My November Thankful List

During the month of November I have been adding an item per day that I am thankful for.  Often times it has been something relevant to that particular day.  Here is my list.  I'm adding a picture taken this morning to illustrate the one for today!

The list is in backwards order because that's the way it worked on the sidebar gadget (which I have now removed.)

30. My hubby's hunting success for the first time in 13 years!!!

29. Feeling better after a week of head congestion.

28. Our grandpuppy Nilla Bean doing much better after a bad health scare.

27. A day to catch up and work ahead.

26. The quiet after many full, fun days.

25. Going to a good movie with our children and grandchildren.

24. Our diverse family enjoying time together.

23. So many good, old recipes and some very good new ones.

22. A young adult grandson that wants to come to Grandma's for Thanksgiving because he likes my food!

21. This Is Us - a show on Tuesday evenings that I can so deeply relate to.

20. My delightful piano students, 11th grade Davis and his 7th grade sister Elena.

19. Victory over a long-time fear of Sunday, November 19.

18. Good, long-time friends.

17. A house that is warm and the aroma of good food cooking.

16. Good prayer warriors at my Bible Study at Calvary.

15. Fun conversations with Austin after school.

14. Watching The Voice with Dick - a show we both love.

13. Dermatologist Sara Ferguson.

12. Good times with our kids and grandchildren.

11. Warm relationships with our extended families.

10. Fun times at Anthony and Lori's house.

9. My friends at exercise class and GBRV Choir.

8. Being alive and well on my 66th birthday.

7. The warm memories of my mom who died Nov. 7, 1981

6. Grandchildren to read to and with.

5. The joys of being music director at Greater Buffalo Run Valley UMC.

4. Our son Jeremy, who calls me while driving home from work sometimes just to chat.

3. Occasional slow days.

2. Heart 2 Heart Ladies' Bible study at Calvary.

1. My husband - faithful and supportive for 46 years.

Our Thanksgiving 2017 weekend

Okay.  Here goes for the second blog post in one day.  It is 12:45 pm and I am still in my pj's!  A RARE DAY INDEED!!

As last week was approaching Thanksgiving Day and a houseful of company, I was surviving with a master list.  On Tuesday evening I mixed up a batch of Monster Cookies and baked them Wednesday morning.  I have never made them before.  They have no flour!!!  What??  I had no idea!  Just oats, peanut butter, sugar, butter, etc, and lots of yummy stuff including chocolate chips and M&M's.  I threw in a few peanuts too, which I will not add next time.  Not everyone appreciates biting into a piece of peanut I discovered.  But they were so chewy and scrumptious.  I will definitely make them again.

I babysat Hunter too that day because daycare was closed, and made a pot of Middle Eastern Sweet Potato and Chickpea Stew.  That evening we had a Thanksgiving Eve service at GBRV.  Afterward we practiced our choir song for Sunday morning since we would of course not be having our regular practice on Thursday.

Bjorn and Jess arrived around 10 pm that evening.  I felt honored that they wanted to spend so much time at Grandpa and Grandma's this year!  I already had their beds made up (an air mattress on the floor and the comfy sofa), because I knew I would be heading for bed.  I showed them the stew and the Naan bread (which they LOVED), the snack cupboard, etc, how to work the new remote control, and Dick and I hit the sack.

Unfortunately, the battle I had been waging against symptoms I'd been experiencing, had become completely unsuccessful by that day.  I had to admit that I had indeed come down with a cold.  The day after we had spent those four hours in the ER for Dick's vasculitis (on Sunday the 12th) I started feeling some stuffiness in my nose and scratchiness in my throat.  So I waged war with all my remedies and was successful at warding them off for a week-and-a-half!!  I could not believe how horrible I was beginning to feel Wednesday evening.

I actually didn't feel that bad on Thursday.  It was somewhat of an odd Thanksgiving Day.  We would not be having our main Thanksgiving meal that evening as we usually do, but rather on Friday, so more could join us.  So Thanksgiving Day was actually unhurried for me.  I made sausage and pancakes for our breakfast and worked on the things I could prep a day ahead, including the turkey.  I know some people cannot imagine doing the turkey the day ahead, but it works for me.  I also prepped our yam casserole, and made three pumpkin pies.  For our dinner that evening I made a big pot of Paula Deen's Chicken Noodle Soup, bran muffins, and fruit salad.  Actually Dick made the fruit salad.  

Bjorn and Jess were such easy house guests.  They sat at the table doing homework.  Jess was making plans for early Black Friday shopping.  We also talked and talked as we worked.  At one point I was pulling out photo albums to show them my pictures over the years of Bjorn's visits to our house and ours to theirs.  From time to time he would find pictures he would take pictures of and send to Miki or his dad.

They left for their shopping expedition around 6:00 pm after grabbing some chicken noodle soup.  I had made it clear that there was not going to be a schedule to stick to this year.

Soon after they left Sam's family and Anthony's family arrived about the same time.  I couldn't believe how much the kids loved warm bran muffins!

Bianca looked so cute in her knitted dress.  They had been at Jenn's mom's Thanksgiving meal before they came here.  I wish I had gotten a better picture of her.

All the boys in the toy corner.

They loved this bear that Bjorn and Jess brought back with them.

The Thanksgiving Day crew (before Bjorn and Jess got back.)  

Jess got a polaroid camera!  Sammy was having a ball waving those wet prints around to dry.  Here's one he took of me!

When I woke up Friday morning my one ear was closed.  Ugh.  I hate that so bad.  Jenn has been having issues with her one ear being closed also, so we could sympathize with each other.

Here are a few pics I took around here that day.  I'm sure there were many more picture-worthy moments that day and all the rest of the days.  Somehow, this year I did not do a good job of taking pictures.  Maybe battling with my cold issues just interfered, I don't know.  I feel sad for the many fun and funny things I will not remember because I didn't take pictures of them.

Look at Bianca's hair!  She has such fine, unmanageable hair, complete with several pronounced cowlicks.  AND she has a mind of her own that usually does not think that sitting still for a hair-fixing is worthy of her time.  Enter Jess!!!  She works at a daycare and is very used to three-year-olds.   By some miracle she managed to have Bianca sit still while she put pigtails and a bow in her hair.  AND Bianca was happy with it and did not rip everything out afterward!

Sam and Jenn took the kids to the mall for a while to get them out of the house.  Sam said later that it was so nice to take Bianca out with her hair fixed, hahaha!!  Jess, you're going to have to put a stop at Sam and Jenn's house every morning into your schedule!

I worked on the other dishes for our Thanksgiving dinner - green bean casserole, cranberry applesauce, baked corn, loaded mashed potatoes, and gravy.  Over at Anthony and Lori's they were smoking a turkey, making crock pot stuffing, and apple crisp.  Dick, Sam, and Jenn and the kids went over to their place a little earlier for some target shooting, but no one took pictures of that.

Over at Anthony's we got some tables ready for our crew of 18.  Anthony and Lori's friends Emil and Tiff and their 2 little ones joined us.  And Ray arrived too just in time for dinner.  He had worked the night before and slept a few hours before driving here.

Meanwhile the kids had some fun.

We served the food buffet style in the kitchen.  The adults ate in the dining room and the kids in the kitchen.  I didn't get a picture of the children's table.  I'm not even sure if they ever were all sitting down at the same time anyway.

I saw Bjorn put away three plates of food!  But I don't think he had eaten all day until then.  Everything really was scrumptious.

Even the beer, I guess, haha!  I'm not crazy about everyone having a beer with Thanksgiving dinner, but I've discovered that, much to my surprise, people actually do not get drunk from a couple of beers, LOL!  Not everyone grew up tee-totalers like Dick and I did.

Lori had put her apple crisp in the oven right as we started to eat.  It came out later, all hot and juicy and crisp.  I got one taste of it as I cleaned out the pan afterward.  Jenn said later she had not had any. Those guys!!   We should not have let them have first dibs!  Next year I'm not going to bother with pumpkin pies.  The apple crisp was so much better!

As we were cleaning up afterward no one was really watching Hunter.  Grandpa found him up on top of the dining room table!

After things were all cleaned up and we were ready to go home I realized we had not taken a group photo.  Lori had already taken Hunter up for his bath, but he wasn't undressed yet, so down they came down and we tried to get organized.  Here's the progression.  Anthony was working on getting my camera ready for a time-delayed picture.  

All was going well until Hunter kicked Austin in the head.  And was totally enjoying doing so, I might add.

Guess who did NOT think it was one bit funny!

So that was our crew this year.  A few missing for sad reason.  

Unfortunately Ray and Thyda have separated this fall.  I know that's unbelievable to many of you who have followed them on my blog all these years.  It's very sad, and I do not know what else to say at this point.  It's their lives.  I have listened to the pain and anger on both sides, and we have prayed and prayed.  I will not be linking this blog post to Facebook, because I can't control the comments there as well as I can here on my blog.  Of course your prayers are welcome.

I also really missed having Destiny here this year.  First time ever that we weren't together for Thanksgiving.  Ray was planning to pick her up and bring her along on Friday, but then something else came up for her.  Destiny's life was rudely uprooted in August when her mom and her mom's boyfriend with whom Destiny lived, were arrested and put in jail.  Destiny lived with Frank and Lauren for a while, but that never seems to work, unfortunately.  So she has been living with her mom's sister and family, which I think is a good place for her to be.  Unfortunately, Destiny had lost her birth certificate and was not allowed to visit her mom without it.  Finally her replacement birth certificate arrived last week, and she of course wanted to visit her mom (for the first time since August) on Saturday.  There was no way I would have wanted to get in the way of that.   Destiny told me the visit was by phone with glass between them, which just breaks my heart. Please pray for this precious girl when she comes to mind. 

Meanwhile, in Florida George and Lisa and Sophie were facing a different crisis.  You may remember that Nilla Bean was recovering from knee surgery when we were there in October.  That was her second knee surgery this year, complete with lots of pain meds.  Apparently that caused an ulcer in her little stomach and she started vomiting blood.  Several days in a veterinary hospital only saw even more decline.  She was taking no sustenance and keeping nothing down.  They really thought she was going to die.  It was SO SAD!!

Originally they had planned to come up here for Thanksgiving week, and if they had, they would have been on their flight north when this first occurred, and that would have been in a doggy daycare.  They were so thankful they had changed their plans!  Lisa and Sophie did join Lori and Austin at Disney for one day while Nilla was in the hospital, as I mentioned in my previous post. On Thursday Nilla's doctors were talking off for the weekend and decided it would be better for Nilla to be at home for the weekend rather than being transferred to a new team of critical care doctors.  They hoped that the love at home would be healing.  And it WAS!!!  She has not thrown up once since she's home, and she is getting her appetite and energy back again.  It truly feels like a miracle!  I took these screen shots from a video Lisa posted.  Nilla's happy to be back home with Stella!

Now, on to the rest of our weekend.  Saturday was a beautiful, sunny day.  Dick and Sam got busy cutting down all our dead flowers and grasses.  They also put up our outdoor Christmas lights. 

Sammy and Bianca supervised from the back of the pickup truck!

Jenn made the most scrumptious veggie pizza.  What a perfect way to serve raw veggies with the crust and Ranch cream cheese base.  

Bjorn and Jess had to leave around noon that day because they had another Thanksgiving dinner to attend.  At some point Dick, Ray, and Sam went over to Anthony's for some more target shooting.  Ray had to leave after that.

Sam and Jenn had brought a Stouffer's lasagna, so we had that for our dinner along with the veggie pizza and some garlic toast.  

In the evening the six of us went to the movies to see Wonder.  

What a fantastic movie!!  Even Sammy was totally engaged and really got it.  Bianca didn't do bad at all, never had to be taken out except to the bathroom.  Lori wasn't sure Austin would enjoy it, but I want to take him to see it.  I think it's so tremendously important for children and adults to have empathy for things that others cannot change about themselves.  

This is Bianca's happy face for the camera after she won this purple monkey from the claw machine, haha! 

I continued to feel miserable because of my cold on Saturday and felt even worse Sunday morning.  It seemed that my left ear had opened somewhat, but my right one was so closed.  And I had developed more of a cough.  I can play piano even with closed ears, and thankfully the congregational singing at GBRV is such that they don't even need me to sing.  I just couldn't hear them that well, haha!  I couldn't hear my choir very well either.  Ugh!!!  

Sammy went with us.  There were a lot of children there that morning and they were asked to help hang the chrismons on the tree as each one was described.  Sammy had just started eating a little container of Reece's Peanut Butter cereal that I'd brought along, so he agreed to hang just one, then he wanted to come back to me (actually to his snack, LOL!)  I really wanted a picture of him at the tree, but I couldn't  persuade him to do another one.  So the only picture I got was this one when he was walking back from hanging his.  (plaid shirt)

He looked so handsome in his plaid shirt.  And so did Austin and Hunter in their shirts when Anthony and Lori came with them after the service at Calvary.  BUT you'll just have to take my word for it, because I did not take another picture the whole rest of the day.  

Dick left for the hunting cabin as soon as he had everything packed up after church.  We ate leftovers for lunch, Sam and Jenn packed up and left for home, Anthony and Lori went to a movie, and Austin, Hunter, and I all took naps.  An amazingly quiet afternoon.  Not even the sound of football on TV in the background, haha!  Anthony and Lori hung out for a while after they came back, and then they left for home too, and I was here all alone.  And it was okay.  I absolutely love being with people, especially our family, but occasionally I do like to be alone.  

Now it's time to get everything else caught up that I neglected the past few days and to get all my Christmas music plans in place.

Lots of good stuff the week before Thanksgiving

I haven't posted here in so long I will definitely have to do two separate posts to catch up.  Somehow, my life in the past week-and-a-half has allowed me no time for sitting here and writing.  But it was all good. 

I'll start this post with a pretty picture I took a week ago, probably the only nature pic I've taken this whole time.  It was our first snow.  Of course, it was soon gone.

The vasculitis on Dick's legs is very slowly, but surely healing.  They determined from the biopsies that it was drug-induced, so two more meds will now be on his allergy list.  Unfortunately, the healing is almost more uncomfortable than the original outbreak because it's itchy and sometimes leaves raw marks where dried skin peels off.  On the whole, however, he is feeling really good. As I write he's at the hunting cabin in Juanita County with his dad and brothers and nephews.

Now, back to where I left off last time.  I had mentioned that a long-time friend from Grace Community Fellowship in Manheim was coming to spend the weekend.  Steph arrived Friday evening.  The three of us had fun reminiscing and looking through the book that our friend Diane put together about the church's history.  

After Dick went to bed Steph and I talked late into the night, laughing sometimes, crying sometimes, using a ton of tissues, haha!  It's hard to even explain the bond we have - she's younger than any of my children!  We both are surrounded by loving, supportive friends and family.  Maybe sometimes it's just easier to bare one's soul with someone who feels no responsibility to help fix anything.  Anyway, it was a precious time.

Saturday was a cold, rainy day.  I was hoping to take Steph to Sower's Harvest Cafe in downtown State College for brunch, and we did actually drive downtown.  But there was a big Penn State home game that day and everything was crowded.  I was not at all sure I could find a place to park, and if the cafe had a line out the door as it often does on Saturdays, we decided it was just too cold and miserable for that.  So we drove on by and decided to go to Bellefonte, away from the football crowds.  Waffle Shop in Bellefonte did not have a line out the door this time, so that's where we had our long delicious brunch at a cozy two-top in the corner.  And we talked and talked and talked and talked some more.  I never even thought of taking a picture.  Steph's job as a therapist at Philaven hospital's Clinic for Plain Communities is SO interesting.

We had the most wonderfully lazy afternoon.  Dick came home from work after he got off at noon, his planned outdoor work couldn't be done in the rain, and besides he was glad to watch Penn State's game.  Steph and I each claimed a couch, Dick had his recliner,  and we alternately slept, checked our phones, chatted.  Rarely do I have a chance to just do nothing at all.

But doing nothing at all gets boring after a while.  So I looked for movie possibilities.  The one that sounded best to Steph and I was not even showing here in State College, but in Altoona, 45 minutes away.  I asked Dick if he was up for driving in the rain to Altoona.  Of course he was.

But wow, it was really horrible driving.  He did not mind it at all, but I would have just HATED driving in the dark pouring rain and wind.  So thankful for him!

We ended up being the only three in the theatre that was showing the movie Marshall.   It was beyond our imagination how we had never heard about this movie and that nobody else was there to watch it.  (There were plenty of people there to watch other movies, so it wasn't just the weather.)  It was SO GOOD!

Sunday morning came soon enough, and Steph went with us first of all to our service at Greater Buffalo Run Valley.  The congregational singing since we have brought all three locations together is just amazing!!  I can't even hear myself, and anyone who knows me well knows that that is a rare thing, haha!!   My choir sang Dennis Jernigan's Thank You, Lord.  It was awesome and emotional.

We went directly from there to Calvary.  And we had an extra passenger!  Lori had brought Hunter to us at the end of the GBRV service because she and Austin were leaving for Disney from the nearby University Park Airport.  Anthony was working in the cafe at Calvary that morning, so that's how we worked things out.  Calvary's service was so good, both the worship and especially Pastor Dan Nold's message.  Lots of things to ponder afterward.  Here are a few I wrote down:

* In every growing move of God there will be some messes and conflict.
* Sometimes an unstoppable force can also be an unspeakable mess.
* History has never seen a revival that isn't messy.
* Don't shy away from a move of God for fear of the messes.

We brought Hunter home with us after the service at Calvary, grabbing some freshly made pizzas at Weis on the way home for our lunch.  Steph left for home mid afternoon, Hunter took a nap, and so did we.   Later we took Hunter home to Anthony.  Hunter still does not have much of a vocabulary, but that does not keep him from talking - a lot and with so much expression.  It's so cute.  Here's a conversation we were having in the van on our way over to Anthony's that evening.

We hung out over there for a while before heading home for the night. 

When I went to bed that night, and especially when I woke up the next morning, I was very, very, very, very thankful.  I knew that my Sunday, November 19 curse was broken.  Here's the back story:

On Sunday November 19, 1995 Dick, Jeremy, and I were hit head-on on our way to worship team practice at church.  We all had to be hospitalized.  I had a severe concussion complete with short-term memory loss.

There was not a Sunday, November 19 again until eleven years later in 2006.  On the evening before, I wrote the story of our accident on my blog, because I knew that I had many readers who had not known me eleven years prior.  That Sunday morning something came over me in church (in my head) and later in the day, as short-term memory loss was becoming obvious, Dick took me to the ER and I was hospitalized.  I was ultimately diagnosed with an episode of TGA, Transient Global Amnesia.  Absolutely bizarre timing, especially with the TGA and concussion manifestations being so eerily similar.

My sister-in-law Faye Stauffer thought I may have been experiencing body memory and that I should have prayer for inner healing.  Of course, life has always been busy, and I never followed through on that.  But I have always been aware that the next time November 19 occurred on a Sunday would be in 2017.  In fact, I have been so aware of it, and fearful of it, that when I was hospitalized in February for my spiking blood pressure/mild heart attach incident and the nitroglycerin patch caused my blood pressure to drop so dramatically that it triggered another episode of TGA, one of the questions I immediately was asking was, "This isn't November 19, is it?"  I definitely knew that I would be seeking special prayer for the fear I had of that date.

I had talked with Sherilyn Jameson, the teacher of my women's Bible study at Calvary, and also Lynn Nold, the prayer ministry coordinator, about it.  After our Bible study on Thursday the 16th, four women gathered around me and prayed.  It was a precious, powerful time with concrete things I could keep praying in the following days.  I also told Steph about it on Saturday.  She was too young to remember our car accident in 1995, but she did remember my experience in 2006.  She agreed to be praying throughout the day.  I got follow-up texts late Sunday and Monday from both Sherilyn and Steph.  We all were so thankful that I could now lay that ridiculous, but nonetheless, very real fear to rest!!  Woohoo!!!!!!

Lori and Austin were at Disney from Sunday to Wednesday, so I did some extra helping with Hunter those days.  Picking him up from daycare is so fun.  He's obviously very loved there by the staff.  Can't say I blame them, haha!!

Lisa and Sophie came to Disney Monday into Tuesday to spend time with them.  I can't possibly love this photo enough!!  Because I love these people so dearly!

On Wednesday Hunter's daycare was closed so he spent a few hours here with me.  

Well, this is where I'll end this post.  Lori and Austin did get home Wednesday evening, and the first of our Thanksgiving company arrived that evening.  That's where my next post will start.  

Family from Idaho, vasculitis, and more birthday fun

Last Saturday morning when I last updated here I did not mention that we were planning to leave for Lancaster County as soon as Dick got off work at noon.  At that point I wasn't sure if we would actually be following through on those plans or not.  I mentioned that Dick had gone to the walk-in clinic two times for the very painful gout flare-up he was experiencing.  Previously he had been prescribed Prednisone for gout, but not this time.  On his first visit they prescribed 500 mg twice a day of Naproxin.  The second time they prescribed an antibiotic.  We thought that was interesting, since gout is not a bacterial infection.  

On Friday morning he showed me the strange-looking, bright-red spots on his legs.  Hmmm.  He considered checking if he could get in to see our regular doctor, but they were busy and short-staffed at work, so he did not.  When we woke up Saturday morning the spots on his legs had turned into blistery patches.  We immediately thought Shingles, even though we knew that the legs are not where that usually manifests itself.  We decided he definitely needed to make another trip to the walk-in clinic as soon as he could get off work.  They were busy at work and he could not get away until they closed at noon.  I met him at the clinic.  I had everything packed and loaded for the weekend, but if it were actually Shingles I wasn't sure if we would be going or not.  I had read that he would then be contagious to anyone who had not had Chicken Pox or the vaccine for it.

At the clinic they did blood work, said it was definitely not Shingles, mentioned the word Vasculitis, and told him to make an appointment with our regular doctor.  They did not think it was an emergency and said we could go ahead with our plans if he felt up to it.  Which he did.  So we were on our way!  He did call and make an appointment with our doctor first thing Monday morning. 

The main purpose for this trip was to have dinner with some of my family.  My sister Barb's sons had come from Idaho to visit their grandparents.  How sweet is that??  They spent Saturday with Grandma Mary and would spend Sunday with their Brubaker grandparents.  We got together for an early dinner on Saturday at Oregon Dairy Restaurant.  What a loud group we were!  Michael and Eric are so much fun!  These guys have grown up in Idaho ever since 1991, but whenever we're together it feels like we've never skipped a beat.  

Bless their wives and little ones for doing without them for the weekend!

After a delicious dinner (mine was chicken croquets and mashed potatoes - total comfort food!), we went to Dick and Nancy's house for more fun and dessert.  Such a great time together!  Barb and John, we think your sons are awesome!

We went to Sam and Jenn's for the night.  I had taken Sunday off from church.  Jenn was away with girlfriends to the Finger Lakes for the weekend, but the kids were awake and full of energy when we arrived.  I had brought the ingredients for peanut butter rice krispie treats, so that was our first order of business.

Silly Bianca insisted on wearing her heavy backpack while "helping" me!  They love when I roll the warm rice krispie treats into little balls.  I like them that way too!

When we woke up Sunday morning Dick's legs looked horrible.  It was actually scary.  One leg had a huge patch of purple.  We were planning to have a 40th birthday celebration for Sam, and Dick didn't want us to change those plans.  He spent a lot of the day in Sam's recliner.  In the afternoon he got a phone call from the walk-in clinic and they advised him to go to the ER when we got back to State College. 

I made bacon and eggs for our breakfast.  Sam went to pick up Destiny.  Meanwhile the kids hung out with us.  

Grandpa and Sammy enjoyed reading about porcupines in Sammy's library book from school.

Can you say bedhead?  Adorable bedhead!

This girl!  The more I'm with her the more she has my heart.  She loves to say things like, "You're my best friend" or "You're my baby girl!"  She loves all her stuffed "friends."

When I was doing my hair in the bathroom I had an audience.  Can you find two cats?  Cookies and Cocoa are more recent additions to the family.  I probably did not mention in August that Bella (their dog) died after getting hit on the road.  It was dreadfully traumatic and I couldn't even write about it at the time.  Even now when Sammy is tired he starts his familiar refrain, "I miss Bella."  These sweet cats are just the right medicine. 

When Sam arrived with Destiny I caught a glimpse of her beautiful hair with the sun shining on it, and I had to get a picture!

She was in the mood for puzzles, so it was puzzles all day!  We even bought more puzzles at Goodwill when I had to run for a few things at Weis - they are next door to each other.  That bright tablecloth made puzzling very difficult for me, but the kids didn't seem to mind it!

Bjorn and Jess came by for a couple of hours.  They were on their way to a Hershey Bears hockey game.  Ray stopped in for a while too.  We were hoping Frank could stop in since he was about half an hour away at J'von's football game, but he had projects to do at home.

Jenn arrived home to a crazy houseful!!

Then it was time to celebrate Sam.  When I called to order this cake from Musser's Market they wondered what colors.  I said,  "Well, he likes the Buffalo Bills."  Hmmm.  Not sure they nailed it!  The red looked more like orange.  But that's ok.

I recorded us singing Happy Birthday, but I most certainly will not share the video.  Nothing like listening to me bellering out the alto right into the camera, hahahaha!  Is it just me, or does forty look younger all the time??

We had to force this girl to take time to eat!  She had gotten a puzzle at Goodwill that had 750 pieces and very curvy edges.  She was absolutely obsessed with it.  

Look at those edges!

Before leaving we had to get a selfie.

Or two or three!

Bjorn and Jess are SO MUCH FUN!!  They're young and crazy and the perfect match for Sammy's energy.  When I listen to their work and college schedules I cringe.  Not nearly enough time for sleep, but I guess they're young and can survive it.  

I think it was around 5:30 when Dick and I left.  Everyone was leaving at the same time.  I'm sure Sammy was disappointed.  Bianca was probably glad for some quiet time with her mommy, also her "best friend" and "baby girl."  Haha!  This summer she even said that Sam was her "baby girl."  

We did go to the ER when we got back to State College.  As always, the wheels turned VERY SLOWLY there.  No one there had ever seen anything like the rash on Dick's legs.  They threw all kinds of possibilities around and tried to get in touch with specialists - on a Sunday evening.  They did more blood work.  And we filled out more and more and more forms.  It was around midnight when we finally left with instructions to go right to a certain dermatologist's office first thing in the morning.  This is a picture I took in the ER.  The ER doctor was even taking pictures. 

So it was a very, very short night.  We showed up at the dermatologist's office before they even opened.  The wait was well worth it.  I cannot say enough wonderful things about Dr. Sara Ferguson. She finally made us feel like someone knew what they were doing and talking about!  She immediately recognized that he had a full-blown case of Vasculitis.  She had them do two biopsies from which they will determine the cause.   Vasculitis can be a form of an auto-immune disease or it can also be a reaction to a medication.  In this case, the antibiotic Dick was on (Doxycycline) could very well be the cause.  The results will come back in a few days.  She also put him on a regimen of Prednisone that will last about a month, strong dose at the beginning, then gradually decreasing.  She was mystified as to the reason they would have put him on an antibiotic instead of Prednisone for gout.  

And then he went back to work!  He is one strong man!  This has been a good week for him.  He feels better than he had for the past several weeks.  The gout is cleared up, the vasculitis is under control, and he's not as fatigued.  Unfortunately, the rash will probably take a long time to disappear.  It has not gotten worse since Sunday, but it still looks really ugly.  He has not played basketball and isn't sure when he'll get back to that.  He's not ready to take a shower at the Y with legs that look like that. )-:  

My house smells wonderful as I sit here this morning.  I have Caribbean Jerk Pulled Pork in the making.  It's been in the slow cooker all night, and now I need to take it out, shred it, and add the BBQ sauce.  I made sure to get Giant's scrumptious cole slow to go with it.  I love theirs with the big, crunchy cabbage.  

Our friend Steph Graybill (from our home church, Grace Community Fellowship in Manheim) is coming for the weekend.  We're looking forward to that. 

Have a great weekend!