The Joys of Aging

Actually there are some joys in aging (just to let any youngsters out there realize the fact). But at times you have to look sort of hard. Those of us who fit the Senior Citizen category can look back at wise choices and not-so-wise choices and know that we have learned from that circumstance and can go on from there with confidence. And of course, you have to have a certain amount of years under your belt to have and enjoy grandchildren (or great-nieces and nephews).

However, dealing with aging bodies that you had thought were relatively fit is an unwelcome surprise. Case in point:  last Monday I was finishing my third set of strength training exercises when I heard a pop and immediately felt an excruciating pain in my calf. These were not new exercises to me and I had warmed up in the same fashion as other times I had done these routines. How could my body sabotage me like that?

Once the pain had subsided enough for me to hobble over to the computer, I googled mid-calf pain and discovered that I had possibly torn a muscle. Well, that sounded really hunky-dory since we had a vacation planned for the next week. After icing and elevating the leg most of the day, I took one of Dean’s anti-inflammatory drugs  and slept great that night

Since then I have been able to walk pretty much pain-free except that I can’t get rid of a limp. Not sure whether I just want attention—don’t think so—or if my brain is telling my body that the correct balance needed to walk freely isn’t quite what it needs to be yet.

My friend told her husband (a high school coach) about my injury and he immediately had a name for the problem—sorry, I don’t have it, but probably couldn’t spell it anyway. He said old athletes often incur this injury and it was nothing particularly serious—I should be back to 100% in about three weeks.

Old athletes, huh? So now I’m an old jock. Who’d a thunk it?

Adoption

This subject could be titled “Salad Bowl Discourse #3 as it is a gift (shame! Shame!) that I have taken for granted until I read J.I. Packer’s chapter on “Sons of God” in his book, KNOWING GOD. (Yes, Dean and I are still inching our way through the book, but it really IS worth the journey.)

In our 21^st century culture we view adoption as a wonderful way to unite a baby or young child without parents with a childless couple or parents who unselfishly open their family to nurture additional children.

However, during the Roman era of world dominance which held sway during the time the New Testament was written, adoption generally dealt with bringing a young adult male into the family to carry on the family name in a worthy fashion and to inherit the family wealth.

As a child I asked Jesus to be my Lord and Savior (in the Baptist vernacular) and because of that decision, I grew up taking for granted that I was a child of God. That phrase “taking it for granted” is the bad guy here because as I read Packer’s thoughts on what it means to be adopted into God’s family, I realized I understood  only a tiny morsel of what that privilege meant.

Adoption into God’s family gives us eternal benefits starting with forgiveness. John 3:16 tell us God loved us so much He sent Jesus to take care of our sin debt by dying in our place. (Pat’s paraphrase) That’s just for starts. Also, in this awesome package of Godly adoption we get faith, hope, peace and other great helps for our sojourn on planet Earth.

Then there’s this inheritance factor. When I think about being a co-heir with Jesus, my Lord, it almost feels heretical—but that’s what the Bible tells me in Galations 4:7. When I try to imagine what heaven is like, my brain gets even more tangled up than when I look at the stars on a clear night and think about the galaxies beyond my sight. Yet that’s what I, as a child adopted into God’s family, will inherit.

I have been blessed with a great flesh and blood family here on Earth, but now that I’ve removed Adoption out of my spiritual salad bowl, I truly marvel at what a family I’m a part of—God, the Father and Jesus, the Son. Wow!

Purely Personal

This blog post will be a travelogue of sorts re: our Ft. Worth trip. The first picture is the sun shining through a hole in a stormy cloudscape which reminded me of a spotlight. If you look carefully, you can see two or three. Pretty eerie. This was taken between Silver Zone ad Wendover.  

The 2^nd day’s travel ranged from Laramie, WY to Dumas, TX—a long day made even more miserable by the rain and fog we traveled through. Thanks to the fog, we missed seeing the beautiful scenery over the summit between Laramie and Cheyenne. However, we didn't deal with flood waters as Boulder did.

Day 3 put us in at Jeff’s house about an hour before he got home, but that was OK. The next day was B Day—birthday time. No particular celebration this year but we did take Jeff to a new restaurant to him (and of course, to us). Then we bought 3 different LARGE slices of cake at his favorite bakery and topped that off with some ice cream at Braun’s.  (Can you se the "42" candles?)

 

Sunday was church at Hope and lunch with our friends, the Andersons. Jeff’s DVD player inside of a hand-me-down TV had die and since I use a DVD for  an exercise guide and Dean loves to watch the tube, we made a trek to Radio Shack for those items so the old folks wouldn’t feel deprived

 

Jeff took Monday off so he could help us get started on the two major goals: Inserting a new side door for his garage and putting up  pegboard for his kitchen renovation so that shelves could be put up and cabinets constructed.

We bought a door at a recycled items place which we are pleased with (unfortunately ran out of time before it could be put in place).  

I spent a chunk of time Monday ridding a copper light shade of many years of grime. We decided to turn it inside out so the copper is visible

My next project was washing the glass crystals of two chandeliers Jeff was given by a friend who is remodelling an old house. (Too bad we didn't have time to get this up to show off the light against the crystals.)

Friday was another “vacation” day (not really) for Jeff and he constructed cabinets for the kitchen that day. We moved furniture around so that his living room and dining room no longer contain quite so much kitchen utensils.

God willing, we will get to go see Jeff for next year’s birthday (Dean drove the 1500 miles in relatively good condition), so we will see what changes evolve in the little Tudor style house on NW 19^th by next year.

Our trip back home started out with beautiful sunshine but by the time we reached Cheyenne, the typical Wyoming winds picked up. I love the sight of large wind turbines and these were guarding the horizon outside of Cheyenne. I knew we would seem more turbines between Laramie and Arlington and also on the Three sisters just before we reached Evanston, so thought it was probably silly to snap this picture. Good thing I followed my first intuition as all the other locations had gray skies and snow

We got home safely and I went out to see how “the tomato plant” had fared in our absence. Elko had had freezing temps, but despite that, the 8 blossoms that emerged after the August rain turned into 4 tomatoes! (They have white paper as a background, but may still not be visible.)  A pathetic yield if you're a gardener; an unexpected delight if you're not. I fall in the second category.