Nearly 10 weeks after my surgery, I am starting to feel stronger. Most of my physical symptoms are completely gone or hardly noticeable in daily life. I am steadily gaining weight back and expect to be back to my pre-sickness weight by the end of summer. I wanted to thank all of those who prayed for me during my difficult time. I am blessed with a new zeal for life and a deeper walk with my Creator. It is so interesting to me how it is often in suffering that we identify with Christ. Don't pass up the opportunity to see what God is trying to teach through your circumstances (if you honestly don't know, try asking Him).

The following are some of my recent interests...enjoy:

1. Concerning the Jews by Mark Twain (published in Harper's Magazine, March 1898). A lengthy but fascinating read about Jewish resilience throughout history.
   
   




2. Please Read The Letter by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. What a gorgeous duet! Their voices combine incredibly well. This song just isn't done justice when you listen to it on YouTube. Download the .mp3 from iTunes or Rhapsody...a dollar well spent.
   
   









3. The Story by Brandi Carlile. This song has been out for a year now, but it still gets into the rotation at my house. Lyrically, it sounds to me like a worship song (I am not certain that was Brandi's intent). Again, not pretty on YouTube.
   




4. This performance, set to the song Everything by Lifehouse, reminds me in a very real way how much Christ loves me. I'll admit it, I shed some tears while watching this skit.
   

Using ScribeFire to Post to Blogs

Last year, I ran across an add-on to Mozilla Firefox called ScribeFire. It is a full-featured blog editor that integrates with your browser and lets you easily post to your blog. I have not found a lot of time to play with this add-on until recently, but I will be using it for all my future posts. ScribeFire is extremely easy to use, and I have listed some of the features that are particularly useful:

• It works with, and like, any rich text editor (all of the keyboard shortcuts like Bold, Italics, Underline, etc... work within ScribeFire).
• Allows you to easily upload images and videos.
• Provides simple means of accessing your blog without having to sign in and follow links (try the "Blog this page" feature when browsing other pages online).
• It works with the following blogging services (and more).
• WordPress.com (http://www.wordpress.com)
• LiveJournal (http://www.livejournal.com)
• Windows Live Spaces (http://spaces.msn.com)
• Performancing (http://www.performancing.com)
• Jeeran (http://www.jeeran.com)
• Tumblr (http://www.tumblr.com/)
• MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/)
• b2Evolution (http://b2evolution.net)
• Splinder (http://www.splinder.com/)

If you are a blogger, and you use Mozilla Firefox, give ScribeFire a shot. It will simplify your blogging experience and save you quite a bit of time.