Passing Time

About a month has passed since my surgery. My arm movement is almost back to normal, although completely straightening it out is still hard. My energy has been flagging very quickly, but that’s improving too. I felt a little guilty for having so much help with laundry, but we’ve realized how necessary it was. Everyone who has helped has been such a blessing.

Thanks to lots of help from my family, we finished the Christmas decorating right after Thanksgiving. The kids hung everything on the tree after my sister carefully strung all the lights on it. It was beautiful. The next morning, it fell over. We cleaned up the broken ornaments and set it back up. It fell again. We cleaned up more broken ornaments, then Jon screwed the stand right down to the floor. I think we’ll be enjoying this tree until February.

I’ve had lots of time to read. Reading has been my absolutely favorite pastime since I was about ten years old reading the Bobsey Twins, Hardy Boys, and Nancy Drew. I’ve been tempted to pick up some of those mysteries again. I always seem to be working on several books at once. (That’s because we have several bathrooms.) I recently finished The Valley Is Bright by Dr. Nell Collins, a melanoma survivor; Eleanor of Aquataine, a children’s biography; and Eats, Shoots, and Leaves; the Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. I bet that last title raised some eyebrows. It’s actually a very fun book. You might enjoy it even if you aren’t a fan of English grammar. I’ve begun to get my feet wet in The World is Flat (don’t raise your eyebrows again – it’s about global economics) by Thomas Friedman and also a children’s book by a Newbery winning author. I won’t mention the title of that one yet – it could turn out to be a stinker. Two of my high school teachers, Mrs. Wynn and Mr. Hallberg, are partly responsible for my reading choices recently. How many of you had teachers who made English and Economics interesting subjects? I’m considering turning this blog into a book review spot. I’m tired of talking about cancer.

We participated in Desi Christmas last Saturday. This is an annual activity our church hosts for the Asian-Indian community in Denver. Desi is the name by which the Asian-Indians refer to themselves. We had a wonderful time. Our Indian friends surrounded us with love and caring. We were able to meet some “blog friends” whom we didn’t know before. Each member of our family had been given traditional clothing from India just for this occasion. The food was delicious, and our friends - Hindu, Christian, and Buddhist - were all a pure pleasure to be with. Jon has been the Indian pastor in our church for about two years now. Everyone there has made us feel very loved.

Thanks, Mike, for taking so many pictures of us lately.