Ray and I are driving down Highway 11 to our little home in NC. I am staying for the week. My daughter, Rhonda, and I will be doing "Christmas." She is going to spend one night with me and we will have a "wrapping" party. We have lots of paper and I love to make bows. We still have some shopping to do so it probably won't be until Tuesday or Wednesday.
I was involved in a wonderful thing this past week. There is a new young lady at our church who is a single mom. She has a very young little boy and girl. I made sure that she got a directory of the members and told her that I would be her deacon until one was assigned to her. I asked her if there were any prayers I could say for her family. She confided in me that she didn't have money to provide Christmas presents for her children. After I left her, I spoke to the pastor and he asked me if I could mentor her because she had been seeing a man who is a Jehovah witness. She called me later that night and I talked with her about him. I let her know that if she was serious about being a Christian, she had to either bring him to Christ or stay away from him. He is not good for her walk with the Lord because Jehovah's Witnesses are not Christians, but a cult. As we were talking, I learned what things that her children would like for Christmas and wrote them down.
Monday was our Sunday Bible Study Class Christmas luncheon at Slightly Up The Creek and I told the members of the class of this new member's plight. We collected $240 and when I took it to the church to turn it in to the financial officer, I was told that there had been 2 bicycles donated for the children. I had filled a Christmas bag with Mary Kay products for the mother and took them by the office also. God led me to this young woman. I really felt him pushing me toward her. I hope I can do something to help her. I remember what is is like to be a single mom and how difficult it is.
That was my good thing for this past week. My bad thing was that my health insurance decided not to pay for my genetic test which cost over $3,100. I wrote a letter to the Office of Personnel Management and sent documentation to prove that it was needed. It turns out that my breast cancer was not genetic but it provided me with the information about having 2 genetic markers for rheumatoid arthritis. It enabled Dr. Schlesinger to send me to a rheumatologist when I explained about all the pain & swelling I have in my hands, feet, back, and knees. When I had pneumonia last summer, they couldn't figure out why I was in so much pain I could barely walk in the hospital. They had to put a special contraption on the toilet so I could go to the bathroom because I couldn't get up from the seat without help. That was the beginning of the arthritis, I think. Pneumonia was more like pleurisy and very painful in my lungs. I am not so sure that there wasn't some damage to my right lung from the radiation I had after I had surgery.
Talking with other patients is kind of strange. Everyone seems afraid to say anything bad about their treatments. It is very stressful. It makes you so overwhelmingly tired. My problem was that I could not sleep very well and that added to the tired feeling. Everyone at church has been happy to have me back there regularly. I am glad to be there. I am feeling so much better, even though I do have some days that I am not too well. I did too much this morning getting ready to leave with all the packing and loading the car. If Ray had put the things in the car, we wouldn't have room for everything. He just doesn't know how to pack a car. LOL
I spoke with Cindy yesterday and we are on good terms. I really miss her. Cresenti has been calling me a lot. Her confidant, Melanie, is in the Phillippines until April visiting her family. I really love Cresenti, she is such a sweet person. I just couldn't believe that JC Penney fired her without cause after 28 years of loyal service. She was one of the Managers at the Lynnhaven Penney's store. They must be cleaning house and hiring young people just out of college for their management teams. No longer let people work their way up the old way. Cresenti has a Master's Degree. We went to Tuesday Morning last Sunday afternoon and she was amazed at the prices. I don't think she had been shopping anywhere except for groceries in the past 28 years since she worked and shopped at Penney's. We had such fun.
Afterward we went back to the house and she left for church. Ray and I drove to church and we had the Singing Christmas Tree inside the church. It was wonderful. It always is a good program. The older adults really seem to enjoy it, right along with the children. Our church voted to have an outside company build and maintain a website for us. It will be much more professional than the one we have been working on. I am so glad. I spent so much time on it, but keeping up with it is a real pain when you have so much else to do and so little energy.
We are almost to Greenville and Sam's Club. Pick up a few groceries, maybe a gift or two. Love to all!
GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME!
