Update 1/29/10 Day 82

Dear friends,

This dear lady with the coffee cup is one of our own! A loyal member of our blog community, she and I met today, when she came to my house to deliver a camera to me to replace my broken one. She is BrightLite Sue, and believe me, she is every bit of bright and light! If you read the comments, you have read hers. She is just one example of the extraordinary gifts God has lavished on me during the climb of my life. I wish I could put every one of your faces up here! You're all presents under my tree, I mean it. When Sue upgraded her camera, I got blessed with the one that took this photo! It's a Samsung Digimax (whatever that means), and I am so happy to have it. Thank you Sue and Ed! I've really got to post more photos on the blog. They're so much fun, and they brighten up the joint.

This morning I had the delight of taking my daughter to Joanne's Fabric to buy poster board, material and beads for her Silk Road project. This may not sound like a big deal, but it encouraged me greatly to see her motivated to do something creative. That's right brain stuff, folks, and her right brain is what was injured. I've been waiting (and still am) for her to begin cranking out her poems and stories again with the passion she once had. This is a step in the right direction. There's no way the Great One will leave her with less than she came with. To the victor go the spoils. Our princess is destined for victory, and I know our Mighty God won't settle for less. She's in a process like we are, and progress is simply victory in increments. I'll never give up with her, never. I know you won't either. "God is able to do exceedingly beyond all we can ask or imagine, according to His power which is at work within us..."Ephesians 3:20
On this truth I stand. For my daughter. For my husband. For you.

Hercules is working at his new job, looking over papers I haven't a clue about, and studying for something called a Series 4, which sounds like the next generation of mechanical pencils, but has something to do with options trading, whatever that is. In between he's doing his exercises at home and taking care of everything he can manage around here. I've got him doing "laundry therapy" and "bill paying therapy", not to mention "empty the dishwasher therapy". In truth, he has chosen to do those things on his own in his typical effort to serve his family the best he can.

That skin graft, which was so dangerous in the beginning with its infection risk, is healing remarkably. The top of it caused Dr. Bagchi some hand wringing. It looked very iffy in the beginning. If you recall, Stephen was so unstable, that where normally a patient would have those awful wounds cleaned out in the OR right away, he had to wait. His blood pressure kept dropping to dangerously low levels, and the risk had to be taken to leave the wounds alone for a while. Once they tackled that flap wound, (missing tissue and bone), I was warned repeatedly that the risk of infection was sky high. Now, there's a little scab that is hanging on by a thread at the top of the graft. We're still really careful around the whole thing, not messing with anything and keeping the area as clean as possible. But ugly as the scar is, each day it looks better. Progress is victory in increments.

I had a vanilla cream donut this morning! That'll chase the blues away for a minute or two.

The Count of Monte Cristo is an emotionally gripping book, albeit dense. The hero is a man acquainted with intense suffering, and whose life is forever altered by wild injustice. I'm not even half way through the book, but I love the complex, mysterious nature of the main character. No one can be painted with a single brush. We're all a mixed bag. Good literature gives us a mirror to see the diverse pieces of ourselves and those around us. At its best, it is a vignette from the Great Story written by the Great One, in which we are active participants via our free will. We are not chess pieces in a cosmic game, but characters who live and move with the wind of freedom as their greatest gift. Still, The Author has the final say in how it all plays out. But He never twists the plot for His own gain. What can He get that is not already His? He's not looking for robots, but sons to love. And what a supreme love it is.

Brother Donnie is here, and he and Stephen are watching a movie called "Invinsible". It's an inspiring (and true) story of an ordinary guy who goes beyond everyone's expectations for him. Even his own. I'm kind of in and out, but I get the jist. A most appropriate theme for my dear husband. But where movies are concerned, give me Cary Grant over Mark Wahlberg any day.

Getting tired, and I've got to get sleeping bags and pillows together for cousin children. I had to spend a little time with you, my dear friends, before I tuck in for the night. Not talking to you would be like not brushing my teeth, or not putting on the electric blanket, or skipping locking up the house. I just wouldn't feel right. And as we have learned, no one knows what tomorrow will bring. So I want to tell you each day - I love you, and I thank you.

Your friend on the pilgrim road,

Loriann