Back in Knoxvegas!!

Ahhhh, home sweet Knoxville. I am SO glad to be back. Let's just say that there was some craziness at home. [deleted] Other unfortunate things when I was home - my uncle, Jim, suffered from a burst appendix, emergency appendectomy, hemodialysis, and a collapsed lung. We were called at about 2 am on Thursday morning by someone at the hospital, saying that they didn't think that he would make it, but (by the grace of God) he is now stabilized, and his lung is inflating again.
In terms of other good news from home, I was overjoyed to hear that my cousin has recovered from Hodgkin's Lymphoma! Praise be to God! She doesn't even have to go through all of the chemo treatments she thought she would have to have, and she will begin radiation therapy next month (I think) to kick the cancer's butt, once and for all! Thanks so much to all of my friends who have been praying for her so faithfully since I mentioned it as a prayer request last fall. I saw her when I was home, and she still has her hair, and she was in great spirits. What a testament to the power of prayer. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
In other news, if anyone is planning on actually seeing the ball drop live, just to let you know, you have to get to Times Square by about 5 pm, because that's when they lock down the streets. If you get there at, say, I don't know, 11 pm, you won't be able to even get within two blocks - unless you meet up with two sisters who are in the military and can talk their way into anything. Then the NYPD might let you through...but let's just say that I was able to hear everyone cheer when 2005 rolled around. Along with all the other people who didn't make it on TV. I got some great pics of NYC (to come later).
To recap about Germany, too, the nativity went wonderfully. I had a quiet first Christmas day with my 96-year old Oma. On the second Christmas day, I had Kaffee (coffee - for those of you who are too tired to figure that out) with some friends of the family. That included five Torte. Just to clarify what that means, Kuchen translates to cakes. Torte means cakes, too, but better cake. Delicious! There is nothing quite like German chocolate, pastries, cookies, cakes...basically anything sweet. Out of this world good.
Well, the long drive down here is starting to hit me, so I'm going to sign off.
Enjoy the weekend!
J9

P.S. For anyone who is interested, I think I just might have an assortment of those aforementioned German sweets that I need to have taken off my hands!