New Skills

     There are times in life when we are forced to learn new skills, not because we want to, but because we are forced to.  Admission to physical rehabs has done this.

     One thing I am learning is how to operate a wheel chair.  Monitoring steps has become a challenge. Dealing with inconsistent walkers can present a major challenge.  Some will go out of their way to hold doors for you while others seem to enjoy cutting you off and getting in your way,  Sadly there are few surprises.  Courtesy is no longer common.

     Climbing steps with a wheelchair can be difficult.  So much to learn!

Beware!

Beware of old women.  They can be devious.

 

A police officer pulled a woman over for speeding and had the following exchange:

 

Officer: May I see your driver's license?

 

Driver: I don't have one.  I had it suspended when I got my 5th DUI (Driving Under the Influence).

 

Officer: May I see the owner's card for this vehicle?

 

Driver: It's not my car.  I stole it.

 

Officer: The car is stolen?

 

Driver: That's right.  But come to think of it, I think I saw the owner's card in the glove box when I was putting my gun in there.

 

Officer: There's a gun in the glove box?

 

Driver: Yes sir.  That's where I put it after I shot and killed the woman who owns this car and stuffed her in the trunk.

 

Officer: There's a BODY in the TRUNK?!?!?

 

Driver: Yes, sir.

 

Hearing this, the officer immediately called his captain. The car was quickly surrounded by more police cars, and the captain approached the driver to handle the tense situation.

 

Captain: Sir, can I see your license?

 

Driver: Sure.  Here it is.

 

It was valid.

 

Captain: Who's car is this?

 

Driver: It's mine, officer.  Here's the registration.

 

Captain: Could you slowly open your glove box so I can see if there's a gun in it?

 

Driver: Yes, sir, but there's no gun in it.

 

Sure enough, there was nothing in the glove box.

 

Captain: Would you mind opening your trunk?  I was told you said there's a body in it.

 

Driver: No problem.

 

The trunk was opened; no body.

 

Captain: I don't understand it.  The officer who stopped you said you told him you didn't have a license, stole the car, had a gun in the glovebox, and that there was a dead body in the trunk.

 

Driver: Yeah, I'll bet he told you I was speeding, too.

Merry Christmas

   The last few months have been times of learning to trust the Lord more fully and experience His daily provision during times of unexpected challenges. We have seen the best and the worst of rehabilitation facilities and miracles only the Lord could do.

     Dianne spent two helpful weeks in rehab following knee replacement surgery.  Barry had some unfortunate experiences during four of the five visits which he had.  He was finally released from Tandem Living, a good rehab, on December 20, but he still needs more healing and daily care.

     However, we do rejoice in the many miracles we have experienced. through this long and unexpected journey.  God is so good!

     God continues to bless our family.  He has given us a second grandson, Luke has joined Malachi and his parents Dr. Daniel and Taylor Cetnar.  Uncle Dr. Joshua is doing medical research and his wife has had a good year teaching high school chemistry in New Jersey.  Noah graduated with a degree in optometry and is now working in two eye offices in Pennsylvania.

     Tim and Wendy's children are working on their college degrees. Chloe just finished her dissertation at the University of Maryland,      The last few months have been times of learning to trust the Lord more fully and experience His daily provision during times of unexpected challenges. We have seen the best and the worst of rehabilitation facilities and miracles only the Lord could do.

     Dianne spent two helpful weeks in rehab following knee replacement surgery.  Barry had some unfortunate experiences during four of the five visits which he had.  He was finally released from Tandem Living, a good rehab, on December 20, but he still needs more healing and daily care.

     However, we do rejoice in the many miracles we have experienced. through this long and unexpected journey.  God is so good!

     God continues to bless our family.  He has given us a second great grandson, Luke has joined Malachi and his parents Dr. Daniel and Taylor Cetnar.  Uncle Dr. Joshua is doing medical research and his wife has had a good year teaching high school chemistry in New Jersey.  Noah graduated with a degree in optometry and is now working in two eye offices in Pennsylvania.

     Tim and Wendy's children are working on their college degrees. Chloe just finished her dissertation at the University of Maryland,  Lexie just had her first book published at Susquehanna.  Brodie is completing his first year at Messiah majoring in microbiology.

      Because of all our time with doctors our times to minister have become very limited and Barry may be forced to give up his weekly blogs.  But we are very thankful for the many opportunities this has provided worldwide over the years.  God is so good.

        We pray that you have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a blessed NEW YEAR.  

Mid Life

A few thoughts to prepare you for mid life.

Maybe it's true that life begins at fifty, but everything else starts to wear out, fall out, or spread out.

There are three signs of old age. The first is your loss of memory, the other two I forget.

You're getting old when you don't care where your spouse goes, just as long as you don't have to go along.

Middle age is when work is a lot less fun -- and fun a lot more work.

Statistics show that at the age of seventy, there are five women to every man. Isn't that the worst time for a guy to get those odds?

You know you're getting on in years when the girls at the office start confiding in you.

Middle age is when it takes longer to rest than to get tired.

By the time a man is wise enough to watch his step, he's too old to go anywhere.

Middle age is when you have stopped growing at both ends, and have begun to grow in the middle.

A man has reached middle age when he is cautioned to slow down by his doctor instead of by the police.

Middle age is having a choice of two temptations and choosing the one that will get you home earlier.

You know you're into middle age when you realize that caution is the only thing you care to exercise.

At my age, "getting a little action" means I don't need to take a laxative.

Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you.

The aging process could be slowed down if it had to work its way through Congress.

You're getting old when getting lucky means you find your car in the parking lot.

You're getting old when you're sitting in a rocker and you can't get it started.

You're getting old when you wake up with that morning-after feeling, and you didn't do anything the night before.

The cardiologist's diet: if it tastes good, spit it out.

It's hard to be nostalgic when you can't remember anything.

You know you're getting old when you stop buying green bananas.

Are You Special?

It was a good time to be born and grow up.

 

The 1% Age Group"...

This special group was born between 1930 & 1946 = a 16-year span.   In 2022, the age range is between 76 & 92.

You are in the smallest group of children born since the early 1900's.

You are the last generation, climbing out of the Depression, who can remember the winds of war and the impact of a world at war that rattled the structure of our daily lives for years.

You are the last to remember ration books for everything from gas to sugar to shoes to stoves.

You saved tin foil and poured fat into tin cans.

You can remember milk being delivered to your house early in the morning and placed in the "milk box" on the porch.

You are the last generation who spent childhood without television; instead, you "imagined" what you heard on the radio.

With no TV until the 1950's, you spent your childhood "playing outside." There was no Little League.

There was no city playground for kids.

The lack of television in your early years meant that you had little real understanding of what the world was like.

Telephones were one to a house, often shared (party lines), and hung on the wall in the kitchen (no cares about privacy).

Computers were called calculators; they were hand-cranked.

Typewriters were driven by pounding fingers, throwing the carriage, and changing the ribbon.

'INTERNET' and 'GOOGLE' were words that did not exist.

Newspapers and magazines were written for adults, and the news was broadcast on your radio in the evening.

 

New highways would bring jobs and mobility.

The radio network expanded from 3 stations to thousands.
 
Your parents were suddenly free from the confines of the depression and the war, and they threw themselves into working hard to make a living for their families.
 
You weren't neglected, but you weren't today's all-consuming family focus.
 
They were glad you played by yourselves.
 
They were busy discovering the postwar world.
 
You entered a world of overflowing plenty and opportunity; a world where you were welcomed, enjoyed yourselves, felt secure in your future although the depression and poverty was deeply remembered.
 
Polio was still a crippler.
 
You came of age in the '50s and '60s.
 
You are the last generation to experience an interlude there were no threats to our homeland.
 
The second world war was over and the cold war, terrorism, global warming, and perpetual economic insecurity had yet to haunt life with unease.
 
Only your generation can remember both a time of great war and a time when our world was secure and full of bright promise and plenty.
 
You grew up at the best possible time, a time when the world was getting better.... 

 

More than 99% of you are retired and you should feel privileged to have "lived in the best of times!"

 

If you have already reached the age of 80 years old, you have outlived 99% of all the other people currently in the world! "You are a 1%'er"!

I qualify, do you?

God Forgive Me When I Whine

Today, upon a bus,

I saw a girl with golden hair.
I envied her, she seemed so gay,
And I wished I was as fair.

When suddenly she rose to leave,
I saw her hobble down the aisle.
She had one leg and used a crutch.
But as she passed, she gave a smile.

Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.
I have 2 legs, the world is mine.

I stopped to buy some candy.
The lad who sold it had such charm.
I talked with him, he seemed so glad.
If I were late, it'd do no harm.

And as I left, he said to me,
"I thank you, you've been so kind.
It's nice to talk with folks like you.
You see," he said, "I'm blind."

Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.
I have 2 eyes, the world is mine.

Later while walking down the street,
I saw a child with eyes of blue.
He stood and watched the others play.
He seemed not to know what to do.

I stopped a moment and then I said,
"Why don't you join the others dear?"
He looked ahead without a word.
And then I knew he couldn't hear.

Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.
I have 2 ears, the world is mine.

With feet to take me where I'd go.
With eyes to see the sunset's glow.
With ears to hear what I'd know.
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine

Something for each of us to remember.  God knows and He cares!.