Summer 2012 has been one for the record books. Abigail got out of school the first of June and before that first week was over, I heard a phrase I would grow tired of hearing that being; This Is The Boringest Summer Ever. Nevertheless we have survived and school starts this week. I hope Abigail learns a lot and we all survive these teen age years.

In a rear view of the summer is has been pretty good.

Right when school was out Meleeda, my sister had her knee replaced, that timing was so she did not have to miss school while recovering. God has truly answered prayer as she has healed up and walking up to 2 miles per day and was ready for today as her classes started today, so she hit the road early this morning in her bus and then to her classroom of brand new computers. I hope she has a great year.

We adventured out this year at a time we normally don’t, we went camping during the week of July 4 at Lake Hartwell and it sure was hot but we survived. The lake was low, near 10 feet the whole time but we still went out boat riding and tubing. It was much to hot for fishing. Claire and Meleeda fixed on of Claire’s recipes, Crock Pot Barbeque and the only thing wrong with them was there was still some left and I could not eat any more. We played cards and other things to help amuse the kids during the hottest part of the day.

Claire has survived this summer pretty, as the heat is rough on her in and out of the car at patient’s houses and she has kept a full load all summer long.

Justin has football under way with their first game a win against TL Hanna and a win for North Augusta. His students return this week and he will be starting try outs for the middle school football team. He has been warning Holly, his girlfriend that his time just got limited and as sweet as she is she will understand.

Well I went to a new doctor the other day because I have been whining about my shoulders hurting since back in my 30’s. I even went to one doctor before I got sick and he told me using a shovel was very bad on my shoulder and that I needed to find a new career, so I found a new doctor. Later I was chasing a suspect and fell, probably was not gonna catch him anyway, but messed up my wrist. I went to a new orthopedic doctor and after my wrist healed he told me I needed surgery on both shoulders. My left one was hurting real bad he worked on it, cut the end of a bone off to give more room. I never had the right one worked on because my liver wanted attention, so I figured it was a little more important. Nevertheless my shoulders did not fix themselves so I went to see Dr. Alan Posta and I figured I was 30 years ahead of Daddy, see he was in his 70’s when they replaced his shoulder. Dr. Posta looked at the X-rays and said their was no need to go any further even an MRI would not show him more that what he could see with the X-ray. He said that both of my shoulders were worn out and I had to have a total shoulder replacement on both of them. Of course you know how special I am, I have to have permission from everybody before surgery can be scheduled. I’m hoping that it will be the middle to end of September, God has a plan and he has even entered it into his schedule. The only thing for me to do now is Don’t Worry Be Happy and that’s what I am doing.

This will slow down my pet therapy visits for a while but Chief will be still working as I will need therapy.

I hope you day is filled with all of the blessings God has planned for you, so look to him so you don’t miss any of them.

God Bless You,

Pel

Well I have had a wonderful day as I celebrated my 5 year anniversary, yelp 5 years ago we were in Charleston and I got my 2nd chance at life, thanks to my new family, the family of Shawn Bissell because they allowed Shawn to be a donor. I thank and praise God everyday for what God has done with the Gift of Life Shawn and his family gave me. I just got off the phone with Rita Batten, my sister. I wanted to call and let the family know I was think of them on a day filled with mixed emotions. Rita said all of the family is well but they of course still miss Shawn. God Bless each one of you.

God Bless Yall,

Pel

Good Evening & Merry Christmas,

Well this year is coming to a close much faster than I thought it should. When I got back from shrimping, I had to get serious about getting ready for camping. Yeah, camping at Calhoun Falls what an awesome Thanksgiving. We started this last year and think this is going to be a family tradition. I was told about it and the description was correct, the whole campground smells like grandma’s kitchen. We will fix a traditional Thanksgiving meal in a very nontraditional fashion. I cook the turkey in an oil less turkey fryer and smoked the hams.

Thanksgiving Turkey 2011

Claire and Meleeda will fire up the crock pots to cook dressing, macaroni and cheese, green beans, taters, bread and gravy. They also mixed stuff and baked stuff for all kind of deserts.

The Dinner Spread

I will have to say after all of that all you need is a chair, fire and some good ole belly rubbing and a nap.

The Nap

Of course the night also started of how bad the Clemson Tigers were gonna whoop up on those Carolina Gamecocks. We launched my pontoon earlier in the day and I had some real issues just trying to find the campsite, from the water the campsites don’t look the same. I also found out that the lake will get shallow on you real quick and will even stop a moving pontoon, quickly, twice. Friday we just relaxed, went boat riding when Daddy and Deda arrived and of course ate a little more. Saturday came and Meleeda and Anthony packed up and headed out because Anthony did not want to be away from home and cry when those Gamecocks got whooped. I even made friend with folks across the way and up from us who were all confused because they kept talking about the chickens. I told them I had plenty of Kleenexes to wipe their tears when those Tigers roared. Saturday evening came and we had our TV going outside and inside so everybody could hear those Tigers. Claire had fixed some good ole dip and other wholesome foods to keep us through the game. Well as you know if you fix crow right it ain’t that bad and we had all day Sunday to get that pie down. Well we were going to pack up and ease home Sunday afternoon. I then discovered that I left the hitch for Claire’s truck so she could pull the boat home, I tried to use mine on her truck but it had too much drop, so off to Possum Kingdom I came with the boat and then back to the campground to get the camper. We had an awesome time and got back home safe and sound.

December has brought great adventures with it, Abigail and I drove to Lumberton NC on December 3 so I could speak at Rita and Jerry Batten’s Church. Rita is Shawn Bissell, my donor, sister. We arrived in time to go out to eat with Jerry, Rita and Seth, Shawn’s nephew. We went to a shoot til you win kind of supper and I finally won, boy was I full. Abigail and I stayed at the Country Inn and Suites and really enjoyed our evening and breakfast there. We headed to the church and I felt I should get a bottle of water because I get such a dry mouth while talking. I pulled in a gas station and when we returned to the truck it would crank and then cut off. I let it roll out of the way and called for someone to pick us up, Abigail then said Daddy there is the church, it was two building down from us, so we walked to the church. God was at church when we arrived and he moved. I got to meet and make many new friends, I met David which was Shawn’s best friend who drove about 3 hours to come meet me and her my testimony. I also get the best church mechanics in the church to come over and give their diagnoses on my truck, it was not good. They came up with a collective diagnoses, it was the fuel pump. Seth made some phone calls and found a mechanic with a shop that would come in and work on my truck on Sunday. Seth rounded up the fuel pump. We had an extended dinner with Jerry and Rita and the Hunts, I got to hear the story first hand from James Hunt as he told me about being shot, whoshotprincipalhunt.blogspot.com/. We talked for a long time I think the restaurant wanted to charge rent for the table. God bless us as Christians because we got to share God’s love and sing his praises at the table that day. It was then we went to Jerry and Rita’s to rest while the repairs on our truck were under way. Jerry had to go to check on his mother’s so Rita, Abigail and I just talked and got to learn more about each other. The repairs were completed around 6 PM and we were soon on our way to Possum Kingdom and we arrived home around 11 PM.

On the way home Daddy call and told me that Dot Madden, my aunt and Daddy’s sister had been attacked by a dog and was in the hospital. She had nearly 5 hours of surgery and was placed in intensive care. She then had to be put on a ventilator to assist in her breathing and later in the week she was released from the hospital. She has a long way to go so please keep her in your prayers.

On December 11 I got to speak at Cedar Shoals Baptist Church for the evening service for our Donor Sabbath and we also had a great time. On December 13 I woke up sick, hurting all over, the doctor started me on a Z pack and by Friday I had to go for a chest x-ray. Waiting on the doctor’s official report but it seems I had a touch of pneumonia again in that left lung. We had our Christmas musical on the evening of December 18 and everyone done an outstanding job. If you have kept up with us in the past you know Claire hate to shop so Abigail & I do the Christmas shopping when she get’s out for Christmas break. I had to get better because Christmas had not been bought. God has blessed us and out we went this morning and we have all week to finish, we look forward to our Christmas shopping trip every year.

We here in Possum Kingdom hope you have a great and very Merry Christmas, Good Night.

God Bless You,
Pel

If you meet me and forget me you lose nothing…………
If you meet my God and forget Him you lose everything…….

Well as I sit here anticipating the moment that I fall asleep or get up and go to bed. The month is rapidly passing by and the leaves are rapidly falling but I sure do have a lot to be thankful of. Jesus died on the cross just for me and then my name was written down in the Lambs Book Of Life, is yours? I am so thankful for my salvation, my family, my church, my friends, my health and of course the list goes on.

Well let me catch you up since the last time. Chief and I went on a visit at Carolina Behavioral Health last Monday and it sure was a great time, we meet some new friends and look forward to the next visit. Anthony, my brother-in-law felt like he needed some attention so last week he decided that he would have an emergency surgery to remove his appendix. God blessed him and he is doing well, still a little slow but OK. I got a call last week from Bum and he said you want to go shrimping, and of course I said yelp, so we loaded up and off to Edisto. We arrived at John and Carol’s and they welcomed us with open arms. We spent the night and got up the next morning to the smell of a good ole breakfast, now that is the way to start a day. We loaded up all the items, meet our new friend Barney and after about a 3 minute drive we put the boat in the water. We rode for about 30 minutes on the water and arrived at our trawling destination and after a great day on the water we returned back to clean up and brag about the catch of the day, which was 30 quarts of beheaded shrimp. So far Claire and I have grilled and fixed scampi out of one quart.

Left to Right - Barney, John & Carol

Bum

We are making big plans for Thanksgiving, I hope you have the opportunity  to enjoy Thanksgiving and be able to praise God and be Thankful for all he has given you.

Abigail had her awards day yesterday at Woodmont High School and she sure did make her Daddy proud.

I hope you have a great week, God Bless You and Good Night,

Pel