Hello from Nashville, Tennessee!

Sorry it's been a long time since I last wrote (last wrote on July 4, 2011; YEESH!!), but life has a way of stealing precious time.  Between doctor/therapy appointments, hospitalizations/surgeries (on my stumps, hips, and waist), counseling sessions, and family life, I just haven't felt like writing or have simply been too lazy (or busy; take yer pick).  I hope you understand.

I am happy to say that I am doing a lot better physically, but I'll never be like I was prior to going into battle.  I can't grow new legs again; I have since accepted the fact that they are gone and I am living life as an amputee of the lower limbs.  I spend a lot of my waking hours in a wheelchair.  I will never walk again due to the extensive damage I suffered to my lower half.

Sometimes I get angry or have ongoing nightmares/flashbacks, but those are becoming fewer and far betwen, thanks to ongoing conseling.  I have been doing an awful lot of journaling (just not in my personal journal, that is, but my therapy journal) and am trying to put my story into a book.  Writing a book is a lot harder than it appears.  i also have to deal with memories again and relive the horror I faced.  Who knows WHEN my book will get finished (if it ever does) ....

Family life is going as well as can be expected: Mum and Pop are still around, and Charlie is .... well, Charlie.  LOL  She is 39 now, but will always have the mind of a little child.  I worry about what will happen to her if something were to happen to Mum and Dad, especially since I happen to be disabled myself.  She (Charlie) is still working at the sheltered workshop for adults with mental/physical disabilities; she workds from 9 to 5 Monday through Friday.  Mum and Pop are relatively healthy, but Mum has developed diabetes and must watch her diet and sugar intake.  And Dad, he has the beginning signs of Altzheimer's, which greatly worries me.  I know he will get worse down the road ...

I am trying to trust in God, but it's hard.  That's another thing .... I have been going to church every Sunday and Wednesday (I go to First Baptist Church here in Nashville); accepted Christ as my Lord and Saviour a year ago and it's made a world of difference in my attitude and outlook on life.

But I still have questions, like why bad things continue to happen to good people or why tragedies like the weather disasters on both coasts (fires in the west, flooding rains in the east, tornadoes in the southland, etc.) have to happen.  I personally think God is angry at America and is trying to send a wake up call, a warning note, for lack of a better term.  All we can do in times such as this is learn to trust IN Him and know that He is always with us and will never leave or forsake us, EVER.

I think that is one reason why I have been doing better than I was ... because I now have an unshakable faith and a relationship with the Risen King, the Lord of Lords, the Holy of Holies.  Compared to the brusque, brash, foul-mouthed heathen I used to be, I have come a long way and am continuing TO grow in my walk as a Christian.  But like any human being, I still have off days where I screw up.  It's only human nature to do so.

I do know this much: my mum says I'm a lot easier to put up with nowadays.  LOL  (Gee, THANKS, Mum!)

Well, I hate to run, but Charlie is chomping at the bit for me to join her in watching Wheel of Fortune, which is just starting; she absolutely LOVES that show!  Take care and may God bless you always!

~Love, your friend in Tennessee, Abbagale Winslow.  :)