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I guess I'm a week late, but my time has been very productive as of late which means I've not been on pleonast as much!
We've had quite an eventful year, I'd say. We celebrated our first anniversary! Of course that was not too long after Dan's big surgery, so our celebration consisted of a nice date at O'Charlie's. We also got our first niece this year. It's been full of excitements.
In April, we started noticing something was wrong with Dan's abdomen, so we started seeking some medical advice. We were sent to a few different doctors till we landed at Vandy. Nobody knew exactly what that "thing" was on the CT scan, but they knew it had to come out! Surgery was Aug 15 and went very well. They did have to take a small part of his bladder along with some muscle the mass grew through. Thankfully, all was benign; it was just a big mess of tissue in there. No further treatments or surgeries!! This was such a blessing from God. Plastic surgery had to put him back together, but they did a great job. After 10 days in the hospital, he got to come home to finish recovery.
And here's where I want to talk about how great my church family is. Meals, cards, prayers, inquiries on behalf of Dan (and me too) were overwhelming. I love my church family here. We missed more potlucks and get-togethers due to recovery, etc, but we're looking forward to many more this year!
We celebrated our first anniversary! Like I mentioned, we didn't "do" much, except dinner out, but that's perfectly fine by me. We figured, if we can survive this first year, we'll make it no matter what! :)
With Dan's recovery, our love of book reading has been rekindled. We've been reading several books or series of books and sharing them with each other. It's amazing how much time you have to read when the TV is not competing with it. :)
We got our dear niece Mackenna this past October. She's a very special baby, not just because she's my niece, but because of her heart and vascular defects. One surgery down, two to go (and a procedure of Angioplasty at the end of January). Despite her health issues, she's a pleasant baby that smiles, coos, and drools. :) I wish more people with chronic illnesses could learn from her happiness. God has blessed her to be born in a time that allows technology and education to help fix her problems so she can look forward to a more "normal" life. We would have missed a lot if we had lost her.
Also, somehow this year, we ended up with three cats! Don't ask me how, I'm not sure I really understand it yet. One is black, one is tortoise, and one is orange. They are Chloe, Lola, and Yzma, respectively. And they're all girls. They certainly keep us entertained. :) (NOTE: the two big ones are outside - we just let them come in to play in the kitchen sometimes. The third one wasn't big enough to live outside yet, so she's still living in the small bathroom till she gets a wee bit bigger and the outside gets a wee bit warmer.)
Christmas was spent traveling abroad to visit all the family. I was very blessed to get enough time off to do that. I have a great boss. We first went to Indianapolis to see Kristopher, Tiffany, and Mackenna. We're thankful that Momma and Daddy were able to come up too. We all had a fun holiday together. It's great just to get family time.
From Indianapolis we went West to Kansas City. Right now, all of Dan's family is there, but that's to change soon. We were glad to get a holiday where all of us were together. We had a great time playing darts, Bible trivia, Apples to Apples, and just visiting! Poor Sarah fell on the ice and was really really sore and Kev had a double ear infection, but other than that everyone was good. Daniel and I are not good travelers- we just want to get there! But if we have to travel, we want it to be with each other. We can jam with our ipods, visit, or just enjoy the companionable silence.
New Years was spent rocking out with our church family at one of the local high schools. Lots of good food, ping-pong, the "Elder-wed Game," and of course the "Lost River's Got Talent" show. It was so much fun. I look forward to it every year.
So far, we've got our year off to a good start. We're in a Read-Your-Bible-In-A-Year class at church. It may prove to be very interesting. We've set our goals for the year and are excited to meet them. Overall, God has blessed us so much in the last year. We pray our lives will reflect His love and His light so that we might share it with others.
Check out the gallery of Christmas pictures. :)
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"Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, *a tender heart*, and a humble mind." - 1 Pet 3:8
Some people think that being tenderhearted is being weak or that it somehow makes them have less of a backbone. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our hearts need to be broken by the same things that broke Jesus' heart. He cried at the grave of Lazarus (John 11:35). He was concerned about the spiritual welfare of Jerusalem (Matt 23:37) and of the multitudes (Matt 9:36).
Our hearts need to be troubled by sin. We need to be touched by those who are hurting physically. This doesn't make us weak; it makes us to be like Jesus. And *that* makes us stronger.
We're heading North at the end of the week to see the Casebolts and have our holiday celebration. Then West it will be from there to see Dan's family out in K.C. I'm so glad I get so much time off of work to see our family. Not all are so blessed. Let's just hope the weather holds out for us!! |
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Take a look at our Thanksgiving.
We have so much to be thankful for. :) |
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A turkey sat on a backyard fence and he sang this sad sad tune:
"Thanksgiving Day is coming Gobble Gobble Gobble Gobble and I
Know I'll be eaten soo-oon
Gobble Gobble Gobble Gobble Gobble Gobble Gobble
I would like to run away-ay-ay
Gobble Gobble Gobble Gobble Gobble Gobble Gobble
I don't like Thanksgiving Day!"
This was a song my Daddy learned in elementary school and he sang to us as children. Maybe I can teach it to Mackenna. Lord willing, we're headed toward Indy in the morning packing more food than clothes. :) It will be a quick trip but it's all about the family time.
I don't like having my family far away. It's good to have just enough breathing space, but I just don't get to see them as much as I like. Right now I really miss my mother-in-law and would love to give her a big hug. It aches that I can't do that. I miss my little nephews hollering out for "Dannel" to read them a book.
Not to mention, I have grandparents I haven't seen in >2 years. I miss my Aunt Kim *so* much. The holiday season used to center around us visiting them. Boy, if I don't wrap this up, I'm going to start crying.
I'm very thankful I'll get to see my family up in Indianapolis, but I'll sure miss not being able to see the other "half" of my family.
So where ever you end up for this year's Turkey Day, be thankful for the family you have whether it is near or far.
"Wherever you are, near or far, you're always in my heart."
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Ok, so we might have made a big mistake last night.
Last night it was snow-flurrying and we *both* (don't let him tell you other wise) felt sorry for the little frozen fur-balls outside. So we warmed them up in the laundry room. Well, Dan thought they might get into too much stuff in there, so he suggested putting them in the spare bathroom.
First, Dan went down and completely gutted the bathroom. We walk in with the kitties and the room echoed! I told him they wouldn't get into just regular bathroom stuff. (And they don't eat soap!) But he was hesitant to put the toilet paper back on the roller. I have never had a cat play with toilet paper before.
I made them a little litter box while Dan brought in their food and water. We gave them a little basket with towels to sleep in. We had to block the bathroom door as Chloe could crawl underneath it. They started playing with each other and seemed perfectly happy. (Except for the fact that Lola would really rather us just stay in there. She would LOVE to be a lap cat.)
So we made our way to bed and had a very restful night. The next morning....
We got up to check on the cats and to put them outside for the day. We moved the box away from the door and lo and behold there was toilet paper by the door. When we opened the door, we saw that those little boogers had completely taken everything out of the trash can. Tissues, the bag, the extra bag in the bottom of the can, and the can was on its side!
They were happy to see us and were purring. We gathered them together, took their food outside and gave them some cream.
Will this become the norm? Time will tell. We both have soft hearts when it comes to these little babies shivering in the cold. I'm really just a push-over because I've never had cats outside before. However, I can't stand to see Dan suffer with runny nose and sneezes. So we tried it once and I hope the kitties liked it. Maybe just on the coldest of cold nights, we'll let them in. Otherwise, I might just warm up their little heat pad and put it in their outside house. :)
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