Memorial Date

Susan's memorial will be Saturday, May 17th at 1:00PM. The location is Lakeside Assembly of God, 6810 NW 122nd St, Oklahoma City. The church is east of Rockwell.

No flowers, please. Anyone wishing to might consider making a contribution to the American Cancer Society in Susan's name.

The memorial will be followed by a reception/party to be held in the church's fellowship hall. The party was a part of Susan's plan. She wanted her friends to be happy for her and celebrate her big move "upstairs!"

In Memory of My Darling Susan

Susan Barrington

June 5, 1952 - April 17, 2008

To All of Susan's Many Friends:

I wish I didn't have to write this. Regretfully, I must inform you Susan passed away Thursday morning, April 17th, at about 7:10AM. She was originally diagnosed April 15th, 2005 and fought valiently the entire three years, keeping her resolve and sense of humor to the end.

I will be planning a memorial service and "going home party." Susan, always thinking of others, truly wants people to know she's with her Lord and is now well and happy. To that end, she asked after the memorial service is complete, her friends enjoy a little food and some music! As the Book says, "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning."

The memorial and party will most likely occur during the middle of May. We want to give any family who plan to attend ample time to make travel reservations without breaking the bank. Please check here. I'll post when the events are planned.

Thank you for all your prayers.

Jim Gorges for Susan

Short But Sweet

The good news - My follow up MRI today shows I'm stable, meaning the cancer is still gone.

The bad news - I still have some sbrain welling and inflamation so on the day (today) I was supposed to be able to cut my steroid amount by half, I ended up having to double it.

The good news - Jim's sister Eileen is here for a visit and we are having a great time. Tomorrow or Saturday we are heading to Norman to check out yarn stores.

The bad news - The MRI triggered a mini seizure in my left hand so no knitting for the next few days.

Yhe good news - Eileen will be coming to KC with me this week - yeah!

My Sister

My sister has been visiting this week and we've been having a great time shopping, talking, eating and knitting. She's been going thru some horrendous personal experiences brought on by a singularly evil now ex-husband.

She has a new nickname -Jet; a new GORGEOUS tattoo, and, God willing, soon a new home here in OKC. We drove thru some nice neighborhoods this week to give her an idea of what's available.

Her tattoo (done at Tornado Tattoos by Rich) is based on Isa 40:31: 'Those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings of eagles. They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.'

The picture does not do it justice! Rich took two real eagle pictures and drew a composite - 5 hours on the table - but the detailing is exeptionally striking.

Now you know where I'll be getting my 3-d butterflies done.

God has given her a tremendous testimony out of this whole nasty business and the Dr. Phil Show has approached her to be on their program.

So no knitting content to speak of. She finished a DW and I finally started the second teddy bear.

More Trip Highlights

I'd like to introduce you to my niece Sarah. She's smart, talented, and just graduated from high school with a full year of college completed also! Do I sound a little biased. All my nieces and nephews are great! At 18, Sarah really struck me with her determination and enthusiasm, among other things.

Here she is with a group of friends she brought to the hotel to pray for me. She's on the far right.

She's also a scrapbooking queen! 'm doing a Bible study on watching how you talk and hated the cover of the study book. When Sarah heard that, she redid the cover in less than 15 minutes in the hotel lobby no less! Isn't this gorgeous!

The picture doesn't do it justice. She is my youngest brother's oldest and her mom made my cat blanket.

The final highlight of our trip was at Lake Tahoe where Jim got to go soaring.

This is his instructor.

And the obligatory picture of the lake across from our hotel.

We're Back!

We got home late Saturday night and I have been sleeping almost continually since! It was a very wearing but fun vacation. Here are the highlights:

First stop was Rancho Codordoba in CA to visit Brother Bruce and SIL Wanda - only 1 ½ days- not nearly long enough. They have the cutest house with lots of cats. You could look around and pick out a pair ears here or a little bit of twitching tail there – kind of like a “find it” game. Of course we left the camera at the hotel so no pics here.

Wanda works in management at a Hallmark super store, so even though I had promised Jim “no shopping”, it doesn’t count if your cool SIL brings you presents from Hallmark – LOL!

Second stop: Seattle where most of my sibs came to see us. Two brothers and their families, another sis drove my folks in and a niece I hadn’t seen in years came with her family.

Another cool SIL, Linda married to my youngest bro Bill, works at JoAnnes Fabric. She brought me a bunch of yarn and made me a fleece blanket – STILL NOT SHOPPING! LOL! Linda just learned how to knit so showed her how to purl. I was amazed how even her tension was for just starting.

Got to meet my middle bro Dennis’ wife Tammy, and as with all the families,
not nearly enough time to visit with everyone. Tammy’s 11 yr old had just
taught herself to knit (very impressive) so I showed her ho to purl and she was off and running.

We had about 14 family members altogether at that point. Nieces and nephews I had never seen or had seen so many years ago I wouldn’t have known them!

My niece Tina, her husband Bruce, almost one yr old Justin, and three yr old Natalie drove over from Spokane. It was so nice to see them! First time to meet Bruce and see the kids. Tina is my sister Jan's oldest.

Well ya'll lucked out, I was going to post more family pics but the few I have turned out too dark to see. Tomorrow or the next day, I'll post about the other highlight of our trip.

And I made six DW's and gave them to family members as fast as they came off the needles.

One More Post

Thought I'd do one last post before we leave tomorrow. Wanted to share my little bear. This is a pattern I cobbled together from several different patterns. I like it because the bear is almost cartoonish.

Bear front

Bear back. All my bears have tails. It's always a surprise to me that most knitted bear patterns don't include a tail! This one is a little hard to see - but it's there.

And the oblicitory DW

We'll be gone a couple of weeks, so I'm taking yarn for another bear and EIGHT DW's. I'm hoping that will hold me. We have a long layover both coming and going so you know what I'll be doing.

Have a great Labor day weekend!