Sheryl says she doesn't know about the sermon.  Sorry. Thought I had told everyone this. Maybe not.

Our interim pastor is off for several weeks recovering from double knee replacement. His home is in Williamsburg, so he isn't even in town. Since I went to a sermon writing class years ago with Bob Criswell, I was one of the people asked to fill in. I'm calling it The End Game. It's about some life lessons I learned working at The Hermitage. I'm using resident favorite hymns, their advice, their poetry, etc. One of them said I should start with a joke, but the joke is----I've forgotten the joke! 

Love, KMom

Happy Birthday and etc.

Good thing I sent off a package to Sheryl early last week, because my good intentions about making a card have not yet been realized. Hopefully I'll get to that soon. Happy Birthday, honey.

Lisa suggested I use some of the art work from the Hermitage for my sermon this Sunday. Just got back from the church. Looks like we'll reproduce a resident drawing on the bulletin cover, I'll display a quilt on a rocking chair up front and the lamb's picture from our 23rd Psalm window on the communion table.  May bring a couple of calendars and reminiscence books, as well. Last week I collected hymn and scripture suggestions and will use at least one poem as a prayer.

There has been lots of editing for the Pastor Nominating Committee. Scott has helped me get better with Mac computer tools.

Sunday I was able to get to the final day for some great exhibits at American University's gallery. There were fun things like nail and garlic sculptures and sticker art. My favorite was a group of Washington artists' work and portraits from 30 to 40 years ago and now along with a written page of what art means for them and what they hope it means to their audience.

The last Wednesday evening in August I'll travel by train to Georgia to spend some time with Aunt Helen. Could only find night travel. Will arrive back here Sunday morning, Labor Day weekend.

It's always fun to spend time with SMEE here and hear from the rest of you.
Love, KMom

Scott tutorial

Scott is showing me how to post to the Wood Herd blog. Love, Mom

Death of Ben's Grandma

Hi guys - I wanted to post a quick note here to let you all know that Ben's grandmother died. Glendola (Dola) Loers was his mom's mom. She was 92 years old and Kathie says she believes it was peaceful for her. Bernie and Dola were married for 67 years!

Brenna flew in to Portland and the three of us drove up to Oak Harbor yesterday evening. The funeral service will be tomorrow morning.

Ben's grandpa Bernie is doing okay. We'll see him in about an hour, then again tomorrow.

State-of-the-foot Address 4-weeks

Hi all - thought I would update you all on the foot.

It's been four weeks today since THE INCIDENT. ;)

I saw a physical therapist on July 2, who modified some of the weight-lifting I was doing so that they were easier for me to do - now I can do everything from bed - and gave me a few new ones to do for my legs and a stretch for the ball of my foot. Instead of lifting three times a week, he recommended I do 15 of each lift each day.

This Friday I will see the orthopedist again. She will determine at that time whether I have to continue with the crutch/boot combo or can transition to only using the boot with no crutches. If she okays the transition, I will probably still keep one crutch for stairs and perhaps for the first few days. I'm nervous about it, because I've been concentrating on keeping my weight off of my right foot and now I will have to put weight on it. Also, this boot has its own momentum - the bottom is rounded. That makes it easier to use with crutches, but it does make me worry about using it without.

Anyway, that's the latest.

Arm Strength

I'm finding myself disheartened. A month ago I made myself a promise that I would walk a minimum of 2 miles every week. I set a low mileage goal because I figured I would have no excuse to not meet it. I only made it through 3 weeks before I broke my foot. Now, in addition to not being able to keep that promise of extra walking, I'm not even able to move around 1/3 of what I would call my normal amount.

I've been struggling with how to honor the commitment to my health that I made a few weeks back. As I mentioned before, I am definitely finding crutches difficult to use. Taking into account the increased use of my arms, I decided to start lifting some weights to increase my arm strength. Ben got me set up with some weights that luckily we already owned and a space in the guest room with my Ipod nearby. He showed me a few different ways to target different muscles and I'm going to lift three times a week. It's a little depressing how little weight I can lift right now, but I guess you have to start somewhere.

Today the first song that came up on my Ipod was "In the Jailhouse Now." I've kind of been feeling imprisoned by this injury, and I found it sad-funny that this song came up right away.

Schmer’s Broken Foot

So…I broke the fifth metatarsal bone in my right foot. I was in San Francisco Monday, the last of our five days visiting Lisa, TK and Tommy. I was walking out in front of Lisa’s house carrying a large couch cushion (planning to scotch-gard it, her couch is new) and I wasn’t able to see my feet while walking. At a point where the slant of the driveway toward the garage meets the slant of the sidewalk down the hill, there is a mounded patch of cement. I stepped on it, rolled my foot sideways and fell.

I saw a GP on Tuesday who gave me a Velcro shoe and recommended I see a specialist. He also gave me Vicodin – I’ve been taking half a pill at night to help with the pain and to help me sleep. Sleep has been particularly difficult as I cannot lie on my right side at all and it’s tricky to negotiate a comfortable sleeping position that also supports my foot but doesn’t make the rest of my leg tense up weirdly.

Ben picked up some crutches for me on Tuesday night – I was using one crutch on my right side for a day, but have switched over to two to be safe. That’s also been difficult because the combination of being heavy and having weak arms means it’s not possible for me to have absolutely no weight on my right foot for very long.

I saw an orthopedic surgeon yesterday who gave me a boot to use instead. It’s better support than the shoe, although kind of a pain in the ass to get on and off. She predicts that I’ll need to use the crutches and the boot for four weeks, then just the boot for another four, which means hopefully I’ll be back up and moving by my birthday.

So, that’s the latest!