Thanksgiving Blessings

Last week didn't start well. We received a call late Monday that they had taken my grandfather back to the hospital. He had been in a nursing home for about 10 days and had developed pneumonia. He has three strains, one of which is pretty serious, so they have him on antibiotics, etc. He is continuing to lose weight, but does not have much appetite. He has lost track of time and is often disoriented. Please continue to pray. Also pray for my grandmother who continues to be faithful to spend 8 hours a day at the hospital with him. She is completely exhausted.

Thanksgiving was great, albeit a bit odd without my grandparents there. I spent several hours at the hospital early in the day and then went home to cook, etc. Others from the family then went in shifts to be sure that they were not alone. Papa's face lit up when we brought him some mud pie.

My sister, Elizabeth, and I always go shopping the day after Thanksgiving. We do it mostly for the time together, but sometimes find a good deal at the same time. This year we did things a little differently. The huge outlet mall just over the Wisconsin border was opening at midnight on Thanksgiving night, so we decided to stay up all night and shop. It was quite an adventure! We arrived home about 7:30 am on Friday ready for BED! A big thanks to Kermit who watched Elizabeth's four kids (as well as our three) so that we could go out. Wrangling all seven of those cousins at the same time gives new meaning to the words 'crowd control'!

Even with all of the craziness of the past 6 weeks, it is easy to see all of the blessings God has granted us. Our family, our kids, our church, our friends, our jobs, and so much more. God has certainly kept his promise to never leave us or forsake us even at times when we probably deserved it. HE continues to see us through each day and continues to bless us in spite of ourselves. I am so thankful for a loving, merciful God who loves wretched, filthy souls like ours and that he finds ways to use us when we least expect it.

This Week

As usual, this week has been full. Sunday we had church and then had our annual Thanksgiving Fellowship Dinner. It was so much fun, but rushed because we then had to turn around and travel the hour to the nursing home that my grandfather has been moved to. We were glad to go, though, because it was the first opportunity that the kids had to see their great-grandpa in a month (they are used to seeing him weekly). Lily didn't really know how to handle him being there and she kept trying to climb into his lap. When she found she couldn't do that, she would run up to him and poke him with her finger and whisper "poke". She would then laugh and run away. My grandfather's face would light up. The two of them have a special relationship so it was very therapeutic for him...nice to see him smile. Jacob and Hannah handled the nursing home really well. Of course, people came out of their rooms into the halls when they heard the children there and they were stopping the kids and talking to them. We were really proud of the way Jake and Hannah interacted with them.

Hannah had an exciting week as she learned how to use the damper pedal at her piano lesson. It may not sound like much, but to her it is the WORLD. She has been practicing like crazy. The bad part is that we just got a "new" second hand piano (much smaller than our old one)but it is completely out of tune. The tuner should come next week but we have to suffer in the meantime.

Jacob is rejoicing that tomorrow is his last day of Spanish class. He really enjoyed his science class this week, though. The teacher had a vial of mercury and showed the class that he could spin it around and it would separate and then immediately go back together. It's all he could talk about for two days. We love it when he finds something that really interests him.

Lily said to my dad today "Papa, your the best friend ever!". That didn't last too long because tonight she is upset with him so she doesn't like him anymore. She continues to amaze us with her expressions and phrases. We have no idea where she has ever heard "best friend" or the other things she says that make us scratch our heads, but we are always surprised that she not only knows what to say, but understands what it means and when to say it.

I don't think I mentioned earlier, but when we went to Hannah's teacher conference last week, her band teacher offered Kermit a position playing tuba in the community band. We laughed it off but I think Kermit may be toying around with the idea. We'll see what happens!

Grandfather is Little Better

We got a little good new on my grandfather this week. They moved him out of ICU and into a regular room. He has seemed stronger this week and his mind is definitely better. They have not mentioned coming home and they are still talking about a feeding tube, but he has taken some small steps. Thanks to everyone who has been praying.

We had parent & teacher conferences last night. They went well for both kids. It was nice to take a break and hear all the good things about them!

We realized this week that the Holidays are coming quickly. There is one radio station here that is already playing 24 hour Christmas music. Although it is definitely early, I still love it! I can tune in any time I want too. Anyway, it will be here soon so we need to start planning for our Christmas Open House that we have every other year. This is a chance for everyone on the church to come by and visit. Wish you all could come!

Today's Events

Today was another difficult day for my grandfather. He was exhausted and cranky and disoriented. He did not recognize me (but, of course, recognized Kermit)and he kept mentioning the ship that he went down on in WW2. He has not been able to eat anything, so the doctors are talking about a feeding tube. All of this is almost more than my grandmother can bear. Watching her talk to him, feed him and wipe his nose today...all like he was younger than Lily...broke my heart. Please continue to lift them both up in prayer.

Jake attended today's Merit Badge Day at Great Lakes Naval Base. He was really excited that he was able to earn his 'Electronics' merit badge. He had to put together his own working circuit board and was thrilled as he told us about learning to use the soldering gun. He has been learning so much in Scouts. He recently earned his 'Citizenship in the Community' badge and is currently working on his 'Citizenship in the Nation' badge. Both are Eagle requirements, so he will be glad to check those off his list. Oh, yeah...this was also report card week. His grades were not bad. Had a couple Cs due to late homework.

Language Arts - B
Math -B
Reading - C
Science - C
Social Studies - B
Spelling - B
PE - A

Hannah had a great week. She earned a 'Gavin Gotcha' (the schools version of a prize)for being the best trumpet player this week (they are all 4th graders so none of them are actually good..not even her) and she also got her report card, which she was really proud of.

Reading - B
Language - B
Spelling - A
Math - A+ (she's Kermit kid!)
Social Studies - A
Science - A
Music and Art - B
Media (computers) - A
PE.....C (she's my kid!)

Oh...and I cannot forget to mention that we got Jake's school pictures back this week. In his own words "I look like I sat on a pineapple!"