My Favorite Time of the Year

I think I'll get the hard bits out of the way first. It was a hard medical week around here. Monday, my husband returned to work. He had a weird episode of dizziness and shortness of breath midday. He was so obviously in distress that his coworkers got him down to the ER. He works in a hospital. He spent the rest of the day in the ER being tested for Covid-19 again and testing negative again, having an EKG, having a chest CT scan because some of his blood work suggested a blood clot, and being hydrated through an IV. He was sent home with a suggested follow-up on his thyroid and an ultrasound on his kidneys later in the week. Long story short, we are still waiting for the results of his thyroid test, but think it may well be that. Also, it seems he had an event of a resolving blood clot, as well as major dehydration (for which he has been hospitalized in the past). 

I wish that was all of my medical news, but alas it is not. The pandemic has loomed large in our life this week. My stepmother was diagnosed with Covid-19 this week. She is feeling intense flu like symptoms. Her doctor warned her that these are the early days and she may progress to worse. My aunt (in another state) also has it and says it feels like a bad case of mononucleosis. She slept for 10 days and is starting to feel more normal. My adult daughter, Katie, was exposed at work to Covid-19, and she is quarantined while waiting for test results. Twenty-two people were sent home from my husband's work this week, having been in close contact with someone with Covid-19 in a lunch room setting. None of them are allowed to return for two weeks and must have negative test results before returning. Lastly, one of Tim's friends has it as well as her whole family. Her parents are medically fragile. Lots of praying going on around here!

Now, on to the fun in the week. I love Advent. It is my favorite time of year. If you want to see our Advent plans you can read this post. This week we managed a charity four of the days and made Christmas cookies (round one). We did our Secret Santa mission on Tuesday. The kids pick someone each year to secretly treat. This year they picked Miss Nancy, who is an older woman who lives at the end of our street. She purchased an overgrown waste land of an empty lot several years ago and has lovingly cleared it and landscaped it with nothing but her hands, shovel and axe. Now, she has built a tiny 300 square foot house on it with just a little bit of help. Her work ethic is amazing, and the kids easily picked her this year. 

We also purchased two animals through Heifer International for needy families this year. Elijah picked a share in an Alpaca and Anne picked a flock of ducks. We also dropped off dog and cat food at the local no kill shelter and toys at the local toy drive. 

We also made two of the four Christmas cookies we hope to make this year. We made chocolate surprises and molasses sugar cookies. We had a few for movie night in which we watched The Grinch.

Anne started filming with part of the adult dance company a short dance film for the Fringe Festival. They are doing a dance about the spread of Covid-19. They did the cover photos for the posters this week. I took a few shots behind the photographer. 

Elijah and Tim worked on adding lots of Christmas lights to the front yard. It sure is festive around here. 

That about wraps it up. Hopefully, next week will have less surprises (at least unhappy ones).

Blessings, Dawn