimes,(especially. with gas prices on the rise again) I stay busy! Yes, my evenings get long, and I get bored quickly at times, come 9 o'clock and after, when I know Vern will be home within an hour and some, and everything I'm doing is getting old. But I have friends to talk to on the phone, emails to read and reply to, always a kitchen to clean up laundry to be done and house to straighten, it seems (and there's just two of us living here!), blogs to read, (and create now!) so I can keep busy.....but I do get lonely. I have to remember that God got us this far and has a reason for everything being like it is right now and will get us through whatever we encounter! I do go to the hospital about once a week and take Vern's supper to him, meaning I get to eat with him that time. Usually I pack his lunch and supper and send it all with him in the mornings. I went with him to classes at ASU some last year, though haven't this year yet. He needs to get used to his schedule first, and get his teachers' approval before I go along. But I'm sure at some point, I'll attend a day or so here or there with him. It's actually quite fun observing a class in session and watching the many different types of people respond to the teacher who can be very interesting too, depending on who he is--Vern's had some unusual professors, I must say.

As far as time that we do get together--we really cherish our weekends, to be sure! Our Saturdays are definitely our sleeping-in day, and catch up whatever he needs to on schoolwork and whatever errands he has to do himself that didn't get done during the week, and sometimes entertaining company! I'll post later on the last bout of company we had....and Sundays traveling to and from church, have become so precious, giving us 30 minutes to talk uninterrupted and with no way of escape for Vern if I go off on some tangent! Sorry Honey! =] It's usually tit for tat, I must say. That's usually our catch up time for whatever we forgot to tell each other during the week in our short time together.

So yeah, we covet your prayers for all we're dealing with right now. There are a lot of uncertainties ahead in the near future and we are just taking one day at a time and asking God to remind us daily of His presence and to give us His patience and grace for whatever that day holds!

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School Again

It's almost time for school to start. I've got mixed feelings about it. In one way, I'm looking forward to it, and ready to get on with school so I can get done with it. On the other hand, I'm definitely NOT looking forward to being away from home so much. It's gonna be a tough, grueling schedule, but with my fanbase, I know we can get through it. There was one class that I was wanting to take but was full earlier at priority registration. It opened up, though, and late registration was Wednesday through Friday. My precious wife registered me for the class while I was at work Wednesday morning. By that evening, the class was full again.

Just another blessing from my lovely wife.

The next several weeks will be difficult at times. We're asking for your prayer support during this. Any commitments are deeply appreciated. In fact, you can let us know by taking the opportunity to leave a comment letting us know that you're praying for us. Pray especially for Lez, as she's gonna have a serious withdrawal this next week. Thanks.

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My Wife Is A Wonderful Cook!

I know I've been absent from the blogging world lately, but it's not because I've been too weak from starvation. Nope, more like I can't reach over my big gut to reach my keyboard!! My wife is one mean cook, and I mean that in a good way too. (Don't let the "means" confuse you.) Saturday evening, she made banana bread, and boy was that good!! Still is, actually. We're not done with it. Just keep hacking away at it. Didn't even take it out of the pan. Man, it's good.

Better than any glass of sweet tea.

(Just a hint to all you cooks out there. Bake it in a 9-inch round pan instead of the regular bread pans. I think that made a difference. But of course, the greatest difference of all is the cook!)

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Writhing in Agony

I just left the ASU bookstore today from paying for all my books for the coming semester. I about dropped over when they rang up the total. My book expenses were over $900!

Gasp. Cough. Sputter. Fadeout...

Any donations to the cause are greatly appreciated.

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Family

I'm so thankful for my family! One of my second cousins got married on Saturday, and both of my out-of-state brothers brought their families in for the wedding. It was really cool. My oldest brother called me Wednesday evening and asked if we could come down Thursday evening for ice cream. He didn't tell me why, and I immediately became suspicious. I figured one or both brothers were coming down, so I called my next older brother, CaH, (No, that is not the calcium hydride ion either.;}) on the way to work Thursday morning. He told me he was really busy, so I figured it was WH. Sure enough, I called CoH to see when we should be there, and his wife told me that it was WH. They surprised Dad and Mother really well that night. They had flown in to Charlotte, N.C., and my sister VaH went to get them. Since she doesn't live at home anymore, it wasn't a problem for her to do that.

We got to the wedding Saturday morning, and Lez immediately noticed someone walking up the church stairs. She's like,"Hey, that's Ca-----'s!", and I'm like, there's no way. But sure enough, they had driven down Friday, got in around midnight, and surprised everyone except WH. CaH had let him know so that someone would know about his plans. So it was really cool to see them again.

Friday, we had a TERRIBLE thunderstorm. It knocked our telephone out for the weekend. That was really frustrating because we could neither talk on the phone nor check email, nor post on my blog, or nothin'! And that makes life seem strange when you don't have the means of connection that you are accustomed to. But that's ok.

(So that, Truthseeker, is why I haven't updated lately. I've been gone every evening since Thursday evening. And I'm putting family first.)

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Blessing in Sacrifice

Eternal Revenue gave a program this evening. Sort of. It wasn't the normal, sing-in-a-church-service type of program. This was a much more laid-back program. In fact, I don't even consider it a program.

We sang at the Burke County Jail.

For you who are not familiar, a few from our church and a few from Hephzibah church go in every Tuesday evening for church services. But Sunday evening, we decided that we would go in this evening and sing for them. We sang several songs, then I talked for about ten minutes. We then sang a couple more songs, then had prayer, then we had to leave. It was really challenging for me to experience that. I had been in there before, but this was a little different. Not to toot our own horn or anything, but quartets (or any singing groups) don't normally go sing in jails. There's no sound system (except for the brick walls), there's no recognition from the community or certain churches, and there's no offering taken up for the singers. And isn't that what we normally do?

Seriously, folks. Too often we are eager to sing when we are getting our name out to other groups/churches to hopefully get an invitation to sing there. We like to sing with sound systems, record ourselves to hear how we were, so that we can improve our sound. Not much you can do to judge your sound in a block jail room. And of course, when the money rolls in, that's always an appreciated gesture. ("Oh, you didn't have to do that. We just enjoy singing!!" (smiling face.) "Oh, but we wanted to. We enjoyed listening to your singing. Please come back." (Probably the greatest lie of the century.) "Hey guys, check this out!! What a loot! We'll be back here again!" (Gloat, gloat) ) That is something that you don't get when you sing at the jail. It's just some generous, heartfelt clapping from the guys. A spiritual boost to your soul. And although I can't see into the spirit world, I suppose it makes God smile. And that's reward enough for me.

Because we always need to remember what our purpose for singing is. It's for God's glory.

And that's sometimes hard to remember.

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