Okay, so I am a couple of days behind in this, better late than never, right???

If you all could, please keep me in prayer. In addition to the bum leg, I am also now very sick with a bad cold!!!

Oh yeah, this year is off to a real good start

For some reason today, while I was trying to sleep through the worst of the cold, I dreamed that I had died and that I had written what I had wanted to be read at my funeral. It was a rather good sermon if I do say so myself!!! 

I've given thought to actually planning out stuff like that before, but never actually do it because I guess it would feel as if I was planning on dying soon, and though I have Heaven to look forward to, I'm not quite ready to end life here just yet. It's my prayer that God will still be able to find use for my life, and that it will not have been lived in vain.

If any of you still come around here, it sure would be nice to hear from you again...it's kinda lonely up here in the Corner of Nowhere!!!

Love Always,
-Richard.

I had asked this question on Facebook the other day, but didn't get to elaborate.

This past Monday before Christmas Eve marked one year since my friend Christina passed away. I had tried to call her parents, but I am guessing that they were in Kentucky.

It's hard to believe that she has been gone this long. Every so often I will think about something that we did, or see or hear about something that I know she would have liked, and I'll have to stop and remember that she isn't here.

December seems to be the month for tragedy.

December 24th, 1983, my uncle Ed dies when his Oldsmobile collides with a train in Bowling Green, OH.

December 1994, my uncle Larry dies just after Christmas from a blood clot.

December 1995, my great Grandma Vanover dies after a lengthy illness.

December 1997, my Grandma Bennett has a stroke. By the time we got to Tennessee she was on life support but not responding. I was the last one standing at her bed side when she took her last breath.

December 2002, my Aunt Kristie dies at 45 of cancer in TN.

December, such a joyous time of year, yet such a sad time too.

Nevertheless, Praise be to the Lord, because He is still on the throne!!!

-Richard.

Hi Everyone, and Merry Christmas!!!

Please forgive me for being a little late to the party on this one, but I have a good excuse.

I left Saturday the 22nd to head to my grandparents house in Ypsilanti, where my parents were already waiting my arrival. We had the family all together on Sunday and had a wonderful meal, and I took the annual family picture.

We were down by a few people this year, but it was still a good turnout.  That night I got to go to Victorious Life and participate in their Candlelight Service. Afterwards, they put on a live Nativity outside. It was really nice, but it was freezing and windy out!!!

Christmas Eve...I had a big day planned. I spent all morning getting my gifts wrapped up and ready to go before I was to leave to do all my visiting. Around 2:00 or so I was finally ready to leave. I was going to go to Dearborn to see Brendan the godson first. I put my new camera in the pocket of my faithful brown hoodie, picked up my computer bag along with the small bad that had some gifts in it and then.......

A bit of tragedy struck.

As I went to walk away, my right leg decided to come apart at the knee, which caused me to fall into a bookshelf, then land on a footstool which bounced me onto the floor. The bags went the other way. When I landed, I managed to reach down while screaming bloody murder and feel my leg, and found that my lower leg bone was about three or four inches out from where it needed to be, and my knee cap was sticking out. Somehow I managed to shove my leg bone back into place and slap the knee cap back down. About the time this all happened, my 70-something grandma was coming inside, and heard me screaming. I was down in the basement when this happened. Grandma has a bad hip and requires the use of an automated chair lift that is attached to the stairs to get up and down. As soon as I heard her yell down to me, I don't think more than five seconds passed till she was there at my side. The chair was never touched. Neither one of us know how she got down there so fast!!!

Believe it or not, I somehow managed to later drag myself up and into the Oldsmobile, and made it to Dearborn. I had to have Doug and Tracy help me out of the car, but I did it. The only way I could drive that night was to position my foot on the gas pedal and use the power seat adjuster to push me into the pedal to go faster and then back to slow down and use my left foot to brake.  By the time I got back to Ypsi, I had to be practically lifted out of the car.

We all went home the next afternoon. My uncle Brian drove me half way, and then my mom took over for the rest.

I haven't been outside since. I can't work, and having to be waited on constantly is driving me crazy!!!  I went to the doctor, and he said their is nothing broken, but I might have some torn ligaments. I won't know more till sometime next week I guess.  I still can't put any weight on that leg, or straighten it out, because I can feel the knee cap trying to give each time, not fun

So if you all could remember me in prayer, I'd greatly appreciate it!!!

In closing, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. All things considered, mine wasn't too bad. It's definitely one I won't be forgetting any time soon....

Love Always,
-Richard.

I fear that in many ways, my struggle has been the one thing that has kept me away from here. Yeah, it's been a rough few months.

Thankfully, the "Xanga Subscription Digest" keeps me up to date everyday on what's going on with each of you.

I sure miss the interaction we all once shared, I pray that this year coming we can get back to that sweet fellowship.

Since I was last here I have been asked to be in our churches' musical, "The Gospel According To Scrooge". I am playing the part of the butcher. This is like, a major undertaking by our church, and is the biggest event of the season around our town. Check out http://etawasag.org and you can have a look at what's going on with it.

Winter has come early and with a vengeance this year. Oh, how I hate the cold and snow!!!!!!

My friend Doug called the other day and was telling me about how his company is looking to hiring some new people. He works in a title office, and what they do there is deal with paperwork for real estate transfers. Personally, I think it would be a good job for me. I am working on getting my resume ready to send to them. I would make almost double what I get now!  Of course this would mean that I would have to move. the job is located in Bloomfield, MI, which is north of Detroit. I guess I would have to stay with my grandparents in Ypsi for a while until I could find a place closer. If you all could, please keep me in prayer about this, it's a big decision.

Well that's about all that's going on in my life at the moment. Oh, I did get to message Chad Thompson tonight on myspace, it was nice getting to hear from him again.

With much love always my friends...
-Richard.

I just wanted to tell you all that I love you, and that I am thankful for each and every one of you. I have so much on my heart that I need to share, hopefully I can get it out and written here soon.

Your Friend,
-Richard.

Tawas City, Michigan

                                       Hazlehurst, Georgia

Allentown, Pennsylvania

What do these three parts of the U.S. have in common???

These are all places where friends and family of mine are having babies!!!

Kevin's wife's twin sister gave birth to a little girl a week ago Sunday, and Kari (Kevin's wife) is due within the next few weeks. My longtime best friend Ricky and his wife just had their first child, another girl, in Georgia. And this past weekend my cousin Laura (You'll remember her from my vacation pics) gave birth to, you guessed it, a girl!!!

It's always so nice to see and hear of another precious little one coming into the world, but it sure turns up the pressure for me!!!  I've heard it said more times then I care to recall this past week..."So, when are you going to get married and have kids???"

It's no secret that I long to be a father someday, but let's face it, I am just not ready yet. Until God is able to get things straightened out in my life, it's not going to happen.

Personally, I'm just looking forward to leading a normal, relatively calm life someday!!!

Tonight as I write this, I am sitting at church in the Prayer Call Center, waiting for people to call in needing prayer. I'm not sure that I am a worthy candidate for this now, but I want to do something for God, and if this will be pleasing to Him, then it's a good thing.

I love you all so very much, as always.

Your Friend,
-Richard.

I decided to turn off the music on here, because I think that's what has been causing the page to take forever to load for some of us. Let me know if it helped. Thanks!

You know, throughout a given day I find myself thinking about different things that I want to share with all of you, but it seems as if when I actually get to the computer, my mind goes blank. I'm really not tired of Xangaland, I just seem to be going through a period of writer's block!!! 

I still love you all, very much.

Your Friend,
-Richard.

So is it the time of year or what??? What is causing so many of us to seem to be losing it emotionally???  I think I have mentioned it before that fall is the time when I feel especially emotionally vulnerable.  Jeff, I just read what you shared about how you feel that your one friend seems to be pulling away, and I totally know how you feel. But don't despair, better times will come again. For what it's worth, I appreciate you, and all you do in trying to offer encouragement.

Tyson wrote to me the other day, and I have to say that what he shared just totally moved me. He gave me a lot to think about in regards to me struggles. Thanks Tyson!!!

Benny, I don't know what's going on, but please know that I, and no doubt several others here, are here for you if you ever want to talk about it. I love ya buddy!!!

I'm not going to make this another list of shout outs, but I will say that as always, I love each of you, and I miss interacting with each of you.

Yeah, times are rough for us right now, but God is good, and we still have one another.

Your Friend,
-Richard.

I'm sorry for all I have shared the past few day here. I guess that this is one of the things that can happen when you find yourself feeling kind of all alone. I miss having friends to spend time with, but everyone up here is all caught up in life, what with being married and having babies. I get to talk to James a couple of times a week, which is always nice. He's been such a great friend to me all these years. But I miss talking to many of you. I miss our back and forth on here. I miss the good times. I miss the love. I pray that we can get some of that back again.

I love you all.

-Richard.