Early February 2011

This hangs in my daughter's house and it truly says it all. That is exactly what a good friend is and God's has graciously blessed me with good friends. Through my knee replacement surgery God has taught me a lot. He's given me much greater compassion for those in constant pain, a real appreciation for the many friends who have been there for me, an acceptance that there are things you must wait for --- the patience part God is still working on. I have found out that my recovery has been hard and long because I was given a very tight knee which is good if you are active and also they tend to last longer so I'm told. However, getting all those tendons all stretched out again has been an entire winter project. I am still going to PT 3 times a week and I work on it at home. I definitely see progress now and I'm seldom in any pain but I really do feel like my life has revolved around my knee way too long and then I think of Keith and Marie Richards and what they have had to go through and that gets my attitude straightened out real quick. Let's just say God has shown me a lot I need to change about myself through all of this.
Above is my grandson, Keenan, he is elder brother to Troy below. This is a picture of a picture I took at their house. Have you ever seen such determination on a face? Keenan plays Division 1 soccer at Long Island University.

We have had more time to visit with friends and family and we love being at our home church and being able to take place in their activities. This past Tuesday we went to visit out grandson, Troy, who is recovering from surgery. He had a benign cyst taken off his shin bone. Not much fun. We took him out to lunch and got him out of the house for awhile. We really had a nice visit and Nicky got to visit with his buddy, Roscoe.

This is our Friday morning Bible study group. We have about an hour of good Bible study and then we follow that with homemade soup and bread. It's a lot of fun. Last week was my turn to cook so I made chili, cornbread, and chocolate cake.

We've also had time to hang in the local coffee shop. This is a picture of Lee and my brother, Graham.

We really have enjoyed watching the birds just out the kitchen window. Above is a ed headed woodpecker and a female cardinal.

I've never seen so many cardinals but then again I'm not usually here to notice.

See this cute little tree? She said, " I don't know about the rest of you but I'm not giving up my leaves it is just too cold". We've thanked her many times for the little bit of color she left in the woods.

Nicky thought the snow was great at the beginning but he is really sick of it now especially with the ice on top of the snow. He looks at me as if to say,"there's not a decent place for a dog to take care of business out here.

Nicky has his sheep's coat on now and stays plenty warm.

This is why we don't do usually do winter!!!
It is beautiful to look at but I don't like living in it for months on end. This was an ice storm which hit about a week ago.

I will say one thing for this winter -- it has been sunny when it is not snowing. It has been very pleasant on the sun porch when the sun is out brightly it heats the entire room up and you feel toasty warm.

When the sun hit the ice on the trees it was a sparkling wonderland.
This is Lee cleaning the driveways after one of the storms. I wanted Jim Tull to see the new headlights Lee put on and the new enclosure he added. He also added hydraulics on the plow. He's a handy guy to have around isn't he?

Oops here come another one!!!! Get ready Lee

My girlfriend, Renee, decided to get some new living room furniture. I bought her existing furniture which just fits perfectly in our living room. The chair on the left and the sofa on the right. Both ends of the sofa are recliners. God is good!!

Above is a picture of me with my 2 physical therapists. Justin on the left and Tom on the right they have been the greatest to work with.


This is a picture of my grandson, Troy, that was in the newspaper.

This is our daughter, Suzanne, trying to get Dad in his snuggie.

One of the many feeds over the holidays.

The holidays were really nice this year. We got to spend a day with each of our children and their families. It was fun to have time with each individual family.

We didn't get to spend Christmas with our California family but we did have a week with them in July and 2 weeks with our grandsons over Thanksgiving.

Our son, David, and his family joined us on New Year's day. Of course, we had the traditional pork and sauerkraut dinner.

My two nieces, Brooke and Ashley, and the the love of their lives.

Three of the grandchildren finding something good to eat.

My sister, Jill and her husband, Barry, they have been married a year now and it's so good to see my sister soooooo happy.

Our neighbors (Donna and Davis) stopped by Christmas morning and got to see Nicky opening some of his presents.

My boy does enjoy his Christmas!!!

With a face like that who could ever say no?

Jane, this is for you. I want you to look very closely at these dishes. Remember the 15 cent dishes?

On January 1 my nephew, Steve, his wife, Kelly, and their son, Simon, always do the polar bear dip. Yes, that is ice you see on the pond just beyond them.

Now you can see the ice on the pond. Fortunately, it was warmer outside that day than it had been in 2 weeks.

So as of now, this is the view from my sun room. It's still very pretty but not my first pick of scenery. Of course, this pales in comparison to Jane's sun room with the giant icicles hanging down.

All in all it has been a nice holiday season. Good times with the family, good fellowship with friends and continued progress in Physical Therapy for my new knee. It is now 9 weeks since my surgery and I am still in PT 3 times a week. I am finally mostly out of pain and thanks to some pills from the Doctor I am getting some sleep at night. What a difference that makes!!!We are also so thankful this holiday season for Keith Richards successful surgery and continue in prayer for a speedy recovery for him.

We thank God for our many blessings and remember you all in our prayers.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

JUDY AND LEE

We miss all our Florida friends but look forward to seeing you all this December with lots of stories about our trip to England.

It was a gorgeous fall here. The colors were brilliant and the weather was beautiful. Lee was busy all fall removing trees on the property that had been hit with a disease called Nettle Cast or they were just in bad shape. In all he took down over 33 trees. He had the limbs to burn the stumps to grind and cut the trunks to length to be sold for pulp wood. Lee finished this project just before my Total Knee Replacement surgery.
This is a picture of the lane into our property after Lee cut all the trees down. It used to be pin tree lined.

Io July 23 I injured my left knee. The surgeon said he would do a scope and see if he could buy me some time. The scope was done Sept. 24 and after taking a look inside he told Lee," she needs a new knee". So the surgery was scheduled for Nov. 4th. I was in the hospital for three days and then 5 days after surgery I started out patient PT.
No one ever told me there was so much pain involved nor did I realize how long it would take to get full movement back. It's definitely been a physical challenge.

This is Nicky, my 67 pounds of pure therapy. He had stuck me me through it all. I am on the CPM machine. Originally 3 hours a day was spent on this for the first 3 weeks along with PT an hour and 45min. 3 times a week.

It's pretty ugly lookin isn't it?

The children and grand children have given lots of support.

This is a picture of me and my surgeon taken at my 2 week checkup. He told me before surgery that I would hate him for about 2 months.

This is the surgeon's nurse giving me instructions for the next month.

This is now my left knee. I call this prosthetic part Stella and I keep telling her she better get her groove back soon.

Two weeks after surgery, our grandson, Troy (Hempfield HS) played at Hershey statium for the state championship and they won. I was unable to go but Lee and our two grandsons, Like and Mike went.

From Nov. 19- after Thanksgiving our two grandsons Luke and Mike were visiting with us while their parents went on a trip.

Troy Barr our state champ.

While Mike and Luke were here they heoped Papa put in the new trees on the lane. Luke got to drive thw3 tractor and Mike got to run the skider. The boys worked very hard all day long.

On the left is Troy. This picture was in the paper.

Papa and the boys headed out to work.

They loves playing Mexican train with us at night.

Here they are getting the new trees in. Lee's planting an ornamental cherry and an ornamental Pear alternating. In the spring we will have pink and white blossoms down the lane. In the falls the leaves will be red and gold.

Mike got to be very good at this.

Thanksgiving was upon us in no time and my girls helped with the cooking and did all the clean up.

The Saturday following Thanksgiving we had the enitre family back again for Breakfast.

The boys had a great time playing together.

We sat around and watched Harry Potter movies in the evening.

Here's a picture of Erica and daughter Izzy.

The kids having breakfast in the sunroom.

Two of our grandaughter's Isabella and Hollyn.

Nicky would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.

Keenan above is our first grandchild in college. He's the one that plays division 1 soccer at Long Island University in New York.