December 29

I remembered to eat breakfast myself before heading over to the hospital. Only Tyler and Travis were awake when I left the house.

Jeff was ready to leave when I got to the hospital. The doctor had already been in, and we only had to wait for the dietician to talk to him before he could be released. The conversation didn't take long, and I loved that people kept telling Jeff over and over again what I've been telling him for years. He actually said he should listen to his wife—amazing!

We picked up his prescriptions, picked up some vacuum cleaner bags, and picked up some groceries on our way home. When we got here we found Scott & Amanda and Josh already here. The boys were sure glad to see Jeff back home. He has to take it easy for a few days, has a doctor's appt. for next week, and is expected to be released to go back to work in 2 weeks or less. Okay….so everybody needs to stop waiting on him and let him do what he can do. There's enough stuff that he can't do.

Okay, yay! Relax for a day before I start to think too seriously about the job I promised to start this week. It's only a few hours of work, I can get this figured out later. Hey! The mail made it here for the first time in over a week. Boys check the mail and bring it to me, thank you. Here are some Christmas cards…one from Jeff's nephew and wife, one from another nephew's ex-wife, one from my dad…….what????? I was stunned, and was just staring at the return address. My dad's name….addressed to me. Huh. Hand the envelope to my mom who is sitting next to me…she goes blank too. This is comical. My husband takes the envelope, and asks who this is…I just start crying.

It was definitely from my dad; I opened it up and found a "Daughter" Christmas card signed "Dad." This is completely foreign to me. I don't know how to respond. He wrote me a letter also. Wow. Okay, I haven't heard from him in what, 16 years? I'm not sure I'm emotionally stable enough at this point to deal with this. Actually, I'm starting to feel a little emotionally bankrupt. Of course I tried to call my best friends, and, or course neither of you answered. Ugh! I wasn't even sure if Melissa had arrived home yet, Australia is a long way away. When I did talk to you later, you both pointed out that my dad had recently come up in conversation. Melissa reminded me that we had pulled out the old photo album last week, and also reminded me that God has been answering prayers lately, and maybe I should figure out which prayer this answered. Thanks for that, Melissa.

Okay, get on with life. Deal with this later. Make dinner for Jeff. Make dinner for Tyler. Make dinner for Josh and Travis. Make dinner for myself. That's not normal; we usually all eat at the same time. Mom left. Scott & his family left. We get to go back to a semblance of normality. Deep Sigh. Tomorrow is another day.

I need to thank all the people for all the help and prayers these past few days. There were phone calls and visitors I didn't mention all the friendly offers for "anything" we need. The care of the children, the time spent with Jeff, the support for me, and the prayers!!! When trouble comes, true friends come to help. Thank you all.