Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

I'm glad to hear that some companies haven't shy'd away from saying "Merry Christmas" in their ads. It really doesn't make me much difference because we didn't buy much in way of Christmas presents this year. I guess we contributed to the poor economic showing by not buying much at all. Here's what we got for Christmast this year.

#1 Kim and I took the trip of life time to Mumbai, India.

#2 Kim got two newly resurfaced hips!

#3 We survived the whole ordeal! Hallelujah.

#4 I got to see my wife's face painfree for the first time in years.

#5 We took our kids on a cruise for Christmas. (something we had planned and paid for back in March not knowing what was coming in October & November.) We spent a record low on excursions and extras on board.

#6 We got to spend an entire week with our grandson Noah and he really got to know us for the first time. He says Papa pretty good now. He hasn't gotten Mimi out yet but its coming.

#7 Kim walked on the beach in Jamaica and got into the ocean for the first time in 3 years or so. It was very cool.

#8 We dove with the Stingrays in Grand Cayman. Always awesome.

#9 We did buy the kids all a digital picture frame and filled them with pics from home and family.

#10 We get to help celebrate Kim's dads 80th birthday in Muskogee, Ok on Saturday.

It has certainly been an eventful and blessed year for the Ellis household and all in all we took a different tack on Christmas, just being together and spending time was most of what we did. It was as good as I recall. Kim continues to get slowly better all the time. She did an amazing amount of walking on the cruise, all over the ship, off at all three stops, and back home. It was pretty tiring but she did just great. On Sunday back at home as folks were leaving the house, someone noticed she was outside in the driveway, giving hugs, saying goodbye, without her walker, the cane, or anything. She had forgotten to use it on the way out the door. Need I say more. What a memorable year it has been. We thank the Lord for every moment of it.

Happy New Year, for 2008!

Busy, busy days!

Things are back to virtually subnormal at d & k's house. If we both didn't have our India experience in the back of our minds, we'd think we'd gone back many months. Yesterday was a fairly normal day. We got up early, sniffed to see if I'd fixed the coffee the night before, I had. We got dressed for worship as we do every Sunday, joined a good crowd for worship and an ok sermon. I'm just not sure about our preacher! We then went home, changed clothes and headed for the Texans game with some anxiety about how Kim would make it all.

We parked in the green lot, handicapped slot still, and made our way up and over Kirby. It's probably 20 steps up to the ramp, up and over and maybe 30-40 steps down to the Reliant area. Then its a fair walk to the gate, thru the line, and up to the elevator. We're still not all the way back but who would be this soon? She walked all the way to our section, and determined to sit in our seats, left the walker up with the handicapped folks at the top. It was exciting to see her determination to make it down 40 more steps. And what a game she saw, the Texans soundly beating playoff bound Tampa Bay! It was fun. Then we did the whole thing in reverse, back up and out, over Kirby, to the truck. She was breathing pretty hard by the time we were walking over Kirby but not hurting, just out of breath.

Then our Life group came over for Christmas eating, singing, and some carolling near our house. We started with Lynne's in-laws who live half a block away, then back to some folks right across the street. We might have gone longer if it wasnt' so warm and the mosquitoes weren't so bad. I wore shorts and got eaten on pretty good, but it was really enjoyable. Guess I should've taken some pics of it all so I could show but I didn't. We had a great time singing and being together. Our group really loves to sing together and I think the neighbors enjoyed it. And Kim did great. I thought I might have to get a rope to hoist her up the stairs last night but she made it fine.

It may take her awhile to get going this am but she's doing fantastic. We praise God for such success and progress thusfar. We keep praying and thanking Him for everything. This already has been a blessed holiday season and we plan to enjoy it immensely.

ttyl, de