Hallelujah!!

At last, the news I and many of you have been praying for and waiting for. For almost 2½ years I've been fighting with the system to get my disability, and today I finally received a letter with news that I've been approved!

The judge that I testified before in August overturned the appeal board's earlier decision to deny my case and approved my disability.

There's still a cloud looming over my approval, though. It's still possible that a review board with Soc*ial Sec*urity may randomly review my case and overturn the judge's decision to approve my benefits, but it's not likely.

I'm not going to worry about it.I'm just going to keep trusting God to work all this out in my best interests (Romans 8:28).

Even though the judge has approved my disability, I'll still have to wait to hear from *SSI* about any back pay and how much my benefits will be and some other fine details. Assuming the review board doesn't overturn my approval, it may still be 60 days before I hear anything from *SSI*.

The government doesn't get in any hurry about paying US anything, but if we owe THEM money that's a different story!

At this stage any sign of progress is encouraging.

I want to thank each and every one who has offered up prayers on my behalf throughout this ordeal. Mere words and saying "Thank You!" can never express my love and appreciation, but it's all I have to offer. That, and the promise to stand in the gap for you when my prayers are needed on your behalf. I'd be honored to pray for any of you, dear family and friends. You only have to ask.Now, for my week in review: Monday - Cecil and Sue were here most of the day. They both had fried chicken strip dinners and they brought me some grilled chipotle barbecue chicken wraps from McD's.

I love those things! I like hot and spicy foods and the chipotle barbecue sauce on those wraps is delicious. I wish I had a source for the sauce. I'd make my own wraps here at home.

Tuesday - Cecil and Sue came by and got me and Lamar and we went to Trumann for Chinese. It was great, but then we went to Wal*Mart to do a little shopping and I was a bit uncomfortable for some reason. :-)

I've not been having the best luck with desk chairs lately. I had to throw one out last week because the base broke on it, and my other old faithful antique wooden office chair had a minor emergency but I think I've got it fixed for the moment.

One of my purchases at Wal*Mart was a new office chair. I got a mid-priced cloth task chair. That translates to "no arms" on the chair. I didn't realize how much I use the chair arms until I got a chair without any. I assembled the chair and sat in it about an hour before I decided that I despised that sucker. Soooo.....I took the chair apart and put it back in the box.

Wednesday - I rode the Sr. Citizen's van to Jonesboro and returned the chair and got my money back. I decided I'd just wait and pay a little more for a desk chair with arms on it. Of course those were out of stock. Hopefully next time I'm at Wal*Mart they'll have some desk chairs with arms in stock.

Thursday - My sister DONNA had a doctor's appointment this morning and stopped by here on her way home. We talked and visited for several hours about everything and nothing in particular. She works so much that I don't get to see her nearly as much as I do the other sisters, so it was a welcome change to get to see her during the week.

I've done laundry all afternoon and read blogs and commented in between loading the washer and dryer and folding and hanging clothes. I didn't cook a meal today because Lamar rode the Sr. Citizen van today and had pizza for lunch and wasn't hungry. I warmed up some of BARB'S BREAKFAST BURRITOS for my supper and they really hit the spot.Other than just normal busy-ness this week I don't have any particular reason for not posting. It just didn't happen on Monday and Tuesday, and Wednesday I fully intended to write a post but I never seemed to get in the mood.

I think the main reason I've been kind of lackadaisical about posting the last several days is that Wednesday would have been Daddy's 88th birthday if he were still here. I've not been really sad or upset about it, the awareness has just been lurking in the back of my mind, you know? I miss Daddy and Mama so much, and just the family being all together. Nothing is ever the same after your Mom and Dad are gone, so if yours are still with you, cherish and treasure those times together as a family.Our church is having our annual homecoming this Sunday so my Sunday Dinner this week will feature the dishes I'm preparing for our noon potluck. I'll be back with my Sunday Dinner Homecoming Edition on Saturday, so be sure to stop by for all the fun-filled details!

How's that for a teaser? ;-)

And there's always the possibility that something will inspire me to post again on Friday, but don't bet the farm on it.

In the meantime, y'all have a great Friday!