Our elder Bill Brown at Westlake Church of Christ is going to have open heart surgery this Monday. Bill is a wonderful Christian example. Our church would be at a lost without his ability to shepard. We only have two elders as we are not that large of a church about 50 families. If he makes it through the night and can wait til Monday. He has a 90 percent blockage in one artery. But the doctors will have to do two by passes. He has had like chest pains but they are in his back instead of his chest. He has had at least 4 attack through out the day and if it continues the doctors may have to put him on a heart pump which means another surgery then they will do the open heart surgery Monday. We are praying that the doctors don't have to put the pump in and can wait til Monday and do the open heart surgery by passes procedure. We are asking for prayers to guide the doctors to help Bill that the surgery is a success and he recovers fully.

UPDATE: Our God is awesome Bill did better than expected. The doctors only had to do one by-pass and they were able to take the artery from his chest. He is still on the respirator and with the Lords help he will get off that soon. He still has a 12 week recovery. So please keep him in your prayers. Thanks

It is Thanksgiving tomorrow and preparation is already underway. The Turkey is thawing in the fridge since Monday waiting patiently to be dressed. As I pull out homemade recipes I reminisce about when my mother would put a feast together for her family, relatives, and friends to enjoy; how special it was and the love that was shared. How I have carried on the tradition with joy in my heart to please others and spread love. My mouth waters for candy sweet potatoes casserole while I make our favorite traditional side dishes of mash potatoes and gravy, stuffing, brussel sprouts with walnut sauce, cranberry sauce with wine, pumpkin and pecan pies to bake as I reflect back over the year.

I hope this holiday is special for you. It is the time that we reflect back and count our blessings no matter how big or small, how happy or sad, how wealthy or poor they are our blessings from God. It is at this time that we thank our Father for giving us so much and it is through these trials of ups and downs that God has blessed us truly so we are able to comfort others.

As a Christian I have open my heart more than I ever thought possible. Each day is a blessing and a gift from God. May you find hope through God with him all things are possible.

I am thankful each day to be a Christian more than anything on this earth.

I am thankful that my husband (who is in poor health) is here with me and I am grateful that our son is able to be with us knowing that he will be leaving for some time and I pray that God watches over him.

I am thankful for my Christian family who is always there when you need them without asking and the many prayers that are said on our behalf.

I am thankful for family and friends.

I am thankful for the dedication of our soldiers past, present, and future that give us our right to FREEDOM. There are many sons, daughters, husbands, and wives who are away from their family or sadly that they have lost their love ones. It is their sacrifice that has given us all freedom in this land that should never be taken likely.

I am thankful for the kindness of others, people who give of their time to help others, what ever the need is. Like finances, food, babysitting, running errands, visiting the sick, helping a neighbor, giving when you don't have the ability or finances to do so and the list can go on and on.

I am thankful for the love of my husband and son for they are the love of my life.

I am thankful for our home to have a place to live in which we are comfortable with heat and air condition.

I am thankful for the love of my dog who is always willing to be my best friend. She waits patiently every morning for me to open my bedroom door to greet me with such joy as she follows me through the house to be my faithful servant to only please me.

I am thankful for our savior Jesus Christ who gave his life to free me from sin and gave me eternal life.

I rejoice in knowing that Jesus will come again and I look forward to the day.

What are you thankful for?

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Well it's been a while since I've blogged, so I thought I'd bring you all up to speed. We have been working on enclosing our porch, and turning it into a four season room. The glass walls are up, and we still have siding to remove, dry wall to put up, tape, mud, sanding, paint, and ceramic flooring to install. Just a hop, skip, and jump then we will be finish.

When Ike past up our way we had 5 inches of rain in one day. Our basement leaked, and caused damage in two of our rooms. Our basement is completely finished with 2 bedrooms, game room, living room, exercise room, and 2 large storage areas. We had a brethren's restoration company clean up the water, and we still have to get the rug cleaned and remove dry wall that has mildew on them.

My mother-in-law was admitted back into the hospital. Her white blood cell count was way down which is to be expected with her treatment of radiation and chemo. She got an infection, and was running a temperature of 100.5 which doesn't sound high for you or me, but it is high for a cancer patient. They had to give her to 2 bags of blood in hopes to raise her white cell count. She finally got to go home after a week in the hospital, but her white cell count is still way too low. She can't be around anyone who is sick. She has lost all her hair, and hasn't been eating much. She has lost about 30 lbs in 2 months. She has test on Mon. to see about reattaching her bowels. In case you may not remember she went in for a complete hysterectomy 2 mos. ago and they found cancer which had spread to the bowel and bladder which they removed part of each only getting 95 percent of the cancer. The dr. wants to attach the bowel and sew up her incision because it is not healing from the inside. I pray that she will be strong enough for another surgery. Please keep her in your prayers.

This past week my husband got an infection on his right leg below his knee. He had no cut so we don't know how he got this infection. We went to the doctor on Tues., and he put him on an antibiotic. By Thurs his leg swelled up with a large red area and was paining him badly. I took him to emergency the dr. lance the area and removed, well you know what they removed, and did a culture. They packed the wound, and put him on another antibiotic because the first one wasn't working. By Sat. his leg swelled up again, and I took him to emergencny. They cleaned the wound again, and culture it again and added another antibiotic. He is on two antibiotics now. So, we don't know what this infection is yet, and his leg is still red and he is in pain.

I look to the Lord with joy in my heart knowing that he is beside me at all times. I want to thank everyone that visits, it has been very uplifting to be around strong Christians that are so loving and caring. I am grateful for J.C. and all the blessing that God gives us may you find strength in his word.

UPDATE: We received news this evening about my MIL. Her Dr. is going to reattach her bowel and sew up her incision this coming Mon. This has picked up her spirits one less thing to deal with.

My husband leg is doing better. We went to his Dr. and he put him on a different antibiotic yes this makes number 4, but who counting as long as he recovers. His Dr. said it was staph infection, but not the bad one. Well that's a matter of opinion.

Thanks for your prayers:)

I attended church today as usual. I was over joyed to see a sister and her 10 year old daughter, This sister had not been to church for over a year. She had fallen ill and had almost died from memingitis. Her family took care of her during this time, but they would not let her see anyone from church, or attend even though she wanted to. Her family does not beleive in The Church of Christ. She also had trouble remembering what had happen to her, but did remember a few people from church. I was grateful that the Lord answered our prayers. All the glory goes to God without a dault.

I had to renew my drivers license, what an ordeal that was. Because of the over flow of illegal aliens in the U.S. there are much more hoops to jump through. Now one has to show proof of identity. A social security card will work. Proof of name change a us passport, social security card, medicare card, certified marriage license, divorce decree, birth certificate all of these will work. Proof of residence. You need a current electric bill with your current address and your name. You need proof of lawful presence. This is whether you are a us citizen or not. A birth certificate with embossed or raised seal issue by the government or state. This one I didn't have I had my birth certificate from the hospital. Which I had used several years ago to travel to Mexico and got back into the U.S. with. So you need at least four different pieces of paper to claim who you are today just to get a driver's license. Now here the funny part, the lady at the drivers license bureau was Mexican. She didn't understand her job, and was speaking in spanish to her co worker. Now where is the irony to that one. All of this made me think that my wedding license is really not valid (after 27 yrs). Because it's again just a decortive piece of paper. So I am going to get that from the recorder of deeds, because I will need it some day to collect social security from my husband after his death. Well ladies I hope you think of your future and what one has to do to secure one's rights.

I had a great birthday my husband gave me a strand of pearls and took me to The Pasta House restaurant. I love their artichokes! My son took me out the next day to The Vine. Great food! We had a cheese platter with 4 different kinds of cheeses, olives, grapes, bread and crackers. Then I had a salad and shimp cocktail. YUM!!!!

I hope you are having a good day and count your blessing each day.

I went to beautiful New Haven Vermont to visit a lady friend of mine. I had a relaxing time just what I needed and had fun shopping. This was the first time that I traveled by myself. I have beautiful pictures but the mother board on my computer blew. Everything is on it! It's hard to function without it. I have a friend trying to retreive the data. My husband felt so sorry for me he gave me his computer just to communicate with the world. Talk about feeling you don't have a life without it. I don't know how I ever function without it before. Hope I will get my data off my old computer and post the pictures of Vermont.

My mother-in-law is losing her hair now after serveral treatment of chemo and radiation. She is healing on the out side where they made her incision but not healing on the inside. She has lost 16 lbs in a month now which is not good. She doesn't want to eat which is to be expected. She has not been out in 7 weeks only to get her treatment. Please keep in her your prayers.

Well it is my birthday this Friday Aug 22. Not sure what my husband has plan for me but I love surprizes.