My Life

Wow...

2008-11-14T13:35:00.000-08:00

Every year I order the script for the RivKids Christmas Play from one certain drama service. I have always liked their scripts and they are pretty cute. I read through their catalog and found a script I thought sounded great. I ordered all the scripts and was set to go. One day during our meeting, we decided to read completely through it and see if we could add some parts somewhere. Well, we got through 95% of the play and then it all went downhill from there. The play suddenly took on a very Catholic feel. It started talking about the Christ Child and how Mary performed miracles and the Madonna statue, and it went on and on. So we obviously couldn't do this play.

The drama company has a strict policy regarding refunds... they just don't do them. I thought for the fun of it I would contact the company to see if they would make an exception because of the unique situation. Here is the email I got back from the company...

"Wow! I don't see that as Catholic, it certainly isn't intended to be. I

honor and celebrate Mary as the mother of Jesus. Not just anyone could fill
that roll, I certainly couldn't. It doesn't say they prayed to her or they
took part in a mass, it was simply Christmas and they were caught up in the
miracle of it all. It is after all, a pretty unbelievably miraculous story
about a baby named Jesus and his Mommy Mary"

"Mommy Mary"?? Wow... that's all I can say.

Update on our "friend"

2008-09-26T17:23:00.001-07:00

We finally caught the hamster this morning in our car. Yup, it lived in our car for more than a week. We set traps a couple nights and somehow the hamster set the mice traps off and then just ate the food off the trap. When that happened, I got a little upset. It was all-out war after that night. I went to ACE hardware and bought a huge rat trap and 4 sticky traps. I was going to catch that hamster if it killed me.

I set all the traps out last night and kept checking on it before I went to bed. Nothing. I got up this morning and looked in the car and all of the traps were still set. Argh. I couldn't believe that the hamster hadn't even come out. Well, as I was walking back around the car I looked in the back seat and there it was! It had stepped on the first sticky pad and got stuck. I was very excited to say the least.

We also had the seat belt fixed today. It would have cost us $250, but we found out that Subaru has a lifetime guarantee on their seat belts. Guess it doesn't matter that a rodent chewed through it :) All I know is I am a happy camper now that the hamster is out of the car and our seat belt was fixed for free!!

Where do I begin?

2008-09-20T19:22:00.000-07:00

So, I guess I start with Thursday afternoon. Hailey came home from school and went up to her room. Ethan and I were downstairs talking and we hear Hailey scream at the top of her lungs. We both ran up the stairs to see Hailey holding her hamster, who was obviously very sick. The hamster really wasn't moving, and barely looked alive. Hailey held it and wouldn't let go. I tried to do what I could for the hamster, but nothing was working. We wrapped the hamster up in a sock and in a towel to keep it warm. Every once in a while the hamster would move and Hailey would get all excited thinking it was getting better. Well, we needed to leave to go to my niece's birthday party, so we left the hamster all wrapped up on Hailey's bed, intending on dealing with it when we came home.

Fast forward 4 hours...

We got home from the party to see that the hamster had somehow wiggled off the bed. I felt horrible - I had no idea the hamster would move that much. I literally thought it would be long gone by the time we got home. Well, we started working with the hamster again hoping to revive it. Ethan ran over to the computer and googled "what to do with a sick hamster." We read about the symptoms and it seemed like it had hamster diarrhea. So, trying to do everything I could, we ran to Petsmart at 8:45pm. The website also said to try giving the hamster pedialyte. So, we stopped into Rite Aid on the way home. Here I am at 9:00 at night trying to give this poor dying hamster drops of medicine. Well, she seemed to come a little more to life, but then she got really bad. I started to actually hope she would just die so she would stop convulsing. At this point, I just took the hamster and said I would watch over it during the night. I didn't want Hailey seeing this poor thing suffer.

As the kids were getting ready for bed, I called JR and gave him the update on the sick hamster. I told him how we were trying to revive the poor thing. He then tells me he had already bought another hamster. What a guy! Well, he ended up coming home about 1/2 hour later with a new hamster for Hailey. Come to find out, he bought one, and the thing chewed through it's box and got lost in JR's car so he had to buy another one.

Here comes the "funny" part... We searched and searched for that hamster but couldn't find it. JR felt it crawl up his leg while he was driving. We figured it had going into the engine or just fallen out onto the ground. We thought that until my niece went to sit in the passenger seat today and pulled the seat belt out. That stupid hamster had somehow found a way to get over there and chew a hole completely through the seat belt. The seat belt was now in two pieces. What the heck? How can a small hamster actually chew through a seat belt? Well, we had to get the thing out of our car. We didn't want him chewing through the seat or anything. So, my niece's fiance works at Goodyear so we took it over there today. Needless to say, they all got a laugh out of this. Not everyday that someone comes in asking for them to find a hamster loose inside the frame of a car.

They completely took the front dash off but couldn't find the hamster. They could see where he had chewed some foam and the seat belt, but there was no sign of the critter. So, now what? We have no idea what to do. We are pretty sure the thing dies because there is a stench in the car. But, seriously, how the heck do we find the thing and then how do we get it out? We can't even being to figure out where to start. Any ideas??

What a stupid thing to have happen! Makes for a funny story though...

ARGH!!!

2008-09-07T13:57:00.000-07:00

Apparently someone hacked into my facebook account and sent out some kind of love spam. How does this happen? I am so frustrated. I guess more embarassed because I don't want people to actually think I would send that crap out.

So, if you are a friend of mine on facebook, sorry. Please do not click on the link. I think that may have been how someone hacked into my account.

Argh....

Ethan's First Surgery

2008-07-03T09:49:00.000-07:00

Yup, Ethan had his first surgery today. He has always had problems with his tear ducts not working properly. Whenever he goes outside to play, or is in any ki

nd of wind, his eye waters really bad. We went to the Dr. and he said that his tear duct is all jacked up. It's in the wrong spot, it's way to small, etc. So, they went in today to fix it. Well, they found out that he's completely missing one of the two tear ducts on his right eye. So, they had to do a completely different procedure than they had originally planned on. The down side to this is Ethan has a tube running into his eye lid, through his nose, and back around forming a circle. Half of this tube is on the outside of his face. He's going to have to mess with this tube for the next couple of months. I feel kinda bad for him. The tube is very tiny though, so once we are able to take the tape off, hopefully it won't be that noticeable. I can't believe how well he is doing! He's wanting to run around like crazy now, but he's not allowed to. He hasn't even complained once about the tube that's in his eye and nose. He's one tough cookie!!

Here are some pictures of his day...

Here he is just after he got his I.V.

About 30 seconds after he got medicine to "relax" him

And about 5 seconds after that...

Here he is after surgery.

Here is a close-up of what it looks like.

The best part of the boys being gone is...

2008-06-24T18:34:00.000-07:00

Hailey and I were talking tonight as she was getting ready to go to bed. We were talking about how JR and Ethan are gone. This is what she told me, "Mom, do you know what the best part of Daddy and Ethan being gone is? We don't have to watch sports!"

I had to laugh!!

Girls Night Out

2008-06-24T17:42:00.000-07:00

Since JR's gone, I've tried to do some fun things with Hailey to make the week fun for us. Sunday we went shopping with Grandma and out to dinner with Grandma and Grandpa, Monday we bought a car-load of flowers to plant in our yard (ok, that was fun more for me than for Hailey), then today Hailey had a friend over all day to play. But, tonight we really splurged. Hailey and I met Randi-Kay and we all got Pedicures. Well, Hailey actually just got her toenails painted with a really fun color and a flower on each big toe. Randi-Kay and I got Pedicures. It was so nice... up until the point where the lady took this wire brush and started rubbing my leg with it. Randi-Kay seemed to enjoy it. I don't know, maybe I'm just a wimp...

Oh well, we had a very enjoyable night!!

Talk about frustration!

2008-06-23T19:30:00.000-07:00

When JR leaves for Mexico, I usually plan a few projects to occupy my time. I should know by now that projects never go as easily as they should.

I am replacing some tile that is in front of our fireplace and some tile that is in front of the sliding door to our backyard. The tile that was there is pretty cracked and I was tired of it. So I replaced the cement board under the tile and finally found some tile that I really liked. I have everything ready and I put the tile down just to see what it looks like. Crap - it doesn't fit. What the heck? It's 12 inch tile. I went back and re-measured the original tile. It's 11 3/4 inches. Do they even make tile that size? Apparently not anymore. I have no idea what I'm going to do. I know I can cut the tile, but I don't have a wet saw. Argh!! Why couldn't the tile be the same size? Is that too much to ask?

I need Help!!!

2008-06-23T16:17:00.001-07:00

I am posting this hoping someone out there has some advice...

I took a couple videos on my camera. I downloaded them to iPhoto, but they saved as a .jpg file. When I open iPhoto, the video plays fine. But when I try to put the video onto youtube, it shows up as an invalid file. Does anyone know how I can fix this?? It's two videos of Hailey's ballet recital that I want to send to family that weren't there!!!

Thanks :)

Hailey's Dance Recital

2008-06-19T15:28:00.000-07:00

Hailey had her very first dance recital on Sunday night. It was so fun watching her try and stay in step with the other girls in her class. She took ballet and tap dance. I have video of the dances, but I'm having problems posting them. So, until I can figure that out, here are some pictures from Sunday.

Hailey got flowers from us, grandma and grandpa and mimi and papa. She was so excited!

Hailey with her friends Meah and Marah

Grandma and Grandpa Miller

Mimi and Papa Marshall

Public Service Announcement

2008-06-18T12:40:00.001-07:00

If you walk your dog by my house and it decided to go to the bathroom on MY yard, please have the decency to clean up after your dog!

Thank you

Ethan's First Baseball Game

2008-05-28T12:41:00.000-07:00

Ethan had his first baseball game of the season last night. He was the first up to bat and the first pitch that was thrown he hit a double! Pretty good! His next two at-bats he got singles. Their team won 18-8. It was freezing cold, but we had a great time.

The Avett Brothers

2008-05-28T12:27:00.000-07:00

A bunch of us from Riverview went to see the Avett Brothers in GR last week. I had heard a little bit of their music before the concert, and I thought it was ok. Well, I guess I should be honest. I laughed at it. It was the craziest bluegrass/rock/punk music I had ever heard. However, it was one of the best concerts I have ever been to. They are amazing live. The energy they had and what they could do with a banjo, a bass drum, and a guitar was great!

Here are the pictures I promised a week ago...

2008-05-28T12:04:00.000-07:00

Here is Aunt Pat and I at the Tiger's game. You can't see them very well, but we are sporting some sweet pink Tiger's hats!

We drove up to Canyon Lake for a little fun on the boat. On the way up I saw my first cactus. I thought it was cool so I had to take a picture of it.

Here's a picture of canyon lake. It was amazing. It was also 110 degrees that day, so being in the water was very nice.

2008-05-20T21:12:00.000-07:00

Wow - 2 months since my last post. Does anyone even check my blog anymore?
Can you tell my life is getting very busy? I always said I wasn't going to be one of those people that ran all over doing 100 different things, but that's exactly how it's been. A few big things have happened since my last post...
In April I turned the big 3-0. Yup - I am old. I realized that the other day when I pulled out a completely gray eyebrow hair. Yup - that's bad. Oh well - at least people make haircolor for the gray hairs on my head.
I got into a minor accident a few weeks ago. Thankfully no one was hurt, but I have to go to court to straighten everything out. Fun stuff. Can't wait until that is all done.

One of the coolest things is that for my 30th birthday my mother-in-law and father-in-law surprised me with a trip to Phoenix to see the Tigers play! I used to hate baseball, but a few years ago when the Tigers were amazing I got hooked. It helps that JR and Ethan are hardcore Tiger fans. By default I became one too. JR's Aunt and Uncle live in Phoenix, so I went out and stayed with them for 3 nights. I just got back today. I had such an amazing time. I had never spent a lot of time with his Aunt and Uncle, but I am so thankful I got the opportunity to know them better! They have horses, chickens, ducks, dogs and cats. It was so fun to go out in the evening and be with the horses. It was great. They totally spoiled me while I was out there. They took me to Canon Lake which is a man-made lake in the valley of the mountains. It was so beautiful! We spent a whole afternoon out on their pontoon boat. What a wonderful time!

So the next month will continue to be crazy with school ending, kids kamp, the Mexico trip, and who knows what else. I am hoping for a nice and calm summer with my hubby and kids. I will try and post pictures from my trip tomorrow. Now it's time for bed!

2008-03-22T16:45:00.000-07:00

After JR got back from Mexico last summer, the group that he went with chipped in and bought us a gift certificate for a night at the Wild Goose Inn in East Lansing. We just got around to using it this last night. Justin and Devon were kind enough to offer to watch our kids so we could go. JR and I had never been to a bed and breakfast before, so we weren't really sure what to expect. I think we were both looking forward to getting away, but weren't expecting too much from this place. Well, we were blown away.

We walked in and the house was really beautiful. There was a sitting room with a fireplace and wonderful music playing in the background. We went up to our room and it was really nice as well! It even had a jacuzzi in our room with skylights all around. To top it all off, we turned the tv on and "Titanic" (one of our favorite movies) was on tv. The bed was honestly the most comfortable bed we've ever slept on. Then this morning we came down for breakfast and we had a delicious full breakfast cooked to order!

So, if you ever want a really nice place to get away that is close to home (if you live near Lansing), you have to check this place out! They have 9 different rooms which all have a different theme. You can check their website out and see a 360 degree view of each of them. We have already decided that this will be somewhere we go at least once a year!

What Easter Celebrates...

2008-03-22T16:39:00.000-07:00

Tonight Hailey and I were driving around and we began to talk about what Easter is about. I asked her why we celebrate Easter. She thought about it for a second and said that's when God gave us Jesus. I said "no, that's what Christmas celebrates." She said, "oh yeah, that's right. Easter is when Jesus died on the cross." I wiped the sweat off my brow after thinking my daughter really didn't know what Easter was. So I asked again just to make sure she remembered... "Hailey, so what does Easter celebrate?" Her response: "It is when we celebrate Jesus dying on the cross and when we color Easter Eggs for Him."

So close...

RivKids Easter Egg Hunt

2008-03-09T19:18:00.001-07:00

This Saturday, March 15th from 10:00am - 12:00pm, Riverview Church will be having it's annual Easter Egg Hunt!! If you have a child (or children) 12 months old through 5th grade, plan on coming!! We will have Easter Crafts and other fun activities in the lobby, then we will be telling the Easter story, then we will set the kids free to search for the 10,000 eggs we have hidden around the church.

We will be dividing kids up by age, so that everyone stays safe! Just be sure and bring a basket to put all the eggs in!!

If you have any questions, email me at miller.tricia@gmail.com

:)

My Hands Are Cracked and Bleeding...

2008-02-16T16:44:00.000-08:00

from washing them literally about 40 times in the last 12 hours. Ethan started puking last night at 9:30 and puked 11 times before 1:30am. I started to get a little scared at how often he was throwing up. I thought for sure we would end up in the ER for him to get fluids, but somehow he pulled through and seems pretty good today. He's even eating crackers and really wants some mac and cheese for dinner, but i'm thinking that's not a good idea.

So I spent about 4 hours today spraying lysol over everything, then cleaning everything with Clorox wipes, then spraying everything again with lysol. I just don't want to get sick!!

Oh that Hailey...

2008-02-12T17:42:00.000-08:00

So when we sit down for dinner at night as a family, we either pray before we eat, or sometimes we break bread together to remember what Jesus did for us. The kids really like to do that and will often request to "pray with our bread" instead of the normal prayer. Last night Hailey requested to remember Jesus with our bread instead of praying. As is usual, JR asks Hailey to explain the story and what it means. She said that Jesus sat with his friends at a big table and took a piece of bread and He broke it and how that represents Jesus' body being broken. JR asked her what happened next and she said that Jesus took His drink and said "whenever you drink this GUINESS, remember Me." I guess she figured we don't drink wine in our house, only guiness. She knew that they were both alcohol. Needless to say JR and I were literally rolling on the floor laughing. Hailey didn't think it was all that funny and slumped down in her seat because she thought we were laughing at her. Well, I guess we might have been, because it was hialrious!!

The things kids will say!!

New Year's Resolutions...

2008-01-03T18:48:00.000-08:00

Resolutions are funny to me sometimes. Exercising seems to always be on the top of people's list. This became very apparent to me when last week at the Y there were about 3 or 4 people there when I was there. I went last night and I had to wait for a machine.

One thing JR and I are going to try and do is read through the Bible in a year. JR found that www.studylight.org will email you your passage everyday. I was pretty excited about that. Click here to go to the website if you are interested in signing up.

We had a wonderful Holiday. We got to spend a lot of time with JR's family which was fun. This Christmas was a little different for us in the fact that our kids are getting to the age where they actually like getting clothes and games. No more annoying toys all over. Yeah!!

JR got me a TomTom for Christmas. I have to say I love it. I am a little directionally challenged, so having this thing on my windshield telling me exactly where I am and where to turn is awesome! I definitely like it a lot! One of the coolest features about it is it will tell you what time you should arrive at your destination. We were coming home from Grand Rapids on Christmas Day and it gave us a 1 hour and 15 minute arrival time. We were driving about 78 the whole way home and it can tell how fast you are going so it is continually adjusting your arrival time depending on your speed. This is defnintely something I will be using daily :)

I am a little sad to see my kids go back to school. It's been a great two weeks home with them. I definitely begin to realize how much I love being at home. I don't like going out all the time. I like being home, being able to keep my house clean, and just being mom and wife.

So, there's a bunch of random thoughts that are in my head right now. Happy New Year!

We've taught him well...

2007-11-14T17:27:00.000-08:00

Tonight the kids and I went to PetsMart to buy some dog food. While we were browing the store, we saw a tv playing an ad for the furminator. It's this amazing comb thing helps get hair off of your dog or cat. We are having a lot of problems with our dog shedding and we are trying to find something that might help a little. After watching the advertisement, the kids agreed that we should get this comb. The only problem is that the big one is $49.95! Seriously. I might be tempted to pay that much if it worked, but seeing as I don't have an extra $50 to blow right now we walked out of the store. We loaded the dog food in the car and as we are driving away Ethan said, "Mom, do you think you could find it cheaper online?"

Yes, we have taught our son well...

Please Pray - again!

2007-11-06T15:08:00.000-08:00

JR went to the eye doctor here in Lansing today because a couple of his stitches were coming lose and were annoying him. We don't have another appointment with the Dr. in Ann Arbor who actually did the surgery until next Wednesday and we knew we couldn't wait.

The Dr. took two momre of the stitches out, but informed JR that he now has an infection in his eye. He didn't say how bad it was. JR is now on two more eye drops every 2 hours. He goes back at 10am tomorrow so the doctor can make sure the infection isn't getting worse.

Last Wednesday JR could see 20/20 -1 out of his eye. Today, he could see 20/25 -3. So, his eyesight is getting worse. Hopefully that is just because of the infection, and that once the infection is gone, his vision will return to normal again.

Through out this whole ordeal, the biggest thing the doctors said was that it was very important that he didn't get an infection in his eye.

So, for any of you that actually read my blog, please pray that it gets better by tomorrow. I will post again after his appointment.

thanks

why do i try?

2007-11-05T16:39:00.000-08:00

tonight was going to be one of those nights where we sit down to a wonderful dinner that has been in the oven all afternoon. We got home from Hailey's dance class and the house smelled very yummy. I was very excited. I bought something called a porketta, which I thought was a very yummy pork roast. It has seasoning all over it and it looked like it should be delicious. They were even buy one get one free, so I got two.

Well, as I cut into the piece of meat, it looked like a ham, not a pork roast. No one in our family like ham like that. I held out a little bit of hope thinking that it still might be really yummy. No such luck. The seasoning that was all over the meat looked good, but it had anise seed in it and was very gross. We cut off the edge thinking we could salvage the meat. Nope. It was some of the worst tasting meat I have ever had. JR and I actually spit the bite out. It was so bad we couldn't even eat it.

Dang it! I thought I had two really good pieces of meat to make a couple nice dinners with. What a waste...

So, the moral of this story is never buy something called a porketta!

Update on the Miller Clan

2007-11-04T17:10:00.000-08:00

Here's an update on how things are going in our house...

Thanks to those of you that have been praying for JR the last few weeks! It has been amazing to see God heal him so quickly! JR's eye is healing great. He went last week to have 3 of the 6 stitches in his eye taken out. Although his vision is still a bit blurry, he saw 20/20 during his doctor visit! Praise God!!

JR thought poking himself in the eye wasn't enough fun, so last Sunday he decided to throw his back out too. After about 4 solid days in bed, he is now mobile again. The plan is for him to start back to work this Wednesday.

Ethan had an interesting week last week too. We went for his dentist appointment and found out that he is missing 7 of his adult teeth. That's right... 7! I guess it's a Miller trait to be missing one, maybe two. We are going to see an orthodontist to try and figure out what in the world we are going to do. Braces are definitely in his future, along with implants or something like that. So, if anyone would like to contribute to the Ethan Miller fake tooth fund, we are now accepting donations.

To top the week off, Hailey has a terrible, no good, very bad day. First of all she got lost while we were shopping in Menards and I had to go up and have her paged. Only a few tears were shed. Then we went to Target for a little fun shopping. Hailey likes to sit on the bottom of the cart - where you usually put your milk. She was sitting there and leaned her head back and I accidentally stepped on her hair. I successfully pulled out a big chunk of her hair. She didn't cry or anything. I couldn't believe it. I think I win worst mom of the year award for all that has happened to Hailey tonight. We finally decided we just needed to go home where we would be safe and sound!

God is SO good!!!

2007-10-24T06:28:00.000-07:00

The past few days have been so unbelievable. What a roller coaster of
emotions! So many people praying. So many prayers answered. This has
been such a difficult time, but such a time of growth. God is so
faithful!

We went for the post-op visit with the Dr. today. We left speechless. The Dr said everything looked really well. There was no sign on infection and very little inflammation from the surgery itself. JR could even see 20/40 out of his eye. The Dr. told JR he could resume activities when he felt ready. He even said JR could run, work out, drive, etc. He should even be able to return to work sooner that
originally anticipated. None of it makes sense. When we started this
"adventure" on Sunday, everything looked so bleak. The possability of
JR being able to see out of that eye didn't look promising. And now,
here we are. One day after surgery and the Dr. says that he should be ok.

God has been so faithful. There have been people praying all over for us. I
have no doubt that God has answered those prayers. He answered them in
a huge way. JR and I walked out of the dr's office today speechless.
It's just amazing. God is so faithful! Our biggest hope and prayer is
that we are able to share this story with people we know that don't
know Jesus. We are hoping this is tangible proof that God does exist
and that He saved JR's vision. We are giving Him all the glory for this miracle!

Even though this was a really scary time for us, I honestly was never scared about JR's vision. It was obviously was hard seeing my husband in so much pain,
but I always felt this peace about how it would turn out. I felt like
God gave me peace so I could use all my strength to be there for JR.

Thank you again for all the phone calls, emails, messages, and most of all, for your prayers!

Post surgery update

2007-10-23T11:24:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to post something really quick to let you know how everything went. The Dr. was able to clean most of the debris out of his eye. He put 6 stitches in his eye. JR is in A LOT of pain right now which vicodin isn't even cutting. I'm praying he will be able to sleep this afternoon.

Looks like best case scenario JR will be out of work for 30 days. It will take a long time for his vision to return to normal. The Dr. seems optimistic that he will regain most of his vision. He did say that there is a chance that he may develop a cataract from the blunt trauma to his eye.

I'll try and post more tomorrow after we return to the Dr.

Thank you all so much for you prayers! We have felt so covered in prayer. We love you guys!!

Tricia

Please Pray

2007-10-22T18:22:00.000-07:00

Ok, I have a big prayer request. Sunday afternoon JR was helping change the brakes on his dad's van. He was using a pair of needle nose pliers to try and stretch a spring into place. He was using all his strength to try and do this. However, the pliers slipped off of the spring and ended up going into his eye. After a trip to the ER in an ambulance, the ER Docs sent us home saying it was just a bad scratch. We went to see the specialist today and he was very concerned. He said that the pliers actually went into his eye and left a hole. There was fluid leaking out of his eye, which obviously is not a good thing. To top that off, you can imagine how dirty the pliers were since they were working on a car. When he went into his eye, somehow it left his eye cut in layers and there is all kinds of dirt and junk in his eye.

The Dr. told us to immediately go to Ann Arbor to have surgery to fix his eye. We were shocked. We had no idea it was so bad. So, we called my parents and they picked the kids up from school early and brought them to our house so we could say goodbye to them while we packed up.

We made it to Ann Arbor and thankfully the leaking in JR's eye had slowed enough that the Dr. wanted to wait until tomorrow morning to do the surgery. If he would have done it tonight, he would have been working with people other than his normal staff, and in an operating room other than his. He felt comfortable enough to wait just so he could have his own room and people to do the surgery. So, we actually ended up coming home for the night so we could sleep well and because we don't have to be back to the hospital until 11:00am tomorrow morning.

So, if you could pray for JR tomorrow at noon, I would appreciate it! Here's the biggest scare. If he gets an infection in his eye, he will lose his sight. The problem is that the surgery itself is risky because it can cause infection. But leaving all the junk in his eye, and leaving the hole open is an even greater risk.

We do feel very fortunate though because all of this damage occured below his sight of vision. If it would have been higher even by a few millimeters, he would have lose his sight immediately. God has been so good! All the doctors kept saying to us was how lucky JR was that the puncture happened where it did. We are definitely praising God for that! JR actually has a very good attitude about the whole thing. He knows the risk of the surgery tomorrow, but he isn't worried. He knows that it is out of his hands and that he can't control what happens. His words tonight were, "even if I still lose sight in my one eye, I still have Jesus. That's all that matters." I am so thankful for his attitude and I am trying to have the same attitude. This could have been so much worse. We are just thankful the pliers went in where they did.

I hope this post makes sense. My mind is completely a blur right now and I don't even know if I am putting two complete thoughts together. I will try and post tomorrow night and let everyone know how the surgery went.

Thanks for all your prayers and support!

Tricia

I don't live in the ghetto!

2007-10-06T20:30:00.000-07:00

The past few months have been interesting around our house. There were 5 or so break-ins on our street, then some teenager decided to run away from the police and he thought our backyard would be a great place to run and hide. Thankfully we have some awesome neighbors who actually helped the police catch the teenager. Then tonight I'm alone with the kids and cop cars start going up and down our street with their bright lights on searching. Great... what's going on now? Seriously, we don't live in the hood or anything. I actually really like our neighborhood! I think a bid part of it is the apartment complex that is really close to us.

The last house we lived in had people shot around us and a murder just down 2 blocks. We thought moving into a family neighborhood would be a safe bet. I'm thinking that just might not be the case though.

On a cool note, I got a call from our next door neighbor this morning because she saw that our back door was open and had been for a little while. She was calling to make sure we're ok. How awesome is that! We are all looking out for each other. It's almost like we have our own neighborhood watch going on. Still scared though!!!

So, anyone want to come over to our house ever again? Didn't think so...

Cancer Pt. 2

2007-10-03T16:57:00.001-07:00

Well, I talked with my dad tonight and it looks like he's not going to have the surgery after all. He wants to try a "homeopathic" type cure first. This makes me a little nervous. He is 73 years old. I would like to see him just have it taken out, but I'm just his kid. I can't make him change his mind. I guess he knows of some other people that have cured this type of cancer by eating cottage cheese and flax seed oil. I guess I can't say too much about it because I don't know much about it. But to me it doesn't sound like a dairy product and some oil can cure cancer. So, we'll wait and see. He said he'll try it for a month and then see what his bloodwork says. I guess one month can't hurt???

ARGH!!!

2007-10-02T15:49:00.000-07:00

This weekend I found out that my dad has prostate cancer. When I heard those words, I was speechless at first, then the emotions started to pour out of me. I was obviously scared, but from what my mom said, if you're going to have cancer, this is the kind to have. He went to the Dr. today and they are going to be able to surgically take it out and that will be it. No radiation or chemo or anything like that. I am so thankful!

Too Funny...

2007-08-27T19:37:00.001-07:00

So Ethan and Hailey started school today. I am helping out a lot in Hailey's class so I was there this morning when the NEW principal started doing announcements over the loud speaker through the whole school. She starts doing the pledge and she makes a big mistake. Instead of saying "one nation, under God, INDIVISABLE..." she says one nation, under God, INDIVIDUAL." You could tell she was a little nervous over the speaker. After she make the mistake, she paused for a second and then continued. Just a great way to start off your first 10 minutes of work in a new school, in a new position :)

2007-08-22T12:16:00.000-07:00

So my phone decided to stop working correctly. To be specific, my ear piece. So now when i make or receive a call, i have to have it on speaker phone in order to hear. It has been very frustrating.

I was wondering if anyone has a spare phone that is compatible with Sprint that they are looking to get rid of? I need one ASAP. Thanks :)

Why am I here?

2007-07-27T13:18:00.001-07:00

There are 52 people from Riverview on a missions trip right now to Tijuana, MX. I debated for a long time if I should go on the missions trip or not. Our whole family went last year, and it was great doing that with JR and the kids. For some reason, I just didn't feel like I could do it again this year. But now, I wonder why? Was I just not ready to go through that again? It's not like the trip was horrible, by any means. It was just emotionally exhausting. When we began talking about Mexico again, it made me cringe. I just couldn't do that again. At the time, I couldn't put into words why I just couldn't get excited about going again. I have had a lot of time this week to think about the real reason I didn't want to go.

I think I have this fear of something happening to me. Sounds stupid, doesn't it? Why don't I trust God to take care of me? He did last year. Why would now be any different. As I sat home this week, I had a lot of time to think about how God did watch out for me last year. This time last year I was having HORRIBLE problems with migraines. I was getting a couple a week. When I got one, I would get sick and end up in bed for the better part of a day. The amazing thing is I started to get one the first night we were in Mexico last year. I prayed and God immediately took it away. That has never happened before. God was watching out for me. I felt like that was almost His was of saying, "see, I've got your back." The rest of the trip was great. It was awesome seeing the kids playing with the Mexican kids that didn't even speak English. It didn't matter - they didn't need to talk to each other to play and have fun together.

As I watched the group pull out of the Riverview parking lot last week, I cried like a baby. I cried because it was hard to see my husband pull away and us not be with him. It was hard because my 20 year old neices were also on that bus. I realized I had been selfish in saying I didn't want to go on the trip this year. I have had a lot of talks with God this week about that. I feel like I missed out on a lot because I was being selfish.

The funny thing is when we talked about going last year, I totally didn't want to go. I wasn't looking forward to it at all. In fact, I was dreading it. I was dreading the unknown. We weren't going to have running water or electricity. We were going to be in a very hot place. I hate being hot. I was just afraid. I had never been on a real missions trip before. It just seemed totally out of my comfort zone and I was not ok with that. But, JR really wanted us to go. I realized it would be a good experience for all of us, so I said ok. Even the night before we left I was scared to death. We sat in the airport and I really couldn't believe I was on my way to Mexico. I was so scared.

But, not going this year forced me to think through a lot of the feeling and emotions I never dealth with last year. I think that's why I wasn't ready to go this year. To be honest, I didn't know I even had any of this to deal with. I sat last night talking with a friend about the trip. I sat there and got so excited about going next year. That was honestly the first time that I was excited about the thought of going back to Mexico. I almost feel like I had to miss out on this year's trip to really deal with the issues I had. It's cool now to see the result. I just wish I would have dealt with this a few months earlier so I could be on that trip right now. Although I don't know if there would have been any other way for me to really deal with any of this.

Help?

2007-07-24T18:43:00.001-07:00

Ok, I know this might appear desperate, but I'm willing to take that chance. We are in the process of painting the siding on our house. JR is in Mexico until Saturday night and I have been working like crazy trying to suprise him and get it done before he gets home.

There are only two sides of the house that I cannot paint. The middle of our house is two stories, and the two sides of that are only one. We have to get up on the roof to paint two of the sides of the second story. I am incredible afraid of ladders and heights when on a ladder. I have somehow overcome the fear of the extension ladder and painted 2 of the sides of the second storie with the ladder. However, I draw the line at getting up on the roof to paint anything else. I figured that might not be a good idea to do, especially when I don't have any other adult around.

So, is there anyone out there that would be willing to come for a couple hours and help paint the siding? I can't offer you money, but I do promise that I will feed you well:)

Thanks!!

2007-07-06T18:38:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's already July. Amanzing how fast time flies.

June was fun - but really busy. We had kids kamp and it went great. We had about 280 kids during the week. The coolest thing was we had a couple parents come up to us during the week and tell us how excited their kids were to come everyday. They were even bringing their friends. It totally makes all the hours we spend putting kids kamp together worth it!

Ethan had his birthday June 30th. He turned 8! Yes, I actually have an 8 year old child. Don't know how this is possible considering I'm still 23... He has been so excited because he got a new bike for his birthday.

Right about the same time, Hailey learned how to ride her bike without training wheels. Put this together with the fact that I got a bike for my birthday and you now know why we have a little family bikeride every night. It's actually been a lot of fun. I LOVE riding my bike. It makes it all that much more fun to ride with the kids. Now we've just got to get JR one so he can join in on the fun :)

We decided to be really brave tonight and we rode our bikes all the way to the library. For those of you that don't know where we live, the library is exactly one mile away. I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but when your daughter just learned how to ride a two-wheeler and your son is just learning how to use hand brakes, and you have to cross a pretty busy street, it can be a scary adventure. We did pretty well. I only had to tell the kids 5 or 6 times that you use brakes to stop, not their feet. I made a joke about how they aren't Fred Flinstone, but they had no idea who that was. Yup - yet another way to make me feel old.

I have to say I am excited to have the rest of the summer to just enjoy with my family. Kids kamp planning is done, and everything at church is really quiet right now. Not a whole lot to do. JR leaves for Mexico in two weeks. The kids and I, and my sister and neice are going to spend the night in Grand Haven one night while he's gone so we can enjoy the beach. We're going to be painting the siding on our house and working on a few other projects this summer. I just love being able to be free to do whatever we want. So nice!

I guess I should label my spices...

2007-05-07T15:56:00.001-07:00

So I bought this really cool spice rack from IKEA that I totally love. The spices all go in these little glass jars. There is no real way to label them. I never thought I would have a problem remember what they were, until tonight. I was making quesadillas. I had the chicken in the pan and I added what I thought was taco seasoning. I made three of them and JR and Ethan started eating while I finished making the rest. When JR said they tasted really salty, I realized that I kept adding seasoned salt instead of taco seasoning. Oops...

A little bit of heaven on earth

2007-05-02T19:19:00.000-07:00

JR and I just returned from a week-long trip to Colorado. We went without the kids and we had an amazing time! This was our first trip without kids since our honeymoon 10 years ago. It was definitely time!

We lived in Colorado for about 4 years. As soon as we moved there, we knew that was "home" for us. I don't know what it is about Colorado, but it's the most amazing place I've ever been. The weather is amazing, the scenery is beautiful, and the way of life is just different out there. I never thought anywhere would feel like home except Michigan. JR and I both grew up here and still have a lot of family back here. But, it's like Colorado runs in our blood. I can't even explain it.

We had an amazing time doing all the wedding stuff during the week. JR got to go golfing, saw a Rockies game, went go cart racing, along with many other things with all the guys from the wedding. I got to go to "high tea" at a very nice hotel in downtown Denver - The Brown Palace. We had to be in proper attire to even get in for tea. We all had tea with scones, little sandwiches, and little desserts. I didn't know the bride or her family before we came, so it was a great time to spend some time with them and get to know them a little better.

At the wedding and the reception we got to spend time with a lot of our friends that we were close with. It was such a fun time! We had the most amazing dinner and then some very yummy drinks and danced the night away. It will definitely go down as one of the best receptions I have ever been to!

I remember the day back in 2003 that we drove our U-Haul truck out of Colorado heading to Michigan. JR and I both cried as we saw the mountains getting smaller and smaller in our rear view mirror. That is how we felt when we left this time too. We spent a lot of time talking about our desire to move back to Colorado. The day before we left we went up into the mountains and drove around. I think this was one of the hardest days we had. We cried together when we talked about having to leave (ok, I was the one that did most of the crying).

Even today when I went back to church to work I just sat at the desk and cried. I didn't want to be there. My heart isn't here. It's in Colorado. I know that we are here right now for a reason and I'm ok with that. I just can't imagine living here for the rest of my life. It's funny though - when we lived in Colorado we always said that we would NEVER move back to Michigan, and here we are. When we moved here we said we would NEVER buy a house here because that would mean it would be that much harder for us to move back to colorado, but we did. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE my job at Riverview, I love the people I work with, and I love being close to our family. But it's like something is missing. Can't you all just move to Colorado with us? That would be cool!

Ok, I obvioulsy needed a little bit of therapy, so for those of you still reading, thanks for listening. Here are some pictures from our trip. You can see how amazing the pictures of the mountains are. How could you not want to live near that?!

Here's a picture of JR and I after we had lunch with Todd Currell who used to live in Holt and go to Riverview!

JR and the guys racing cars

Here's JR with Dan, the groom

Dan and Lizzy having their first dance as husband and wife

Our friends Scott and Carla

Dancing with the cutest boy at the wedding, Alex

Our friends Tom, Amanda, Alex and Callum

JR and I dancing the night away

Our friends Greg and Wendy

Our friend Jayne

Our friends Kyle and Amy

This is the view when you come up over the interstate where the wedding was. It used to be one of my favorite drives...

JR and I at the continental divide on Loveland Pass.

How can you not love the views up in the mountains? This is only about an hour from where we used to live.

Don't ask us to watch your pet...

2007-04-05T06:35:00.000-07:00

Since this week is spring break we've been watching Hailey's class pet - "Teddy" the hamster. We are also watching a friend's pet frog while they are on vacation. Well, on Tuesday the frog died and today we woke up to see that the Hamster had died. Seriously - what in the world is going on? We have killed two animals in one week and they aren't even ours! I feel horrible!

So, I guess the moral of the story is don't ask us to watch your pet if you want it alive when you come back...

We're Back!

2007-03-28T19:23:00.000-07:00

After 6 days in Florida, we are back home. We had a great time down there! The weather was amazing - 85 degrees and sunny everyday. The first day we went to a beach on the eastern coast of Florida. It was amazing - white sand and beautiful waves. What a great way to start a vacation! Then we spent 4 1/2 days walking for miles on end around Epcot, Animal Kingdom, MGM, and Magic Kingdom. It was not the most restful vacation, but seeing the kids faces light up and seeing them skip all over the parks was priceless! Some of the best memories are of Hailey screaming her lungs out on her first roller coaster ride. Here are a few pictures from the trip...

Finally!

2007-03-20T19:16:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to post about this for a long time, but I didn't want to risk the kids hearing about it from someone. In the morning we fly to Orlando for a weeklong trip to Disney. The best part is the kids have absolutely NO IDEA! Last year we told the kids that we would try and go to Disney this summer with some friends. Well, that fell through, but we found an amazing deal for the end of March. So we decided to go ahead with that plan but leave the kids to wonder when we were really going. The cool part about this is that we have been able to talk with the kids about how fun Disney will be. As of right now they think we are still going in August.

It has been so hard not to say anything to the kids. Even tonight during dinner JR said something about closing the curtains to the house while we are gone. Ethan asked where we were going. JR said he was talking about going to work and Ethan bought it. It amazes me that the kids don't have a clue.

After they went to bed tonight we took our dog over to JR's parents house. My dad is picking us up in the morning and we have all of our luggage in the garage so they won't even see it until we unload it at the airport. It's going to be so fun to see their faces when they realize where we are going...

Our new niece!

2007-03-20T19:09:00.000-07:00

JR's sister had her first baby the end of February. We went up to Grand Rapids to see them about a week after she was born. Needless to say Hailey was completely smitten by her new cousin. In fact, She wouldn't let anyone hold her for more than 5 minutes before she begged to have her back. Here are a few pictures of Hailey and Zoya...

Colorado here we come!!!

2007-02-12T18:57:00.000-08:00

JR and I lived in Colorado for about 3 1/2 years. We both cried the day we had to leave Denver and move back to Michigan back in 2003. Since then JR has been back to CO at least twice. I, however, have not been back. Can you tell how sad I have been? Well, I just booked us two tickets to Colorado at the end of April! A very good friend of our asked JR to be his best man in his wedding, so we are going to spend a whole week in Colorado without the kiddos! I cannot wait!

I may not want to come back. But I would miss my kids too much, so I guess I will have to.

Skate-A-Rama

2007-01-30T17:52:00.000-08:00

Ethan and Hailey's school has skate nights at Edru skating rink. Well tonight I thought I would be brave and take the kids skating by myself (JR was working until 8pm). I should give you some background - I learned to skate at Edru. And by "learned" I mean that by the end of this night I could usually go around maybe once without falling. Skating is not something I am good at by any means. So, sure, why not take Ethan who has only been skating once and Hailey who has never been before...

First time I tried to stand up I fell. It was not looking good. Hailey tried to stand up and the same thing happened to her too. Boy, this was going to be a long night. I finally got my bearings and just tried my best to keep Hailey on her feet. I am proud to say I didn't fall again which is pretty amazing considering how many times Hailey tried to pull me down :)

All in all it was a a really fun night! JR was even able to come for the last 10 minutes and skate around with the kids. We are all really excited for the next skate night... I think.

5 days in Sunny Florida

2007-01-30T17:00:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday through Saturday I was in Florida with 5 of my very good friends. I have the absolute priviledge of working with some amazing women at Riverview. We went to Orlando for a Children's Pastor Conference. We were each able to go to different sessions and we have so many new ideas of things we want to try with the kid's ministry. It was so good to go and hear how other people approach ministry and see what works and what doesn't. It was a great time and we even had some time to enjoy the sunshine. We went to Magic Kingdom one day and another day we sat by the pool after our conference finished. Here are a few snapshots from our trip...

Sick and tired of being sick and tired!

2007-01-12T10:12:00.000-08:00

It's becoming humerous to me how sick we have all been lately. I say humorous because there's really no other response I can have. Since Thanksgiving, Ethan has had the stomach flu twice, JR's been sick twice, I've had the flu, Hailey has had the stomach flu twice, has had lice, and we just found out today that she has Strep, for the secone time in 6 weeks! We have not all been healthy for more than 10 days in a row! What in the world is going on?

So I am off to spray Lysol around my house, again. I think I should buy some stock in the company...

2006-12-29T18:16:00.000-08:00

I finally got some pictures hung on our walls this week. It is starting to feel like home. I am waiting for the day when I don't have a list of things that I still need to do around the house. I am finding that I can't really relax with all this stuff that needs to be done. I feel like it's been consuming my life and I'm ready to enter the real world again...

So I re-arranged Hailey's room this week. I put pictures on her wall and then had her come in to see if she liked it. The First thing she did was walk over to the wall and re-arrange the pictures I had hung. She didn't like how they were. I felt like I no longer had a 5 year old, but rather a teenager. I guess I am glad that she has her own opinions, but I really didn't expect it so early!

Christmas Picture Time

2006-12-25T20:02:00.000-08:00

After the Christmas Eve service at Riverview, we tried to get some family pictures. Now, we only get a picture like this about once every two year, which is pitiful. So, here are some of the hightlights...

Here are pictures of Hailey and Ethan's good friends - Jesse and Ethan Heikkinen

Chi-Town

2006-12-25T19:51:00.000-08:00

My neices and I took a day trip to Chicago last Thursday. It was a lot of fun, despite the rain, wind, and cloudy weather. Here are some of the pics from the trip...

Being in Chicago, we had to get some pizza at Giordano's! It was great!

A "nice" dress I found in H&M...

Pictures... Finally

2006-12-25T19:18:00.000-08:00

Well, after I found the cord for our camera, I couldn't find the recharger and our camera was dead. But, I finally found everything I need so here are some pictures of Jango, our yellow lab... As you can see, Hailey loves to play with him!

Adorable New Puppy!

2006-11-09T12:03:00.000-08:00

Well, now that we are living the american dream - owning our own home (with a white picket fence) and having two kids, we thought we would finish it off. We got a 14 week old yellow lab. He is so adorable. The kids absolutely love him. He is so gentle and loving with the kids. We couldn't have asked for a better puppy! His name is Jango. Jr and Ethan picked it out - it's a character from Star Wars.

I realized when I tried to put pictures up that our camera cord is still packed somewhere. So, I will post some pictures when I find the cord.

New Home Update

2006-10-25T18:05:00.000-07:00

Well, we are officially home owners now. It seems surreal. I can't believe it, really. It's been a crazy week though. Noel and Grace were kind enough to let us start working on the house even before we closed. We started ripping carpet out last Wednesday morning. For the last week I have been removing staples, removing tack strips, sanding, sanding, sanding, staining and then sanding it all off. Tonight is the first night I have been home before 11:15 all week and boy does it feel good. We were hoping to move everything in on Saturday, but because of a SNAFU with the hardwood floors that we are refinishing, I'm afraid the floor won't be ready for us to move in to until Monday or Tuesday. Definitely puts a bit of pressure since we have to be out of our rental house on Tuesday.

So, if anyone is just looking for something fun to do this weekend or early next week, give us a call! I'm sure we could fill your time :)

Big News!!!

2006-09-28T18:39:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks, eventhough crazy, have probably been the most amazing in my life. I have seen God work out so many things in some amazing ways.

First of all, JR was offered a promotion at work. He was very excited about it, especially because it was a big pay raise. When he went to train for the job, he realized that the job was too dangerous to be doing when he has a family to think about. He realized that there was another job open that seemed to be perfect. Not quite so dangerous. To make a long story short, he ended up taking option number three. A job with weird hours, not so much manual labor (a very good thing because of his back) and it even paid a little more. At the time we thought even though the hours are a little weird, it would allow him to do a lot more relationally with people. Here comes the crazy part. The pastors at church asked JR if he would come on staff as the high school director. When I first heard this, I was a little taken back. JR didn't want to do youth ministry again. We eventually wanted to plant a church, not work with youth again. Well, after praying about it, it seemed that this would be a great thing. It would be a different role for JR - more of a leadership and giving direction role. Something he will be amazing at. The cool thing is that this job that he ended up taking totally gives him freedom to have the time to do this. Very cool. I talked with one of the pastors at church about how they had been praying about who to bring on for this and they felt God telling them it was JR. Hearing how God had been lining up everything before we even knew about this job at church was so amazing. Cool story, huh! Well, it gets better :)

We just signed papers to buy a house!! Very exciting, right! Our first house. The amazing thing is the timing with this one. We bought the house from a pastor in our church. Our lease is up Nov. 1st and we were in a little bit of a time crunch. We had looked at about 10 other houses, and they were either out of our price range or they just wouldn't work for what we wanted. Our pastor and his family have been trying to sell their house for 6 months. They want to build a new one and need to break ground soon to be able to build during the winter months. Well, after first saying we weren't interested in their house, we went and looked at it and realized it could be perfect for us. Everything we had been looking for! We signed papers tonight! The cool thing is that a guy from our church is building the house for them. He didn't have any work lined up for the winter and was wondering what he was going to do. Needless to say, now he has work to carry him through the winter. The timing couldn't be better for us - it coincides perfectly with the end of our year lease and it works perfect timing wise with our friends being able to break ground before winter, and it works great for our other friend who is building the house. Another cool thing is our loan. I had talked with two other lenders and their price and closing costs just seemed too high and I didn't feel comforable with it. I prayed all last weekend that I would find the right lender. My job on Monday was to find this. A pretty big thing in my eyes. The first lender I called Monday morning was amazing. He asked me to come into the office to talk about the loan. He was able to get us an amazing loan and the payments were about $150 cheaper a month. We were able to get a VA loan because JR is a veteran. We also got an amazing deal because JR is a disabled veteran. Praise God!!!

It has just been so amazing to see how God has completely guided our path the last month. So many things came into place in some extraordinary ways. There is no other way to explain all of this. God is so awesome!!!

Sorry for the book! So much has happened and I even left out a lot of the details. I just love to brag on God though - how can you not??!!

2006-09-24T18:09:00.000-07:00

Life has continued to be crazy, as usual. Just as I think things will settle down I laugh at how wrong I was. Ethan and Hailey started school about a month ago. They seem to like it - I am a little concerned about how little they seem to be learning, though. Hopefully this will change as the year goes on! I am really enjoying the few hours a day that I have to myself. It's nice just to have some Tricia time. Not Tricia the mom, but Tricia, the 28 year old person. It's been so nice.

We are moving in the next 5 or 6 weeks too! The lady that owns the house we have been renting decided to put it up for sale, so we have to be out of here November 1st. We are actually going to buy a house! Our first house! Kinda hard to believe considering we have been married more than 9 years now! But until now, we've moved around too much to even think about buying a house. I am excited - it will be nice to move this time and know that we won't be moving 12 months down the road. In the 9 years we've been married, this will be our 10th move. Definitely ready for a longer stay in one place!!

A lot more things are changing in our lives in the next month or so, but more about that later (and no, I'm not pregnant :)

Inspirational Story

2006-09-14T08:45:00.000-07:00

My mother-in-law sent me this story. It's amazing. If you have a few minutes, read the story then watch the video in the end.

[From Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly]
I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay For their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots.

But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.

Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in Marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a Wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and Pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day.

Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back Mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. On a bike. Makes Taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life.
This love story began in Winchester , Mass. , 43 years ago, when Rick Was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him Brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

"He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life;'' Dick says doctors told him And his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. ``Put him in an Institution.''

But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes Followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the Engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was Anything to help the boy communicate. ``No way,'' Dick says he was told. ``There's nothing going on in his brain.''

"Tell him a joke,'' Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a Lot was going on in his brain. Rigged up with a computer that allowed Him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his Head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? ``Go Bruins!'' And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the School organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, ``Dad, I want To do that.''

Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described ``porker'' who never ran More than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he Tried. ``Then it was me who was handicapped,'' Dick says. ``I was sore For two weeks.''

That day changed Rick's life. ``Dad,'' he typed, ``when we were running, It felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!''

And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly Shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.

``No way,'' Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a Single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few Years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then They found a way to get into the race Officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the Qualifying time for Boston the following year.

Then somebody said, ``Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?''

How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he Was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick Tried.

Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii . It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud Getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you Think?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? ``No way,'' he says. Dick does it purely for ``the awesome feeling'' he gets seeing Rick with A cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best Time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the world Record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to Be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the Time.

``No question about it,'' Rick types. ``My dad is the Father of the Century.''

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a Mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries Was 95% clogged. ``If you hadn't been in such great shape,'' One doctor told him, ``you probably would've died 15 years ago.'' So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass. , always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day.

That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.

``The thing I'd most like,'' Rick types, ``is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once.''

Click here to see the amazing video of them.

Pictures from New York City

2006-09-09T19:57:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from our time in New York City. We had such an amazing day! It was sunny and about 75 degrees. The kids were great and they had a blast too. My friend Deb and I took the train into the city early to make it to the Today show. We ended up being on TV - in the background behind Lester Holt and Campbell Brown! It was a blast! We then went to the top of the Empire State Building. After that we went to St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Apple Store, Central Park, Ground Zero and then took the Staton Island Ferry and saw the statue of Liberty. It was a packed day but so well worth it!!

New York City, Here We Come!!

2006-09-01T20:53:00.000-07:00

Our family is on the way to Connecticuit and New York City! We are in Syracuse, NY right now visiting my brother and his wonderful family. We left the house at 9:30am this morning and pulled into my brother's place around 9:30 tonight. We made a little pit stop in Niagra Falls! It was amazing! JR and I have been there when we were kids, so needless to say, it was a while ago :)

Here are a few pictures from our day:

Yes, we actually got gas for $2.33 today in Ohio!!

Fridge For Sale

2006-08-20T19:06:00.000-07:00

Because of a stupid mistake when we moved into our rental house, we are now the proud owners of a fridge that we no longer need. Anyone in need of a 1 year old GE® 18.2 Cu. Ft. Top-Freezer Refrigerator?? Here is a picture of what it looks like

We paid about $400 for it at Home Depot last October. If you are interested, leave a comment and make an offer. We are planning on moving sometime in October, so it would be available then.

Accidentally....

2006-08-09T06:45:00.000-07:00

I had my first accident last night. Well, second if you could the time I slid on ice and ran off the road into a support wire. Katie Kozak and I were on our way to Gier park to play a little sand volleyball. We were on Larch and in the very left lane. There was a guy in the lane next to me and he decided that he was going turn left onto a side road and just plowed right through me. Thankfully everyone was completely fine. My car came away with very little damage. Just a scratch down the passenger side of my car, some cracked fiberglass, and the plastic cover over my wheel was torn off. The other guy's front end was demolished. I was able to drive away while I am not so sure he was able to drive his car. Katie and I had a good laugh about it and even made it for the last half of the volleyball game.

Coming To America...

2006-08-03T20:06:00.000-07:00

We got back from Mexico on Sunday morning at 6am. What a week! It was amazing to say the least! So many great things happened - many many answered prayers, great new friendships, a great time with my kids, the list goes on and on. The kids did so well! I was really suprised because travel days were 18 hours long each way!

There are so many stories to tell, which are mainly funny and interesting only to the people who went on the trip. So, I will spare you all the details and just post some pictures:

This was our make-shift VBS program with the neighborhood kids.

This was the part of the city that we were building the two houses.

Here's our "Team Awesome" after day two

This was the camp where we slept. It was surrounded by mountains. It was beautiful!

Hailey playing with two of the children that will live in the new house we built.

Our awesome small group!

Another picture of the area we built in.

JR and I on the airplane.

Mini-Vacation

2006-08-03T18:26:00.000-07:00

These are pictures we took while we were in RosaRita, Mexico. We finished up our house 1/2 day early, so we drove about 20 minutes from our worksite and found a beautiful beach! It was so nice to swim in the ocean and clean off the layer of dirt we all had from the week. It was a great time with a great bunch of friends!!

One Fish... Two Fish... Red Fish... Blue Fish...

2006-07-21T16:42:00.000-07:00

I've posted in the past about how we have guppies that keep having babies. Well, I cleaned the tank yesterday and for the fun of it I thought I would count the fish. I thought we had about 40 fish. Nope. 76. That's right - in a 10 gallon tank we have 76 guppies.

Anyone want some fish??

Happy Anniversary

2006-07-19T07:23:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe, but JR and I have been married 9 years today. It's hard to believe I am old enough to be married that long and that I have a 7 year old and an almost 5 year old. Happy Anniversary babe! I love you!!!!

My Life the Past Month

2006-07-17T17:56:00.000-07:00

The past month has been a complete blur. From Kids Kamp to Ethan's Birthday to a family reunion, 4th of July and my Sister-in-law's wedding on Saturday we've been very busy. Here is a picture diary of all the events...

For part of Ethan's birthday, we took him to a Tiger's game to see Rodger Clements pitch. (ok, daddy really wanted to see this, but Ethan had a great time :) We didn't know it, but there was fireworks after the game. It was a great night together as a family.

Ethan and Daddy enjoying the night

Hailey after enjoying her chocolate bar

Next, we had a Miller Family reunion in Ohio. It was a very fun day - rained on and off, but we did have a few hours of sunshine...

Our Miller Family

Aunt Jenna and Uncle Matt helping Ethan with his Superman birthday cupcakes

A very fun water balloon launcher.

Cousins enjoying some cupcakes

4th of July

I took Hailey on Thursday for her first manicure. For any of you that know Hailey, this is her dream day. She loved being pampered.

Then on Saturday, Jr's sister, Angie got married. It was a great day! Here are some pictures from the day

Tans R Us

2006-07-10T19:12:00.000-07:00

I did something today that made me (and JR) laugh very hard. I won a spray-on-tan in our Mexico Silent Auction and I did it today. I totally felt like Ross in the Friends episode when he goes in to be sprayed. I get in this box and push the little button and wait and wait and wait for the thing to spray. Well, then I realized that I forgot to put my gloves on so my hands don't turn orange. I couldn't figure out what to do. Do I risk getting sprayed while I am leaving the box to go get my gloves? Will I miss one of the sprays when I am out getting the gloves? Oh my gosh I was laughing so hard. I felt like a big dork.

JR actually ended up coming in the room with me because you have to rub this spray stuff all over and then buff it into your skin. When I first talked with the guy at the salon he said that normally one of the workers comes in and helps you buff out places you can't reach. This made me a little nervous to say the least!! Luckily Jr's sister did it this morning and called me to tell me that I definitely wanted to bring JR with me to do this. Yeah - would have been a little awkard having some guy I don't even know buffing parts of me. Ugh!

It ended up turing out pretty good, I think. I am pretty dark, and I don't think it looks orange or anything like that. JR's sister is getting married this weekend and I didn't want to blind people with my white skin, so I thought I would try this. We'll see how it looks after it completely soaks in and after I can take a shower to wash the excess off. Just please don't come up and laugh at me if I look like an orange freak tomorrow...

Lots to bid on

2006-05-31T04:41:00.000-07:00

In order to help raise support for our trip to Mexico in July, we have a blog up and running with items that local businesses have donated for our silent auction. We have everything from an IPod Shuffle, memberships to the MAC, the YMCA, Court One, an overnight stay at the Courtyard Marriot and dinner, a Longaberger basket with lots of goodies, gift certificates to restuarants and all sorts of other good stuff. Check it out! If you would like to bid on anything leave a comment and we will post your bid. Your comment will not show on the blog though. Bidding started Monday and will end this Sunday night at 8:00pm. Here's the website:
www.riv-silent-aution.blogspot.com

I am old...

2006-05-29T06:36:00.000-07:00

I pulled out my first gray eyebrow hair this morning. I'm only 28 - this does not bode well for me...

Great Read

2006-05-29T06:26:00.000-07:00

Last night I finished "Confessions of a Reformission Rev" by Mark Driscoll. What a great read. It was so good that last night I couldn't put it down - ended up reading the last 120 pages of the book. The first few chapters I read while I was working out at the Y - I realized you get a lot more out of a book when you read while you are sitting down rather than going up and down on an eliptical! The book really was amazing. It was a little scary with it's honesty about the trials of planting a church, but it was also very inspiring. To hear the rollercoaster type journey the church was and is on was very eye-opening. I laughed outloud a lot and even cried once. I know, I'm a girl - I'm allowed to cry when I read a book. It was amazing to see how God continually provided just what the church needed - sometimes just enough to allow them to stay afloat. Then to hear how random people started to come to the church and donate just the exact amount of money the church needed for a certain thing. This is definitely a book I will probably read again and again in the years to come.

Mexico Missions Trip

2006-05-19T20:28:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, there is a group of about 50 of us going to Tijuana, Mexico in July with Amore Ministries. I am very excited and admittedly a little scared of going on this trip. I have never been on a missions trip outside of the US. I keep hearing horror stories about Tijuana and I wonder why I am taking my two small children there. I know it will be great and probably life-changing for all of us.

Anywho, we are having a big garage sale June 2nd and 3rd in the subdivision behind College heights. The subdivision is off of Dell Rd near College. We are also holding a silent auction to raise money for the trip. We actually have some really cool stuff up for auction - and IPod Shuffle, Memberships to the MAC, YMCA, and Court One, overnight stays at the Courtyard Marriot, Spa packages, Massages - all kinds of great stuff. To get more info about the garage sale and the silent auction, visit www.eriv.net/mexico or www.riv-silent-auction.blogspot.com

Movie Night

2006-05-19T20:22:00.000-07:00

I admit - I have been very bad about posting on my blog lately. Between Mexico stuff and Kids Kamp I am maxed out on time. Can't believe May is more than half over. Before I know it Summer will be done and the kids will be going to school. It's so true how people older than you always say that time goes by faster the older you get. I am now beginning to believe those "wise" people :)

I went and saw the "Da Vinci Code" tonight. It was a good movie. Don't want to say too much about the movie - but it was good. Interested to hear what other people have to say about the movie. The frustrating thing to me is how churches all around the country are freaking out about what the movie is about. The whole premise of the movie is that it is a FICTION book put to movie. It's not like the makers of the movie or the writer is going around preaching that this is fact and actual history. Even while watching the movie all I could think was that is was a fiction piece. It was interesting, but not something I would change my faith over. Do people watch other movies and change their beliefs according to what the movie talks about? No. this whole things just frustrates me. Sometimes I feel like Christians always need something to complain about - some soapbox to get on. Can you tell that this is my soap box right now? Argh...

What's New?

2006-04-28T19:13:00.000-07:00

Ethan has the flu bug that's going around. Poor kids always seems to get the puking flu while none of the rest of us get it. Yeah, now that I have said that we will all wake up tomorrow morning sick.
I am hoping that's not the case because I am supposed to go to the Women's Conference tomorrow at Riverview. I am really excited about it - a lot of my favorite people will be there and even speaking.

I went back to the migraine doc the other day because my "elimination diet" wasn't working - I was still getting migraines. She ended up putting me on medicine to prevent them, not just treat them. If it works, I will be very excited. There are some big things going on this summer and I was a little worried about the headaches interfering with them. JR's sister is getting married in June, Kids Kamp is in June, and we are going to be in Mexico for a week in July. Would be nice to not have to worry about getting so sick while all that is going on!

Sorry for the randomness of this post - just wanted to post something.

David Copperfield

2006-04-18T15:08:00.000-07:00

For my birthday, JR and our small group went in and bought us tickets to go see David Copperfield at the Wharton Center. When I was younger, I loved him. I would record his specials on TV and watch them so often I had all the music memorized. I know - I'm a dork. When JR and I started dating, JR asked me about the 8x10 photo I had of David Copperfield in my room. Yeah, I actually had a photo of him in my room.
So, Saturday night JR and I went to see him. Suzanne came over and watched the kids for us. The show was supposed to start at 9pm, but at 9:00 the doors into the auditorium hadn't even been opened. It was 9:10 when they finally opened the doors. The lobby was wall to wall full of people. It was a little strange - no one made an announcement about what was going on or anything. We were sitting on the stairs up the to Grand Tier Lounge so we got a great view of all the people. It's a little dark, but here is a picture I took...

We had a really good time that night. The show was great. I was afraid that JR would be mocking David Copperfield all night, but I think he enjoyed the show as much as I did. Some of the tricks that he performed were amazing. I can't even imagine how he made them look so real. Here's a picture of us waiting to get into the Wharton...

Happy Birthday to Me

2006-04-16T22:29:00.000-07:00

So Thursday was my 28th birthday. Yippee! I actually love birthdays - not sure how many more years I will be able to say this, so I am enjoying it while it lasts. This year JR planned a suprise party for me! It was really fun. We cleaned out the garage and had the party out there. We had our small group (14 ppl), JR's family, my sister and 3 of my neices, and the Price family. It was such a beautiful day on Thursday and a great evening, despite the occasional raindrops. Here are a few pics from the evening...

Wendy, Suzanne, Melissa and Hailey

JR and I

Very cute picture of Jaden

Suzanne and Melissa looking as cool as ever

The crazy thing is that Hailey actually took the last two pictures all by herself. Not bad, eh?

Riv at Wharton

2006-04-09T18:14:00.000-07:00

Today was the big "One" service at the Wharton center. For those of you that don't know our church runs 5 services every weekend so this was our chance to have one big service all together. It was a lot of fun. There were 4 of us that didn't actually get to be in the service - we got to help out with the kids. Susan had the little babies, I had 1-3 year olds, Wendy had 4 years to 2nd grade and Missie was with registration and overseeing everything. It was a little crazy to say the least - no real classrooms. We had the kids in 2 lobbies upstairs and one in a rehersal room. I have to say it went a lot smoother that I could have ever imagined! I think the kids had a lot of fun too. We had movies, crafts and fun new toys to play with. We had some AMAZING volunteers from Spartan Christian Fellowship! They made the day so much easier.

I have to say that I am exhausted though. I really felt sorry for the sound people that had to be at church at 5am! We didn't have to be at the Wharton until 7. After church the 4 of us that worked with the kids went out for lunch at PF Changs. Very yummy!!

Here are a few pictures from the morning

Barbie Hot Tub

2006-04-09T18:08:00.000-07:00

Hailey loves to help me do the dishes. The other day I come into the kitchen and find this in my sink:

She took the pan from my brean machine and made a barbie hot tub out of it. Sorry to those of you offended by the nudity...

Random-ness...

2006-03-30T19:36:00.000-08:00

So my whole migraine diet thing has failed... miserably. I had a migraine Sunday afternoon and Wednesday night. Very frustrating considering how I eat like 6 things now and I still am getting them. The one positive thing is that the new medicine is working - I don't get sick anymore and I am usually ok after about 6 hours. Wendy was with me when I got the one Wednesday night. She was wonderful enough to put the kids to bed and then sit upstairs with me to keep me company while Joel finished playing poker. Thanks Wendy!! I am praying that I have all this figured out by Mexico - it will be interesting trying to eat what I am allowed to down there. Ugh!!

On another high note, my car started acting funny tonight. So funny that I had to have my brother-in-law tow my car home from his house in williamston. We have had our wonderful CRV for 4+ years and the only money we have had to put into it is tires, oil changes, and a battery. Not too shabby, eh? So I guess it's about time to start having to pay for some stuff.

I have to say the weather today was completely awesome. I am so afraid though that Michigan is going to rear it's ugly head again and that by next week we will be having snow. Oh well - I am going to enjoy the sunshine while it lasts. It gives me a little bit of home that spring is (almost) here.

Alright, enough of my incomplete thoughts. Off to bed...

What a couple days....

2006-03-16T18:36:00.000-08:00

My migraine diet is going well - two weeks now and no migraines!! Yeah! Hopefully that trend will keep up. It's been interesting finding stuff that I can actually eat, but I think I'm getting the hang of it.

I was supposed to be in Chicago right now with Missie Potter and Lisa Ostrander for a Children's Ministry Conference at Willow Creek. Sunday afternoon I came down with some weird virus. I was running a high fever, bad cough, body aches, blah blah blah. I was so bummed not to be able to go to the conference. I was all excited about a girls week away from the kids and all the stuff around here. Matt Redman is one of my favorite worship artist and he was going to be there too. Oh well, I need to get over it and move on with life. There will be another conference another time.

As it turned out, an old ARMY buddy of JR's was going to be in Chicago this weekend for a wedding, and since JR hasn't seen him in about 10 years he decided to drive out to see him. Yup - JR and I were going to be in Chicago at the same time but for completely different reasons. Kinda funny. Anyways, he left last night and won't be back until Saturday night. So, I am here with the kids who are now getting the same sickness I had. Talk about good times...

Before Hailey got sick tonight, she got to do probably one of the funnest things she's ever done. JR's sister (Angie) is getting married this summer, and Hailey is a flower girl. Angie took Hailey out to try on flower girl dresses and to find a tiara for her hair. She must have tried on every dress in the bridal store that was her size. Here are a few pictures from today:

Migraines

2006-03-01T20:24:00.000-08:00

I've been having problems with migraines again. Normally I would get 1-2 a year. I have had 4 in the last 5 weeks. Needless to say it's a little frustrating. I realized that I need to watch what I eat and not eat the "trigger" food. I went to the Dr. today and there are obvious things I shouldn't eat: peanuts, wine, caffeine, citrus fruit (didn't know about this one), chocolate, etc. I thought, sure, I can totally do this. I can still eat a lot of fruit which I love and meat, so I should be fine. After doing some research online tonight, here is the list I found of the only "safe" foods to eat:

Rice, especially brown rice
Cooked green vegetables, such as broccoli, spinach, Swiss chard, or collards
Cooked orange vegetables, such as carrots or sweet potatoes
Cooked yellow vegetables, such as summer squash
Cooked or dried non-citrus fruits: cherries, cranberries, pears, prunes (but not citrus fruits, apples, bananas, peaches, or tomatoes)
Water: Plain water or carbonated forms, such as Perrier, are fine. Other beverages—even herbal teas—can be triggers.
Condiments: Modest amounts of salt, maple syrup, and vanilla extract are usually well-tolerated.

I thought, wow - that's an interesting group of foods. Then I kept reading. Here is a group of foods that are called the "dirty dozen" - foods you shouldn't eat if you have migraines:

dairy products*
chocolate
eggs
citrus fruits (grapes, oranges, grapefruit)
meat**
wheat (bread, pasta, etc.)
nuts and peanuts
tomatoes
onions
corn
apples
bananas
* Includes skim or whole cow’s milk, goat’s milk, cheese, yogurt, etc.
** Includes beef, pork, chicken, turkey, fish, etc.

Uh... my 3 favorite fruite - apples, bananas, and grapes; all kinds of meat and dairy and bread?? Holy cow - what in the world CAN I eat? I just had no idea there were so many trigger foods. The idea of this is to take these foods out and slowly reintroduce them and see what triggers the migraine. Yeah, the next 6 weeks will be a blast...

Sopranos

2006-03-01T04:45:00.000-08:00

Jr and I have become addicted to the Sopranos. A friend had all 6 seasons on DVD so over the last 6 months or so we have gotten all caught up. Here comes the problem: we don't have HBO!! I was wondering if anyone out there has HBO and would be so kind as to tape it for us so we can watch it? If so, leave a comment. Thanks!

One More Picture

2006-02-25T19:21:00.000-08:00

I forgot to post one of the best pictures I took from the dance last weekend...

My little baker

2006-02-23T19:29:00.000-08:00

Hailey loves to help me bake. When my parents were staying with us a month or so ago, my mom realized how much time Hailey spent in the kitchen with me. Somewhere my mom found this little apron for Hailey to wear. JR requested some chocolate chip cookies for dessert tonight, so Hailey and I made him some. Here's a cute picture I took of her helping me bake.

A little late-night game?

2006-02-23T19:22:00.001-08:00

So last night we put the kids to bed just like any other night. For those of you who haven't been to our house, the kids sleep on the main floor on one side of our house and we sleep on the second floor on the other side of the house. We have a bathroom pretty much right under our bedroom. I was awaken at 3:30am by Hailey whispering "Ethan". I sleep very light, so it doesn't take much to wake me up. They were taking turns in the bathroom. I thought this was a little weird, but thought maybe it was just a coincidence that they both got up at the same time to go to the bathroom. I listened for a few minutes and decided that maybe I should go downstairs and just check on them. I walk downstairs and see that Hailey's light is on and Ethan is not in his bed. Well, this is what I saw when I went into Hailey's Room...

Apparently Ethan had woke up and decided that he couldn't go back to sleep. What else would an older brother do than go wake up his sister so they could play a rousing game of Monopoly at 3:30 in the morning! It took me a good 20 minutes to convince them that they really needed to go back to sleep. An hour later, Hailey was still awake. Kids... they make me laugh!

Valentine's Day Dance

2006-02-18T17:10:00.000-08:00

Last night was the 2nd annual Riverview Valentine's Day Dance. I have to say that this years dance was so much better than last year. Having twice the people made a world of difference. It seemed like everyone had a lot of fun and even met some new people. Here are some pictures from the evening...

We had a limbo contest - the last two left were Ray Tan and Donna Bashore. They were both really amazing.

Donna ended up winning.

We also had a drawing for king and queen of the night. George and Lori Squillace won!

Here are pictures of some of the couple that were there last night.

Preggo? NO!!

2006-02-14T18:49:00.000-08:00

For any of you that have read JR's blog in the last week, I think there may be some confusion I need to clear up... I am NOT pregnant!! If you only read the first few paragraphs, you would think I was. However, the thing we were expecting was a computer. Not a child. A lot of people only read the first half and didn't read the last half. Some people actually left comments on his blog congratulating us. It just made me laugh. Just wanted to clear up any confusion - no babies in our future...

A Cold Night's Sleep

2006-01-25T23:31:00.000-08:00

We've had our house set at about 63 degrees just to keep our heating bill from killing us. Tonight I went in to check on Ethan before I went up to bed. He had gotten up and put his winter gloves, his scarf, and his winter hat on to keep warm. I had to laugh. Just as a disclaimer he had some flannel PJ's and a t-shirt on under them and he had 3 blankets over him, so it wasn't like we were freezing the kid to death!

Dreams

2006-01-23T07:41:00.000-08:00

I have a hard time understanding dreams. Sometimes they are so wonderful and you wake up all happy and such. Othertimes it's quite the opposite. Those have been the dreams I have been having lately. Dreams that when I wake up I wonder why I am dreaming about this. These are dreams I have had a couple times a year for the last 10 years or so. Dreams that I wish I wouldn't have. I have prayed about this for so long - praying that the memories associated with these dreams would just go away, but so far that hasn't worked. I feel like these dreams come around again when I am seeking after God the most. I feel like it's Satan messing with my head - trying to distract me from what I should be thinking about.

Argh...

2006-01-18T09:45:00.000-08:00

My grandpa's funeral on Monday was amazing. It was such a celebration of his life and how his whole purpose in life was to tell others about Jesus. He had some "preacher boys" that he mentored and they spoke at the funeral. It was so cool to hear them talk about how he had encouraged them in every way he could. My grandpa was such an amazing man. It's funny - I didn't cry as much at his funeral as I did at my aunt's or my grandma's. The whole funeral had a different feel to it - a happy and joyful time to celebrate his life.

It was great to see all my family again. I have seen them three times now in just over 4 months. More than I had seen any of them in the last 10 years! It was so nice to reconnect with them so much in so little time. I love seeing them, but I hope I don't see them under these circumstances again for a long time.

Once of the most amazing things that happened was that I get to have my grandma's piano. This piano was something she played everyday and something I have a lot of memories attached to. I didn't realize it before, but it is worth a lot of money. All my mom's siblings gave up a lot so that I could have it. I can't even express how excited I am that I get to have this precious heirloom!

A Tribute to Pepaw

2006-01-12T23:03:00.000-08:00

I just got this email from my brother who is a missionary over in Kiev, Ukraine. He wrote a tribute to our grandpa, "Pepaw". I thought it would give you an idea about how awesome my grandparents were. I am honestly a better person knowing them. I will miss them more that I could ever express...

A Tribute to Pepa

Pepa and Mema are my grandparents. My early memories of Pepa and Mema
come from summer vacations and Christmas holidays spent in the thriving
metropolis of Robards, Kentucky - population 569, according to the
internet. It seemed smaller back then. Pepa was the pastor of a small
country church in Robards. Pepa loved being a pastor and Pepa loved God. I
can still see Pepa standing in the pulpit of that small church preaching
the Christmas sermon about Jesus as the Baby in the manger and God's
gift of salvation to mankind. At the New Year's Eve service, Pepa would
preach about how this might be the year when Jesus would return and we
would watch the clock strike twelve. We then joined hands and sang "I'm
so glad I'm a part of the family of God." The clock was always very big
and made a loud ticking sound. Pepa loved to fix old clocks. The louder
they ticked, I think the more he liked them. When I would sleep on the
couch in his house I was sometimes scared by the many loud clocks that
ticked and tocked in the darkness. They seemed like something out of
the Twilight Zone, especially when they all chimed out together at
midnight. Pepa used to say that life is what happens while you are making
plans. I think he understood the nature of time. He appreciated each and
every day as a gift from God. Maybe that is why he liked clocks.

Pepa loved to hunt. He took me hunting for the very first time in a
snowy wood across the road from the parsonage in Gregory. We saw one
rabbit, I took one shot, and we had our lunch. Pepa said there wasn't much
left to eat, but is sure tasted good. Besty went hunting with us that
day. Betsy was Pepa's beagle. Maybe it wasn't Betsy, but one of the
beagles that came after Betsy. Pepa loved beagles. It seems like he always
had a beagle. I don't remember all their names, so I just think of them
all as Betsy. It seems to me that all beagles should be called Betsy. A
few times I went fishing with Pepa. Pepa loved to fish, especially for
bluegills. I preferred bass and pike. I never had the patience that
Pepa had to use worms and bobbers to catch those little fish. Pepa had a
lot of patience. I don't remember ever seeing him cross or angry, at
least not at me. I never heard him say a cross word to anybody. Pepa was a
very kind and gentle man. Even when Brenda and I ran in church or
didn't mind, Pepa was always patient. He was patient even when Brenda and I
stayed at Mema and Pepa's for what seemed like a whole summer. Mom and
Dad were on "vacation." Nine months later Tricia was born. We didn't
figure that out the connection till later. Every child should have a Pepa
and a Mema. They are a matching set like salt and pepper. They just go
together. I'll never forget their constant words of encouragement. "We
are so proud of you." "We pray for you every day." Finally, there was
Pepa's favorite saying of all: "How good can the good Lord be!" Pepa
loved his family and he loved me.

A few years ago I saw Pepa preach his last sermon to a handful of
people on a Sunday night. I don't know if anybody there will remember that
sermon, but I will never forget it. He was already quite forgetful, but
seemed to come alive when he stepped behind that pulpit. I saw Pepa for
the last time this summer. He was frail and needed a cane to walk. He
sometimes faded in and out of the conversation. Sometimes I had to
repeat the same answers to the same questions. I didn't mind. It was just
nice to be with him. He was still the same Pepa and he was my Pepa. Mema
and Pepa were in declining health and we knew that they would not be
with us for long. That doesn't make their departure any less painful even
though we know that we will see them again. Monday is Pepa's funeral. I
heard that they will drape his coffin with a Christian flag. He would
have liked that. Pepa never preached to thousands and he never wrote a
book, but he was the greatest preacher I have ever met. He showed the
love of Jesus to everyone – especially to me. I'm sorry if you were not
able to meet my Pepa. He would have liked you.

P.S.

Dear Pepa and Mema
I already miss you. I'm so glad that you are together again with Jesus
... and with Gayle. Please keep her company until the rest of us arrive.

I love you,
Todd

2006-01-12T07:18:00.000-08:00

I got to go down and see my grandpa last night with my sister and her family. It was so sad to see him sitting there in bed, just watching the life slip away from him. The thing that struck me was how he looked exactly like my grandma right before she died. We all sat around his bedside for a while and cried and hugged and told funny stories about my wonderful grandpa. He never woke up while we were there. We were able to spend about 3 hours with him and my aunt and uncle last night. I got a phone call this morning that during the night he had passed away. Life sucks sometimes...

Round Three...

2006-01-11T07:42:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted. Amazing how time flies when you're so busy. I got a call last night from my mom - she told me that my grandpa only has days to live. I can't believe how many funerals I have been to in the last 5 months. First my aunt died in September, then my grandma died in December, and now her husband only has days left. I hope this will be the end of it for a long time.

I can say that even though it is very say to see these precious people die, I am comforted to know that I will see them again one day. They were all believers. Going to a funeral of a believer is such a two-sided thing. It is so sad and gut-wrenching to see someone you love so much sitting there motionless. Selfishly, I want that person here with me. I don't want them to leave. But, knowing that they are no longer in pain from cancer, or no longer dealing with alzheimer's is such a comfort. At my Aunt's and Grandma's funeral I would sit and try and listen to the service, but could not stop thinking about what they might be doing that very minute. Knowing that they were so much happier in heaven than here on earth with us. Knowing that there was a reason that God took my aunt WAY too early in her life. Knowing that my grandma had lead a complete and fulfilling life. Knowing that my grandpa has lead just as much of a full and complete life and that he has influenced so many people's walk with Christ.

I guess more than anything, it has made me examine my own life and wonder what kind of influence I have on my children. Am I the kind of example to them that I should be? Am I sharing my faith with others like they have? Am I in prayer for my children and family everyday like they were? It has given me a reality-check, I guess, as to what my prioirities are right now.

Fish Anyone??

2005-12-28T10:50:00.000-08:00

Does anyone out there want some fish? We are beginning to have an overload of guppies. Ethan got 3 from his Kindergarten class last year, and they have not stopped having babies. We now have about 20 full grown and just had about 10 new ones born with 3 more fish waiting to pop. Leave me a comment if you would like some very beautiful orange and black guppies!

Movie Time...

2005-12-21T23:34:00.000-08:00

So, if any of you have heard me talk of my parents, you know they are very conservative. In fact, I didn't go to my first movie in a "real" theater until I was about 13. Anyways, my mom and I were flipping through the channels and we came across "Pretty Woman." Now I like this movie, but I knew my mother wouldn't approve. Wow was I wrong. She kept it on the channel and proceeded to tell me how she has watched this movie so many times she practically has it memorized.

It's amazing how people can suprise you in such unusual ways.

uh....

2005-12-20T10:34:00.000-08:00

My parents are staying with us for a while. We were sitting in the living room the other night watching tv. Someone on TV was talking about wedgies. My dad looks at us and asks, "what is a wedgie?" You have to understand that my dad is 70 years old and is an engineer. He knows everything about anything and can talk for hours on any subject. So, it was just really funny when he asked...

Yeah, ok, This is obviously one of those times when ya had to be there...

My oh my what a wonderful day...

2005-12-14T19:53:00.000-08:00

Ok, the last 48 hours have been crazy to say the least. Not the best week for this to happen, but at least it's almost over. Ethan started throwing up 11:00pm Monday night and was still sick this morning (wednesday). After going to Redi-Care, Sparrow, and St. Lawrence, we got him all fixed up. They gave Ethan an IV to re-hydrate and some other medicine and after he took a little nap, we had some very interesting conversations. Here are the cliff notes from them...

Ethan told me that he isn't going to get a job when he grows up. When I asked him how he was going to provide for his family, he said he wasn't going to get married so he wouldn't have to pay for "all that stuff." When I asked him how he would pay for his own stuff when he didn't have a job, he said he would just go to Quality Dairy and get money out of that machine like we do.

Right after he woke up from him nap, the first thing he told me was that he needed to call Comcast when we got home. When I asked why, he said because channel 53 was the wrong channel and he wanted to make sure they fixed it.

While waiting he told me all the things he wanted to eat when he was better - the first thing was a hippo.

After he was "back to normal" he looked at me and said that getting sick was ok, because the nurses kept bringing him popsicles.

At least Ethan is able to get off the couch now. I am just praying the rest of us don't get it - especially since I need to be at church this weekend and run the Christmas Program!

Gingerbread Houses

2005-12-12T18:42:00.000-08:00

A couple homeschool families and Ethan and Hailey and I went to the Kellogg Center today to look at the amazing gingerbread houses they have there. The one in the picture is the one in the main lobby. It has to be almost 5 feet tall. There were 11 other smaller houses. They were so pretty. The kids had a great time looking at all the houses and what edible things they were made of. We all came back to our house and the kids made their own gingerbread houses with graham crackers. It was so cute. We had the best time. The kids did a really good job making them. My kitchen looked like it too:) There were sprinkles and gumdrops all over the floor! This is definitely something we will do every year.

Wonderful Night...

2005-12-11T09:11:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was such a busy day - we had rehersal for the Christmas Program from 9:00am-3:00pm. It went really well - a little chaotic, but that's to be expected. Ethan went to his first sleepover last night with a friend at a hotel, and Hailey went to Wendy's house to make Christmas cookies. This meant I got to go home and take a nap after rehersal.

Wendy and Joel were wonderful and agreed to keep Hailey for a couple extra hours so JR and I could go out to dinner. It was nice just to relax and not have to cook.

When we got home, JR went to a friend's house to play poker and Hailey and I went upstairs and cuddled in my bed. I got to watch one of my favorite movies - "It's A Wonderful Life." I have loved this movie since I was a little girl. I also began knitting a new scarf. It was so relaxing after the crazy day I had had.

Then, for some reason I got this burst of energy around 11:00pm and decided to start cleaning the house. I cleaned the whole thing - scrubbing the bathroom even! It is very nice to have a clean house. I've been working so much lately that the house has been a little neglected.

We were supposed to have another practice today after church, but I got to cancel it because the kids did so well yesterday. That means I get to go home and take a wonderful Sunday afternoon nap and just relax at home and probably watch it snow some more...

Jaden + Spaghetti = Very Funny

2005-12-09T19:07:00.000-08:00

Another very cute picture I had to post. Jaden and Suzanne ate dinner with us a couple nights ago. Jaden had 4 helpings of pasta, and it shows all over his face. This kid is too cute!

Ummm...

2005-12-09T18:45:00.000-08:00

We put Hailey to bed last night and when we went to check on her a little later, she looked like this...
When we asked her this morning why she did that, she said she was cold. I can't decided if she really was cold, or just wanted to look like Mary while she slept.

Very funny...

Times of Change

2005-12-07T18:29:00.000-08:00

Wendy and I are sitting on my couch while the guys are playing poker... We each have a laptop and are surfing the web while watching Lord Of The Rings. Just a funny sight. The Guys keep coming by and laughing at us. More mocking us because we usually laugh at them for doing the same thing.

More Hailey-isms...

2005-12-04T16:44:00.000-08:00

These are just a few of Hailey's mysterious sayings this evening...

Mom, whisteling is my favorite thing in my life

Mom, if I was a horse, I would let you paint me (This was said while she was helping me paint my bedroom)

Ethan: "Georgia is playing basketball on TV". Hailey: "George who? George Michael?"

Ok, this last one scares me. How in the world does she know George Michael?