A8
SENIORS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, December 19, 2018
GRANT COUNTY SENIORS
John Day
Seniors
Nicky Essex
On Monday, Dec. 10, Ever-
ett King and Ron Dowse
manned the greeter’s desk.
Our table service was provided
by the Redeemer Lutheran
Church’s Bonnie and Francis
Kocis, Bobbie and Buzz Gilm-
ore and Betty Holznagel. Ear-
lier in the day, Bonnie and Fran-
cis took meals to those in John
Day and Canyon City, while
David Gill and the crew from
Step Forward took the meals
to Mt. Vernon. Altogether, they
delivered 31 regular and 44 fro-
zen meals. Betty opened our
time together by leading us in
the Pledge of Allegiance.
Then we had our regu-
lar drawings, as well as three
of the wreaths made by Linda
Stoltz’s ladies and gentlemen
who met one day last week to
create some beauty. There were
also two special Christmas gift
drawings! Francis gave a heart-
felt devotion and reminded us
that we have much to be thank-
ful for, reminding me that I
only have a couple of these col-
umns left to do.
And I want to thank every-
one who has served us here in
the senior center. We have been
blessed by all of the volunteers
who give their time to serve us
in many ways. Francis is quiet
but serves in many ways here
and prays so sincerely for our
meals. Four full tables of guests
enjoyed a great harvest soup for
lunch, with crusty bread, Ger-
man potato salad, and for des-
sert, Shay’s wife, Anne, made
cherry turnovers by hand! We
welcome a new cook’s helper,
Michelle Stansbury, who will
be here three days a week
working with Shay.
On Thursday, Dec. 13, our
greeters were Bonnie Kocis and
Jeanette Julsrud. Our friends
from Cornerstone Church,
Linda Sprouffski, Pati Davis,
Donna Johnson, Cristi Finley
and Pastor Levi, served at the
tables. Pastor Levi, as always,
served coffee. He then shared
some cowboy wisdom (humor)
that he has been learning while
spending some time on a cou-
ple of local ranches. He always
gives spiritual wisdom as a
blessing on our meal when he is
here as well. Mt. Vernon Pres-
byterian Church sponsored our
meal of chicken potpie, and I
was awestruck by the beautiful
strawberry shortcakes for des-
sert. Well done, Michelle! We
served seven full tables, 56 din-
ers, as well as the 41 meals that
were delivered to John Day,
Canyon City and Mt. Vernon.
NOTE: Whoever stole our
orange warning cones from the
back parking lot, please return
them. We use them to alert our
guests of icy or muddy con-
ditions in the parking lot that
could cause a fall.
We had special guests,
Katrina and Kathlyne Page
(Kathlyne won the ugliest
sweater contest at the Nazarene
Church), Vivian Rookstool,
Louise LaBaugh, Sandy John-
son, Gladys Black, Sue How-
ard, Bill’s daughter, and Staci
and Pat Kopke-Hales. I think
I probably missed someone. If
so, I am sorry!
Thursday, Dec. 20, will be
our Senior Center Christmas
Dinner. If you haven’t signed
up for a spot, be sure to call
in case of cancellations. The
Christmas dinner that is put on
here by Glenn and RoseAnn
Palmer is a community-wide
invitation, but there will be no
meals delivered.
Psalms 37:4 “Take delight
in the Lord, and He will give
you the desires of your heart.”
Monument
Seniors
Soo Yukawa
Our cooks Terry Cade and
Teawna Jewell made us some
yummy and hearty hamburg-
ers with french fries, macaroni
salad and brownies with ice
cream. Yes, our cooks spoiled
us. We are most grateful for all
their hard work.
Our greeters at the table
were Jimmy Cole, Linda
Blakeslee, Kristi Guimont
and Judy Harris. Jimmy and
Linda collected and counted
the money, Kristi checked the
guests in, Judy led us in the flag
salute and made the announce-
ments and yours truly prayed
the blessing over our meal.
Before I forget, there will
be no lunch on Christmas Day
or New Year’s Day. Please
mark that on your calendars!
We wouldn’t want you to
show up when no one will be
at the senior center. It will also
be nice for the cooks to have a
couple of days off and be with
their families on the holidays.
We had 42 guests on the
books and six takeouts. The
winner of the Len’s Drug
gift card was Dallas Hels-
ley. Randy Sweek and Cor-
rie Cowger both won the free
meal tickets.
We were pleased to have
our Molly Hoodenpyl join us
for lunch and a visit for 20
days. She is in the Marines
and is visiting her family for
Christmas before shipping
off to join her brother Jesse
in Okinawa, Japan. We thank
both of them for their service
to our country. We pray for
their continued protection.
There was a turkey raf-
fle. The tickets were $5 for six
tickets or $1 for each ticket.
The lucky winner was Katee
Hoffman of John Day.
Katee Hoffman, who rep-
resents the Veteran Ser-
vices Office for our county,
announced that the county had
purchased a vehicle to trans-
port veterans. If you need
transportation, please call her
anytime. Her contact number
is 541-620-8057.
There will be bingo on the
last Saturday of the month of
December. It starts at 6 p.m.,
and there is a potluck dinner.
All games are 25 cents per
card. There is quite a crowd
that comes.
There are a few people
from our community that need
our prayers and well wishes.
They are Bruce Strange, who
just got home from the hos-
pital suffering from pneumo-
nia, and Jerry Cowger, who is
still going back and forth from
Bend for cancer treatment.
We hope that Terry Bowlus
is recovering well and com-
pletely from her knee surgery.
We miss Betty Richards, who
is staying with her daughter
for the winter while recovering
from her fractured pelvis. We
pray that the Lord would touch
and heal all our friends, in the
mighty name of Jesus.
We got some nice snow and
rain. There are parts on our
place where the sun doesn’t
shine, and oh, goodness, it is
a very slippery slope. Treach-
erous I say, very treacherous.
I need to put the Yak Tracks
onto my boots so I don’t go
slipping and falling.
I hope that everyone has a
wonderful and joyous Christ-
mas. May this season bless
you with the love and peace of
God the Father through Jesus.
Luke 1:31 “And, behold,
thou shall conceive in thy
womb, and bring forth a
son, and shall call His name
JESUS.”
Prairie City
Seniors
Rose Coombs
One of those mornings
when prudent people don’t go
venturing out on the ice too
much. Glad that the tempera-
ture went up and, by noon, the
ice was pretty much gone. So,
instead of sliding on the ice,
you were stepping to avoid
the mud. Even so, we had
55 names on the registration
book.
Ginger led the flag salute,
and Tom asked the blessing.
The winner of the gift certifi-
cate donated by Chuck’s Little
Diner was Del Lake.
The table that got to go
first today was the one that
had the gift box on it. Inside
the box was the Child in the
manger. Wonder what it will
be next week? Remember that
the Dec. 19 meal will be our
Christmas meal and will be
the last one for this year. Bring
your pies or other desserts to
share on that day. The entrée
will be ham.
The meal was pork stir-
fry with rice, hard-boiled eggs
and peaches. Dessert was
a delicious chocolate cake.
Thanks to our cooks Amber
and Dick — Dick also brought
lots of green tomatoes for the
taking. When they are gone,
he’ll bring more. What a deal!
Kristen and Geralyn
pushed Gordon and Marilyn
over from the Blue Mountain
Care Center, so you know the
ice and mud weren’t too bad!
We want to thank our faith-
ful volunteers who come early
and stay late in order to get the
food on the table and the hall
cleaned up afterward: Tom,
Ginger, Carol, Del, Bonnie,
Carla and Delores.
Got the new batch of books
all shelved. For those of you
who like him, we have a whole
passel of Louis L’Amour
books now.
One thing that I don’t think
I’ve mentioned lately — or
ever — is that we have a few
walkers that can be loaned out
to those of our community
who need them.
Well, got the gifts down
from the attic, and now to
determine who gets what. The
simple thing to do is to just put
those items that go to one fam-
ily in a container and tie a bow
on it. Then they can determine
who gets what. Hmmm. Just
might try that. Will let you
know if it worked.
Have to make one more
trip to the attic and bring down
the 2-foot Christmas tree. Got
a spot cleared for it, so better
get with the decorating pro-
gram. I’m in awe of those who
have that gift of decorating —
not in my genetic makeup, I
guess. We each have our own
particular talent to use for the
benefit of others in this life.
You all know where mine is,
so I won’t belabor that point.
What I want to make clear is
that you find out what yours is
and use it. It doesn’t have to
be anything spectacular. Face-
to-face conversation in this
day and age is a most beauti-
ful one. All it takes is a listen-
ing ear and interest in another
person. And this time of year
is perfect to use the gifts of
the Spirit: love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control (Gal. 5:22). And
they don’t cost any money!
Luke 2:10-11 “But the
angel said to them, ‘Do not be
afraid, I bring you good news
of great joy that will be for all
the people. Today in the city of
David a Savior has been born
to you; He is Christ the Lord.’”
Church Services In Grant County
92687