An Extraordinary Christmas Date...

We received a notice that there would be a Cirque event at the Louisville Palace in December. Claude and I love Cirque du Soleil. I shared the notice with Claude and he said he wanted to go. I booked the event for us to attend on December 17th. We thought this would make a great big Christmas date for 2019.

Then Claude let this swirl around in his big brain and acted on making this even more memorable. He booked us a room at the Brown Hotel in Louisville. This an historic hotel and home of the Kentucky Hot Brown. We have wanted to stay there and enjoy dinner in their restaurant. 

Then we realized the next day we could attend the Louisville Temple before heading home. Yeah!!

Check-in was at 4pm. We left Sadieville a little after 2pm. We found the parking garage beside the Brown Hotel. There is a closed in walkway from the parking garage to the Brown Hotel. It took us a bit to find the desk to check-in. So used to the check-in desk being in the lobby near the front door. The ground floor is where you would enter the Brown Hotel from the street. From there you go up a flight of stairs and registration is on the second floor, around the corner and down the hall a bit. We eventually found it and Claude got us check-in. We found our room on the 7th floor.

We settled into the room. Claude had made us dinner reservations for 5:30pm in The English Grill. I set an alarm and we just rested for a bit.

We left for dinner about 5:15pm so we could take pictures of this historic hotel. In the hallway outside the elevators there is still the old mail slot in case you wanted to mail a letter. Wonder how many younger people simply overlook this unique item. 

These are pictures of the second floor where we checked into the Brown Hotel.

We had a few minutes before time for dinner. So I went down the stairs to the first floor entry and took a few more pictures there. As I stood at the top of the stairs to take the first picture, a man came up behind me to go down the stairs. He said looking down that way made him feel like he was in the movie "Titanic". 

Soon it was time to go to the English Grill for dinner. The cool thing about it is this was the original restaurant in the Brown Hotel. It was the place where the Kentucky Hot Brown was first created. It has the original lead glass windows and is just beautiful. It is not large but quite cozy and warm feeling.

Claude and I knew we wanted a picture of us in this setting. Claude took the first one of me as he tried to get a shot across the room. 

Our server came to our table and I asked him if he would be interested in helping us get a picture of ourselves. He was very happy to do this. I told him I would stand beside Claude for the picture. Then he quietly picked up the rose centerpiece and moved it so it would show in the picture. He commented that it would add a bit of color. I smiled and said to him that he obviously had lots of experience with people asking him to take pictures. He grinned and said it did indeed. After taking one of us together, he moved the place where he was standing. Then he said he thought we should have one with one of the horse pictures in it. The walls had portraits of race horses. The horse in the picture behind us is Clifton Tomson with the dates of 1775-1828. Wow!!

We each ordered a Kentucky Hot Brown. This was the purpose for dinner in this restaurant. The menu says when ordering a Hot Brown to be prepared to wait 20 minutes while it is prepared. We settled in at our table and the man who is the bus boy of sorts came and chatted with us. Then our server came back with two white plates with a little thing in the middle. This was served compliments of the chef. It is some type of marinated fruit with a glaze with walnuts in it over the little piece of fruit. The fruit is sitting on a small piece of brie cheese which is sitting on a toasted piece of focaccia bread. It was yummy. 

Claude also order a shrimp bisque and ate that while we waited. The server came with an extra spoon just in case I wanted to have a taste of the soup or potage as they called it. Eventually our Kentucky Hot Brown's came to the table. My they were good. But they are definitely comfort food and not light at all. Claude made it through his but I didn't quite finish all of mine. Let's be honest. They also brought us a small basket of bread. There were two piece of an herb bread, two poppy seed rolls and some bread that was like a sweet cracker. There were two types of butter, a plain and an herb. Both were delicious. We did enjoy our Hot Browns.

As we dined our server brought us a big postcard about the Kentucky Hot Brown with the recipe for how to make it on the back. Yippee!!

We opted not to have dessert and just quietly roll ourselves out of the English Grill!!

Time for our evening entertainment. We went downstairs and out onto the street, turned left and walked to the second block. That is where the Louisville Palace is located. As we got there, Claude said, "Oh no, I didn't take my pocket knife out of my pants." They have screening equipment and they don't let knives go through and into the theater. I assured Claude I would wait right outside the front of the theater while he went back to get his knife put away. I suggested he go into the parking garage and leave it in the Jeep, that was closer and easier that going inside and up to the 7th floor of the hotel. He did that. 

When he returned I had him pause for a selfie of the two of us. There were warning signs all over the place making sure everyone knew if they used their cell phones to take pictures or video during the performance they would be evicted. This would be our best chance for a picture.

Then we went inside to enjoy the show. 

It was excellent. Just as the show was starting the people in front of us entered the theater and took their seats in front of us. The man was wearing a fedora. It was blocking my view of the stage as we were sitting in the orchestra seating on the side of the theater. I was raised that when a man enters a building he is to remove his hat. Alas, this fella did not do that. I waited for a bit and decided I would do something. I leaned forward in my seat and quietly asked him to please remove his hat. His lady friend repeated my request. He said, "I will not remove my hat!" I could not believe it. I sat back and tried to move in my seat so I might get a better view. What is it with people that they are just sure they are more important than anyone else? I wondered if we would have words during the intermission but we did not. Before the show was over, he grabbed his lady friend and they exited while the performers were finishing the final number. Totally disrupts those around them. But he got out before any rush. I didn't let him diminish my enjoyment of my big Christmas date with Claude. But I was again amazed at how rude people can be. 

We walked back to our hotel room and were both very happy we didn't have to drive back to Sadieville. 

This morning we woke up and checked out of the hotel. We drove to Crestwood. Our timing was such we had about 45 minutes extra. So we went to the local McDonald's and had pancakes for breakfast. Then we went to the Louisville Temple. Look at the lovely Christmas decorations in front of the temple.

Such a lovely way to begin our day. On the way home we stopped at 5 Guys for a burger for lunch. 

This was just an extraordinary Christmas date. We both had a great time. 

Our Christmas Present Struggle Continues...

This is truly a first world problem...

I fell in love with a turtle quilt advertisement on Facebook. I love turtles. I am a sucker for turtles and just about anything purple. However, I didn't do anything about that turtle quilt on Facebook. It had a 50% discount that was good until a certain date. I showed great restraint and didn't purchase that quilt. The deadline past. Then the advertisements continued with a 50% end date of the next day. This kept up for several days. While watching television with Claude one evening, I shared with him my story of this beautiful turtle quilt and my great restraint in not purchasing it. Claude simply looked at me and said order the quilt if you want it. So, from my phone, I ordered the quilt. I started receiving eMail's from the company explaining the process that was happening with the making of my quilt, the inspecting of it, the moving it to shipping, the shipping of it, etc. This piqued my interest in receiving the quilt even more. 

When I got home from Georgetown one day, that package with my quilt was sitting on the breakfast table. I opened it and was sorely disappointed. My impression was that each turtle was stitched onto the fabric. Alas, this was an imprint on the fabric. The fabric was quilted but in the swirly patterns they put on quilted fabric you buy in the fabric store. The edge had seam binding on it. It was the only thing I have ordered this Christmas that didn't please me when it was received. I decided I would return it.

But I didn't do that right away either. I let the quilt sit in it's clear shrink-wrapped package for a few days. Then after Claude left one morning, I decided I should really open it and look at the entire quilt before I sent it back. I carefully removed it from the shrink-wrap so I could reuse that for packaging. Then I opened the quilt and spread it over our bed. I looked at it through the day and then had Claude look at it at night. He quietly asked me what I was not going to do, did I like the quilt now. I told him I was liking it more the longer it laid over the bed. I asked him if he liked it and he responded in the affirmative. So, the quilt has not gone back and I am keeping it as part of my Christmas from Claude.

The other thing I did Saturday evening was measure our bedroom windows for blinds. I have wanted white blinds on those windows for years and years. I told Claude he could order the blinds for me for Christmas. When I got home yesterday I found these boxes on either side of our bedroom windows. Yep, I am getting blinds for Christmas. 

Finally, my Kindle has been driving me nuts not holding a charge or not charging. I also called the Kindle help number and explained my problem. He called me back last night and explained there was no fix for this problem. The battery was bad and you can't fix that. The only option is to purchase another Kindle. He would give me a 15% discount on a new Kindle. He put that note in my Amazon records for whenever I opted to replace my Kindle. I sat and looked up Kindles on my poor Kindle and determined what I wanted. They had one in plum and I could get a plum-colored cover. That is just too close to purple to not make me happy. Claude and I looked over the specifications, etc. and we ordered me a new Kindle. It should arrive on Christmas Eve. So I know what all my Christmas is and am very, very happy about it. I even dreamed about my new Kindle last night and Claude and me playing with all its bells and whistles. 

Thus goes our first world problems...

Making Papa at Home...

It is official and permanent. Papa is not in Room 107 at Signature Health Care in Georgetown. He was moved there when Matt, his room mate in Room 105, was brought back from surgery with an infection and had to be isolated. Room 107 allows Papa to be in a bed by the window and he does like that better.

Over the weeks, I had moved the picture of Papa and Mimi not long after the wedding, the calendar I made him for Christmas last year with family pictures on each month, and the picture of the Salt Lake Temple into Room 107 and hung them on his closet and the walls. I also found a red Christmas star with some greenery on it and his canvas of the Mini's feet prints from years ago (mistletoes) up for Christmas decorations and put them in Room 107. What I was missing was the bulletin board of pictures given to him on his 90th birthday from family. I took all the pictures off and tried to get that bulletin board off the wall but it simply wouldn't come off. I put it up with Velcro command strips. The Velcro was really, really stuck together. I finally just gave up on that, determined to leave that bulletin board right there for the next resident, saved the pictures for a future bulletin board in Papa's new room.

Tuesday, December the 10th, I brought a new bulletin board to Papa's room. I got all the pictures on it and put the Velcro strips on and it and stuck it to the wall. Then I sat down for a visit with Papa. It wasn't long before the bulletin board crashed to the ground. I stuck it back up on the wall and held it for a good long time. It seemed to have stuck to the wall. I again sat down to visit Papa. After a while, the bulletin board fell off the wall again. Kevin, the maintenance man for the nursing home came by and said he had some double-sided tape he would get and try it. He put the tape on the velcro and that has stayed up just fine. By the way, Kevin had also tried to pull the bulletin board off the wall in Room 105 and he couldn't get it to come off either. He is a strong man so I didn't feel too bad about my futile efforts to remove that bulletin board.

Tuesday afternoon Claude and I went to Lowe's and purchased a shepherd's hook, bird feeder and bird food.

Wednesday, Claude came to the nursing home after he went to physical therapy and ran other errands. When he came to pick me up, I went out and showed him where to plant that shepherd's hook outside Papa's window. Then I went back in and had Papa sit up so we could tell Claude just where to position the shepherd's hook and bird feeder. Claude got it set and we headed home. If you look closely in you can see the shepherd's hook through the window. Sadly, to this date, Papa has seen absolutely no birds through the window on the shepherd's hook. It finally dawned on me that this is winter and there are not as many birds out there this time of year. Ugh!!

As I drove home, I paused to take this picture of the moon. It was such a huge moon. It was simply gorgeous.

The Yin and Yang of the Christmas Season...

Thursday, December 12th, was Bailey's Christmas band concert. Claude had a meeting in Lexington that would end at 3pm. He was conducting the meeting so he knew he would end it by 3pm. You see, we had two coupons for free pizzas at Hometown Pizza in LaGrange that we purchased at the Boy Scout spaghetti dinner for Hayden. They had to be used before December 31st. We suggested to Andie that we bring dinner the night of the concert. She said to be there about 4:30pm so all could be done leaving time to get Bailey to school early for the concert. An hour and a half from Lexington to LaGrange, buy pizza and then get to the Marx home would cut it very close. I visited Papa in the morning and came home so I could get in the car with Claude and go to his meeting and we could leave immediately from the meeting for LaGrange. Such a life we have carved out for ourselves!!

I ordered the pizza as we got closer to LaGrange along with salads and bread sticks. It worked well in getting it but it was clear we were not going to be at the Marx home by 4:30pm. It would be closer to 5pm. I sent Andie a text and she assured us it was not a problem. Turns out she had an emergency Parent/Teacher meeting for one of her first graders. 

We got to the Marx home right after Hayden left so we didn't get to see him. He was off to watch the 'Oscars' for gaming people. Michael had the voting sheet (a version of brackets for ball games) for the games. We each voted for names that sounded good to us. This way we sort of participated with Hayden. The rest of us enjoyed the pizza and other foods. Then Michael took Bailey early to Oldham County Middle School early to warm up with the band. He also secured seats for us in the bleachers. These concerts really fill up so this is a must for the band concerts.

The concert was excellent as always. Bailey was the best one in her row!! After the concert, we had her pause before helping with clean-up to get a quick picture. Our girl is now taller than me! Whoa!

This is always a fun part of Christmas (the Yin). We will miss Hayden's concert because of scheduling conflicts. But we do enjoy watching the Mini's perform.

We would leave after getting our photo to head back to Sadieville. Somewhere along the back roads we drove, Claude managed to run over a dead skunk. We began to smell the unmistakable aroma of skunk inside the car. We thought we were driving through an area where a skunk had been hit. We made it to I-75 and headed to Waddy/Peytona to get gasoline. When we pulled up to the pump, that skunk odor was strong. We were then really aware we were carrying the odor with us. We got home and Claude parked in the garage with the garage door down. Yep, in the morning the garage was profoundly odoriferous. We have left the garage door open as much as possible. Claude took the Jeep to a car wash and tried his best to clean underside of the car and the tires and wheel wells. We have had some rain and he has hit all the mud and puddles he could to try and get more of whatever is still there off. It is slowly going away. But that odor is definitely the Yang of Christmas!!

Christmas Letter 2019...

THE CHRISTENSEN FAMILY CHRONICLES

Circa 2019

Wifey told me she didn’t feel “moved” to make any handmade Christmas ornaments this year.  I told her I didn’t feel “moved” to hang any outside Christmas lights this year… and we laughed and laughed…

Point the First – Gardening Southern Gentleman Style.  Zero, zip, nada, uhuh, nope, none… letting the deer fend for themselves… moving on…

Point the Second – Date Knights.  Literally millions of miles were logged going places we probably didn’t need to go.  But a good time was had on our mandatory, bi-weekly semi-ad-hoc days and nights out together in which our dynamic duet contributed to the well-being of the rich and famous at the following events and venues for your heart-stopping interest: Cirque du Soliel – Cirque Dreams Holidaze (btw, this one included an overnighter at the famed Brown Hotel in Louisville, home of the world famous Kentucky Hot Brown (look it up), which of course we ate); The Louisville Orchestra got us twice this year –  “Star Wars” and “Harry Potter – Goblet of Fire” in Concert; An anniversary trip to Vegas that included The Blue Man Group and Cirque “O” and a visit with our mobile Brother and Sister-In-Law at points in and around Vegas, and Arizona; Had an adventure down on Black Mountain, the highest non-medicated point in Kentucky, where we loaded ourselves in an off-road buggy and followed a guy who had a death wish all over the mountain for a day (It seemed like a good idea at the time.); Caught up with Vince Gill again over at the Louisville Palace; Went up to Cincinnati for a walking tour of the sites associated with the “Black Sox” baseball scandal of 1919; Found the “Jersey Boys” down at the EKU Center; Rodeoed down at the Kentucky Horse Park; and added an expanded number of middle and now High School band concerts, cross-country meets, and football games.  There ya go, don’t know about you but I’m tired…

Point the Third – Turning the page…  He rather enjoyed not being the Mayor this year.  In fact, he liked it soooo much he continues, even to this day, looking for things not to do anymore.  The house seems noisier these days and we’re growing concerned but it turned out it was just our respective joints creaking.  Turns out 9pm is the new midnight.

Point the Fourth – And we’re walking, we’re walking ...  It was just a stellar year for our Lady Of The Bend.  They adopted the new catch phrase “Curb” (inside joke here but feel free to follow up off-line, it has to do with urban sprawl vs senior sprawl…).  Continuing her role as the “Good Wife”, she accompanied her Big Guy to many a ball game at the ball park up the road in Florence although somehow her role has changed and he is the one who has to go for the food, might be that curb thing.  Charity 5K’s abounded, with the addition of several new ones this year because, well, they’ve come to cherish the pain of doing one or two per month, followed by lunch, for most of the summer.  Proof of life photos can be found on Facebook.  Our strict 3-rules applied to all events: Finish, Don’t finish last, and Finish ahead of the people pushing the strollers.

Point the Fifth – There and Back Again.   Their road trips this year were many and varied taking them all the way there and back again.  Bunches of trips over to LaGrange and up to the land Northward to count heads were completed.  In addition to the requisite trips north, we visited some of the Utah bunch for Gramma Bonnie’s 90^th birthday celebration and later on a Jones “Cousins” reunion.  They added another nickel to the “If I had a nickel for each good year of marriage jar,” and selected the site for their 2020 family reunion blowout extravaganza to celebrate 50 years of welded bliss, assuming there is still a need for such in 2020.  Would you like to know where we’re going to be?  We’ve decided to exchange medical devices.

If it’s August, it must be Africa.  Yes boys and girls, this was the year for our visit to Africa.  We spent the middle part of August in and around Kruger National Park in South Africa.  Many wonderful and exotic sights, sounds, and smells were “experienced.”  We decided after our return home that one doesn’t really visit Africa, one kind of experiences it.  We had 1“natural wonders” drive, 7 Game Drives into the African Bush, and sporadic shopping trips.  Space doesn’t allow for a proper accounting of all the wildlife we saw and the “interesting” food we ate, or the levels of rustic enjoyed at the various huts we stayed in at the Rest Camps.  But suffice it to say we did see the “Big Five” (Lion, Elephant, Rhino, Leopard, and Cape Buffalo). 

Point The Sixth – The Other Families.

Tylers of the North! - Todd and Nissa, now empty nesters themselves, are alive and kicking in the great north woods and report that “things are under control.” We are taking them at their word. Had a couple of nice visits both here and there. The first ring of their circus, Katelyn, of the Grand Haven Ropers, and her hockey player husband Drew did in deed come through with great grandmonster #3.  Emilia MaeBelle joined the fray in April.  She’s named after her great, great, great, great grandmother Mary Emelia Jorgensen, her great great great grandmother Ruby Mae Cornwall, and her great great grandmothers Virginia Mae Fisch and Bonnie Belle Jones.  Raelyn has become quite taken with her little sister (we think in lieu of a puppy) but we’re hoping for the best.  We had several good visits with Circus Rings 2 & 3, Aubrey and Nelson (great grand #2) and Paul, as well, all contributing to the good life up north and giving us good reasons to drive to Michigan.

Marx-ing It Up In LaGrange – Andie and Michael have become part of the family (who knew) and are riding the merry-go-round now having not one but two teenagers to wrangle.  She is still molding young minds and he continues to do whatever it is he does. Hayden, now our high-schooler has given us much cause for celebration as has our favorite x-country runner Bailey.  We like them a lot and are pleased with the increasing number of excuses to visit them and Steve-Os Pizzeria.

The Man From Chelsea – Had a couple of Jakester sightings in Kentucky this year, not counting the stops we made in his front yard on our multitudinous trips to and from Michigan.  He reads, he writes, he poets, he hikes, he keeps an eye on his neighborhood, and follows NASA’s every move.  There are days that he goes to the dogs, aka those days when he volunteers at the Humane Society and talks, walks, and reads to, wait for it…. The dogs.

We are just so darn proud to know you!  Congrats on having accomplished this most important holiday task. Oh yeah, we wish you just the best Christmas ever and if you’re in the area, call before you drop by… Good Tidings To One And All…            The Christensen’s !!!

Filling Out The Week...

Thursday, December 5th, Claude and I attended our final Religion Class for 2019. In a great whirlwind lesson that covered ALL of Revelation, that is right, ALL of Revelation, we ended what has been a great time of study and learning. We have so enjoyed going through the New Testament with these good people. We will start again in mid-January studying the Book of Mormon. I am so very happy about this. Love to study the Book of Mormon.

Now, Claude and I have been having a little trouble this year coming up with gift ideas for each other. First, Claude suggested I get him a pair of those leather fur-lined slippers. While in Lexington for our religion class, I suggested to Claude we go to Cabela's and let him try on the pair he liked. Good thing we did this. That pair did not fit in his size. After trying on three different kinds and sizes, we found just the right pair and bought them. Second, I knew Claude wanted a steamer for steaming vegetables. I tried to find one in Georgetown to no avail. Again, after our Thursday religion class, I suggested we go to Bed, Bath and Beyond to see if they had one. We found one. We walked out with Claude's second Christmas present. He is happy with these gifts but it doesn't leave any for putting under that tree. Thank heavens we are old enough to understand these things. Now, I need to go measure my bedroom windows so he can buy me the white wood blinds I have wanted on them for years for my Christmas present. 😂😂😂

I spent the afternoon visiting with Papa.

Thursday evening we were back in Lexington for our Stake Welfare/Self-Reliance Meeting. Lots of good discussion and planning.

These pictures were posted by our Katelyn of their family at the ice hockey game for Drew. To say this is an ice loving family is an understatement. Raelyn is educating her little sister, Emelia, about how important this is.

Friday, December 6th, was decorating day inside our home.

The first tree I put up is the kid's tree in the basement. It is a little thing. I don't put the ornaments on it. I just get it up and leave the ornaments for the grandmonsters to put on as they will. This year should be fun as the Ropers will be here (the weather willing) and the Mini's will be here. The Mini's are almost old enough to not need the kids tree anymore. But I'm guessing they will love doing the decorating with Raelyn this year. After I got this little tree together, I took a quick picture and sent it to Katelyn and asked her to show it to Raelyn and see if she could tell what was missing. Raelyn knew right off it was missing ornaments and presents!

After I got the tree in the living room put together, I sent this picture to our family with this comment, "I'm thinking we just go green this year. Anyone not okay with that?" When Katelyn showed this picture of the big tree to Raelyn and told here my idea of leaving it green, Raelyn said to leave it just like that. Love this girl!

I almost finished the inside of our home. Claude got a great start on the outside of the house. I paused in the afternoon to visit with Papa.

Saturday, December 7th, I started my morning by putting the last box of ornaments on the tree. Then the garland down the stair rail and on the top of the piano. Claude finished the outside of the house on Saturday. The living room tree is sporting two new ornaments from our South Africa trip. There is a beaded replica of the South Africa flag and a gourd with a turtle on it.

The new nativity looks so nice. We purchased it after Christmas last year. Hopefully it will hold up under the weather well. We get some fierce winds on our hill in Sadieville. 

My gum drop tree needed a revision. If I put gum drops on it, I end up eating all of them. It looks great but I really don't need all those gum drops. Last year I tied life savers on each branch. Didn't really want to do that again. So I hit the Family Dollar store and found some small Christmas ornaments. Claude used his jewelry stringing thread and made loops for each of the ornaments. Then we hung them on the tree. We put jelly beans in the base. This should be a great way to use my gum drop tree!

Sunday, December 8th, we had a good scripture reading time, attended Church, then I visited Papa. The nursing home is on a quarantine basis. There is a stomach bug going through the nursing home. So all residents are to stay in their own room. They are taking all meals to each residents room. I wasn't sure they would let me take Papa out of the nursing home. He hasn't got the stomach bug. But it was fine. So I scooped up Papa and took him to the creek. As good fortune would have it there were 11 geese on the creek. And this time there was a man in this cute boat that he pedaled to propel it. It was a nice afternoon.

In the evening Claude and I watched the First Presidency Devotional broadcast from Salt Lake City.

Afterward, we got pictures of the Tyler's. They had Sunday football watching. Todd is a very big Green Bay Packers fan. The picture that really touched me was one Katelyn took of Nissa, her mother and our first born. Nissa was playing her piano and Raelyn was sitting on her lap with her hands on top of her Gramma's hands as she played. How many times over the years have I done that. So sweet watch my child doing that with her grandchild.

Monday, December 9th, today, I went to visit Papa in the morning. Claude had a physical therapy appointment. He dropped me off to visit while he did the PT. While I was with Papa, the nurse came in to take his vitals. This is routine. But today his top blood pressure number was below 100. She put the cuff on his other wrist and tried again, getting the same results. We gave Papa lots of water to drink and she was going to come back and take it again. It is a concern to me. Papa had three episodes when we first put him in the nursing home where his blood pressure went to zero and they had to take him to the emergency room.

When Claude picked me up we went to lunch. Then over to Lowe's to get a few things. With Papa in his new room permanently, he will have a window. I wanted to get him a shepherd's hook for outside his window with a bird feeder full of food on the hook. I just know Papa will enjoy watching the birds come to his window. We found the perfect shepherd's hook and a bright yellow bird feeder. Papa's eyesight is not great so I feel like that bright yellow color will help him as he watches the birds.

One last thought. While sitting with my father one morning at the nursing home, I watched a sweet man walking down the hall with his guitar. He stops in different rooms and played a melody. When he got to Lillian's room, she broke into song. She sings the old gospel favorites I learned as a child. I found myself singing a soft harmony from my father's room. This nice man came with his guitar to provide Christlike service to the residents. He also provided it for me. I love Lillian's sweet voice in song. This little moment in time lifts my spirits. I am grateful for this kind man's Christlike service that comes as a gift to me as well as Lillian.