THREE WEEKS LATER

I am not sure who reads this but I know God knows who you are. Thank you for being faithful family and friends.

It has been three weeks since I posted anything. I have made it back to MN (another THANK YOU Father , and made it down to TX for my mother's 90th BD. The flight went well and we had all three of moms adult children there plus two of the grand children to celebrate at the Olive Garden. When asked which of her birthdays she liked the best, she said, "This one!" I stayed an extra week so as to be there on her actual BD. She liked the packages of personalized M&M's I had bought for her. She likes having a sweet treat and having the small M&M's made it feel guiltless. LOL! I also got a coursage for her to wear when we went out to lunch, which made her feel special. She hasn't had very many special moments in her life...never went to prom, no white wedding dress in a church and those kinds of things to remember with a smile. I have tried to give her some good memories. I took her to Costa Rica to visit our exchange student, and my daughter went with us for a three generational trip to England, Holland, Germany, Switzerland. We also included my mom and step father in our family trip to Hawaii. So that helps fill in the memories and she has lovely pictures to look at over and over. Mom is the 90 year old gal in the blue and the other picture is of her 3 children (Ken the youngest, Gloria in the middle, and myself the oldest.)

Now I am home in MN and getting ready for my shoulder replacement surgery. I rest in the assurance that God is watching over me and the doctors, and that I will have a good outcome from it. It really is a difficult decision to decide when to replace a "God made body part" with an inferior man made one, but the hip had caused me so much pain towards the end, that I was VERY glad to get rid of the pain. After that surgery in Jan, I can now walk without pain (a bit wobbly since one leg is shorter than the other ). I just have a twinge every once-in-a-while and I can deal with that. The shoulder hasn't had that kind of pain but occasionally, but I can't raise my right arm up past my chest too easily and it is painful when it falls out of the socket a little or the bones rub. So hopefully this will be a good "fix" and I will be happy with this surgery also.

Our temps have been so hot and humid. We stay indoors in the cool as much as possible. You would think I would be cranking out cards a mile-a-minute but I need to get everything out of the bins to use and not looking forward to doing that since I will be gone from the house soon for the surgery and rehab. Here is a picture of all three cats trying to see outside. It is a rare occurrence to have them all three in such close proximity and even rarer that I was able to get a picture before they moved. Mari is the diva laying on the rug. Jack has his back to the camera and Luci is in profile. Not sure what they were looking at...maybe a bug! Smokey the little gray female cat from next door comes over to visit, looks in at them, and I give her a snack and water outside. The owners leave her out all the time, and I am not sure if she gets much to eat. She is really sweet and I wish I had caught her in this picture too. LOL

Every time I open the front door, the glass storm door fogs up with humidity on the outside. So keeping everything shut. Bill said his glasses fogged up when he went to the mail box. But we have been blessed with rain almost every other day and everything is really green and growing...like a hot house or green house. Much better than the rest of the country where everything is turning to desert. I'll put up with the winter any day to have a green summer.

Thank you to those who are praying for me/us. Bill needs it too since he will be alone fixing his own meals for awhile and taking care of the cats. He is getting pretty good at a few dishes (spaghetti, and steak fixed with big egg noodles and mushroom soup.)

God bless ...till next time.