September 5, 2017

Greetings My Friend,

With my Parkinson's I find it hard to get a bushel of vegetables and prepare them to put up for the next year, although I have found preparing smaller portions each week helps me to accomplish enough to get us through the next year. Most weeks I will get something like green beans, corn, celery and carrots, each day I will prepare one of the vegetables mainly dehydrating them. I love putting up God's bountiful foods to enjoy all year long. Being an older person and having a disability is teaching me to break my work down into small manageable pieces, sometimes I have to let go of a few projects in order to get more important things done first. It has been awhile since I dusted, I can't bake cake and cookies like I have been doing and I am sad although it is okay as well. I feel like I have more energy now that I am taking a 2 hour nap each day, at the same time when I take that long of a nap, I find I don't have the time to accomplish all the things I was accomplishing. Junior and I have both started washing the dishes after we eat which helps keep the kitchen looking a bit more organized. I am grateful that Junior pitches in so our home is clean and comfortable. Since Junior had his hernia operation in May along with his bladder issues he has had to slow down quite a bit. We felt God teaching us to stop at the end of the day, sit on the porch to talk, listen to the sounds of nature and relax with a fire. I believe we are both relishing the gift of our home, the mountains, the woods and our fur family. When we get up the next morning we have a peace about us as we enter into our days activities. Even though we are slowing down what we have been doing around the house, I see that the work we want to accomplish is getting done. We may have to readjust our expectations like the renovating will be a longer, slower process and for some reason we are not as anxious to get it finished as we when we first started 8 years ago. We are comfortable as it is right now even though we want to do more and I am surprised that I am accepting this. We have learned to care for each other some more, like calling home health care when Junior had his catheter on and needed it adjusted. Junior gets my walker out of the back of the truck when we go somewhere and I am grateful. It seems as if our thinking is we are each others caregiver first and anything else is good which is why we are relaxing the desire to get all the renovation work accomplished. I know I feel this especially at night in front of the fire, I am grateful to be with Junior each day and I sense his comfort is the same with me. Being disabled is a lot of work but when we ask God to guide us I find that we are managing rather well. I know without a doubt now when the time comes that we need more focused help that God will provide and that quiets the anxiety that wants to run rampant in my brain. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet