Sabbath, April 6, 2013

John and I went to Rolla Church together...his first time to church since January 12...almost 3 months.  He thoroughly enjoyed being there though his morning had been rough with some low blood pressure, which makes him feel faint.  We came home for a quick lunch, Bev came, and we left to head to our old church district in Mountain Grove for Bayard Vermilyea's Memorial Service.  He was our head elder some of those years we were there.  His wife, Becky, and I are best friends forever.

As an Air Force Colonel, Bayard was honored with a full military service.  It was a service with both tears and laughter, not making him out to be a saint, but showing him to be a Godly and striving man. 

It was a grand reunion with many old friends from that area.  For supper, we enjoyed haystacks with the family afterwards.  John had to sit down a few times during the visiting time out on the lawn but did thoroughly enjoy seeing everyone.  We will see how he does today after all that!

This was John's farewell quip:  "Becki, come over here and tell them why my abdominal muscle was removed."  So, I explained that the chest cavity and the dacron graft were so seriously infected that they needed extra tissue with lots of blood supply to provide added protection.  Turning to Kerry, Becky's daughter, who is a nurse, I said, "It's called a 'flap', have you ever heard of it?"  Before she could answer, John said, "Yea, it's called a flap but if it doesn't work, it is called a 'flop'!"  There was wonderful laughter and John held his tummy so he could laugh too and not hurt too bad!