It has been along time.....

I have not posted anything here, seems like forever. Since my last post, my kidney is working just fine, although I have gained too much weight for my comfort. The cravings for Chocolate Shakes and peanuts has finally subsided, but the medication I was taking has been lowered as well. Lots of things have happened at the Steers household as well, Becca went to South Dakota to help my mother after she had surgery on her hand. Connor has been busy in School with Academic Team for his 6th grade. They won the years competition, his team only lost one round the whole year. He was one of the top 50 in his class, which earned him a trip to Camp Goddard for a weeks worth of learning. Sara also went to a 3 day class camping trip, as well as being invited to go to Austin, Tx for a day. I really admire Chance as of late also, he was not doing as well as he knew he could in a couple of classes and has started studying harder to bring his grades up, which he has very well. Ivy has her last Tennis tournament this week, I really think she could be a great player, she seems to have natural talent for tennis. Becca was working two jobs for quite awhile, but gave one up at the beginning of March, when the company she was working for made a bunch of changes. Seems even though she is down to one job, she is still busy. We as a family will start to build a fence to put our garden in, that way the dogs won't be able to get in and dig everthing up. Speaking of dogs, we now have 3, with the addition of Maya, you have probably seen pictures already. If not I will still post some.

What a ride!!!!!

As most of you know, I had my 3rd kidney transplant on Sept. 15, 2009. For me nothing new, but since my last one, I have met my wife and her family, have had some children. What is different about this transplant is the fact I have a 100% antibody count, meaning I should have rejected the easiest and most basic blood type tests. Instead, the transplant coordinator ask the lab to rerun and recheck cross matching of blood 5 different times, each with the same outcome, negative. Negative actually means I am a match, no one at the transplant center thought this would be the case. On Sept. 16 was my Mom and Dads wedding anniversary. It would have been 63 yrs this year, but this year my sister was in town picking Mom up to come see me in the hospital. They stopped by my fathers grave and my Mom said a thank you to her husband for the wonderful anniversary gift of a kidney to me. I know someone is watching out for me, I try to magnify my calling in Church, I pay a full tithe, I really am trying to be more like those I look up to now. Knowing my father, though, he was bending some ears as well, he was very good at that. I am truely blessed for this match and for the families I have. Thank you all for you prayers and kind words and thoughts this last week. It means more to me than I can or will be ever able to verbalize. You are all the best!!!!!!!!

A new and challenging future.

The week we returned from South Dakota, in July, we had returned earlier than we had planned, to be able to make a meeting at Church to find out how our Ward would be split. We are in the same Ward as before, it is just smaller now. At that meeting, however, everyone was released from their callings. So, other than the Bishopric and the EQP, everyone has been waiting for a new calling. I didn't have to wait long, as I recieved my calling within the week of the split. I am now the new Sunday School President for our Ward. I have submitted many names, to the Bishopric, to be my counselors. It has been 3 weeks and we are getting close. I hope to hear this Sunday who my counselors are, not only am I waiting for counselors, I am also trying to place people for each Sunday School class and the library. Needless to say, I am running out of names, since it is a smaller Ward now. All I can do is to continue to pray for guidance.

South Dakota

We made our second trip to South Dakota last week, it was sure nice to get away from the Texas heat. The second night we were there, there was a terrible storm, tennis ball sized hail was reported, close to my brothers ranch. Corn fields and soybean fields were leveled. My brother was very lucky, only a quarter of his crops were damaged. At one location, a neighbor's corn was shredded, across the road, my brothers corn not damaged. Other than that, everyone had a good time. I missed a few days with dialysis, but it was well worth the trip. In Sioux Falls, at dialysis, I ran into the nurse who dialized me the first few times, when Iwas 13 yrs old. That was pretty neat, to see somene from that long ago. To let all of you know, that year was 1977.

Not afraid of the water

Saturday night marked the first time I have been able to go swimming in Two years. It was also the first time I was able to go swimming with Theron, last year I went to the pool, but having a tube in my stomach, I was not able to go. Theron seems to love the water, evident by him showing me how he can put his head in the water and try to swim under. But, at this pool, he can wear a life jacket. It is so cute watching him put his head under, then try his hardest to get his whole body under as well. It was a lot of fun to be able to swim again.

How would you react?

Last week I had a co-worker, whose daughter had to have surgery on her neck. This girl was born with multiple birth defects, this surgery was something to repair her neck and back. She had to have a bone graft done, to strengthen part of her neck. She is nine years old and has a fantastic outlook on life. The whole school system, where she lives, treats her great. My thoughts on this are, kids with a great outlook, like hers, make it that much easier on the imediate family. Being a parent, I cannot imagine having to go through something like this with a child. Being a long time patient, I consider myself a great patient, but I have never been good, when the tables are turned, ask my wife about that. I must say, I do get somewhat grumpy when someone is not feeling good, but will not find out why. Even Becca has said, she would never be able to stick needles in one of the children as she does for me. Is that because she knows I have been through it before and for a child it would be new for both?? How would you react?? I know you would do what you needed to, but how would you react, when you got the news you were gonna have to do something, or you child was gonna have to go through so much??

My wife

I just wanted to say how Great my wife is. She cooks, she cleans, she raises children, she works 2 jobs, she is my nurse. She is caring, she is considerate, she has fixed all our major appliances. She loves and cares about her family. She cracks me up with her humor, she likes to stay physically fit. I find I miss her, especially when I don't get a chance to talk on the phone to her, during our busy days.