Another Anniversary

Today is my 7 month wedding anniversary. And Rick is in Richmond and I am here. I don't really care about being apart on our anniversary - I care about being apart. Period.

I am really trying to have a good attitude about Rick still going to Richmond and me staying 'home'(wherever that is) and working so that we can have some money saved up for house stuff. But it is really hard - alot harder than I thought it would be. Wasn't a reason of us getting married was so that we didn't have to do the long-distance thing? It will be an adjustment going back to live with my parents during the week and back to the in-laws for the weekends. I am SO ready for a house of my own. I am praying that this schedule will only be for a month. Any longer than that, I might just go crazy!

Today was my first day back to work. I worked from 8 am till 5:30 pm with only a 20 minute break. I worked with the pre-k class in the morning and then worked with the 3 and 4 year olds - 28 of them at once! Working with Miss Barb felt like old times. But less pressure. I had a lot more fun and wasn't as stressed by trying to do things 'right' and teaching all the time. I did do a color exercise during circle time, but it was fun! Love not being an intern! :0) My body is sore and very tired from all day of playing and chasing little ones around. But I will do it all over again tomorrow, and the next day and the next day. (Just not the same schedule! Thank goodness!)

Grandma update - she is waking up some!!! She opens her eyes and sometimes shifts them towards the person talking! Praise the Lord! They moved her today out of the ICU in Pittsburgh into a rehab center much closer to where Granddad lives. She still has a long way to go - especially since the doctors still aren't sure the extent of her damages - but she has come a long way also!

Ok, I have tons of pictures to post and work on, but it is late, my body is tired, and I need to work on some homework still. Maybe pictures will come later on in the week . . . .

Grandma Update

From the mom-in-law - yesterday -

"My mom is doing some better--she no longer has a temperature and her vitals are stable. They have taken her off all the antibiotics, and she is no longer sedated. She is still not awake, but she does have some movement."

I also got the message yesterday that she yawned and moved her hand and that her heart is doing much much better. Her brain stuff is still the same but at least the rest of her body is starting to heal!

Thank you for all your prayers!

Later on in the day from the mom-in-law -

The people at the hospital are talking about moving my mom to another facility (possibly in Steubenville which is closer to their home). Beth Ann had already talked to this facility, and they have a high success rate of getting people of the ventilator. The doctor and the case worker both talked about a rehab facility, but I'm not sure what that means since she is not awake. She has had a little more movement in her hands and her legs every day since they took her off sedation on Tuesday evening, but she has not opened her eyes. The case worker said that the doctor would be the one to approve her being moved, and we are not sure when this would happen. When we talked to her attending physician yesterday, he seemed to indicate that she would be there until he came back from vacation on September 7th, but Dad talked to him after the case worker came to see them and he indicated that she could possibly be moved before then.

Richmond

One night last week we ate at Comfort. I had brought my camera and while we were waiting to be seated, I decided to take some pictures. I took quite a few and walk around streets even after we had been seated. But something goofy happened with my flash drive and I lost a lot of them. :0( It makes me very sad and upset cause I deleted them off of my camera also. But I posted the pictures that I did have. Richmond has so much history that I love just looking at the buildings and wondering who lived there.

They have really good homemade food.


A street


A group of men hanging out in front of the barber shop


A cool old building

Mom's Visit

Since my time in Richmond is coming to an end, my mom decided that she needed to make time and come visit the city that I have called home for the past 6 months. So she finally made it last week! She drove down late on a Monday and we stayed up till 1am talking.

Tuesday we woke up and my mom watched some real tv (she has no tv at her house) and then we headed to the beach! I drove and we just talked about tons of stuff. Once we got there, we sat on the beach for a little over an hour and then got some lunch and walked into a few stores. I bought a super cool t-shirt (I have a picture but can't find it!). On the way back to Richmond we decided to swing through Williamsburg and Jamestown. We made it back to the city in time to eat dinner with Rick, Aimee and Brett. We choose to take my mom to the Cheesecake Factory. I think she really liked it! They have very good and rich food and my mom - who has been dieting hardcore - ate to much and was sick the rest of the night.

Wednesday we slept in some and then went and got pedicures. My feet was in need of one badly and it felt so good! After that we did some shopping and I showed her around to a few of my favorite spots. We ate Cheesecake Factory left-overs for lunch and took a quick nap. Then it was time for her to leave. :0( I don't always get along with my mom and most of the time recently she gets on my nerves big time - but I truly enjoyed our time together and was sad when she left.

Virginia Beach


My mom sitting on the beach - talking with the Daycare.


Me with the Virginia Beach behind me


My feet in the sand


Driving around the Jamestown island


Dinner at the Cheesecake Factory


My cheesecake - snicker bar


My mom's - banana pudding cheesecake



I have a picture of my pedicure but my flash drive is messing up and I am not able to find it anywhere. :0(

Kingsway Christian Educare Carnival

Rick and I helped with the daycare's 20th anniversary carnival. I helped some but mainly took pictures. Are you surprised? :0p Rick helped with the dunking tank. He was asked to be ready to sit in the tank, but they had enough other people that he didn't have to. They had a decent turnout and raised about $1,200 for the new bus. It was a extremely hot day, but very fun!

Because most of the pictures that I took have daycare kids in - I am not legally allowed to post them on the internet. So I am posting pictures of the activities that went on and of my family.

A sign made by a school age kid for the carnival


Random chicken my dad decided to bring for the kids to see








Pretty butterfly


Rick taking the tickets for the dunking booth


Rick and Jacob enjoying the bouncy


My dad was the auctioneer for the fund raising auction - they made over $500!!


Jacob trying on a bridesmaids dress that didn't sell

West Virginia State Fair

I love fairs! And when I found out that we pass Lewisburg on the way home on Fridays, I just knew that we had to stop! Rick and I got there about 3 pm and walked around exploring the place. Then around 6ish, Rebecca and Mikey made it up there. I had so much fun showing Rick all the 4-H stuff and of course all the animals! We ate some yummy fair food - including the BEST cinnamon roll in the WORLD!!!! (I am not sure why I didn't take a pic of it) We all had a great time and made it back to Charleston around 11pm.

Welcome to the West Virginia State fair!


This is the WV State symbol


Rick trying out some new rides


This elephant ate the whole loaf of bread in one bite!


The elephant's huge feet!


The big elephant


Rick playing in the big army tank


A goat eating a chair


It's a llama!


Me milking a cow - yup, I still got it! :0)

Grandma Update

Written by my mom-in-law -

Mom was not running a temperature when we were in there. It has been normal or only slightly high so they are checking it under the arm every 15 minutes. They have taken the machine for the cooling pad out of her room.

She is off a lot of the fluids and medications, and the nurse said that this should help with the swelling because she is not getting as many fluids. She is getting the 3 antibiotics, the hepron and pain medication and the food. They took off something they were given her to make her bowels softer and hopefully they will be able to get that tube out in a couple days.

The nurse said that the neuro team was in and said everything still looked the same. The pulmonary doctor has been in--her heart rate is a little high because her breathing is labored so he made some adjustments to the ventilator. Her oxygen level is at 80% now.

I asked the nurse about her most recent blood results, and she said everything was about the same.

The nurse has the TV on VH-1 in her room so there is some noise in her room. Dad asked if it was for her or for Mom. She said she put it so there would be some noise in the room for Mom, and she thought VH-1 would be better than a television show.

Dad is doing better today--partly because her report is a little better and mainly because he took his medicine.

July in Pictures

Rick's cousin Kes on the day that I watched her


Me and Claire at Grandma and Grandpa's house - July 4th weekend.


Peyton and Tyler playing with sparklers


Sarah, Rebecca, Jacob and cousin Matt at 'Uncle' Jerry's funeral.


The funeral home that Jerry's services were at.


The Kellogg Tiger in front of a wal-mart in Ohio


Mini photo shoot with the Taylor family - my bro and sis-in-law


Cooper Taylor - Almost 4 months old


Cooper posing for his first offical VBS picture


Cooper and Cindy dancing to some VBS songs


Me on stage with my class 'herding' them.


Rebecca on her 19th birthday

Personal Update

I am sitting in the hospital ICU waiting room. I had so many things that I was planning on blogging about, but at the moment all that I can think of is Grandma.

I just went in and saw Grandma and my heart just wants to break. She looks bad. Her body is bloated and leaking fluids cause her heart is going into congestive heart failure and is only pumping 30%. And because her heart is only functioning part way, she has pneumonia. She is breathing on her own, but the trach is also breathing for her and it moves her whole body. Since they put the trach in, they removed all the tubes that were in her mouth - her mouth and teeth are all bloody and dry and her sore just keep re-opening.

We stood around her bed and talked to her, telling her was here, what our plans were for tonight and that we were going to see Casey and the Sunshine band perform after the baseball game, told her that she wasn't looking so great and that she needed to wake up. We didn't stay in there super long - other family members are here and they want to see her.

Granddad is having a really hard time. He is exhausted emotionally and physically. We are all trying to keep him calm and take care of him, but there is only so much a person can do for another person grieving and hurt.

I am here with Rick's family and have no idea what to say or do to help. I just pray. Right now, we need God to heal and we need peace and strength to keep going.

Promise

I promise to give a proper blog over the weekend - pictures and all!

I am not sure I like this layout. But I don't have time to keep playing with it.

My mom visited me this week. It was so nice having her here and showing her around.

I only have 1 more week of living in Richmond with Rick. I am trying to stay positive but it is not going to be easy.

Grandma Update

From the Mom-in-law -

Yesterday -
My mom is still about the same. She was in surgery this afternoon to put a trach in, but the surgeon said that everything went okay and Dad and Randy should be able to see her before the normal 5:00 visitation time.

Today -
My mom is showing slight improvement today. They have taken her off some of the medications, and her neurological assessments are the same. She is still sedated, but they are taking her off the sedation. My brother thought he saw her mouth move last night but could not be sure, but the nurses said that she has half-blinked her eyes several times.

Updates about Grandma

Update from the weekend and today - (written by my Mother-in-law)

From Sunday -
Mom’s (Ilene Rodgers) prognosis now is not good. Although her assessment are little better, especially on the left side, she is having a lot of heart and lung problems. They were talking about putting a trach in today, but the surgeon who would do that questioned why we would want to do that based on her prognosis. My brother, who is oral surgeon, has a call into the attending physician about this, but it will probably be tomorrow before he talks with him. The earliest the surgeon would be able to the trach in would be Tuesday anyway.

Please just keep praying for her and for our family. All of us are taking this hard, and my grandmother (who is 104 yrs old) is having a hard time also.

From today -
They are actually putting in the trach tomorrow. When they talked with the attending physician today, her prognosis was about the same--a 50/50 chance of survival.

Unless things change - Rick and I will be spending the weekend in Pittsburgh helping out everywhere we can.

My Marriage

1. When is your "engagement" anniversary:
August 23, 2008

2. When is your "marriage" anniversary:
January 31, 2009

3. How long have you known your spouse:
Almost 4 years

4. How long did you date/court before you were engaged:
1 year and 9 months

5. Where did you meet your spouse for the first time?
At my parents church

6. What is your spouse's full name:
Charles Richard

7. Do you have any children:
Nope, not yet

8. How many - boys/girls:
I want 3 boys and 2 girls

9. Do you have any house pets:
1 greyhound, 1 hamster, and 1 turtle

10. Do you own a house or rent:
Neither at the moment but hopefully own very soon!

11. Do you live in the country or town/city:
It will probably be town

12. What is one of your favorite activities together:
Anything outdoor

13. Do you have a favorite vacation spot:
Petry Camp!

14. When did you first kiss?
On our wedding day

15. What church do you attend?
Kingsway Christian Church

16. Is this the church you were married in:
Nope

17. What town is your current address at:
WV

18. Do you work or stay at home:
Stay at home - but only for 2 more weeks. :0(

19. Where did you go on your honeymoon:
A Cruise to Belize and Mexico

20.What was the funniest gift you gave when dating?
Can't really think of one - Rick's gifts are always practical.

21.How long have you been together?
Soon to be 3 years

22. How long did you know each other before you started dating?
I knew about him for over a year - we started talking about a month and half before we became official.

23. Who asked who out?
I asked him if he liked me - he asked me to be his girlfriend.

24. How old are each of you?
He is 27 and I am 22

25.Where do you each work or go to school?
He is an eternal auditor for Massey Coal Services. And I am finishing up my last semester from JBC and will be working at the church daycare.

26. Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
Not having our own place

27. Did you go to the same school?
Nope

28. Are you from the same home town?
Nope

29. Who is smarter?
Rick is by far!

30. Who is more sensitive?
Me for sure!

31.Where do you eat out most as a couple?
Everywhere and anywhere

32. Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
Belize

33.Who has the craziest exes?
He has ex's but I don't think they are crazy

34. Who has the worse temper?
He does

35. Who does the cooking?
Neither - you have to have a kitchen to cook

36. Who is more social?
He is by far!

37. Who is the neat-freak?
I think both of us to an extent

38. Who is more stubborn?
Um . . . . .him

39. Who hogs the bed?
He says I do . . . I say he does. lol

40. Who wakes up earlier?
Rick cause he brings home the bacon. :0)

41. Where was your first date?
The mall and Gander Mountain

42.Who had more boyfriends/girlfriends?
He did - 2. Me - 0

43. Do you get flowers often?
Nope, he thinks that it is a wast of money

44. How do you spend the holidays?
Trying to spend time with both sides

45. Who is more jealous?
Me

46. How long did it take to get serious?
A month?

47. Who eats more?
We are about even

48. Who does the laundry?
Rick's mom. lol

49. Who’s better with the computer?
He is

50. Leave a piece of advice for the other couples.
Always be open with each other - don't keep secrets.

Only a week?

This has been the fastest week ever. But yet at the same time, last Monday seems like it was ages ago.

Update: Grandma is doing about the same - if not a little but better today. Her swelling has gone down some and she is breathing a lot better.

Rick and I had a good but very tiring week in Richmond. We didn't really do much except look in stores for things and ways we want to decorate our future house. We have some many ideas floating around in our heads that it gets frustrating! :0)

On our way home yesterday, we stopped at the WV State Fair. I love fairs! It was so much fun to walk around and look at all the 4-H stuff and show Rick some of the stuff that I used to show. Mikey and Rebecca came up for part of the night. We watched the horse show for a few minutes, ate some yummy food, milked a cow, watched a goat show and walked around the animal barns. On the way home Rebecca rode with me and we got some good talking in about life, food and books.

My in-laws and sister-in-law and the baby went back to Pittsburgh for the weekend. So it is just Rick, Mikey and I in the house. It is kinda nice having the house to ourselves. Definitely a lot quieter! The dogs know something is not right, they are being very clingy and mopping around. Charlie dog kept trying to get into bed with Rick and I last night - there is not room in that full size bed for 2 people and a greyhound!

Today the daycare is having a big carnival to celebrate their 20th anniversary and to raise money for the new bus they have to buy. Rick was asked to sit in the dunking tank. :0) Don't worry, I will take pictures! After that we are going out to the farm and Rebecca is going to thin my hair out again (I hate having thick hair in the summer!) and she is also going to cut Rick's hair. It is so nice having her around now - and cheaper! :0)

We have been asked to go to Pittsburgh next weekend to help out with stuff. Rick and I are not making any definitive plans cause we want to be able to go to Pittsburgh at a moments notice. We pretty much have our schedule cleared till September. We have stuff and places that we want to do but we are ready not to do them and we are not committing ourselves to anything.

Seven whole days with no soda pop. Nothing carbonated has passed through my lips. My body feels so much better without that junk!

Updates from Today on Grandma

These are written by my mother-in-law -

My mom is stable-- I will know more after my sister and dad get there to see her at 10:30. She had a good day yesterday according to her nurse in neuro ICU, but she still has not been awake.

My mom was thrashing around during the night a lot, and they could not get the heart readings they needed. They called my sister Beth (that's whose number they had) for permission to put heart cath in. She talked to her husband, and he said that was pretty standard procedure so she approved it. Mom is heavily sedated right now, and they have her on a medicine that gave her drug-induced paralysis, but the nurse says that all of the medicine should wear off by 5:00 and should be moving around a lot be then. Right now she is not breathing on her own because of the drugs they gave her.

They have downgraded my mom's chances to 20% because she has some fluid in her lungs and had to have the heart cath put in to monitor her blood pressure. They said they would be tell more after the medication they gave her to do the heart cath wore off.

Grandma Rodgers

Monday: Rick's grandma had a severe stroke/aneurysm around noon on Monday. They rushed her to the hospital in Wierton OH but then realized that she needed more help than what they could give her, so she was life flighted to Pittsburgh.
Once she got here and the doctors could asses they situation, they decided that it would be best for her to have surgery. They went into her brain and took out the aneurysm and then re-routed the artery that it was in. It was a 4 hour surgery. She came through surgery well. They repaired the brain aneurysm and have given her a 50/50 chance which is much, much better than what had been said earlier in the day - less than 5 % chance of coming through.
She is still in a coma and they are not sure of what the permanent damage will be yet. She is stable and will be in the special ICU for at least 2 weeks if everything goes like the doctors are hoping.

Tuesday update: They had to go in an insert a shunt into her brain to allow the fluid to drain. They also took out a bone flap in her head to allow for swelling in the brain. Rick and I was able to go in and see her for a few minutes. She doesn't look like herself. It is very strange to see her just laying there hooked up to lots of machines.

Wednesday update : They had her down for a CAT scan during normal visitation. She is looking a little better, but she was heavily sedated because she was moving a lot on her left-side and they needed to sedate for the CAT scan. They are also talking about taking the shunt out since the swelling has subsided.

Rick and I started out on Monday like normal - get up, drive to Richmond, I go to my WW meeting and then check in to the hotel and start to unload the car. Rick got a call around 1 saying that his grandma was being rushed to the hospital because Granddad found her passed out on the floor. Pray. By 2:45, I got a call from Rick saying pack up the car - we are driving to Pittsburgh. Another call form my sister-in-law in Charleston asking what clothes do I want to wear to the funeral. It was a God thing cause I wasn't feeling good and I didn't feel like unloading the whole car in 100 degree heat. So when I had to re-pack in a hurry - I only had 3 loads! I was able to pack up, check out, and drive downtown to pick Rick up in 30 minutes! I was a mess until I got to Rick and he was able to tell me more facts about what was going on. We started our 6 hour drive to Pittsburgh and the phone was ringing off the hook. It takes alot of work to get 25 people to one place in a hurry!

We finally made it around 10:30 - after a driving through annoying rain and catching an escaped hamster. We got to the hospital a few minutes before Grandma got out of surgery, so we were there to hear first hand the results. after it was decided that no one needed to stay the entire night(she is in ICU and so no one was allowed back there all the time with her), we headed over to the hotel for the night. it was around midnight and we were all pretty exhausted - physically and especially emotionally. After getting settled in and visiting everybody, we didn't go to bed until 2 am.

Tuesday morning we hung around the hotel and around 1 we headed back to the hospital. Rick and I got to go back and see Grandma for a few minutes. we ate a late lunch and finally made the decision to head back to Richmond. Grandma is still in a critical stage but she is stable and could be like this for 2 weeks. And so we decide that Rick should go back to work and if we need to - we can go back up. We drove the 6 hours back and checked in our hotel at midnight. Rick was able to go into work later than normal which was a huge blessing.

We are now just going to take it on day at a time. As of right now, we don't have plans of going back up over the weekend ,but that could change at any point.

Please keep praying.

Julie/Julia

Went and saw the Julie/Julia movie this afternoon with my sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and some other friends. The commercials looked cute and I already wanted to see it, but I HAD o see it cause it had my name in it!

It was a very funny and cute movie - beware there are a few cuss words but no sex scenes - just leading into sex scenes.

After the movie I kept thinking about how bad of a blogger that I am. Julie was faithful everyday to her blog - granted it was for a different reason than just rambling like mine are. I check everyone's blog every day - sometimes multiple days in a day and get disappointed when no one has blogged. But i am not any better.

So, I have decided to try and be better. Even if I don't have exciting news about things and places that I went - I will blog about some of my thoughts and so forth.

OK, I need to sign off now cause I am using Rick's computer and he is pacing around waiting for it. :0)