It’s been too long since I’ve made an input to my web journal, and since I sure can’t blog on a daily basis like the good people in my family, you’ll just have to be satisfied with whatever and whenever I can get something out.

We got back a week ago Friday night, and it’s been a panic trying to get meaningful things done. And the heat hasn’t helped (I hear Karen and Steve saying, aw, dad, you ought to live where we do). I’ve gotten outside at 7:00 the last three mornings to try to put the yard back in shape and trim these huge palms trees that we’ve got. I’m wiped out by 8:30, but at least I’m making progress. And I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time planning for this upcoming five-week trip. The itinerary will be out shortly. Longer trips are harder to plan for, particularly with cold weather coming in the Mid-West.

Now the big issue is: will we make the trip at all? We may have to cancel it depending on what the orthopedic surgeon says about Glenna’s right knee. To bring you up to date, Glenna has been having trouble with her right leg giving out on her ever since the beginning of August. The last trip to NoDak probably didn’t help it any and during the days after the funeral up there she was in much pain and had trouble walking and getting around. She flew home with me on the 24^th but with much difficulty and discomfort. We got in to see our family physician Monday, and he examined and determined that she probably had a cartilage tear in the right knee. X-rays were inconclusive, but she had an MRI on Wednesday. The doctor phoned us with the written results of the MRI Thursday evening, and it was as he’d thought, a medium tear of the right knee cartilage. He recommended we see an orthopedic surgeon to get his advice as far as making our upcoming trip and potential surgery. And we will do that next week. However, our doctor expressed his opinion in that as long as Glenna continues to improve, and she is improving (less pain) while on anti-inflammatory drugs, that any potential of surgery could be delayed until we get back in late October. So now we wait for the orthopedics advice. And we’d appreciate your prayers for her.

I know I promised to write something about Glenna’s mom’s funeral. She passed away on August 10^th, having gone down hill after her 99^th birthday, which was a great celebration with friends and relatives. Glenna couldn’t get back there before she passed away, but flew back on the 13^th to help make the funeral arrangements with her remaining uncle who lives on the farm where mom lived until it was necessary to place her in a nursing home last year. Mike and I flew back on the 16^th and were pallbearers (a new experience for both of us) at the funeral, held on the 17^th in the country Lutheran church some 12 miles from the farm. She was laid to rest next to her mother, father, and brother in the family plot on the grounds of the church. Many, many friends and relatives attended the services and the internment. The ladies of the church had a feast prepared in the basement of the church for everyone that attended, and Mike and I got to meet many of Glenna’s cousins and mom’s friends that we had never met before. Mike left on the 19^th to return home for work, and we spent the next week running around getting things squared away from her estate. Mom’s passing now throws a different light on our visits up there, as we will still want to see friends and relatives, but without mom it’ll be a dramatically changed visit from previous years.

Well, enough already . . . too much I know! Sorry!

There is a spot on planet earth that seems to be a close match to God’s country, and it’s located at the north end of the Black Hills. We have been through the area and the small community of Spearfish many times during our travels to and from the farm in North Dakota. If we didn’t camp at an RV park in the Black Hills proper, we’d stay in an RV park in Spearfish ready to launch out for the North Country or for my cousins in Torrington, WY, if heading south. It never really impressed me as a spot for retirement until last year when we stayed there enroute to Sydney, MT, to see longtime friends, the Groruds. Having mentioned our stay in Spearfish the night before we arrived in Sydney, Dick Grorud said we should check it out for possible retirement. He knew we had given up on California with all it’s political and social ills and were no longer even considering Grass Valley, near Sacramento, for a move. We said we’d do just that the next year when we came through. And we did just that from July 13th to the 16^th this year. What we found was a jewel of a little community tucked off the beautiful Spearfish Canyon and between a set of green hills that are extensions of the Black Hills. It is very picturesque. It offers an appreciation of nature and beauty not often seen in today’s world.

Spearfish is a community of 10,000 (13,000+ within a 5 mile radius). There are old houses and buildings from the late 1800s in the downtown area with more modern buildings and beautiful, spacious homes the further out you get. It is a growing community, a focal point of tourism for the Black Hills as well as the in-town attractions (beautiful parks, a historic fish hatchery, and the 60 year old Black Hill Passion Play as well as others). It is rich in history, the arts, and entertainment and has a retail trade center. And it is the home of the Black Hills State University.

I have been studying the daily weather in Spearfish on the Internet ever since we returned from our vacation last year and, in fact, have kept weather comparisons (temperatures and moisture) between Cypress, Grass Valley, Denver, and Spearfish all through the year. Some say we’ll not be able to take the winters after living in Southern California most of our lives, and we know it’ll be a big change for us. But if there is a spot in the Mid-west where the winters are mild, it’s Spearfish. They receive little snow during the winter months as most of the storms move either north or south of them. But it’s not uncommon to get dumped on in the February-March time period. We’ll have to plan ahead for that, probably purchasing a four-wheeled vehicle after we get there. As to the summers, the temperatures can be excessive. It was 100 degrees the last day we were up there, but the rest of eastern Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah were experiencing the same heat. The difference is that it’s a dry heat (low humidity) in the Hills there. And we learned they have no mosquitoes or fleas there, a nice plus.

We arrived there on Friday afternoon (13^th). I had e-mailed the North Point Christian Church pastor there before we left home to tell him that we were coming through and would love to worship with his congregation the Sunday we were in town. He wrote back that we should call him as soon as we arrived in town; that he’d love meeting us to hear about us and to fill us in on their new (three year old) church. I did call him after we had lunch, and he said that Saturday (next day) would work out better for him and that we should meet at the Two Pines Coffee House on Main Street. He asked where we were going to stay with the RV since there are several RV campgrounds in town, and I replied at the Mountain View RV Campground. He said, Oh really. We have a new couple in the church that operate that campground. So we had a lead (introduction) into the campground there, and it paid off as we were given a discount and allowed to move the next day to a better spot with WiFi capability. We rested and after supper toured much of the surrounding home sites in the area. We found some gorgeous homes up against the northern hill stretching up to Lookout Peak. Unfortunately, they’re too large for what we want to downsize into, but they were certainly affordable. The home property values there are a quarter to a third the price of what we see here in Orange County.         Saturday morning we drove around the city and on up to a wild life park, which was closed due to the heat, and then on out to the west side and into the hills there. We were looking for the trailhead to Crows Peak, which is out that way. We didn’t find it, but enjoyed the drive up the wooded canyon. The houses out that way are spread out either in small groupings on large lots or spread out like farm houses are, some of which are farms. Glenna spotted the house she wants with a large yard and a nice garden. Of course it wasn’t for sale, but she can dream. We went back into town and went through the D.C. Booth Historical Fish Hatchery there, killing time until we could meet Matt Barnum, the pastor, at the coffee shop, which was a quaint little house converted into a coffee house. We met him at 2:00 PM, ordered coffee and smoothies (Glenna loved hers and wants to go back), and enjoyed the next two plus hours chatting over everything from our backgrounds to the history of the church and the lifestyles of people in Spearfish. He is married to a Becky (Charest) whose brother Ryan Charest is Matt’s assistant and youth pastor at the church. I mention this because they are both graduates of Nebraska Christian College (located then in Norfolk, NE, now in Omaha). Now what’s significant about that is that my cousin, Don Spray, has three grandsons that went to Nebraska Christian College, and come to find out, the Charests knew them while they were in school there (small world)! The church meets in the local high school auditorium and is growing in membership as the years pass. As far as that goes the whole community is growing at a rate of about 6 %.                Sunday we arrived at the school (church) to be greeted by the only two people we knew in town, Matt, and the RV park operator, Todd. But it wasn’t long before we were introduced to ever so many good, down home type Christians. In fact after the worship and Matt’s preaching, which we really enjoyed, we stayed and chatted with a couple that had moved there from Desert Center, CA, four years ago. We had much in common and even found that they had their first home up for sale, having moved to a larger acreage place north of town. Their son played base guitar in the praise band for worship, and though we didn’t get to meet him, we found out that he’s planning to attend the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs this fall. That’s where Danielle, our oldest granddaughter, is attending (another small world happening). After church and lunch, we drove by the house that this couple has for sale, and if we were ready to move there today, I’d be very tempted to buy it from them. It’s beautiful with a mountain view, a huge yard, and more floor space than what we have here in Cypress. But that wouldn’t be downsizing, would it? Anyway, it sure wet our appetites. Sunday night we attended and enjoyed the famous Black Hills Passion Play, out under the stars, right there in Spearfish.                             Monday, we walked the streets of downtown Spearfish, picked up oodles of information from the Chamber of Commerce, and did some shopping at K-mart and Walmart, which they have there. We then rested up and prepared for our return trip to Southern California.

Will Spearfish, SD, be our next home? The decision hasn’t been firmly made yet, but as you can see we were very impressed with the community. We’ll spend another couple of days up there at the end of September as we plan to drive back up to Minot, ND, for their annual Scandinavian “Norsk Hostfest” in early October. That’ll give us a view and feel for the area during the fall. And then to satisfy all the doubters and ourselves, we plan to fly up there for a couple of days in January or February to get a taste of winter. Whether we could be ready for a move next summer is questionable. I think we’d like to, but too much has to be done here along with the coordinated purchase and move to that new home. We put it all in the Lord’s hands as far as the ultimate decision and the timing for the move. It’s a big undertaking, and we ask the Lord to be in the process and planning according to His will for our lives.

We had a great service at church this morning. Our pastor began the service with tribute to those who were killed at Virginia Tech this week, their families, and loved ones, and he tied it into our 40-day emphasis on the question “Why?” Today’s sermon was “Why Should I Believe in God in the First Place?” But the first part was devoted to the WHY of the senseless act in Blacksburg, VA, this week. He concluded with a silent prayer time and his own pastoral prayer of support. It was good and meaningful.

Yesterday was a different kind of day for us. We had secured tickets to the show, Jeopardy, and the morning filming of three of the of the upcoming TV playoffs for the College Championship Tournament. They filmed five shows yesterday in two different settings, and they were to do the same today, making up the last two weeks of the Jeopardy season, which will be viewed April 30 – May 11. So if your watching, we were there for the Monday, April 30 through the Wednesday, May 2 showings. Let me tell you: It was exciting! Those kids were so smart, and of course we can’t wait to see who all gets into the finals and who wins. We were watching the quarterfinals with the three winners from our showings being added to the two winners from the afternoon filming. Then the semifinals and the finals were filmed today. There was lots of audience participation, and Johnny Gilbert and Alex Trebek answered questions and filled us in on a lot of the history of the show during the time you’ll be seeing commercial breaks. I wish I could have taken a camera, but no cameras were allowed.

Hey, we got some rain out here this week. Won’t wonders ever cease? I don’t have to water my lawn for a few days. Yippee!

We’re off to Roseville (Karen and Marius’) this weekend, leaving Thursday morning and coming back Monday, the 30^th. We haven’t been up there since last year at this time. Marius has done lots of improvements to the place, and we’d like to see them. Plus we have an opportunity to see Logan in a Cub Scout setting Friday night at one of his meetings. So we are looking forward to the trip. We’ve got to be home on Monday in time for Jeopardy though!

And finally, let me make comment about Steve’s blog entry entitled “Going Up” written on April 20. I find the picture and your words very provocative, son. But what caught me was the setting of the staircases. Your theme about making choices of preference concerning the “fork in the road” made me look at the setting and wonder. Does the fact that the choice to go “Left” leads downward and the choice to go “Right” leads upward have any special meaning in light of the political culture in which we live? I think it does. This may be a visual “Pun”, but I like what it represents. And I agree that “our decisions either point up towards Jesus Christ or they point down towards selfishness or worse.” I want to say, too, that Diana really hit the nail on the head when she said in her new blog, “My brother's blog is awesome. He finds the most amazing photos and then writes something (he's a great writer, too) that relates to the pictures.” Here! Here! Continue the good work, son.

Hip, hip hurray! We’re now into day 13, and I can see and feel a marked improvement in my face. PTL! I started noticing an almost imperceptible improvement on Monday (day 10) when my eye was showing some closure. By Tuesday it was markedly noticeable as I could close the left eye although it took effort, and I could begin to chew on both sides of my mouth. I was able to put in a full day yesterday preparing my lesson for our small group Bible study and convey my thoughts for the hour and a half at the home where we meet. Admittedly, I strained my eyes in doing so as the eyelid wasn’t a hundred percent cooperative, but I knew it’d take work. And I was pleased that the effort paid off. I’m a bit worn out today though. Today I still feel some swelling around the eyelid, and there is still some stiffness on the left side of my face. But I have my smile back (both sides), and I no longer talk out of the right side of my mouth. At this rate of progress the facial nerve should be completely regenerated by next week. There’s always a chance that part of the face won’t recover, but I’ll leave that up to the Lord. But it is so much better that I’m ecstatic over the improvement. Those first nine days were like a horror adventure and were a real psychological downer. I didn’t think it’d ever end, and I feared that I might be permanently affected. I liken it to the way women feel in their ninth month of pregnancy when they think that baby will never come. Anyway, thank you one and all for your prayers, which obviously worked. The Lord is good and gracious even in times of distress. Amen and amen!

We’re now five days down and (maybe) 16 or so to go, referring to my Bell’s palsy. I thought I saw some improvement this morning when I got up as I could control my left eye a little better than normal, but it now seems just as bad. I use a patch or Kleenex to wedge the eyelid shut when it gets too annoying. I had to give up on preparing a decent lesson for our small group last night. I just gave an introduction and let Chuck Swindoll introduce the topic on a CD. Then we supplemented with some other materials, as I wasn’t up to thinking or talking properly. I didn’t take it personally, but they all said I looked like the mafia, speaking out of the right side of my mouth, so I was glad when my part was over. The funny part of my condition is that I can do things on the computer and even read the screen pretty well, but when it comes to reading a book or anything in my chair, my eye rebels making it difficult to understand what I’m reading. There will be better days ahead, I’m sure.

We had a terrific freak storm through here Tuesday PM with a microburst of wind that took down one of our 50’ Queen Palms. Fortunately it landed against the cross beam of the patio. Had the beam not been there, a three foot extension of the 6” X 14” beam that holds up the outer portion of the patio, the tree would have hit the NE corner of the house or knocked down the block wall between us and the neighbors. Don’t tell me the Lord doesn’t know how to protect His own. Thank you, Lord! But I guess I’m not telling some of you anything about freak storms. I see OK and CO have gotten tornados that were devastating. Sorry to hear about them. We hope and pray for all of your safeties back there.

I keep checking the web journals for updates and find none. And I’m no better. But, I guess I must update mine with some news that I normally wouldn’t talk about. But Norm has already put out a prayer request on me, and before any of you find out about my condition through him, I’d better explain. Ole dad has contracted a somewhat rare disease called Bell’s Palsy. I woke yesterday morning with my left eye burning. I put in my usual eye drops for dry eyes thinking it was just dry. It was dry alright, but from an unnatural cause. When I went to the bathroom to look at my eye, I discovered that my left eyelid wouldn’t shut unless manually held down with a finger. It didn’t blink automatically with the right eye. I noticed a slight discomfort on the left side of my face. As the morning went by I decided to start looking up info on the Net and found such things as Thyroid Associated Eye Disease, Stroke, Brain Tumor, Lyme Disease, infections, and Bell’s Palsy, none of which left me very comfortable. I called my Ophthalmologist and had to leave a message, seeing that it was Saturday and no one was in the office. I wandered through the day in somewhat discomfort but really didn’t think too much about it, planning to get an appointment with my regular doctor or the Ophthalmologist, who never called back, on Monday.

Norm called just before supper last night as he always does after a UCLA basketball win, and I shared with him my symptoms. He was concerned and wanted to run me into Emergency at Los Alamitos Hospital. I pooh-pooh the idea and told him I’d call him back if I needed him. Since I had no other symptoms, I really wasn’t concerned. But as we sat down for supper and I began to eat, I discovered that I’d lost part of the muscles on my left side that controlled my chewing. It was then that I realized something was wrong as I had a partial paralysis on the left side of my face. Fearing it might be a stroke, I called Norm back and asked if I could take him up on going into Emergency. He was more than willing to come over and drive Glenna and I the four miles to the hospital as Glenna is still feeling somewhat weak from her virus, the aftermath of her cold at the beginning of the month.

Well, to make a short story even longer, they ran me through all sorts of tests to include X-ray, EKG, and a CAT Scan, knowing from the first few minutes of the exam that it probably wasn’t a stroke. I had no weakness anywhere as is indicative of a stroke. So it wasn’t a surprise when the doctor said that he was pretty sure it was Bell’s Palsy but that I should get an appointment with my doctor Monday for follow up and tracking.

The prognosis is good, which I’m thankful for. It’s (probably, they don’t know) caused by a virus very similar to Herpes or Shingles and is treatable with medication, and I’m on Acyclovir (anti-infection) and Prednisone (steroids) for a few days, and the condition should go away in a week and a half or two according to the doctor. You’re probably like me, either never heard about Bells Palsy or didn’t know what it is. Well, briefly, it’s condition in which the facial muscles on one side or the other become paralyzed because of a facial nerve paralysis. They believe it is cause by a virus, and I’m thinking this weird virus that has hung around us since our colds at the beginning of the month is the culprit.

Anyway, I’m alive and well except for this two week discomfort. There’s no stroke, PTL, so don’t worry. All prayers would be appreciated though. I feel like Paul with his thorn in the flesh only I can’t compare with him. Knowing that I’ll be healed in a couple of weeks is much better than being told, “My grace is sufficient for you.” But I can at least empathize with Paul.

You all are making me feel bad with your latest good inputs to your web journals. But I’m not taking it personal, as I’ve waited a long time for your inputs. I’m only sorry that I can’t keep up. Speaking of feeling bad, I’ve been down since Saturday, Glenna since Sunday, and Mike since Monday with the worst cold that I can remember. I guess by sequence you can figure out who gave it to whom. We’ve heard that bronchitis is going around, and that may be what we have. If it’s no better by tomorrow, I’ll make an appointment to see the doctor, but I’m getting better. I get spurts of energy, though minimal, but it’s mostly a life of pills, liquids, and rest, and we’re getting mighty tired of it! Mike gave up at work yesterday morning and came back home and didn’t go in today. So, your prayers would be appreciated to get us well.

The journal input that I’ve been trying to get out is about Peter Merrill. He’s one excited Air Force Lieutenant flying missions over Afghanistan, no less. He left at the end of January, spent a few days in England, and then hopped on over to Ganci AB (Bishkek’s Manas airport) in Kyrzygstan. Where is Kyrzygstan, you ask? Well I’m surprised we even have an Air Base there. It’s in one of the old USSR provinces (no longer Russian) nestled between Kazakhstan (North), Uzbekistan (West), Tajikistan (South), and China (East). It’s in the middle of nowheresland!!! But we made an agreement with their government after 9/11 to build an air base there that would allow US forces to be stationed there to ward off further terrorists attacks in the region. The base is on the northern border of the country, and once Peter flys across Tajikistan, he’s in Afghanistan (some 300+ from his base). You’d like to think he’s pretty safe. The best part about being in the Air Force is that the TDY (Temporary Duty) Deployments are not usually very long, and his won’t be as he should be home (Fairchild AFB, WA) at the end of April. He’s a copilot on a KC-135 tanker, flying air-refueling missions over Afghanistan. What he’s doing brings back a lot of good memories as I remember flying across that pond to Morocco many times as a copilot on a B-47. The duty (standing alert for SAC) was less than desirable, but the adventure of seeing new lands and peoples was awesome. And now he’s experiencing that. A few recent words from Peter: “My flying crew and I do pretty much everything together because everyone else’s schedules are so different. Since I have only been here a week there is not a whole to complain about. The food is OK but the flying is awesome. I cant wait to get home and tell everyone some of the cool stuff that is going on over here, but that will have to wait until later.  My birthday went well, and the dining hall actually had steak and lobster. They must have known. Yes (steak and lobster), that is the Air Force way.” So it sounds like he’s enjoying his duties and life. Needless to say, we’re all so very proud of him. The family included us in a joint conference call prayer time for him and with him the Monday before he left, which was very meaningful to all as he was blessed and prayed over by many. The only down side of his deployments is the separation from his little wife and young baby daughter. Sarah has prepared herself well as she will have to during future deployments. She’ll be down here with the baby next week to visit both sets of parents for a couple of weeks. We’ll get to see her and the baby then. Peter will be down in June for his baby sister’s high school graduation. I can’t wait to talk with him then.

More later…. Don’t ask me when that’ll be.

We just spent three glorious days up the coast in Solvang and thoroughly enjoyed it. Except for the extra pounds we got for going to such a place, all things considering, there were no negatives. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, clear and in the high 60s when we got up there Friday. And it was pushing 80 when we left Sunday afternoon. We had worshipped at a little Baptist church there in town when we were up there last, four years ago. So it was a natural to go back as we thoroughly enjoy their small community, conservative style worship. And they are so friendly. Between all the wanderings around town and the shopping sprees where Glenna fell in love with the needle craft shop, the knick-knack curios stores, and of course the bakeries, we ate good old Danish food and even took in an evening at the Red Barn steak house in Santa Inez where the steaks are sumptuous. Saturday evening after a day of shopping and eating, I suggested a drive over to Lompoc. We got there at sunset, so we didn’t go see much except to drive by the old Bluff Drive place, which looked somewhat run down, and then to drive on out to Surf where we saw the last of the suns rays going down over the ocean and a placid coast line. It was gorgeous! Lompoc has grown greatly. It’s about twice the size as when we lived there in ‘69/’70. I’d like to have driven out to the base, but there just wasn’t time. Solvang is no small little village either. We drove around the outskirts before church on Sunday, and we were amazed at the high valued communities down by the river and the large acreage homes over the hills to the north of down town. No, we aren’t thinking of retiring/moving there. But I can see where it would make a nice retirement community for people. We made it back home here at sunset last evening, tired but refreshed. We needed the get-away.

I had a nostalgic moment today. I was listening to Chuck Swindoll (Insight for Living) this morning while I dressed, and he was preaching on parenting. He was using an illustration that he'd seen (whether in film or in person, I'm not sure), one involving the return of a group of our troops from overseas. There waiting for their arrival were several family members and friends. But one mother (and children) caught his eye. The mother with one little girl attached to one hand, another older girl standing on the other side of her, and another young lad in her arms holding a sign that said, "My hero!" The gathering and greeting of the little family was very emotional and rewarding to all concerned.

Why do I bring this up? Because the similarity hit me like a ton of bricks. For you see, 44 years ago almost to this very day, there was another young mother who stood on a ramp at MacDill AFB, Tampa, Florida, and greeted a young Captain, copilot of a B-47, who had just returned from a six week tour of duty in Morrocco. The same two girls were at her side as Chuck Swindoll had witnessed, but the baby boy wasn't holding up a sign that said, "My Hero." But he didn't have to. You see this was my baby boy, the one I had not seen yet, the one who we had prayed for and God had supplied. His name was Steven. And the reunion was indeed joyeous.

Now my baby boy is a 44 year old pastor of a church and principle of a Christian school. And how proud I am of him. He has such a way with words. Go to his "Principle Page," part of the Del Rosa Christian School, on www.gracechurchsb.org/ web site, and tell me he doesn't love his work when he talks about good parenting and working with the kids and their love for life. Keep up the good work, son. You're forgiven for not holding up that "My Hero" sign. For you see, I'm not the hero, you are!

Well, Turkey Day is over. And again the traditional celebration was at Bobbie's where we families attached to her have gathered every year since at least 1991 (as Bobbie and I figure it). That was the year that Steve, Shelley, and the kids moved down from San Jose, and we remember grandma and grandpa Spray being with us a couple of those years. She had 18 in attendance, to include a new person this year, Stephani, Mike's girlfriend. Even though we had gray skys and cool weather everyone enjoyed the fellowship, as the kids played ball outside while us oldsters enjoyed snacks and drinks around the patio table awaiting the grand entrance (from the oven) of Mr. Tom Turkey. Steve did his usual expert carving job, and we were soon assembled around the Bobbie's big table (four had to eat on a card table in the living room). After the usual gorging, we retired to the living room to watch the Cowboys and Tampa Bay game and grumble at the fact that we couldn't watch the Denver - Kansas City game ( It was on NFL Cable). But maybe it was just as well since Denver lost. Some of the fellows went down to the local high school field to play a little football but didn't last long (too much turkey maybe). They had fought off the challege of a basketball game with Luke and Dennis, knowing how the outcome would be what with the likes Luke who is out for basketball and in good shape. We shared our stories, said our good-byes, and hit the road (freeways) for home at sunset. It was nice sitting in the back seat with Glenna and letting Mike do the driving, particularly  since my eyes aren't the best at night. Mike and Steph took off for another feast at one of his good friend house, and we settled in for a relaxing evening watching TV and starting the annual Christmas Letter. Once again we realized that the Lord had blessed us on this another day in which we give Him Thanks.