Hostile takeover

* Warning: The pictures below are graphic in nature and not for the faint of heart!*



Mike made me show y'all these pictures of his toe. He must need more sympathy! Hope it doesn't gross anybody out.




Those adhesive strips are over the dissolvable sutures, to keep the skin together even more. Dr. W said to leave them alone, and they'll come off when they're ready. She also told him he could wear a tennis shoe and resume normal activities! Yay! Hopefully that means we'll both resume normal sleep...

Pet News

Remember Grizabella?


Turns out she's a he! My brother Mark came down to bring us some bunk beds (yay, Mark!) and take my Mom home, and he saw her him laying on our door mat and said, "You know that cat's a boy, right?" We did some investigating, and lo and behold, we think he's right. So now we're calling her him Griz.

And remember Pepper?

Well, he got bigger. To quote a favorite children's book of mine, he grew and he grew and he grew. And as he grew, he got into trouble. More and more and more trouble. Chewing through air conditioner cord trouble. Eating brand new blackberry bush trouble. It got so bad we, um, called the pound and had them take him away. The sad thing is, no one really misses him. The only one who got upset was Rebecca, and she got REAL upset. She cried hysterically, which I did not expect at all. I do feel guilty, like an irresponsible pet owner. But one thing that makes me feel better is that 2 vets and the pound guy said he looks like a pit bull to them, and the pound guy said he probably has chow, too, and both of those are breeds you see on TV having attacked someone and their owners saying, "I don't understand it. He was always so sweet before." So maybe this is God's way of protecting us.
Either way, I'm saying no more pets!!

Rebecca

Posts like this one by Vicki Courtney make me feel better about days like this, when Rebecca dresses herself, then uses a stick as a microphone. The picture really doesn't do it justice. Her leggings were too short, and she tucked in her shirt, which is on backwards. This is what she put on after she took off the party dress with red striped socks and pink tennis shoes, which came after the red shorts with pink Ouachita shirt. Fashion!


One more thing...
when Rebecca woke up on the day of Mike's surgery, she asked my Mom where we were, and Mom said I took him to the hospital to have an operation on his toe. She asked what that was, and Mom said, "They're going to cut his toe open and fix it." So Rebecca's eyes got big and she said, "Are they going to cut his toe OFF?" Mom quickly explained again. Poor baby! I never even thought about sitting down and telling her what was going on, I just assumed she knew. Third children have it rough...

Mike's loose screw

About 6 years ago, Mike had surgery on both big toes. Arthritis had eaten his joints away so that his toes had bone hitting bone, which is very painful. They put screws in, and that was even more painful, at first! They put him on so much pain medication he was drunk as a skunk. For instance...he had to wear these big ol' surgery boots, and I had to get him from the car to the couch, which involved 4 steps up, walk walk walk, 2 steps up, walk through the door, down half a stairway, walk to the couch. I helped him the best I could, and when we got to the 2-steps-up part, I got up on the porch so he could hold on to me to pull himself up. I stood there waiting, trying to help him, when he burst out, "Would you just stand still?" When I got him to the couch, someone called needing a phone number. Rather than letting me look for it on the BCM phone list, he sat there looking and looking, trying to find it, and finally said, "I can't read this" and handed it to me...he'd had it upside-down! I laugh at it all now, but it really was a very painful experience.

So I was not looking forward to today, when he had to have surgery again. This time they removed the screw and put in a partial new joint. We got to the hospital at 6, surgery started at 8. 2 hours later a nurse came and told me he was fine, but there was a lot of arthritis to remove (I didn't know you could do that) and it would be just a little bit longer. I was relieved to find out he wasn't under anesthesia all that time. (Anesthesia makes me nervous. I know someone whose mother never woke up from having elbow surgery.) They gave him something to make him drowsy, and he did fall asleep, but then he woke up and was talking and watching the whole thing on a tv! About 30 minutes later they were done, and they let us go home around 1:00. He said they had a hard time getting the screw out; he heard them saying, "Get a number 3 screwdriver...maybe we should try needle-nosed pliers..."(!!) Yikes! Here's a picture of the screw:


It's not a very good picture, because of the glare, but it's just a normal old screw! For some reason that's not what I expected.
He's doing much better than last time, with much less pain medication, so he's very alert and lucid. :) And I don't have to do as much scary nursey stuff like taking care of pain pumps and changing bandages. And my friend Rebecca brought him chocolate chip cookie bars, so he's going to be just fine.

Thank you for praying, those of you who knew this was coming!

Mikayla's feeling better :)

And she and Rebecca have been taking swimming lessons for the last week and a half--here are some pictures of things they've learned!







And I must say, after missing Moscow so much in my last post...it sure is nice having 9:30 a.m. swimming lessons and not shivering!

Unbelievable

I have never missed Moscow, Idaho, (especially Dr. Frostad and Gritman Med. Center) more than I did yesterday. Mikayla had been coughing & congested for over a week, started running a fever Friday, and of course waited until Saturday to wake up miserably sick. Temp. was 101-102.7. I called the pediatrician we've been to once since moving here--closed on Saturday. I called my friend Holly to find out if there was any kind of quick-care clinic--closest one is in Texarkana, an hour away! She said the only other choice is the ER. I tried to wait it out, but when Mikayla was laying on the couch crying because her head hurt so bad, for the second time, I took her in. 4 hours later, after having blood drawn, urinalysis, and chest x-rays, the dr. said he doesn't know what's wrong but here's a prescription for zithromax anyway. So I dropped my miserable child off at home to lay down again, went to WalMart and...pharmacy's closed. Tried Walgreens...closed. The lady there said all the pharmacies close at 2 on Saturdays and are closed on Sundays. Are you kidding me???? We found out today that the WalMart pharmacy will be open noon to 5 today, so we will get her medicine, but still...I was not happy with Magnolia yesterday.

The good side of all this is it gave me lots of opportunities to pray for Ezra, who is truly in need of healing. With no TV or anything to read in the ER, whenever I prayed for Mikayla or for the dr to hurry up and call us, I prayed for him.

Stars and Stripes Forever

He's home!! Hurray! Huzzah!

My big brother Matt just called Mom from El Paso--he made it home safe and sound. And tired. Thank you, Lord!

Made for each other

15 years ago yesterday, I married my sweet husband. I am so blessed to have him. We spent last night in Hot Springs to celebrate, and exchanged cards in our room at our bed and breakfast. When we pulled them out, both envelopes were light blue, and I said, "Wouldn't it be funny if we got each other the same card?" Guess what--we did! And it was funny!
Mike had never been to Hot Springs, so we went down to Bathhouse Row, walked the Promenade, toured the Fordyce bathhouse, drove up the mountain and rode the elevator to the top of the tower. It was a beautiful day.
We ate supper at a steak restaurant with a waitress named Moe, who was apparently famous (according to the newspaper/magazine articles and graffiti on the walls of our booth) for good, fun service. Well, she was a little slow for us, but definitely...original! When she asked what we'd like to drink, I asked for a diet Coke. She looked at me funny, repeated it, then asked, "Are you a diabetic? Because I really don't want you to drink a diet Coke. It has wood alcohol in it. It's gonna give you brain cancer..." as she walked off with our order. She brought me the diet Coke, but I still overheard her tell someone else about me! When she came to take our food order, Mike had questions about the menu. She asked him if he liked asparagus, and when he said no she said, "S _ _ _, you're up a creek. How about ..." That was rather unusual. To say the least. When she brought our food she said, "So are you two kids newlyweds?" I said, "Yep, 15 years today." So she turned around and announced it to the whole restaurant! Then after our meal she brought us free chocolate cake with a "15" written on it in frosting, so that pretty much made up for everything. :)
Our bed and breakfast was on the lake, with beautiful landscaping and a hammock, so after supper we watched the stars come out. It was very tranquil. (There's a word you don't get to use very often.)
This morning we had a lovely breakfast then shopped a few antique stores (window shopped, I should say), read the plaque thingies on the Arkansas walk of fame (Point of Grace has one!), then ate BBQ at a supposedly famous place, which we did not enjoy, then ice cream at Scoop's which we loved. Then we came on home, and re-entered the real world. It was a great anniversary.

The view from our door

Our hammock

Wanna hear all about our vacation?

I used Mike's laptop to keep a journal while we were on vacation. Here it is, with a few pictures to liven it up. I think it's funny how often I mention the food!

May 24

We left Conway at 10, had lunch at Overton Park in Memphis and played on the playground. We stopped at one rest stop that had a tree with a big “tumor” on the side. Ate supper at a Roadhouse somewhere west of Knoxville, and got to our hotel in Knoxville in time for a quick swim. Saw pretty rolling hills/mountains and lots of big trees.

May 25

Had breakfast at the hotel (waffles, biscuits, toast, eggs), on the road by 9. Beautiful mountains. Had lunch at Cookeville, Tennessee—picked up Sub sandwiches and hiked the “Shot Tower” trail over a railroad trestle to a bench. I've never walked on a trestle before! Saw (smelled!) fragrant white flowers that looked like wild berry bushes, and some kind of yellow & orange flower on a big, maple-like tree. Gorgeous weather.



I got excited coming into Virginia, and even more excited coming into Williamsburg! We got here in time for supper at a Ristorante Italiane. Very authentic—everyone there spoke Italian. The girls had cheese pizza and Mike and I had manicotti, spaghetti, lasagna, and veal Parmigiano. Rebecca ate at least 3 of the little knot-shaped, olive oil drizzled rolls! After supper we came to the house where we’re staying. I don’t know how old the house is, but it has a HUGE old Magnolia tree in the front yard, almost as big as the one at Old Washington! Our bedrooms are upstairs. The house is furnished with dark wood antiques, and has lots of old photos and prints around. When I first walked in the scent and décor reminded me of visiting my Aunt Hallie and Aunt Hazel in Pine Bluff.

May 26

This morning we ate pancakes for breakfast, then went to Colonial Williamsburg. As soon as we got there we heard the fife and drums, and literally ran to the Governor’s Palace to see the Memorial Day Ceremony. They marched down the green, then the muskets crossed the street and fired while the rest gathered for a speech and a prayer. It was very moving.





Then we rented dresses for the girls…oh, my goodness how they loved that! They got totally into character.





We toured the Wythe house and the Governor’s Palace and grounds, and had lunch at Chowning’s Tavern. Then we went to the store, where the girls learned to write with a quill pen, and to the Geddy house and yard, where the girls got to play with hoops and a swing and a ring toss.







We looked in the post office and printer and binder, and bought cookies at the bakery behind Raleigh Tavern, then got to hear a speech by George Washington, explaining why he wouldn’t run for another term as president. It was all very good. We bought Rebecca & Mikayla cloth colonial dolls, and Jessica a writing set, with a quill pen, ink, and parchment paper. We had supper at Ruby Tuesday’s, then came “home” for baths and bed.



May 27

After poptarts and milk at “home”, we went to Water Country USA! It was a perfect day for it. Warmed up enough for the water feel good but wasn’t miserably hot waiting in line. But wait! We didn’t have to wait in line!! Ever!! We rode slide after slide, and had a full day of fun. The first slide we did used 3 person tubes, and we stuck Rebecca on there and going down I was afraid it would scare her out of slides for the rest of the day…but she loved it!! She was a daring little trooper, all day long! 2 of the slides were round rafts that we could all 5 ride at once. We stayed until 5:30, then cleaned up and went to eat BBQ at a place which has been in Southern Living at least 8 times!! Now we’re exhausted. And slightly sunburned.

May 28

Brrr! It was chilly today—cloudy and wet and windy. We went to Jamestown Settlement first (after a Starbucks treat), where we watched a film and looked at the exhibits in the museum. They had exhibits on the 3 cultures of Jamestown: Powhatan, English, and Angolan. Then we went to the reconstructed Powhatan village, and the girls got to grind corn in a log and stick mortar and pestle and scrape fur off a hide. We also went in yehakans (their homes, round and covered in reed mats), and lay on their fur pallet beds.



From there we went to the reconstructed fort, where we looked in the church, barracks, storeroom, etc, and got to see a matchlock gun fired and a blacksmith working. Rebecca tried on armor.




We took a break then for a wonderful lunch at our favorite place so far, the Old Chickahominy House. It was an actual old house, with wonderful colonial fashioned food (Brunswick Stew, Virginia ham on flat biscuits, chicken and dumplins, chicken soup, fruit salad that was half a peach and a pineapple with cheese and a dressing, and 3 pieces of pie—cherry crisp, chocolate, and buttermilk…mmm, mmm, mmm!) It also had a gift shop, and Mike bought me a gorgeous watch with a band made out of old silver spoon handles. I love it! Then we went back and got to go on reconstructions of the 3 ships that brought the men to Jamestown. Very interesting.


At that gift shop we bought a ship ornament and some green glass made at Jamestown similar to what the Poles there, including one Sadowski/Sandusky, would have made. Then we rushed over to Historic Jamestowne to see the actual archaeological sites and artifacts. The first thing we saw was the glass-blowers' house, where Mike’s ancestors might have actually worked. It was so close to closing time that we hurried over to the rest of Historic Jamestowne, with a church tower from the 1600’s, and the Archaearium, where we saw skeletons and other interesting dug-up things. It’s all right on the James River, and everything was just beautiful. We saw Canadian geese, wild rabbits, and deer. We had supper at a fancy place, kind of on accident, where the waiter put our napkins in our laps for us, and the girls were very well-behaved.

May 29

We went to Busch Gardens today. It was more crowded than the water park (mostly school groups) but still not bad. Fairly short lines. We rode every ride anyone wanted to ride. We saw eagles, wolves, lorikeets (they landed on us!) and Clydesdales. Once we looked up in the sky and saw a horizontal rainbow on the clouds. It’s hard to explain and I didn’t have my camera, but it was beautiful. The weather was perfect; just a little on the cool side. We rode the water rides and got soaked. Brrr! We all had a really good day. Had awesome bbq at lunch, in “New France,” and at supper we went to Golden Corral, but got there right after 3 busloads, so we left and went to Kyoto Japanese. It was good.

May 30

What a busy day! After breakfast we went to Yorktown Victory Center, where we saw a movie and some very good exhibits in the museum. We especially liked getting to lift swords from the French, British, and Continental armies and compare their weight. Then we went to the Continental Army Encampment, and got to try on uniforms and look in tents. We talked to the surgeon and the cook and watched a mortar shell get fired. It was cool.

We also walked through a post-war farm, where we strung beans to be dried, harvested peas and potatoes, petted a turkey, and looked in the house and tobacco shed. The house had some toys for the girls to play with.






After that we went by the battlefield into Historic Yorktown, to the Carrot Tree Restaurant. It was good, but not as good as the Old Chickahominy House. After lunch we went back to Historic Jamestowne and got Mom a green ornament and looked for Sandusky in the genealogy lists…no luck. But we did get to see the glass blower again, and they are so good. Then we went back to Colonial Williamsburg. This afternoon there was a series of plays going on. We got to hear the Declaration of Independence read from the Capitol building, a British general who was a prisoner of war making complaints about being kept in the public gaol, Benedict Arnold take control of the city and run a British flag up the Capitol flagpole (booo—traitor!), and General Washington review the troops before they left to join the siege of Yorktown—and victory! We heard one patriot walking around complaining about the lack of taverns in town because of the Baptists…he said there are more Baptist ministers than taverns now! He said the only good side to being a Baptist is not having to learn the minuet. Mike asked him where a Baptist minister should go to have fun there, and he said, "You don't drink and don't dance, what fun can you have?...Well, at least you're not a Methodist!” Funny! The fife and drum corps marched again, and soldiers fired their muskets and cannons. It was great.



There was a hammered dulcimer player at the gift shop, and I asked if he was familiar with Rich Mullins—he was! We successfully had supper at the Golden Corral tonight, then took the girls to play putt putt golf at a pirate place. They had fun.

May 31

We said good-by to sweet Mrs. Johnson, and hit the road. We stopped in Charlottesville and toured Monticello—I love that place! It was hot when we got there, and we had 45 minutes to kill walking around the grounds waiting for our tour…but we didn’t get bored! We walked through the vegetable garden and the flower garden, and then lined up for our tour. We had a good guide. I loved seeing the things Lewis and Clark brought back from their expedition, the innovative things Jefferson owned, the calendar/clock, the bed between 2 rooms, the inkwell shaped like Voltaire’s head, the dumb-waiter, the kitchen, and the underground passageways.



The drive was beautiful. We were heading down the road when Mikayla yelled, “It’s out!” She had pulled a tooth! Funny. We drove the rest of the day to Knoxville, where we met Mr. and Mrs. Barrett for supper at the Cracker Barrel. It was so neat to see them—I got teary saying good-bye! We’ll see them again at Mom’s house in August, when they’re on their way to Branson.



June 1

We’re home!! It was a long day of driving and thunderstorms…from Smoky Mountains to Arkansas delta to the Timberlands.

And it is good to be home!

Mike found my watch!!!

Thank you, Lord! He found it in the back of our van when he was cleaning it out. Yay!

What a day!

I've been in Conway all week. I had the van packed and ready to go home by 9:10 this morning, hugged my Mom good-bye, and the van did the same thing it did Monday--aaaagh!!! Since there's a Honda dealership there, Mike said to take it on in. Which involved finding people to pick me up and take me back (Thanks 'Manda) and a lot of stress. 4 hours later, they told me it was a loose connection on a terminal. Phew. Meanwhile, Angie's bringing her kids to my house, and I'm not there! We made it home at 4:30, rather than noon like I had planned. Mike did great taking care of Luke and Abby by himself. Bless his heart.
And, as I was leaving the car dealership I noticed my watch was gone. The watch Mike bought me last week in a little antique/gift shop, made out of antique silver spoon handles. I love that watch. I drove back to Mom's house, again, to look for it, but we didn't find it. I'm still praying it will show up somewhere.
So needless to say, watching Luke and Abby and Mikayla and Rebecca play in the sprinkler was the best part of my day: