2011 is here, the holidays are officially over!

It was a fast and furious holiday season, just like it always is. We spend weeks, months leading up to one day. Just one little day. Don't get me wrong I think Christmas is a beautiful blessed time of year, but maybe just a bit to commercial. Not, it is way to commercialized, way, way, way to commercialized. I spent the week before Christmas seized up in hip pain, I got my cortisone shot on the 23rd, not a minute to soon. I was not into the shopping thing because I really was not in a position to spend a bunch of money. And the whole gift giving thing is just stupid, I give you a $25 gift card and you give me the same, doesn't make much sense to me. So next year, the gifts will be from the heart homemade or not at all. I truly enjoyed buying gifts for the churches family. Every year the church gets together and helps a family in need, that was fun buying for little ones that would really be happy to get something special. But for thoose of us that have everything we need and want, maybe we should really just stop! Ok enough on my thoughts on Christmas commercialism.

Really it is a beautiful times of year, we spend time with our families and that is what we should be doing! Christmas Eve was awesome, most of my family was together, we had tons to eat and we were all happy to be together. That is all we need really, time together. My family is growong up quickly, 4 of my nieces and nephews are past college age, 3 are in college and 3 are still in school. I now have two great grandchildren, we will always be growing family. My Mom and Dad are very proud of there big family and they should be. It has been awesome to watch them all grow and I am sure my parents feel the same way! So a big happy family we are!

Christmas morning Laura was up bright and early, knocking at the foot of our bed. I got up turned on the coffee, popped the cinnamon rolls into the oven and sat down with her to open gifts. She had lots to open and I think she was happiest with her Uno game, rice krispie treats and a silly stuffed penguin, Becky got for free at a thrift store. I always make sure has has lots to open, socks, snacks, clothes, sticker books. But truly soon after she opens her gifts they just get set aside and I eventually end up giving them away to a local thrift store. This year the doll she asked for. will be gone along with a half a dozen stuffed animals. Living in a 800 square foot house keeps you from having too much, I could only imagine what she would have if we had a bigger house. With every holiday she gets more stuff, and with every holiday I get to weed it all out and pass some of it on! Laura is mentally about 5 to 6 years old, she has a short attention span and is not able to entertian herself on her own. So she likes to open gifts, but does not necasarily like to play with them, luckily the local thrift shops love our donations, recycle! Enough on that Christmas continued.....

Christmas day we spent with Toms family. First we stoped at Aunt Jos to give her pills to her and some fresh baked cinnamon rolls. She seemed happy to see us and was sad for us to go. We tried bringing her to Jim and Dianns last year but that just made her very anxious. So unfortunatly she stays home, she swears that is where she wants to be. But she constantly complains of being lonely. Hard for me to understand her. We had a schedule to keep, brunch at Jim and Dianne's. And then later dinner, which just so happens to be homemade pizza and wings. I know not your typical Christmas dinner, but somehow it has become our Christmas tradition. I think it started when Amy gave Tom a hot sauce sampler. Last year Tom, his brother Jim, and Dianne's brother Billy, tried to beat each other on who could tolerate the hottest sauce. I am really not sure who won, but they sure did have fun trying to out hot the other one. This year was more low keyed, I don't think they even tried any hot sauce. But anyway we spend the entire day relaxing and chatting with Tom's family, they are Jim, Dianne, Jessica, Amy and Matt. Sorry I do not have pictures of all of them.This year we had a few extras, Amy's best friend also known as her sister Karleigh and her Dad Gerard. He enjoyed breakfast with us but do to pretty serious cat allergies he was gone soon after. Laura and Jess played a few games, Dianne and I took our dogs for a walk, and then we all played a game of scgatagories, I think I spelled the right. And then it was time to make dinner the whole family was in the kitchen helping with making pizza and chicken wings. Dinner was yummy, Dianne makes a mean chicken wing and I make a great pizza! What a team! Soon after that we were home to rest again.

Sunday morning we were up early to go to church and have dinner with our friends. The church service was great, the older kids did a little pagent and we sang more Christmas Carols. Then we had dinner with Karen, Austin, Karena, and Karen's son the pastor Jeff. Jim had to leave early to bring a friend back to the train station due to  pending snow storm, that is supposed to hit the entire northeast. We left soon after dinner, had shopping to do for Aunt Jo and get home and get ready for the long work week ahead.

And a long work week it was for sure. As always at the holidays we are short staffed. Everyone wants time off then so we go to minimum staffing. It seems like a really, really long week. The clients were well behaved for the most part. We ended the week with a New Years Eve Party for them. I felt bad for  them this week, because the holiday fell on the weekend they had no holiday. Sure I get it the state does not want to give us the day, but these people never get a vacation and this time they did not even get a holiday. Everyday somebody gets them out of bed, helps them get dressed, feeds them and rushes them out the door. So wrong, everybody deserves a holiday and a vacation. Nope not them, it would cost the state extra money to do this for them. Beyond my controll, but my heart goe out to them.

So the week came to an end with new Years Eve. Our routine did not change this year, a few hordeuvers and a little sangria, with a movie. Shrek Everafter or whatever, good movie, munchies, sangria and company, just the three of us, wait four with Chyanne! By 9pm we were in bed.

Today I did a little overtime at a 12 bed house with what we call medically frail individuals. Not really frail, just people with physical, medical and intellectual dissabilities. They just so happen to require a nurse for things such as diabetic care, tube feedings, colostomies, etc. As always there is a nursing shortage and Nick recently asked if i would do it. So I did a little training, found it was not so bad. Hopefully I will be called back and make a little extra cash for our trip to Tennessee this spring. I met Tom and Laura for pizza, did a little shopping and here I am. Tommorow is a busy day to. Take down the Christmas decorations, get some meals made ahead for the week. I really want to get ahead of things so I can get back to swiming again. Thats all for now, just a not eto wish all of you a healthy, happy 2011!

Christmas Eve Today, the excitement continues!

I woke up this am at 5:30am, with a knock at the bottom of my bed. There was Laura up and ready for the Christmas season to begin. I love sharing in all of her excitement, she loves it all the music, baking, shoping, wraping, unwraping is "My best". Every year on Christmas Eve all of my family gathers together at my Mom and Dad's house. We just enjoy each others company, there is no big gift exchange. Some of us make gifts for each other, not everyone and not always. When we stopped all the formal gift giving Christmas became a much more relaxed time for us. Of course my parents still feel they need to gift us and we pitch in and usually give them a gift certificate for a special trip. But for me more than anything I just want to spend the day with my big extended family.

I am going to try to list them here, hope I don't forget anyone.

My parents Marilyn and Emanual Aragosa, the oldest and most important part of the family, because without them none of us would even be here! Six children plus a huge extended family! Thanks Mom and Dad!

My oldest sister Anne Marie her children, spouses, grifriends and grandchildren are daughter Heather, husband Robert, son/stepson Issiah and Baby Miles. Anne's son;  Joshua, wife Stefanie and son Hunter, its his first Christmas. Anne' son; Jacob and his girlfriend Brittany, and last but not least Lucas, still single. There Dad Greg, Anne's husband, died in the 90s at the age of 38 of a sudden heart attack. That was the biggest loss our family ever experienced. My sister has a boyfriend named, Tony but he has only attended 2 family events in the 2 years they have been dating, so will he come, who knows?? I believe he has 4 children of his own, maybe someday they will join this extended family, but we have seen no sign of any interest in us.

 Next is my brother Joseph Emmanuel, his wife Annie, son Zachary, Zach's girlfriend Alexis, and there daughter Alicia. We also lost Joe and Annies daughter Paige at birth, she was born with serious birth defects and died a few hours after she was born, I will always miss her. I wish I could have met her, I am sure she would have been a rare beauty!

Next is us Me, Mary Grace, my husband Tom, "his" dog Chyanne, who is definatly staying home and our daughter, Laura PDiddy.

Then we come to my sister Lynn Marie and her husband Mark. No children and the only pets they have acquired are Mark's chickens. So they will be staying home, the chickens that is.

Now we have my brother Micheal Emanueal, his wife Maggie, son Justin, his girlfriend Brianne, daughters Carli, and Jenna, the dog Mc Duff will also stay home.

Last of all is Theresa Marie, her husband Bill and there son Will, Theresa and Bill have an extended family from Bills first marriage but they are all married now with families of there own. Oh yeah there dog Maggie will also stay home.

 This year Heather, Robert, Issiah and baby Miles plan to stay home, away from all the usuall holiday germs. Baby Miles was born December 5th, he is a beautiful baby and we love him very much, Laura is still waiting to meet him. Heather and Robert are just concerned parents, I do not blame them. It always seems at least one person is sick at our annual Christmas celebration, they lost there first baby just about a year ago from a miscarriage. So this baby is special to all of us, last year gave us a hint of how special life is! And how quickly it can be taken away, something I try to always remember. It's not the breath you take, its the times that life take's your breath away, so true! Anyway it looks like 30 people, not sure I am not wrong. But close enough!

Anyway, unfortunatly I have work to do, because a good celbrations must start with chores. I need to make a fruit platter and an antipasto. Wrap the cinnamon rolls and get out of here. So hope you had or will have a very Merry Christmas! Now you know just a little bit more about my big family, enjoy every breath you take, more later.........

It ended up beimg an awesome weekend!

I started a 4 day weekend in terrible hip pain, it hurt so bad that I would have had a hip replacement right then and there. But in my true style, I did not let it get me down, well not totally down anyway. Thursday I went with my sister in law to pick up my nieces at Oneonta State College. So not too much activity, mostly a ride in the truck. Now of course I had to find a way to get in and out of the truck without doing more damage. I am to short or it is to high, I brought along my folding step stool with a long ribbon tied on. I got in using the stool, pulled it up with the ribbon, getting out was no problem, just slide out. We stoped at a quilt/consignment shop perfect for Dianne and I, she loves quilting and I love consignment shops. I purchased a few gifts and she got some fabric. When we were done there, the girls were ready to go, so we were off to the college. There dorm room is affectionately called a box, 4 girls or boys, they each get three boxes. 1 to sleep in and then two to a bedroom. Looks like claustrophobia to me. It is very obvious they love there new found freedom and have made friends for life quickly. Once we gathered them up we were off to the horse farm to greet the horses they would like to lease next semester. Both girls are animal lovers, the farm was nice and you could see that was where they are meant to be. So I hope they can come up with the money to get there horses. It was cold at the farm and a little difficult to walk out to the field to meet the horses, but I really do not like to give in so I went out to meet Goose and  Annie. Goose got mad that he wasn't getting all the attention and kicked, Annie. I decided then that maybe I should get the hell out of there. OMG, what if the horse got me, all I can say is OUCH or wholly f... Anyway soon after that we were on our way home, I did leave a few details of the day out like stopping in Schoharie to get eggs from Dianne's mom and lunch at The Eggplant?????, I can't remember the name, but the food was good! I was home just before Laura got home from swimming, which always makes her happy, She really does not like when I am not there on her arrival. I had fixed dinner in the am, which Tom popped into the oven we had a quick dinner and a little couch time before it was bed time. I was still struggling with me hip pain, no improvement, so I tried ice.

   Friday I woke up with no change in my level of pain, might have been a little worse. So what was supposed to be a day of Christmas shopping became a day of rest & ice. I called the doctor begging for a hip injection. I had already done this one month ago when it flared up after the big Thanksgiving feast. The doctors assistant never called me back. I waited four hours for a phone call, which I never got. I tried again, finally while I was begging the receptionist to have her call me, the assistant rings thru and says she called me last month and left a message for me to call image care and schedule the injection myself.  So to make a long story short I called to schedule, but I have to wait another week. By then the pain will be gone at least until the next time I over do it, ugh frustrating. Our medical system, just does not work. I would love to really be a person, not just another patient. A patient truly is not treated like a person, when they figure that out the medical system will be in much better shape. So for now more rest and ice.

   Saturday I was a little better, but woke up tired and grumpy. I had no choice but to work thru the pain and go out Christmas shopping. My first stop was Eddie Bauer, Dianne said that is where she shops because they sell tall womens clothing. So I search the store but find no talls, I ask the clerk and she says to me that they are marked with a T after the size, like largeT. So I search the store high and low and find no talls, I ask another clerk who tells me, they only sell womens talls, on line. Why couldn't they tell me that first, they have mens tall in the store no womens tall, ugh! So that was that and I decided to go with the impersonal gift cards. Off to Price Chopper, I got a few things and a pile of gifts cards. Dianne said Matt would like a Five Guys gift card, so I stopped and got that for him, they were giving away free fries with gift cards. Yeah lunch! Next stop Job Lot for Laura and stuff for antipasto for Christmas Eve, a stop at Aldis and Hannaford, a quick haircut and then home to wrap gifts.  While I was on my way home Tom called because our friends Christie and Nate had stopped to drop off the fruit I had bought from the school. So I got home in time for a nice visit, Cheyanne and the dog Carmel, were playing running in our house and having a grand old time. We had a nice visit. Tammy and Scott showed up to take Laura out for there usual Saturday dinner. A few minutes later everyone left and I did the wrapping while Tom ran groceries to Aunt Jo's house. We had enough time to do the chores, eat a quick dinner, make chocolate cream pies for dinner at Karena and Jims and finish the wrapping before Laura was back. I had to change her insulin pod get her ready for bed and watch while she opened her gifts from Mommie and Scott. They do not visit her on holidays and I like it that way we are busy visiting with my family on Christmas Eve and Toms family on Christmas Day. By the time everybody left I was exhausted and hobbling again, more ice and rest! Bed early, but the presents are wrapped and I am ready for Christmas,yeah! Hope they like there gifts!

    Sunday I was up early and feeling better, I walked to the bathroom without hobbling. Showered and got breakfast for Laura and I. I got the newspaper, and unfortunately for Laura there were no coupons. She really was upset, and it took awhile for her to get over it. We finished breakfast and got ready for church,dinner at Karen and Jims and carolling with the church. So we bundled up for the day, before going to Ephratah, we stopped at Aunt Jo's to give her pill to her. Since we have started doing that she has become less confused, so it is worth the trip. During church today was the childrens Christmas show, they did a great job singing songs and using sign language, it was awesome. Most of Karen and Jims family was present, including her daughter Julie who got engaged this week. Karen emailed me very upset friday AM, because there daughter Karena took it hard. Karena is also handicapped, physically and mentally,but none of us are really sure to what degree, Her sisters engagement was hard for her because it was another moment she realized she would always be left behind. Unable to leave her parents home and mature in the normal adult way. Karen was heart broken for Karena and very happy for Julie, what a terrible way to be torn. I am always at home when I am with there extended family. After church we had dinner with everyone except Karena who had a seizure and was resting in her bed. Before we left to carol she was up to join the group, I was very happy to see that. I left her with a piece of chocolate cream pie and we were off to carol. During dinner Laura had broke down into tears because she was scared to go into the wagon caroling. But at the same time she wanted to go. Like we always do we went despite her fear, she broke into tears again as we were getting into the wagon. Once the wagon took off it did not take Laura long before she was laughing and having a good time, We were out for at least an hour and she was till refusing to give in despite the cold. Tom was frozen, but he was not dressed as warm as Laura and I, men never listen. So here we are in Ephratah, being pulled around in an open wagon, about 20 people, mostly little kids. The wagon is being pulled by a farmer who just so happens to be drinking beer while he does this. Imagine this is a church group, not the average group. I can say that wagon was full of love for each other and God. We were singing songs about Christmas and having a grand old time, as the sun began to set, it got mighty cold. Brought back memories of my days on a motorcycle, no way to get warm but a lot of fun. I think the last time I went caroling I was still in school, so maybe I was 15 at the most! It was a great way to celebrate Christmas and will remain a great memory forever! Thanks Karen for including us!

Laura's 25th Birthday

It has been a long busy few weeks, getting ready for Laura's Birthday. The past few weekends we have been busy cleaning and decorating the house for Christmas and her birthday. Friday the whole family played hookie and Laura and I spent the day baking her cake and making potato and macaroni salad for the party. It amazes me how the days at home with Laura sometimes are our best.

Friday she was up by 5am, I found her in her wheelchair at the foot of my bed, waiting impatiently for me to get up and give her, her presents. We did not spend much, I even shopped in a thrift store, she got a new Christmas outfit, a canoe with three stuffed snowmen in it "Us", a Christmas movie, and a book. As always Laura was happy with all of them, she is so easy to please, only because stuff means nothing to her. I only wish I could think like that, she just likes to open gifts and the party is, so everybody sings Happy Birthday to her.

So we cooked and enjoyed the day with each other, until later in the afternoon. When she had to get ready to go out with Mommie and Scott for dinner. The first few years I was with Tom and Laura, we rarely saw her mother. But a few years ago she resurfaced after she met her new boyfriend Scott. He works with handicapped children, so he has proven to be another blessing in Lauras life. Mommie only comes to get Laura when Scott is available, I will never understand how you can be someones mother until they are 18 and then suddenly be unable to care for them alone. Seems bizarre to me, but that is another story. Anyway they went out to dinner, Tom and I snuck out to get a few last minute things and have a qick bite to eat alone.

Thruout the entire day I am always surrounded by people, such a Lauras sitter Becky. By 9am she was here and sat and mostly watched Laura and I cook, sure she did her chores, give her pills, checked her bloodsugars, but for me I wish we could have been alone. The way the system for her care is set up is difficult. If we do not give Becky enough work hours, she will have to go out and get another job and most likely we will lose her as our sitter. So I am always in a position where I need to comprimise my privacy, and it sucks. Becky is good for Laura, she takes her swimming and does most of her care when she is here, but I still would prefer we could be left alone, just imagine having someone in you house 90% of your awake hours during the week, no fun!

Anyway Saturday Laura was at the foot of my bed even earlier, excited about her party. Tom fixed all of us a nice breakfast, I had my coffee and sat and vegged for a few hours but then we hit the floor running. I had to do the usual last minute cleaning, not my preferred job. I have two sisters that are clean freaks, not me. I think life is way to short to spend it cleaning the house, so I only do what I have to do to make the house presentable. Once the cleaning was done then I set up the buffet and put the last minutes touches on the house, while Laura sat anxiuosly awaiting her party! Thats her, waiting for the floor to dry.

Soon after that the party began, in our little 800 square foot house we had about 20 people, all of which  showed up at the same time, even though I tried for an open house. Oh well it worked out fine and she loved all the attention, gifts to open and having every one sing Happy Birthday! She had a special visit from one of her old school aides, Miss Eileen.. It was short but sweet she was all smiles thru out the day! Laura is very easy to please, at the end of the day, I asked her what was the best part of her Birthday weekend, she said, "I liked my party" simple and beautiful, young lady! Love her so much!

Thanksgiving today!

We have lots of reasons to be thankful, God, family, friends, our home, our rv, the time and resources to travel in our new RV, the beautiful country we live in, the list is endless. Often we forget how good we have it, complaining about the everyday chores, when really we should be thankful that we can do them.

The past few weeks have been sort of a roller coaster. My Moms 80th Birthday celebration was awesome, but it was bittersweet at the same time. She is aging physically, and that was the night I found out my Aunt Mary has terminal cancer, she has about six months to live.

 Last eve I went to my Mom's after work and stuffed the turkey for them with the help of my niece's Carli and Jenna. Dad came home and watched over us, I tied the legs and wings the way he likes and then it was done. I really think he wanted to do it himself, but since I came to help when my sister Lynne asked me to, he did not interfere, but I could tell he would have liked to do it himself. Lynne was worried about him because a few weeks ago he fell and bruised his sternum. We really have to think about how much help we give them. Sometimes we help too much, just think about yourself, often we have pain but that does not stop us. We just work through the pain and finish whatever job we need to tackle. Maybe that is good for them too, aging should not stop us. It is just a reminder that we need to slow down. My favorite quote came from my doctor, back when I had my pulmonary embolism. "Slow and steady wins the race" I say it all the time to Lura when she is afraid of walking somewhere or doing something she perceives as dangerous. We need to let them do just that.

After helping with the turkey I went to my Aunt Mary's, I had a super nice visit with her. She seemed to be feeling very good. Just recovering from a few days extreme abdominal upset. Melissa says she has a bad day, then a day to recover and then a few good days and then the process is repeated. The cancer is blocking off her intestine. So eating is a real problem for her. I brought them a pot of beef barley soup for supper. Aunt Mary enjoyed it, but we had to take the boat motor to it, process it to a cream soup, help her digest the soup. She said it was till good that way. After we ate dinner, I helped them with some Thanksgiving prep, chopping veggies and chatting. It was very nice to spend time with her and my cousin Melissa. Hayden was busy playing the Wi in the living room, while we stuffed the artichokes. I left when we finished that job.

 Laura was waiting for me to get home. She had gone to dinner and the mall with her sitter Becky and Maria (Becky's Daughter, who is here visiting from Texas), she had a picture of her sitting with Santa. She was so proud of the picture, for years Laura was afraid of Santa for the past few years we have been working on her fear. She seems to have overcome the fear, asking to visit him. I love when this happens. I really am proud of her when she works through anyone of her many fears, it is awesome to see.

This morning I woke up to the sounds of Laura and Tom in the living room. Tom had gotten the paper and she was happy to see how big it was. Chucked full of all the Black Friday adds. We sat on the couch and looked at all the adds while I sipped my coffee in a ceramic cup. Yes that to me has become a sign of a good day. ceramic cup when you are not in a rush, plastic travel mug for any other day. The add were fun to look at, but I have no plans of shopping on Black Friday, it is too insane for me and totally unnecessary. We have truly lost the meaning of Christmas, the stores are now opening on Thanksgiving. Family means nothing, to the retailers in this country. I promise I will not shop on Thanksgiving but I won't do it on Black Friday either, too crazy for me.

 Well it is time to get moving, get Laura dressed, pills, dishes etc. and then we are off to my Mom's to spend Thanksgiving with them. More on my niece Jessica, who is in the hospital today after gallbladder surgery, keep her in your prayers too.

Am I depressed, why???

Not sure why but today I have been kind of bummed out all day. I was ok for a while this am but when I got to work it seemed to get worse again. I started the day off disinterested in doing the am chores, but that is nothing new.

I went to Laura' ISP, this is a 6 months review of how she is doing at day program with her OT, PT, speech, nursing and her goals. Seems as though everybody agreed she has a good morning but at lunch she begins to have a melt down that progressively gets worse until she leaves. She has anxiety mostly about walking, she can really dig in and refuse to walk. At program she uses her walker in the building and to and from the bus. If she goes out on a long distance outing she has a wheelchair she can use. Most of us have the same belief that she is afraid of falling. I listened to everybody's story and realized I needed to try giving her ativan earlier in the day instead of when she gets home. So after I left I called the doc, hopefully she will write the script for what we need, and it improver's her life.

We also discussed the issues with getting her into a respite program, I have been trying for almost three years now to get Laura into a respite program all I have gotten was a lot of frustration. Because she is an insulin dependent diabetic and has an insulin pump, nobody wants the responsibility of having her in there program. I spent almost two years trying to train a local agency but there staff turn over was faster than my training was allowed. All I ended up with was a headache and because Laura has to be there, she has  great anxiety about moving somewhere else. There is no real way to get her to understand that someday she will need to live in a group home. I have no desire for Laura to leave home. I truly have great fear of the day she will need to go live "somewhere else", as Laura calls it. I have worked for the state office of OMRDD for 28 years, I have seen great staff and awful staff. Nobody wants there baby at the hands of someone else. But I watched many young ladies and gentlemen being put into the institution or a group home on an emergency basis because there parents had either gotten sick or died. They were shocked and scared, anxiety was very real for them. You can't blame them, it is hard enough to go to a new school let alone being dumped into a home you have never seen or lived in.I DO NOT want that for Laura, she lives with some level of anxiety even here at home with people who love and understand her. Is it really too much to ask for her to be exposed to another type of home before she has to live there????? That is all I want! But we have an agency that takes the word retarded out of there name but does not want to treat them for all there disabilities, only there so called intellectual disabilities. Laura's intellectual disabilities are the lest of her problems, it is her physical disabilities that cause her the most stress. So Why does this office refuse to step up and ensure that all of there disabilities are taken care of???

Of course the government is broke and continues to cut services on a regular basis, this and all I mentioned could be a big part of my stress, what do you think???? For now I have a little girl, who just so happens to be turning 25 in a few weeks, she is tired and needs my help to get settled into bed for the night. I am not far behind her, more tomorrow.......

Our new family!

Today was a great day for all of us. Laura had us up early, maybe she knew something that we did not know. We left the house at 10am to meet our friends at Church, there son Jeff is the preacher at the Ephratah Reformed Church. I do not know why it is, but I have never walked into any church that made me feel as though I was home. I really think it is because we had met so many of the church members in the woods. while we were camping with Karen and Jim. Jeff is a powerful speaker, when I listen to him I completely understand his message and am able to relate to it. For such a young Pastor he has a wealth of information to offer, awesome!

After church we went to Karen and Jim's for dinner, Tom made his special spachilli as a treat, Karen made a salad and brownies and it was a meal. Karen's Mom and Dad were with us and even though he is also a Pastor, feel very comfortable around him, maybe to comfortable. Jim and Karen also have a handicapped daughter, so we relate on the same level with each other. When I meet friends of there, I often find I have something in common with them as well, to me it is uncanny how well we are suited to this new found friendship. For years I had friends that I had things in common with but never have I had a friend that I felt so connected to. And Tom feels the same way about Jim, as I do about Karen. Ahh heck, even Karena and Laura are best of buddies. There house is the only house we have ever been to that Laura just wanders around as if she were at home. The biggest problem is once we are there, the time passes to quickly and we have to make ourselves leave. That is a good feeling!