Gratitude!

January...new memories to be made!

Well, it's Sunday at 8:30 am and here I sit. Now there's nothing wrong with taking it easy on Sunday morning.  However, you'd think I'd be up taking care of the dust since it currently looks like it snowed INSIDE the house.  Which, I guess if you really think about it really works because Christmas decorations have yet to be put away!  Snow and Christmas go together? Right? At this point, I'm thinking about just tossing sheets over everything and just leaving it.  I wouldn't have to put it away, I wouldn't have to dust and next Christmas I could just pull off the sheets and hit the button for the lights. I tried that once; leaving Christmas up for the year.  I see articles in magazines quite frequently where people have their house decorated for Christmas always.  It's really beautiful and I thought, "what a great idea". We love Christmas, why take it down?  I lasted until March!  The plan is to get things put away this week but as always, life happens and we do what we can when we can.  I don't have the energy to fight it, I just go with it. I find I'm much happier not getting all twisted up about it.

It's hard to believe that we're already eight days into January 2012.  I guess this year is going to pass as quickly as last year.  I've been able to get some work hours the last couple of weeks and it has been a real blessing.  I love working on "special projects" because I get to do so many different things and most of the time, work my own hours.  At times, work from home which is great sometimes. But, when you work from home, it has it's draw backs too.  You miss the interaction with a bunch of great people.  You miss the laughter.  You miss the collaboration.  You miss the teamwork, or at least I do, and you miss being a part of other people's lives.  Which for me, is a huge thing.  As many of you know, I'm not a person that enjoys being isolated.  I like being a part of the bigger picture.  Not in the front row, behind the scenes. 

Last week in my blog I shared my thoughts on my Dreams and Aspirations. If you haven't read it I encourage you to do so.  I believe dreams and aspirations should be an important part of our lives.  If we don't have dreams and aspirations, how do we know where we are going. My dreams and aspirations are driven by my trust and belief in my heavenly father who loves me beyond measure.  If I didn't have my spiritual life and my God in my life I can tell you beyond any doubt, I would not be here today. I know, without a doubt that my ability  to withstand what happens in life is directly related to my relationship with my God, my heavenly Father.


This last Friday I worked three hours and got home about 12:30 pm with plans to have lunch with hubby.  When I got home we chatted and visited and were just winding down.  Later, Ray went to get us some iced tea.  Between the living room and the kitchen door he had to stop and sit down at the dining room table.  When I asked him what was wrong, he said he'd been having  sweats, angina, dizziness and trouble breathing all day. It had gotten so bad during his shower he'd had to sit down in the tub. Needless to say, I was beside myself that during the three conversations we'd had since 9am that morning he had mentioned none of this, nor had he called his doctor, let alone call me or someone to take him to emergency!  


After me fussing and fuming for about 30 minutes he decided to call his doctor who immediately said, "Why the _____are you calling me?  Go to the emergency NOW!". So, off to emergency we went.  It was now 4pm Friday afternoon.  They immediately took him to a bed and started with vitals.  He did not look good. They ran blood work and took an EKG and immediately hooked him up to an IV with what they called "clot busters". 

I called Katrin and asked if she would be able to have Jamison for a sleep over. She met me at the house about 30 minutes later. Jamison was so excited to see her I hope he didn't pee in her car. 

Saw it and couldn't resist. lol

Before I left the house I sent out an email request for prayer to many. Please don't feel slighted if you were not included.  There was nothing intention in not including you, I was just running on a single cylinder. And no, I didn't post to Facebook.  My niece, Corey, had not yet landed in Singapore and I didn't want her to hear via Facebook.  I wanted Jon to be able to tell her when he knew the time was right.  Thank you for understanding.  

He refused to loose the hat!

We heard nothing about the results of the blood work or EKG at this point.  After about three hours Ray was feeling better and ready to go home.  Now when Ray is in the hospital for any reason and decides he's going home it isn't a pretty picture for anyone!  

Early in our marriage, and I mean the first year, he was sent to the hospital for a spinal tap.  It was evidently a training hospital, which we didn't know at the time, and after the intern tried six times, Ray said, "that's it", got up off the table and we went home.  Since that time, he and I have an "understanding" but it still isn't a pretty picture. 

But, Friday night, I had no fight left in me. I told him the decision was his, I wasn't going to be making it or coerce him to stay, or refuse to drive him home.  He had to make the decision and we'd both have to live with the consequences.  At 11:30 pm we still hadn't seen the doctor since being admitted and he still didn't have a bed upstairs.  At that point he looked at me and said to the nurse, "please get my things, I'm going home".  She advised him that was probably not the best decision he could make.  In about 30 seconds the doctor was at his bedside.  The doctor told us that the x-ray and heart enzymes were not normal and the reason he was feeling better was because of the medication they were giving him. Ray still wanted to leave.  The doctor looked at me as if to say, are you going to just sit there and let him decide to leave. I just looked at the doctor and said, "the decision is his, I'm not making this one".  I told Ray I would not be angry if he decided to leave even though I thought it was a stupid idea. The doctor told him the chances of him having a heart attack when he got home were very high and urged him to reconsider. Ray thought for a little while and then decided, based on the irregular test results, to at least spend the night.  Then the doctor told him they were taking him up to ICU.  That about did us both in.  By 1:00 am I couldn't go anymore. They were getting ready to take him upstairs and I couldn't do anything else so I came home.  I don't remember the ride home or anything else for that matter until 8:30 am the following morning.


Now I know this is hard to believe because we've all had experiences of waiting for the doctor to come in on his/her rounds at the hospital.  But the cardiologist was in to see Ray at 6:15 am on a Saturday morning. They had drawn blood at 3 am, and you guessed it, woke him up to do it. The blood tests showed his heart enzymes were back to normal.  The drugs in the ER has done their job!  God is outstanding at his job! The doctor didn't believe there was any reason to keep him any longer.  I missed the entire thing and they were able to do it without me.  Can you believe that?  

Right here I want to say a few words to my mom and family on the West Coast.  I know that you love Ray and I and were concerned that you weren't able to be with us during this time.  Please do not worry.  I know that we've only been in Troy for six months.  But we've been building friendships and relationships with friends and family here for the last two years.  And since we've been here in the last six months our friendships and family have grown like we could never have imagined.  Please know that we are loved and have an amazing support group. And our friends and family know they can depend on us as well. Or, if they didn't, they do now!

Our personalized lunch bags!

Jon was on the phone immediately asking what we needed and what he could do.  Renee, our niece was ready to hop a plane and fly out from Chicago.  We had calls, texts and emails with offers of prayers and help. Thank you all so very, very much. Saturday morning Jon came up with sack lunches, his awesome homemade soup hot off the stove, magazines and the paper. We love this young man!  Our friend Chelly stopped by to check in and make sure we were all right and had everything we needed. 

Jamison is still visiting with Katrin and his friend Sammy this morning

Best buds, Jamison & Sammy

and will be home later today. I think I've told you about Sammy and Jamison before. Those two were meant to be best buddies.  This coming Thursday Sammy will be coming to spend a week with us while Katrin is out of town. It's such fun to have him here.  They are so funny together.

 Well, enough said.  That should bring everyone up to date.  Oh by the way. Corey is up to speed now too so all is good. 

Oh, before I totally close the subject, here's the funny during the entire 20 hours.  As we were checking Ray into Emergency the In-Take Clerk asked for emergency contact information.  I gave her the number and she looked at me and said "daughter?". I thought Ray and I would fall over each other laughing.  The poor young lady was so embarrassed but it brought back a great memory for us. Thirty-nine years ago as Ray was admitting me to the hospital when we were expecting Aaron the In-Take Clerk asked the same question, "emergency contact information?". Ray gave her the phone number and she said, "relationship, father"?.  I mean, you have to laugh at that right!


Chicken update!  The chickens are now classified, "laying hens" 9-10 eggs a day. They are winterized with heaters and water warmers to take them through the winter. All is good.  They are finally earning their keep!

Thursday this week 6:20 pm, text from Corey: "We r picking u up at 7:20 for an adventure.  Trust me, you don't wanna miss this."  Now trust me on this one.  When you get a message like that from Corey, you never know where you'll end up or what you'll end up doing. 

Now, it takes some doing to get Ray out of the house once he's settled in for the night.  He got to the door of the car and said to Corey, "do I really need to go".  Corey, "get in the car"!  None of us knew where we were going.  She kept giving the kids clues but something told me the "clues" had nothing to do with where we were going.  These kids are no weenies when it comes to figuring these things out.  We ended up at the home of John Backman and Prudence Backman. Talk about Christmas decorations! From the entry to every room in the house, each room is decorated in a Christmas theme: Santas, snowmen, trains, packages, Christmas socks, elves...every room.  The entire kitchen is decorated in Gingerbread people.  Josie, Josh and I have decided we're going to be making and decorating Gingerbread men, the non edible kind, for decorating all year long so we're ready for Christmas next year. They have the most beautiful Christmas tree I have ever seen. It is decorated from the inside of the branches to the outlaying tips, and so much reflecting glass.  The tree just glowed with light. Corey was right!  Did I just say that? Geez, I don't want to get in the habit of that!  Anyway, it was a wonderful adventure with the kids and Corey and well worth the hour. Yes, Ray was so glad he went.  John and Prudence generally have an open house.  Ray usually "gives Santa a hand" every year, so I would expect Christmas will again be exceptional in 2012.  Thank you John & Prudence for sharing with us.  It was an awesome experience.

But, the adventure for the kids was finding dozens of guinea pigs in the basement!  John raises, shows and judges guinea pigs.  Josh especially thought he had died and gone to heaven.  I think I've told you before, if Josh could have decided what he wanted to be when he was born he would have been born an animal.  There isn't an animal he doesn't love.  We did have to check his pockets before we left though because John gave him a two week old guinea pig to hold and I for one wasn't too certain it wouldn't end up in his pocket!

So, we're all off to another week. You're probably thinking, "I hope it's a better week?". But whose to say this wasn't a better week than it could have been?  I am so very grateful it turned out so well and hubby is home safe and sound.  I'm so very grateful to have such a wonderful support system of friends and family near and far. I'm so thankful!