|
News arrived this month that Jonathan's new
sibling, due in April, will be his little brother. On the 16th, Nathanael brought Jonathan to the baby shower for Bonnie and David (see below). As soon as they came up the stairs, Jonathan spotted me and reached out in my direction. It made my evening extra special when others reached out to hold him, but he would cling to me. As the party progressed, he became more social, especially when Charis took charge of him. Charis turns two on December 6th, and Jonathan will be 18-months old on December 3rd. I call Jonathan a "free-range baby" since he always seems eager to get down to bare feet. Joel has already become one of the family in the eyes of our youngest generation. |
||
|
So many decisions! The wedding venue has been found, the officiant, and the wedding dress as well. Invitations have been designed and some sent. The caterer, wedding ring, and other decisions remain.
|
||
  I Only have Eyes for You . . . Two
I had to forego Heidi's dinner since I was eating a restricted diet in preparation for a colonoscopy. Charis and Jonathan played with the cotton balls, bowels, and spoons that were elements of one of the games we played. |
||
    |
||
|
For three out of the four days on my especially long Veterans Day weekend, I was working my electric chain saw to render multiple piles of wood around the yard into firewood. Don came by on my normal Friday off, wanting to test out his old gas chain saw. It made one cut, then the chain came off. We moved to my electric chainsaw for the rest of the day and made the pile of True Cedar shown at the right. Later, I chipped in with Randy and Don, so Don could buy a new Echo chainsaw. On Saturday, we were joined by Andrew (a Civil Engineering student) and Quinn (an Economics major) on a workday to support the UMin budget at University Presbyterian Church. Randy also joined us. They moved the big piles of mulch left by Ever-Green Tree Care last month. And they stacked fire wood, and moved fence sections from the south yard. Andrew bucked wood for me as I sawed it into wood stove sized lengths. Randy and Annie helped for a third day on Veterans Day. I was happy to get back to SPU on Tuesday to rest my sore right shoulder after all that sawing. A SOUR NOTE: While we reluctantly allowed two of our larger trees to be cut down and other trees trimmed toward the end of last month, on Thursday, November 7th, our neighbor sent his landscapers into our yard secretly to cut a number of our smaller and ornamental trees south of the earlier work. Even after this trespass and major damage, they still were wanting to trim up another of our big trees. This is an ongoing disagreement. I did have to agree with Don just a bit that, in the long run, they may have saved me a lot of yard work. Later this month, the other neighbors just to their north announced their intent to trim three of our trees that overhang our shared fence line. These newest neighbors do not appreciate our wooded estate. The husband's statements about "trees in 98004" do not reflect what the City of Bellevue says about the value of trees. On the 26th, Nancy negotiated yet another contract with Ever-Green Tree Care to do work on a number of trees along our north fence line, pleasing those good neighbors, and also doing a final trim on the west side. So there's more tree news coming in December. |
||
|
On Monday the 18th, I underwent a second colonoscopy at Eastside Gastroenterology in Kirkland. Dr. Russ Arjal did a thorough job which I happily slept through, and I appreciated the page of photos that were in a booklet I was presented at the procedures' conclusion. Seven polyps were removed, most quite small, but one pictured (right) was nearly half an inch across. The diverticulosis was not extensive, but "eat more fiber" was the prescription. I don't really mind this procedure. In
fact, it's kind of fun, if that makes any sense. On the 23rd, I received a letter from Dr. Arjal that read in part, "Four of the polyps removed were diagnosed as benign adenomatous polyps. This type of polyp is not cancerous. However, had these polyps not been removed, they had the potential over years to become cancerous. The remainder of the polyps removed were diagnosed as benign hyperplastic polyps. This second type of polyp is not pre-malignant. . . . We recommend a follow-up colonoscopy in three years to make sure there are no new polyps." (I include this paragraph in this journal as it adds to our family medical history.) |
||
|
Susan hosted 14 adults and Jonathan at this year's Thanksgiving dinner. Annie, Thomas, and Charis headed to Dallas, OR early Thanksgiving morning. They'll stay north at Christmas, trading places with Nathanael's family who will fly back east for Christmas. I bought a 21 lb. turkey on Friday the 22nd, spending $90 in my annual Safeway shopping blitz. Nancy prepared the bird and I chose the cooking times and temperatures. Once again we enjoyed a well-cooked entrée with our overnight cooking method. Once again, single ladies and their guests from the church joined our growing family. It was Joel's first Thanksgiving with the family. Jonathan, with his perpetual runny nose and once again eschewing shoes, managed to tire out both dad and grandpa. I got to see Nathanael's 2013 Honda Pilot that replaced their Honda Fit after its accident this fall. It will be a better, safer SUV for their growing family. I will be staying at their house on December 22nd in order to take them to the Sea-Tac airport on the 23rd.
|
||
|
Greetings SBGE,
I wanted to say a BIG thank you to all for your
time and effort in making this reaccreditation process a success!
I know it took a lot of our resources from the drafting of the report to
the actual visit, but it paid off. Having just returned from taking the
Peer Review Team to the airport, we are officially done with the visit,
and I will go over in more detail the Peer Review Team’s draft report and the process for finalization at our Faculty/Staff meeting on Thursday. However, for now, I wanted to get out the great news. I know this would not be possible without all of your support and hard work, so a heartfelt thank you! We will celebrate a little at our staff/faculty meeting on Thursday! Ross |
||
|
Bits and Pieces
|
||
[ BACK ]
|
