Parcel to Uganda

 

January Journaling

1.    Happy New Year! Let’s hope we can move past the pandemic this year.

2.    Covid week 93! And so it continues.

3.    My husband has one more day off. I got some very messy rooms tidied up.

4.    Taking my mom in for a doctor’s appointment. She got her Covid booster.

5.    Grandkids are coming for three nights so our daughter and her husband can get away for a delayed anniversary trip. Nine years already. My mom had an in-home assessment for home oxygen. She doesn’t need it anymore in my opinion; only when her hgb was so low. Now she’s better. My husband got his Covid booster.

6.    Lots of crafts, outside time, and a sauna. They’ll sleep well tonight.

7.    Back to a quiet house, but we miss them already.

8.    Men’s meeting. Writing. My mom bought a personal percussion massager. It’s like the thumper my chiropractor uses which I love. It is so amazing, I actually woke up the next morning without back pain. Our brand is called Rebel Pro.

9.    Covid week 94! Back to evening services.

10. Sent my first parcel to Uganda. I’m so excited for them to get it. I sent it by Canada Post. If it works well, then I’ll send more.

11. Shopping for the next parcel. I bought dozens of pairs of underwear of all sizes for my 60 ‘grandchildren’. Back to the pain clinic for back injections.

12. Getting my Covid booster today. That’s three then for all of us in the house. My mom and grandson had no reaction. My husband and daughters did.

13. Back to Women’s Bible studies. Doing it online for now. I’ve had such a busy two months with my mom’s health issues, so many appointments and tests, I’ve fallen behind in my writing. So I re-recorded the book of Job because Genesis and Job were originally recorded before I got my headset and microphone. So that has allowed me some breathing space. I may re-record Genesis as well, I only have to update them with Scarlet Threads, which is not as much work as re-writing everything. So far so good with my booster; no side effects.

14. My husband will take another course this winter for his Master’s program at Toronto Baptist Seminary. I will join in but will only audit again, since I don’t have time for writing papers.

15. Frustrated to be so far behind in writing.

16. Smart people are buying snow blowers to prepare for this big storm. I did not buy one. I am not smart. Church Covid week 95.

17. Snow storm so my mom’s CT scans need to be rescheduled. I shovelled half the driveway even though it’s still snowing, because then at least half of it will be a little lighter. Northern thinking. It was supposed to be the kids’ return to school after an extended Christmas break because of Covid and the first day is a snow day. My husband’s windshield cracked on his car as he drove in to work. It took hours for him to get home and since the streets aren’t plowed yet he parked at a nearby plaza and walked home.

18. So sore from shoveling yesterday.

19. Managed to get my mom’s CT scans rebooked for today, so the results will be in before her follow-up appointment with the ER doctor next week.

20. Women’s Bible study, on Mark 15. Amazed at the crucifixion account. Then the course started on Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon for me and my husband. More shoveling for my husband because the plow came back to get closer to the curb. Now it’s the heavy stuff.

21. Took my mom to get cortisone shots to her hips, and then for bloodwork.

22. Women’s ministry online. I shared about projects started during Covid; the orphans in Uganda and my podcast. Also a telephone appointment with my mom’s doctor.

23. Church Covid week 96.

24. Chiro and massage. I’m furious. The parcel I mailed to Uganda arrived, it took two weeks, which is reasonable. I paid no tax on it in Canada as it is a gift (for orphans). But when David went to pick it up he paid the $2.50 fee and they gave him a receipt. But then they sent him to another place to pay “tax” on it. They said he could only get it when he paid them the equivalent of $250 Canadian. Since when were taxes demanded in foreign currency? They wouldn’t invoice him or tell him how the taxes were calculated. !00% of the postal fee is how. Then he told them he didn’t have it. So he had to leave it with them. They had also opened it and rummaged through it. I hope everything is still there. This means the postal service of Uganda is complicit in the extortion and they are expecting a share of it too since they knowingly sent him to this other place. Such corruption. Such injustice. And no recourse. So I sent another $300 Canadian which is over $400 U.S. which I didn’t have. This is an expensive lesson to learn. I just want him to get it since it came that far. From now on we will use a courier that he knows doesn’t do this.

25. Dental appointment.

26. Another doctor’s appointment for my mom; but at least it’s only a phone call.

27. Women’s Bible study; last chapter of the gospel of Mark. Another doctor’s appointment for my mom.

28. Busy week; although I’d love to take this one day to catch up on my writing and podcast recording, I have a few errands to run.

29. The older grandkids’ birthdays are coming up and my daughter is hesitant to see us in person as she fears somehow passing Covid on to my elderly mom, even though we’ve seen each other all along for two years. Ben will be seven on the first and Robin five on the eighth. Then she can get her Covid vaccine which Ben already got.

30.Church Covid week 97. They got the parcel finally in Uganda. So great to see their smiling faces and David loved his study Bible. I also sent two copies of my book. We had so many just sitting on our shelves. It was brand new.

31. Got my Botox today but the temporary doctor just doesn’t give me as much as my regular doctor who has been suspended almost a year ago for failing to wear a mask and so it doesn’t control my TMJ pain as well. Sigh.