Friends Across The Seas

When I went off to college, I went to a small school where I basically knew no one.  I think there were maybe 2 people from my high school that went to the same college as me.  Most of my high school friends went to large colleges and universities where they knew many others.

Since I basically didn't know anyone, I was doing the "potluck" roommate thing, where you are at the mercy of some college life office to place you in a room with someone who hopefully isn't too crazy.

My potluck roommate, Katie, ended up being one of the best things that happened to me at college.

And, she wasn't too crazy!

(I hope she can say the same thing for me).

Katie lives overseas and I haven't seen her in four years (the time she initially moved).  Her oldest daughter was less than a year at the time. Her and her husband, Chris, and (now) 2 kids are back for a few months and I got to see them this past week.  And our kids got to meet each other and play.

It was so wonderful to see them all.  I spent the whole day with her and only scratched the surface of what I wanted to ask and talk to her about (Does she still have the chapstick habit? Does she still dance to Arethra Franklin?  Does she still watch reruns of The Cosby Show and Fullhouse?  Is "super" still her favorite adjective of all time?  You know, important questions!) 

She is such a dear friend and I was so thrilled to catch up with her.

our oldest kids - instant buds

sweet hugs

right before the fire ant incident of 2012

Glimmers

Most days as a parent, I pretty much am keenly aware of all the things I'm not doing well.  Or the things the kids are doing too much of (tv) or too little of (veggies).

Yesterday morning, I was trying to hurry to make an appointment.  I was doing all the last minute scurrying and Little Miss started crying in the other room.  This is not unusual.  I could tell it was more of a disgruntled cry than a something-is-really-wrong cry.  So, I did my typical, "What's wrong, sweetie?" and "I'll be right there" lines while I quickly trying to get everything together.

I went to check on her a minute later and I saw Happy holding her head and leaning in towards her.  At first, I thought he had her in a headlock.  But as I got closer, I could hear him saying something quietly to her and then he said an exuberant, "Amen!". 

I realized he was praying for her because she was upset. How precious.

When I don't know how to comfort my children or I can't get them to calm down, I just pray for them. Happy was doing the same for Little Miss.

It was a sweet glimmer of hope and an encouragement to me.

Sweet Memories

A couple of weeks ago, I had to go to the OB to get an early screening for gestational diabetes. 

Because the screening that comes later in pregnancy is not enough fun already. They wanted to treat me to one twice.  How kind. 

(That, or the fact that I have small babies is a concern for them and they wanted to make sure something hasn't been overlooked in past pregnancies.)

Happy has this complex with doctors and nurses touching me.  He screams and cries VERY LOUDLY, which in turn, fires up Little Miss.  It makes a trip to the OB with them extra special and delightful. A real memory maker.

Add in a fasting pregnant woman consuming a sugar poison glucose drink to Happy's aversion to nurses touching me and you have a real recipe for disaster. I decided to let Mom and Dad watch the kids while I ran over to the doctor's office for my blood work.

When I got to my parents' house, Dad wanted to pull out his childhood train set for my little train nut, Happy, to play with.  I have fond memories of playing with that train set with my dad as a child.  And it was so precious to see him playing with the kids. 

I am so very thankful for new memories being made with Dad.

(And also thankful that I passed the diabetes test.)

Easter Pics

I took these forever ago, but never posted them.

Better late than never, right?

Right.

Free Wood. Or Free Labor. However You May Look at it.

I haven't blogged about anything other than Dad for months.  It's hard to recover your blogging mojo after dealing with life threatening illness.  (Dad is better.  He is now in a nursing home and making improvements.)

Anyways, what better to re-enter my mundane blogging than a funny little picture?  For the record, Hubs does not find the same level of humor in this as I do.  I am hoping someone else can appreciate this.

I pass this plot of land on my way to the in-laws house.  Recently, a large tree fell down after a storm.

 

Isn't that a generous offer?!? Come clean up my property and, as an added bonus for me you, you can haul it off.  Score.

It's Been A While-Dad Update

Hi Friends!

I apologize in my lack of updating about Dad.  The good news is that there hasn't been too much to update you guys on.  I'll try to recap the more important/crucial items.  Overall, he is doing pretty well.  He is still in the long term acute care hospital. He has had a few setbacks  in the last few weeks that are discouraging, but not life-threatening or non-reversible at this point.  We are thankful for that.

Dad has been fully weaned off of both the respirator and any supplemental oxygen!  What a miracle!

He is still getting dialysis 3 times a week and I understand that to be the plan indefinitely at this point.  He did have a pretty severe infection and they located the source of his infection to the port where he gets the dialysis.  So they operated (or maybe it was just a procedure, I am not sure as to the correct term) on him today to replace that. 

He was making progress in eating a few weeks ago, but aspirated his food pretty severely several times.  If you recall, initially aspiration during emergency surgery was what got him into this mess.  Because of the recent aspiration, he had to go back to a feeding tube and nothing by mouth.  They tried him with some applesauce this week and he aspirated that.

Mentally, he is mostly totally coherent, but he does still have moments of confusion and paranoia.  But, really, who doesn't?

He has days when he is discouraged and bored, days when he is grumpy, and days when he is in a good mood and has everyone laughing.  He's enjoyed the visitors that he has had as it is a break from the monotony. Thank you if you have visited him.  It really has encouraged him.

Last week, he said to me, "I have a long way to go. I could really use some prayer."  I told him that everyone had been praying for him and that those prayers, I truly believe, are a big part of why he has made such great progress. 

He does make an unintentional point, though, that though he is no longer fighting for his life, he is now aware of everything that is going on and it can be overwhelming.  In some ways, this is harder for him.

Please continue to pray for him to improve and for him to be encouraged.

Also, in this facility, they have roommates.  Dad's roommate, Fred, came into the hospital about the time that Dad did.  We have gotten to know Fred, his wife, and some of their family.  It appears that Fred will not recover from his lung and breathing challenges.  Please pray for Fred to recover and, if he does not recover, for comfort and wisdom for his family.  It is such a hard situation that he, his family, and his doctors are in.

Thank you, all, so much for your prayers and support.

I'm Behind on the Updating!

Many of you have asked for Dad updates.  I am sorry for not being as frequent with them as of late. 

Thankfully, he is not in such a critical state.  He is in a recuperating/recovering phase which is slow and a bit painful to watch (Well, it all is painful to watch...but this is a different kind of painful for the observer, I guess).  But he is making good progress, nonetheless.

They have him off of the respirator machine for 16 hours a day, with just supplemental oxygen.  He has been able to tolerate ice chips in the last few days and today they gave him some applesauce that he was also able to tolerate.

He is still getting dialysis 3 times a week. He is getting daily speech, occupational, and physical therapy.

He has been able to tolerate the speaking valve for a few hours each day (with a trachea, you can't speak unless you have a valve inserted).

He is (understandably) very confused, tired, and listless.  The term the staff use is "delusional," which I understand to be expected considering how sick he was and how much medicine he was (and still is) on.

Please pray for him to be encouraged and to be content within this challenging and frustrating situation.  Thank you for your support, prayers, and encouragement.