Goodbye 2007, Hello 2008, Prayers, and Other Stuff

Friends:

Good evening, all! Well, our family has at last returned home from our visit to New Mexico. We enjoyed seeing our family very much. Our kids had a great time playing with their cousins. We're also glad to be home.

I want to thank Steve May again for teaching class this Sunday. I also want to thank Shawn and Shelley Buhner for bringing our snacks. Next week, Brian and Jill VanZee are signed up to bring our goodies. Thanks to all of you for your terrific service to our class!

We have several important prayers this week. Here are two messages of note, the first from Franci R. and the second from Steve M:

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FROM FRANCI ROGERS:

Thanks for all your prayers for Eddie! They're working! We had to leave Minnesota without seeing the little guy because we're all sniffling and sneezing (I guess that's what 4 below will do to wimpy Texans like us) and we didn't want to risk sharing our germs with him or his family. But the surgery went well. Here's what Chris had to say:

The surgery is finished and Eddie is back in his room!

Everything went just as the doctors had hoped--he was able to have the Hybrid Norwood (which means he didn't have to be put on the lung/heart bypass) a much less stressful surgery for his tiny body.

He is settled into his room, "sleeping" and being monitored--he is incubated at the moment, but that will be removed within the next couple of days.

As before, everything is in God's hands--and we pray that he will continue to help Eddie be strong and heal just the way he's supposed to.

The journey is just beginning, but I feel like we got over this first big step in fine form!

Thank you, thank you thank you for your prayers--since Eddie won't be allowed visitors until the doctors say it's safe--your prayers are the best form of support you can give us.

I'm off to gaze at the boy and maybe catch a few winks.

Thank you again.

Franci
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FROM STEVE MAY

I had two friends of mine pass away over the last couple of weeks:

Jeff Roe - 34 years old, married with a 2 year old daughter. Passed away unexpectedly in Austin on Dec. 17.

Dave Beckman - 62 years old, married with 2 grown children. Lived in New Jersey. Some blood thinners he was taking caused some bleeding in his brain and he went into a coma. He was removed from life support today and passed away soon after.

Please keep these families in your prayers.

Thanks,

Steve

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Thank you for continuing your prayers for little Eddie and his family. Thanks, also, for praying for the families that Steve mentions above. Let's also continue to pray for all of the families who are traveling home this week.

READING FOR SUNDAY

As I suspect most of you know, our church has been kind enough to hand out a book entitled Treasures of the Transformed Life to all of us. I think it makes sense for us to set aside our Perfect Leader book and, instead, discuss the Treasures book along with the rest of the Church. For next week, we will plan to discuss the first three chapters of Treasures. The chapters are short, so we're talking about pages 7-24. I think that all of us will enjoy reading this book with the rest of our church.

I think that's all for now. Dana and I are excited about getting back in our normal routine now that Christmas and New Year's have come and gone. We'll look forward to seeing all of you on Sunday morning!

Wes and Dana