Road trip!

....well, maybe 10 hours is a bit of a stretch for a road trip! This picture is us just before we left, everyone is all set up with lots of colored pencils and paper. We almost didn't go because Jim decided to try and cut off his finger with a table saw on Monday....not my most favorite phone call. On Thursday morning he went to see an orthopod, who told him at least one more week off of work (in a half cast....hot and sweaty!!!) so we decided it would be easier to spend it away from home and all of its temptations to do things that he really shouldn't!

We traveled down to Springfield, MO to see our little Eddie get married off to a great girl! On the way down we made a pit stop at Jim's brother's house near St. Louis...Corey wanted us to leave him there..I think that they had every Nerf gun ever made!!!! We finally made it to Springfield Friday night, were able to eat out and the kids got some pool time in before bed. Saturday we swam them hard so that they could sit through the ceremony. The wedding was beautiful and we got to hang out with some of our Northern Il friends (Bethany it was so fun to see you !!!!)
We also made a stop at the Bass Pro Shop. I thought it was just ok, but the boys (jim included) liked to look at the boats and atvs...bonus was that there was a Starbucks inside!!!! Other then that we just kind of hung out at the hotel pool for the rest of our stay, since Jim was one handed.

The best part of the trip was being able to see my Great Grandma J. We haven't seen here in at least 2 years. The boys were so excited! How often can kids say that they have a great-great Grandma! She will turn 91 this year. She is suffering from some dementia, but we were lucky enough to see her on a good day so it was a lot like old times.
Needless to say, we've made it back alive and well. We decided to make the entire trip back up in one day..thank you God for the video player in the Yukon!!! After a ton of laundry and a lot of unpacking, I think we are finally back to normal (hahaha..until the next crisis that is!!!!)

Stented, Plugged and Ready To GO!

Just a quickie post:

My dad had his stent put in yesterday in Madison. Everything went pretty good. Dr said that his leg was clogged so much that the catheter almost didn't fit! (figure it's about the size of a wire...now his artery is 8mm!!!!)

Before, you would have to lay flat for 6 hours after having an angiogram. They did some new plug type thing that basically anchors into the artery and then plugs the hole made by the angio cath....you're pretty much ready to sit up and almost be normal right after!
(well, as normal as dad can be that is!!!!)

He made sure to give his nurses a hard time from the moment they took him back! It was soooo cold in the angio room. The nurse came in and dad asked if this was a new thing to almost cryogenically freeze you before the procedure so that then if they messed up they would just finish the job and keep you on ice until they figured out how to fix you! (ha ha ha smarty pants)

Wheeeeew!

Psalm 91: 9-11

If you make the Most High your dwelling-
even the Lord, who is my refuge-
then no harm will befall you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.


This incident slipped my mind until last night when I came across this verse: The week of the 4th we were hanging out at my parents' when I heard this blood curdling scream come up from the basement. Jim was down in the family room with the boys (he was on the computer and they were playing with Kinex). Their latest thing to make with Kinex is this little gun thing that shoots out a little Kinex. My mom had rigged these targets (pool diving rings strung to the Christmas stocking hooks on their fake fireplace). Anyway...back to the scream....I don't think my feet even touched the stairs. I came down to find Riley crying, holding his nose....shot in the nose with the toy? No...worse! He had decided that the rings, hanging from the fireplace...remember the fake fireplace with the huge wooden mantle?..anyway..he decided to use those lovely rings, hooked to that huge mantle with bits of string (is your heart pumping yet?!?!?)....he used the rings like the ones on our swing set to do a flip!!!!!!!

So, just picture this: little 4 year old, 45 lb boy flipping on rings hooked to the mantle of a fake fireplace. Oh did I remember to tell you that the mantle just sits on the fireplace? There has never been a problem with that...my sister and I both survived living in the same house with the mantle...the other two boys have never bothered the mantle...but N...OOO...not dear sweet little Riley! I turned the corner from the steps to find my little boy screaming, mantle on the floor, big huge glass candle holder shattered.

Immediately I'm thinking broken nose, facial fracture, concussion, any other bodily injury that's imaginable.....nothing but a skinned up nose. Really skinned up is stretching it...it was more like a floor burn that just scratched the end of his nose! There is no way of explaining it! The mantle, which probably weighs twice as much as my little munchkin, landed on top of him. Jim literally had to lift the thing off of his HEAD!!!!!

My only explanation is this: God's angels had to have not only gently laid Riley down so that he wouldn't hurt himself on the brick flooring around the fireplace, but also like a feather rested this huge mantle on his face so that only the slightest of an injury took place! That deserves a huge THANK YOU JESUS!!!!

Just writing this makes my heart beat faster! Riley is going to be my child that makes me grey!!! Last year we were playing at the local park. There is this u shaped ladder that makes a bid arch before a giant, hugongus step on to the landing, which is about 7 feet up . Riley was 3 and decided to try and climb it. I could only hold my breath when I saw him stand completely up on the last rung, pump his arms backward....and then jump over to the landing! Seriously..I cried! He did it no problem, but all I could see was his little head hitting the bar on top of the landing, falling backwards only to hit the top rung of the ladder and then falling down to the lovely chopped tire bits below! God must have him marked for something special because that boy is going to be the death of me!!!!