Exciting News!

This afternoon I received a phone call from our coordinator at Shands saying that she'd been informed that our donor family is requesting direct contact with us. I replied that we agree. I understand that we will receive some paperwork to complete and send back. So we are a step closer to meeting Lisa, the wife of Vernon's donor, Steven!!!

Monday is the two year anniversary since transplant so it is also two years since Steven died. So though we celebrate, we are also sad for Lisa. Join us in praying for her comfort. We'll let you know when we learn the meeting will take place.

This morning I enjoyed seeing the sunrise and here's a photo to share with you.








We have some Bird of Paradise in our yard and here's a close-up of one of the blooms with the sky behind it.

















During the week I eat breakfast alone and I enjoy standing at the kitchen sink looking out the window to see the what colors are in the sky, what birds are in the air and what might be moving in the back yard. Thursday morning I was surprised and delighted to see some otters playing on the beach of the lake. The light was low enough that I couldn't take any pictures but I was able to count five otters. I woke Vernon so he could see them, too. I don't think we've ever seen that many in the lake at one time and I don't remember the last time we saw any.

About noon today we got to watch three of them and here's a photo I took. Two are lying on the dirt and the head of the third is facing to our left and is above the otter on the left. They liked rolling and playing in the dirt and would move to the water and then back to the dirt. We were standing on our concrete patio about 140 feet from where they were and they seemed oblivious to us. I used our binoculars to see them better and that was really fun to watch them up close.

After maybe 15 minutes they moved out into the water and away from where we could view them easily. So we walked down to see where they had been in the dirt and found their tracks in the soft sand at the water's edge. So that's a slice of life from our house.

If you are curious about the photo of us, it was taken May 2007 in Idaho by one of our 3 year old grand-nephews that we were visiting. Owen has his own digital camera that is made for children. We are very pleased with his photo of us.

Today we received a Donate Life newsletter online
and the numbers of people waiting for
an organ transplant was sobering:

U.S. totals ******* waiting in Florida
74,181 - kidney transplants - 2,885
16,667 - liver transplants - 443
1,634 - pancreas transplants - 11
2,275 - kidney-pancreas transplants - 80
223 - intestine transplants - 11
2,702 - heart transplants - 82
106 - heart-lung transplants - 5
2,252 - lung transplants - 137
97,782 -- TOTAL PATIENTS -- 3,654

Numbers current as of 11/30/07

In some European countries, you are considered
an organ donor unless you sign papers stating you
don't want to be a donor. In those countries,
there is no wait for an organ. Here in the U.S.,
it is the opposite. You have to sign up to be
an organ donor unless at your death your
family agrees to donate your organs.

If you'd like to read more on this topic, go to
this site:
http://donatelife.net/

If you desire to be an organ and tissue donor,
please discuss your wishes with your family because
they will be the ones to grant permission on your behalf.
Even if you have registered as an organ donor, if your
family doesn't agree, the donor procurement team
will not go against their wishes.

Vernon and I are so grateful that he didn't have
to wait any longer than he did and are grateful
to Lisa, who donated the heart of her husband,
Steven, to Vernon. We're still waiting and hoping
to hear from her that she would like to meet us.
That news will certainly be broadcast loudly
on this blog!

Happy Birthday to Vernon! We've had a quiet day and enjoyed an afternoon breakfast at a Mimi's Cafe. We have enjoyed eating there in the past but just learned that breakfast is available all day. So we have had a low key birthday, which is fine. After a busy week, rest is nice.

If you saw on the news today the huge pile up on I-4 in Florida and wondered about us, we are safe and don't usually travel on that part of the interstate. As I write this, 70 vehicles were involved, four people are dead and many others are injured. It seems that fog formed suddenly and totally obscured the road and everything on it. Please drive safely!

Sure hope you weren't holding your breath to learn if we survived the cold weather here.

Of course we did and the cold lasted only two nights. We are back to typical winter weather in sunny Florida. But for the fun of it, here are two more scenes of ice sculpture from ICE!
First, a shepherd with a lamb and then a nativity scene with Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus.



I realize this isn't much notice but this Saturday, January 12, is Vernon's birthday. If you want to send him an e-card, our email is iamawalkingmiracle2@yahoo.com. Our mailing address is 3419 Marwood Drive, Orlando, FL 32806. No big plans yet and we might keep it low-key this year.

Did you hear on the news tonight how cold it is in Florida? It is so cold that...

The critters outside have frozen in their tracks

This is our house all covered with (ice) candy














And in our backyard, this ice slide formed.
Notice the birds - frozen Great Blue Herons.















It truly is cold for Florida, a wind chill advisory and hard freeze are predicted for our county tonight. Freeze warnings extend all the way to Miami. Usually in Florida if I have to wear a coat in the morning, I don't need it in the afternoon when I leave work, but today I needed my coat.

Would you like an explanation for the above photos? Those are some of the scenes in "ICE!" at the Gaylord Palms Hotel near Disney. We were there before Christmas and tonight my brain isn't too cold to be creative. I thought it would be fun to use them in describing how cold it is here.

This was my first day of work this year and a surprise awaited me. My boss was already in his office working when I arrived at 8. The morning is his creative time but usually he works elsewhere until closer to noon.

Vernon is much better tonight than last night but he didn't make it to work today. His fever is gone and he is hardly coughing. So we are happy with the improvement. No matter how cold it is for us, we know this is nothing compared to those north of us, so we aren't complaining. The soup I made in the crock pot yesterday sure hit the spot tonight. Thank God we are warm and filled. Time to sign off.

Happy 2008 to all! This first day of the year has found Vernon and I staying home all day, trying to recover from colds that came back with us from Atlanta. He's had a low-grade fever and has coughed a lot the past few days. I am supposed to return to work tomorrow but would like more time at home. Vernon says he will make it to work because he isn't allowed to take sick leave after vacation time. If he stayed home, he'd have to count it as vacation.

Here are some photos of our time with family. Surprisingly, not one picture of the two of us was taken and I'm not in any photos.

This is Emily Ann with sister Morgan in her lap after Morgan's piano recital. She played perfectly and we were happy to be able to be there. We got lost getting to the church so Morgan's teacher held her back until we arrived.

Emmy is a senior at Mizzou (Missouri State), graduating May 16 with a major in Journalism, going into advertising.










Mama Brady and her two sons. Vernon has his coat on because we were ready to leave Richard's house.










Morgan and Vernon on Christmas Eve, enjoying cookies and eggnog.









Morgan requested science experiments and this is an electrical connections set that Vernon got her. She really enjoyed playing with the connections. When asked how she would like her school changed, she said it would go 12 hours a day and study only science!



Morgan wants to be a doctor and received a
doctor's kit with real tools. Besides the stethoscope around her neck, she put on the face mask, goggles and surgical cap. She also received a microscope and other experiments.









Here's the Richard Brady family: Richard, Susan, Emmy and Morgan. We had lots of fun playing games like Phase 10 and Catch Phrase.


I hope to do better this year at blogging on this site. One competition for my time on the computer is Facebook. So if you are there, too, let's be friends!