Awesome news!!!

At church today, we had a vote as to whether to buy some property with an unfinished building on it for our new church.....the vote was 70 yes, 0 no...that is a church committed to growing and reaching out to a new community where we will be located!!! PRAISE GOD!!!!! Can you tell that I am excited? There was an air of excitement and exuberant emotions after the service! We needed something to get us going and I believe this is it! Pastor Ken is going to lead us in God's direction and we will be blessed and will bless others along the way. We are small but mighty in spirit! And I know we will grow fast now that we are united and have a purpose laid out for us. Just wish I could participate more and help the growth get going. But right now, I have to concentrate on getting these knees in the best shape they can be in and helping Jill day to day, as she has gone backwards in her physical strength in the last several months. I want to do for her but I know she has to do for herself if she is to regain her strength. It is hard to know where to stop and when to go.
Thanksgiving was a treat with my daughter, her kids and several of her longtime friends over at my house. We all cooked food and put it together. Charlie made a cherry cheesecake....yummmmm! Pam kept the kitchen clean and washed the dishes by hand....whew...there was a lot of dishes!
Christian spent the last several days with me and I enjoyed every minute! He is a joy to be with and I love him dearly! Wish Tore could have been with us too but she did spend it with Heather and her family.
Well, 4 more days until surgery....and I have a lot to get done! Christmas has to be finished since I will not be able to shop . Hmmmmm....puts me under the gun! But I hope I will be able to crochet more after surgery too.
I am so thankful for the people in my life! Jill makes me humble, Margaret makes me challenged spiritually, Nicole blesses me with her service, Phoebe makes me count my blessings in having my family close, Mom is an awesome mother, James is an exceptional brother, my grands are the best in the world!, Barbara and the Sisters are my spiritual net, and my church family is the greatest! I have no complaints! God blesses me with the people in my life and with His continuing Love and Strength.
Paperback swap is a really great site! If you like to read, join and get books that you may have been looking for by trading books you no longer have a use for. I am getting some books that keep me busy reading and sharing with Jill. We also get books from Goodwill and Salvation Army.
Well, I will close for now. God bless each and every one of you always in all ways.

WHEEEEE!!!!!!

Hi All! I have been gone for a while to Illinois and it was fun! Really great seeing my granddaughter and getting to meet her new friends. There is a couple, Heather and Ira, and their children that have become her military family for now. They are great! Spending time getting to know them was wonderful and Heather is the best cook! Her breakfast burritos are to die for! I look forward to our next visit. Of course, I had to cook several southern dishes for them, and they were appropriately consumed in short order! What a compliment! While there I had no access to the computer since my granddaughter was in the process of getting ready to move to base housing. I went into complete withdrawal! No TV either! Thank the stars that I took enough crochet stuff and books to keep busy!
When I came home (ahhh, bliss! My bed!) things got back to normal really fast. Jill had a really bad time while I was gone. Her hemoglobin dropped to 8 and had to have several units of blood. She slept most of the time due to no energy. She was supposed to have a mass removed from her left breast but her platelets are too low. So she has been on medication over the last few days and will get a blood test again today. If the platelet level has risen to over 100 then she will be eligible for a new drug therapy they are running to see if the results will be beneficial to her. If not (the count up) then she will have the platelets IV and will have the mass removed and then she will get the chemo. The doctor said she has many masses in her bones making it impossible for her body to produce useful blood cells on its own. It breaks my heart that she has to go through all this and I moan about all the surgeries I have to have. She is 38, I am 62. Her attitude is great and I put her up there as one of my heroes....don't tell her that though, there will be no living with her!
I have read recently two books by Christina Dodd, Scent of Darkness and Touch of Darkness, which I have thoroughly enjoyed. I believe this is a new branch in her writing tree and I hope to see more! (not that the branched there are not great too!)
I am supposed to have surgery on the 29th on my right knee and will be in a long-leg cast for 6-8 weeks. When that gets removed and the leg is strong, then I will be having the left one fixed. When that one gets well then we move onto the shoulder.....I only have one limb that is functioning anywhere near normal at this time...LOL Talk about the turtle on its back...it brings to mind the old commercial, "Help! I have fallen and I can't get up!"
Well, I will close for now...getting all the letters mixed up while typing this so I will write more later.
God bless you all and be with you in all things.