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.