Well, I guess this will be like one of those Christmas letters that people send out, trying to update six months of details into a single post.
If I am going to keep this blog, I guess I should probably try a little harder to post. I have gone back and forth. I feel like it's just a way to document the things that we are doing at this point. I doubt anyone is visiting here anymore, but I'll post pictures and catch up just the same. If it isn't deleted by Google at some point, family can come here someday and look back.
So I last posted in June. And there have been lots of highlights since then!
Paul and Madi came to visit at the end of June, to attend a wedding for some friends and to spend time in Texas. It was really nice. Madi came earlier and we had a very nice time doing "girl stuff" and visiting with the Cookes. Paul came down in time for their anniversary, and they went to San Antonio for a couple of nights to celebrate.
They took a couple of kids to Sea World in San Antonio!
After they left, I had to pack up and head to Maryland.
Cora had some time with the Fam.
I got to visit with Tim and some friends before heading up to the Theology of the Body Institute for my last required class!
I graduated July 12th, and now I am working to complete the rest of the requirements for certification. I am currently reading the text of the audiences (again and completely) so that I can write a response journal. I am about a third of the way finished. I am so blessed by this amazing teaching! Such a gift to the world for our times.
I wanted to stay longer to visit, but I needed to get back to Texas for a surgical consult at the Texas Cancer Center. I went to the dermatologist while Madi was here, and was told that the patch on my head that had been there for years and that several doctors, including Dr Kurgansky, a dermatologist in Maryland, had declared to be psoriasis, was, in fact, a basal cell carcinoma. How a PA in Texas could simply look at it and know that, while an actual doctor never bothered to biopsy it, is beyond me. By the time it was seen by the surgeon it had spread to the size of a fifty-cent piece. I saw the doctor on the 16th of July, and I was able to get in for the procedure on the 19th! It turned out to be a pretty complicated. They got all the cancer and then had to pull the scalp together to close up the space. I was asleep, but it must have been a pretty tough deal, because I had about 20 staples in the top of my head when I woke up. I spent the weekend on the couch, sleeping upright, and taking a lot of tylenol. After I took the bandages off and was able to take care of it, I just had to wait to see what the end result would be as far as scarring. I am still waiting. I lost quite a bit of my hair around it and I guess it will grow back. The doctor thinks so. I doubt the scar itself will diminish much, but we shall see. I am just glad to have it over with, but I really wish that Dr Kurgansky had been more proactive and it would have been so much smaller.
In August, Paul and Madi moved to Cincinnati to start their new life there.
They also bought a car and took a little vacation.
Paul has an accounting job with a firm in the middle of town, and Madi is working at a Catholic school nearby teaching pre-K. It sounds like they are adjusting well. We want to head up there for a visit soon.
And in August, Tim was finally able to move to Texas!!
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| Cora is so pleased! |
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| Enjoying Full Moons and Sunrises |
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| Helped Miles build this model! |
He arrived in the middle of the month and we are all settled in. He works in San Antonio part of the week, and at home the other half. It is so good to have him here!! I love having weekends together and he is enjoying catching up on time with the grandkids.
I have been doing Spiritual Direction online several days a week. I love it so much. What an amazing gift to be able to walk with all these beautiful women on their journey with Jesus. I can't thank the Lord enough. I have also been helping out with RCIA at our parish, and I am leading a Bible Study through the Gospel of John on Mondays. I also still put in a few hours a week at the parish thrift shop.
September was a time of settling into the ministry year. Bible Studies started, RCIA started, I was asked to give a talk on Matrimony at Laura and Andrew's church. I have been back and forth to the surgeon as I heal from the surgery and I am also working through some other health issues, nothing big, just me at my age. I have found that the doctors here are really proactive. They don't "watch it and see what it does". So I have been seeing my GP off and on to iron things out.
School started! This is Lucy's Senior year of High School! Unbelievable.
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Last week the kids had a day off school on Friday so we took a trip to the coast and found a beach just off of Corpus Christi. we enjoyed a beautiful day! The weather was so nice. The water was warm and except for the jellyfish it was lovely. I think the jellyfish were God's way of keeping people out of the water, because the rip currents were really bad. We parked on the beach, set up the tent, and had a very nice time!
