Happy Thanksgiving

Yes, I know that Thanksgiving is over but how can I put photos on the blog about our Thanksgiving until I’ve taken them? Hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving. We are especially thankful for our family, friends, food and good health.

Before our thanksgiving dinner, we put two tables together with twelve chairs at each table, placed white tablecloths on all the tables and decorated the table where we were eating with the church group. (See the pilgrims and pumpkin that Terry and I furnished.) There were 20 tables at the 1 PM seating and another 20 tables at the 4 PM seating with all the spaces occupied. Emerald Cove provided turkey, dressing and gravy and each of us brought another dish to serve twelve. Frank brought two of his famous pies.

Then it was time for clean up but that wasn’t difficult since Bev and I and the four men on the clean-up crew all helped.

No, we didn’t get up early on black Friday to shop. We were tired.

Nicodemus

Seventy-seven people had a wonderful church service at Emerald Cove yesterday with special guests, Don and Dorene Foster. Dorene introduced her husband as Nicodemus and read scripture about him. I felt like I was transported to Jerusalem five years after Jesus went to heaven. Nicodemus was no longer a secret Christian who visited Jesus by night but was now telling everyone that he had seen the body of Jesus and assisted Joseph in burying Him. Nicodemus was convinced that Jesus had risen. If you ever get a chance to see this dramatic presentation, you will be pleased that you did.

The cross that was used in the presentation was given to the church for future services.

After our special music and communion, everyone was invited to eat birthday cake that Linda and I bought to celebrate the birthdays of our husbands (Jerry and Terry) plus everyone else who had a birthday in November.

Birth and Death

In case you didn’t read the comment from Jerry and Suzy about Uncle Don, I’m quoting it now. “Uncle Don lived his heaven while on earth, now has another heaven to wander through and enjoy. You were undoubtedly as much a blessing in his life and he was in yours.” Thank you, Jerry and Suzy. What a beautiful way to express your thoughts!

I also lost Uncle Jake during the last month. He was also a Christian and I’m sure that he is in heaven. The photo was taken at Aunt Margie’s 75th birthday party. Uncle Jake is wearing a plaid shirt and standing by his wife, Aunt Margie. My parents are sitting in the foreground.

A great memory of Uncle Jake is when Terry and I did some sight seeing with him and Margie in AZ. Jake delighted in telling everyone we met that it was his 21st birthday and laughed at the startled expressions on people’s faces. He was right. Since his birthday was on February 29, he had only had 21occurances of his birthday even though he was 84 years old.

My niece, Megan and her husband had a baby girl named Ellie on Oct. 19. My nephew, Ben and his wife had a baby boy named Joseph on November 18. Isn’t it wonderful the way life balances out? I look forward to meeting the new babies when we go to Iowa next spring or summer.

Food and Exercise

Life, where we are camped, seems to center around eating. Last week I went to the Red Hat Luncheon, Blue Water Café for prime rib for Veteran’s Day, the Early Bird Café for brunch, and the Golden Corral for a buffet. Tonight we are going to eat at Lake Havasu Springs to celebrate Terry, Jerry, Bill and Bev’s birthdays. Sunday I will bring a large cake to serve as refreshments after the church service. Our closest neighbor, Frank, made an apple pie with the apples from my son’s yard and gave me the first piece.

Terry only wanted a cupcake for his birthday. There is no way to put 70 candles on it so I only used seven candles. All he wants for his birthday and Christmas is his two front teeth. He lost his front tooth bridge and needed much work done on an adjacent tooth. He has a temporary tooth on it now.

You may have heard that traveling is broadening. To combat this, Terry takes hikes into the area around the river. I walked 3,000 steps with my women friends this AM. I also go to water aerobics on Monday and Fridays.

Uncle Don Hoven

Some things are hard to write about so I’m just going to quote myself from the last pages of my first RV book, “RV Chuckles and Chuckholes- The Confessions of Happy Campers.” My opening paragraph on page 93 reads, “The first member of our family to fulltime – was Uncle Don. He was also the most romantic person in my young life. I don’t mean the man/woman hearts and flowers meaning of the word but in the heroic, adventurous, remote, mysterious or idealized sense of the word.”

Uncle Don usually wore his black Stetson hat. His silhouette reminded me of the Marlboro man except that he smoked a pipe instead of a cigarette. I wish that I had the photo in my RV but it is stored in Iowa. I found this photo that was taken when Terry and I and mom and dad visited him several years ago. Uncle Don is in the left side of the photo with the purple sweatshirt on.

We last visited Uncle Don in May of this year. As my father put it, “You don’t have to go to Lake View anymore.” Sadly, Uncle Don died of pneumonia in Oct. I miss him.