So much to be thankful for

Well here is Thanksgiving once again and I guess it sneaks up on me because I am so Thankful.

I have a great wife who has a servant heart and a love for her family. I have great Grandkids not to mention great Kids. I wish that I could see each of them everyday or more. Just seeing pictures of them is good also, but I still need a hug.

Hannah is growing into a beautiful girl and has a great love of life.

Michael is having a great time growing up in Denver and His family is starting a new mission Church in South Denver.

Kyle is in Oklahoma and loves it there and loves to read and go to school and Church.

Shelby is just growing and learning what it is like to be a big sister and how to tease her Grandpa.

Megan is just starting to crawl and has a beautiful smile.

We are lloking forward to spending Thanksgiving at Kevin and Patty's home with Christy there and a lot of Pattys family.

God is good and He watches over us in our journey.

Terri and I got to go see Donna this afternoon and it was a good visit. The test results of the biopsy on her heart have not come back yet. She is slated to go home on Monday, but now with the poor air quality because of all the fires, they may wait. Terri and I just had fun talking to her about how she felt with the new heart and she said she had forgot how it felt to be healthy. We walked down the hall and she is still a little slow. After all it has been some time since she could walk that much. She has a lot of question, but she feels great and says to tell all of you Thanks for all the prayers and she hopes to see you some day.
I am posting a picture of her so that if you haven't met her you will know her if you see her. Notice the big smile and that wasn't forced. She is so happy and can't wait to get out and start doing things that she hasn't done in a long while. I told her she could borrow one of my bikes anytime, she laughed as I think she thought that she would have to ride with me (I can go slow and I am not that fast anyway).

Well it has taken me long enough since our trip to Branson to post the picture of Terri and Sandy Learman's picture with Andy Williams at his restaurant. The girls were so excited to see him there just a couple of tables away from us. I spotted him as he stood up and Sandy went chasing after him with a table napkin to get his signature (she forgot a ink pin and had to borrow one) and Sandy said for me to come take the picture. Sheryl told me to take her camera to get a picture. I had to scan the picture so it is not as good as the original. Andy was in a hurry so I didn't get to take a second shot. The other 2 pictures are of the group that went on the Branson Bell lunch cruse (Sheryl, Sandy, Terri and Dick). I thought that the picture of Dick was such a great picture I would post it also.

To update the condition of Donna (Terri's sister) after the Heart transplant, she is doing great and today they will do a heart biopsy to make sure there are no early signs of rejection (it has been a week as of 0700 this morning). She feels great and if all is good should move to ICU and possibly come home this week end.

Donna got a heart

Well it finally happened after over 8 years of waiting that Donna got a heart on November 5, 2008 at 0700. That is when they informed us that the heart was in and beating strong. It had been a long day for Terri and Cindy and others who joined them in the overnight wait. I got there about 0400 and made a coffee run for them and of course me also. The progress seemed slow from my perspective, but after all it was a heart from a 42 year old women in Las Vegas who donated her heart and lungs. I don't know her story, but just thank God that she was willing to donate.

On Friday morning they removed the ventilator and now we can see more progress. The body is still trying to reject the heart so the meds are working overtime. I guess this is normal and the body will do this the rest of her life. Just remember I am not a Dr. and only repeat what I hear.

It is still a long journey and I hope to see her today for myself as I have not seen her since Wednesday late afternoon. The above picture is some of the friends and family there on Wednesday.