Great Christmas!

Hard to believe that it has been over a week since I last posted on the blog. The Christmas holidays seemed to fly by. Karen flew in from Phoenix although she was delayed with some fog in Chicago. I have never seen O'Hare soooo crowded. We finally got home at 2:00 A.M. We celebrated our Christmas with the family on Dec. 23rd. with everyone together but Michael Coburns who had a Christmas at home for the first time in years. We had a glorious meal headlined with beef tenderloin and a crown pork roast. Fourteen of us gathered at the table. We exchanged presents earlier in the afternoon. I led worship in the morning and sang on the worship team on Christmas Eve. On Christmas we went to Kevin and Tracy's for dinner which was great. Unfortunately, we had to take Karen back to the airport on Christmas day as she had to work the next day.

We are now preparing for New Years. I continue to feel the same with only a queasy stomach. Mighty good! Praise God. We leave for Bonaire on January 9th and we are excited to head down there again. In so many ways it is like home for us.

We wish each of you a Happy and Healthy New Year! May God bless each of you abundantly.

Joe

Another Pet CT

Last week, I had another Pet CT. It seems that with each one, I become more nervous regarding the outcome. Our primary physician, Dr. Schubert called me on Sunday to let me know that although there was small growth in one of the lung tumors, he would still classify the disease as stable. I certainly thought that this was good news. On Wednesday, we went downtown to see Dr. Mulcahy at Chicago Northwestern. Overall, she just indicated that my tumors seemed to be very slow growing and that I was on the far end of the bell curve. We think that she may have just written us off as we are doing alternative therapy which she refuses attest to its effectiveness. Oh well! I'm not sure it is worthwhile going to see her again.

Last Saturday on the 15th we flew to Cleveland to spend a long weekend with Michael, Heidi and the children. We had Christmas on Sunday morning and Mary Anne, Michael and Heidi went to her oncologist on Monday. I stayed home with the kids as it was a snow day with which they were delighted. Her news was all good with no growth of her tumors. All her blood work was also normal and he didn't think they would do more blood work for several months and another MRI for maybe six months....all good news.

Tonight our daughter Karen flies in from Phoenix and will be with us for Christmas. We will have our Christmas on the 23rd as Kirk and some of the children are busy with church on Christmas eve. On Christmas day we will all head to Kevin and Tracy's for dinner. Mike and family will spend their first Christmas at home in some years. Unfortunately, Karen will have to fly back on Christmas day but we are so grateful that she will be in for a few days, We just don't get to see her as much as we would like.

Immediately after Christmas we will start getting ready to go to Bonaire as we leave on January 9th. We are so blessed to be able to spend time there!

We wish all of you a most blessed and joyous Christmas!

Joe

New Addition

As some of you may remember, last April we had to have our thirteen year old Maltese, Jake, put down. It was a very sad moment. As you dog owners know, they become like members of the family. Both Mary Anne and I have missed Jake a great deal. Mary Anne has been looking on "Pet Finders" and has showed me several dogs. I asked her if she was planning on getting another dog and when she said no I asked her not to show me anymore pitures of dogs.
We have been dog sitting for a friend who has the cutest, submissive little white dog. As great as he is, just dog sitting did not seem to do it for us and so Mary Anne called a friend who works at the Vet we went to, who also happens to be a show judge and asked her about finding us a small white dog...maybe a Maltese. Three hours later she called back to say that a friend of hers who runs the Animal Shelter in Joliet had a one year old male Maltese. He was small and very submissive.
Mary Anne went out that afternoon and got him. We found out that if we had called one day later he would have been put down. He is the cutest thing and very submissive. We felt very lucky to get him and him to be lucky also as he wouldn't have been here one day later.....
so naturally we decided to name him "Lucky"!
He is nothing like Jake. First of all he doesn't growl at me when I come into the bedroom and he is much more affectionate. He has adjusted very easily and already seems very much at home.

On another note, I have another Pet CT on Thursday the 13th and we have an appointment with Dr. Mulcahy at Chicago Northwestern on the 19th. We are hoping that the report will not only be favorable but also far more definitive.

In four weeks we will be leaving for Bonaire. We are so blessed to be able to get out of the winter for a while. We sure love the island and all the people who we know who either live on the island or come there while we are there.

May God bless each of you abundantly at this marvelous time of the year!

Joe

Christmas is Coming!

Last week, we were able to get the Christmas tree up and all the decorations in the house. I had put up the outside lights when the weather was much warmer. We turned on the outside lights on Thanksgiving evening. Like so many, I love Christmas. What a special event is the birth of our savior. I am enjoying each day and thank God for them. I am still feeling well and if anything my queasyness is less than it had been.
Yesterday I went to the Bears football game. It rained continually until we were in Soldier Field. Then the rain did stop and it didn't rain again. The temps started dropping and the wind picked up but I had soooo many clothes on that I was plenty warm. If I had put on many more clothes, I would not have been able to move. We had to walk a long, long walk from where we parked to the stadium and that was fine for me but Kevin (our son) had invited me and he brought his two boys, Jason 8, and Ryan 6. Jason did fine but Ryan had to be carried most of the way. I think they enjoyed the game....actually they enjoyed all the junk to eat that Kevin bought them. To the surprise of very few, the Bears blew a nine point lead in the fourth quarter and lost. It was a very nice outing. I'm glad Kevin asked me to go although at first I said I would rather stay at home and watch it in High Definition where the temp is always 72 degrees.

It is about 25 degrees here today....very cold but sunshinny. Good day for staying inside!

May God bless each of you.

Joe