He had two major complications the third day following surgery, which have really sapped his strength and slowed down his healing process, so is about a week behind in where we had hoped he would be by now.  Everything is  a huge effort, even just walking a few steps.  The complications are under control, but continue.

Please continue to remember us both in your prayers.  Each of you praying for him – and me – has contributed to him being as far along as he is right now, I’m convinced.  He was not doing well at all the last couple of days in the hospital and I spent two hours in deep, earnest prayer with our Father in Heaven the middle of the day asking God to help Tom rally.  I went and told the nurses that he desperately wanted to come home, even though they did not feel he was at all ready.

But, we were able to convince the doctors, nurse practitioner and nurses that we knew what we faced (we’ve been here before, if you remember, with his major heart attack in October, 1999 and my five heart bypasses with multiple complications in March 2004), were making plans for help and that he would, indeed, be better off at home.

And, he has been, thank God almighty!

Ron was willing to stay all night Wednesday if we needed him, as Tom was so unsure on his feet.  But after being home just a couple of hours, he thought he was able to get around just a bit without falling, and that was good.  A Home Health nurse came yesterday to check on him and will be back Monday to do blood work and check his vitals, etc.  They sent a really sweet physical therapist this morning to get him started on just some very light exercises to strengthen his legs and arms.

Ron came and stayed with Tom yesterday afternoon for a couple of hours to I could get groceries, more Rx’s, etc,s and came back at noon today to bring us three home cooked meals from friends.  Ron even made Tom some homemade chicken noodle soup, which Tom had for lunch today.  It’s delicious and full of chunky chicken breast pieces.  He’s on a high protein, all he can eat (right now) meal plan.

The Mississippi Press Association sent a fruit basket and other friends have volunteered to bring us meals, as I am busy 24/7 keeping up with him, I’m tellin’ ya.

Last, but not least (you guys will all be happy to know and happy for him! ha!) – he’s managed to rack up some more electronic gadgets as get well/early birthday presents.  So, now that he’s home and beginning to feel just a tad better, he’s a happy camper.

Bless Rebecca’s sweet heart, she not only did three loads of laundry, went grocery shopping, and cleaned the house, she made two meals, as well, all the day of Tom’s surgery (week ago Wednesday.  Then, she went shopping for a get well gift and gave him a “fine” universal remote he’d been wanted for about four years.  It’s identical to Ron’s, so he fully programmed it on Tom’s computer yesterday for him while he was here.  Tom’s sister, Debbie, and his older brother, Dickie, and spouses gave him an iHome for his iPod, which includes a docking station, stereo speakers, a clock and alarm.  He hasn’t opened it yet, but it is sitting out waiting for him to feel well enough to “play” with it.

The best gift he’s had so far – and mine, as well, has been that Tom’s daughter, Kristine, has been here with us since the evening before his surgery, just leaving Wednesday morning.  Her help and care giving of Tom while he was in the hospital was a true Godsend.  We couldn’t have made it without her help.  Truly.

We feel deeply blessed.

Thank you each.  And, many blessings to each of you today!  Dee

We saw the neurosurgeon in Birmingham (a gorgeous city, by the way – at least the south side where we were) on Monday about 1 p.m.  He was very thorough and excellent, we thought.

As he walked into the examining room where Tom & I were waiting, he looked at me and exclaimed, “Ms. Andrews – You have one messed up neck!”  That did not portend well, I thought.  He then talked with me about my history & current symptoms, had me get up and walk all around the room, checked my posture, etc, and checked my reflexes all over my body.

He then invited us into the next room where all of my MRI films and x-rays were hanging in front of a light wall.  He went over each and every one of them with me (us), showing us in detail what he saw and what it meant.  He marked up my x-rays with a red grease crayon and did the same on my MRI films, explaining each marking as he made it.

His conclusion was that my pinched nerve is most likely coming from between my C4-5 vertebrae, which is where I had the one pinched nerve before in 1982 – some 27 years ago.  That was where I had guessed it might be coming from, and he said I was correct.  That point – on the left side between C4-5 – was where he saw the most narrowing of the space where the nerves are.  Through the intervening years I have developed a lot of arthritis and bone spurs, which could be at least part of the cause of this current problem.

He said that because all of my reflexes appear to be normal, he thinks I will fully recover in time, continuing with the cervical traction I’ve been doing 2 or 3 times a day.  (He tweaked that some, adding some more weight for a shorter period of time.)  In the meantime, he is sending me here for a steroid epidural injection in my neck to relieve the pain (hopefully) and to calm the stressed nerve (my words).

I am going in for that a week from Monday (July 6).  Hopefully, I will be able to stop taking pain medications then.  I’ll continue to rest, use traction, take pain meds as needed until the pain goes away, hopefully.  I’m using the word “hopefully” a lot here, but that is a good word, you know?  To have hope!!  I did not have much, or any, for the first six weeks of this ordeal.

He asked how long it took for me to recover from the first pinched nerve and I told him several months.  He thinks it will be the same with this one.  It’s already been nearly 3 months I’ve been dealing with this, but I’ve only been using traction about a month (which is the only thing that’s helped, and he agreed was the only thing he thought would help).

He does not think I need surgery, nor does he think I’ll need to come back to see him, but they all assured me there that if I had any further problems or questions, to call.  They gave me his card to keep.

I don’t think I have to tell you how elated Tom & I were to get that good news!  You all have been a treasure to me in praying with me and for me in this – as you’ve done in all things I’ve had health problems with.

[Note:  Tuesday afternoon - Randy Wray of Theobloggers has gotten my photo upload/download problem fixed, so below are some photos of our bedroom & view out the South facing window.  Enjoy!  I will also be adding these to my tab at the top of the page here "A Home Complete."]

Many Blessings to you all today!!  Dee

Our "beachside looking" master bedroom

Our master bedroom window faces the South, out over our deck.

Here is a closer view of the deck and woods beyond.

Here's the view (looking North) from the deck into our bedroom.

I’m afraid I must once more apologize for being so slow in getting more "The Great Road Trip of 2009" posts written and published.  I’m hoping to work on the next one tomorrow, Lord willing.  If I feel better than right now.

So instead, I want to offer you 3 more photos that will be included in our "home tour" at the "A Home Complete" tab at the top of the page.

Last time I showed you the front of our house, which is rather "plain" and ordinary, I suppose.  We tried to make it a typical Southern home with the pillars & shutters, etc.  Here is a picture looking from inside the front door toward the back, where all of the "action" is.  The focus of our home is toward the back wall of windows looking into the big screened in back porch.  Look see:

Next is the view into our dining room (which we do use, btw) which is to the right of the front door. 

And last is a view in our living room looking back toward the front door with the dining room on the left.

You will notice that I’ve managed to share with you several pictures of our living area without yet showing our 60" HDTV to the right side in the above photo.  That, my friends, is an accomplishment!

I hope and pray you each have a great weekend ahead!  Please continue with me in prayer concerning my pinched nerve.

Much love to you all!  Dee

Thus, I offer you here today a couple of the photos for A Home Complete and you can begin to read in that tab about each photo as I add them.  I’ll let you know when the series is complete, as well.

Here first is the approach to our home.  We have lots of green grass, but absolutely no formal landscaping as yet, as we ran out of money!  The Lord has graciously granted us a beautiful setting, so we concentrate on those "free" features, instead.  I think you’ll really enjoy the series of A Home Complete once I finish it.  

  This photo shows our beautiful leaded glass front door with my wreath on it and a "Welcome" sign to the right.  Welcome guests!  Into our home complete!

On another note:  Please join me in a season of prayer as I seek medical opinions and options for my cervical spine/disc/pinched nerve problems.  Tom is going with me to meet with an area neurosurgeon tomorrow afternoon to begin with.

  I’ll keep you informed how things go.  Right now, I’m still in pain bad enough for meds about 1/2 to 3/4 of each day, which is a bit better, but not much after 6+ weeks.

Many blessings to you all today!  Dee

Oh yeah – you want to know how it went.  I was afraid of that. 

Well . . . I told Mike the tech as we went in that I was going to do it this time.  It was all I had been thinking and praying about for two whole days.  I’d just taken my sedative and thought I was calm and ready.  Tom was just outside and I knew y’all had been praying for me and I had my mantras ready.

Mike had tried three times unsuccessfully on Monday to get even one picture.  He strapped me in, turned on the soft music and gave me my instructions.  But, no matter how calm I tried to be and no matter what I thought of to be still (like saying certain words over and over or asking God to hold me in His hands), I tensed up, once again.  I blew it and knew it.

When the time was up, Mike told me that try was much worse than any of the 3 times on Monday.  He said it looked like I was trying to jump off the table.  He told me I couldn’t move even my feet or hands and that being tense would make me twitch (which my feet were).  He said just that slight move was like throwing a rock in the water and having the ripples spread ever further out all through my body.

I understood.  I knew I had one last chance and this was going to be it as we started a second time.  I thought about all the prayers and I thought about God being with me – in me – and how much I needed these MRIs.  I swallowed one last time, cleared my throat and the machine began knocking for four minutes for a picture.

I panicked.  Totally panicked.  Totally came unglued.

When the sounds stopped, before Mike could say anything, I told him, "Mike.  I panicked."  I knew it was over and I was extremely upset.

He said, "I thought you took your pill."  I said that I had.  We starting talking about all of it and had a long conversation, me still strapped in surrounded by the machine.  He said he wasn’t upset with me and that I shouldn’t be so hard on myself.  He said that what we both wanted was to get the 4 good pictures we needed.  I asked him if I could come out from under the machine for a bit, but he said I couldn’t sit up or anything or really move because it would screw up all that he’d done to get me ready and that we’d have to start all over again.

I asked him if I could just lie still for a couple of minutes and he said yes.  We kept talking, me asking if there was any other way I could do this MRI, but he said no.  We talked about a lot of things.  About how many pictures he needed – four – but he said, just one at a time, for about four minutes apiece.  Finally, he asked me what I wanted to do.  I told him I wanted to try one more time, if he were willing, and he agreed.

This time, this 6th and absolutely last chance time, I realized I had to take a totally different approach to this in my mind and head.  So, I started thinking about sex.  I know, I know, that’s not what you were expecting me to say.  Not some profound insight or inspirational vision.  But, actually, it was.  I mean, I started thinking about things between Tom and I over the years, about sex and love and remembrances of important events in our lives.  I thought of all of the good things between us and how much they meant to me and how he’s always made me feel so loved.

I thought much of the time about how I felt when I first regained consciousness after my heart surgery and five by-passes when my body was totally paralyzed by drugs, so that I couldn’t even move a finger when Tom touched my hand and told me he loved me.  (You’ve got to read this, if your haven’t - "Out of the Darkness".)    

 It worked!! 

When the knocking stopped and Mike spoke to me he said, rather amazed, "That was a perfect picture!"  I told him, "Mike.  I have this figured out.  I was thinking about sex."  He thought that was funny and was very amused.  We talked and joked about it through four more perfect pictures, y’all!  (He did an extra one because he wasn’t completely satisfied with one – not up to his perfectionist standards.)

So, I had five horrible tries at getting MRI pictures and then five perfect ones in a row!  Mike told me I was the first person in 20 years to ever tell him they were thinking about sex to stay still and calm for an MRI.  (That figures, I thought.)  He said, well, I guess you’re ready to go home now, huh?!  He said he wished he could tell patients to try that, but was afraid he’d get fired.

He walked me out and smiled at Tom, who was waiting for me.  As we got in the car, I was telling Tom my experiences and we sat there laughing.  About that time, Mike came striding out the door in front of us to go home (I’d been in there for over an hour with him and was his last patient of the day).  He saw us and started smiling real big and waving at us.  I think I’d made his day.

I know.  I’m crazy.  But, hey – y’all already knew that about me.  Tom’s known that about me from the beginning, which is why he likes me so much. 

God knows me, too, and loves me as one of His crazy kids!  He loved me enough to bring Tom into my broken life to love me, cherish me and to protect me from all harm that he can.  He has been incredibly tender and kind to me through this and that helps me more than you’ll ever know.

But know this; no matter what, God will be my protecter and Guide and faithful to me even in my hours of deepest pain.  They continue for now,  but I hold on as tightly as I can.

Much love to you all today!  Dee

Friday evening and Saturday were good days, but Sunday horrific, again.  Today is really bad right now, despite physical therapy this morning, traction once (I’ve got to wait for Tom to get home to do it again) and 3 strong pain pills.

If you would, please pray for me that I can get through an MRI tomorrow.  I went for it yesterday, but could not stay still enough for the young technician to get good pictures. 

He told me the MRI process is extremely sensitive to movement and since I need one of my neck, I have to not only hold extremely still, as in not even blink an eyelash or move my eyeballs, I cannot swallow for several minutes while the machine is running and even have to breathe as shallow as possible. 

I was tense to begin with (and in pain), even with the "open" MRI I went for, because it was open "sort of" out from me, but my head was shut in a "gizmo" and my face was like 4 inches from the machine on top of me.  Even so, I thought I was being absolutely still. 

But, he told me he couldn’t get the 2nd picture (I’m not sure how many they do – at least 3, I think) because of "too much movement," so of course, when he tried again, it was even worse.  I didn’t think I was swallowing at all, but the tech kept telling me he thought I was trying to swallow over and over and asked if I was congested or something.  Which I wasn’t.  He seemed aggravated with me, and that didn’t help. 

I’m having to get a Rx sedative from my doctor today to take 20 min. before the test tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. and Tom is going to have to drive me, of course.  Please pray that somehow I can relax enough (and not swallow or breath!) to do this.  I was in tears when I left yesterday because I need the MRI so badly and I was so mad at myself, although I don’t know what I could have done.  I called Tom as soon as I got in the car and cried and cried.  He said he wasn’t sure he could have done it, either, and told me it wasn’t my fault.

I’ve had a couple of MRIs before, but it was years ago and I don’t really remember what they were for.  I sure don’t remember not being able to swallow for several minutes or to try to not even breathe.  I do remember I had to take a sedative before the last one I had, so I guess I should have done that this time to begin with.

 If I can’t get the MRI, then I’m certainly not going to be able to get any help.  I know without a doubt I’ve not gotten near the help I’ve needed so far, so called yesterday morning to set up an appt with a different orthopedic surgeon, who is supposed to be very good.  Of course, the first thing the receptionist told me was that he’ll need an MRI!!  I got that all arranged, but cannot get in to see him for nearly a month – June 10!?!

This has been the worst nightmare.  The pain has really worn me down.  I have to say, though, that Tom has been an angel to me and for me.  He has been exceptionally understanding and patient and good to take care of everything I can’t do and don’t feel like doing.  Which isn’t much.  

  So, please pray that he stay in good health as he cares for me.  And pray God heals me.  Soon.

Much love to you all, Dee

P. S. Back to The Great Road Trip of 2009 just as soon as I feel well enough to work on it.

One can hardly write about The Great Road Trip of 2009 involving one’s self, younger sister and mother without talking a bit more about one’s mom over Mother’s Day Weekend, now can one.

This digression was going to happen, anyway, so what more perfect time?

The thing is, there are no words adequate to express how most of us – if not all – feel about our mothers, whether still living or no longer with us.  So, I’m barely going to scratch the surface.

Suffice it to say that we are here and in many ways the way we are because of our mothers.  In my case, that is a great blessing.  In fact, I sent my mom flowers yesterday (all purple ones) for Mother’s Day and thanked her for being such a great blessing in our lives – Tom’s and mine.

The main purpose I had for the trip together was to do good things for my mom and with her.  To bless her.  I wanted to do things for her that she couldn’t do by and for herself.  To bring her down here for a visit with us, her grandson, whom she hadn’t seen in 12 years, and his family, whom she had never met.  To see our new home.  To show her hospitality "Southern" style.  To spend time together with Laura, her husband (who flew down) and Tom and me.

In the end – and all along the way – however, she blessed each of us much more than we could ever begin to be blessings to her. 

That’s my perspective concerning my relationship with my mom, and I hope, is yours.  I want to do more for her, but she always does more for me. 

Her "View From the 80s" is that each of us – as mothers – as parents – have the task of passing along – passing forward – to our offspring the good we have received and have learned from our own parents.  She thinks that it is not for us to try to "give back" or "repay" our parents for all that they have done for us, but to "pay forward" in turn, as God has given us the abilities to do so.

And, I’m not talking about money here, I think you understand, necessarily, although, when time and opportunity present themselves, that, too.  But even more important than that are the values, the faith, the Godliness, the compassion and love that we inherit, which must to passed along, or else all fails.

So, here’s to all of our mothers, who have been such wonderful blessings in all our lives.  If your mother wasn’t so much, then learn from mistakes past so that they will not be repeated.  

God expected us from the beginning to honor our fathers and mothers so that we might live long lives.  However long each of us may live, may we always remember with great honor our Godly mothers.

 I’m "fixin’" to call mine.  I know some of you cannot.  But, you do have children you can call to tell them how proud you are to be their parent – mother or father – and to encourage them in the way of the Lord.

Here’s to mothers on Mother’s Day weekend, including Patrick Mead’s daughter, Kara Graves, who became a mother just last night!

Many blessings upon you all this weekend!  And, here’s a portrait of a beautiful woman of God in her 88th year upon this earth.  (Isn’t that a great picture!  Such a pleasant looking face.  She loves bright red.)

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom.  I LOVE you!!  Dee

I’m switchin’ ears.

At least, I’m trying to.

You see . . . you hear . . . the visit to medical specialist #18 in my life – the ENT doctor (plus audiologist) Friday resulted in the finding of the newest and latest diabetically caused health problem, which is that I have a serious hearing impairment.  As in, I can hear you (despite some loss of hearing ability), but I can’t understand you. 

Some of the fragile hairs in the inner canals in my ears have been destroyed due to my diabetes, or more specifically, poor circulation and lack of oxygen to the hairs in my inner ears.  Thus, I have lost to a great extent (in my left ear, in particular), the ability to distinguish words.  I no longer can make a distinction between (comprehend) many words I hear anyone else saying.

I hear you, but I cannot understand what you are saying.

It’s not bad in person, one on one in relatively quiet settings, but put me in a noisy crowd, or most especially on the telephone, and you’ll find that I say "Um, hum" a lot and nod my head – sort of – not sure whether I should have given you a positive or negative response.

This has been bothering me for months and months.  I’d say up to maybe a year and a half to two years ago.  It shows up really badly trying to watch a movie or TV show and not being able to figure out anything anybody is saying.  We’ve been watching TV and DVDS with subtitles on for probably two years, which works great.  We’ve gotten to where we rarely go to movies any more because of my comprehension problem.  It’s a problem for Tom, too, because he cannot hear well.  (I’ll tell you his story next time – it’s a doozy.)

My problems shows up most dramatically when I’m talking on the telephone, and this has been going on a long time.  I’ve had long conversations – like with my mom – in which I have not understand anywhere near half of what the other person is saying.  When it comes to tech support people or the like who speak with a heavy foreign accent, my understanding goes down to about zero.  On the phone, I’m constantly asking people to repeat what they’ve said, even more than once.  It’s embarrassing, among other things (like perhaps agreeing to buy something without realizing what I’m doing).

I found out Friday that this has been greatly compounded by the fact that I’ve always – always – talked on the phone using my left ear.  It’s the one with more hearing loss and the one with rather severe loss of comprehension, both.

So, I’m tryin’ to switch ears.  Saturday morning I had Tom change the shoulder rest on my phone in here in the office to be used on the right shoulder instead of the left.  It doesn’t fit my right shoulder, I’m telling ya!  No matter how I try to position it, it’s awkward and uncomfortable and I keep dropping it.  I know – I’ve been practicing it.  I had Tom go in the other room and call me from his cell phone.  I can’t (okay won’t) tell you what I exclaimed the first time I picked up the phone to try to answer it using my right ear and shoulder rest.  I’ll just say that I told Tom I cannot be answering the phone that way from now on and especially if it’s my MOM! 

Then, I had a couple of real calls yesterday to contend with while fidgeting around with the stupid shoulder rest and switching back and forth between ears, begging the people’s patience while I did so.  I was just trying to place a catalog sale order with Penney’s in one and it took forever.  I think the only reason the lady I talked with was so patient and kind was because I was a paying customer and we all know business is really bad for retailers.

But, I persevere. 

I mean, I’m only trying to break a habit of a lifetime.  At least 57 years we’re talking about.  In thinking about it philosophically, I’m wondering if this is in some way related to my telephone dreams.  (See last post.)  My last commenter there (my daughter, Rebecca) suggested that according to Scott Peck dreams are related to reality and that maybe I should try meditating on my life to see where my unresolved problems lie.  

That’s not a bad idea, whatever problems we have.  Except that I definitely add prayer in with the meditation.  And, you know?  I had another telephone dream Friday night, but in it I was somehow trying to think logically about the situation based upon some of the comments you guys left me.  I still couldn’t get through on the phone, but I wasn’t nearly as upset about it as I had been before.  So, maybe I’m making progress here with those dreams.

I’m trying just as hard to make progress with this new reality of my life.  It was actually very comforting to finally know exactly what my problems were and to have an explanation to give people.  Plus, there’s good news in this.  I can hear and comprehend on the phone much better with my right ear, if I can get used to using it (with or without the shoulder rest, but the rest sure helps so that I can write and type on the computer with it on.)  

So, y’all call, ya hear?!!  I look forward to "hearing" from you.  But, just promise to be good and ignore the first words out of my mouth for a while till I adjust, okay, and all of my fidgeting around with the phone.  

Cheers!  And many blessings to each of you today!  Dee

P. S. Tune in next time to hear about how Tom’s "free" night out to a concert last weekend (on Friday the 13th, no less, which could be where the problem started) ended up costing me (us) $3,238!

I need a Joseph.  An interpreter of dreams.  Any volunteers?

I’ve had dreams for years and years – often – in which I’m in some sort of stressful situation and am trying to call home and/or for help.  Here’s the kicker.  I can never properly dial (well, these days, punch) the numbers to connect and get through to whomever I’m trying to reach.

I’m always left with a horrible sense of dread and disconnectedness.  Of being all alone or at least unable to reach those I love and need the most.

When I first began having those dreams, I always saw rotary telephones that had the be dialed.  But, I never could quite dial the correct numberso or in the correct manner.  Whatever.  The dreams began with black telephones, but switched to rotary phones of other colors, later.

Then, I began to dream of push button phones of various colors, but again, I could never either see the complete keypad or else the numbers were all out of order or something.  Same result.  I became terribly frustrated, but could not get through.

Lately, including last night, I’ve been dreaming of holding cell phones and trying my best to punch out those teeny little numbers with my big clumsy fingers, but never succeed.  The numbers switch around and all aren’t there.  Meanwhile, I’m in some sort of great danger.

I wake up following such dreams with a deep sense of dread that is hard to shake.  It makes me wish – as this morning – that I had not gone to sleep at all.

So . . . what say ye?  Have any answers for me today as to what these dreams might mean, or are trying to convey?  Is there some deep angst within me that I need to try to uncover, deal with and hopefully overcome, do you suppose? 

Quit sleeping, perhaps.  Stop paying attention to Tom’s current series "Battlestar Galactica" he’s watching on DVDs every day.  I mean – I don’t eat much before I go to bed, so it can’t be overeating or heavy foods.  

I sleep well most nights, but do have – like "story" – dreams all night long nearly every night in vivid color.  Sometimes I have nightmares in which I try to cry out and Tom has to wake me up to calm me.  

In my waking hours, my life is wonderful, you know?  Better than it’s ever been.  I’ve been madly in love with Tom for many years now, and it just gets better all the time.

Do you think I need to seek professional help?  I’m certainly not adverse to doing so, y’all know, I think. This may all sound rather lame to you, but sometimes it’s a burden.

That being said – on another note – all my blood tests from Monday came back normal, which is great!!  I do not have Lupus, which is great, and I’m feeling very well this week.  The weather is gorgeous and I’m getting a lot done in preparation for my upcoming "Road Trip" with my mom and my sister.  I’ll tell you all about that next time!

Cheers & Blessings to you all today!  Dee

The news from my doctor wasn’t good yesterday, so today I bought geraniums.

I’ve only had the traditional bright red geraniums once before several years ago and I came to love them dearly.  My plants grew and grew and bloomed and bloomed all through the spring, summer and long after.  By mid-winter that year, none of the rest of my back porch garden was even alive, but my geraniums hung in there and charmed my cold days with their bright red blooms, still.

I was amazed at their tolerance in adversity; how they not only hung in there, but seemingly flourished when all others around them had faded away and disappeared.  I thought then that I should be so lucky as to be a geranium among the more fragile back porch blooms.

So, today I decided I would begin to fill my big screened in back porch and back deck with geraniums this year to remind me that as disheartening as some medical news can be . . . and it is . . . there is always hope in the dark cold winters that lie ahead.   

After all – this life is but a temporary season and those of us who are hearty in the Lord have an eternity of bright seasons to look forward to enjoying.  I will be there, Lord willing and by God’s grace, among the blessed.

Along with endless glorious music, I hope there will be bright geraniums to grace our days.

Many blessings to you all this weekend.  Dee