St. Luke Living Center
By SUE GUTSCH
St. Luke Living Center correspondent
It was a busy Wednesday beginning with prayer group led by Dick Pracht in the morning. Mary Ann Wiens arrived in the early afternoon to share banana bread and fellowship with resident friends from Eastmoor church and others.
Resident Council utilized some afternoon minutes to meet with Khrista to share some thoughts and ideas. Some signs and symptoms of gardening fever were expressed. Our annual Good Friday egg hunt was discussed. Melvin volunteered to take out and bring in the lawn chair cushions during rainy weather. A portion of the Resident Rights document was read to the 16 residents in attendance.
It's hard to believe, but we even had time to read the "top" news and our favorite columns and correspondents from the Marion County Record during current events time.
Thursday was no less busy. The morning began with a surprise min-concert by Shelley Wiest. We were joined in our chapel by her parents, Dean and Bettie to listen to the beautiful piano music.
The lunch bunch was chauffeured to downtown Marion by Joann Fitzpatrick and Khrista Branson for a meal at Zimmerman's. Our favorite dog, Toby Branson rode along and served as a car watchdog while we ate.
We played card bingo in the afternoon using playing cards, not bingo cards. It's a fun variation and can be played with any number, three or more.
Every morning the day's activities begin with walks and we're pleased to announce that our resident walkers are unofficially part of the Walk Kansas program. Team captain/coach Evey Williams explained "we're unofficial because our team does not always have the same participants." Rules, rules!
The living center bakers made Amish friendship bread Friday morning from a starter donated by Carson Craig. Many of us had never made this recipe and although the steps were numerous and the ingredients many, the bread was delicious and a very nice change. There was a loaf to serve in the afternoon at "tea time" and the other loaf tasted just as good with coffee during polka hour with Gene and Elka Saturday morning.
Just as we finished our evening meal Friday, the Methvin family arrived and served cake and ice cream to us all in honor of their mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother Lee Wagley's birthday which was the next day, March 10.
We successfully "sprang" our clocks forward Sunday and were on time for the afternoon service with the Rev. Wesner from Emmanuel Baptist Church and guests Jared and Cara Stockdale.
During book club Tuesday we listened as nastiness was averted between railroad workers and Pa, who distributed pay minus their store and board bills. The decision to stay by the shores of Silver Lake was made easier when the Ingalls family was offered the fully-stocked railway surveyor's house for the winter. We could feel Laura's happiness knowing how much she loved the vast prairie and disliked the idea of going back east.
In the afternoon, the living center crafters put scissors, glue, green construction paper, and artistic eyes to work and created a St. Patrick's Day "Irish eyes are smilin'" bulletin board. One pair of artistic eyes noted that our large shamrock turned upside down "morphed" into a butterfly.
