July 22 Ted & Bev

Wednesday:  The Lord has given me two GIFTS this year in the way of friendships: the first one is my next-door neighbor, Ted. He is 92 years old! He is a lover of Christ who is kind, gentlemanly, resourceful, encouraging, and he is very fun to be around. Ted moved in to the neighborhood about 3+ years ago after the death of his second wife. He had been married for 53 years to his wife, Barbara. She was called to heaven and then he met a nice widow, Julie. They were married for three years and then she too went to be with the Lord. THEN he met and befriended a woman by the name of Donna. They never married because of their ages but they were close friends for about two years. She came down with pneumonia this past January and graduated to heaven as well.

Ever since Ted moved next door to me, I always viewed him as kind of a father figure. We enjoyed talking to each other as I fed my birds or worked in the yard. We had really good fellowship together about what God was doing in our lives. There was one problem, however--Ted was super lonely. He was lonely for another girl friend.

Enter BEV! About six months ago, through my adult Bible class at Calvary Church, I became re-acquainted with Beverly. We had somewhat "known" each other through the years at Calvary, but never really entered into a friendship. She is 18 years my senior and just hung around with a different group of women than I did, so we didn't have occasion to get to know each other. Bev will be 91 in September. She had to stop driving last fall because she had too many car maintenance problems to afford fixing. I had been asking the Lord to help me find a place of service at Calvary Church, and it worked out that I have become Bev's chauffeur whenever she needs a ride to church or the grocery store or the dentist, etc. She has become really special to me, and I love her.

SO ... seeing that Ted was very lonely and Beverly was "available", I began talking to each of them about the other, and pretty soon Ted asked if he could have Bev's number--she said "yes", and tada! They have become very good friends and phone each other every day. I have been deemed their chaperone on Wednesday afternoons when all three of us eat out (treated by Ted) for lunch. It's been a really fun and rewarding thing to be able to further their friendship, and to be with them on a weekly basis.

Here they are! We ate at Russ' for lunch this week. I had their most delicious fried chicken! Ted had the fried clam dinner. Bev had the fried perch. We sat and talked for more than an hour. It was so good.

Don't they look nice together? I love their smiles. Thank you, Lord, for Ted and Bev!