I am wearing a heart monitor to see if the doctor can determine what is causing my fast heart rate with movement. The monitor is a little device that attaches to me via a patch about the size of my palm on my chest. My skin does not do well with plastic tape on it. I had to replace the patch as my skin was breaking out. The new position is better but the old place is all broken out and itches. Last night I took some Benadryl to try to calm it down. It worked and calmed the area down but it wired me. I didn’t sleep much at all last night.
I attempted to do some painting today but the paint does not match and is not even close enough to use. Not sure what happened as I took the gallon of the old paint in and they supposedly mixed the same color. I will have to go get some more tomorrow. Hope I can find some that matches better tomorrow or I am going to end up painting the whole house. Why is this type of stuff hard for me? Doesn’t seem to be that hard.
The editor of the Kansas Reflector did a nice job with the story he published. I’m grateful he also interviewed the people that attended and quoted them. The story has attracted a lot of attention and comments. Some of them missed the whole point of the rally. Most are very complimentary.
I have been busy answering questions and inquiries about how they can support the project. Several people have found the gift registry on Amazon and have purchased items for the Detainees off the registry.
I updated my numbers for the Detainee project. We have received over $6,500 in cash, check and VENMO. I am betting we have received over $3,000 of items sent directly to the Center via Amazon. After we pay for the Thanksgiving and Christmas projects we will have over $1,000 left over. This project will continue on into the New Year.
A lady and her mother from Wichita showed up at my door this afternoon. They had driven around Cottonwood Falls looking for the purple chair they had seen in the pictures that the Kansas Reflector had posted. Still not fully sure why they came here other than she was curious about the project and wanted to know how I got the Captain to approve the project. I had a nice conversation with both her and her mother. Her mother is probably in her 90’s and speaks four languages. She asked me if I was of German Mennonite ancestry. Spot on! We exchanged contact information so I will see if this goes anywhere.
Another person had emailed the Reflector and they forwarded the email to me. We made contact and I shared how she can follow the project on Facebook.
One of the guys that came yesterday was from Colorado. He is a singer and travels doing gigs. He had registered to attend on the No Kings site so I had his email. I sent him a note this morning thanking him for gracing us with his music during the rally. He sent the kindest response. He got the purpose of the rally and was most complementary of my attempt.
Another guy that came has become a habitual protestor. I think he is on day 168 or something like that. We made contact via Facebook and I shared the story with him too. He had interviewed me and posted it on his facebook page.
Still not sure where this project is taking me. At this point I am fastening my seat belt and hanging on for the ride. It has many lessons to teach me. One is to not let the negative responses of others get to me. I keep reminding myself I am not responsible for others reactions to what I say or do. What they say says more about where they are than what I am doing.
Tomorrow I am going to have to go to Emporia and figure out the paint thing. It is to be nice tomorrow so would love to get paint in the morning and be able to paint in the afternoon. The side of the addition I was painting today was a bit challenging. The ground is sloped and it was hard to find a place to set the paint can. I am going to have to use the hand held paint bucket instead of painting out of the big bucket. Not sure how I will get the ladder up against the wall but I’ll figure something out.
Tuesday I work the book sale at the library from 3:00 – 6:00. I need at least one bag of books to get me through the winter so I will go in early and pick some out. Sometimes I work out where the books are and can shop while I work and sometimes I have to work the cash register and can’t shop while I work. I don’t want to miss my chance to get a sack so I will go in early. If I get to work with the books I will get a second bag too.
I don’t have anything else on the agenda for the rest of the week. Hoping I can get the painting done this week. I realized yesterday that I have less than three weeks before the trip to India. Time to start getting excited about that! I need to do some planning so I can be gone.
Still digesting the rally yesterday. It is becoming clearer to me that as a society we have lost connection with each other. Covid isolated us and I don’t think we have recovered. Add to the isolation the political divisions and we are really separated. Somehow, some way we have got to relearn how to reconnect to others.
Grateful for what sleep I did get last night, grateful for the mostly positive response to the article, and grateful for the caring hearts of others.
Kay, you are a blessing to so many. You have a hard journey with your ministry with the detainees as you plant the seeds but do not get to see the blossoms. It is a quiet ministry of presence and compassion. I am glad I found you on Facebook. Keep the faith. You never know what you mean to the lives of others.