Week 26

Johanna asked about a blog for last week and I was sure I had written one, but upon examination couldn’t find one for Week 26, so here goes a little late.

Our week began at the USO where we helped prepare for the “No Dough” dinner in the evening. It was a hectic day as usual but fortunately we had a goodly number of volunteers which made light work for all. In the evening Pam and I raffled off school book bags. Each child who came with their parents filled out a little slip and then the Director pulled names out of a bucket and these families were called and notified they had won. Over the next few days we handed out these bookbags filled with school supplies—about 30. At 7:30 pm Pam and I took food to the gate guards at the Naval Station and then drove to Tara Alexanders and gave her a dish of “wings” and visited for a few minutes. This was her 2^nd full week without a husband who is on deployment on the USS Detroit.

Tuesday was report day and I worked on the monthly report to send tomorrow morning. We report directly to Church Headquarters regarding our work, so that is a little different from most senior companionships. At 9:00 am I went to the local medical clinic to check on some medications that our supplier wouldn’t fill due to the change in providers. I hoped it would take care of the issue for the next year. We drove to the USO and helped Cheryl Vandiver until 11:00 am when we went to the Beach Church and was offered a large about of food which was surplus for them and distribute to needy family at the USO. Cheryl and Pam layed out the food on the  pool table and took pictures and published it on a military wives Facebook page. At noon Pam and I drove to the Naval Station and located the LCS Squadron Headquarters and delivered items for a brief that Joyce Schellhorn (Director) normally gave herself. She couldn’t be there today, so we took the items to the squadron and an instructor would do the briefing. Later in the afternoon Pam began working on a baptismal dress for Beth.

Wednesday morning, I was back at the medical clinic for an INR test. It was still low—1.8 (goal 2.0 - 3.0) and Doctor Hoffman changed my regime again to try and get me above 2.0. When finished we drove to the USO and helped there for a couple of hours. We took a large number of items to the Navy Exchange to be used in next week’s Welcome Home festivities for the USS Iwo Jima and New York. While at the USO, Pam got a call from Samantha LaGae needing help. She had a doctor’s appointment and her husband, Jerald, hadn’t come home yet. Pam drove to her home on base and sat with her children for about an hour. That wasn’t hard duty for her as little Clive is joy. Back at our apartment Pam baked cookies for families.

Thursday morning, we opened the USO and processed the normal bread and pastry donations from the previous night. It was a good selection, the most we’ve received in almost a month. Pam managed the front office and I took more items to the Navy Exchange for the ship return celebration. We were busy today and had 5 mothers with their children come to enjoy the Children’s Room and for the children to play with each other. I didn’t hear crying, so things must have gone all right. We also had a community service worker come and he was a hard worker and cleaned the bathrooms and mopped the main floor area. Cheryl Vandiver arrived about mid-morning and two JIA (Jacksonville International Airport USO) volunteers came and brought more Travel Kits. At 1:00 pm they had plenty of help, so Pam and I left. At 4:00 pm we returned to the Beach area and went on the Naval Station to the home of Jennie Black (new military member family) and Stephanie and Lance Jarvis were visiting, so we joined them, and had a nice visit for about an hour. Jennie is getting settled and her daughter has a friend nearby and would attend school within a block of their home, so life was good for them. Her husband is in Mississippi as part of a pre-commissioning team for a new ship the USS Polynesia. We left a plate of cookies and then drove to the LaGae’s at 6:00 pm and had dinner with them and spent a very enjoyable couple of hours.

Friday morning, we were at the USO again helping Dave Ostrum until Cheryl Vandiver arrived. Dave is a new part-time employee they hired recently to give the night manager some time off. Cheryl trained us on selling Jaguar NFL football tickets, which is a big deal during football season. In the afternoon Pam and I walked to the workout room at our housing complex and walked on treadmills for an hour and we needed to do that more often.

Saturday morning, we were up early and at 9:00 am went to the Alexanders and mowed lawns for Tara. Pam went inside and visited while I did the mowing. It took about 90 minutes to finish and looked pretty good when done. St. Augustine grass never will look as great as normal grass, but it’s done for another two weeks. We returned home and did housework. I vacuumed, and Pam cleaned the bathrooms and kitchen. We also did 4 loads of laundry. In the afternoon we did some shopping and stopped at the homes of 3 military members and learned that one family had moved but the others were not at home. We got a text from a single member at the Naval Air Station and it was a relief as we hadn’t heard from her for over two weeks and were afraid we had hurt her feelings or something.

Sunday morning, we drove to the Beach and attended the Jacksonville Beach Ward and enjoyed their block of meetings. Alexis Connelly and Tyler Gneck were there, and they came together, which was nice. The Jarvis’ were also there along with Shay Tuttle, but we missed the Black’s and the LaGae’s. Each had some sick children. Following the block, we drove back to the Fort Caroline Ward and met the Bridger family, West & Ceyda and their two children. We hoped to see Angie Trejo, but she and her mother were not there today. After visiting for a while and making an appointment to visit the West’s at their home we returned to our apartment. In the afternoon we established a schedule to do apartment inspections during the following week with the full-time missionaries and wrote an individual letter to each Bishop in the Jacksonville East and West Stakes with a list of families that we have questions about and asked for their assistance. We also asked if there were military families they knew of that were not on our lists.  We hoped this would resolve questions we have had. Been a good week!