Hello my dear friends who join in here with WOYWW – or What’s on your workdesk Wednesday – a fun and action packed hop around crafty blogs all over the globe. Pop over Here to find out about us all.

So – what you are all here for!! My desk….

Somewhat posed – as the desk is still neglected and abandoned – but more about that later! This was a lovely selection of goodies from Mrs D and hubby – looking forward to playing with these!! I can see that I’m going to be starting next year’s Christmas cards early if I play with that gorgeous stamp.

Now, you ALL know that John has been in hospital for a month – BUT – with the happy connivance of Mrs D, and a great deal of skulduggery, TA DA… this was my present from John – one of the limited edition purple Ultimate Pro gadgets. No, I’ve not had time to play yet – yes, I have opened it and gazed in awe – Thanks Mrs D!!

John, and our daughters, also managed to gaze, in prolonged bouts, at Ebay and Amazon and all sorts of web hunting places – and found LOADS of china which matched a set we had. You must understand that John and I have been married 43 and a half years now – and never, in all those years, have we had a set of china of our own choosing. When we got married my parents chose a tea and dinner service for us, which we used daily for many years. Then John’s dad came to live with us, and brought his lovely set with him, which we have continued to use since his death in 1983!!! They were great – but not of our choice. Does that sound ungrateful – I don’t mean it to be. However, last spring we had a table top sale at our church – and there, on said table – was a gorgeous dinner set. We fell in love! Unfortunately, it is no longer made by the original company, but, by much hunting, John, Joy and Ruth managed to find sufficient to provide us with birthday and Christmas presents to add to it – and now we have 12 place settings. Enough for the whole family when we are all together. It looked fabulous!

And this was the last of 8 huge boxes we opened over the past few days!

So that’s my desk….. and for anyone interested to read further, here’s just why my desk is still neglected and abandoned! Last week (Dec 21st) I had sat next to John when he was so very, very poorly. I was convinced that he was about to die. He made his peace with God and I told him it was ok not to fight any more.  Does this sound over dramatic? Sorry – but even the staff on the ward felt he wouldn’t survive; moving him from the main bay into a single side room so I could be there with him. By Monday evening he was out of bed, calling for the TV remote! I had called the family and they decided to travel up to see him. By Tuesday evening he was so much better they were wondering if they had needed to travel the length of Britain!!! I woke Wednesday morning thinking “I don’t think he needs to be in hospital. There is nothing more they can do – the antibiotics are no longer holding infections at bay. He would like to die at home. I’m going to ask”” So – talking to the family, we all agreed that we would ask to get him home for Christmas. He would need oxygen, a bedroom commode, a trip home in an ambulance, and us to all swap around rooms so that John and I could be in our own space. It was all go. People maligne our NHS – but believe me when I tell you that within 20 minutes of asking my questions, the consultant had been spoken to, oxygen for the home was being set up, the palliative care team were alerted, a commode was ordered and we could pick it up from Llanfairfechan on Christmas Eve morning. It was only needing John to say he would like to be here. We all decided that question should be put by the consultant! I went into the hospital Wednesday afternoon and John and I spoke with the consultant, who was lovely. We know that there is nothing more medically that can be done to prevent the infections taking such a strong hold. They have run out of antibiotics to try. I simply have to keep giving him chest physio morning noon and night (the consultant’s words!!) SOoooo – John agreed to come home, not knowing how long he has. He could live for months, years, or days. The family all left on Christmas Eve to go elsewhere for the Christmas celebrations. We had two fabulous days by ourselves here. Very precious times. The oxygen man was great, and has fitted tubing to a VERY impressive machine, which means John can go anywhere in the house – up or down. The commode is on wheels, which means I can run him around upstairs – he isn’t walking very far yet – although when downstairs he is walking around with increasing strength; joining in with family things. He can’t leave the house yet, as we don’t have mobile oxygen – that’s my next request of our poor beleaguered NHS – that and a wheelchair. Then I can get him out and about a little. It’s a big birthday for him in three weeks, and I have a VERY special treat planned – How precious it would be if we could actually achieve this treat.

You can only imagine the huge raft of emotional upheaval we have been through this past few weeks. Talk about rollercoaster ride! I never knew rollercoasters went quite so vertically – always thought there was a bit of a slope!!!!!!!!!!!! Only Father God knows what is to happen. Only John knows whether he has any more fight left in him if he goes down with yet another huge infection. I only know that we intend to take each day we have and make the most of them. I thank you so very much for your prayers. It has meant so much to us to hear from you that you have been praying for us in all this. You are a fantastic bunch of folk, and we both appreciate you so much.

That’s it – you will be pleased to know!

Take care, each and every one of you. God bless you in 2016.

Margaret

My dear friends. I wish you a very happy and peaceful Christmas. In this war torn world, where so much pain and suffering is being experienced, may you know the peace which only God can give. Let’s remember that Jesus was born as a baby into a world torn apart by strife, refugees, pain and hunger. He was born to an unmarried mother, far away from home, in a country ruled by another power. Let’s give thanks that HE understands these things, and remember that He was born “Emmanuel” – God with us. How can we fail to celebrate!

John made  this nativity set for us 20years ago. The large angel came from a craft hypermarket in Vancouver where we celebrated our silver wedding anniversary. The two medium angels came from Canada when Mrs D and hubby went there. This is the first item to come out of the box when we decorate for Christmas. We set up the nativity before we do trees, windows, lights or anything else. It causes us to remember what Christmas is about. Without Jesus it is simply a fun time in the middle of winter.

So this is my desk this week. The house is now filled with our family – who I confess have come up here early because John is so very poorly in hospital. I don’t know what is going to happen, whether he will recover or not. But I do know that he loves Jesus as His Saviour, and so therefore I can celebrate the New Life which Jesus has to offer by coming into this world of pain, hurt, anger, sickness, and bitterness. I’m so very thankful that John is secure in the hands of the creator of this universe.

Take care, my friends. God bless you with His Peace and Joy as you celebrate Christmas around the globe.

Margaret

PS. Why not join us in this blog hop around the world. Pop over to Julia at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.co.uk/ It’s fun and very addictive!!

I’ve a story to tell you. Are you sitting comfortably – then I will begin. Let me explain… I’m joining with a wonderful group of artists and crafters who weekly show their desk – in all states! – Julia, our hostess will tell you more here.

Firstly – let me show you my desk this late Tuesday evening! All sorts just dropped on it. A box of embossing folders, the pergamano box with the start of John’s Christmas card – as yet unfinished!, two mug trees found in a charity shop I thought may be useful for hanging arty things, to mention just a few.

It has a distinct air of neglect and abandonment – that’s basically because it is neglected and abandoned – but I’ll tell you why shortly…

I have been busy though, since I last posted at the beginning of November – and I’ll show you what I’ve done recently.

I made lots of little gift boxes and filled them…

 Oops – the candle is all wobbly in its holder!! Don’t the little boxes look great now they are finished, filled and labelled? The large boxes at the back are John’s Christmas presents to me – they sat there on the chair for some time waiting for him to wrap them – in the end, I have had to wrap them myself – I do promise I didn’t peek!!

I then made 20 more boxes for charity…

…and completed all my Christmas cards. Altogether this year I have done over 300 – most for charity, then our personal ones. Here are a couple..

 and…

Then, of course there were birthday cards to make. We have about 6 family birthdays in January, and they all need cards – not that they are all made yet. Still, I have a few more days til Christmas when they need to be given to the appropriate parents…

 and……all incredibly simple designs, but time constraints meant no more could be done.

A real highlight this past fortnight has been our eldest grand daughter’s baptism. She is 14 and had come to a decision for herself to follow Jesus and so wanted to go through total immersion baptism. Such a thrill for us as grandparents. Unfortunately, John couldn’t make it, but I travelled the length of Britain, had a weekend away, delivered all the family Christmas gifts and cards, saw lots of friends… and watched Beth being baptised. 6 of the church’s young people went through that water that day – including Beth and her cousin. Cards were needed!!

… and for Sophie…

The church was packed, much rejoicing as these young folk stood and stated why they wanted to do this, and much splashing as they went through the water. Excuse the quality of this next picture – I couldn’t get close so had to take the photo of the projected video image!!

So, having achieved all that, why the neglected desk? Because I have hardly spent any time in the house this past three weeks!  Because John has been seriously ill. He has been in Ysbyty Glan Clwyd for the past three weeks, and a week ago I was called to the hospital at 10 o’clock at night because he was very close to death. The senior nurse on the ward that night was a young lady our daughters grew up with. Amazing, hey? When I got to the hospital she said “When I found him I jumped on his chest”!!! I had phoned our elder daughter and had to ask her to speak to her sister – a horrid thing to ask of her, but unavoidable at the time. Both of our girls sorted their children and travelled the length of Britain that night to be with their dad. What a blessing to have family like that! They arrived safely, and were pleased to see that John had survived. He is very slowly recovering. He was literally choking to death that evening. He has no memory of it all – for which I am very thankful to my Father God – although he has since asked me to keep explaining what happened. He is regaining his strength, and his will to live. Today (Tuesday) I took him off the ward down to the little café for a drink and change of four walls, and he stated that he is beginning to feel better – sometimes! I have no idea yet whether he will be home for Christmas, or whether I shall be holding the fort here at home on my own. I look back on this past week with an enormous range of emotions. Thoughts of dismay as I contemplated a funeral and completely different life on my own after 43 years of marriage; unbelievable thankfulness at God’s compassion that the nurse found him when she did. Another 2 minutes would have been too late; the ridiculous pleasure of knowing my nature is to always get things done well in advance – Christmas can happen, I’m all set!!; the depths of pain as I watched him fighting for his breath that night; the thankfulness for friends who dropped everything to go to the hospital with me so I wouldn’t need to face the ultimate time on my own should John have died; thankfulness for staff with incredible compassion and for a nearby hospital with so many facilities; tears of desperation as I tried to give him into God’s hands and pray for His will to be done in our lives. A very steep roller coaster ride! I know John is in God’s hands. I know that God sets the span of our lives. Obviously John’s mansion isn’t quite ready for him!!! There is still a purpose for him here on earth.

Well, my friends who regularly read this blog, I hope that this finds you well and rejoicing at this time of year. I hope I haven’t taken an edge off things for you!! I hope I shall be able to post again next week – if only to wish you a happy Christmas…

Take care of yourselves as we are in this time of Advent- a time of preparation for the coming of the King.

God bless.

Margaret