Last Sunday of November

At Connect Church again this morning, Ps Simon Williams preached once more on "Nehemiah". The essential theme is that this church will be building in the Lord. He also announced that next year, the church would offer internships in various areas, such as multimedia, office work and other areas. I might keep that in mind!!

I went to Holy Trinity Church in the evening again. The church was packed. It was am Ecumenical Service which involved the Anglicans, Lutherans, Uniting Church and Catholics. Fraser Pearce was taking part. Ps Greg Harris preached that "God prepares the way". The theme was that God is very big on preparation.

A christmas party

BUCO held it's annual xmas party this year at the Bendigo club. It was a fully catered for evening. It was the first time that I had been to the Bendigo Club. During the course of the evening, Kath publicly thanked me for all the help i give with the data entry, which was nice.

It rained very heavily today, which is good.

An update on Kevin..

Kevin is scheduled to have stents inserted tomorrow. This procedure is normally not a big deal but, given how much Kevin's organs have been battered around, there is some risk attached. The doctors are particularly concerned about his heart rate (it is still too fast) and his kidneys, but they certainly feel that Kevin is well enough to face this surgery at this stage. His breathing is still a concern to him also - he gets very short of breath at times. I tell you these details so you can pray with some knowledge.

Peter and I have been down tonight and had takeaway Vietnamese food with him and Jenny. We were then able to pray and lay hands on them both. Kevin is really appreciating the visits he's been having from many of you and tells me tonight that the next time he sees us he will be in Bendigo - let's hope so!

Another weekend over and done with

At Connect Church this morning, Ps Simon Williams once again preached from Nehemiah. The topic of the sermon was "Building in the Lord". The theme is that the Lord wants to build up Connect Church. The weather is still very hot.

There is good news concerning Kevin Furness..! The latest is that Kevin is moving to St. John of God Rehab on Monday. It's another miracle! On Thursday he was 10th in line for a bed at the hospital, by Friday night he was told he would be going up there on Monday. Timing is perfect as Jenny was planning to go back to work on Monday in any case.

He is gaining in strength each day. He is able to stand up and take his weight for a short time, and can turn over in bed without any help. Lungs are still a problem as there is a small pleural effusion. This was meant to be tapped today but I haven't heard if this has happened. This is another hurdle to get over, but if we look at what he's got over so far .......!! Need I say more?

Building up Connect Church

At church this morning, PS Simon Williams preached on "Building up Connect Church". He preached from the book of Nehemiah. His message was that God wanted to build up Connect Church in ways that have not been done before. I feel that this means that there are exciting times ahead for us all.

Fuel burn reduction

This morning, I went with Trevor Clark to The Furness's house in Strathfielsaye to help clean up the backyard. Jenny was concerned that there was too much fuel building up as the fire season approached. There were myself, Trevor, Manny, Peter Wilding, Geoff Bray and Adrian Knight who helped clean up. We got a lot done. I am really not used to hard work.

The good news is that Kevin seems to be on the mend. Apparently he is able to talk to people again! Praise the Lord..!!

Good news regarding Kevin Furness

We had some great news this morning. Kevin had has the trachey thing removed this morning - much to Jenny's surprise. She walked in and there he was having a drink of water - water never tasted so good!

He has also been moved out of ICU to the cardiothoracic ward (E4).

Gay Wilding talked with him on the phone and he sounds terrific! Still as weak as a kitten and will need help with feeding and all activities of daily living for some time yet. But his resilience and the speed of the improvement this week alone bodes really well for this too.

Again, praise God from whom all blessings flow.

The day was dull but the night was 'interesting'

I did very little all day long as I did not have much too do. There is some good news regarding Kevin Furness. He does seem to be improving. Kevin has had another fairly good day. He sat out for 10 minutes today and found it exhausting. He has no strength in his muscles yet. He also had about 4 1/2 hours off the ventilator. He finds this quite exhausting and pleads to be put back on it, but it's a matter of him keeping 'practising' - there's no way through this except the hard way.

So we need to keep praying for building up of stamina for him, and for patience while it's happening.

He is also pleading for water or drinks. He was able to have flavoured ice blocks for a day or so but his body is unable to differentiate yet where the fluid goes and some of it ends up in his lungs, so they have now stopped this. He feels very dry and thirsty and would like Jenny to (underhandedly) get him a drink. Of course this is not going to happen!

The news is all positive however. It's hard going but it is 'normal' hard going and will improve with time and hard work.

The Shiraz group met again in the evening at Rod Geri's house (in the back shed mainly). We seemed to spend a lot of time discussing motorcycles (this in interesting!). It was a great night as usual. We spent time in prayer for Kevin and Jenny.

There were only five of us present but we had a good night as usual! Geoff Bray surprised us when he announced that he and his wife Sandy are having a trial separation!!