Transplant Time??

Mary saw her doctor on Wednesday and he told her he thought she would have a liver within a week. If you are a praying person, now is the time to pray. Mary is miserable from the itching- which never lets up. I am thankful that hopefully the transplant will be soon and she can return to good health for many years to come While we all realize what must happen in order for the transplant, we also know that it will not happen just because Mary needs the liver, so we just can't dwell on that part- but we are dwelling on the fact that people are willing to donate, and that modern medicine has come so far.
We hope to be able to post good news soon. I am #3 on the call list from the hospital- Billy, David, me, and then Mary. I guess we will all be running like chickens. David and I have new phones, so that would be a great first call to get.
I love you all!
Susan

The Biggest Loser

Last night was the first episode this season of the Biggest Loser. Since I am on a weight loss journey (the never-ending journey, I might add), I watched with great interest. I really enjoyed the show the past year, and I know I will this year. I do not have a “team” as of yet, but I think it might be the orange team. They were in the bottom 2 last night but survived. The girl is a “big” girl, so I can empathize with her. Anyway, all that aside, I did have a “beef” about the show and was wondering if anyone else watched it. They had to climb this mountain and retrieve a banner dropped by airplanes. The yellow team, a father and daughter, had been told earlier that the father could not participate as his health was really bad. As a matter of fact, they say this is the first contestant that the doctor has limited on activity- of course the man lost like 20 something pounds, anyway. Go figure. Back to the challenge- the daughter had to do it by herself, as opposed to doing it with her dad. In order to retrieve the flags both members of the team had to be at the top of this mountain. Well the way I look at it, she was at an advantage, rather than a disadvantage. If the dad had been able to participate, I am certain that he would have been one of the last up the mountain. She was first (she is one of the lighter contestants) and retrieved the “immunity” flag. I just did not think that was fair- am I alone in my thoughts?

Thursday Tidbits

Well, tis Thursday night and I have just returned from Weight Watchers and the ball park. WW was a straight line- no gain, no loss, which surprised me because my scales show a loss, as does the WII, and the scales have been pretty much in line with the WW scales. Oh well, at least there was no gain. This is the first week since January that I have not shown a loss. I still believe I have lost at least a pound, but we will call it even. I stopped at the soccer field to watch the kids. Levi is apparently going to be a soccer dropout, but that is okay. Addi played goalie, but cried. I think she was afraid the other team would score on her. She did great, and did not let them score. Whenever she had to play she quit crying and did what she needed to do. Then Paul let her play in the field and she was upset that she was not the goalie. Go figure??? She was having an "emotional" evening, to say the least. She has improved so much since last year and should be a good player this season. Hopefully she will not take it too seriously. She is pretty competitive and is aware when her team is losing or winning, which is something a lot of the kids her age do not notice one way or the other.
On another note, David and I have become WII fit fans! SOOOO MUCH FUN!!!!!!! Can you believe I was sore today- all from standing on a little white box and playing "soccer", "skiing", and this marble game. I am in love with the WII Fit.
Here's to Friday!

Cousin Cliff

This morning when I picked up the newspaper, I was sad to see that “Cousin Cliff” had died. Cousin Cliff is one of my favorite childhood memories. I waited eagerly each afternoon for his television program. My how I loved Cousin Cliff! I had heard that he had Alzheimer’s, and was not doing well. As a matter of fact, we ate at Jack’s in Parrish last night and we commented on his picture on the wall. I told Billy that he was not doing well at last report. David had the “honor” of being on the program as a child. I would have been “over the moon” if I had been able to go. Mother always told me that Cousin Cliff lived “over the mountain” (which in Birmingham means Mountain Brook), but in my small world I thought he lived on the other side of the slate dump, (this is coming from a coal miner’s child that lived ON the slate dump above the mines)! I am sorry that today’s children do not have Cousin Cliff. Sponge Bob will just never be as good.

Ma Pounds and Stuff

This morning David called to tell me that “Ma Pounds” had passed away. She had been battling cancer for a while and while I am not certain of her exact age, she was hitting or over the nine decade (90) mark. For those who knew and loved Ma Pounds, she will be missed. Her presence at our camp week always added something special. She was there long after she should have been because of the terrain and her mobility issues. I gave her the walker that my mother had (it was more than a walker, and had cost Mother several hundred dollars) and she told me time and again how she would not have made it without it. I bet she had put 10,000 miles on those wheels. My mother would have been so proud that someone was able to use it for their good. While we do not yet know the arrangements, I am certain there will be many hundreds of people wishing to pay their regards to Mr. Black (yes, Ma Pounds remarried several years ago when she was well into her 80’s), and to her many children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and possibly great-great grandchildren. She was a true soldier of the cross, and she loved the church and the Word. Her life was not easy. Her father passed away when she was a little girl, and she told me often that she had to work like a man from childhood. She loved children, and all of my children were privileged to sit in her Bible classes at camp.
In other news, for those who have read Kim’s blog, you know that David, Kim, Billy, Mary, Addi, and myself spent Labor Day laboring. We cleaned out the house at Parrish. I cannot believe how much we accomplished. Mary was having a pretty good day and she was able to help big-time. Even Addi worked bringing us garbage bags and getting stuff out from under beds. Stuff-stuff-stuff. Every bank statement, every cancelled check, pay stubs, for not only MaMa and PaPa, but for their parents. To me the funniest thing is keeping all the old watch boxes and broken watches. I am going to try to keep less, but you know how that goes. We still have work to do, and some furniture to sell, but we made good progress. We used over 45, 33 gallon garbage bags, and dozens of boxes. We tried to laugh and just get it done, and it was not too sad. Their goodness was evidenced by Bibles and religious materials everywhere. What great people. We never know where we will spend our sunset years, and we never know if we will have sunset years, do we? Houses are just houses, cars are just cars, furniture is just furniture, but living a Godly life is priceless.