A week and a half ago I made an overnight trip to the Memphis area. I drove over after work on Friday night and checked in to the Marriott, courtesy of Mom and Dad, since I was there on business for them. I had two appointments for the next day at two different retirement communities.
They have decided, through prayer and consideration and discussion that building a home on the lot they own in Hot Springs Village, AR is not what they are supposed to do next. As most of you probably know, they will be done with their field assignment next February and will be back here in the US by the end of that month. They will then buy a mini-van and pack up like they did early in 2004 and will spend the rest of 2008 and all of 2009 travelling the US from timeshare to timeshare. At that time they intend to move into a CCRC (Continuing Care Retirement Center), which is why we are beginning the research and info gathering now. Some of these places have waiting lists.
So over the last 6 weeks or so, we have all been searching the web and they have begun contacting places via email and having the info packets sent to me. I visited one place here in Brentwood and then the two places mentioned above in the Memphis suburb of Germantown. I talked with them just Saturday morning to let them know all I had learned last week. We have now enough education to begin a little weeding out of places that we know will not work for them. I have two more places to visit in the Fort Wayne, IN area when I head up there next (probably the first weekend of August).
All that to say that I had a really nice day in Germantown and had plenty of leisure time to drive around the area a little. I also had researched enough in advance to find a scrapbook store in the area. I was able to spend about an hour browsing at Remember When Scrapbooking (www.rememberwhenss.com) and really enjoyed myself. I got some great deals too - I got 7 12x12 sheets all on sale, 2 tag sheets that were also on sale and 3 QK dies that were 30% off! Add in one more pad of liquid chalk that was on sale and I got all for $25.01! Plus since I spent over $20 I got 4 more 12x12 sheet for free! All in all I was ecstatic with my frugal finds of things I know I will use.
I also found a nice little lunch place in between appointments and enjoyed eating my lunch and reading my book! Yummy creamy tomato dill soup and a slice of spinach quiche - I couldn't have found anything better!
So if you are ever headed to or through Memphis, make sure you check out Germantown - it's really a nice place. More news on other things coming soon... Don't miss it!
Monday, June 18
Friday, June 8
New and newsy stuff!
It's already June. I feel like I've been very remiss here. I had a good Memorial Day weekend with my aunt and uncle in the Dayton, OH area. My uncle works at Wright-Patterson AFB and has for as long as I can remember - first as a member of the AF and now as a civilian. Anyhow, there is a air museum there and I have not been since I was a little girl, but my uncle has been volunteering there on weekends for several years now. Since we had a 3-day weekend, we went a spent a couple hours going through. It was nice to have our own personal tour guide so we could keep up a nice pace and he hit all the highlights and answered questions for my aunt and I.
I also want to give tribute here to my parents - they celebrated their 39th anniversary on June 1! They said they went to a really nice French restaurant for dinner and had a really nice time. Yes, a French restaurant in Chiang Mai. I praise the Lord often for giving me to parents who love Him wholeheartedly and serve Him diligently. I am blessed to have been raised in a loving home that follows God in everything and I congratulate them on all the hard work over these 39 years and pray that they will continue to enjoy life together and reap the blessings they have sown in not only my life, but the lives of so many others. Thanks Mom and Dad - I love you!
And speaking of my parents, tonight I'm heading to Memphis to do some research for them tomorrow. After much prayer and discussion that have determined that they will not be building a retirement home on the lot they own at Hot Springs Village. They have decided that they will find a CCRC (Continuing Care Retirement Center) that runs the full spectrum of independent living (in a stand alone home or duplex or townhouse) to assisted living to nursing care to alzheimers care. This is the type of place that my grandparents chose many years ago and has been a blessing to them as well as the rest of our family. I'm sure it will be the same for my parents and our family too. So that said, the search has begun. They've had many packets of info sent to me and I'm going to be visiting as many places as I can to gather more specific info and get a look at/feel for each place. Then they will be able to narrow it down some and will do their own visiting next year as they travel the States.
I'll be back in town tomorrow evening in time to go to a game night for my new Sunday School class. This will be my first social activity with the class and I'm looking forward to it. It is at the home of one of the girls in my small group Bible study (which I started May 24), and she only lives about 10 minutes from me. I'm feeling at home now in this new place and am intending to join the church this Sunday. I also spoke to another girl in my Bible study who is a choir member and I'm planning to go for the first time next week. Once again the Lord has been faithful to lead me where He wants me to be and all is good. It feels really good to be back involved and attending on a regular basis. My singles class does a lot of mission projects and I'm looking forward to participating in many of those as well. The church as a whole is very mission minded and does a lot of mission work here in the community, in other states and around the world.
Well, I need to get back to work and finish up some things before I hit the road tonight. Thanks for checking in - please feel free to leave me comments, thoughts, questions, or topics you'd like to hear my thoughts on. I really enjoy hearing from you too!
Blessings on you and yours this weekend!
I also want to give tribute here to my parents - they celebrated their 39th anniversary on June 1! They said they went to a really nice French restaurant for dinner and had a really nice time. Yes, a French restaurant in Chiang Mai. I praise the Lord often for giving me to parents who love Him wholeheartedly and serve Him diligently. I am blessed to have been raised in a loving home that follows God in everything and I congratulate them on all the hard work over these 39 years and pray that they will continue to enjoy life together and reap the blessings they have sown in not only my life, but the lives of so many others. Thanks Mom and Dad - I love you!
And speaking of my parents, tonight I'm heading to Memphis to do some research for them tomorrow. After much prayer and discussion that have determined that they will not be building a retirement home on the lot they own at Hot Springs Village. They have decided that they will find a CCRC (Continuing Care Retirement Center) that runs the full spectrum of independent living (in a stand alone home or duplex or townhouse) to assisted living to nursing care to alzheimers care. This is the type of place that my grandparents chose many years ago and has been a blessing to them as well as the rest of our family. I'm sure it will be the same for my parents and our family too. So that said, the search has begun. They've had many packets of info sent to me and I'm going to be visiting as many places as I can to gather more specific info and get a look at/feel for each place. Then they will be able to narrow it down some and will do their own visiting next year as they travel the States.
I'll be back in town tomorrow evening in time to go to a game night for my new Sunday School class. This will be my first social activity with the class and I'm looking forward to it. It is at the home of one of the girls in my small group Bible study (which I started May 24), and she only lives about 10 minutes from me. I'm feeling at home now in this new place and am intending to join the church this Sunday. I also spoke to another girl in my Bible study who is a choir member and I'm planning to go for the first time next week. Once again the Lord has been faithful to lead me where He wants me to be and all is good. It feels really good to be back involved and attending on a regular basis. My singles class does a lot of mission projects and I'm looking forward to participating in many of those as well. The church as a whole is very mission minded and does a lot of mission work here in the community, in other states and around the world.
Well, I need to get back to work and finish up some things before I hit the road tonight. Thanks for checking in - please feel free to leave me comments, thoughts, questions, or topics you'd like to hear my thoughts on. I really enjoy hearing from you too!
Blessings on you and yours this weekend!
