Christmas Week

Christmas week started out with a blast. I got up at 2:30 a.m. and left at 3:40a.m. to drive to the airport in Kansas City to catch my flight which left at 6:00a.m. for Phoenix, AZ. This was the start of a very long but wonderful day. I got to Phoenix, rented a car and drove to Mesa to the motel that Anne was staying at. Anne, Emily and I drove to meet John and Sarah for a late breakfast. After that we took Anne and Emily back to the motel for a rest while I drove over to pick up Jennifer at her aunt Christine's house and took her back over to the motel and visited with Anne and Emily for a while. We then dressed for the wedding and headed over to the Phoenix Botanical Gardens. We met John there and walked to the area that they had chosen to have their ceremony, which was way on top of a hill overlooking the valley. It was had a beautiful view.

Sarah arrived with her step-father and we had a nice but short ceremony then took lots of pictures. I had to leave before the dinner because I had to get back to the airport to catch my flight. By the time I turned in the car, caught the shuttle to the terminal and literally ran to security and then to my gate I was the next to the last person to board five minutes before the plane took off. My plane got back to Kansas City about 11:45p.m., then I drove home to Topeka, getting home around 1:00a.m.

We got up a little before 5:00a.m. on Tuesday morning because Clinton had to be to the hospital by 6:00a.m.. We were there by 5:45 (he gets a bit anxious about these things). They took him back to surgery at 7:45a.m. His sister Charlotte and his brother Larry, and two sister-in-laws; Jody and Debbie came to wait with me about 8:00a.m. Surgery took about five hours instead of the three it was supposed to take because they found scar tissue and adhesions from his hernia surgery on his right side that they had to fix first. They made five small incisions, and one larger incision to do the robotic surgery to remove his cancerous prostate.

Dr. Rupp performed the surgery and said that all went well, we are just waiting now for the test results to come back on the tissue samples of his lymph nodes to see if they were also affected--then we will go from there.

Clinton is still very sore, but doing better each day. He hates having the catheter in, and will be very happy for January 3 to come when he can get it out.

We had the missionaries and Debbie and Larry over for dinner on Christmas Eve for ham, mashed potatoes, peas, rolls, and pie. CC came over later that evening. Christmas Day was very quiet. We had several phone calls, but no one came over, so it was very lonely. I went over about noon to a widow that I visit teach and took her another gift and talked with her for awhile. I am so happy for the gospel of Jesus Christ and for his love for us.

John's Surprise

Well my son John really surprised us last week with the announcement that he is getting married to Sarah Abdella on December 20th in Phoenix, AZ. We are really excited for them and scared at the same time since Sarah soon leaves for Afghanistan. We hope and pray that everything will work out for them. She has a strong testimony of the gospel and I will be proud to have her as a daughter-in-law.

Update on Clinton

We received the results of Clinton's bone scan this week and the cancer has not spread to his bones. This was very good news! He is still scheduled for surgery on December 21 st for the removal of his prostate and surrounding lymph nodes. After the results come back from the lab after surgery the doctor will decide if Clinton needs any chemo or radiation. We are keeping a positive outlook and have been very blessed. Thank you for all of your prayers.