Down in the Valley

Sunday we wakened and went to worship with Jones at the AFV church.  The message was “Jesus Christ is Lord” and was inspirational but mostly directed toward the Law.  We went to the officer’s club at Lackland AFB for brunch before returning to change clothes, packing everything into the car, and driving to the Valley.  We had a very smooth trip and arrived around 5:30 to s 70 degree evening.  We unpacked, started several loads of laundry and enjoyed some popcorn.  There had been 4 people living here while we were gone, and the beds were remade plus a small house gift had been left.  We had also received 10 voicemails and returned them.  We also called the girls but got only Stacy.  We had to leave our own messages for the others.  We went to bed shortly after 9.  It felt really go to be at home. 

I don’t think I mentioned the severity of my illness while in Israel.  I had begun to feel somewhat bloated around Monday and by Wednesday I had shifted to diarrhea.  This is especially inconvenient while traveling on a bus with 40 others.  As a blessing, however, I had no attacks while on the bus.  In the hotel was a different story.  I was in the elevator headed to the 5th floor when the sharp cramps began.  I couldn’t go up or down fast enough and didn’t make the stool in our room in time.  What a mess!  If you have worked with babies, you may have a minor idea of what things were like for me.  I had a couple more situations but nothing like this one.  Unfortunately, we had no changing table nor a giant nurse for me to look up at and grin.  I was finally able to clean things up but lost some clothing that had to be discarded.  The real blessing was that there was no recurrence of the event while we were 16 hours in the air.  God is good, all the time. 

If anyone has read the previous entries, he or she will notice duplicate postings and various errors.  I have tried to edit the posts but can’t get it done.  If you can tell me how, please leave a comment.

We want to thank God for the friends we travelled with and stayed with in San Antonio.  He has no real inclination toward things Spiritual but she was raised Catholic and is sensitive to them.  Regardless, they are both the most gracious people one could be blessed with as friends.  We would have never been able to experience South America or Israel without them.  They are 10 years younger, and I always joke that they have adopted us as their grandparents because they are willing to tolerate our slowness and lack of energy.  We try to reciprocate but are not very successful.