10-31-15 SAT>

This last week was busy. Daniel got to start his work. The 1st day was Wednesday and he was up in the attic, shoveling out rat poop. This is good for him. This is the real world. Having this to shovel poop, is a reality check. He's been teamed up with one of the men who is training him on all the aspects of the work he'll be doing. The feedback I get is that he is working hard. And this is a good thing.

Life goes on at the Homestead. Still everything I do and everything that's around here reminds me of Harriet. Now I understand why people who've lost their spouse do the things that they do and feel the way that they feel.

I'm hoping that if you still have your spouse, that you will treat them with love and tell them how much you love them each day. I tried to do that with Harriet and yet I realize that in many areas I fell short.

Tomorrow is the beginning of a new month. Don't forget to set your clocks back one hour. I hope that you will take the time to be in the house the Lord tomorrow.

Maranatha,
Frank

                                       Harriet and Autumn

10-1-24-15 Sat

Here's our weekly review. Daniel spent Monday and Tuesday getting all his paperwork ready to start his job. On Wednesday he went to work and got outfitted in the uniform the payware. It's work pants and a T-shirt with the logo on it. He got his 1st taste of working. He's very happy to have a job in thankful to be working. Shouldn't we all have that same attitude?

His brother Joe has been extremely generous to Daniel. I keep telling Joe to work Daniel, "like a rented mule". Joe teamed Daniel up with one of the men there to teach them the ropes. I think it's going to be really good for Daniel.

Hilda came by on, and dropped off some toquitos, but she makes for me. It is very kind of her to do this. She also gave me another jar over homemade hot sauce which I love. While they were here Matthew sat in the "command module" chair. I am attaching a picture. He's so cute!

That's about it for now. I hope you have a great week.

Maranatha,
Frank

10-18-15 Sunday Pic

Good morning, I wasn't planning on putting a Post this morning, but I got a couple of pictures that I wanted to share with you and didn't want to wait until next Saturday.

Daniel and I went out to breakfast with Joe, Hilda and the boys on Saturday morning. Then little Joe and Timothy came home to my house along with Daniel and we played around and had a good time.

I talked to Joe and Hilda about Harriet's exercise machine. It's the kind that you peddle, but you also work your arms back and forth sort of like a skier using a ski pole, but with much resistance both for your legs and your arms. Joe and Hilda said that they would like it so Daniel loaded up in the back of his pickup truck and the 3 of them squeezed into the front cab. You have 3 full-size guys in the cab of this little pickup truck and you can see the look on their faces. Daniel was laughing so hard, because Timothy had to sit in the center.

Have a great week,
Frank

10-17-15 Sat Update

I will complete this morning, that never happens. So I get up at 3:30 or something in the middle of the night and then later I ended up going back to sleep and didn't get up till 7 AM. What a Slackered!

Well Daniel did make it to the new sober living home. He's already here at my house. He told me it was really rough because the guy that is sharing the room with snores so loud, that Daniel finally got up and went out and slept in the living room on the sofa. That is tough.

I think I might have posted this picture before. It's taken at Seaport Village somewhere around 30 years ago.

This picture is taken about 15 years ago and it's Harriet, Hilda and Timothy is in Harriet's lap and then you have little Joe who 17 years old now. Joe was so cute and Timothy was just a little blob at that time now he's a big lug (I love the big lug)

Thank you for the notes and emails, I appreciate the encouragement to continue the blog.

Tomorrow Sunday and Pastor Mike is preaching at our church I hope you can make it.

Maranatha,
Frank

10-15-15 Thursday

Well Friends, I received so many emails encouraging me to continue the communication on the blog, so I'll update it at least once a week, probably at the end of the week, Friday or Saturday.

I didn't realize how important this was for you who have stuck through thick and thin with Harriet and myself for all these years.

Daniel came by late yesterday afternoon. He attends a class in the morning and then is free and he went down to Mission Beach and did some body surfing. He just loves the ocean! You can imagine being in prison for 17+ years and now he loves the outdoors.
Right a crossed Mission Gorge from our house is a large area for hiking and jogging. It's sort of a nature preserve. So Daniel took his camera yesterday because he likes to go jogging up in the hills. I'm going to include 4 pictures that he took yesterday. You get an idea of what it's like. He jogs here a few times a week.

 The 1st picture is a view of the hill/mountain that he's going up to the top.

 You can see that someone has added some type of steps.

 

These last 2 pictures are a view from the top

 I might mentioned that this last picture is the view looking toward the ocean. If you look very carefully along the horizon, where the sky meets the land, just to the right of dead center is the tip of Point Loma.

So that's it for today, I will give you an update on Saturday. We'll find out if they actually move Daniel into the sober living house. It's supposed to happen on Friday and will see.....

Maranatha,
Frank

10-14-15

I've been thinking about the reason I started this blog in the 1st place. When Harriet got sick in August of last year, Harriet's sister, Lee Ann recommended a blog to disseminate information. I think it's time to put this blog to rest.

I appreciate everybody's support and their kind well wishes. I think the blog is now turning into a diary of daily activities and that was not the original purpose.

I will be posting some info when Daniel has made some progress. He is scheduled to move into the Sober Living house on Friday of this week, but I have heard that before. Once there he can be employed.

So I'm going to say thank you one and all for all you've done and I wish you nothing but the best.

Frank

10-13-15 Epic Tue.

I got to go surfing this morning and the ways were just excellent. Not only the size which would be at least had a high 2 overhead sets, but the form was just exceptional. I think my friend Ken got the most waves this morning and the best waves and the wave of the day. I got my quota and then some. These are the days that makes it all worthwhile. I think my friend Ken and I have been surfing together for over 25 years. When I paddle out and am sitting in the Lineup, it hard not to thing about when Ken, Brad, Daniel, Sarah, Roy and the boys paddled out and put Harriet's ashes into the sea.

My longtime friend Mary Ann is coming over to clean our house. It's been a while and I try and keep things picked up and so on, but I think everything needs a good vacuuming and scrubbing. When I got up at 4:30 AM this morning I stripped the bed and put all the linen into the washing machine so it would get washed while I was gone and as soon as I returned from the beach I put it in the dryer. This way I was hoping that between the 2 of us we could put the sheets and bedding back on the bed. I really appreciate her willingness and so many people have offered, it's just hard because I don't want to take advantage of anybody.

 

I hope you have a great day,
Frank

10-12-15 Mon.

Yes, you're right, I forgot to post the blog yesterday morning before church. Things are so busy on Sunday morning. I'm still trying to get used to making my own breakfast, what a concept. I got one of those new cooking pans that nothing will stick to, but it's not Teflon it is made of some material that the eggs will not stick to it. Very cool.

Daniel is doing very well driving and is anticipating moving into the sober living house if it passes inspection this Thursday. This is at least the 4th time that they were supposed to have an inspection and it didn't come off. What can you expect from government agencies? The height of inefficiency.

If he ever gets to move into the sober living house, then he can start working and making money. Obviously this is very important.

I hope you have a great week,
Frank

10-10-15 Sat.

The good news is the Brother Al got to come home. I included a picture in yesterdays Blog Post.

Tomorrows message will be from one of Jesus parables of the Wise Steward.

I hope that you are planning to be in the House of the Lord tomorrow. God wants us all to make it a priority.

 That is Timothy and Joseph along with Harriet, but about 7 years ago I am guessing.

Maranatha,
Frank

10-9-15 Friday

Today we have Family Night at Church. It is always a lot of fun. Great people and great food.

Pastor Mike and Big Al

Harriet and her sister Lee Ann at the bay.

Maranatha,
Frank

10-8-15 Thur.

I wanted to give you an update concerning our brother Al Clarkson. Phil in Regina went and visited last night. Here is there message:

"Dear Pastor Frank, Phil and I went to visit Al tonight at the hospital and to our joyful surprise he is doing so much better. Cathy was also there and she wanted me to pass this along to you so you could pass it along to everybody else. These are her words:

"Here are some of the thoughts you may want to pass along to the family of God at Maranatha..... A special thank you and words of love goes out to all who have cared for Alfred Clarkson in our hearts- the Lord has answered our prayers by extending his life. A build up of fluids under his lungs have seriously cut breathing room and impacted his heart causing it to become enlarged and fluids to form around lungs! All this took time and tests and intense talks with specialist to discover. There are certain he had a weak heart. The cold it congestive heart failure. Dad's legs and ankles are very swollen. After many tests the results came back but his heart was strong but needed support when asked to pump blood through stiff areas. The fluids got together and pressed up into the lungs, through being in the hospital and having access to many specialist and strong interventionist drugs which led to removal of most of the fluids, a game plan for the future..............""

Sorry, but the message was cut off. But at least we all have an idea of how to pray. God bless you for your faithfulness!

                                                   2013

Maranatha,
Frank

10-7-15 Wed.

I went to visit brother Al, at Kaiser Hospital yesterday morning. Of course the parking lot was full and I had to use the valet parking, which is technically free, but it's hard not to give these guys some money.

Anyway, if you're familiar with Kaiser at Zion, the hospital side of the building is the far West wing. As I walk through the doors that open automatically all the memories of many trips to the emergency ward with Harriet came flooding back and it was really quite amazing. The thought that came through my mind almost instantaneously was that I never wanted to come back in this building again. But, sanity prevailed, I was there to see brother Al and that's more important than anything else.

Brother Al is 92 years old. Both of our birthdays are in September just 4 days apart. So whenever we have a birthday, we always celebrated together. He's doing remarkably well. The reason they put him in the hospital is because there are some the tests that they need to run to determine what's going on, they didn't want to do one test and then wait a couple weeks for the results and then do another test and so on. While he's in the hospital, they will do a battery of tests and determine exactly what is the problem. I was there when the doctor came in and she said that there is fluid, not in his lung, but in the space right under the lung and they don't know where the fluid came from or what type of fluid it is? So they're going to determine these things and then figure out what to do.

 

Harriet and her brother John

Maranatha,
Frank

10-6-15 Tues.

A really good friend, Al Clarkson is at Kaiser hospital. He is in his 90's and a real saint. Please pray for him and his family. I am going to visit him this morning and let you know how he is doing.

We are all thankful for the rain we have had in the past couple of days. I know that other areas receive quite a bit of rain during the year, but we sorely need it.

Maranatha,
Frank

10-5-15 Monday

We had a wonderful service yesterday morning. The praise and worship team do a fantastic job and Tony Palmer, did a solo for offering and really nailed it.

Daniel and I went over to Joe and Hilda's for dinner. We have such a good time with the boys. I play this Jurassic Park game on my tablet. The game is free and quite a few months ago the boys talk me into playing it with them. So I collect all the gold coins that you accrue in the game and then I go over to Joe and Hilda's house and let the boys spend them to build up the Jurassic Park. They also have these dinosaur tournaments and Ethan will sit on my lap and battle the dinosaurs and when he wins we all shout hooray! Then it's Samuel's turned and he does the same thing fighting against other people's dinosaurs. It's really kind of fun and the kids really love it, the smile on their face is precious.

By the way Daniel is doing really well driving his little pickup truck with the stick shift. Today will make it 2 weeks since he's picked it up and started to drive a stick shift. It gets easier and easier all the time as you know.

 

I hope you have a fantastic week,

Frank

10-4-15 Sunday Crazy Chicken Pic

We had a really nice time yesterday with Brad, Karen and the girls. I'm going to include the picture I promised of the kids crazy chicken and her name is Victoria. They have 4 chickens. And each one has a name. The other one that I thought was interesting is Amelia. Because the chicken kept flying over the fence. Very cute. The kids are just great I really love this family. We went out to lunch and had just a wonderful time. The crazy chicken is one of these 2 and I'm not sure which one because they look the same to me.

We're invited over to Mike and Kathy's for dinner (as I mentioned everyone's trying to feed me). I think it's very cute that everybody's trying to fatten me up. Daniel could not make it because he had a previous commitment. But I had a wonderful time of fellowship with them they are great people. It's one of those things that you see people for years at church and interact with them, but in little snippets of time. We had 3 hours of great fellowship. Mike took me around and showed me all the things that he has done to the property and what he's going to do. I told Mike that I need to sit down and rest after that because it made me tired just thinking about all the work he's going to do. They made a lovely dinner and even packed a meal for Daniel that I brought home. I told them a couple of times and I sure wish Harriet would've been here to be with us. By the way Mike and Kathy are the last people we went out to dinner with, before Harriet got so bad that she couldn't go out at all. I mentioned that to them and they remembered that also. I know I took a picture of that outing, but I don't have time to search the files right now because I'm getting ready for church.

I hope that everyone has a fantastic day today!

Maranatha,
Frank

10-3-15 Sat.

I'm getting to be quite the slackerd. Sleeping in till all hours of the morning. We had a good Bible study last night. Daniel came over yesterday afternoon and we went to the Bible study together.

Today I get to go to Brad and Karen's and see their kids crazy chickens. They have 2 daughters Amber and Kilee. They live in Ramona and they told me about their crazy chickens so Daniel and I are going there this morning to have lunch with them and check it out. I'll try and take some pictures and have them for you maybe tomorrow. By the way, Brad goes surfing with us on occasion. Both Brad and Karen are hard-working and very nice people and good friends. I love their kids to. They're special!

Mike and Kathy invited us over for dinner. I think everybody's concerned that I'm not eating enough and that's probably the case since I'm losing weight. May I be perfectly frank with you? I'm really not interested in learning how to cook. God bless my daughter Hilda. She makes these fantastic toquitos with chicken. She's made me a couple of batches, two dozen per batch and I have them in the freezer. So I can just take a couple out and microwave them for dinner. Plus Hilda makes homemade hot sauce, that makes you tear up. It is so good! So you as you can see I'm getting a well-balanced diet.

This is one thing that puzzles me. I eat foods that are not especially nutritious. Because they are deep-fried and there's not a whole lot of green vegetables in them. Harriet used to eat all the healthy things and she's the one that got cancer. I may be on to something. Maybe, if you eat enough hot sauce, it would prove to make conditions unbearable for a cancer cell. Just saying..........

Anyway we're going over to Mike and Kathy's for dinner and they're going to barbecue some fantastic food. I look forward to it. They are such nice people.

Tomorrow is the Lord's day. I hope you plan to be in the house the Lord to give all praise, glory and honor to the Creator of the universe and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Maranatha,
Frank

10-2-15 Friday

Daniel is still at the transitional housing. They keep telling him that he's moving to a "sober living house", but it needs to pass safety inspections before the house can be habitable. Once he's there, then he can actually start work. He will still need to attend 3 classes each week, maybe minutes per class.

I don't have a whole lot of new information for you. Life goes on, just a little bit different than before. Maybe I should've said a lot different than before. Because even though you have all the same responsibilities and commitments that you must take care of, but my girl  is not here with me.

Maranatha,
Frank

10-1-15 Harriet's birthday today

Today is Harriet's birthday. This will be a tough one. I've always been under the assumption that as time goes by, there is healing and missing the loved one who was gone on to be with the Lord gets easier. I don't see that at this point. Maybe in 20 or 30 years when my memory fades, then it will be a little bit easier.

I don't want it to be a bummer or downer for you, I'm just telling you as it is right now. I just miss my girl.

Maranatha,
Frank