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)

Home Sweet Home

Yesterday, I had to go to the laundry mat to do some laundry for Rick. The place was yucky and had no air conditioning and I was getting kinda cranky about it all. Finally I got a text from Rick saying that he just got the official word that he is allowed to go back to the West Virginia when this audit is over!! As soon as I read it, I just started to cry - right there in that nasty laundry mat! I was just so happy! This means that we can stop traveling, living out of a bag, get a house of our own, and get all my belongs in one spot! I texted 23 people about our great news, tried calling my parents and left messages - my mom called back and she thought that I was pregnant - and just kept crying. I told a random guy in Dollar General that I got to move back to WV - he was happy for me.

Lots of changes have been happening within the audit team, so we have been waiting and hoping that this would happen. But now that it is official, we can get on with our newly married lives.

We can start looking at houses and put offers in and the house that we can serve God in with our lives. We can get back into all the church activities that we have been missing out on. I can get plugged into a ministry that I feel called to. We can buy a second car - so that I can go back to work and help support our family.

All throughout the day, whenever I thought about all the upcoming changes that will be happening in our life - I would just cry. (The period must be coming on soon!) It was all happy crying and my mind just kept racing with everything that I want to do with our house, and my animals and finally using all of my wedding presents!

Beach Day 9 - Sunday

We woke up early to go to church on the beach, but then Joe wasn't going and we didn't know where it was so we didn't go. We packed up the truck and the van and then took a small detour into Delaware to say bye to Joe and buy some birch beer. Micheal rode with us and I am kinda glad. he talked and kept Rick awake and he ended up driving the whole time! We stopped at the outlet mall and Micheal was able to buy some school clothes. It was a very long drive home and I kept getting a little sick. We stopped in Morgantown for dinner and went by the CSF to say hey. We finally made it home and Rebecca came over to cut Rick's hair. We had to re-pack and I finally made it to bed around midnight. I was very sad that my week at the beach was over. And all the time that I got to spend with Rick. Can't wait for next year . . . .



Talking with Joe


Rick and I with Delaware in the background


My friends for the ride home

Beach Day 8 - Saturday

Rick and I packed up our stuff and moved into anther condo for one night. Most everybody else left that day to go back home. The people who stayed was all of the Petry's, Michael and Grandma and Granddad. We spent time out on the beach, others looked at different condos for next year, I took a nap, and then that night Rick, Mikey, Cindy, Micheal and I went back to the board walk. We needed to buy some t-shirts and I wanted to take some pictures. When we got back, I played cards with the guys. It was a good last day.

Me and Cooper playing some cards


I tried my hand at fishing in the sea - I wasn't so good




Rick and Cindy on the boardwalk


Sunset on our last day at the beach