Saturday afternoon,and a late journal entry

Good afternoon journal,the time is now 12:04pm and I have been awake since just after 8:00am,my journal entry today is somewhat later than usual because my wife was getting ready to go do some much needed shopping for us with the little funds we have left available.I would usually have gone with her,but as there are still workmen upstairs today,I have been given the enjoyable duty of doggy sitting our fur children lest they become agitated at the noise from the apartment above.It is somehow a little sad when either my wife or I leave home without the dogs,they fret so much,and at the moment I am dividing my time between trying to type, and placating three very disconsolate fur babies who seem convinced that their human mother has abandoned them forever.In a moment I shall go and replenish the contents of my almost empty coffee mug,no doubt followed en mass by my canine brood as is always the case when there is only one of us at home.Okay,back at my desk with fresh coffee and three still inconsolable hounds clustered around my feet,each clamoring for individual attention,which is not easy to hand out as I have only two hands and there are three of them,but they seem happy enough with my efforts.On the plus front,I have finally received notification of a date for my appeal for disability benefit,it will be heard by a tribunal on June 26th at 10:00am,let us pray that finally they will accept that I AM ill and not just trying to jump on the disabled bandwagon as it were.If my appeal is upheld it will ease the dire financial state we are currently having to endure,if it isn't,then,as always,we are in the hands of God,thank you Father,Thy will be done.Over the past ten months or so since I have been unable to work,we have come through some seemingly hopeless situations through the power of prayer and our unshakeable belief in a loving Creator who is ever present in our home and a guest at our table every time He provides us with the food we need to survive,which,if I'm being honest,is every time we sit down to eat.I have been a Christian since I was a teenager,which,as my loving family remind me just a little too often,wasn't yesterday,and my faith in Him remains just as true today as it was all those years ago,why?,because I have seen His power and His love demonstrated in my life,and I have no doubt in my mind that He will continue to love and protect us as only a loving Father can.As I look back over the intervening period of time when I have been unable to work,I can recall times when He has provided what we needed but did not have,yes,I have been forced at times to swallow my pride and go for food parcels from various charitable organizations,but God humbled me enough to be grateful and utilize what was on offer,although I have always been a proud man,God helped me realize that I have worked hard all of my life,and now,when I needed it,these charitable bodies were there to call upon,so I asked and I was given,just the same as when I ask the Lord because He told me it would be so.Today,I am calm and in a peaceful place,my mind is cooperating and lucid,probably due to the quietness of my voices for now,but I am grateful as I know only too well that my present lucidness and clarity of thought can be short lived and brief.The memory gaps that I experience are still a major cause for concern,I know that I am awake when I experience them because my wife tells me so,,but I still wonder where I actually"go" when they happen,if indeed I go anywhere at all.My breathing today is comfortable for now,which makes me one happy camper indeed,and I am grateful for the respite,however brief,when I am able to just breathe normally without fighting for air when the COPD raises it's ugly head in my direction,but it still amazes me that a person should be so grateful to be able to complete a simple function like breathing unaided,but I am.Anyway,my wife has returned home,much to the delight of our three fur babies,and I am going to go spend a little time with the woman who continues,even after all these years,to make this old bears heart beat a little faster every time I see her.Until next time journal,I am going to upgrade my little yellow fellow to green because I am feeling good today,may the peace and contentment that is in our home this afternoon continue to bless us for the remainder of this day.