Update.

Again I have to say that I am still here. There are no excuses but...

• been sick for a week -- just went to the doctor at 7 am this morning.
• the death of a wonderful older gentleman at the church.
• a knee surgery of a church-family member that had infection complications.
• the death of our church office administrator's sister-in-law -- very unexpected and shocking.

On a lighter note...
We had some good friends over for New Year's Eve. We are very low key. The homes in my neighborhood are all on one acre. The houses are older and situated on the front of the lot (near the street). This leaves about 0.75 of an acre at the rear of the property undeveloped. Most use to be pasture land. The neighbor behind me lights fireworks on New Year's Eve. Last year we were caught off guard by the fireworks. They were great! We clapped, cheered and flashed the house lights in appreciation. At about 3 pm on New Year's Eve the neighbor (who I had never met) came by the house to let us know about the fireworks for that night. They were going to be set off between 10:30 and 11:00. He explained that he sells fireworks to the Indian reservation fireworks stands in the area and that the fireworks were going to be even better than the previous year (1000 shells for the finale). We were all set for the show. Part way into the show I thought about taking pictures. I ran inside the house and grabbed our little digital camera (not a video camera). The show lasted for 15-18 minutes! I have two videos for the fireworks: one from the middle and one from the finale. I hope you enjoy them (they do not do justice to what the naked eye saw).