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This is playtime....

This is after playtime.


Hannah's new kitty's name is Harley. As in Harley Motorcycles, of course. He's staying in until he's a little bigger. Tipsy is very jealous of him right now, but we try to put them together as much as possible. Tipsy barks, Harley hisses...but who knows...one day they might be great pals.

This has been a very long day so this is going to be a very short post. I wish you all a happy weekend!

HE'S HOME

I'm cleaning mom's house today and taking care of daddy while mom is at work. So I'm posting from their computer.

Daddy made it home safe and sound last night. He was quite emotional as we rounded the bend and his home came into view. He was so happy to be home. And we were glad that he was home.

Last night was pretty rough on him. He woke up sick on his stomach twice, but speaking to the doctor today, the doctor seems to feel that it's one of the medications he's on and told daddy to stop taking it. If he's still sick tomorrow, they'll prescribe something for him.

He did eat two slices of buttered and jelly toast for me today just before 1:00. It's the only thing he's eaten since last night when they served him supper before leaving the hospital. He seems to be keeping it down OK.

I helped empty one of his bags today. You would think the fluid would be more watery than it was. But it's actually quite thick. Almost like syrup. I thought that was interesting. Sorry if that grosses you out, but things like that have always interested me. I could go into more detail, but I'll spare ya! lol

I'm going to close this post and finish cleaning the house. Just wanted to give an update and once again thank you all for praying.

Going Home

This was taken yesterday. I had packed a lunch for me and mom and we were able to eat with him. We had a good visit and of course a few laughs.




This was after he had eaten and was in some pain in his right side from the tubes. But they gave him "happy drugs" and he wasn't feeling anything after that. lol



Mom did her good deed of the day and gave blood while daddy was in dialysis. They gave her that nifty T-shirt, a meal ticket, and entered her for a drawing for Wal Mart gift card. They are in DESPERATE need of blood right now.



Daddy called this morning to say that the docs came in and were pleasantly surprised to see how well the combination of drugs they've given him were working and he's going home!!! YAY! I'm so happy. They'll be removing his stitches and leaving the tubes. But the home health nurses will be coming to the house for that. I'm leaving now to go pick him up.



God answers prayers!

Blood Count

This picture was taken just a few minutes before daddy's surgery last week. John was rubbing his back trying to help him feel more comfortable.

Daddy's X-rays from yesterday came back showing nothing, however, his blood count is continuing to rise and the doctors really don't know why. So he'll be in the hospital for at least the rest of this week. The infectious disease doctors will be meeting with his regular physician this afternoon to discuss some possibilities. So please pray they'll be able to figure out this mystery.

Mom said that under the circumstances he seemed to be in good spirits during dialysis this morning and his appetite was good. Of course, after dialysis he'll be feeling low again.

Thanks for praying!

Acapella Group

This is the Acapella group I was telling you about me working with. John O' took this video with his cell phone and was kind enough to share it with me. This was taken while they practiced Sunday afternoon.

I have not spoken to my mother at all this morning concerning my dad. She was at the hospital at 6:00 AM so she could be sure to speak with the doctor, but she has forgotten to turn her phone on and I can't get in touch with her. So, I'll update on him later.

Mom in Recliner

The surgical waiting area where we waited during daddy's surgery had some recliners in each section. Mom had just a tad bit of trouble getting the recliner she was in to go back. But then John didn't make matters better for her either.

The day of daddy's surgery, John and I got tickled at mom's shoes squeaking down the hospital halls.....so we made sure to video tape it. She didn't realize what we were doing until you hear her start to giggle.

Mom said that dad will have a CAT in a couple of hours. He has to drink 20 ounces of something before they do it. They've also taken a specimen from his liver bile. We don't know why, except that maybe him being sick is coming from that. We'll know more, Lord willing, later this afternoon.

Down and Up!

As of this morning, we still haven't heard anything on the results of the fistulagram. However, daddy has started throwing up again. He's very sick. His white blood cell count that had been dropping wonderfully, has started to climb back up. He is extremely tired and very week. Please continue to pray.

Happy Anniversary, Mrs. Janet

Yesterday was Mrs. Janet's 20th Anniversary as our church secretary. She was eighteen years old when she started working there and has been faithful ever since. A church our size would usually have a secretary's secretary, but she does it all and has it all under control.
We celebrated last night with a special service for her and her family followed by a time of sweet fellowship after the service.


Mrs. Janet in the choir


Last night, our new acapella group that I have been blessed and privileged to work with debuted with a new song and they were GREAT! I was proud of all of them. From left to right is Spencer, Nathan, Nathaniel, Jennifer, Crystal, LeAnna, Monica, Elizabeth, Justin, Mark, and Bradley.


After Pastor preached on the woman with one vessel of oil, and the invitation was given, we watched a ten minute slide show of Mrs. Janet from birth to present. Mrs. Kellie Ross made the slide show and it was spectacular! Everyone enjoyed it.


Dismissing in prayer, was Brother Rocky Shelton. I can honestly say it was a blessing having him at our church last night. His presence was proof that God does answer prayer.


We headed to the fellowship where the theme of Mrs. Janet's party was Bloom Where You're Planted. I'm not sure of everyone who participated in decorating, but I know that Mrs. Tammy Carter was overseeing most all of it. She did a good job and it was such a fun atmosphere.


They used large flower pots on either sides of the entrance with big flowers to walk under. If you remember from the SIGMA banquet we had large root beer floats as you walked in. Well, the root beer float mugs were transformed into flower pots.
The dirt for these pots was spray painted polyfil.


For a centerpiece, each table had a flowerpot with Dirt Pudding for dessert. You served yourself the pudding with the shovel. The stem of the flower in the middle was wrapped in Saran Wrap. It was a very crafty idea.


There was a pretty bulletin board to pass on the way to the food table.


Mrs. Marla and Mrs. Pam served at the fruit table. If you know Mrs. Marla and Mrs. Pam, it seems almost fitting that this would be their station. HAhahaha


The cake!


This was one of the food tables. There were cocktail meats, honey wings, spinach dip and crackers, veggie trays, sandwiches, and all sorts of other foods that people were generous to make and bring.


Mrs. Janet and Brother Greg enjoying their time with family and church staff.


We had a wonderful day and we have been blessed to have Mrs. Janet, not only as our church secretary, but as our personal friend.

WE LOVE YOU, MRS. JANET!!

Daddy

This is daddy and Hannah Friday evening. You can tell he's still running a fever here. His face and neck were so hot.

Bruce and I just came from the hospital a little bit ago. He showed me his wound from surgery and it looked really good. It was not red and puffy at all. I imagine all the antibiotics they have given him has helped with that.

While we were there, he had just finished dialysis and they were taking him down for his fistulagram, which is a diagnostics test on the port in his arm for his dialysis. I believe there is a reason for everything and that the Lord used the port to get him to the hospital so they could find that his gall bladder needed to be removed. I also believe that his fistulagram is going to come back good. It may need a little tweaking but I don't believe it will need to be replaced.

Daddy has really appreciated all the phone calls and visits. There have been numerous calls and visits since word got out of his condition. However, he has not been able to rest well and our Pastor announced yesterday to please hold the calls and visits. Daddy appreciated that so much. He had a very restful day Sunday and wants everyone to know how much he appreciates the fact that you love him and are praying for him.

I am in the process of uploading a video of daddy in the hospital. I hope it works. If you are a blogger, you may have noticed that when you go to do a new post, you can add a video clip straight from the computer without having to use YouTube, Photobucket, etc. I sure do hope it works!

Elapsed Time, 3 minutes.

Oh well...it didn't work. It's new and probably needs some kinks worked out. Maybe next time.

Lots Going On!

I didn't see daddy today. He's been flooded with visitors and calls to his room and really hasn't felt good. So I decided to stay away today. He started on solid foods today. I know he was happy about that.

I did take Justin to his house to cut grass. The only problem with that is we couldn't get the lawn mower out of the building and he ended up just weedeating around everything. I guess we'll try again early next week. He's coming home, Lord willing, Tuesday or Wednesday. So maybe we can get that done for him before he gets home.

This evening, our SIGMA sponsors had a meeting with our Youth Pastor and his wife about our upcoming SIGMA year. I am very excited to see all the new changes take place. Brother RJ and Mrs. Liz have some really good ideas for this year that will encourage our youth to dig deeper into the scripture and into prayer for one another.

We have a new member to our family. His name is Harley. He's a kitten. He's Hannah's, of course. But we're all enjoying him. He's hilarious. I'll try to get a picture of him soon.

Hope you have a wonderful Lord's Day!

Please....

Read the latest on Cassie.

Doing Good!

Daddy is doing so much better than Tuesday!! Because of the severity of the infection he'll be in the hospital a good five days with some home health nurses later. He's on a liquid diet right now and they'll begin him on solids, probably Sunday or Monday.

He skipped Post ICU altogether and went straight to a regular room. For those of you who know him, you can email me and I'll give you his room number or you can call the house. If you call GMH, you might be told he's not registered. A couple of people have been told that. I assure you that he is registered. LOL

He wasn't in much of a joking mood yesterday evening, but was glad to see the children walk in for a big, yet gentle, Paw Paw hug. We didn't stay too long because I could tell he was getting a little fidgety.

Just wanted to give you an update on things and thank you again for praying for him!

Update on Daddy

Daddy is in ICU today recovering from his gall bladder surgery. I do not think they will do the surgery on his port today. Then again.....you never know.

They were able to give him his dialysis treatment yesterday morning and picked him up for gall bladder surgery at 5:00 PM.

My mom, brother, and I went to eat supper and then sat in the surgical waiting area until we were called.

We were told Tuesday that there was a wall of infection around the gall bladder and that they would try laparoscopy, but if they couldn't see they would have to open him up. So we weren't surprised when the call came at 8:00 at they were going to have to cut him open and that it would be another hour and a half.

Just thirty minutes later, we received another call that he was in recovery and we were to gather his belongings out of his room and go back to the waiting area to wait for the doctor. And that he would be placed in a monitored room overnight.

We did as we were told but the doctor never came. I grew weary of waiting for her and called to see what was going on. The nurse said they got their wires crossed and that he was not in recovery. He was still in surgery. Finally, at 10:00 PM, we were told that his surgery was over, he was in recovery, and the doctor was coming down.

Dr. Mancini told us that during the laparoscopy, there was so much infection she couldn't see well and accidentally clipped the wrong duct. She knew immediately that something wasn't right and called for her partner, who was able to repair her mistake by using a straw to create a duct. His body is back to normal from that. However, gangrene was apparent to her. She was actually waiting on lab results to confirm that, but was pretty positive it was there. The infection is in his blood. I'm sure that dialysis has played a HUGE part in keeping him safe from that since dialysis actually cleans the blood. I was thinking about that last night and wondering how things could have been different if it wasn't for the dialysis.

We were able to see him in recovery long enough to say hello and goodbye. Today he is in ICU fighting to take a tube from his nose. The tube goes to his stomach to keep fluids off of the stomach so he doesn't vomit and pull his stitches loose. The nurse said he's giving her quite a fit about it.

He also has two drainage tubes in his side to help drain the infection and other fluids. He's looking at possibly a good five days in the hospital and visiting nurses at home for the next four to six weeks.

Thank you all so much for praying for him. Please continue to pray as he heals from all of this. We know that God has worked in all of this. There are too many things that have happened around these circumstances not to see the hand of God and how He has worked.

God is good.....all the time.

What A Day!

DISCLAIMER: All photos in this blog post were used by permission of sick person!

This morning I picked up daddy to take him for his outpatient surgery. On the way there, just before getting onto the highway, my front left tire went flat. Flat as a pancake! I called mom and she left work to pick daddy up where we were stuck while I stayed behind and waited on my hubby to change my tire. I'm thankful I had a friend to call when I had my nervous breakdown, which has been happening quite frequently lately. She was sweet to listen to my blubber over the phone.

And then several of my friends who were working at the church stopped and prayed for my dad and for me too. That meant so much. I could feel your prayers, y'all, and they were appreciated. I'm thankful for praying friends.

My brother, John, knew where we were so he stopped in to help with the tire change. Bruce had already finished the job, but John was ready and willing to give a helping hand if necessary. I'm thankful for a husband who can change a tire and a brother who is always there to lend a helping hand to me.

Bruce and I switched vehicles so he could take my car to have the spare replaced. So I took off in the van while John followed me to the hospital. When we arrived, mom had taken daddy to the emergency room instead of admissions because she was having to pull over to the side of the road due to him needing to continually vomit with severe pain to the stomach and back. They took him back immediately and began running tests and hooking him up to monitors. We spent the better part of the day watching him go in and out of the emergency room for tests, waiting on tests results, and meeting doctors. I'm thankful for all of those who worked on my daddy and were so nice and prompt in getting him to his tests and reading the results. And for the doctors and nurses that were able to find what his problem was.

We were all pretty tired. I'm thankful that the Lord allowed us all to be there together for daddy and for each other.


Once the nurse shot daddy up with finnigrin and dilaudid, he was pretty much stoned out of his mind and wasn't feeling anymore pain! I'm thankful for pain medicines that helped daddy rest, considering he hasn't rested well in a couple of months because of his pain.


In between waking up and falling back to sleep, he was so thirsty but wasn't allowed to drink anything. So we kept a damp cloth in his mouth. His little lips were so dry. I'm thankful for water to help quench his thirst.



Besides CAT scans and ultrasounds, they were also coming in for blood work to check all of his levels. I'm thankful they were able to read blood levels to help them draw more of a conclusion to his overall problem.


His first Doctor was Dr. Wagner who turned him over to Dr. Mancini. She was very nice and told us that his gall bladder needed to be taken out. We were all relieved that it wasn't something worse and that they were going to be able to do something about it soon. He's been in so much pain recently and so sick, that he's lost 20 pounds this month. I'm thankful for doctors that had wonderful bedside manners and took the time to talk TO us and not AT us.


They admitted him to a room to watch him overnight and administer antibiotics through IV. I'm thankful that daddy is in the hosptial tonight where he'll be watched over and taken care of and administered drugs as he needs them.



By the time we got him to his room, he was still not feeling any pain. As a matter of fact, he was fairly alert and cracking jokes. Tomorrow morning, they will take him down for his dialysis treatment. They'll allow him a little time to recover from that and then they'll do his gall bladder surgery. Thursday morning they will do the initial surgery on his dialysis port. So please pray for him, especially over the next couple of days. I know he's in for an ordeal, but I also know that the Lord is in control of all of this and that daddy is going to feel so much better once all of this is taken care of. I'm thankful that when I left his side this evening, he was smiling.


As if things couldn't get any worse, I was backing out of the hospital parking garage when I hit a huge cement column and messed up the van. I was able to salvage the blinker shield, but I don't know how I'm going to break this to Bruce! *SIGH* :I I'm thankful this wasn't worse than what it was and that no one else was involved.

Switching Gears

For a couple of weeks I've been struggling with a decision. My heart has been really heavy about it and last night I told our church secretary that I was stepping away from the bus ministry. This was not easy for me. As a matter of fact, it was one of the most difficult things I've ever done. It wasn't difficult to tell her, but it was difficult in the sense that I've come to love these little children.

However, with my dad's health the way it is right now, I've been praying and asking the Lord to help me be a blessing and encouragement to him. The Lord laid it on my heart to work with him in the rest home ministry. Not only will it be a blessing to him, but I will receive blessings also as I sit under his preaching and get to know the sweet people he has come to know at the rest home.

I look forward to sneaking down to the bus ministry on occassion and giving hugs or passing out a meal. But for now, I'm moving on to the rest home ministry which I know will bring many blessings of its own.

Tithing Pays!

Two men crashed in their private plane on a South Pacific Island. Both survived. One of the men brushed himself off and then proceeded to run all over the island to see if they had any chance of survival. When he returned, he rushed up to the other man and screamed, "This island is uninhabited, there is no food, there is no water. We! are going to die!"

The other man leaned back against the fuselage of the wrecked plane, folded his arms and responded, "No we're not. I make over $250,000 a week."

The first man grabbed his friend and shook him. "Listen, we are on an uninhabited island. There is no food, no water. We are going to die!"

The other man, unruffled, again responded. "No, I make over $250,000 a week."

Mystified, the first man, taken aback with such an answer again repeated, "For the last time, I'm telling you we ARE doomed. There is NO one else on this island. There is NO food. There is NO water. We are, I repeat, we are going to die a slow death."

Still unfazed, the first man looked the other in the eyes and said, Do not make me say this again. I make over $250,000 per week... I am a Baptist and tithe.
MY PASTOR WILL FIND US!"

See A Smile For A Quarter

This morning I dropped Justin off at work at the Mission Board while I cleaned mom's house. Daddy was sleeping in the recliner when I got to their home, which is where he's been for several days now not eating or sleeping. He's so weak he skipped dialysis this morning. But they told him they'd hold him a chair for tomorrow. So, Lord willing, he'll be able to get in there for that. Please keep him in your prayers. I'll be taking him Tuesday for outpatient surgery. The port in his arm for his dialysis is slowing and not doing the best job that it should. They'll have to check it out and possibly put in a new port somewhere else. Most likely his neck. It would be wonderful if he didn't have to go through that. There are some other things going on with his body that I won't mention right now, but if you could keep him a matter of prayer, our family would most certainly appreciate that.

Do you have an Aldi near you? If you do, then you know that it's twenty-five cents to use a grocery buggy. Of course, when you return your buggy you get your quarter back. Try giving your buggy to an elderly person next time you go. You'd be surprised what a big smile will cross their face when they realize that not only did you save them from having to find a quarter, but they'll get your quarter back when they return the buggy. It's really funny to watch them react. That's one of my favorite things to do when I shop there.

I saw my friend Susan today. I haven't seen her and the kids in ages, it seems like. I went out of my way to a grocery store and they live just a few minutes from there so I popped in on them. I don't normally do that to people without calling first, but Susan is one of those people that you know will welcome you no matter what. We had a nice little visit and off I went. By the way, thanks for praying, Susan...I made out like a bandit at the KJB store. :)

Justin cut the grass while I was shopping and Hannah cleaned around the house. She and I are going out for a little bit this evening. We're going to have a little mother/daughter time together but there's a twist to our adventure. I'll tell you more about it later.

That's all I have for now. Hope you have a great day!

Ahhhhh

The kids and I were invited to a church member's home for a dip in the pool. It was a great way to beat the heat today.

Harrison


Justin


Hannah


We were all sitting on the deck eating lunch when we noticed seven or eight of these guys under the arm of a lounging chair. Needless to say, no one was brave enough to sit there.


We had a really good time today. It was nice to spend time with people from our church and take a dip in the pool. Winning a game of water volleyball was the highlight for me. And then, of course, a game of marbles later.

Hannah was supposed to have piano this evening but her piano teacher is sick so we missed that this evening. Hannah was sort of relieved because the hymn she's working on is a bit hard for her so knowing she had another week of practicing it made her happy.

We have a pretty busy weekend ahead of us. I hope you have a great one.

Daddy's Birthday Dinner

Last night we spent the evening at mom and dad's celebrating daddy's birthday. Daddy wasn't in much of a celebration mood. He was so terribly sick. But tried his best to take part in the festivity of the evening.


The Grandchildren, as in most families, sat at the "little" table. Of course, Jeremy was with us so he was a grandchild last night.


I have no idea what sparred this look, but thought it was funny.

Daddy likes birthday cake, but he LOVES mom's banana pudding. So the birthday boy got this in place of cake. He never did eat a sloppy joe because he was feeling so poorly, but I think he might have had a bite of his nanner puddin'.

This is my favorite picture. Isn't it just the sweetest? Lord willing, they will celebrate their 42nd Anniversary in October.

My nephew Michael. We call him Mikey!

My sister-in-law Jenny.

Daddy reading a card from John that made him tear up a bit.

Daddy got some interesting T-shirts last night. This one says "Did you eat an extra bowl of stupid this morning?"

And this one says, "You're not yourself today. I noticed the improvement immediately."

Yes, I bought those T-shirts.

I bought him some jeans too.

He's reading a Hallmark from mom that got him all teary-eyed.

Hallmark...when you care enough to make someone cry.

She bought him some shirts and also something for his BRAUN razor. I still can't figure out what that thing was.

And she bought him this case on wheels for his Karaoke when he preaches at the rest home so he'll always have a microphone. His John Deere mower was an early present this year also.

Yes, this is Mikey in Dollie's suite. I don't know why he crawled in there with her, but Hannah was quick to take a pic.

Daddy was pleased that a couple of the boys from church stopped by. John O' on the far left and Spencer Owens on the far right. And then of course my adopted red head, Jeremy and Justin in the middle looking over his Paw Paw's shoulder.

Justin and daddy.

Daddy and me.

Daddy and Hannah. He had fallen asleep so she posed behind him for this pic. I never did get one of Harrison.

When we got home, Justin went out to feed Tipsy and Hannah decided she'd lock him out of the house. He's not sleeping. He's in the middle of pleading with her to let him in. Meanwhile, Jeremy slips out the front door, sneaks around back and scares Justin, causing him to lift his chair and nearly break it over Jeremy's head. We were all laughing, including Justin. Jeremy was simply paying him back for waking him up the other morning with a trumpet to the ear. What will we do with these kids?