Gratitude

Thank you to those of you who have added my cousin' s wife to your prayers. I very much appreciated your gestures there but probably not nearly as much as do my cousin and his wife, Karen, at this point in time - since they were the recipients of the prayers, not me.

And I want to give you all an update too on how things are going now, two days since Karen's surgery.

She was taken at 3 p.m. Monday afternoon to the operating room and the transplant (heart, if you didn't read my previous post) began. By 10:30 p.m., Karen was in the recovery room and family was able to see her then. Tom left the hospital in the wee hours of the morning to return home after what had to have been a really, really long day -a very eventful one too, indeed.

All went well yesterday and so far this morning. Today, it is anticipated they will get Karen up too. Hard to believe isn't it that one would even be able to get up at all less than 48 hours after having been given a new heart, isn't it? But that's how medical care is today. "Up and at 'em" is the philosophy and apparently it works best using that method.

Now I doubt she will be up and romping around the hospital room but going from having been down to only having 10% usage in her heart on Sunday to now, having a heart that is fully functioning, body responding so well to the surgery and all - well, it is enough to really make one's heart sing, isn't it?

Actually - it makes a whole lot of hearts sing to be able to write something like this, something so positive, so wonderful, to have someone' s very life restored. From her husband, children, mother-in-law, so many relatives who are so grateful to know the positive effects of prayer moving along with the wonderful work through doctors, nurses and seeing the benefits all of medical science is now able to do - it really is quite overwhelming.

Thank you all for keeping Karen in your hearts, in your prayers and keeping her and her family there too for a complete recovery.

It really is an awesome occasion!

And I think maybe I can even start to pick up where I left off too now with the Bushisms. A little humor never hurts anything, does it?

Tuesday, June 26, 2007
"The folks who conducted to act on our country on September 11 made a big mistake. They underestimated America. They underestimated our resolve, our determination, our love for freedom. They misunderestimated the fact that we love a neighbor in need. They misunderestimated the compassion of our country. I think they misunderestimated the will and determination of the commander in chief, too." - Langley, Virginia; September 26, 2001

and
for Wednesday, June 27, 2007
"For a century and a half now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times." - Tokyo, Japan; February 18, 2002