Friends,

Merry Christmas!  I want to wish each of you and your family all the best this Christmas season.  It’s truly a season of joy and sharing isn’t it? As we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, we also celebrate all the ways He works through each of us to help each other.  He certainly gives us His love to share along with the strength to keep our chins up and see His plan for each of us as we share our journey of living with MS. He gives us Faith, Hope and Love amongst so many other things.  Let’s keep sharing as He wants us to do.  Merry Christmas!

I need to apologize for not being at the celebration for the volunteers and Christmas party last Friday as long as I would have liked to.  I made it there for a bit at first and then again at the end.  We have our general manager at Wisconsin Metal Parts retiring at the end of the year.  Joe and his wife Lisa made food for all our employees and I wanted to be in two other buildings at the same time with them.  I did my best to be in all three places but by the time I got back to you at our celebration, my MS was not behaving and I was not myself.  Not enough sleep the night before and too much stimulation.  I apologize for that but please know my heart was there.  I’m doing much better now again.  Thanks for understanding!

Thank you to all for the nice card and words of gratitude, affirmation and love.  I love all of you too!  Thank you also for the generous donations to MS-Just Keep Moving.  Even though we’re all doing what we do as volunteers, the donations help us provide programs and equipment to keep people moving and doing things they are challenged to do.  We’ll put the money to good use…Thank you!

If you want to do something nice for someone else this Christmas, please reach out to those who can not make it in by us and share some love and encouragement.  There are so many ways to reach out these days.  You can visit them, give them a phone call, send them a text or e-mail, communicate on Facebook or other social media platforms, etc.

Shelli is still being challenged and would love to hear from you as is Paulette.  Linda reached out to me asking to put a note in my e-mail about Paulette.  Here’s Linda’s note:

Hi Dan! If you send an email out this week, can you ask people to contact Paulette while she’s in rehab? She’s at the Rehabilitation Hospital of Wisconsin in Pewaukee.  1625 Coldwater Creek Drive.
Room 309. She has morning and afternoon therapy with a break in between and her evenings are free. She will be there a maximum of 10 days, not sure if today counts or not.

Thank you and Merry Christmas! Linda

We will not be getting together this week on Wednesday as it is Christmas.  We will be here Friday and we will be here next Wednesday on New Year’s Day.  We’ll kick the New year off together and make the best of 2020 right from the start.  I hope you’ll join us!  All year 😊

We all need to “Just Keep Moving”!  It doesn’t matter where we start.  We can start with laughing which is great exercise in itself.  Other than that, we start with the body parts that will move and keep moving them as much as we can.  Let them rest and then move them again.

I know there are still many of us going through other life challenges in addition to our challenges with MS.  Let’s stick together, keep our chins up and keep sharing our journey.  Better days are ahead.  For those of you who haven’t been able to make it by us on Wednesdays and Fridays lately, please know you are missed and in my thoughts and prayers.  I hope you’re able to make it back soon!

I hope you’ll join us both Wednesday and Friday again this week.   Remember…consistency is key.  With MS, it takes a lot of consistent effort every day to make small improvements.  Yes, it’s frustrating so be patient and consistent and you’ll be amazed how your quality of life will continue to improve.  It’s been about 17 years of exercising just about every day for me and I’m still making improvements (encouragement, love, support, nutrition and proper rest help immensely too).  It takes time so please be patient.  It sure is better than MS getting worse.  I really don’t know what my life would be like if I didn’t do this (nor do I want to find out).  I’m so thankful you are all joining me on this journey of making progress with our MS and quality of life…THANK YOU!  We’ll continue to learn together…there’s so much power in the love and support we all share with each other.

In the past, I’ve been telling you to bring a friend.  Unfortunately, we’re going to need to start a waiting list for new people.  Please feel free to continue to share your experience and what we’re doing together.  Let me know of anyone who would like to join us.  I’ll communicate with these people through e-mail or phone and help them any way I can.  When we have room for them to join us, I’ll encourage them to do that. If you’ve joined us in the past, please continue to join us.

We are here to help you and anyone with MS…no strings attached (well maybe an occasional story about the progress you’re making, smile, high five or a hug).  I remember how challenging life used to be when my MS was bad.  I get great joy sharing what I’ve learned and feel blessed with the progress I’ve made.  I hope you make progress in some way too!

Place:  W228N791 Westmound Dr.
             Waukesha, WI

When:  Wednesday morning from 9:30am – 12:30pm (open gym concept, come for all or part of it)
             Friday morning from 9:30am – 12:30pm  (open gym concept, come for all or part of it)

Dan Erschen
http://msjustkeepmoving.org/