Christmas Eve Services CCSG

For several years I have had the pleasure of playing preludes for Calvary Chapel St. George's Christmas Eve services.  It's a wonderful time of celebrating the meaning of Christmas and I love to be a part of it.  Here are some PHOTOS from some of these celebrations.

 

23 Dec 2016 - A Devil Pup Visitor

Around 7:30 the doorbell rang.  I was surprised to find a Devil Pup from 2011, Kelsy, and her dad.  She’s at BYU in Hawaii now but was home for Christmas and wanted to bring by a Christmas gift and wish me a Merry Christmas.  These kids continue to surprise me.  We had a great chat and she promised to stay in touch.  Thank you for your thoughtfulness, Kelsy.

Mariah (who is serving in the Navy, see below), Col. Toole,

and Kelsy (studying at BYU, Hawaii).

 

Celebrating Jesus' Birthday

This is the first year I've set up this nativity scene from the Willow Tree collection.  My friend, Cher, put it up and added the lights.  I love it.  I won this whole set at a local scrapbook store three or four years ago.  A beautiful reminder that God sent his Son that we might have eternal life - a gift beyond compare!

Cher also brought over a Christmas tree and decorated it for me.  She is extremely talented!

 

A Family Gathering for Boppa

HERE ARE THE FUNERAL PHOTOS

He's With the Lord

I miss him so much!  He developed double pneumonia and spent three nights in the hospital.  He did not respond to antibiotics because of his extreme weight loss and weakened condition.  He returned to the nursing home under hospice care.  I was with him on Saturday morning, October 15th.  He was four days away from being 84.  What a wonderful husband he was!

Bill

  Watching his beloved Devil Pups check into 2013 summer camp.

Our Wedding Day 1978 

2008 Marine Corps Birthday Ball, SunRiver St. George

We Were Together, I Forget the Rest

As I sit in the nursing home room with my husband, who is sleeping and attempting to overcome another medication gone wrong, I ran across this sign on the Magnolia Farms website when reading e-mail.  It brought me to tears.  I've had several years with a very special man and even now, in a nursing home, we enjoy being together.

Devil Pup Awards Night; Honors for Col. Toole

Check out the story:  ST. GEORGE NEWS

August Visit at SUVH

Here is son Mark visiting with his dad at Southern Utah Veterans Home.

 

August Trials

As we attempted to settle in at the Southern Utah Veterans Home, medical wizards thought anti-psychotics might help Bill adjust.  Wrong!  The first one (which the doctor insisted on trying twice) was a disaster both times, and the second one was equally as disastrous, with slightly different side effects.  The doctor wanted to give the second medication a second try, but the first was so devastating, I pulled the plug on that!  Something needs to happen to allow sleep, which has been problematic for two-three years, but we have not yet found the solution.  Sedatives usually have an undesired side effect, too, but maybe we'll try a very small dose - after we try coffee to see if that will calm him.  We pray for a solution!  P.S.  Coffee DID help!

July Visitors

Jay, Jill, Jenna and Juliette visited and assisted with acclimation to the Veterans Nursing Home in Ivins, Utah. They were so helpful with furniture that we wanted in the room, shopping and keeping spirits up.

July Happenings

A sad event in July.  Bill moved into the Southern Utah Veterans Home, having been diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia.  It is a traumatic change in our lives, devastating to both of us.  We are trusting in God's grace to get us through the coming months/years.

Addn'l June Visitors

Just had a great visit with Shannon and granddaughter, Claire.  They were here from the 26th thru the 29th.  We went to Tuacahn for the show Peter Pan, ate out, celebrated my birthday at Olive Garden (a couple days late) and did our bit for keeping the economy of St. George running smoothly.

Photos from Peter Pan:

Onion rings at Iceberg!

June Visitors

Anne Scott and her two have been and gone, having successfully inspected all areas of shopping in St. George.  Someone had to do it!!

Photos from our evening at Tuacahn Theater - Tarzan:

The Girls!

Memorial Day Weekend

So great to have Bill's son, Mike, and grandson, David, with us for a day and a half.  They enjoyed a respite from the humidity in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

 

2016 April - Roses Recovering

Ground cover roses are recovering from a nasty cutback a year and a half ago - by a new gardener who didn't know better.  :|  They look better every day.

 

3 Feb 2016 - Why I No Longer Live in Iowa

My brother's yard, this date:

The Tooles at Marine Corps Birthday Ball 2008

Winter Doldrums

Dental implant surgery yesterday!  I was supposed to get two implants but only got one this time around due to soft jaw bone from the broken root/infection of three months ago.  I'm a slow healer.  Of course I'm special, so I had to have a sinus lift during the procedure which makes for a sore face and jaw.  I had quite a bit of nausea from the antibiotic and saw my NAET doctor to eliminate that nasty feeling.  Wish I could have had both implants done at once, but, like my mom used to say "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride."

Acceptable Snow

It's a good thing when snow is far away.

9 Jan 2016

2016 Golden Nugget Transcriptions

In 2015 I volunteered to do transcriptions for Golden Nugget Library, typing biographies from hard copies to be entered on the Golden Nugget web pages.  The library was established to furnish California databases for genealogical research.  If you go to the link on the left pane of my blog under "Favorite Genealogy Sites," to Golden Nugget Library, you can type my name in the search box to see some of the biographies I have typed.  After doing genealogy research for myself and many other families for more than ten years, I felt it was time to give back to the genealogy community.  Having lived in some of the California counties mentioned, it has been a fun and interesting project.  Hope to do many more in 2016.