This is my friend Chris Luther. He’s the Athletic Director at York College, where we both graduated in the early 90’s. He was recently named Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference Athletic Director of the Year for his conference. Later, he was chosen for the same honor for his region (a four state area), making him one of 12 A.D.s in the country to receive the award. As a result of this award, Luther is now on the ballot at the national level. The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Athletic Director of the Year will be chosen at their annual convention in March in Kansas City. Read the rest of the article about my friend here.
Oh the stories I could share about this man! 😉 His sweet wife Annahleise was my friend at York as well. They have two beautiful children and still live in the little Norman Rockwellish city of York, Nebraska. I’m proud of Chris and what he has done with the athletic program at York over the last few years. I was able to visit with him and his family last summer when I went to my college choir reunion. I watched him love on and care for his children and I was impressed. You can just tell when it’s an act and when it’s real. He’s a good Dad. Of course Annahleise is a fabulous mother as well. They are one of those families that I wish I lived near so we could hang out as families. I just wanted to honor him here and promote the legacy he’s creating with his family and his athletic program. Way to go Chris!!
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What a weekend I had! Friday night I had the pleasure of having dinner with my friends Paula and JettyBetty, both leave comments here and are linked on my sidebar. It was a wonderful time of sharing and we could have sat there for hours if not on a time schedule to meet husbands. JB’s husband had meetings here in CO and she was able to come along for the trip. She and Paula had never met so I thought it would be great for us all to get together. Here’s the funny part of the story. A few months ago I noticed that JB had left a comment on Paula’s blog. I assumed she found Paula through my blog. When I commented to Paula about it, she said that JB had been blogging there for a few years and she thought JB had found my blog through hers. I told her that JB had been with my blog since it’s beginning in late 2004 – when I still lived in KS and hadn’t met Paula yet. Sounds like we’re fighting over her, huh? haha So, we figured out that JB had found and befriended both of us separately, then Paula and I found each other last year on our own. Well, with a little help from Michael, our pastor. We got to tell JB the story over dinner and she was surprised to learn that Paula and I go to church together and are a part of the same homeschooling group. She thought we were just blogging friends that connected. It wasn’t until after we were friends that we discovered that we were both bloggers. Just another example of the www bringing people together. 😉 (deep breath) Anyway, they are both spiritually mature women have have loved me through some tough times. I encourage you to check out their blogs. They are both wonderful and I am blessed to be their friend!
After leaving Paula and JettyBetty, I went home to call my friend Linda. That morning during Friday school I got a sudden and STRONG urge to go to Buena Vista to visit my friend Linda. Most of you have heard me talk about her before. She is one of my closest friends and I consider her my spiritual mentor. She’s a fabulous lady and I can’t say enough about her – I love her so much. I worked out the details with Benny to drive to B.V. next weekend to spend Saturday with her, then called my Father-in-law to see if I could spend the night at their house while there. I just needed to call Linda to make sure she was available.
Well, the day was so full that it was 8 p.m. before I could call her. She answered the phone with a tired voice. We talked for a few minutes and the short version of the story is that she spent 3 days last week in the hospital for Congestive Heart Failure. She is 64 and has had many health issues over the past several years, including a previous heart surgery. BUT, she’s the spunkiest, most energetic and fun 64 year old I’ve ever met. I told her my plan to come next weekend, and she said she was glad because she needed to see me. The more we talked, the more I got the feeling that things are REALLY bad. She said she’d give me more details when I get there and we can talk more freely. She was so tired today she couldn’t even put a load of laundry in the washer. She’s on 7 different meds right now. There is more.
I hung up the phone and burst into tears telling Benny the whole story. He told me to go immediately and not wait until next weekend. I calmed down a bit and called her back and told her the change of plans and she thanked me for coming sooner. Something was terribly wrong. She’s never talked to me like that in all of our years of friendship, and I was scared. I was hoping she was just feeling really down and needed to see a friendly face she rarely gets to see.
So I left early Saturday morning to drive up there. I got to the top of Kenosha Pass (1 1/2 hours from my house) and the road was closed due to “adverse road conditions”. I was really upset and backtracked to try a different route – which also ended with a road closure. I called my MIL to call road conditions for me and she said my only other route wasn’t closed, but was reported “dangerous conditions” and was pretty far out of my way – it could be closed by the time I got there. So I drove home in tears. I tried. I called Linda back and we chatted. She told me she didn’t want me to worry about her and that she would be fine. She updated me on her condition and said that she’d love to see me next weekend. She has a team of people visiting her and taking care of her. She is waiting for all the meds to do what they are supposed to do and if they don’t, she doesn’t know what will happen next. She is scheduled for an EKG tomorrow. Please pray for her. She’s not the type to just sit at home and right now she can’t do anything but that. It must be so frustrating for her.
As much as I don’t like it, it was probably best for me to be at home anyway. I’ve had a sinus infection for about a week and can’t seem to get my groove back. Some days it’s easier to push through the fatigue than others. Friday was a good day, but Saturday after my failed attempt to get to B.V., I went to a movie (great distraction from all the emotions), then spent the rest of the day on the couch feeling lousy. Benny had taken the kids to Colorado Springs to a motorcycle show, so I had peace and quiet for a few hours. Sunday I spent the whole day on the couch and in bed, sneezing and coughing up green stuff. (yeah – gross – I know) Today I’m not much better. I at least have the energy to blog and maybe get some reading done. I couldn’t concentrate enough yesterday to do ANYTHING. Even the t.v. was a bit of a fog.
Today is supposed to be my cleaning day, but I’m more interested in resting than having a clean house. Don’t come over for a visit! 😉 The kids have free reign to explore their imaginations in their rooms. It’s almost lunch time, then nap time and Max’s school work, then a lazy afternoon. I’m so tired. So once again I ask for your prayers for restored health. I’ll still be blogging this week…with a book review on Friday. Thanks for stopping by! I’m off to make more tea…
Sometimes I Write 