Friday, February 13, 2009

Blogging and blogging

Like everyone I know, I have a Busy Life. My husband wonders why on earth I added 'blogging' to this List of Things I Am Committed To . . . and I really had no answer other than I find it enjoyable.
Thus: I blog.

I have a Dear Friend who started blogging about a very serious matter (unlike my aimless musings). This friend has always been an Encourager and a Helper (within her family, with her friends, in her church and her community).

Now, she is documenting her husband's Journey with Alzheimer's as she walks beside him. Alzheimer's is similar to cancer only in that it is indiscriminate; it affects (attacks) people in all walks of life, all levels of education, all genders, etc. It is a very Sneaky Disease.

I read somewhere (can't talk much about memory, I guess!) that people with Alzheimer's stand on ground that is constantly shifting beneath their feet.

Those who love and care for a spouse, relative, patient, or friend who has been stricken with this disease also face the unexpected on a daily basis. The caregiver too is living with Alzheimer's. My friend (with her Servant/Helper psyche) is bravely documenting this Journey with her beloved husband in the hope of helping others who face this dreadful disease: either personally or as they watch a loved one disappear. I so admire her. I pray for her. I pray for her husband. I pray for a cure.

Some Statistics

- Approximately 5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Unless a cure or prevention is found, that number will increase to 14 million by 2050.
- An estimated 280,000 Texas have Alzheimer’s disease.
- One in eight persons over 65 and nearly half of those over 85 have AD. A small percentage of people as young as their 30s and 40s get the disease.
- Direct and indirect costs of AD and other dementia’s amount to more than $148 billion annually.
- Almost 10 million Americans are caring for a person with Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia; approximately one out of three of these caregivers is 60 years or older.
- In 2005, it was estimated that unpaid caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias provided 8.5 billion hours of care valued at almost $83 billion dollars.
- More than half the states in the United States provide more than a billion dollars in unpaid care each year – Texas $5.8 billion.

________________

Even an ordinary task, when done in love, is divine service.

http://movingforwardwithalzheimers.blogspot.com/
http://www.actionalz.blogspot.com/

http://www.dasninternational.org/

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Seguin Sky - Thursday Evening




"A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him
than a lunatic can put out the sun
by scribbling the word "darkness"
on the walls of his cell."
— C. S. Lewis



All Lined Up









Fallen Petals - dying and living


Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Moon reluctant to retreat - sunset in its glory



who knows if the moon's... (VII)
by E. E. Cummings

who knows if the moon's
a balloon,
coming out of a keen city
in the sky--filled with pretty people?

(and if you and i should
get into it,
if they
should take me and take you into their balloon,why then
we'd go up higher with all the pretty people
than houses and steeples and clouds:

go sailing
away and away sailing into a keen
city which nobody's ever visited, where
always
it's Spring)

and everyone's
in love and flowers pick themselves

____________________________

Hillcrest Assembly of God

Hillcrest Assembly of God Church ALWAYS has something going on; this is a church that truly ministers to the community.

Last weekend there were hundreds of cars parked in the parking lot and on the side of the road - for their annual Rummage Sale. It is BIG one. In the Autumn before school begins, the church gives away hundreds of student backpacks.
Our Methodist Sharers Sunday School Class had the pleasure of enjoying this church's Music Director's piano playing at our Christmas party.

I'm not certain how many churches are in Seguin, but we have some very active churches who give so much to the community. How fortunate we Seguinites are!





http://www.hillcrestag.org/