This is starting to be a trend that I'm not fond of. It is once again late afternoon and I am just now getting to the sun porch and my chair. But my coffee cup is full and it is peaceful out here as always. So, --- if I doze off in the middle of this, well; that's the way it goes.

I did manage to get out here this morning long enough for my first cup of coffee and to watch those run-a-round squirrels. They were hard at it this morning. Three of them chased one another all over this backyard while the fourth squirrel simply sat up on the feeder and looked at them like they were on crack cocaine or something.

This morning we went out to the nursing home and Kate sat and visited with her sister and her aunt. Her aunt looked a lot better today and she said she felt better. She was more conversive this morning. By this afternoon though, fatigue had set in and she really looked tired. But Kate and Karen both had quality conversations with her today. God is good. While Kate was with her aunt, I went upsstairs in the same facility to see my mother. She had said she wanted to go to Walmart and get some stuff so I took her to do her shopping. Then I took her to Wendy's for her chicken nuggets that she likes.

The sun is dipping low in the sky on what has been a beautiful day. The sun has shone brightly in a relatively cloud free day. We haven't had a lot of of those kind of days this month so it was certainly welcome. I thought for a bit that I might actually have to put on my sunglasses.

Tomorrow will be an early morning too. I have a funeral to do in the morning for the father of a parishioner. I never met the man but he sounds like a person I would have liked. My prayers are with his family as they process his sudden death and work their way through their grief.

I also offer prayers of gratitude for the successful surgery that was performed on the mother of another parishioner. It was a serious surgery and she came through it fine. Again, I say, God is so good.

My sister and her husband are coming in tomorrow to celebrate Christmas holidays with us for a few days. He is the one whose PSA numbers have dropped so dramatically and I expect there may in fact be a celebratory libation passed around this place in the next few days. What a great Christmas gift God has given the family with this news.

I hope you have a wonderful, faith-filled werkend. Take time to stop and honor the reason for this Christmas season. Count your blessings and then share them with someone else.