I have been in Kentucky since May 6th to help my Mom. She had knee surgery the end of March and was still moving a bit slowly. The day my dad picked me up, she went to th emergengy room because of pain. He did some testing. We wnet to to the surgeon's office on Friday and were told Mom had a staph infection and would have to have surgery again. The surgery went well, but she is recovering slowly. Please keep her in your prayers.

First, the good. My mom continues to improve. She was able to travel to my brother's house for a family gathering at New Year's. when I left on Dec. 6th, she couldn't imagine being able to do that. Mom is also driving again, which makes her happy. I am thankful for her progress.

Our new year is off to a busy start and isn't going to slow down for awhile. We had a New Year's eve party with about 50 people here. We had a cookout, visited, played games and also had a period of song and prayer. It was a great way to bring in 2013. On jan. 4th, we had a visitor from Manaus come. She stayed nine days. On Jan. 5th we had our family holiday. I love getting my immediate family together. We all live in the same town and it still isn't easy to get everyone together. We have had a couple of doctor appointments, puppies being born, and have had a major rearranging job goinig on in our house. We leave Thursday of this week to go to Rio Grande do Sul for six days. When we get back we will have six days to get ready for more company. Dennis has a ouple of evangelistic trips in march and then he will spend 15 days in the U.S. in April. There will be a lot more going on the rest of the year, we just don't have it all mapped out.

Now to the bad. Just a couole of days ago I learned of yet another marriage that has ended (nobody you would know). The couple have been Christians for a number of years. It is a long story about much deciet. The devil is having a party while two families are falling apart and a congregation of the Lord's people is shaken. It makes me so sad every time I hear of a broken marriage. We MUST work harder to protect our marriages and help others have strong marriages. I think sometimes people think that just because they are christians that their marrige will last forever. It helps, a lot, but we still MUST make sure that we are working to build our marriages up. Don't let satan win.

I hope all of you have a great 2013, that it will be a year to grow closer to your families and most importantly, a year to grow closer to God.

BKA

Mom's surgery was successful! I am so thankful! Mom still has a long road of recovery, but we are very happy with this first step. Mom has to take blood thinners. She had to go off of those to have her surgery. She will be off them for a few more days and then go back on them. We are praying that she has no clotting. I think one of the hard parts of the recovery is going to be that she cannot sit for three weeks. She can walk, so stairs, stand and even recline,but she can't sit. This is to give the wound area of the surgery time to heal. Thank you for your prayers to this point and please keep praying for mom to have a complete recovery.

BKA

As i write this, my mom is undergoing high risk surgery on her spinal column. It is high risk because of other health issues she has. Please pray for her! My mom is such a special person in my life. I strive to be more like her. This is one of those times that I hate living 5,000 miles away from her.

I always plan to update here on a regular basis and then end up not doing it. People have probably forgotten that I even have a Pleo page. :-).

Dennis and I have done a lot of traveling the last several months, especially Dennis. There are two more trips this year. Dennis will be going on one by himself and we will go together to Rio. It is so good to be with brethren in other places. We work to encourage them and they encourage us. In the places we have public studies, it is refreshing to see people seeking truth. The seeds are planted and occasionally, we see results and people choose to obey God. To God be the glory!

In family news, Megan and Joel moved into their apartment the beginning of September. I think it takes about an hour to get to their house, depending on traffic. We miss having them around here, but I know they were ready for their own place again. They lived with us for a little over five months between the end of a rental agreement and when the apartment they were buying was ready. I miss all of them, but I really miss Bernardo's smiles and laughter. It is a good thing they still live close enough we get to see them once in awhile!

All the other grandkids are doing well. Emily is turning into a young lady. She is tall and thin. She is 10. She has also become a really good helper at home. She helps make meals and snacks and helps with the little ones and also, helps clean up toys and such. She has done most of these thing for awhile. The difference is that now she does it without being asked to. The other kids are also growing up, we don't have babies anymore. Our youngest grandchild is a little over two and growing up too fast.

We are entering spring here. We don't have the dramatic season changes like we had in the U.S. I love spring here because you can see a change. Tree begin getting leaves, flowers bloom, etc. We have one tree in our yard that all the leaves fall off of in the winter. now, they are coming back. I can see changes every day. It is filling out nicely. God's creation is so amazing.

Have a great day!

BKA