KOMA Twisters
December, 2007
Whew! What a whirl-wind of a year. It has passed s-o-o-o fast! But in that fast year, we have truly been blessed.
We started building our house in November, 2006. Hoping to finish by March or April, we made our plans accordingly. However, the weather had other plans for us. Two snow falls of more than 6" each, plenty of rain, mud so deep the construction crews got stuck (pulled out by our neighbor with his tractor), necessitating putting in a gravel drive, and various other delays, we finally moved into our home the end of June. We call it "Cedar Hill Lodge."
In late March, Bob started being plagued with migraine headaches every day. Through hospitalization, IV’s, Imitrex shots, caffeine/ergotamine pills, MRI, X-rays, and various other trial and error things, he seems to be getting some relief just in the past week (as this is being written). Now it seems to be "lightening bolt strikes" in his left temple periodically. While extremely painful, they’re not as long-lasting as the migraines.
In the meantime, he has also dealt with arthritis in his right thumb/wrist joint. X-ray shows no cushion left at all between the bones. It has left his hand greatly reduced in ability/strength. He wears a splint most of the time, which seems to relieve the pain.
Maribeth has developed suspected carpal tunnel in the right hand, causing a splint to be worn a good part of the time, with tests looming on the horizon to confirm that. And she deals with pain in her left shoulder, probably due to rotator cuff problems.
Through it all, we praise the Lord because He has given us so much to be thankful for. Maribeth’s dad is now living with us. Physically, he is in better shape than we are, except for some back pain. But who wouldn’t have back pain after hand-spading all the land he has! He’s been fighting a sinus infection for a few months and high potassium, which causes dizziness. He’s about to get that whipped. Although his Alzheimer is increasing, he still does a pretty good job of caring for his personal needs. He loves working on the land. He has a huge garden prepared for planting of bulbs, added to the ones we planted in the rain last fall. He’s also digging holes and planting tulips, daffodils, etc., around the house.
Our log home is just what we wanted. Big rooms, big fireplace, (see attachment #2) and big porches (all the way around the house). Our open house/blessing at the end of September was a true blessing because so many of our friends and family were here to celebrate with us. God is so good!
Keeping 10 acres and a house in shape keeps all three of us busy. Maribeth’s main outdoor job is to mow those 10 acres. Thank God for riding mowers! Bob has been busy trying to unload our storage shed to convert it to his work shop. Each time Maribeth thinks we have it all in, Bob comes with another load of boxes. Now that we have moved the Christmas decorations to the house, it’s nearing empty, except Bob’s and Dad’s tools. Bob and Dad have developed a wonderful relationship and are so looking forward to having their own "man space."
We haven’t done as much RV traveling this year as we would have liked. Only two camp outs; one in August with our camping club, one in September with our family. We still have our 40' motor home, which will be our "guest bedroom." We hope to do more camping next year and take Dad with us, as we did this year.
While we have reported on some illnesses and difficulties, we still give glory to our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior for all the wonderful people, home and things in our life. He has truly blessed us.
We pray that your year has also been a blessing to you.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Bob and Maribeth Enloe
Cedar Hill Lodge
2688 82nd Road
Udall, Ks 67146
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