Sabbath evening - rest and friends

Dear Family and Friends,
It is about 9 pm, early for blogging, and Nan is getting her night meds right now. She has played with fevers all night and all day but the last vitals finally showed a normal temperature. We have had another colostomy bag failure along the seam, seems we have a bad batch and Nan told them so on the phone today. Nan has set up in the recliner for hours, has walked rapidly (for her) down the hall, has chatted on the phone with family and friends and has had a good day. I arrived mid morning after walking the doggies in the park. We sat and talked for awhile and then she enjoyed a lunch which had her favorite soup, asparagas. Bob and Carrol drove over from Lodi and met me at UNOs which is a nice place nearby for american food. We enjoyed Garden Burgers and ice water, fries and fellowship. We brought a cheese and tomato pizza back to Nan and she had some and loved it. They also gave us a certificate for a 1 lb bod of sees candy. I detoured over to sees and brought back a box of nuts and chews, Nan's favorite. She has been enjoying ice tea, candy and we had such a good time with Bob and Carrol. We even got to sing over the cell phone to Roger who turned 65 today. We made pretty good music for seniors! All too soon they had to head home. I cannot describe what a comfort and encouragement they are to both of us and the fact that they take an afternoon and drive over here and back with todays gas prices really touches our hearts and lives. We munched on candy, sipped soft drinks, told stories and prayed together.
Nan was glad to hear from Mary who is recovering from illness and from Pam who is also feeling better. They both have been on our hearts as we love them and are concerned about their ailments. Dana says Ronnie is home after his new knee was installed, is walking, is a terrible patient and won't do what he is supposed to do but is recovering nicely. God Ronnie!

Now Nan is ready for the night, I have all her bags emptied, we have just changed the dressing for a wound that is now leaking less again, we have tucked her in and after I rub her feet I will slip away for the night. This evening while she napped and watched the parent trap on TV I worked by remote on my home computer entering tax data for 2005. I got one of 12 months of AMEX entered into quickbooks pro, that is real progress and now I'll try to do a month each day so Ken can file an amended return for 2005. Then we will start working on 2006 but will file an extension on April 15th to buy us more time.
Nan's attitude has been so good during this hospital stay. In spite of setbacks and discouragements like today, not getting to go home, Nan has stayed positive and worked with doctors and nurses to find solutions. God has given our family a truely amazing woman with tons of back bone, deep faith and courage and a way of approaching life few would understand. In spite of her physical realities she is positive and forward looking. Events we are looking forward to are: Keanna's birthday party, the cruise to mexico, Dana and Ronnie coming pretty soon to visit, Marilyn Titherington coming to visit from Rhode Island and eventually Roxanna after her Africa trip.
Evening has descended on our little isolation room, our nurse is cheery tonight and calls me Col. Mustard for the Clue game. A while ago Nikki and Keanna called and mom learned all about the easter egg hunt Keanna attended and other of the days events. She was refusing to take a bath for fear of losing her face painting. How cute and adorable.

We praise God for His blessings, for his messengers, for his caring nurses and doctors and for the healing Nan is experiencing.

love

tim and nan