Grandfather Update

I can't remember where we were last time I updated, so to cover my bases: he's in the Select Specialty Hospital now instead of the hospital he was first in in Erie, and he's slowly improving. He pulled his tracheostemy out on...I wanna say Sunday, and the doctor decided to cap up the hole. Basically, the next step is to put him in a nursing home to rehab to the point where he could come home. I'm not sure when that move to a nursing home would be, but I think within a few days. He still has confusion, like thinking that his hospital bed is a tractor, and the tall buildings outside his window are silos (once a farmer, always a farmer, I guess!), but still seems to do well with history and current events.

Pictures...this is the building he's in. He's on the third floor.

My dad, Annetta, Lydia, Hosanna, Joanna, and I went down about a week ago and hung out with Uncle Bill and Grandpa for a couple hours. We took the laptop with us so we could show him some pictures.


Then he had supper. It looked really gross, because it was all blended up, but he liked the yogurt.

And we (well...I) drew penguins on his little white board.

Interesting Pictures (Also titled: Some things are just better shared :) )

[And so finally, I got smart and plugged my camera into a different USB port, and IT WORKED! So now I have pictures on my computer and I shall commence blogging.]

One of my favorite parts of taking pictures is putting them on my computer and looking at them. One of my favorite parts of putting pictures on my computer and then looking at them is because sometimes I will run across a picture that a) I didn't take, b) I have no idea who took it, and c) I have no idea why they took it. Such was my reaction a few weeks ago, scrolling through photos on my camera. I was amused and intrigued. I thought I'd share these pictures so you can be similarly enriched.

Grandpa Update

Here's the Reader's Digest version :)

We'd continue to appreciate prayers for Grandpa. Last Wednesday night/Thursday morning, he went to the hospital. He's had breathing/throat problems for years, but nothing very serious...like he might have a choking/gasping spell once in a while, but it would only last a few minutes. Apparently, that night it was really bad, and he called 911. He gets confused at night, so he was confused and thinking that someone was in his house choking, but the ambulance came and got it all figured out. They were also able to track down our phone number and called my dad, so he went down right away. Then they went to the local hospital. Around 9 am they decided to send him to the hospital in Erie where there was a throat specialist, and he's been there ever since in the MICU.

They thought that the problem is some sort of growth/tumor, and so they scheduled a biopsy this morning. Uncle Bill went down there this afternoon, and so we have details, such as they are :) They did not find any tumor or mass or anything. They put in a temporary tracheostemy, which means that he no longer has breathing tubes and stuff hanging out of his mouth. Because it's temporary, they'll be able to seal it up and he will be able to breathe and talk normally.

He's sedated. They've kept him pretty much out of it, because when they start taking him off it, he starts trying to get out of bed. That's a bad thing because he's not supposed to try to get up, but it's a good thing because it means he's fighting. They are trying to get him awake more, and this afternoon he was able to respond to some things. For example, when the nurse asked him if he was in any pain, he responded no, and he also responded to questions/commands that Uncle Bill gave.

Anyhow...that's all I know. I am planning on doing some regular blogging (haha, when am I not?), and I do have some rather, ahem, interesting pictures I want to share with you all, so stay tuned!

A Note

Dear CocoaNut,

This is a note to say thank you. For this recipe. That is all.

:D

Yours in oreo and cheesecake bliss,

Erika's very happy soul

Retreat

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were exciting days in our household. Our friends' church was having a winter retreat at a nearby camp, and they invited friends from other churches to come too. So our whole family went. My dad joined us for a couple hours on Saturday, but didn't stay the whole time because of not wanting to leave Grandpa overnight.

Let us start at the beginning, which would be Friday. It would appear that Logan drew the short straw in his family, because his dad called and said that he would feel better if Logan rode with us so that we didn't get lost. So we traded kids-- Joanna rode in their van and Logan rode in our's. We left a little before 5, I think, and after stopping at Grandpa's to give him his pill, we whizzed off to find this camp.


Once we got there, we found our various sleeping places and unpacked. Or read, as the case may be...


Then it was off to The Lodge to play games or make pizza. Annetta, Lydia, Hosanna, and I opted for the pizza making, and so we joined Mrs. R and her aunt in the large and amazing kitchen. We began by patting dough out in pans for the crust. 5 of us pizza patters were able to pat the dough out well, and one of us had issues, and I do not feel comfortable sharing who was which. Anyhow, the stuff was spread on the pizza crust (I put the pepperoni on. At least I can do some things in the kitchen...and pepperoni-putting-on is an important skill, I'm pretty sure.), and then we stuck them all in the awesome pizza oven.



Once they were done, we cut them, and dinner was served, and consumed promptly.



The Lodge is where we spent most of our time. It was the main building, and there was a ping pong table (which saw constant use), tables for eating, an area with chairs for the movie watching and devotional listening.



Anyhow, after supper, we played games. There were several younger people there who were just right for Josh to hang out with, and he had a blast running around, playing ping pong, and playing other table games that were set up. The older kids played Loot, and then we sat around and talked until sleepiness took over. Annetta, Lydia, Hosanna, two other girl, and I slept in the loft in the chapel. The chapel was primarily used for volleyball games, but it had a nice loft and shower.

Saturday morning: Hosanna set her alarm for 7:15, and we all staggered out of bed at the appointed time and proceeded to get ready for the day. Breakfast was excellent. We had bacon, eggs, cereal, pancakes, and fruit, and I had this really weird orange that looks like it was a pear in a past life. It still tasted good.




After breakfast and a devotional, Joanna and Megan wanted to go outside and sled. They needed someone who was older than 18 to go with them, soooo...I became a chaperone for a couple hours. A couple other little kids joined us, and they had fun sledding down one of the smaller hills outside the Lodge.


Annetta and Hosanna took a walk with my mom, and Annetta had to come back early because she was assigned to make Saturday's lunch. They had a general schedule of events and a work schedule posted, and they assigned people to cover different shifts. They had table setters, meal makers, and a clean up crew. Lunch was hotdogs and hamburgers, portrayed artfully here on my plate seconds before I ate it. ("It" = the food. Not the plate. In case there was confusion.)


After lunch, we had another devotional and then more free time. And that's free time spelled Settlers of Catan. I've heard so much about that game that it was very nice to be able to play it and understand a small amount of how it works. Clayton and Jordan were patient teachers, and Logan offered advice as well (primarily when I was handed my first three cards and looked at them in extreme confusion. They were exactly the same... Then Logan suggested turning them over. So I did and they were different.)

(These are some random games-playing pictures.)
At 4, I had to go to the kitchen and make supper with Rita and Lynn. Gary also made several appearances and his assistance was quite helpful. We made what the normal part of the world calls soft shell tacos and I call burritos. Tortillas, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, salsa, seasoned ground beef, etc. Some people made taco salads instead, which is what I ended up doing.



Supper was at 5:30, and then we watched the movie Courageous at 7. It's such a good movie...*sniff*

Ice cream sundaes...happiness in a bowl.


Dutch Blitz. We played several rounds until something like 11 o'clock that night. I finally learned how to play...and I almost won once. Annetta had a winning streak until the last three rounds, when she lost to Jordan.

Red was the color for Saturday, apparently. I didn't get the memo :P

It was at this point that Liam wandered over. Liam is 5 or so, and he's adorable and inquisitive and likes inclusion. So I told him he could take pictures with my camera rather than join in on our Dutch Blitz game. I like having other people take pictures on my camera, and I don't mind having little kids use my camera...there really isn't anything they could do to it that I haven't already done, and it still works. So I gave him my camera and he took several atrocious ones and a couple that were good, so the next three are ones he took of our game, and of the game the boys were playing at our table too.



Above is Zeke playing the game with the boys. Below is Zeke the next morning. Was he drugged? We can only speculate.
At last we dragged ourselves off to bed. And then got up early Sunday morning. At least I did. My mom was scheduled to make breakfast, which meant that she was supposed to be at the lodge by 7. She considered getting Josh and Katrina up with her (she slept with them) and taking them when she went, but we decided that a better and easier option would be for me to come over and let them sleep a little longer, and then get them up. So we did that, and we all got to the lodge about a half hour before breakfast was ready. So I did the obvious thing: I grabbed a puzzle, found a clear spot on the floor, and Lydia and I tried to get as much of it done as we could before breakfast.

Let's see...after breakfast, we had a church service, then a break (which involved cookies), and then the last devotional. While we waited for lunch, we took random pictures near the fireplace. The first one is Mr. R, who (with his family) coordinated the event. They did an excellent job and everyone had a great time.


Oh, this is a picture of the whole room from the fireplace end.

Lunch was next, and then...the epic sledding! Camp LiLoLi has a hill called Killer Hill. It's a killer to climb up, but super fun to go down. Someone had the brilliant idea to stick all the girls on one innertube and send us down. Here is a word of caution for those of you who, like I, have not taken physics: always remember a concept called balance. Good balance keeps you all on the sled; bad balance tips you off. My neck still hurts :P

After sledding, we packed up and drove home. And so that is the end!

Toast Video...maybe?

http://www.mediafire.com/file/o72j74xfsjzj291/MOV07318.MPG

Okay. I think that link will take you to a page where you can download Aaron and Jess's wedding toast video. If it doesn't work for you, let me know and I will try something else. I did try facebook, but after about 2 hours with nothing loading at all, I decided to try something else :) There are, so I hear, other options out there, so if this isn't working, we can try another option.

EDIT: Mrs. Bond uploaded it to her youtube channel, so here is the link to that: http://www.youtube.com/user/ariellejs90/videos

Life...and random pictures

First, several people have asked about Grandpa, so here's a quick update: For the first few days, my dad spent the night there, but Grandpa's doing well enough that he doesn't need that. He typically gets foggy at night...like he'll dream or whatever and in the morning, he'll realize that he didn't actually have a church meeting at his house like he thought he did. He's taking water pills for his legs, and blood pressure pills. The water pills have really helped...he's lost something like 10 or 15 pounds I think, and that makes it easier for him to walk. At his second doctors appointment, they took out quite a bit of wax. His hearing had been worse, but when they took that out, it improved back to whatever it had been before. And physically, he's in good condition. We check on him a few times a day and give him his pills (we don't want to risk him taking them himself, in case he forgets he already had one and overdoses or something).

Second...I realized that I haven't yet posted pictures from our squadron banquet yet. I really wanted to post them, so here they are!

First, the food. I had lasagna (below), while other cadets had steak (above). And no...I promise I did not stick my hand in my food...it's a reference point to show you how huge the lasagna chunk was. Mhm.

Also lemon meringue pie.
For some reason, I love pictures of people taking pictures. I dunno why. But I do.

This is called a challenge coin. You get them by doing something noteworthy or meritorious at a CAP event. The reason you *always* carry them around with you is because cadets tend to take sadistic pleasure in pulling out challenge coins at dinners and challenging their table buddies. If you don't have a coin on you, you owe that cadet a drink or something. So it's always a good idea to stick a challenge coin in your pocket :)
Have I ever mentioned that Matt's camera shy?
The rest of these are pictures we took by the lake. Some of us decided to spend the pre-banquet mingle hour outside, so I grabbed my camera and we headed out. And I'm glad we did :)

See, Matt's not so camera shy after all!

Unfortunately, I can't reach into the past and tell myself to fix my tie tab, push my hat up higher, or tuck my shirt in again...but I'm posting it anyway :P
And on the other hand, Sarah's uniform is perfect...

And so is Jeff's...

but that's okay because I like this picture.

The end :)