Category Archives: Faith

Randy Pausch

From the Google Blog:

Goodbye to Randy Pausch, a great teacher

7/26/2008 10:25:00 AM

Randy Pausch, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University and a good friend of Google, passed away last night. In addition to being recognized as a pioneer in virtual reality research, he became widely known as a gifted teacher and a mentor to many. Millions of people saw his inspiring Last Lecture on YouTube. Read more about Randy and his contributions on our Research Blog.

Posted by Kevin McCurley, Research Scientist

If you haven’t seen “The Last Lecture” please do – you won’t be sorry.  If you do not have access to YouTube – watch it on google video.  You can also buy it in book form.

His family has my prayers – I liked him and never met him.

Beyond My Comprehension

I’m ashamed to have been complaining about Starbucks closing – how sad is my little world?
Story in the BBC today:

Nine face stoning death in Iran

At least eight women and one man are reported to have been sentenced to death by stoning in Iran.

The group, convicted of adultery and sex offences, could be executed at any time, lawyers defending them say.

The lawyers have called on the head of Iran’s judiciary to prevent the sentences from being carried out.

The last officially reported stoning in Iran last year drew strong criticism from human rights groups and the European Union.

The eight women sentenced, whose ages range from 27 to 43, had convictions including prostitution, incest and adultery, Reuters news agency reported.The man, a 50-year-old music teacher, was convicted of illegal sex with a student, reports said. Moratorium imposed Under Iran’s Islamic law, stoning to death is the punishment for the crime of adultery.In 2002 Iranian judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi imposed a moratorium on stoning, but at least three people are reported to have been executed by stoning since then.

Shadi Sadr from the Volunteer Lawyers’ Network, which is representing the women, said: “We are very worried as there are at least eight women and one man with a definitive verdict which can be carried out any moment.

Our specific… demand is to have the stoning sentence stopped by Ayatollah Shahroudi since the defendants are liable to be stoned at any moment
Lawyer Mariam Kian-Arsi
“There are no guarantees that the punishments will be halted or commuted.”She called on the international community to back their efforts, adding: “We are in close touch with human rights organisations and many of them have supported our campaign.”Fellow defence lawyer Mariam Kian-Arsi said: “Our specific and clear demand is to have the stoning sentence stopped by Ayatollah Shahroudi since the defendants are liable to be stoned at any moment.” Women ‘poorly represented’ In theory the penalty of stoning to death applies to both men and women.

But the lawyers say that in practice, many more women than men receive the sentence because they are less well educated and often poorly represented in court.

Human rights group Amnesty International earlier this year called on Iran to abolish “this grotesque punishment” and said many facing execution by stoning were sentenced after unfair trials.

Under Iran’s strict penal code, men convicted of adultery should be buried up to their waists and women up to their chests for stoning. The stones used should not be large enough to kill the person immediately.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/7516238.stm

Published: 2008/07/20 14:20:18 GMT
I tried to imagine myself as the person about to be stoned – what it would be like to be buried to your shoulders, knowing what would happen next.  I tried to imagine what it would be like to be the man involved who got away free – is he hiding?  Does he feel guilty?  Relieved?

What would it be like to be the parent of the young woman that was about to be stoned, or the friend? What would go through the mind of the person or persons that make the decision to go through with this as a punishment?

Who am I that picks up stones and waits for the last shovelful of dirt to be in place.   Do I know the person I am going to use as a target?  What are the sounds?  Does the person cry out?  Where does this happen?  Is there a regular “stoning” place in the village?

Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned.  But what do You say?” This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.
So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
She said, “No one, Lord.”
And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

According to several sources I read including Wikipedia, four eye-witnesses would need to be produced to prove adultery.  They have to be men and they have to be Muslim.  If four eye-witnesses could be produced, how could rape have happened in the first place?
Who do they find to throw the stones?

I could say something about how we throw metaphorical stones at each other every day.  That idea doesn’t mean much when I picture the real thing.

Personal Update

Three posts in one night!  Whew!  This is just to let a few family and friends know what has been happening with us.

Dale had a test the other day, I actually posted on it earlier.  There wanted a 24 hour urine collection because the previous one seemed kind of iffy and if there was protein in the urine it would mean a biopsy of the kidney – everything was fine!
I had some tests a little over a week ago.  I have had Ulcerative Colitis or UC as it is “affectionately” known for a little over a year.  I had a flare up that started about a month before school was out and it just wasn’t getting better.  I was miserable and not eating.  We did a little tweaking medicine-wise and I am finally getting back to normal. This is my second flare-up and until I was told I had UC I had never even heard of it.  Leave it to me to get something weird.  It is chronic which basically means I have to live with it.  It would seem that certain foods and stressors trigger flare ups but these things differ with each person.  I also did a little reading and it seems that the incidence is much higher in smokers who have quit and that some people are getting some relief from using the nicotine patch.  Learning my triggers is going to be a priority but the patch is going to be on the list of things to try.

What this has meant is that I didn’t get as much done this summer as I had wanted to but I am definitely better and hoping to squeeze as much into the rest of the summer as I can.

We have been hosting a bible study on Tuesday nights at our house and I was loaned an awesome commentary by John MacArthur and I would highly recommend his books – either the commentaries or the bible studies.  Great outlines and scripture references that let you cross reference everything.  It has meant growth for me personally just because in order to prepare I read nearly every day.  Meeting with this group of faithful seekers every week has kept me going. I have started keeping a journal of my study notes and prayers and through it God has been showing me that while I may stress about every little thing, He has been faithful over and over in the big things and I am s-l-o-w-l-y learning to trust. Letting go of control has always been an issue for me (not the only one by any means) but seeing God answer prayers over a period of time makes me realize what a “foxhole” Christian I have been.  When ever things go crazy in my life I am right there praying – asking God to fix this problem and heal that sickness.  I am always a basket of pieces at that point and forgetting that I need to thank Him for all the blessings He has already given me and through looking back at what He has already done, realizing that I have much to be thankful for and that I can fully trust Him to work things out for the best.   If God never answers another prayer, I need to always remember that He loved me anough to send His only Son, to die on a cross for my sin and of all the gifts He gives me – that one is sufficient for everything else.

Amen and goodnight!

Just Checking In For A Moment!

I have been off the grid since my last post. It has been a very busy week and this weekend is going to fly by! We hosted the District UIL met at our school this weekend and while my part is small, it was fun with lots of payback. I coach Computer Applications (my first year) and my student took fifth place which I think is wonderful considering this was her first year to compete. My own kids attend school in the next district – a weird think I know but we are a small area geographically but have three school districts. My daughter placed second in Computer Applications and My son placed third in Extemp (I hope I have that right or I will never hear the end of it!)

A friend is at WordCamp Dallas 2008 this weekend and I hope learns some great stuff to share. I would love to have gone but too many conflicts this weekend! I will have to be content with searching for posts to read to live vicariously!

We have joined a small group bible study and we meet on Tuesday nights so that is one night we are busy, and then we are trying to attend two different churches right now which is confusing but we are trying to work out some things. One place has incredible teaching. the other has definite issues but we went there for years and many of the people there are like extended family. We have gotten involved with a small Sunday night praise service and tomorrow morning there will be a youth led service and then in the evening we will continue that theme but I AM TO GIVE THE MESSAGE. I have been struggling with this all week. I would have preferred a skit but they are doing one with the kids in the morning.

I’m relying on Luke 15 and the parable of the Prodigal Son but I’m concentrating on the eldest son. I would really like it to have meaning and bear fruit and I don’t want it to be about me. If you are a praying person I would ask for your prayers for this service that I would disappear and the Word would do whatever God needs it to do in this place and at this time.

There will be very little rest this weekend so I’m going to crash and burn early. I still need to do some more writing and tweaking. This is the first and maybe the last time I will ever do this – it is such a huge responsibility. I can’t imagine what it would be like to do this week after week. I AM looking forward to the kids’ skit. They will be goofy and cute and forget stuff but isn’t the way it always is?

For now world, goodnight! I will try to get some more tutorials up in the next few weeks.

Spring Break Update And A Little Mac Tip

It has been an “unbusy” week. Spring Break means no school so we have enjoyed family time. There has also been sleeping-inage which has been great!. We went for a drive up in Arkansas (which is becoming a major luxury considering the ridiculous pride of gas these days) , had a family shopping day and did a little closet cleaning and catching up on housekeeping chores. The firewood has been moved out to the back fence and the back porch has been polished up and we ate supper out there tonight.

I helped the praise band at church set up a blog – they now have a name: “The Damascus Road Experience”. I get to sing a little harmony with them but if they ever get a bus I am relegating myself to “roadie” and resident geek.
I will get back to tips and hints for the Mac and PowerPoint tutorials soon. A short hint for tonight: If you have a Word document and want to open it in Pages just drag the document onto the Pages icon in the dock. It will open in pages. If there is much in the way of formatting you may lose the formatting but you will have the basic document. I have already learned that automatic page numbering in the header does some weird things. You can do the same thing with Excel and Numbers or Keynote and PowerPoint. Again this is only a good idea if there is no fancy formatting going on.

Interesting and Scary Article – Outsourcing Patients

What I’m reading – The Last Book In The Universe by Rodman Philbrick

Best TV show ever? The Big Bang Theory (I’m so glad the writer’s strike is over)

Best movie I’ve seen lately – August Rush (yes it is a little corny and some of it is a bit of a rip off on Oliver Twist but Freddie Highmore has the most enchanting smile I have ever seen and you just feel good at the end of the movie – which is becoming rare.)

Happy Resurrection Day tomorrow everyone!

Friends and Family and Healing

From Derricks and Diamonds, the philanthropic organization supported by Schlumberger and National Oilwell Varco has an article about a member of Dale’s family (Dale’s check-up went fine by the way!)

Here is the article:

Sage Martin – Update

March 10th, 2008 by Sean McCoy in News | Many of you have read about Sage Martin on our Our Inspiration page. We received an update from his father Gary today.He is still in the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit with the possibility of two more weeks of treatment. While the chemotherapy has caused him to loose his hair he took it in stride with the understanding and calm of a person far exceeding 10 years of age.

He is showing improvement in two vital areas after receiving the bone marrow transplant. His total white blood cell count is at 240 per micro/liter up from the 10 per micro/liter he had when he checked in. The normal white blood cell count is 5000.

His Absolute Neutrophil Count was 0 for 5 days and went to 10 on his 10th birthday (Friday March 7th) but as of today has raised to 170. Normal is 1500 or more and a count of less than 500 is considered severe neutropenia.

The good news is he’s getting better and responding well to the treatment. Gary and the rest of Sage’s family appreciate the kind words, concerns and prayers for them during this time.

_____________________________________________

My good friend is spending time saying goodbye to his family dog of twelve years this weekend. She is going down so quickly and is not able to eat or do much of anything and I know the whole family is hurting.

_____________________________________________

Last night I went to the church where we watched The Passion Of The Christ in the gym. There were just a few of us but that’s okay. I worked on the computer on the PowerPoint for this Sunday evening – not out of disrespect for the subject matter but because I knew there were parts of the movie that I would not watch. I closed my eyes for some of them when I saw the movie at the theater when it first came out.

I guess if the intent was to get people to understand the magnitude of the sacrifice that was made for us then that point was certainly ahem…hammered home. Today in most mainstream churches we tend to shy away from talking about THE BLOOD. We may say it fast as in “thebloodoftheLamb” which takes away the sin of the world. We might sing about it in hymns – “What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus”

I like to hear about grace. I’m not so fond of hearing about how it was bought. Jesus sacrifice was painful, messy, and bloody. But throughout the Old Testament we see that it was blood sacrifice for atonement of sins that cleansed God’s people and made a way for them to come into His presence. I thank God for Jesus sacrifice. I thank God for His healing grace. As much as I like you Mel – I think you stopped the movie at the wrong place.

I’d like to see the movie go on to tell, as Paul Harvey would say – the rest of the story. We leave the movie with images of pain and how horrible we humans can be. If we weren’t vile there would be no need for the sacrifice. There would be no need for a savior. But we have God’s love anyway. The sacrifice Jesus made was not just for “nice” folks. It was for the very people who beat Him, mocked Him, and nailed Him on that cross. If He could do what He did for them – then surely He did it for you and I, and if He did it for us, then surely we can try to forgive and love others as He did. Surely we can believe that there is a resurrection for us too? Good Fridays and Easter Sundays – they come all our lives.
We all go through these seasons of sacrifice and pain and thankfully they are often followed by seasons of healing and grace. I pray that this Easter season is one of healing and grace for you and yours. If it isn’t, then I hope you will take strength and comfort in knowing that it will come. It may not take the form we wish but God WILL bring healing.

“On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand”

Winter Wonderland

It is chilly here and we have the fireplace insert working overtime but it is nothing compared to where I grew up. I ran across a news/weather flash the other day about the New Years winter storm in Southeast Michigan and had to go looking for pictures of the 16 inch snowfall.

2008-0101-bb-SnowStorm505T.jpg

I remember the quiet muffled peaceful atmosphere when winter snow would cover everything – softening the lines and slowing everyone and everything down.

michsnow.JPG

We lived with Lake St. Clair in our front yard and a canal similar to this one in our back yard. We spent the summers in the water and the winters on the ice. In the winter it was often much quicker to get from one place to another by cutting across the ice.

michsnow2.jpg

I remember the fun when we were kids. School closings were very infrequent – you might be late but you got there. The salt trucks would be out on the main roads but those of us who lived on little side roads had to work together to dig ourselves out. As an adult I remember what a lot of work and trouble it was to deal with the roads, the cars, and the slushy muddy mess when it all melted.

These images were from the Detroit Free Press and the Port Huron Press Herald.

Stay warm and safe everyone!

We have a doctor appointment for labs tomorrow morning (yes I had hoped to be back at work tomorrow but it will have to wait til Friday) and I will post about our results tomorrow evening. We know that Dale’s vitamin D and calcium levels are low and they are going to be addressing that. If you are a transplant patient you are supposed to protect yourself from exposure to the sun which is one source of vitamin D and because your potassium levels can be affected but the anti-rejection drugs you are restricted in what you can eat. Milk is high in in vitamin D (fortified) but also high in potassium.

The medications also can cause problems with your bones so Calcium and Vitamin D are important. Dale feels a little like a chemistry experiment gone awry but it is slowly getting better.

See you all very soon!

Happy 2008!

Dale just “first footed” the house. He had a piece of wood, some money, and a bit of food in his hands when he came in – this for the old Scottish Hogmanay tradition. It helped that he is tall and dark haired too. When the tradition started, it was not good luck if a blond-haired man came to your door at night – these were the days of the Vikings after all! It is superstition but I honor my grandmother be keeping it up.

We are thankful for the blessings of this past year and pray that 2008 will just be calm. I also pray that all of you have enough for the next year. Enough money, enough food to eat, and enough fuel to warm your homes. I also wish you enough hope, enough humor, enough faith, and enough joy for the new year.

Happy New Year everyone, and God Bless you!

One Month Kidney Transplant Anniversary!

In kidney transplant you have several milestones. Dale reached his first one today – the one month mark. The next one is the three month, then 6 month, and from then on it is measured in years. His labs still are not perfect but they are better every time. His creatinine was 1.4 and his potassium was 4.7 (they shoot for less than one on creatinine and 4 on potassium) so we are looking good.

The bad part of the day was having to be there at 7:00 A.M. for the glofil which entails drinking 10 glasses of water in 45 minutes and blood work and then repeats (in all he drank 17 glasses) which made him sick. The sheet of instructions they handed us when we got there said you need to start a few days before the test making sure you are well hydrated – unfortunately that is a piece of information we should have had several days ago. The problem is they are spread out between several buildings because of major remodeling and sometimes there is a communication issue.

He has to take this test every milestone so he will have plenty of time to practice but you can bet your gallon jug that he will start drinking a LOT the days before the tests!

darkpatator.jpg

There were several people there who only had to drink 5 glasses to start. We are going to aim for that!

Image by Darkpatator

We Didn’t Journey To Bethlehem But Paris Seems Pretty Heavenly!

We have caroled, spent time with friends, were late to candlelight service, and are having a peaceful day. Here are some thoughts for today.

I Have No Gift To Bring BaRumPumPumPum
Dale’s sister gave him the ultimate gift

Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room
The support and love we have gotten from friends and family has been overwhelming. The love of Jesus has shone through all these precious people who definitely have made room in their hearts for Him and us!

I’ll Be Home For Christmas
And we ARE!

The First Noel
People have many firsts in their lives but not everyone has a first Christmas with a new kidney!

Silent Night, Holy Night
Our Christmas Eve was calm and bright. Both of our children were here and all of us under one roof – safe, dry, and warm. The Christmas tree lit and the fireplace glowing, food to eat – no huge excitement or loud parties. Just all of us here – at home.

O Come All Ye Faithful, Joyful and Triumphant!
We have been faithful and we have come so far from Thanksgiving to Christmas. This one could have also been Over The river and Through The Woods LOL
Fall On Your Knees, O Hear The Angel Voices!
So many prayers have been answered. We have not done it perfectly (whatever that means) and it has been harder than Dale ever thought. It has been humbling and maybe that was part of the message. We have survived and have a period of healing to go through and adjustments to make but we are so grateful to be here.

The World In Solemn Stillness Lay To Hear The Angels Sing
What a gift a night of sleep in your own home can be…

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
The kids are playing Guitar Hero in the other room and we are here with them – that is our Christmas present (that and trying to see how many songs I know from the video game). It’s funny sitting here and listening to ZZ Tops’ “La Grange” and FogHats’ “Slowride” in the other room.

Silver Bells, Silver Bells, It’s Christmas Time In The City
And we are NOT there – nuff said.

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
I hope that all of our friends and family are having a Merry Christmas and that the love and peace of Christ surrounds you and yours this day.
ornament07

thanks BJ for the ornament 🙂

Christmas Countdown

We are back at the Dallas Transplant Institute waiting for Dale’s labs. We enjoyed the trip home and are hoping that we are going back today. It will be great to be home even if it means driving over here a few times a week.

We will have a lot of packing to do – it’s amazing what you can accumulate in a very short time. We carried stuff with us when we went the other day but there is still a lot at the apartment.

They took half his staples out – every other one – including one that was driving him crazy and they are going to start tapering the prednisone so he is happy about that. He also got his pneumonia vaccine.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are home!  Dale’s creatinine was 1.9 and his potassium was down a bit too.  We don’t have to be back til Thursday (and that appointment is at 7:00 – in the MORNING!)

We’re tired and the house is a wreck since we basically just threw everything in the house.  It is amazing how much you can  accumulate in a very short time.  I’m not going to worry about the house tonight – I’m just going to crash and burn!

Shhhhh – We Snuck Home!

Just for the night – we aren’t really telling anyone yet because he doesn’t need any visitors yet. He just had to get out of that apartment.

His creatinine was 2.1 today and his potassium was down a bit. We are going to have to watch the potassium for awhile because some of the meds will mess with the potassium so we have to try to not add to the problem with diet. Of course the things that are high in potassium are things like milk, vegetables, beans, nuts – the very things he was hoping to get to eat after transplant. It will get better as they back off the meds but for the next few weeks, no fun food.
If his labs are good again Friday the doc said he could skip Monday so we could enjoy Christmas without a doctor appointment in the middle of it. I am hoping for warm weather – Dale just wants to sit on his back porch. We are so ready to be home.

Still Here!!

At least it was sunny and warm today. We got out for awhile and even broke down and bought Dale a cell phone. We figure he is going to need to be able to reach us if he needs to.

We are hoping to sneak home for Christmas even if it means going for labs Christmas eve morning and then heading home and being back here Christmas day night. It would at least be one night at home and with the kids. Hopefully we will be home soon. Even if it means driving over here two days a week I think we would do it.

Dale is feeling better today so we will see what the numbers are tomorrow. We are heading to the store to get something for supper and then maybe watch a movie if we don’t go stir crazy!!!

Happy Birthday Friends and Family!

Happy Birthday Kath!  Happy Birthday yesterday to Diana and tomorrow Mark! Last week it was Skip and this Friday Kinsey!

When Dale went for his labs this morning we had a talk with our doc.  So far the biggest problems Dale has had with this transplant have had to do with medication and it seems to us that they are very aggressive and whenever they make an aggressive change it sets us back.  We would like them to be a little more careful about those changes.  The doc today said that evidently his system is very sensitive to the medications so I think they are getting the idea.

His creatinine was down to 2.6 but his potassium was way too high so they gave him some medicine for that.  Some of the numbers are looking very good but others are a little slow.  They are telling us that it is just his body getting used to this new kidney and that it will be better.  The high prograf levels from the day before yesterday still have him feeling bad so we didn’t do much today. Plus it is pretty cold!   We are really ready to come home.  Hopefully we can come for a few days at Christmas.  I think it would do us both a lot of good that and his potassium coming down so he could eat a few more things!

Sunday Morning Labs

We are early and waiting for lab results which won’t be posted for an hour and a half or so. We decided to have breakfast while we wait.

I forgot to mention in my last post that BJ and my daughter made Fettucine Marsala and chicken with Marinara Sauce and brought some to us. Evidently they cooked two boxes of fettucine not realizing how much it would make. Everyone ended up with some. It was delicious and my kitchen has been cleaned!  They brought me Latte from Paris Coffee too – there is NOTHING here that compares!  I miss it and appreciate it so much when they bring it even if I have to warm it up.

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Got the labs back.  His creatinine was down a bit but his Prograf level was up (the anti-rejection drug that they increased the other day!)  Now we have to completely lay off the prograf until after his labs in the morning.  Sheesh.

My son is here and we have already shopped and we are back at the coffee shop. He and Dale are reading the paper while I post this.  I’ll post again after his labs tomorrow.  Hello to everyone and I hope you are all staying warm!

The Sun Is Out!

Dale is not much for computers but since he started reading what I write about all this, we go to the coffee shop to update the blog and check email and before I even get to it he is asking what the comments are for the day or who we have email from.

I always make sure I show him email from Earl – a good laugh is wonderful medicine and you send some of the best jokes! A good laugh also helps when a person is on a steroid roller coaster!

We have told the kids to not even try to come this weekend if the weather looks bad and that will make for a very long weekend but we’d rather have that than worry about them on the road. I hear that our Christmas decorations are going up and that things like Chicken and Rice Casserole are being cooked (thanks to help from BJ) – I can’t wait to see everything when we get home. Thanks son for filling in for us and going to your sister’s band concert!

Dale’s labs showed the potassium was back down a bit. we went to the Farmers Market today just for something to do. It was pretty chilly but the sun is out and it seems warmer.
Dale Farmers Market Dallas 12/13/07

You are all making us cry with the comments!  Thanks for all the support and BJ thanks for hauling my kids around!

Dale’s creatinine was down to 3.4 today so it is coming on down but his potassium was up kind of high.  It was explained to us that the body is going through a lot dealing with all the new medicines and the kidney trying to get woke up and working right and that all these things should balance out.  Dale asked how long before they start backing down on some of the meds and the doc said the first milestones would be at one month and three months so if everything is stilling going well at one month then he should be able to take less meds and that should help him feel better. He is a walking chemical plant right now – he says he should rattle when he walks!

He takes 3 different anti-rejecton, two antibiotic, sodium bicarb, a diuretic, a pepcid (probably to keep his stomach from freaking out over all the other stuff!), an after meals pill, 2 blood pressure, and a few more I can’t even remember.  One of the anti-rejection drugs he takes is 3 capsules 4 times a day!

He has to go have labs drawn again in the morning to check that potassium. If it isn’t one thing right now it’s another!

It is brrr cold now too.  I guess winter held off as long as it could.  I will be happy as long as there is no ice.  No one in Dallas will be safe if I have to drive on ice here.   We are going to go back to the apartment in a few moments and stay warm and dry!

I talked him into buying a cardigan sweater the other day – he has always worn pullovers.  He liked it so much we went back and got him two more.  He looks a little like an absent-minded professor in it.

Another Day In Transplant Land

I came down to the coffee shop to post this and a couple was in here that haad to leave and go to the emergency room.  He had a transplant 2 years ago and they were sitting there and he started to have a nosebleed.  I told her how to get to emergency (just a few moments from here) since he didn’t want her to call paramedics.   Husbands – sheesh.

Now for the post I had written!

We are getting braver.  We pick a direction and drive and just make sure we can keep some landmarks in view.  We ventured downtown today and made our way around to an Albertson’s grocery store.  We managed to find our way home just fine.
My brother just found out he is diabetic.  When I get internet access again I will be sending him information and I know his wife will be sending me some too.  Dale has been able to keep his sugar down a bit by walking.  We get out of this apartment every chance we get and walk.  He may be moving slow but he is moving and it helps.

I have discovered the joys of steamed veggies and I’m getting ready to steam a bunch and cook some brown rice and pork loin to make some stir fry.
I want to take a moment to thank our kids.  I can’t imagine being able to do this if they weren’t the people they are.  I know they want us home but they have managed to make it to school and work.  My daughter got first chair at all-region and my son is keeping up in debate.  He has gotten multiple awards at the last two meets.  For them to do all this with us gone is awesome and I want them to know how much we appreciate them for hanging in there.

We love and miss you guys and we need you to know that we appreciate you and know how hard this is.  Dad and I will be home as soon as we can!