November 21 Day 200

Hi Everyone,
It's getting to be time for the holidays and I am really looking forward to them! We were at Brian's for Thanksgiving last year and I remember that I got worn out if I did anything too strenuous, and for Christmas I was already in the hospital. Both my kids and their families came out for Christmas and I only got to see them in the hospital, so it just wasn't the same. We believe that next year we will be moving to Colorado, so this will probably be the last time I get to spend Christmas with my brother and sisters and their families. The tradition has been going on for a lot of years and I'm really sad for it to end, but it happens in most families eventually. Dana and Dave and the kids are coming out this Christmas too, but Brian and his family probably won't be coming and we will dearly miss them! I have always loved this time of year, yes because of all the goodies we get to eat, but also because it seems that people are nicer, more friendly. I also love singing Christmas carols and hymns, maybe we can even go caroling!
The pain from my shingles is still with me. I had one day that I could hardly feel anything, but it came back with a vengeance! I have days that it hurts more than ever and it will be really sweet when the pain goes away. I am also still on blood thinners and the clot is still there. Please pray for both to go away. My energy level is still low, I'm usually alright as long as I'm not doing anything strenuous, but get really tired when I do too much. My hernia hasn't gotten any worse and that's reassuring. They say it can be really painful if it tears more!
I've gotten to know a lot of people who are in worse shape than I am in, and I worry about them and pray for them. My doctor had two patients who had a bone marrow transplant on the same day, me and a lady named Jane. We have both had our ups and downs and are pulling for eachother, and ask eachother how the other is doing when we meet at the doctor. Our doctor calls us transplant twins, which we laugh about! When something like this happens to you (as some of you know) you don't really think about things you will be doing in the future, you just live day to day and hope tomorrow will be a little better than today. What you are going thru seems to go on and on and on, and sometimes you wonder if it will ever go away. Lately that has bothered me more than anything, the one thing after the other that happens to you, you almost don't want to leave the room you are in because the next room might be worse. All of this, however, is the physical, the human element, and it fades away when you remind yourself that it's all temporary. It really helps knowing that the bible says that we can know for sure if we're going to heaven and even tells us how to get there! I look around me and the wonders that I see, the high mountains, the beautiful sky and sunsets, and the great and vast oceans make it clear to me that this could not have happened by chance. The human body is so remarkable and complicated, I just don't have that much faith to believe it could have begun as a cosmic mud puddle and evolved down throught the ages. This all had to come from an intelligent designer. Think about the human eye and how it sends messages to our brain and voila, we see and comprehend! Wow, amazing, huh? Thank you for praying for me to the Intelligent Designer, it helps me and countless others who get blessed just because someone asks Him to. God bless you all!
Ernie