The First Week of November

Happy Sunday from Vancouver where we have just come through some very heavy rainfall, stormy winds and wet snow.  It stopped now.  The sky is still gray but yesterday it was blue with fluffy white clouds.

The first week of November has been about adjustments as the city transitions to the colder weather. I've had to turn the heat on in the bedroom and front room every day. I never quite feel organized at this time of year and the constant cold keeps me busy trying to stay warm.  It's especially hard to keep my legs warm enough, a symptom of diabetes.  I'm alternately going for long walks to keep the circulation going, or sitting down with a hot drink, raised legs and a heated throw.

I've also been busy with errands almost every day this week. Part of it is an excuse to get out and get some exercise. In addition, I've been playing the MacDonald's Monopoly game and needed frequent trips there to pick up a coffee and some stickers to play. The game ends soon (November 7th). So far I didn't win anything.

Latest novel

This week has mostly been about food cooking, food shopping, online shopping for cold weather clothing (Jonah needs everything related to cold weather and I need a few things), cooking, household cleaning and routines, a bit of clothing alteration for DH, a bit of reading and watching television. I'm far behind on the reading bit but catch a few minutes here and there to indulge.  I had a physiotherapy session and enjoyed a body massage and manicure as well. I connected by phone with a cousin of mine who lives far away in Edmonton, Alberta. We usually catch up when she makes an annual visit to Vancouver but she didn't make it this summer.

Jeans were taken in and hemmed

A small decluttering and organizing job was accomplished while watching television one night.  The contents of the white and blue container were separated.  Everything on the left of the first photo was trashed. I kept the stuff on the right of the first photo and put away those things that didn't belong (like seam rippers) in their proper place. Now the pens and markers are all organized (mostly) in one place by colour and a few emery boards stored there for easy reach.

I was out and about late last night. I didn't get home until almost bedtime. Having said that I stayed up very late and before bed I realized I hadn't set the clocks back. The time on the cell phone alerted me. I manually set the clocks on the stove, microwave and the battery operated clocks.  Then I worried that DH might have forgotten about the time difference so I stayed awake until it was time for him to rise for work. He awoke an hour earlier than usual because he had gone to sleep at the usual time. He's lucky he can sleep so easily. He can also rise easily as long as he has slept long enough. He has a very long day of work today.  In the meantime I'm keeping busy at home.  I might make a small run to the grocers later for things like laundry soap.

It's linen changing day at my home so everything on the bed has been stripped, washed and now in the dryer.  I've also given the pillows a steam refresh. I keep the pillows covered with pillow protectors and refresh them each week but only wash them every month or every other month.  A small load of towels and clothing will also be washed. 

I'm not doing any major cleaning today because I've been doing the big chores like vacuuming, sweeping, washing floors and so on since Thursday - doing a little here and there. Today I'm focussing on little tasks that once done add up to a smoother, daily flow:

* coloured my hair and rinsed out the bottle 

* refilled hand soap in bathroom

* scoured the tub and toilet (I do spot clean these daily but still they need a good scrub)

* looked for a screw to attach a plate to the side of the tub. The other was loose and fell down the drain.

* refilled the spray cleaner containers in kitchen and bathroom with some cleanser I bought on Friday.

* recycled toilet paper rolls 

* gathered the trash from master bathroom, laundry room and kitchen

* updated the calendar with DH's work schedule and my upcoming appointments.

My major task today besides changing out the bed linens will be trying to make progress on an excel spreadsheet to  track grocery spending over the past several months. I want to know exactly what I've spent. each month. I may add other bills like hydro (electricity), internet/television/phone. I've saved all receipts for the grocery spending and receipts for bills are on line. I've been procrastinating about this project for so long but I really want to do it for future budgeting purposes.I know once I start it really won't take that long.

Last but not least, it snowed today! It's hard to tell by my photo but you can see the white lines to the top right of the photo.  The snow didn't last because it's wet.

Thank you for stopping by. It would be great to hear from you in the comments.

If you are interested in the Kenyan missions, I will be publishing a short series but no set schedule. 

The first post is here.

Kenya: Missions of Hope ~ Stories of God's Goodness ~ Part 1

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

In Vancouver, British Columbia where I live, the weather and temperatures have caught up to the season. Summer came late to our area but went on until well in to October. Our summer came late, I believe it was in June and we had a lot of rain until then. Then we had next to no rain and severe drought conditions by the end of September.  Things certainly do go to extremes these days.

Today though the real news is what has been happening in the Kenya Missions of Hope initiative.  I'm pleased to share some wonderful news of Kenya and the bit of humanitarian and missionary work that my DH and I carry out in that country.  Some of you may remember Eunice who was suffering from a condition of chronic anemia. It wasn't her only health condition. She has other conditions related to goiter and high blood pressure but the anemia is what sent her back and forth to hospitals on numerous occasions.  After being admitted and discharged from several hospitals, she again was transported by medical ambulance to a private hospital in the City of Nakuru, Kenya, located several hours from her home village. (You can locate Nakuru in the map below by looking northwest of Nairobi). She was admitted in February 2019 and she was there all throughout the pandemic. During that time she almost went home to Heaven on more than one occasion but after intensive care at the  High Dependency Unit (HDU),  she was able to bounce back. Truthfully I am amazed at how God kept her and helped her each time because I really thought her time to go home to Heaven had come.

Between 6-8 months in the private hospital it became clear that the expenses would be far too much for what our little humanitarian group could comfortably deal with.  Private hospitals and even government hospitals in Kenya are notoriously expensive and often procedures are done with a fiscal purpose in  mind rather than a health related outcome.  We could not afford the expense of proper treatment at the hospital where she was admitted and truthfully we didn't even know what proper treatment would entail since we were never told how the hospital could treat Eunice.  They wanted to do some kind of surgery but could not say how it would help her if at all.  We simply could not support doing surgery on a weakened person with multiple health conditions without knowing how it was supposed to help her.

The hospital didn't really want to keep Eunice after the first year because of refusal to go forward with surgery. In addition we were not paying all of the hospital costs.  We were however paying for the intensive interventions that were required from time to time. We also paid for a private nurse to attend Eunice, Eunice's medicines, toiletries and special foods prepared by the hospital. After it became clear that the hospital was not really treating Eunice except when her condition took a serious downturn, Jonah and I discussed the need to try and move Eunice back to her home (hospital).  I strongly felt that at least Eunice could be visited by some of her family members or assisted by them in some small ways once pandemic restrictions were relaxed. 

As you know the pandemic went on for quite a long time so nothing was able to be done about the move.  Moving Eunice would not be easy due to the prohibitively expensive ward fees that had accrued at the hospital.  It was only just before Jonah departed Kenya for Canada that he was able to undertake the travel for meetings with high level hospital officials in 2 different cities and  research and arrange with a new hospital for Eunice's  placement and arrange medical transportation for the transfer. All of these preparations were very costly.

At the new hospital, Jonah was assured by the new doctor that after several months of medical treatment and physiotherapy, Eunice would be able to go home.  I was cautiously optimistic given everything that had transpired over the previous 3 years.

Eunice has been admitted to the new hospital for going on at the hospital now for approximately 7 months. She has grown in strength and during that time.  With the help and assistance of one of her sisters, she has been able to go to her own home for overnight stays to see how she does. She has been doing well but is at this point still in hospital. She will have more home visits until she is hopefully discharged.

We are very happy for Eunice.  To God be the glory for keeping her, helping her and giving us the right medical contacts both to get her transferred and to rehabilitate her. She isn't home yet but we are grateful for how far she has come and I truly look on this outcome as a miracle.

Please continue praying for Eunice to be completely healed and able to live life on her own again. If you are able, and want to contribute to the work of helping the villagers in and around Kericho who need medical, food or educational help there is a Pay Pal button on the right of the blog. We also covet your prayers for these dear ones and for us so we can be guided in the humanitarian work. God bless.