Tuesday, August 1, 2017

LIFE AT THE LAKE

Things are going well for us. My chemo was upped to half strength and my only side effects are headaches. Richie tells me these are brain tumors evaporating, and I am choosing to believe him and not stress over the headaches. I am here in town for another appointment today.

Our lake is the warmest it has been in years. It was 81 degrees yesterday and the air was colder than the water. It has been great sitting on our floats and going WAY to drift in.
It is finally shorts weather!!

Richie is building a beautiful retaining wall for us. We had a piece of land cut off from our hill by our driveway to straighten it, and we need a wall to hold up the hill from eroding. The blocks are 70 pounds apiece so he is building muscle for sure. He also is losing weight. He is drenched from head to tow from sweat by 11 in the morning, if not earlier. The job he is doing is meticulous. You would never guess a professional didn't do it. I am so proud of him taking this on. Getting 8 tiers of rocks perfectly level is no small task!!

I love God because he is sovereign and majestic and hundreds of other reasons. But this summer I have seen his sense of humor. Earlier in May, I considered trying to let my hair grow out white, which was what it came in as after brain radiation. Dick and I both decided we weren't ready for me to be white. So for 2 years, I have been coloring that white. As it grew out I always had white roots.

Well, I had a chat in May with Terry, my pastor's sweet wife and friend who I noticed had some patches of white on her head. I asked her if she going to quit coloring and go white and she said yes. Something about what she said just gave me the courage to do the same. What do I care the way people look at me? If they think I look 75 years old, they do. 

So.....I assumed the transformation would take about 2 months since my hair is so short. Well, here is God's humor. He has changed my (when, I don't know) hair color to salt and pepper. Today, there is some white, but just as much dark brown. Are you kidding me? The radiation people told me my hair would probably come back and stay white.  Apparently God thought I would look better with some color!! He laughs.

Here are a few shots of our summer.

Captain, Sam's pup we babysat

Richie cutting up a dead tree he just felled in our front woods

Patty, my best friend through my early years

A view from the shore

Dick starting his wall

Four rows done (one under the ground), starting the fifth

Just lounging in the warm sun



2 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh Mary I can see why you love it at the lake. It looks absolutely beautiful there.
I know how I live going to my cousins cabin . It is do relaxing which is just what tpyou need,
Sit back and enjoy. No natter the color of your hair you are always beautiful,
Blessings to you always.
Kazy

Unknown said...

That looks wonderful! How I loved growing up on a lake in Mn. What a wonderful place to be! Well, when you come back, you will see there are no more patches of white on my hair. It is, in fact, ALL white! I am sometimes shocked when I see myself. The flip side to it though- freedom! I've been using the pool in town everyday and not worrying at all about the chlorine messing with my hair color. I am sure I'm saving tons of money, and am waiting for it to show up somewhere...haha. What a blessing to let go of something and see God's sense of humor in this! I think He thought you could use one less thing to get used to!
Blessings to you both and keep relaxing and enjoying the sunshine! Terry, the white haired pastors wife!