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A few pictures

depoe bay b our Oregon coast.
fall drive c Our valleys and vineyards
beautiful tree A few old trees
IMG_3603 A covered bridge
meal-time.-mommy-and-baby-bird A bird family
july-2011-033 A picture {can you see it?}
beach The beach
Oregon-by-Shelley-Collis A green valley

Resting and re-grouping

This last week or two have been quite the interesting ones.
My husband had a full knee replacement surgery. It went well other than a few glitches and issues.
He is recovering as far as the knee goes, he can bend it and it is healing properly.
The new problem is an infection and that is being treated very aggressively.
Prayers and good antibiotics have helped in this process.
The thing he has to do now is rest and let the healing take the time to do what it needs to do.
I know it’s hard but he has no choice.
Next week the 29 staples will be removed and he can learn to bend again without pain.
Before his surgery he was given a day of fun. He had a two hour flight scheduled out of Hillsboro and it was just what he needed.
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They took off in a small plane and decided to go up and over Mt Hood. Before doing that they flew over our house and neighborhood.
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The views from up high are way different that what we see below.
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This is a field by his old work site. It looks totally different from the level of a car.
They flew over Portland and the city buildings were amazing I don’t have those pictures yet.
They flew over the Oregon City bridge and water area, he said it was amazing.
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The day was beautiful and sunny. They had clear skies with fluffy clouds. Heading to Mt Hood it was beautiful and majestic.
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The majesty and glorious mountain covered in snow, with rugged beauty.
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Our God is so amazing to create such beauty and power in a mountain. Very much like Mt St Helen’s before the volcano changed it’s look.
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When he came out of the sky and back onto land his smile was wide and he was so happy.
It was a gift of a lifetime.
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As soon as he could he was ready to share the stories and pictures to anyone who wanted to see them.

The reason

I haven’t written for a little while because my husband retired, we had a party at his work, we had a few days off and then helped our son and his family move.
He had a full knee replacement surgery on the 12th and came home on the 14th.
So we are in a recovery mode.
It will take a few weeks for his pain level to even out, and then he can one more time learn to walk on a new knee.
There were a few complications but all in all he did very well.
Two days in the hospital and a night of sleeping in the recliner chair.
He is ready to get back to our familiar routine.
I made home made dinner last night and he wasn’t too hungry, I think the pain medications affect the appetite.
This afternoon the door bell rang and I opened the door to find a delivery lady with a bouquet.
He is sweet, sneaky guy, don’t know when he set that up.
I am taking a short pause before I get back into long term writing again.
Until then hang in there and remember God is with you always.
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Retirement

Today is my husband’s official day of retirement.
He left the company yesterday knowing that he would not return.
The first few months won’t really feel any different, next week is a week off. That could feel like a vacation.
Then he will have a full knee replacement surgery which will also require recovery time.
I don’t imagine retirement will hit him till at least the first week of June.
He has been on the job for 37 years. That is a long time. A lot of designing and planning.
He was a design engineer for a dental company designing all aspects of the dental units.
It seems strange to say “was”… he still is a designer but that skill won’t be used as much now.
He wants to find a motor home, or a truck and trailer. He wants to take some time to fish.
Just times for relaxing. He deserves it.
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He won’t be using the phontoon boat as much and he doesn’t have a dog.
But retirement could still mean a lot of fun.
We are figuring it all out and soon it will be a blur of memory and a wonder why, we were so ‘concerned.’
I think he feels a bit strange, to know he is not going back there to work.
He might even feel a bit displaced because for a man, identity forms within a job title.
He had his exit review. They wanted to know why he was retiring early.
His answer to them, “because I can.”
Yes because we can. That is a good enough reason.
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Happy Easter Weekend

We start our weekend out with a birthday breakfast for our grandson Josiah, he turns eight years old today.
The tradition is for each grandchild to go out for breakfast with grandpa, the choice is theirs where to go.
Then we will go to his house for a party with his family.
After that we have softball game for our grand daughter Hannah who is 12.
Then we will get ready for our ‘dinner’ for tomorrow, the traditional ham and potato’s and assorted dishes to go with that.
Tomorrow will be Easter service then home for dinner and relaxing.
A good weekend that is both busy and full of family.
Happy Easter to my faithful encouraging readers.IMG_20160325_145717 [2843460]IMG_20160325_145813 [2829557]
[Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him, for the Lord is your life.]