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​Giving Staffing a Good Name

Sandra Maynard, Determined to Defy the Odds
Our sister SLP Sandra Maynard is now in the hospital fighting to clear the infection that started back in June from a “simple” broken bone. This fight will not be easy for Sandra, and I hope to visit her before I leave town next week. As many of you probably noticed, I proved how important it is to have someone else proof read your writing by leaving out a very important word in my mass email regarding Sandra this past Sunday. I wrote Sandra to apologize for my failure, and she was very gracious. She also said, in part:

"Thank you very much. I too need a proof reader every now and then but the meaning came across without any doubt… I'll be in "the blank" Hospital with highly respected specialists, and I truly feel blessed to have them as my doctors. I miss work so MUCH!!!!"

In another email from Sandra she said,
“…they did say for me to expect to be wearing a halo on my leg for several months. I'll show them - I'm going to get better fast because I want it so bad.”

Sandra will be in surgery on Monday and Tuesday, so please continue your prayers and/or best wishes for our sister Sandra.

Kelli's Dad, Ken Maus, Defying the Odds

Ken Maus, father of our sister SLP Kelli Applebaum, is defying the odds after being severely burned in a house fire last week. After my email to you last week asking for you to pray for Ken, I got another email from Kelli saying that Ken was not going to survive. For some reason, I did not pass that information to you. Today, Fred forwarded me an email from Kelli saying that her dad was defying the odds:

"A short update on my dad and my return. He is defying the odds each day. The doctors are encouraged with his condition but are also cautious about giving false hope. They continue to stress that he will get pneumonia as well as skin infections. Kidney failure is another common complication of burns this severe--but he doesn't have any of that yet.
I would like to return to work… If coverage has been arranged, I don't want to "kick" anyone out. With fingers crossed and prayers continuing… Thank you so much for your understanding and my need to come here on such short notice. I don't like missing work and feel bad that people had to cover for me."

Please continue your prayers and/or best wishes for our sister Kelli.

Happy Thanksgiving!

First off: yes, I am a little early on the Thanksgiving talk, but I am driving the other Stambush family (Susan, Luke, and Sassy) up to Indiana next week (about 1000 miles one way) to visit my Mumsy and Sister. I am afraid time will get away from me and I won’t get to send out a Straight Shooter. So, here you go.

Every year about this time I always say "Happy Thanksgiving," but to me this is one of the saddest times of the year. It's sad to me because I start putting even more effort into thinking of all the things I have to be grateful for as well as all the misery in the world. Nevertheless, I know that gratitude is one of the most important feelings there is for me, and it seems to help me want to try harder, do more, and feel better. Sorry for the sad tone. I don’t want to be the skunk at the garden party, but writing from the heart is a big part of The Straight Shooter.

Despite the above, I do wish you all a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING. Please be grateful for all you have. Intellectually, we all know that there are others who have it worse. As always, let’s all keep pushing to make the world a better place. I know it is a long haul, but all long journeys start with small steps. Who knows, maybe we will change the world for the better. Every person who is helped by us is a win and another step towards making the world a better place, so please keep it up!

Thanksgiving Quotes

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
― Melody Beattie
“If a fellow isn't thankful for what he's got, he isn't likely to be thankful for what he's going to get.”
― Frank A. Clark
“None is more impoverished than the one who has no gratitude. Gratitude is a currency that we can mint for ourselves, and spend without fear of bankruptcy.”
― Fred De Witt Van Amburgh
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”
― John Fitzgerald Kennedy
“Who does not thank for little will not thank for much.”
― Estonian Poverb
“God gave us our relatives; thank God we can choose our friends.”
― Ethel Watts Mumford
“Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all.”
― William Faulkner