Oh Happy Day

Today, I finally got my cast off! It felt so freeing to have it removed! My ankle didn't come out of the cast totally healed like I would have hoped. It now actually hurts worse than when I had the cast put on! A different kind of hurt though. Its a weak ankle, tight tendons and ligaments hurt. So I will be starting physical therapy 3 times a week for a month! I 've heard that after therapy you hurt much worse. I'm looking forward to that. But atleast I can shower easier now than having to attach large garage bags to my leg in hopes to keep it dry. Through all of this, I've realized I've taken my healthy, fully functioning joints for granted! Don't you do it too!
I think its fairly obvious which foot was in the cast! I also have this gel to put on twice a day as well as hot/cold baths for the ankle twice a day!

Never Ending Birthday

Yes Indeed. Possibly the longest running birthday in history. I'm not complaining! This is me sporting my newest birthday gift. Thanks Mary! It will do me well as the weather gets cooler.

Thanksgiving

It was that time of year again where I was needing to leave the country in order to renew my visa. I had a friend who was driving to one of the Spanish enclaves (Spanish city in Africa) for some business reasons and it just happened to coincide with me needing to leave. It worked out well, since I have a cast, I didn't want to do alot of standing/walking, i.e. taxi to train, train to boat, boat to taxi, etc etc. This trip proved a bit fretful for me though. I did have some brder issues, but I made it back in without any trouble. I was quite worried for a bit, but He took care of it all-and I didn't have to spend Thanksgiving in Spain!
Thanksgiving was great actually. I spent it with 3 other families with lots of good food, including the traditional turkey, pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, etc etc. It was all so wonderful, even had a tape of this past Superbowl to watch! It was an all day affair. It was so great to have families close by to celebrate together as well as, no traffic and no black friday craziness! PTL I'm not in retail this year!

Abraham Lincoln's

Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1863

It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the

overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble

sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and

pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and

proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord.

We know that by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to

punishments and chastisements in this world. May we not justly fear that the

awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be a punishment

inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national

reformation as a whole people?

We have been the recipients of the choisest bounties of heaven; we have been

preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in

numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.

But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which

preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we

have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings

were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with

unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of

redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and

gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole

American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the

United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in

foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day

of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father Who dwelleth in the

heavens.

A. Lincoln, October 3, 1863.

That line about 'those sojourning in foreign lands' applies to me! Thanks Abe!

Is it still my Birthday?

Happy Birthday to me (again)
This birthday thing keeps going and I'm not complaining. So I finally got my birthday gifts from home! Here is a pic of me wearing a new t-shirt, new sock, and new shoe. Since I have a cast, can only wear 'a' sock and 'a' shoe these days. I told my mom that I was doing alot of walking (which I was) then I got this silly cast, but apparently these Crocs are really good for your feet. They are ultra lightweight and comfortable. I am sure they are even better worn as a pair. Also included was a little pedometer ( I'm thinking a joke from my Dad), and lots of Bday cards from friends from my fellowship! It was encouraging to get stuff from people who care. Also, not from home directly, but I received something from home: a GOOGOO cluster!
Oh man, I love these things! Started and produced in Nashville,TN. I'm pretty sure they were secretly created by Dentists to keep their business up :)

I'm glad I've got a little extra.

Apparently doctors here think that when you have a cast put on, you also need to be put on blood thinner! I had never heard of such a thing. At the doctor's office, I kept seeing these hand motions something with a needle. I assumed it was just that I needed to get blood drawn, but they kept motioning to my side...strange I thought. Then I bought some of the blood thinner, and its an injection. Yep, needles you plunge through your side. But in this case, its nice to have a little extra fat around my middle. It makes the whole process almost painless.

Sprained?

Well finally went to the doctor about my ankle that I turned three weeks ago. I was still having pain in my ankle when I turned it certain ways, but could walk on it just fine. So I thought I should go have it checked out, just incase it was some hairline fracture or something that could come back and bite me later in life. So me and a friend (me armed with arabic, him with french) who is having some wrist problems went to take on the clinic. The doctor didn't speak much english, but I think I understood the important bits like, "why didn't you come when it happened?" "Did you hear a *snap*?" Something I did misunderstand was this blue thing on my leg now. I thought I heard it was 'too late' to put on a cast, but I guess it was you came really late, but we can still manage a cast. He took x-rays. He said they looked great as he was putting on the cast....this seemed to baffle me, but he's the doc, right? But I have heard that most Docs around here like to immobilize things even if it is a just a sprain. So I will be in a cast for 3 weeks then a month of rehab. I have a 'walking cast' meaning I am not on crutches, but cannot walk directly on the cast itself, so the doctor offered me a boot, but they didn't have one big enough for my foot. But they said I can get one at most Pharmacies, but they lied. I did manage to find one. Then I have to take this anti-coagulant injection (oh fun, needles) everyday and give a sample of my blood after 10 days. I was told not to sit at a desk for long periods of time, and to do alot of walking around. I am guessing this is to avoid bloodclots in my legs. Not sure how to go about getting my blood drawn, but I am sure there are labs close by that take your blood. Anyway, what an adventure, I go in walking, come out in a wheel chair. My friend had a good laugh about it.

Halloween slide

Crazy Dog

Introducing: Modie

With Collin away, I had a good opportunity to create some meaningful bonds with his dog, Modie. In the past, Modie and I have had some issues, mainly everytime she would see me, she would jump on me, and then I would try to stop her, and she would start using the bathroom, as a submissive act, called submissive urination.. PTL for tile. So this gets old, ohhh, after the 20th time. So I thought these two weeks, we will get to be real bosom buddies. Well, the first day Collin left must have terribly tramatic for her. She used the bathroom in her cage, which is rare for dogs to do that....this did not quicken our relationship in the least. As I was trying to discipline her to keep her from using the bathroom in the house, to stop jumping on people, and pulling me as we walked, I realized that I didn't really know how to discipline very well. I come from the old school, you just "beat the faar outa 'er" to get her to change her behavior. Well, She seems to be quite the stubborn dog and this approach had limited success. I did see a couple of podcasts of the Dogwhisperer and he helped me understand possibly why Modie was behaving like she was...but in the end she still behaves like before, without much change except to say, the submissive urinating has decreased :) But I wonder if my disciplining struggles stem from the fact that I'm the youngest child, and didn't receive alot of discipline...mainly b/c I was a perfect child (right, mom!) although my brothers say its b/c our parents were too worn out to care by the time I came. I think I turned out all right in any case. Anyway, collin has returned now and I think Modie is a happier pooch.