A Good Goodbye

  

Grandsons and Great-grandsons carrying Mom.

Lovely Danish open-faced sandwiches decorated by church kitchen ladies!

    Beautiful flowers adorned the sanctuary.

 

Perkins

Last night we went to Perkins…and had breakfast for supper. Not many were there. When the gal brought our bill, I looked and said., I don’t think this is ours (it had a salmon meal and something else). She apologized and scurried away.

She came back and said someone paid our bill!! We saw all those that were there and didn’t remotely know anyone…not even “maybe I’ve seen them at church”…So we asked to pay it forward. 

Haven’t had that happen. A special surprise.

Impetigo

 

When I was eight or nine some of my sisters and I had impetigo.  Two memories of it included having purple “medicine” painted on each sore and the doctor told Mom to wash the front steps with Clorox.

We did a lot of playing on the front steps with toys and dolls, and neighbor kids joined us.  The treatment was to peel off the paper-like scab and then paint it with purple medicine.  Of course, if you had purple paint spots you were noticed!

Fast forward to today and our perfect grandson’s impetigo is treated with oral antibiotics and an ointment that is not purple!

I’ve since learned that the purple was Gentian Violet.  Gentian violet is an antiseptic dye used to treat fungal infections of the skin.  It isn’t used for impetigo anymore.

Stained Glass WIndow Installed

 "our" window installed at camp....first view!

50 years

 

50 years of Ministry

Last Sunday (closest to June 18) we celebrated Mike’s 50 year ordination anniversary.  He was recognized at Trinity Lutheran where we are members.  Gretchen, Michael, Christian, and Andy were able to join us.  The Western Iowa Synod sent a plant to Trinity in recognition of the anniversary.

Service Recognition 

Gift from Western Iowa Synod

And 50 years ago, Mike was ordained at First Lutheran in Ottumwa.  We had been married four years.  His dad was present and read scripture.  Dr. Lingwall ordained Mike.  We had other family there to celebrate.  Mike had finished seminary at the end of May and I had finished the school year at Snail Lake in Mounds View…and I remember experiencing morning sickness.  Indeed Gretchen was born in January.

After the service

Ordination

Loon Lake

 

Another Chapter

Last summer we got a new smaller roll-in dock.  With that our lift was large and awkward and the boat hadn’t been used much.  The boat would be sold.  What to do with our lift?

We didn’t have the capability to load and cart it away.  We reached out to a dock service and found a family on a small lake that could use the lift for their fishing boat.  They came with a bobcat and loaded it and off it went to its new home.  They have two children in middle school and they were so excited!  We are so glad it found a new home.

Loon Lake

 

Stained Glass Window

Chapter One

In 2010, Trinity Lutheran Church in rural Hardy auctioned the furnishings of their church including the stained glass windows.  Mike asked Cindy the synod administrator and a member of Trinity to bid on one of the windows. His bid got the window on the left side of the chancel. It is the Seven Flames, The Holy Spirit, The Christ Symbol, and Creator’s Star. The triangle with circle reflects the triune God.

The window made it to Storm Lake and it lived under our bed for the next three years.  The dream was that it could be installed at our yet to be built lake cabin on Loon Lake, either in a peak or as a side light to the door.

In 2013 our Storm Lake home sold quickly and we were about to move to Mason City.

Chapter Two

In 2013 and the window that lived under our bed.…No cabin yet…move it or?  Researching we found Kountry Glass by Larson in rural Albert City. And we also learned it was not a leaded stained-glass window!  It was a faceted stained-glass window. (This was a real blessing for us because a leaded window should never be stored flat!!)

I began researching faceted glass and this window of ours. It was created by Hauser Glass in Winona, Minnesota for Trinity Lutheran. Faceted glass is defined as raw, thick, unpainted glass with deep color and shimmering sparkle. Earlier windows were held in place with cement. Now epoxy is poured around the design.

Chapter Three

In November after our move to Mason City Mr. Larson had stabilized the window and framed it ready to be installed in our lake cabin.  The plan was for Mike and I to drive to Storm Lake, get Dad’s pickup, drive to Albert City and get the window, take it to Bob and Cindy’s rural Hardy farm and store it there. Cindy pointed out that was a lot of back and forth and why didn’t she and Bob just go pick it up and bring it to their farm.  And they did! Cost – a beer and burger! And we still haven’t paid up.

Bob wrapped it and put it on a pallet and framed and stored it.  And there it has resided until this spring, 2022.  Each year we tried to meet up and have dinner with Bob and Cindy, a bit of rent and so much fun to be together.

Chapter Four

We are now 75 and our Loon Lake cabin hasn’t been built.  We have loved our Loon Lake Resort. In thinking about our window, we decided to offer it to Lutheran Lakeside Camp (LLC). LLC is where we met when we were both counselors 55 years ago! LLC accepted the gift. This May with son Joe we drove to Bob and Cindy’s and Bob loaded the window into our pickup with forklift and tractor and strapped it tightly.

We headed to LLC and where we were met by Ranger Z and his Bobcat and forklift. It was moved into the old dining hall.