Even More Thankful - Revised @ 10:25pm

So I've revised this to add a couple more items that needed to be told in this post! You'll have to re-read it to get the added news. :)
• The last couple weeks (other than the fall) have been really good. We had a very nice Thanksgiving - Holly's boyfriend John cooked a wonderful spread with some side dishes also made by his mom. John's family, Rocky & Ember and my sister Renee, her husband Ted & son Johnny joined us. Johnny is with the Stryker brigade & getting ready to ship out to Afghanistan so we were very happy to be able to see him. Ric ate alot of food so hopefully that will result in some added weight when we go to his dr appt this afternoon. His appetite has been fabulous so just been praying that some of it sticks to his ribs literally!
• Friday night we had dinner with former Rebels players Molly & Megan and Megan's parents Mike & Nancy. Molly & her boyfriend Russ attend WSU so of course there was banter between them & Ric about the upcoming Apple Cup. Megan goes to college at University of Missouri so we were excited to be able to see her during this break.
• Went to Apple Cup - weather was great & Ric had lots of energy to be able to enjoy the whole game & a couple hours of pre-game in the event center. As you can see by the picture above, we finally got to meet Jim Lambright (former UW Football Coach) in person. In a previous post on the blog, Jim had called Ric to encourage him in his battle. It was really great to talk to him in person and thank him.
• Thursday before Thanksgiving we were blessed with a visit from my wonderful friend Danette & her two daughters Alyssa & Nichole. Danette & I have been friends since Junior High & she lives in Oregon. She brought us some of her homemade salsa which Ric is now enjoying.
• Sunday we had a wonderful phone conversation with our longtime friend Ive who lives in Florida. Ive is our older "sister" from UW college days. We'd lost her phone number & finally was able to get her to contact us thru her son Brandon as we knew she would want to know about Ric's battle & be praying for him (and as she said call everyone she knows to pray for him).
• Ended the holiday weekend with a very nice visit with Glen & Becky yesterday evening. Had to drop off some gifts for them to take to the children we sponsor in Nicaragua & for some good friends there as they will be heading to Nicaragua later this week for the graduation ceremony at Dario Christian Academy. It had been our hope that we would be able to attend the graduation since this will be the first graduating class from high school. We hope & pray that God will allow us to return to Nicaragua sometime next year. The staff & the children at Dario Christian Academy have been praying for Ric's healing also & have sent us many encouraging videos, letters, e-mails.
• Ric had his doctor appt today and he is up 3 more lbs for a total of 5 lbs since November 8th! You should have seen the smile on his face as he was standing on the scale & saw where his weight was. I have not seen that smile in way too long so it was FABULOUS to see him smile like that again!
• Thanks again for all your prayers, love & support. Please continue to pray for no side effects from the Avastin & that those tumors keep shrinking smaller & smaller and that Ric continues to gain weight. Also please pray for Ric's youngest sister Minerva as she's been having some health issues lately. She is the one he donated the kidney to in 2000.