The last two weeks

After the fiasco with Nathan's wheel chair we finally got it fixed on the next Tuesday.  On Monday he was home a lone and he tried to transfer from the recliner to the manual wheelchair and even though it was locked it moved and he ended up falling on the floor.  He had quite a floorburn on his head for a few days even though he insisted that he did not fall on his head.  He called me at the mission and of course I came as soon as I could but I did not bring Larry.  He was laying on the floor with his feet in the recliner when I got there.  He needed to have help getting up.  We tried several ways and I even got him up and in the recliner after a prayer for help but when we tried to transfer him to the wheel chair again it moved and we both went to the floor.  I tried for about 10 minutes to get him up again but he was too heavy.  I went across the foyer and got my neighbor to help me.  She is an older lady in her 70's maybe and we tried to get him up but could not do it either so she went to get our next door neighbor who was at the pool.  He came and then we were able to lift Nathan while Jane my neighbor brought the wheelchair around behind him and we just put him in the wheelchair.  Needless to say after that Nathan was very relieved to have his electronic wheelchair back.  The charger had been damaged when Nathan got up in the early morning and ran off with the cord.

We did a lot of things that week that I took pictures for so I will put the pictures here and then talk about them as there is a lot of pictures.

Sister Antuar talking to Nathan

Monday evening we went to San Marcos for the Senior Missionary dinner that they have every Monday after transfer week.  It was at Johnny Carino's.  We had a great time talking to everyone again and Nathan is just part of the group.

All the couples enjoying the dinner

At wounder warriors Bingo Night.  The girl was a Dr. Who fan like Nathan

This is Lori Ann the Recreation Specialist at Warm Springs that started Nathan liking to go to the Bingo night.

Don't remember her name.  From New York in the military.  Picture shows the background areas where they serve the food.

For the 4th of July we went to the Woodlawn Lake Park for the fireworks there.  It was really quite a carnival atmosphere which we tried to avoid.  The picture to the right was David and Nathan enjoying themselves.  David refused to play on the playground because Nathan told him he had to leave his phone with him.  So he sat most of the time at Nathan's feet playing on his phone.

Maggie with another stranger.

I learned what a funnel cake was that night and we bought one to share.  We bought one funnel cake and one drink and it cost $11.00.  Maggie had to go to the potty three times.  I have never been able to get her to go in a port-a-potty because she thinks they are too gross.  But the potties that they had there were pink so for some reason she would use them if they were pink!  Go figure.

Sammy climbing up the slide

Sammy and Maggie riding together

Some man showing off with a snake around his neck.  The kids were fascinated

Maggie, Isaac, and Sammy digging in the Sand pit

This is the view from where we watched the fireworks.

Larry took some pictures of the fireworks and what they had was nice but they were not very long.  Maybe 5 minutes at the most so that was disappointing because it was a little hard for Nathan to get into. The kids didn't care though because they were anxious to get home and do theirs

Maggie and Isaac

On the 5th of July the ward had a Flag ceremony and pancake breakfast for the 4th celebration.  The High Priest put it on so Larry had to go help with it.  The kids had a good time because it also had a bounce house outside that they could bounce in.  We had a lot of fun at the breakfast and I ate my whole points value for Weight Watchers at the breakfast.

Isaac, David, and Sammy at the breakfast.

Maggie eating her treat they got when finished.

Isaac nailing his house together.

Each child with their finished product.

 After the pancake breakfast and clean up we went to Home Depot to make a project that Isaac had heard about somewhere:  Bug houses.  All the kids made one and it was fun but a real mess.  One of the mothers that got there before us told us not to follow the instructions and let them paint it first.  Big mistake.  We got paint all over our hands trying to help them nail the thing together after that.  Isaac refused to paint first and chose to follow the directions.  David choose not to paint and so finished first and did not have a mess.

Throwing Snaps

In the afternoon we  did the fireworks that they had been too tired to do when we got home on the 4th of July at about 11:00 p.m.

Larry thought it was cool that we had a blue, red and white car parked in front of our apartment on the 4th of July

 I had a virus or something get into my computer and it was doing crazy things and the technology person for the mission said he would look at it but he did not get it back to me before the weekend last week so I was not able to do the blog because for some reason Larry's computer would not let me into my google account for this blog.

Monday Nathan had some appointments at the VA that he went to himself.  Larry and I started out behind on our work for this week and it has taken all week to catch up.

The line at the SS Office

Tuesday we had some time alone at the office because Elder and Sister Williams were out inspecting apartments and so I took the time to go to the Social Security Office which is just around the corner and found out that I was already signed up for Medicare and had created an account.  I could not believe the line so I took a picture and texted Larry it might be a while.

We were a little stressed because we ran out of food money at the beginning of this week.  We were able to figure out things that we could do and eat that we still had but it was a little hard because we do not have food storage here to go to when you are tight.  But the Lord blessed us and we ate well all week.

It seemed to me that the referrals did not stop coming in all week.  On Tuesday I got 10 after I came home from the mission office.  I had about 16 waiting for me to type in and then more came in on Wednesday.  I did finally get caught up and got all the Baptisms typed into the system on Thursday.

Thursday Nathan had an appointment for his lawyer for the divorce at 3:00 p.m. It was for preparations for their mediation meeting on Tuesday the 15th of July.  I took him and waited outside.  He was in there for about 2 hours and then his person who works on his van called and said that he was coming to fix the van so I took him home.  I was disappointed because it looked like we would not be able to go to Bingo Night but I took Nathan home and then went in our car to get Larry as I had to drive home from the office and then take Nathan in his van and so I had the car at the apartment.  But by the time that I picked up Larry and we got home the van was fixed so we went the Bingo after all, just late.  They were almost through serving the food but we got some.

Friday it seemed that we were constantly being interrupted by phone calls but we finally got the Baptisms submitted and the Name tags ordered and the Stake report finished. I also had to call all the missionaries that are coming in that have not given us there plans for getting a bike to make sure they knew that they were to buy one before they came. Larry said he felt like he couldn't do anything because of interruptions.

Sara brought the kids about 7:00 pm I think.  They had had dinner so we went to the pool and swam for a while.  Then we came home and they watched a movie and ate popcorn and chocolate milk before going to bed.

Saturday was the first Saturday in a long time that we did not have to get up early for something.  Nathan had a Dunkin Donuts card that he had got for Father's Day so we took the kids to Dunkin Donuts about 8:30 a.m.  We had a good breakfast and then we took a portable toilet that Nathan never used back to Warm Springs and Nathan went to the bank to do some business.  We got home about 11:00 a.m. and it seemed like it should be 1:00 p.m.

The kids wanted to go to the pool when we got home so we got ready and went.  I didn't really want to go swimming but Maggie talked me into it.  We went swimming twice that day.  It was one of the most fun times I have had swimming because I asked David to help me learn to dive for things like they do and I have never been able to do.  Our pool is not deep but it was so fun to learn how to go into the water looking for something and to find it and play games with my grandkids in the pool.  At one time I remember thinking "I am so glad that I can do this at 65 with my grandkids."

Larry went to the office and worked all afternoon and came home happy that he was finally able to do some things without interruptions

Nathan got upset in the evening so the kids went home.  Larry and I went to Orange Leaf to drown our sorrows in yogurt.  It was worth every calorie!!! Nathan went out with some friends to get snow cones.

Sara's Father came in yesterday so we did not have the kids for church.  I missed them even though they are a handful sometimes.  Nathan's friends talked about the Challenges of Discipleship and gave some excellent talks also including some great testimonies of how the atonement of Christ can help you.  The one has been off of Drugs and Alcohol now for two years and bore a powerful testimony of the healing power of Christ.  The classes were both on Baptism and why it is important and what it symbolizes.

Larry came home to a phone call that another set of Elders had got in an accident but luckily no one was hurt except the car when someone pulled in front of them.  So he had to help the Elders deal with that.

I had remembered to put a roast in before we left and so we had a good lunch.  After cleaning up we went to lay down for a "few minutes" and Nathan was waking us up 3hours later.

We went and met Sara and her Dad, Frank Roberts, and saw the kids for a while at a park by the church and then we came home and ate and the guys are in bed but I am finishing up this blog.

I am so grateful that we have had the opportunity to come to San Antonio on this mission it has been a blessing for Nathan and for us.  We are stronger than we have ever been and we are blessed each day to see the tender mercies of the Lord in our lives.  I have even been able to overcome the itchy skin that I had.  I hope that I can be an effective Secretary so that the missionaries can do the work of finding those who are prepared for the Gospel.