Thursday Jan.31,2008

Wow how the time does fly. Here it is Thursday and still colder than it should be. They are saying it is only -22 but on my back deck it was-26. Well this morning I got up at 7:00am and turned on this stupid old computer. Seems to be a habit now. It is the first thing that I do after getting up even before Tea. SIGH. Mandy was on line so I talked to her for what I thought was just a little while but when I went upstairs it was almost 8 am. Took a quick shower and out the door to Happ's hoping to meet my friend Art. I sure am going to miss having breakfast and chatting with him, he is such a nice guy. God has bless me with some really great friends. Took me almost 20 minutes to get there with the traffic but he was still there. We almost solved half of the worlds problem but ran out of time so guess we'll have to solve the rest tomorrow or Friday eh?
Then I came home and answered some e-mail and deleted a few forwards. Funny you just can't delete them all because some are really good. sigh.Then I started packing some stuff and that didn't go to well. I spent too much time listening to CD's that weren't labeled and labeled some. Didn't get a lot done before lunch. Then got down to some serious packing and that lasted about a good 10 minutes and the doorbell was ringing . The man needed to get in the back to read the meters. ha ha. He had to come through the house because I can't get the gate open as there is about 5 foot of snow and I'm not going to shovel it out. It's just too heavy and it's too cold. I told him just walk through and I wiped up the tracks. He still had trouble finding the meters in all the snow. It is only about 5 feet high where it has blown in but he manage to kick and shovel so he could read them. Then I played my harmonica a bit and before I knew it, it was time for supper so up I went and made supper. My cook has gone to Lethbridge sigh. I did manage to get about 5 boxes packed and LABELED. Okay so they are fairly small but they are packed. LoL. I don't think size matters does it????
Then my honey called and I chatted and I found out that we have an address in Picture Butte now. No I'm not giving it to you now for 2 good reasons. One is I don't remember it and 2nd. because my wife said not to give it out. ha ha. I am waiting for the inspector to call me and tell me when he is going to inspect the house in Picture and I will probably go down there so I can be there when he does it.
Don't think he is going to find much wrong there anyway but they say I should be there and I'm sure he'll want a check right?
Well that my story for today and I am sticking to it. Have a great day and God Bless you all.

Sunday Afternoon Jan.27th. and it is cold outside.

Boy is it ever cold outside. Wendy is on her way to Lethbridge and Madison and I are here in our nice warm house. I went to church this morning at 9 am. Wendy had to work in the book store and I had to take Mrs Mulbier to church so again as usual we were in separate cars. I hoping when we get moved into our new home that we can go to church together. Wendy is on the road right now and they are not good but she promised to drive slow and I am praying for her that God will give her a safe trip.
The service this morning was real good as usual. It sure is going to hard to say goodbye to all our friends when we move.
I got home and had to shovel our driveway out as there was about 3 foot of snow blocking it. I shoveled it out and just in time for Wendy when she came home. She quickly loaded her car and headed out. SIGH.
I talked to Kristy and Bob in South Africa for a few minutes and if your interested just go to links on the right side of this blog and click on to her blog site. If you go to Kristy's blog you can read her blog and that will tell you what they are doing today. You can also click on to their photo's and they have lots of pictures of Africa. I just talked to Bob's Dad as he hasn't been feeling so great. They found on Wednesday that he has some fluid on one lung and that he has been having some pain that he thought was kidney stones but they were not able to find any so that is a good thing.
Well I think I am going to do a bit of practicing and then maybe go watch a little TV or maybe pack a few more things. Okay so I might just rest my eyes a bit. I am trying to save them for when I get old eh? ha ha. I did a bit of packing yesterday and my closet never looked so nice. sigh. It was amazing all the things I had in there. Some good, some not so good. ha ha. I threw our a whole bag of clothes that I haven't worn or that don't fit any more. It's funny how you wait until you are moving before you clean things out. Oh well that about all for today. Have a great day and God Bless you all. If you think about it pray for Wendy as the roads are the pits.

Friday Morning.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to bowling I must go. Ya I am going bowling this morning at 11:00am. I think I will really miss that when we move. I have made many friends there. I think I'll miss a lot of things when we move but hope and pray I will be able to meet and make many new friends as well.I worry about our Harmonica groups but guess they will find someone. I feel like I am letting them down but I came along when they need a lead player and I am praying some will come along for them now. The Harmonicaires have already found a keyboard player to play with them. I think they should probably change their name eh? Two guitars and a key board just don't fit the name.

Mandy and Jorge will soon be here. They are coming on Feb. 9th. It sure will be good to have them back here with us.Well I'm out of here as it is getting late and I don't want to be late for bowling right?
God Bless you all.

Thursday Afternoon

Well here it is Thursday afternoon and all is well. I was told yesterday that they were going to put a sold sign on our sign out front but it didn't happen today. Today was a bit of a weird day. I got up and didn't feel so well so just hung around the house for a while. Then I went out in the COLD shop and made a piece for a clock for my friend Hess. I had to cut it and shape it to match the piece he had given me. It didn't take me to long and it was good it didn't because it was really cold out there.I made a few phone calls and tried to get some prices on renting a truck for when we move. Then I went to the post office and mailed some survey plans to the city and then delivered the piece of wood to Hess. Came home and cleaned the house and did the dish and then just laid around for the rest of the afternoon. Oh I called my Brother and my Sister in Florida and chatted with them for a while. Started to feel better so I baked some chicken and had supper. I practiced my harmonica for a little bit as we have 2 gigs coming up, one on Feb. 12 and one Feb. 14th. One with The Kompanions and one with The Rascals. Well guess it almost time to get to bed. It gets kind of boring around her being all by myself. Sure do miss Wendy. I should make a couple of copies of some CD's for a couple of guys .
God Bless you all.

Saturday Afternoon

Well I guess you all know by now that we have an offer on our house. God is good and it all happened in one day. I think he had it all planned eh, what do you think??? Well now we have to get down to some real hard looking and I just know that God will lead us right to the house that he has decided we should have. Well it will be nice to be out of debt Mortgage free and have $2.00 in my jeans. Oh lets see has anyone got a toonie they could lend me so I'll have the $2.00 in my jeans. ha ha. Just got a call from the garage that Wendys car is not ready at the garage so they are going to give us a rental car for the week. Sigh. Oh well please pray that our car will be fixed soon and not cost us too much more and that Wendy will have safe travel to Lethbridge and back on Friday.
God Bless you all

Friday Jan.18,2008

Wow! Where has the time gone? It just seems to slip away on me but then again I have all the time in the world. Well I have been feeling fine and thats a good thing eh? This morning I got up about 6:30am. and took Wendy's car back to the garage again. They still haven't been able to fix the leak. SIGH. Hope they get it done today because she is off to Lethbridge on Sunday. Well there is a lot of things happening in our lives and we have been busy getting shots(for our trip) eating out because lots of people want to take Wendy out and chat before she leaves for Lethbridge so I just go along for the ride(& the food of course). I think I have gained a few pounds in the last few days but who cares. At my age when you gain weight it makes you look younger because it smooths out some of the wrinkles. ha ha. Maybe I should gain some more eh? Oh well I don't worry about wrinkles because I don't have to look at me you do.
Today we have another showing of our house at 3:30pm. These people were going to look on Tuesday but something came up and they had to cancel. We have had lots of showings but no real good offers yet. I'm sure the Lord is waiting for the right one to buy it. I wonder if they will be Christians or not. For the last 24 years The Lord has been here with us. Well we will always have lots of good memories about this old house. It wasn't much when we bought it but we have put lots of work and love into it and I think I will shed a tear or two when I pull that door shut behind me for the last time. SIGH. I do pray that a really nice Christian couple will buy it. Oh well it's all in The Lords hands.
I am starting to get excited about moving. A bit of an adventure right. I'm sure what ever we buy Wendy will transform it into a lovely home like she has this one and will find lots of things to keep me busy. Ha ha. I hope the house we find is and old one so she won't have to beat it up and make it look old eh? I think thats what she did to me too, beat me up to make me look old. SIGH.
Well as most of you know Mandy and Jorge and the little Man child will be here on Feb. 9,2008. Boy thats not far off eh? Can't wait to see them, it's been almost a year. Then after March we will have all our kids back for a little while. God has been so good to us and I thank him every day for our family. What an AWSOME God we have. I am so happy for Jorge and Tom as the Lister and the Santana name will continue on. SIGH The Barto name will stop here in Edmonton but I think people will remember us for a day or two eh? Ya you'll remember us the guy that came form New York, Right??????? Ya the guy that Wendy brought back with her from New York or the landed immigrant that Wendy lives with ha ha. Ya, or the guy with the permanent Resident Card that lives on 175 street. Who knows if they will remember any of us when we go to be with the Lord. I'm sure somebody will remember.

Well this thing is getting long and I have to call my daughter Kristy in South Africa. Have a great day and God bless you all.

Jan.8,2008

Hi everyone , hope your day is going as well as mine. Today was one of those days when you wake up wondering is it going to be good news or bad. This morning I had a doctors appointment at 9:45am. at the Hy Center with Doctor Estay. I have been feeling really good so I was thinking well it should be good news. (Oh me of little faith). This morning I was to get the results of my PSA test that was taken on December 21st. After spending almost 45 minutes sitting in the office waiting to be called the nurse finally called my name and in we went. Wendy was with me. My test came back with a big 0 (Zero). yahoo. God is good. Prayers have been answered. Now I don't have to go back for 6 months and the doctors says that is a good sign that they got all the cancer when they operated. Thank You LORD.
Well I guess it is time to get back on track and back at doing things again.
Now the cancer is gone I just have to regain full control of the water works and then I 'll be 100%.
I questioned the doctor about that and he said that in time I will regain that for sure. Good news. I do notice that the cold weather and or running water gives me a bit of problems but the doctors said that was normal.
Well our house hasn't sold yet but Wendy has a job with the Lethbridge Police and she starts on January 21st. so she is going through some emotional times with all her friends at the com center. It is going to be hard for her to say good bye to all those people that she has worked with for the last 6 or 7 years.
So it will be me and Madison up here until it sells. Mandy and Jorge are going to be flying here on Feb. 9th. so that is not that far off. Wendy will be coming home on weekends or I will be going down there to be with her on weekends. Who knows eh?? Sounds like lots of traveling anyway.
Tomorrow I am off to the bowling ally at 9 am. and then I'll do my walk around the mall for 30 or 40 minutes. Maybe I can lose those few extra pounds that I gained around the holidays.(Ya it is only a few!) haha
Well thats my story today and I'm sticking to it . May God bless you all.

Happy New Year and what a crazy year it has been for us.

Wow here it is 2008. Can you believe it. Didn't think I would live to see it but here I am typing on this stupid old blog. It has been one crazy year for us. Talk about UP's and DOWN's well that has been our lives for the year. As most of you know our youngest daughter got married in November 2006 to a wonderful guy, Jorge Santana. I was told that I had prostate cancer. That started our up's and down's. Mandy and Jorge flew out in February to Chile and got married again for his family and then went to work with YWAM as leaders for a year.

The word Cancer scares you at the best of times. Anyway I was told not to worry about it but they did a biopsy in February just to make sure I guess. Then it was a fun time for us to get on a plane and head off to Chile to be with Mandy and Jorge for their marriage (for the second time) for his family. We were so excited to be with them and meet all of Jorge's family. After 3 weeks of fun, food and family we were back in Edmonton . Another up and down eh? When we got home the messages on the phone said to call the doctor right away. Not a good sign eh? That will take the smile off your face for a few minutes and make your head spin. We were told that it definitely was cancer and we should go to the Cancer Clinic. Then we were told that almost every man has Prostrate cancer and many men live a normal life with it for years and it is usually a very slow acting, None aggressive thing, but they did more test and decided that I should have treatment of some kind. Because I have IBS disease they ruled out radiation and we decided to go for the operation. Then it was off to talk to a surgeon and the earliest we could an appointment was September 17, 2007. Things almost went back to normal except our daughter Kristy and her husband Bob in Blackfalds (near Red Deer) were talking about going into missions. Little did we realize that in a few short months they would sell their home (just built in 2006), quit their jobs and join up with YWAM (Youth with a Mission) and in September they flew off to South Africa. It was sad that they were leaving but we were also happy for them . We would miss them for sure but they are doing Gods will and what more could we want for them?
Then we started planing our summer with the yard, the trailer at the lake, working out when we would drive to Lethbridge to see Tanya, Tom and the grand kids. Oh I forgot to mention that early in the year Tanya and Tom had told us that they were expecting their 5th. in September.

Then on July 21st. we received a call from the Surgeon that they had an opening on July 23rd. and he thought that we should do the operation then. Okay so bye bye plans for the summer and off we go to the hospital and they do the operation on July 23rd. Right after the operation the doctor came in the room and said that they were glad that they did the operation now as it was a very aggressive cancer but they thought that they had gotten it all. Ya think God might have had a hand in this? That sort of changed our lives a bit, well I guess you could say a lot. For the next few months I was house bound and didn't do much but lay around in the sun which was good but not something that I was used to and not feeling good didn't help so that was another up and down thing.
While all this was happening Wendy was having a bit of pain in her right hip. The kids flew to South Africa, little Isabella was born and Wendy had her name on the list for a new hip. Things were going along quite well. Then we decided after much prayer that maybe it would be nice to live closer to our grandkids and Tanya and Tom. That 6 hour drive to Lethbridge is a long time and then 6 hours back sigh and we don't get there too often because of Wendy 's work. We also thought that if we sold our house we could maybe pay off our debts and buy another house in the Lethbridge area and be mortgage and debt free and maybe Wendy wouldn't have to work full time and we could still survive and be close to the grandkids. They grow up so fast and we are missing that part of their lives. Well and we ain't getting any younger you know?
Well it was house hunting and looking and we thought that we had an offer and we thought that we had found our dream home. More ups and downs.
Well Wendy has been experiencing some facial swelling for a few years now when she is overtired and is stressed out ( usually when working the night shifts) and the doctors have not been able to figure out any medicine that would help this or prevent it. Finally her doctor sent her to a specialist that prescribed a medicine that seemed to really help and for 3 weeks no swelling. Only to discover that the medicine that she is taking is known to cause cancer. Another up and down eh? Why the specialist didn't tell her about that? Who knows, so she has stopped taking it because who wants to take a medicine that is known to cause cancer? However 2 days after she stopped the swelling is back. sigh.
Well that is most of our story. I still am not feeling 100% and they say that sometimes it takes the better part of a year to recover. Still don't have all my energy back and don't have full control of the water works. sigh. Our house hasn't sold and the dream house in Picture Butte has since sold. Wendy applied for a job in Lethbridge and has the job. She is to start on Jan 21st. So she will be staying with Tanya and Tom and I will be up here until this house sells. More ups and downs eh?
Well lets see if we can find the good in all this. I am sure that our house will sell and that God has a place all picked out in the Lethbridge area for us.(He just hasn't shown us yet). We have a beautiful new little grand baby, Wendy has a job and her name on a list for a new Hip, Mandy and Jorge have received his Visa and they will be flying here on Feb. 8th. Oh I forgot to mention that Mandy and Jorge are expecting. In March we are flying to England for 4 day's and want to see Wendy's relatives and then we fly South Africa to be with Kristy and Bob for couple of weeks. Oh they are talking about being leaders for YWAM . They will fly home with us and stay for a few months . Hopefully we will be all moved by then OR NOT. I am feeling better everyday and we are still able to smile everyday and Wendy and I have enjoyed our time together and we still have lots of friends. (Don't we)? More ups and downs but that is life, right? It is all in Gods Hands. We love you all. Sorry this is so long. I wasn't complaining just telling it like is, right? Maybe I'll go back to not blogging to much eh? Through all the ups and downs God has bless us so much. He is still in control.
We love you all.