Notes from Sharon

This spring, after a trip to Mayo, I concluded that it was time to proceed with treatment. As you know, this is never an easy step for me because I always have to consider the future. We decided to try a newer option for my disease. So far, it seems to be having good results. I had treatments once a month from April to July and now I am continuing on with a maintenance routine. So I will have a treatment every 10 weeks for up to 2 years, depending on my reactions to it. I can do this in Oskaloosa and it is much easier on me than earlier treatments which kind of knocked me out for the summer. I am thankful for summer vacation as I had to take a week off in April and May due to side effects. I can also tell that I am feeling better physically than I did the past couple of years, especially the past year. That is also a reason for praise and thankfulness.

There was one advantage to being down and out due to chemo treatments. It gave me time to learn how to design and publish a website. I spent a lot of time researching and finally went with Kompozer. It’s fairly simple to use.  Various tutorials and You Tube videos helped me plus our friend, Bob. Best of all, it was a free program I could download. One place quoted us a mere $5,000 to set up a website. Mine is fairly simple but it works for now. I would like to learn more and spruce it up but I haven’t had time since school began. My husband thinks I’m really smart now. But if I can publish a webpage, I think most anyone could. I really do not understand how it works but it does.

Micah went off to college this fall. He thinks it is a great place. I can’t tell that he has been homesick. He went with some good friends and made more friends. In their downtime they enjoy video games, bowling, racquetball and basketball. He is majoring in accounting and leaning towards being a financial advisor.  If you know Micah, he pays attention to every penny and has had his own stocks and mutual funds for years so I think this will be a good fit for him. Mentioning the word “money” is always a good way to get him to call home but I think that is typical for many college students.

Matthew is a junior. I think he is enjoying being in high school by himself, not following an older brother. An early summer hailstorm led to a job for Matthew as he worked this summer with his brother reroofing damaged houses. This fall. we enjoyed beautiful weather as he participated in cross-country meets. His cousin, Samantha, also ran (5 hours away L) but we were able to see her run at the State meet as her team won the District 2A Championships.

Joshua and Casey live about an hour southwest of here Joshua works for a local co-op.  He transferred jobs to a place closer to his home. This fall he caught his finger at work which gave us some anxious moments but it was stitched back together and doesn’t look too bad. Casey works for an assisted living facility as activity director and pitches in where ever else she is needed. She loves her job and I feel that she is very gifted for it.

At school, I continue to work with special education students. This year, I've been able to dig into the science program some. Recently I worked on States of Matter, Parts of a Plant and the Life Cycle of a Plant; also a project on Living/Non-Living. And I continue to spend time on the reading program since we are always trying to make it better and increase the number of modified stories for students. Most of the time I have more jobs than time but it makes the days fly by. I am blessed to work with some very special associates/teachers who are committed to their students and helping them learn. As this is my 5^th year, it has been exciting to see where students started and where they are today. Some of my students will be “graduating” to junior high and a new building.

In my spare time, I like to frequent Goodwill, thrift shops and garage sales. This summer I found a queen size bed in the back of a garage for $5. I fled home, got Royce and the pickup and took it home. It needed a lot of work but I'm glad to have it. This fall, I took home a chair and a loveseat for our patio for $1.98 (thanks to my sister-in-law, Jolene). It will need some work. When Micah came home late that night, he thought someone threw their garbage on our lawn. Jolene and I see possibilities. If I get if fixed up, I'll post a before and after picture.

Royce and I celebrated our 25^th Wedding Anniversary in October. We took a short trip into Missouri during a school break. It was wonderful weather and wonderful to get away and enjoy some time together. My parent’s 50^th Anniversary is coming up in January.

Last year at this time, Royce had recently lost his job and we were facing an uncertain future. But God had things all figured out. He went straight from one job to another. He works for a local family with a large farming/hog operation. Mostly he handles the financial end but he also does some work with the pigs. He didn’t like sitting behind a desk all the time. We also purchased a small business (Iowa Farm Families) which sells specialty pork cuts to white table cloth restaurants. We spent a lot of time in prayer before we made this jump. We are not sure if we will remain in it long term but we feel for the moment that this is where God wants us to be.