Goodbye November

What happened to November? For that matter, what happened to this year? Can it really be that tomorrow is December 1st? By looking around my house, I can tell that it is. Christmas tree, check; house decorated, check; gifts purchased, working on it!

Today I had my pre-December panic. Around the last few days of November I start to panic about my son's birthday. You see, his birthday is the day after Christmas and every year I go into full panic mode that I will somehow in the hustle and bustle of Christmas forget to buy him a card or (gasp!) even a gift!! So, today during my lunch break I ran to Duane Reade (thank God there is one on each NYC street it would seem) and purchased his card. Since we've already purchased his birthday gift, the only task left to panic about is making sure I wrap it in Happy Birthday paper as opposed to Christmas paper, and to bake him a cake before his special day.

I hope each of you can take a few moments over the next few weeks and enjoy this wonderful time of year.

Holiday Spirit - NOW

I know for the majority of you, you are going to say it is WAY to early to be thinking about Christmas. Not only am I thinking about it, I am buying gifts, wrapping paper, decorations for my home, etc. Trust me when I say, that Christmas kicks into high gear around here the day after Thanksgiving. I love EVERYTHING about the Christmas season... especially the REASON behind all of it.... Jesus himself.

There is one family tradition that Steve & I just started last year with Christopher which we absolutely fell in love with. Operation Christmas Child through Samaritan's Purse. It's a way of bringing joy and the Good News of Jesus Christ to children all over the world who need hope.

It's so easy to do:
1) Get a Shoe Box.. find one at home (standard size) or pick one up at your Christian Bookstore. You can wrap the box and lid with wrapping paper if you wish. Most importantly, pray as a family over the child who is going to receive this box.

2) Boy or Girl... have your child/children decide should the box be sent to a boy or girl and pick the age category. Last year Chris decided to send it to a boy his own age. The age categories are 2-4; 5-9; or 10-14.

3) Fill the box with gifts! You don't have to break the bank... a simple trip to the dollar store will do. School Supplies, small cars, balls, dolls, hygiene items, socks, ball caps, etc. We also had Chris put a picture of himself in there along with a note from our family letting the child know that we are praying for him/her.

4) Include a $7 donation (to cover shipping)

5) Drop off the box - our church collects them or you can call 800-353-5949 to find a drop off center near you. National Collection Week is Nov 14-21!

For those of you who just can't wrap your head around doing this now with everything else on your plate, you know you think you'll get to this "later". Trust me when I say, this is so worth your time and your child will LOVE being a part of this process. If you truly don't have the time, you can even do this ONLINE! Go to www.samaritanspurse.org/occ. All the steps I mentioned above can be done online -- you can fill a box for a boy/girl and they have items you can "buy" to fill your box. All online. So simple and you control how much money you want to spend on the box. You can upload a photo of your child and can even follow your box around the world! You can find out exactly where your box winds up, whether you fill a box online or the old fashioned way.

I hope many of you will take the time to do this with your family, or perhaps you have another organization that you work with and that's great.

The long awaited update

Hi everyone. So many of you have texted me, emailed me and called me to see how my health is doing and what's going on in general. This is literally the first moment I have had to sit at the computer to try to compose somewhat of a response.

Most of you know that my infamous gall bladder surgery did not take place as scheduled on Oct 21st. At the very last minute, seriously, the doctor cancelled the surgery. He did a last minute blood test, and because of a prior blood disorder I have in my body, he decided that we need to take some other precautions and cancelled the whole thing. I honestly was VERY relieved. I was never concerned about the actual gall stones, it was always about my blood disorder that had me very concerned.

So, next step is for me to see a Hematologist this Friday in NYC. I am so blessed because my former boss is very well connected in the NYC medical field and was able to refer me to one of the best hematologists in NYC. God is so good.

Continue to pray for me-and also for my father-in-law, Domingo who is in the critical care unit of a south NJ hospital. He needs a touch in his body and we are so thankful for those of you who are already praying for him.

Love you all!