A totally strange beginning to the day. Chelsea got me up at her usual 4AM or so. It was pouring so she made quick work of her outing. Then I got back to sleep. When I woke up I thought it was 6:30AM so I got up again and fed the kitties. In their room I glanced at the clock and to my surprise, it was only 5:30AM. By this time I was wide awake and there was no sense in going back to bed, so I went right into the shower and proceeded with the morning.

I went to Sheboygan Falls shortly after 9 for bible study and my visit with Mother. Bible study was interesting. We got off onto a discussion of this new program that the Diocese has come up with called Faith in our Future, which is supposed to insure education funds for our future by establishing an endowment and several other contingencies for our parish. 40% of the funds stay with the diocese, the rest comes back to the parish. Our discussions covered the expensive marketing that they have done (who is paying for that) how broad is the education to be, (will it cover clerics to help take up the slack that the over stretched priests are now unable to handle.) and how much of the funds will be used to make up the difference caused because of the massive settlements caused by the sex scandals. I think I will ask my friend Marlene, one of the people on the committee some of these questions.

Mother is doing fine. She has been having trouble getting the VNA nurse to call her back with answers to questions. I told her that if she had not heard by this afternoon, I would call. They DID call back and are resolving her questions and promised to be back to her by Wednesday with the answers.

I got home in time to fix Dick's lunch, then drove over to Kate's house. We went out for lunch and a visit, Our schedules have been such the past few weeks that we have not had a time to just visit. It was nice and we covered a lot of ground. Her poor Riley cat is very subdued. It told you that he has a very badly injured front leg. It is all bound up and will be for at least a week or two more. Riley is getting discouraged. I brought him a little of the catnip. Kate said that he seemed to like that.

We had Chicken Vegetable Pasta salad for supper. It was really good. Then there was a meeting of the Ad Hoc committee for the condos. It went well. They have started the prep work on the biggest problem, the paving of the road and will do the paving next week, so our committee is doing well. We covered the rest of the problems and I believe that our work is actually all done.

Since I have been up since 5:30AM I am really tired tonight and am looking forward to that wonderful bed.

I am still reading Dinah Federer's book Chasing Normal. She has a wonderful paragraph in her chapter on loneliness. "A disability isn't something to be fixed. It's a new way of life for everyone to adjust to. Just take it slowly. There may be some awkward moments. That's okay. Take it slowly and trust that you'll find your way." It's a really helpful book and I would be glad to share it with anyone who is interested.

Take it easy. Tomorrow Dick starts therapy. Yippee!! On his feet again.

Love
Mary