Mike and I recently found out that there will be a new edition to our family within the year...not from us though. : ) My Uncle Bill and Aunt Maureen will be adopting a baby girl from China within the year. Of course, this means that I will have to give up my role as the baby of the family now, but it's a sacrifice I am willing to make. We are so excited for them and I know they will be amazing parents. I am excited for her arrival and I can't wait to head down to Florida to visit. She will be my only cousin on that side of the family, and I am sure she will be spoiled by us all. What a responsibility and amazing blessing from God that we will all get to take part in!
Until next time...
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Monday, January 22, 2007
We are still here and we made it through the holidays...
Sorry it has been so long, but now it is time to get everyone updated. Yes, this will be a long one so be prepared. Here it comes...
To fill everyone in on our last blog, as we pulled in to Mike's parents driveway on that Thursday, his parents pulled in right behind us. His dad was put on new medications to help with the two blockages in one artery and given orders to take it easy. However, within a few days his whole body broke out in a rash and they took him off of all of the meds until they could determine which drug was causing it. Christmas Day his dad over did it and had a pretty rough day, because of this and with a fight with the doctors they got him on oxygen at home and since then he has been doing much better. He has a visiting nurse and physical therapist coming to the house to check on him also. He still has his good and bad days but at least he is coherent and back to his normal self.
As for my mom, she had her surgery on January 8th, once my father returned home from England for a work and witness trip. She made it through the surgery well and no other cancer cells were found...Praise the Lord! She was in the hospital for two days before they released her and is now home recovering well. She is feeling a whole lot better and my dad is taking good care of her. Her recovery period is 8-10 weeks so it will take time but she sounds great and is in good spirits. I think all she really wants is to get back to real life and being able to live prior to the past few months when she has been too weak.
Now for the update on our Christmas, even with all that was going on we did have a great vacation back home. The most important thing to us was just being with our family and friends that we can't see all the time. We got to spend the holidays with our families, visit with old friends, be there for Angela's 8th birthday (our niece), see all the new babies that have been born and visit our home church and some of the families. We had a great time hanging out with the Muzzeys on Friday night, just talking, playing with millipedes and playing cards. And then Mike had to finish up his Christmas shopping so we headed to the dreadful mall 2 days before Christmas. For any of you who really know me, you know that shopping is definitely not a passion or desire of mine, much less in crowded malls with pushy people. But we survived, got everything we needed, spent too much money, and then headed out to lunch with my Aunt Jean and Mr. Sweetman. Don Pablos...yummy! Plus, this restaurant was one of our memory places from when we first started dating
We celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve with my family. It was a little bit more hurried since there was so much going on at church, but we made it work. There were 11 of us that gathered at Jim's place for dinner and gifts, including my family, Marie, Kevin (Sharon's man), and Val. Val was supposed to leave around early evening to go be with her family, however, we kept telling her that her car wouldn't start and she wasn't going to go until later. Wouldn't you know it...her car didn't start (with a little help from Mike and my mom : ) ) Since Val isn't too familiar with what is under the hood of her car, we decided to unhook her battery to delay her exit. Of course, she came in blaming Mike right away demanding to know what he did to her car. He didn't back down until Val was so upset she started to cry, I guess Mike is a softie deep down because he told her the truth and Mike and my mom went and hooked her car back up so she could leave. But then she had been so frazzled that she left a bunch of stuff that she was suppose to take to her family's gathering at Jim's place, so she came back once again. In my opinion, she really didn't want to leave us. We then headed off to the Christmas Eve candlelight service where I met my "niece", McKenzie Cherry, for the first time since she was born in August. Then we picked up the dogs and were off to Sharon's place for snacks and dessert (yummy buttercake). We had breakfast together the following Christmas morning with my family and then packed up to head to Mike's family.
We spent Christmas Day with the Marinos. We had dinner over at his brother, Chris's house, and spent the night opening gifts and playing with the kids. After dinner, all the guys retreated to the basement to play pool while keeping their ears tuned to the radio to hear the Eagles game, which they won. It was a late night and by the time we got back to Mike's parents we all crashed, except Angela who wanted to open her Christmas gifts. Mike and I had to be up early the next morning to head to the eastern shore so we postponed Christmas gifts until later in the week.
On Tuesday, we headed down through DE and into Salisbury, MD so we could visit with Chris, Mindy & Luke. Sharon and Val joined us for the trip. It was really great to see the Scotts again and even better that was the day that Luke started to crawl. He is just growing up so fast! We headed out to lunch and then later visited with Chris' neighbors, the Willeys, and then had dessert at Chris' parents house. It was nice to get caught up with each other and to know that even when friends move away they really aren't that far away. Later on the way home, we made a quick stop to check out Val's new house. It is a perfect starter house for what she needs and is really cute too. I'm so happy for her and knowing how far she has come to be the woman she is today.
On Wednesday, we got together with Sharon, Val and Mark for dinner. We had a good time and once again decided to get Val. Mike told the waitress it was her 30th birthday, so they came out with a dessert and sang to her. They told her that her reaction was one of the best ones they have ever had, little did they know it was because it was nowhere near her birthday much less near her 30th birthday. It may seem as if Val is persecuted often, but it truly is out of love and what could she complain about...she got a free dessert!! Then we headed out to Chris & Keera's house to see them and their 10 month old identical twin girls which we had not seen since they were born. I even got Mike to hold Callie, and here is the proof. Wednesday was also the day that my dad and Aunt Jean headed off to England for 12 days.
On Friday, after a quick trip to the doctor for me, we headed to PA for the rest of our vacation. We opened our gifts that night with part of the family and hung out with Angela the rest of the weekend. We spent a lot of time just relaxing at the house with Mike's parents, Angela and Jenn. I spent a lot of time playing Elvis checkers and Tic-Tac-Toe, and I learned that Angela can be a cheater when she wants to...sneaky little kid! After getting the rug pulled out from under me a few times, we laid down ground rules and we were good from that point on. : )
On New Years Eve, we went out to lunch with our friend, Angela, to get caught up on life. While we were there we had the restaurant sing Happy Birthday to our niece, Angela. It has become a tradition to take her there for her birthday for the past few years now. Then we went home and watched the Eagles game and then watched the Ball drop with the family. We spent New Years Day at Jenn and Brian's house since it was Angela's 8th birthday and then on Tuesday we watched Christian and Gabriel (our other niece and nephew) until they fell asleep before heading out to visit Dr. McGrath. We always like to keep in touch with Dr. McGrath due to his support he has always given Mike towards fulfilling his dream and becoming a vet. Many stories were exchanged about their school experiences, but it is also comforting to know Mike is not the only one who has gone through this and that he will survive it.
On Wednesday, we piled back into the car and headed back to Kansas. Thank God we had good weather and we made it through the entire trip safe. The animals seemed to be worn down at the hotel halfway through our journey, so they decided they needed to relax in comfort.
Mike has since then started class and work and is already in full swing. He has already had his first test and is getting ready for the next one along with keeping up with 8 classes. He has been overwhelmed with all of our family issues but he is staying as strong as he can. I am back in the swing of work again as well as my routine here in Kansas. Plus, to prove to us it is winter we have now gotten some snow, about 4-5 inches.
However, over a week ago we got news from home that Mike's mom was taken into the emergency room with a fever of 103, low blood pressure, high heart rate, problems breathing, pneumonaie, and she was septic. She was later transferred into ICU, sedated and put on a ventilator for about 6 days. She is now out of ICU, recovering well, and I believe she should be coming home today. She will still be on an IV with antibiotic at home, but at least both his parents will be home together instead of in the hospital. Praise the Lord! We've had a few scares with the health of our parents but we know that our Heavenly Father doesn't just love us but he is the Great Physician and can heal us also! We have so much to be thankful for!!!
Thank you to all who were praying for our parents, we could feel the prayers being lifted up and know that we are blessed to have such a strong prayer group and circle of friends! We are thankful that life is getting back to some normalcy after these past few months, even though Mike was never ready to go back to school. Even the animals seem to be thankful for a routine again, it seems they are trying to get caught up on their lack of sleep through it all, as the pictures show.
To fill everyone in on our last blog, as we pulled in to Mike's parents driveway on that Thursday, his parents pulled in right behind us. His dad was put on new medications to help with the two blockages in one artery and given orders to take it easy. However, within a few days his whole body broke out in a rash and they took him off of all of the meds until they could determine which drug was causing it. Christmas Day his dad over did it and had a pretty rough day, because of this and with a fight with the doctors they got him on oxygen at home and since then he has been doing much better. He has a visiting nurse and physical therapist coming to the house to check on him also. He still has his good and bad days but at least he is coherent and back to his normal self.
As for my mom, she had her surgery on January 8th, once my father returned home from England for a work and witness trip. She made it through the surgery well and no other cancer cells were found...Praise the Lord! She was in the hospital for two days before they released her and is now home recovering well. She is feeling a whole lot better and my dad is taking good care of her. Her recovery period is 8-10 weeks so it will take time but she sounds great and is in good spirits. I think all she really wants is to get back to real life and being able to live prior to the past few months when she has been too weak.
Now for the update on our Christmas, even with all that was going on we did have a great vacation back home. The most important thing to us was just being with our family and friends that we can't see all the time. We got to spend the holidays with our families, visit with old friends, be there for Angela's 8th birthday (our niece), see all the new babies that have been born and visit our home church and some of the families. We had a great time hanging out with the Muzzeys on Friday night, just talking, playing with millipedes and playing cards. And then Mike had to finish up his Christmas shopping so we headed to the dreadful mall 2 days before Christmas. For any of you who really know me, you know that shopping is definitely not a passion or desire of mine, much less in crowded malls with pushy people. But we survived, got everything we needed, spent too much money, and then headed out to lunch with my Aunt Jean and Mr. Sweetman. Don Pablos...yummy! Plus, this restaurant was one of our memory places from when we first started dating
We celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve with my family. It was a little bit more hurried since there was so much going on at church, but we made it work. There were 11 of us that gathered at Jim's place for dinner and gifts, including my family, Marie, Kevin (Sharon's man), and Val. Val was supposed to leave around early evening to go be with her family, however, we kept telling her that her car wouldn't start and she wasn't going to go until later. Wouldn't you know it...her car didn't start (with a little help from Mike and my mom : ) ) Since Val isn't too familiar with what is under the hood of her car, we decided to unhook her battery to delay her exit. Of course, she came in blaming Mike right away demanding to know what he did to her car. He didn't back down until Val was so upset she started to cry, I guess Mike is a softie deep down because he told her the truth and Mike and my mom went and hooked her car back up so she could leave. But then she had been so frazzled that she left a bunch of stuff that she was suppose to take to her family's gathering at Jim's place, so she came back once again. In my opinion, she really didn't want to leave us. We then headed off to the Christmas Eve candlelight service where I met my "niece", McKenzie Cherry, for the first time since she was born in August. Then we picked up the dogs and were off to Sharon's place for snacks and dessert (yummy buttercake). We had breakfast together the following Christmas morning with my family and then packed up to head to Mike's family.
We spent Christmas Day with the Marinos. We had dinner over at his brother, Chris's house, and spent the night opening gifts and playing with the kids. After dinner, all the guys retreated to the basement to play pool while keeping their ears tuned to the radio to hear the Eagles game, which they won. It was a late night and by the time we got back to Mike's parents we all crashed, except Angela who wanted to open her Christmas gifts. Mike and I had to be up early the next morning to head to the eastern shore so we postponed Christmas gifts until later in the week.
On Tuesday, we headed down through DE and into Salisbury, MD so we could visit with Chris, Mindy & Luke. Sharon and Val joined us for the trip. It was really great to see the Scotts again and even better that was the day that Luke started to crawl. He is just growing up so fast! We headed out to lunch and then later visited with Chris' neighbors, the Willeys, and then had dessert at Chris' parents house. It was nice to get caught up with each other and to know that even when friends move away they really aren't that far away. Later on the way home, we made a quick stop to check out Val's new house. It is a perfect starter house for what she needs and is really cute too. I'm so happy for her and knowing how far she has come to be the woman she is today.
On Wednesday, we got together with Sharon, Val and Mark for dinner. We had a good time and once again decided to get Val. Mike told the waitress it was her 30th birthday, so they came out with a dessert and sang to her. They told her that her reaction was one of the best ones they have ever had, little did they know it was because it was nowhere near her birthday much less near her 30th birthday. It may seem as if Val is persecuted often, but it truly is out of love and what could she complain about...she got a free dessert!! Then we headed out to Chris & Keera's house to see them and their 10 month old identical twin girls which we had not seen since they were born. I even got Mike to hold Callie, and here is the proof. Wednesday was also the day that my dad and Aunt Jean headed off to England for 12 days.
On Friday, after a quick trip to the doctor for me, we headed to PA for the rest of our vacation. We opened our gifts that night with part of the family and hung out with Angela the rest of the weekend. We spent a lot of time just relaxing at the house with Mike's parents, Angela and Jenn. I spent a lot of time playing Elvis checkers and Tic-Tac-Toe, and I learned that Angela can be a cheater when she wants to...sneaky little kid! After getting the rug pulled out from under me a few times, we laid down ground rules and we were good from that point on. : )
On New Years Eve, we went out to lunch with our friend, Angela, to get caught up on life. While we were there we had the restaurant sing Happy Birthday to our niece, Angela. It has become a tradition to take her there for her birthday for the past few years now. Then we went home and watched the Eagles game and then watched the Ball drop with the family. We spent New Years Day at Jenn and Brian's house since it was Angela's 8th birthday and then on Tuesday we watched Christian and Gabriel (our other niece and nephew) until they fell asleep before heading out to visit Dr. McGrath. We always like to keep in touch with Dr. McGrath due to his support he has always given Mike towards fulfilling his dream and becoming a vet. Many stories were exchanged about their school experiences, but it is also comforting to know Mike is not the only one who has gone through this and that he will survive it.
On Wednesday, we piled back into the car and headed back to Kansas. Thank God we had good weather and we made it through the entire trip safe. The animals seemed to be worn down at the hotel halfway through our journey, so they decided they needed to relax in comfort.
Mike has since then started class and work and is already in full swing. He has already had his first test and is getting ready for the next one along with keeping up with 8 classes. He has been overwhelmed with all of our family issues but he is staying as strong as he can. I am back in the swing of work again as well as my routine here in Kansas. Plus, to prove to us it is winter we have now gotten some snow, about 4-5 inches.
However, over a week ago we got news from home that Mike's mom was taken into the emergency room with a fever of 103, low blood pressure, high heart rate, problems breathing, pneumonaie, and she was septic. She was later transferred into ICU, sedated and put on a ventilator for about 6 days. She is now out of ICU, recovering well, and I believe she should be coming home today. She will still be on an IV with antibiotic at home, but at least both his parents will be home together instead of in the hospital. Praise the Lord! We've had a few scares with the health of our parents but we know that our Heavenly Father doesn't just love us but he is the Great Physician and can heal us also! We have so much to be thankful for!!!
Thank you to all who were praying for our parents, we could feel the prayers being lifted up and know that we are blessed to have such a strong prayer group and circle of friends! We are thankful that life is getting back to some normalcy after these past few months, even though Mike was never ready to go back to school. Even the animals seem to be thankful for a routine again, it seems they are trying to get caught up on their lack of sleep through it all, as the pictures show.
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