I'm not really a huge fan of horse racing, but I was a Barbaro fan who checked into two Web sites daily to see how he was doing. I prayed for him and cheered for him ~ and now I grieve for him. He was a true champion, and his courage and spirit are inspirations to those of us with only two legs. You can run free now again, Barbaro.

Yep ~ state of the union until 20 Jan 2009 at 11:00 a.m. Central ~ but who's counting??? :)

Short and sweet this week: Just a prayer request for my former student, Tammy, who has had a recurrence of the cancer we all thought she had beat a few years ago. Her battle will be more difficult this time. Doctors tell her the new cancer is treatable, but not curable. However, Tammy is a positive thinker, so we are praying for the best! Please join us?

We had a miracle here in the Midwest, and I want to share it with you.

A week ago Monday, a 13-year-old boy named Ben Ownby was abducted by a man in a rusty white Nissan truck. When, after four days, there were no further signs of Ben, the situation assumed the same bleakness that darkens too many stories like this one.

However, Friday afternoon, after some stellar police work and tips from the public, Ben was found in an apartment ~ and, amazingly, he was found with Shawn Hornbeck, who had been abducted in 2002 when he was 11! Since 2002 his parents had begun the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation to help find other missing kids, and they themselves never gave up hope that they would find Shawn alive some day.

As you might expect, there are two *very* joyful families in St. Louis this weekend ~ and lots of thankful, happy people like me who have been watching TV reports and reading the stories in the St. Louis paper. Following the second of two family press conferences this morning, the KSDK weatherman was caught wiping his eyes with a tissue. His anchor lady covered for his emotion by pointing out that there were a lot of happy tears in the Midwest this weekend ~ despite the mother of all ice storms plaguing the area through Monday.

Thanks be to God! :)

Happy New Year ~ only a few days late. I haven't been too good about fulfilling my blogly duties lately, have I? Christmas vacation was a whirlwind, going by much too quickly. Please forgive me for not writing *here* because I was busy writing on the new novel and *finally* finished Chapter 1 ~ just in time to return to school and not much writing time again.

I was also studying a CPR manual since all teachers at my school had to take the Red Cross CPR training and test on our first day back. I am proud to tell you that I am now certified to administer CPR to adults and children ~ though, of course, I pray that I *never* have use this particular knowledge. Still, it's good to know.

You will notice the snow scene I am using to illustrate this post ~ mostly I *hate* winter weather, but I thought the picture was pretty. However, I indeed feel fortunate that we have been having a mild winter here in South Central Illinois ~ fortunate for a winter hater like me and for the strays that my neighbor and I feed. By the way, if any of you happen to have cat food coupons to share, they are welcome here! Back to the mild winter: have you heard that the cherry blossoms in DC have been fooled into blooming? I hope my lilacs aren't likewise fooled because we all know that Mother Nature would be biting their early heads off with a hard freeze that is bound to happen sometime in the next couple of months, right? And I do look forward to my lilacs.

Sad to say that another one of my Christmas-break goals was not achieved: my foot and ankle didn't improve too much. Any progress I had made was wiped out in a single misstep into my shed. :( It's always something, isn't it? Maybe I should just get used to walking like Igor?

Anyway ~ happy 2007 to y'all. I will *try* to be more faithful to my posting ~ but you'll notice that I'm not making any promises! :)