Daniel's Grandmother

Daniel's Grandmother (the one who broke her hip a few weeks ago) had a stroke on Sunday. Gerry, Ouida, and Mercy are all in Arkansas at the hospital. Here is an excerpt for an e-mail Gerry sent yesterday. Please keep everyone in your prayers...

Mamaw can communicate some and, with Jennifer's help, was able to take a few steps today. But, she seems to be on a roller coaster with lots of ups and downs. Ouida is spending nights with her. Sarah has been a big help with various little problems that we didn't know how to handle such as turning off the pulse beeper and putting a humidifier on the oxygen so that Mamaw's nasal passages wouldn't get irritated from the drying effect of the oxygen. In the evenings, Mamaw has been having some rising temperature which may mean an infection somewhere. She seems really frail and weak. Pray that God would give her rich blessings, that she would feel blessed and that she will sense her family's love.

Birthday Bash

Last night the whole family (almost - Sarah and Hannah couldn't come) congregated at Jon and Mandy's house for dinner and cake celebrating Daniel's parents birthdays. His dad's birthday was the end of July and his mom's was this week. We had such a good time! J and M and made a chicken dish that was great and Suzanne and I brought different salads. We then got to have cake and ice cream while we watched a video that Solomon had made about them...it was a lot of fun!

Happy Birthday Gerry and Ouida!!

What!!

Did anybody else happen to see this story on CNN.com this morning? Wow!

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- A Japanese biker failed to notice his leg had been severed below the knee when he hit a safety barrier, and rode on for 2 km (1.2 miles), leaving a friend to pick up the missing limb.
The 54-year-old office worker was out on his motorcycle with a group of friends in the city of Hamamatsu, west of Tokyo, on Monday, when he was unable to negotiate a curve in the road and bumped into the central barrier, the Mainichi Shimbun said.
He felt excruciating pain, but did not notice that his right leg was missing until he stopped at the next junction, the paper quoted local police as saying.
The man and his leg were taken to hospital, but the limb had been crushed in the collision, the paper said.

Officially Summer

It was really hard to for me to think that it was summer when it was raining every day in June and most of July - it just wasnot the normal Texas Summer Weather. Although I liked the rain at first, I found myself silently wishing for more hot, sunny days that I could spend at the pool. What was I thinking!!!

Now that it has officially gotten to the triple digits and there is no rain in sight, I am longing for a little relief from the heat. It has almost gotten too hot to go to the pool! There is a community pool two blocks from our house that is soooo nice. (The kiddie pool is where we took the pictures on my previous post). Today was just too hot to even think about going out there. I was afraid I would start sweating as soon as I walked outside of my garage!

Too bad we are never satisfied!!

Update on Daniel's grandmother

Daniel's grandmother is doing much better! Thanks for all the prayers!

Ouida was able to come home yesterday and Mamaw is working hard at rehab. She will remain inpatient for probably another week or so and then be released.

Praise God!!

Happy Birthday, Gran!

We had such a fun weekend! It started early on Friday when the family that was already here took a trip to Sam Moon. I met up with them after work and then we went to Ikea before spending the rest of the afternoon swimming at my community pool. All of the cousins enjoyed acting like little kids while we played in the kiddie pool area.



My brother-in-law called on Friday before getting on the plane to fly here to tell my sister that he had gotten a promotion at work. We decided to have an impromptu congratulatory party - complete withcake, candles, and balloons.



Saturday was filled with shopping at the Allen Outlet Mall before dinner at Buca di Beppo's. We reserved the "Pope's Room" (a large table that all 17 of us were able to sit around with pictures of the Pope, a statue in the center and a large chair that Gran quickly claimed). All the food was ordered family style and we got to try lots of excellent food! My grandmother had a BLAST and really enjoyed everyone singing Happy Birthday.





Everyone left yesterday and now our house seems so quiet! We can't wait to have company again!

(At last count, Gran had received over 115 cards and is still getting more! She hasn't even read someof them because she keeps counting the total! :) )

Party Time

My grandmother (Gran) turns 80 on Sunday. She didnot want a party so instead the family is all going to be here for our own get together!

Gran, Mom, my sister, two aunts, a cousin and her husband all drove in yesterday. Everyone else is coming today. There will be 18 people total when everyone is here. Some of the adults are staying in a hotel, but all the kids (I still think of myself as a kid) are going to be at my house on air mattresses and such. We are going to shop, hang out, swim, go out to eat, etc.

Should be fun! I will post pictures later...