We made a 30-mile circuit going through Friendswood, Alvin, and Manvel then back to central Pearland via the old Massey Highway then Bailey Rd to pass by the high schools with a loop through Independence Park.
Wow, stem cell?? I honestly can't say I know anything about that...do they think there's much of a shot that it will truly help, or is it just kind of "try anything with any amount of potential"? If it's the latter, I totally understand, because that's basically where I am right now myself.
Oddly enough, I met a guy under these circumstances. He knows all about me, and still seems to like me a lot...imagine that! It's still early days, and rather tentative, so I've refrained from saying anything much publicly. But even if he and I just end up good friends, that's ok by me. He's a truly wonderful person, the kind of young adult I just don't seem to meet nowadays, you know? I'm not worrying about how it goes, just letting it happen naturally. If it's meant to be, I figure it'll be, right?
Congrats on your new role at church! That sounds like the kind of church I'd like...and the reason I stopped attending the (Catholic) church I was raised in. They did nothing at all, save a weekly Mass, where the main purpose seemed to be to open your wallet. There was no community involvement, nothing for the kids, nothing for the elderly, just...nothing. It really turned me off organized religion. But as I got older I see that other churches operate waaaay differently. I may have to hunt around for a better fit.
Re: Facebook - No, I deleted my account a couple of years ago. It just took too much of my time, you know?
Hi, Joanna! I hope you've meet a guy who needs you as much as you need him. I not saying some desperate thing, but just that the two of you would make a good pair. It's nice to see the things you have to say about him.
The stem cell treatment is basically a last chance gamble I think. About a year ago she had a treatment in Florida, but because it was experimental they had to pay for it. I think the 'experiment' is over now. Madi is a practical, frugal person, and she's very careful about trying all the things that come out. However, she must have felt a slight improvement to be willing to go out of the country and pay a very high price to try again. The doctors say that they can only guarantee that there will be no side effects that make her health worse. They do liposuction to get fat cells and process those cells to activate the stem cells. Those are then injected into her blood stream. There was also an injection of some blood stem cells or maybe it was umbilical cord stems cells. The hope is that the stem cells had been forced back to their undifferentiated state which would them allow them to collect at damage cells, in this case in the nerve cell system, and growing into good cells to replace the damaged cells. I think they did injections on five days; in Florida it was only one injection.
Getting Christians (including me) to actually practice their Christianity can be difficult. It depends a lot on the leaders and the members, of course, and a general outlook on Christian responsibility. The wife of a previous pastor at our church felt that the church should prepare the members to proclaim the gospel to the community and do charitable work, but that the church didn't need to organize to do that. That was a reaction to the liberal social gospel of 100 years ago. The reactionary view was based on the importance of helping people understand and respond to the gospel and the social work would just be a distraction. Our leaders, our new young pastor in particular, and the younger members see the importance of social work and they're trying to lead everyone in that direction. My daughter and her husband started a ministry to the homeless and other young people have joined them. Sometimes youth groups go along and help. Older people are getting into the habit of bringing food and various necessities for the younger folks to distribute.
If our daughter-in-law realizes some improvement, I'll let you know. She said, "Don't ask if it's working; if there's some improvement, I'll tell you."
Oddly enough, I met a guy under these circumstances. He knows all about me, and still seems to like me a lot...imagine that! It's still early days, and rather tentative, so I've refrained from saying anything much publicly. But even if he and I just end up good friends, that's ok by me. He's a truly wonderful person, the kind of young adult I just don't seem to meet nowadays, you know? I'm not worrying about how it goes, just letting it happen naturally. If it's meant to be, I figure it'll be, right?
Congrats on your new role at church! That sounds like the kind of church I'd like...and the reason I stopped attending the (Catholic) church I was raised in. They did nothing at all, save a weekly Mass, where the main purpose seemed to be to open your wallet. There was no community involvement, nothing for the kids, nothing for the elderly, just...nothing. It really turned me off organized religion. But as I got older I see that other churches operate waaaay differently. I may have to hunt around for a better fit.
Re: Facebook - No, I deleted my account a couple of years ago. It just took too much of my time, you know?
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The stem cell treatment is basically a last chance gamble I think. About a year ago she had a treatment in Florida, but because it was experimental they had to pay for it. I think the 'experiment' is over now. Madi is a practical, frugal person, and she's very careful about trying all the things that come out. However, she must have felt a slight improvement to be willing to go out of the country and pay a very high price to try again. The doctors say that they can only guarantee that there will be no side effects that make her health worse. They do liposuction to get fat cells and process those cells to activate the stem cells. Those are then injected into her blood stream. There was also an injection of some blood stem cells or maybe it was umbilical cord stems cells. The hope is that the stem cells had been forced back to their undifferentiated state which would them allow them to collect at damage cells, in this case in the nerve cell system, and growing into good cells to replace the damaged cells. I think they did injections on five days; in Florida it was only one injection.
Getting Christians (including me) to actually practice their Christianity can be difficult. It depends a lot on the leaders and the members, of course, and a general outlook on Christian responsibility. The wife of a previous pastor at our church felt that the church should prepare the members to proclaim the gospel to the community and do charitable work, but that the church didn't need to organize to do that. That was a reaction to the liberal social gospel of 100 years ago. The reactionary view was based on the importance of helping people understand and respond to the gospel and the social work would just be a distraction. Our leaders, our new young pastor in particular, and the younger members see the importance of social work and they're trying to lead everyone in that direction. My daughter and her husband started a ministry to the homeless and other young people have joined them. Sometimes youth groups go along and help. Older people are getting into the habit of bringing food and various necessities for the younger folks to distribute.
If our daughter-in-law realizes some improvement, I'll let you know. She said, "Don't ask if it's working; if there's some improvement, I'll tell you."
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Going to bed now...tomorrow's the first day of school for our district and going to be absolutely NUTS at work :-/
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