Smog Brained

January rolls on. I still haven't mastered that it is 2013.
The Individuals and I stopped Connor's gifts by yesterday, well before his party. (His birthday is today, but the party was yesterday.) He seemed pleased by them.

When the family was gathered for Roger's Memorial, a number of us took a walk. It was a beautiful day- the day after his services. I forget which of the younger women in our little herd made the suggestion that we should all challenge one another to become more fit during this year. We set a group goal to try to walk 300 miles (each). A few years back, you may recall, I set the 300 mile goal for myself in June or so... and made it! Once I moved to Ohio, I had a job where I walked miles on end every day at work, just due to the vastness of the warehouse, and the fact that before we actually got it up and running, I was pushing a broom for five to eight hours a day. Not long after I got back to Arkansas was when Bill passed away. Since then, I pretty much stopped any activity at all. So I gained back all the weight I lost, then some. The 300 mile goal has looked pretty bleak to me. I walked once after I got back here from Texas. Added an entire mile to my .5 miles we all started out with! It was another week before I ventured out again. Now I have walked 2 days in a row. I am "up to" 6.5 miles! (Only 293.5 to go!)
I have also been trying to cook 'lighter'. I made beef and broccoli for supper tonight. I thought it was the best I had ever made. But my normally non-picky Mr. C had to gag it down. He didn't like it at all. I had added the juice of half an orange to the sauce, and some orange zest. All he could taste was the orange, he said. (He doesn't like MY favorite chicken and rice dish either, which also contains just a bit of orange juice.) A cold front is blowing in right now, so tomorrow the 'lighter' food will give way back to pure cold weather comfort food: Chicken and dumplings!

I think everyone here is pretty much feeling better. Tom still gets hit with a deep cough when he lays down. Dan bought some Lysol Spray, and Clorox wipes. Telephones, keyboards, doorknobs, light switches have all been doused. Toothbrushes boiled or replaced. Hoping that we all STAY well now!

I would like to ask for those of you who read my blog, to please lift up an online friend of mine in your prayers. Kate Parker and her family learned just over a year ago that their youngest son's brain stem birth defect can no longer be operated on. The brain stem controls our breathing as well as other bodily functions. He is living out his last months, possibly even his last days right now. Before the Parker's learned that Joshua's condition was terminal, they adopted a little girl with Down's Syndrome from a Ukraine orphanage. They learned this weekend that the severe Juvenile Arthritis which Bethany was diagnosed with after her adoption, has combined with other severe health related issues and was declared as terminal... probably within the next few weeks. So my friends face the loss of their two youngest children in the very near future. Kate has exhibited God's grace during all of this- never pointing a finger at God, or demanding of the heavens, "Why Me? Why my children?" Just please lift up the Parker family as they face these unthinkable losses.

Tonite, as ever, Hug someone you love, and don't take anyone for granted, even for a moment.