And Life Continues to Get Complicated

    Dealing with aging parents is very tough in deed.  Every person who has a mother or father will one day have to deal with aging parents.  You were raised by them and you love them, but as they get older they get younger mentally.  There are days you have to treat them like a 5 year old and there are days they act like a 5 year old.  This process tests your patience and your love completely.  It takes a whole family to care for one aging family member.  There are times you want it to stop with their death, but you know that is just Satan trying to pull the love out of you.  All I can say is during these times to pray and lean on each other.  Try not to take things personally and work as a family team.  Also get plenty of rest and eat nutritious food, as you will need the strength to mentally and physically deal with the every day trials.

   I long for the mountains and solitude everyday.

A Very Hot 4th of July

    The weather here has been very hot and humid. I long for the mountains more and more.  The 4th of July brought a proud moment for me.  My grandson Oliver asked if he could walk in the parade with the local food pantry and help with donations.  I asked the food pantry group if they could use an eleven year old and they said yes. I also asked Oliver if he would be OK walking with the group by himself, as I was driving my truck for the Family Life Center.  He emphatically said yes.  After the parade was over I asked the food pantry group how he did and they all said he did great and was a big help.  I told him, and his Mom and Dad, that I was very proud of him. He also said he would like to help again next year.

   I recently checked with the grocery store in Yellowstone and the park seems to be back to somewhat normal operation for the general stores.  Jack told me that business has picked up quite a bit.  Tourists cannot come into the park via the North or North East entrances yet, but the West, South and East entrances are open with tourists coming through.  Since tourists cannot enter via the North entrance, there is a real hardship for the town of Gardiner.  That town depends on tourism to survive and many hotels and businesses have never opened up because of lack of business.

   The rains finally came on July 7th and it is needed.  Not just my lawn but the farmer's crops are in need of rain right now.  We do not need a massive pouring rain but a good gentle soaking rain for the next three days.

   I have continued to pray for my friends with cancer and our cancer list at church keeps getting larger.  It is always a praise to have a person taken off the prayer list as cured.  We pray every week at the church for a cure for cancer.

  My son sold his house in West Virginia and are presently looking for a house in Indiana.  He starts working at Crane once again in August. Cathy is getting some very serious grand-baby time and the cousins are loving holding their new cousin.  

   It wont be long before Cathy and I are planning for our September vacation out west.  We have ordered a new Toyota and we hope it comes in before we leave, but the way the supply chain is working it may be November before it arrives in Terre Haute.