Christmas Eve
Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. It is the day appointed by The Church that Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem looking for lodging and received accommodations with the animals. I am thinking of homes to day and what it takes to make a home. I am indebted to my son Gordon in his pastor’s column […]

“Let Us Give Thanks”

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day - my favorite holiday. It is a day of family togetherness and it is the official beginning of the Christmas season.  I love this day!
The day had its beginnings in a time of meagerness — In the fall of 1620, one-hundred-two of an English religious sect arrived at […]

I am writing this piece on November 4, 2009 but I don’t know when it will show up on my blog.  Something is wrong with my blog account and it is being checked.
 
Yesterday I went back to my endocrinologist, Dr. Carlos Verdonk at Scott & White Hospital for a final evaluation until I finish at […]

After two days of testing and evaluation, Janell and I were given a recommendation by Dr. Wu, the endocrinologist assigned to me.  Her recommendation was to do nothing at this time. 
The tests confirmed what we already knew - the medullary cancer has returned and the nodules in my chest are positive with the cancer.  […]

For three years I have lived with the knowledge that my cancer would definitely re-occur, the only questions were “when?” and “where would it show up?”  Well the time and place of re-occurance has been answered.
At my three to four month checkup in August a couple of nodules were discovered in my upper chest area.  […]

I went to the Endocrinologist for my fourth check-up today.  It was better than good — it was GREAT!
My kind of cancer - Medulary Thyroid Cancer, produces a protein called Calcitonin.  Just before my surgery last October, my Calcitonin level was 3500.  I don’t know what 3500 is, but I am pretty sure it is […]

 
Wasting Time
I recently re-read the children’s classic, “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. If you have not come across this literature, go to the library, get a copy and prepare for a spiritual feast.
The story is couched in the setting of the author having had to land his plane in the Sahara Desert to […]

Listening So My Spouse Will Talk
Over the last couple of weeks, I have been thinking about communication. I have particularly focused on communication between couples, but the principles I have used will hold up in communication between employers and employees, between parents and children, or between friends.
When ever good communication takes place, there is a […]

Talking So My Spouse Will Listen
In the early 1970’s a group of academics from the University of Minnesota studied the way couples communicate and they discovered that couples communicate in basically four styles of communication. This study has expanded into the communication seminars called “Couple Communication I and II.” The four styles of communication are:
SMALL […]

Logivore
I came across a word the other day. I think it must have been made up because I have checked a couple of dictionaries, but failed to find it. In spite of the fact that dictionaries do not dignify the word by inclusion, I like it.
The word is “logivore.” It relates to “carnivore” and “herbivore.” […]