Congratulations, Shonna!!

Shonna just completed a rigorous schedule as she studied Massage Therapy. She started way back in January and almost every week, you would find her at the school for 4 hours, 4 nights a week. At least one Saturday a month, she has had a day of clinicals.

I had no idea there was sooo much to learn. However, I have helped her beginning studying for board certification and wow!!! She has two large study books and while I guessed some of the answers correctly, it was rather overwhelming.

Since I am currently on a blood thinner, Shonna cannot give me a massage. Most people take it for granted that a massage is simply a massage but there are so many things involved ... Shonna had one lady who insisted she would not share what medications she was on so Shonna had to do a very light massage.

She'll be off for about a month and then takes the 'facial' study. That is not required but gives her a more well-rounded resume.

So, I'm proud of her and what she has accomplished. And we get the benefit of this, too ... well I did and will after I finish taking this medication.

My not so crazy brother claims the 'crazy brother' status now!!

Joel has always been the 'steady' one of our bunch. That's not to say that all of us are 'unsteady' but if you were to follow each of us around for a day, the one to get the least ruffled by anything would be Joel. He's sort of the middle child -- well, the younger of the two middle kids. Mark is the one older ... and he has enough energy for all the rest of us combined. Polar opposites you might say. Put them together and you would expect Mark to be the risk taker -- let's have some fun!! Joel wound ponder it for a little while and then give you an answer that started out with a drawn out, "Weeelllllll" ... and usually ends up with "we'll see what happens ...."

Imagine my shock when I found out what Joel's two children had given him for his 50th birthday. I don't think he looks that old and in the photo above, he's having his fun again by adding bunny ears behind Rachel's head. You gotta be fast when you take family photos or you see them in the most serious of poses!!

So, here was the latest info from Joel's daughter, Jacinta, on what he is doing to celebrate his 50th birthday which, by the way, was last December 21st. It either took him that long to get up his courage -- or just that long to get it arranged. I'm pretty sure it is the latter. No one has ventured out to join him although I'm sure they will be somewhere around watching ... you wouldn't find me anywhere near!!!

From Jacinta ... Hi everybody!! Soooo, dad has selected a date for the skydiving adventure, weather permitting we are looking @ Saturday, Sept 13.

Yup, he is going sky diving!!! Yikes alive!! I'm not sure whether to pray for safety or something that will keep him from going. As he told me in his laid back voice, "It's just something I always thought would be fun to do!" Okay, Joel, you go jump outta some plane .. but you better be all in one piece when you land!!

The brother who is so steady ... I hope he stays steady on course in the air, too!!!

More of the same ....

Another doctor's appointment today -- I thought it wouldn't take that long -- no stitches or staples. Ha!! It took just as long as yesterday primarily because we were sitting in an exam room -- waiting and waiting and waiting ... Roxanne and Shonna were with me again and I felt like I was back when they were just little kids. Their playful banter finally brought a "Stop it" from me.

Roxanne's day was made when a lab technician came in and told her she looked familiar and wondered whether they had gone to school together. When the gal told Rox that she was in her middle 20's, Rox had to tell her she was MUCH older!

Finally .... my doctor arrived -- this is my primary doctor who has also monitored the blood clot issue. He told me I would be on blood thinner until I was up and moving well -- hopefully just a couple months. He wanted to look at my incision, said it looked great and then asked, "And how much weight are you allowed to put on your leg?" I was a little surprised at the question so answered, "NONE!"

He chuckled and said, "I was just checking. We give patients info but a lot of the time, they pay no attention. I just wanted to see if you understood,"

I assured him I did! Finally, we were on our way ... whew! What two days -- about 5 hours in doctor's offices makes one tired!

Not fun ... not really!

It depends on whether you have a weak stomach, I guess. I wasn't sure I even wanted to watch. Today was my follow-up appointment with my surgeon. What made it very interesting is that he is a teaching doctor and had an intern with him. To hear him tell my story, from the time he called me in Georgie, was very intriguing. Knowing he is a very busy and in high demand surgeon and that my 3 hour surgery had been an add-in a couple weeks ago made me realize just how good God is!

He asked me if I had seen the "before" x-rays. I told him "yes" but his response was basically, "Did you REALLY see all the pieces?" I had .. yikes! And then I looked at the after x-rays and was stunned at what he had accomplished. Roxanne and Shonna were with me and they were amazed at his handiwork as well. Of course, he shared with the intern about the challenge of the blood clot. He explained to me the miracle of getting a vascular surgeon to do the surgery to put in the filter prior to the main surgery. He said because the risk is so high and the odds of malpractice suits, it is hard to even find surgeons to do it. But, he said this one didn't even hesitate when my surgeon called him. Wow .. a God thing for sure! I am still on blood thinners and will probably be for a couple months. I will know that tomorrow as I go to that doctor in the morning.

The next task was the removal of staples and stitches ... will it hurt? Ha! That is a question from the person who the doctor had just described to the intern as "one tough lady". I think that was meant as a compliment. He recalled the conversation we had when he called me in Georgia. Because I was not moving my leg, I was in no pain. He said, "I couldn't believe that you were as cheerful with a broken femur!!"

The staples were a piece of cake relatively speaking ... the stitches were another thing. I have healed so nicely that some of the stitches had been healed over so the gal who was removing them actually went and got another nurse to help her. Ouch .. No, actually, it wasn't as bad as I thought it could be and Roxanne and Shonna kept us all amused so my mind was on anything but that. As you can see by the photos below, they were having a grand time between wincing watching and keeping me amused.

The gal removing the stitches was quite amused by it all and I think she felt it kept my mind off of it so made it easier for her. All in all -- it was an okay day. I will have physical therapy and can do no weight bearing for two months -- my goal is to pull some weight off (ha! wish it were that easy) before then so I won't have as much to 'bear'!

I'll share a few photos here .. if it is too 'gross', just look the other way as Tyler has decided he would do. He was not too happy to see this long scar on my leg and wondered if my leg would ever get better! We have assured him that it will!!!

Sleeping all night ...

Isn't that what we talk about in regards to our babies ... well, I guess I must be reverting to early childhood. I slept all night last night!! Hurray!! The night before -- I slept for about two hours -- was awake from 2am until almost 5am.. then slept for a couple more hours. I can't believe I stayed awake so long yesterday!! Then again, over the past couple weeks, I think I slept enough to cover the next month or so!

I'm glad no one had a video camera around when I was in the hospital ... I would start a conversation and drift off into sleep -- right smack in the middle of it. Or, I would be working on my computer which was in my lap. I learned to make sure that it couldn't fall on the floor because I would by typing and all at once, realize I had drifted off. Now that I am not as medicated, I actually can complete a task without going into lala land -- or waking myself up snoring ... yikes!! Uh-oh ... almost caught myself napping and it's only 8am!!

I was glad to get out yesterday even though it was to go to a funeral. What a sweet funeral service for our dear friend, Jim Weiler. Please pray for his wife, Bev. They had been married for 66 years!! Bev was so thrilled that we were there to celebrate Jim's life. I do know I must add some sort of red flag on my foot to alert people of an oncoming vehicle even if it is a wheelchair. I made sure I sat in the back!!

I was so amused by a lady at church who hugged me and said, "I didn't recognize the leg on the wheelchair!" It was good to be back at church and see so many friends I haven't seen in a while.

I did tease Doris Bullock, our pastor's (Rex Bullock) mother. She is heading to Denver today to spend six weeks with her daughter, Beth Batton, and her family. I asked her, "Do you know what is going on in Denver this week?" She assured me she did and I told her I admired her for heading there right during the Democratic Convention!

So much for a few ramblings on a Monday morning ... by the way, I decided that the next time we go shopping at Sam's, we'll opt for a day other than Saturday!

"If You Could See Me Now"

This afternoon, Roxanne is to sing for a funeral of a dear friend who went to heaven, Jim Weiler. She will be singing, "If You Could See Me Now" ... it is the same song that Rachel sang at my mother's funeral. What an awesome song and I remember Rachel's face beaming as she sang the words so clearly -- as if my mother was singing those words through her ... I wanted to share those words again today..

If You Could See Me Now
(Kim Noblitt)

Our prayers have all been answered. I finally arrived.
The healing that had been delayed has now been realized.
No one's in a hurry. There's no schedule to keep.
We're all enjoying Jesus, just sitting at His feet.

Chorus:
If you could see me now, I'm walking streets of gold.
If you could see me now, I'm standing strong and whole.
If you could see me now, you'd know I've seen His face.
If you could see me now, you'd know the pain is erased.
You wouldn't want me to ever leave this place,
If you could only see me now.

My light and temporary trials have worked out for my good,
To know it brought Him glory when I misunderstood.
Though we've had our sorrows, they can never compare.
What Jesus has in store for us, no language can share. (Chorus twice)

You wouldn't want me to ever leave this perfect place
If you could only see me now
If you could see me now
If you could only see me now