Visit with the Harmons

It has been a while since we last posted something on this blog.  Our lack of input does not mean that nothing has been going on.  In fact a lot has happened.  On September 1, 2007, we returned to Henley in Arden to continue our ministry at Henley Baptist Church.  The folks there were excited to see us and so glad that we were back.  We began to make plans for a Women’s Conference at our church led by five of the greatest women from our home church, Mount Ararat Baptist Church in Stafford, Virginia.  They were to arrive early November for the 2 day conference (A Heart of Faith).  They are very good friends of ours and very active in the Women’s Ministry at the Mount.  With the plans under way, we were excited to be part of such a conference.  Conferences like the one we were planning do not just happen in the UK.  The plan was that these friends would arrive and we would have the opportunity to show them the England we had discovered.

However, God had other things in mind.  Nadine’s father, who was in Arizona, began to fail because of the lung cancer he had.  On October 1, we flew to Phoenix to be with him.  When we arrived we found him much worse than expected.  The following day, he drifted off into sleep.  But between the time we arrived and the next afternoon, we got to visit with him quite a bit.  He passed away on Friday, October 5.  His church scheduled his funeral service for Sunday morning with the graveside service on Monday (which I was privileged to conduct).  He was very active in his church serving as deacon, treasurer, usher, and many other responsibilities.  His service was well attended.

We then set out to clean his place and get it ready for a new buyer.  We worked hard getting rid of all of his things, many of which he had accumulated over the years.  It seemed like we would never get it all done.  We had scheduled our return to Henley for November 1.  One night, we went to dinner at a place called Lefty’s.  When I walked into the restaurant, I motioned to the hostess that we needed a table for 5.  As the rest of our party entered, I suddenly began to get very dizzy (something that usually happens when I would leave Lefty’s).  I thought I was going to hit the floor.  I managed to find a bench and soon regained my equilibrium and made it through the evening without any other incident.  The next morning my brother-in-law took me to the fire station to have my blood pressure checked.  It was unusually high (my blood pressure is always 120 over 78).  To make a short story long, over the next few days I visited the fire station several times and my blood pressure was consistently elevated.  One day (after the EMT suggested I go to the hospital) we drove the 40 miles to the hospital, but nothing could be found out of the ordinary.  A couple of days later I became violently ill.  Later, the family called for the ambulance to take me back to the hospital.  Throughout the evening, I grew worse.  Finally about 1 or 1:30 in the morning I was released with the information that I had a rather large kidney stone.  We cut our visit in Arizona short and took a red-eye back to Virginia, in time to see a urology specialist to see what to do about the stone.  He suggested that we try the laser treatment because it was the most effective way to deal with such a large stone.  The first trip into the hospital for the removal of the stone was ineffective.  The doctor could not break it up.  We set up another time to go back to the hospital.  I told the doctor that if he was unsuccessful in getting the stone out to at least use the laser and etch a happy face or some witty saying on it so that when I donated my body to science they would find it and say, “WOW, Look at this.”  But he was successful this time in getting most of it out and in its place he inserted a stent.  A week later, I went into his office to get the stent taken out.  I came in the little room and the nurse told me to take off everything below the waist and get on the table and cover up with a paper napkin (which I did).  When she came back in she promptly removed the napkin.  Here I am laying there for all the world to see and another nurse walked right in and said, “Good Morning.”  I said, “Come right on in.”  But I discovered something:  When you blush, you blush all over.  It is fortunate that I have not learned how to import pictures into this blog for I might be tempted to show you an ugly stone with a small happy face.

Now with everything completed we were able to set our sights on returning to England.   (Of course, by the time we were able to actually return,  we had already missed the wonderful experience of hosting the five wonderful ladies from the Mount).  We applied for new visas (we were granted ones for 2 years) and I made our flight schedule for New Years eve so we could arrive in England on January 1, to continue our ministry at Henley Baptist Church.  The people there started praying for us and awaiting our return.  We received phone calls, e-mails, and many cards.
 
So, on New Year’s eve, we flew to London, arriving on New Year’s day.  It was a great flight and everything went very smoothly - just as though God had planned it all ahead of us - picture that! 

We quickly and happily settled in, took a nap, then went out to dinner with our friends, Stan and Wendy Gregory.  

We now are ready to begin again!! 

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NADINE’S CORNER:

Hi everyone,

As you can see from Dick’s “Saga”, things have been pretty tense for us for three months.  We are so happy to be back in England with our British friends / family.  We will be wined and dined for at least this week, which we do so appreciate!

We had a great Christmas and really enjoyed seeing our granddaughter, Christina, from New Mexico.

You can’t imagine how much work it was to get ready to return.  Since we will be staying for a full year, the Lord willing, there were many more “things” that had to be shipped over for us.  Let me tell you, mailing “stuff” to the UK is NOT cheap!  The thing that I couldn’t stop thinking about was how much it was going to cost us when we get ready to go back home!!  Yikes.

Our flight home was a very comfortable trip.  I made it without any stress to speak of.  The flight was the only thing I was dreading and then it turned out to be quite a great experience.  I’m sure that my Sunday School class prayed me through it and I love every one of them.  For those of you in my class who read this, THANK YOU THANK YOU
THANK YOU.  If only you had loaned me your LEGS for all the walking I had to do……….hmmmm

We’ve already been shopping in Stratford.  We’ve already been to our favorite Tea Shop.  I’m in the “thinking” and “consideration” stage of getting back to Curves!  Ahem .  .  .  .  Well, okay, I admit it — I’m really into having FUN, not necessarily exercising!!  hmmmmmmmm 

We have been blessed by having been able to return to the Mount for a little while.  Thanks to all of you for your gracious love and affection.  It’s always a blessing to see all of you.

Until next time………

FUN TOWN/VILLAGE NAMES FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT:

Aymestrey
Cleobury Mortimer
Fron Isaf
Llynclys
Mucklestone
Pontfadog
Stourbridge
Selattyn
Shobdon
Shelton Under Harley
Tushingham cum Grindley
Trefonen
Weston Under Redcastle
Wykey
Wrockwardine
Woefferton

Great, aren’t they?  We love going through all the little villages and towns.  They are marvelous and their names are so entertaining.

Our love,
The Harmons