St. Louis

We are in St. Louis. Adam goes into the hospital tomorrow morning at 9:00. We don't know the exact time of the ablation. I would suppose that it will be as soon as they get him all prepped. I'm sure they will have emergency equipment ready just in case..... Tayler started school today, so we will be staying here in the morning to get him off to school and then get to the hospital. Adam is not the least bit apprehensive about going to the hospital. You see, he gets lots of special attention. He even asked if Rebecca (the girl in charge of the AV equipment) was going to bring him his DVD player again. I guess he has a way to block out the bad and only remember the good. Boy, if we could all do that.....Tomorrow night we get to go to the Shaq/Pujols batting battle. It is at the AAA ball park. Matt and Christal got 4 free tickets, so Matt, Tayler, and us two are going. Christal doesn't want Adam out of the house before Friday. You could say overprotection, but I would do the same thing. Just can't take a chance of him catching something or going into stress while out somewhere. Probably as far as he willl get will be to Target later today. We will call all of you or put it on Facebook when we know the outcome of the surgery.

Summertime!!!

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted. Life is going by way too fast. First it was Carbondale, then VBS, then we started a major renovation of our church. We had two couples from Campers on Mission come to help up and several of our church members. The campers were only going to stay a week, but they felt sorry for us and stayed two. We quit today at 4:00 with most of the work done. It has been a very long two weeks with a break in the middle when we went to St. Louis to a cardinal game and visited Matt and Christal. Adam is hanging in there. It will be a long summer for them. He will come off the medicine that is keeping his heart regular in two weeks, then we just hope that he goes 4 weeks before his heart goes crazy. We are praying that they won't have to do emergency surgery because he is on two different blood thinners and that would not be good. Matts mom is going to get a heart monitor from work so that they can keep track of his heart. Just keep praying for all of them. It's a very stressful time right now. We are not planning anything after the 14th of this month.

Back Home

We had a very busy week in Carbondale. It was totally devestated. Not like a tornado that jumps from house to house. This 100 mile an hour wind took out trees on almost every house. Some of them were about 10 feet around and at least 75 feet tall. Very old trees. The ground was so soft from all the rain that they just pulled out of the ground and landed on whatever was in their way. Our Disaster teams left this week, but the Methodists were coming in behind us, so it should all be cleaned up in a few more weeks. We were very thankful that we had some young people to help us. We old folks can't handle some of the big stuff. I've lost my digital camera, so I didn't get to take any pics, but one of the ladies did and will be sending me a CD soon.
Now, it's back to gardening at home. The strawberries are huge and loaded. Sheri has already baked two strawberry pies and I made strawberry shortcake yesterday. Today its Jam.....

Mother's Day

It has been a wonderful Mother's Day. God blessed us with a beautiful sunshiney day and not too hot. Tim grilled chicken breasts and K.C. and Melissa made salads. Michael and Leah watched. Then it was so nice we all just sat outside and ate and visited. What a great day. I just wish all of my kids could have been here. I know we are all one in spirit. Butch and Tammy came through on their way home from St. Louis. It was a short, but sweet visit. I hope you have all visited Ronnie's facebook page and saw her beautiful prom pictures. Butch is ready to wrap her in bubble wrap and not let her out of the house. Any father can relate to that, I'm sure. And if you haven't heard her sing, just go on Butch's facebook and hear her sing.
Well, this week is the week of Corie's baby, so be in prayer for her and the new baby. Little Sammy will be here on the 14th. We're hoping to get down there soon. We are keeping ourselves available for Christal in case we need to get to St. Louis in a hurry. I finally did get most of the garden in and it's been just rainy enough that everything is doing great.
Please continue to pray for Adam. He still has lots of physical problems.

Home again

We came home yesterday after we were sure that Christal would be fine without us. Adam is such a different boy on his ADHD meds. He sat and played computer games while Christal ran some errands. Now the challenge is to get him to eat and drink so he can get his strength built back up. He needs to drink lots of liquids for his kidneys. And he has no appetite. Tayler was really torn. He was happy to have us and Aunt Kelli and Aunt Sheri and K.C. there, but he still wanted Adam to come home. Maybe we can get over there and just visit. He's on two little league teams so he is pretty busy. We will be busy putting in our garden now. I picked up a bunch of tomato plants today. And the asparagus is coming up. Yeah!! I know that's about as exciting as watching paint dry, but, hey, it's Indiana in the spring.
Love you all

Another day in Indiana

I wish I could have a more interesting blog like all of you girls, but when you get old, it's just one day after another. However, I must tell you that the strawberries are blooming and I actually got out there and cut back the rasberries. So it won't be long until we get to enjoy the bounty. And I've planted a bunch of asparagas. And I have to tell you that Papa did something for me that I never expected. He got the Major League Baseball package so we (I) can watch all the baseball I want. I can see all of the Rockies, and the Cardinals and the Cubs, and whoever else I want. I fanticised about doing fantasy baseball, when low and behold my son called today and said that he and Steve are trying to get a family and friends league going. I've never done it before, but heck, I'll try anything once. Now I have a great excuse to watch all the baseball I want. And, if I'm busy, I can always TEVO it. So you all have a great Easter because Jesus is alive and well...Praise God.

His majesty on his throne

lumpy's chairs

Lumpy has his favorite chairs. He loves to sew. But most of the time he just thinks about it.

Recovery

I guess I'd better get a blog written. We have been busy and bored at the same time....Does that make sense. The thumb is almost healed. He is down to the last brace and we go to the therapist next Tuesday and will probably be told to use it only as needed. He's doing his exercises really good.
We are both doing well. We have cabin fever so bad, though. I can't wait for the weather to warm up so that I can get out in the garden. It gets warm for one day and then back to winter. And invariably, when it's warm, we have something else to do.
Christal and the boys came to visit last week. It was so good to see them. You know it's been a while when you haven't seen Adam with teeth...His front teeth finally grew back in. And Tayler is growing into such a little man. He is doing baseball and soccer this year.
Corie and kids will be visiting next weekend. They may end up helping me plant garden if its nice.
We are so looking forward to getting our fifth wheel out and going somewhere. It's been a lonnnnng winter.

Papa, Dad

We went to the hospital Monday to have the second thumb surgery. It went really well. This week has been long with pain and upset stomach. He always gets sick with the knock out drugs. They gave him something that was supposed to help...and it did till about 7:00 Monday evening...then he lost it all. And we've been fighting nausea all week. I think the pain meds might make him a little bit sick also. Other than that, he is doing all right. And I am, too. I got to go to JAM Club yesterday because Michael came over and Papasat for me. I think I'll leave him alone today and go get some groceries. I'm about out of coffee and that would not be a good thing.
I hope all of you are doing good. I thought we were going to lose power yesterday with the wind, but we didn't. Praise God.
And I think Spring is right around the corner....robins have been spotted!!
God is good!!
Some information about Adam. Christal took him for another EEG on Tuesday. He had to be sleep deprived with only 4 hours sleep. If you know anything about Adam, you know he sleeps at least 10 hours, so it was a challenge for Christal to keep him up all that time. They will get the results soon. Hopefully they will settle on a medication that he can take just one pill a day. Right now, he is taking 5 for epilepsy, and all his other meds makes about 12....It's rediculous. Pray for her as she is having migraines, and I'm sure it's stress.

Normal?

Life seems to be returning to normal. We had a house full this past Sunday and Monday. Tina and Randy still don't have power. So they had been in Lexington at a motel, but decided to come this way before the next storm hit on Monday. As it did in Louisville. So them and Corie and kids came and spent the night. Then on Monday afternoon, Corie got power at her house and they decided to go and all stay at Corie and Franks until they could get power to their house. The ice broke their weatherhead and that had to be repaired before they could get power. Now they are waiting for the electric company to get the power from the pole to their house. We have one more day of freezing cold and then we will be up in the 50's. We have a ton of work to do outside because we lost two big branches. Now we know why we had underground lines in WY!!! By the way if you go on google maps you can see a ground level picture of our house there. They have really taken good care of it. No tree in the front. But very nice landscaping. Have a good day, everyone.

Ice Storm

Yes, we did get hit with the ice/snow storm. Four inches of snow, then two inches of ice and then seven more inches of snow. We lost power at about 4:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning and tried to tough it out till about 10:00 and when the house got down to about 50 degrees, we set about to hook up the generator which my wonderful hubby bought last summer (just in case). It was enough to run the furnace and one light and a cell charger. So about 2:00 Sheri and Kelley came over when there house was no longer habitabal. They all stayed over here until we got power at about 2:00 yesterday afternoon. Actually they stayed till after supper because their house was 38 degrees and it took that long for it to warm up. We had a great time putting a puzzle together and playing pinocle. Last I heard Tina and Randy were out of power, too. She said it looked like a war zone down there. They were going to a motel in Frankfort. We have several trees and branches down, but they will wait till it gets warmer outside.
We got a letter today from the Dr. in Evansville. Pa's surgery will be on February 9th. We go in Monday for blood work. He is ready.
Love you all.

Well again

Just a quick update on the old folks. We went over to Berea last weekend to see our son get ordained as a deacon. It was great. It's really hard for us to keep things serious, so we didn't. Papa had to bring up the time in his son's past that he was caught pushing leaves into the carpet in the foyer of the church and when he was told to apologize to the church, he gave a two word apology...."I'm sorry".... Then Scott told the church there that they needed to look at a spot in one of the aisles where he needed to say "I"m sorry"... again. Seems when he was youth pastor he caused a hole to come there. It was too funny. But it was great to hear all the people telling how much they appreciate both Butch and Tammy.
We went to the hand specialist yesterday and will hear soon whan they will do the surgery on Pa's left hand. Hopefully soon, because he really is having pain there.
And today we are snow and iced in the house. Looks like we'll be here for a couple of day. So, I will get some things done in my sewing room. I need to start a project so that I will stay away from the computer....It's my vice lately.
Love you all.

The ailments of Grandma & Papa

It's me again. And I'm under the weather again or still, I should say. I've had the runs ever since I took the antibiotics in November. It finally got to me and I went to the Dr. and was diagnosed with a condition called C-diff. It comes when you take lots of antibiotics and they clean out the good bacteria in your colon, so that you are suseptible to bad bacteria. It causes a toxic infection that is a severe type of colitis. Now I have to take another antibiotic to cure the effects of the other one. I looked it up on the internet and it can be quite serious. So all of you girls with little ones need to be aware of it and be super cautious when the Dr. wants to prescribe lots of antibiotics. The toxin is becoming immune to drugs and has killed lots of people. My Dr. said I was fortunate because I was drinking lots of water and eating yogurt and taking Acidopholis, so I got a milder form of it. If this is mild, Iwould hate to see what a severe form looks like.
Anyway, enough about me. We spent the week between Christmas and New Years down with Tina and Randy. It was a great week even though I didn't feel 100%. We played lots of pinocle and watch football. Sorry about the Broncos. I did my best...wore my jersey and socks and rooted as hard as I could. The carriage house is nice because we don't feel like we're putting anyone out.
Next week we go to Evansville to see the hand Dr. again to see when they are doing surgery on the left hand. That will be fun because Papa is pretty much useless with his right hand. I'm hoping I feel better by then because we have some gift cards to Red Lobster.
Michael has moved out into a cabin in the woods. He wanted to start school this semester, but didn't get his paper work in on time, so he's job hunting again and will go to college in the fall. He is planning on being a pastor. He has a little dog to keep him company and we wish him well.