Hi Family and Friends,

Tonight is Phil’s last night in RIO . He couldn't be happier for a guy with constant nausea. Thank goodness for Ruth Ashenherst and her potato soup and Esther Lundeen and her applesauce. They are the only things he can keep down. Tomorrow I will have to start making it on a daily basis. In a few days Jeryl is going to make him her famous clam chowder, chowder is close to potato soup. I hope he can get a little variety going there.

Phil struggled with the bucket again today for a couple of hours. After that he gave up on eating and drinking (except he ate a bowl of that potato soup tonight) and was keeping it down as of the time I left. There must be something about potatoes. I made him one of his favorite soups PEA SOUP he took one look at it and that set him off. Some of you would say" why sure that would set anyone off" . All I can say I was trying something different for him. One thing he will be able to do after this is have empathy for the gals with morning sickness. Hope his doesn't go beyond three months.

His Buddy Fred came by this afternoon and helped make the time go by faster it was good for Phil, some people can make Phil get that famous smile back, and Fred is one of those people. Fred got to be there for the C-PAP machine demonstration. So Fred knows all about them, and how they work if anyone has any questions (Right Fred)? Fred I'm just messing with you! Phil was set up with his very own machine and was able to send the elephant (what they called the old demo. machine) back. The new one is pretty small, and not tooooo ugly. As my sister Linda says he looks like a fighter pilot with it on. He doesn't seem terribly excited about wearing it every night until eternity, but once he gets used to it, and it makes him feel better, I think he will be happy to have it. My cousin has one, so I told Phil he can come over and give him pointers if he needs any.

Tomorrow he comes home . We will start some new things around here. One day at a time. I hope he can stand me after all of this is over, with all the policing I will have to do over his life for a while. Pray for us to be able to take the small steps together, as he continues to heal. There will be a lot of Dr. appointments, therapy appointments, new medications, and getting used to not driving himself, among other things. We will need lots of prayer. But who better to go through this with than Phil he is a keeper, that's for sure! Whatever we are facing there is grace from God to do it, endure it, and go through it. We do believe that! God promises to never leave us or forsake us. I am so thankful that we don't have to do anything to earn our way to God. He did it for us in Jesus. I am so thankful that religion doesn't get us to God or to heaven because religion is a mess, religious people are a mess, we just need to take Jesus at his word and read our Bibles and do what it says, not what men and the different religions say. God did it right! So why do we mess with it, making God complicated, with man made rules and regulations. Jesus is so simple. He loves imperfect us. Gooooo Jesus. And he still loves us when we turn our backs on him and go our own stubborn way and we are (especially me) stubborn. Trying to be "good" doesn't cut it with God. So don't try do be good.  It won't work. We could never be good enough. I suppose I am mostly preaching to the choir. Choir we need your prayers to get through this because we are NOT perfect, Phil and I, we are weak humans. Thank you for praying. God has all the power and He loves to releases His power when we pray. We will need that power.



It's bed time, then comes morning. God is good to give us new mornings each day!

Love Donna, Phil, Josh, Laura, Sam, Meaghan, and Matthew