The story

 
 

Well, I got a full 8 hours of sleep last night and feel like I could conquer the world!

Monday was a long day. We woke up at 4:45 for the drive to Ft. Worth. My mother came with me. Bryon had to stay behind to do carpool, work, and take Matthew to his baseball game. Cook Children's hospital was wonderful. They gave ME a nose spray that they call a "pediatric margarita" so she was feeling no pain when the nurse took her from me. I wish they had had an "adult margarita" nose spray for me at that moment!

We went to the waiting room and I started having mental images of what ME was going through. At that moment, a sweet couple sat down next to us and we struck up a conversation. I really think they were put there for a purpose, because the 1 1/2 hours that ME was in surgery went by much quicker because I was occupied with our conversation! Before we knew it, we were up in the room. ME was out of it most of the day, and we all took turns holding her. My dad got to come up for a while because he had the day off of class.

The roughest part of the journey was Monday night. People were coming in at all hours and I ended up sleeping on a plastic lazyboy holding ME. Someone came in at 4 in the morning to draw ME's blood. I am sure you can imagine how that went over! I don't remember a longer night than that one!

Tuesday, ME was feeling much more like herself. I included two pictures to demonstrate the resiliency of children. The second picture was taken 24 hours after surgery! Her doctor took a look at her last night and said that she needed to give up her room for a child who was actually sick. We have never been so excited to be home!

Today has gone well. ME has been having bladder spasms which are painful but expected. She will be walking, stop, cry for a few seconds, then be fine.

Thank you, thank you to all of you for your show of love and support! Thank you, Mom for going through the whole ordeal at my side. Thank you, Michael, Jilinda, Kristen, Kevin, Sam, Seth, and Dad for visiting us! Thank you, Lauren, for taking care of Matthew after school! Thank you Mimi, Big Mack, and Aunt Shari for taking care of Thomas. Thank you, Joy, for coming up to the church building Sunday night to retrieve my purse that I left that morning! I have never done that! I must have been preoccupied. Thank you Bryon for being Super Dad! I love you ALL!

We're home!

Home has never looked so good! We were released a few hours ago and are home again. Mary Elizabeth is doing incredibly well. I am amazed by her recovery. Mom and I, on the other hand, have had 1-2 hours of sleep in the past 40 hours. We are exhausted so I will fill in details tomorrow.

Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement!

Update on Mary Elizabeth

This is Lauren guest blogging...

Elizabeth called me and said that Mary Beth is out of surgery, and everything went well! She is acting very subdued, but that is to be expected. I talked to her on the phone and asked her how she was feeling and she replied, "Where Jamsey go?". I took that as a good sign that she is getting back to normal. She will go home tomorrow night or Wednesday morning. Thank you for your prayers!

Happy Easter!

 
 
 
 

Happy Easter, everyone! I told the kids to enjoy the snow this morning, because it will probably be the only time in their lives, should they choose to reside in Texas, that it will snow on Easter. There are only three times in recorded history that it has snowed in our town in April!

Bryon took the boys down to his Aunt Bernie's farm to hand off Thomas. I will miss him dearly, but he will have a great time with the grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins. I am feeling anxious about tomorrow and am ready for next week to get here. I was fine until the nurse told me about intubating ME. I just didn't need that visual. Our concern at the moment is that she had a fever on Thursday (for a few hours) and has been coughing ever since. She hasn't had a fever for 2 1/2 days, but if she has one tomorrow, they will postpone the surgery. I am praying this doesn't happen!

ME's surgery is scheduled for 9 a.m. I am told that there are computers at the hospital and I will try to update or have Lauren do it.

These are some pictures from yesterday and this morning. ME is wearing a spring coat and hat that my grandmother made for me. It was nice having that coat when I was 2 and living in ILLINOIS! Never thought we would need it here! Her pink dress is the one that my mother made for my sister for Easter 24 years ago. I had a matching one that ME will wear in 5 years!

"I'm dreamin' of a white Easter?"

Sample of crazy Texas weather:
Last Friday, floods and tornados
Last Wednesday, beautiful day in the high 80s.
Today, snowing like crazy!

Huge, beautiful snowflakes are blanketing our bluebonnets. Who would have ever guessed? What an unexpected gift! As for my poor, beautiful plants who have bravely made it through the last few weeks, but will probably succomb to this latest assault, I am channelling my best Scarlett O'Hara and will think about that tomorrow.

 
 
 
 

Friday night pics

 

Wrestling before the game! My boys love to wrestle. I often find them giggling and jumping on each other. No doubt these two are all boy!
 
 











Matthew changes into a coordinating shirt while keeping his baseball pants on. Pictures in the bluebonnets before the game. Matthew has "hat hair" but what else is new? ;)
 















Matthew playing third base. He had three great hits tonight. I love baseball games!

Cool picture!

 
This is a picture taken yesterday at Ft. Erwin. The soldier standing at the right of the picture is my cousin, Matt. Yesterday was his 24th birthday. Matt (my father's brother's son) is from New Mexico, and graduated from West Point two years ago. He was in the first class to graduate who enrolled after 9/11. Matt will go to Iraq probably in July. He is our reminder to pray for our troops!

Wild, whacky, week!

You have heard the expression, "When it rains, it pours." This has been very true this week both literally and figuratively!

This weekend, a washer on one of our toilet pipes came loose and water seeped into our wood floor, den carpet, and the boys' carpet on the other side of the house (but sharing a wall with the bathroom). This was completely unrelated to the flood. I couldn't believe it as we have never had an inch of flooding in our entire history of home ownership! We had to cut out the carpet pads and have fans drying the foundation and carpet. I think our den carpet is salvageable, but the boys carpet has got to go. Matthew is extremely allergic to mold so we are going with a fresh start. I am thinking black shag to hide all the future staining, or perhaps keeping it just the foundation and putting in a drain so I can hose down the room daily! ;)

Then yesterday, Thomas had his first case of hives which covered 3/4 of his body. This child, who absolutely never complains of aches or pains (other than those his brother inflicts) was miserable with itches last night. His eyes were swollen and his limbs were red and warm to the touch. He had welts all over his little body. Poor baby! I took him in today and the doctor said to keep him on Benedryl and we will do some testing if it happens again. He didn't eat anything unusual and didn't have a but bite that we could see. Very curious!

All this as we start the giant task of distributing children for our ordeal next week. My in laws are keeping Thomas and he is very excited to go to Conroe "all by myself!" Lauren is helping with Matthew after school, and Bryon will be helping with Matthew and possibly coming to the hospital in the evening. My parents are coming up and helping as well. Experiences like this are always so humbling as loved ones step up to the plate and offer their time, service, love, and prayers!

Approved

 


Well, we just heard back from our insurance agency today offically approving ME's surgery next week. We will be in the metroplex for a few days and then returning home for a week long recovery. Please say a pray for our little girl on Monday!

Friday

 
 
 
 

What a day yesterday! We have had a week of crazy weather with the grande finale occurring last night. All week, we have had tons of rain. Two of our baseball games were cancelled because of it.

Yesterday afternoon, it started to pour and the local weather cut into Oprah. A tornado was heading our way and the sirens sounded. Matthew knows just enough about tornados to be dangerous and was yelling, "We are going to die!! I just know it!!" Over and over. He tried to convince me to drive away from the storm, but of course, due to the torrential rain and hail, this wasn't going to happen!

The tornado cloud just passed us, but the flash flood did not. In a matter of minutes, I watched my backyard fill up like a bathtub. Schlitterbahn could have opened a new waterpark back there!

After the storm passed, I took one walk around the back yard to survey the damage. At some points, the water was up almost to my knees. I knew there was nothing I could do about it, so I told the kids to put their bathing suits on and have at it.

At this point, Matthew exclaimed that this was the best day of his life! There are 10 young kids who live in my house, my next door neighbors house, and across the street from us. They all got geared up for major water fun, and I have to admit that seeing their joyful faces took the sting out of watching my perennials float down the street.

We ended up letting them play for hours and we all ordered pizza together for a fun and spontaneous evening. One of the neighbor boys who is good friends with Matthew even spent the night.

I didn't sleep well hearing the rain all last night, but was pleased to see that we only had minimal damage this morning. I just need to shove my dirt back where it belongs and replant some flowers. It could have been much worse! Last year's tornado in May was definitely worse.

Today, I finally got my hair hightlighted after ME exclaimed, "I have yellow hair and Mommy has black hair!" We took professional pictures in the blue bonnets tonight as well and I am excited to see how they turn out.

The good news is that with our record breaking, 9 inches of rain this month, even if we don't get another ounce of rain this year, we won't have to water ration this summer. Yippee!

Before and After

 
 
 
 




The first two pictures were taken this morning. The ground is completely saturated with all of the rain from earlier this week.







The second two were taken after a flash flood and tornado warning roared through this afternoon. Gotta love Texas weather. Lots of stories. Please say a little prayer for this area as we are expecting two more waves of this tonight! Will update later...

Thomas and Mary Elizabeth

 
 
 
 

When I found out I was going to have 2 boys and a girl, I was expecting the boys to be extremely close (or at least hoping!). What I didn't think about was the close relationship that my younger two would form. Thomas and ME are the best of friends when Matthew is in school. They are my two VERY affectionate children and they love hugging all over each other and holding hands when we are out in public. Lauren says that they get so excited when they see each other in the halls at Mother's Day Out! I can count on my hand the number of tiffs these two have had over their past 2 years together, and I love that ME calls Thomas, "Honey" or "Sweetie" because that is what I call him!

I am really trying to relish these next 8 weeks with Thomas and ME being home together. While I pray that their relationship continues to grow, this will be the only time until they are teenagers that they will spend so much concentrated time alone together in the house. I think I will always feel a little sadness that ME will never have a sister, but at least she will have an awesome older brother to dote on her! Matthew dotes on her as well and ME adores him, but there usually isn't any time where it is just ME and Matthew. What a lucky girl having two older brothers!

What have I been up to?

I can't believe it has been more than a week since I last posted!

Here is what I've been up to:

Last Monday, I watched James for Lauren while she was in Italy. I was amazed at how busy he was and how unused to babyhood I have become! I was very sore the next day from holding my big hunka James! He was adorable and my kids fought over who was the best babysitter!

Also last Monday, I had another flower bed dug. To save on cost, and because I am a contol freak, I ended up buying my own plants and putting them in the bed myself. The bed is huge and it took me several days to get it just right, but now I have another completed flower bed! Now, I just have to wait until blooming season!

Bryon left for Las Vegas on Wednesday and didn't come home until late Saturday night for business. This is always difficult, but my parents helped out a lot taking Matthew to and/or from his activities. I don't rest well when Bryon is gone and spend too much time cleaning when I should be relaxing. We were thrilled to see him Sunday morning and feel so blessed that he made it home safely.

Today, we had a deluge and most of my new flower bed is underwater. It should be this way for the rest of the week, so we are going to try to stay dry and enjoy a small respite from baseball!

End of Spring Break

I can't believe it is already Sunday night! Our 9 days of togetherness is over. What a blessing to be ready for the kids to be home all week and ready for school to start again tomorrow!

We had a good week. Bryon is buried in work right now, so it was lots of time with me playing with the kids. At times this was hard, but I reminded myself of how nice it was to not have anywhere in particular to be. We spent tons of time outside, making picnics, going on nature walks, and reading books. One of our nature walks occured after a heavy rain, and I got to pull the boys out of the mud. The mud was so thick that their shoes came off firmly entrenched in the soggy earth! That was a gross walk back home!

Today was a huge gardeners gathering in the small town that we live in. We all had a great time doing kids activities, listening to bagpipes (my boys' favorite), picking up free plants, and talking to people who enjoy gardening as much as I do.

This week, the bluebonnets came out in full force. This is always a happy time and a stressful time. Time to get the perfect bluebonnet picture. Unfortunately, this has become more and more difficult the more kids we have had. Wish us luck this year!


Looking forward to a good week!

Spring is in the Air!

What a joyful feeling! I am completely enjoying hanging out in the backyard, grilling on the patio, taking in the beauty of redbuds and pear trees, and playing with all three kids this week! Michael and Jilinda came this weekend and took the boys back home on Sunday with them. Michael took the day off of work and played with the boys the entire time. They enjoyed going to a professional soccer game, swimming, playing tennis, go-carts, putt putt golf, batting cages, and NASCAR driving! Poor kids had to come home to boring old me! I love Spring Break and have enjoyed every second of relaxing time. What a gift!


We love getting the Hummer our of hibernation!
 












We love hanging out outside!
 












Watching the redbud bloom!
 










Time to take shirts off!
 

Things heard around our house this week...

Me: "Mary Beth, please pick up the craisins you dropped on the floor."
Mary Beth: "No, Mommy."
Me: "Please obey me."
Mary Beth: "I don't want to obey. I want to DANCE!"
Guess who danced her way to time out?


Thomas was eating a cheese pizza at Panera earlier in the week....
"Mommy. I have something to say that is going to make your day."
(This statement is frequently made by Thomas.)
"What's that, Thomas?"
"I love you more than I love cheese pizza!"
Considering how much the boys loves food, I felt very honored! It indeed made my day!

There is an ongoing debate in our house as to what to call our daughter. I usually call her Mary Beth. She usually intoduces herself as "ME" because the boys call her that. The only problem is that it sounds like "Amy" so we are trying to get her to say Mary Beth. All week long, she has been calling herself "Mary Elizabeth". I asked her this morning: "Do you want to call yourself Mary Elizabeth or Mary Beth?" She thought about it and said, "Ummmm....Just Mary Had A Little Lamb!" That's a new one!

And finally to Matthew. Let me preface this by saying that I have a rather impressive list of pet peeves. At the very top of this list (maybe the top 5?) is whistling. It drives me CRAZY to hear people whistling. Guess who learned to really whistle this week? Since coming home from school on Monday, Matthew has been whistling nonstop. This is trying my patience, but I am allowing him to do it. What if I crush his whistling spirit? What if he was meant to be a world famous whistler and I held him back? What if he decides that he really likes to whistle while he works and will start doing a better job keeping his room clean because of the distraction? Well, at least the weather is getting better so he can whistle OUTSIDE!

Have a great weekend!

ME singing the classics

I finally joined 2007 and did a youtube video. Now you can put a voice with a face.

Our weekend alone

Bryon and I had a big function Saturday night but couldn't find a babysitter. My in laws volunteered to watch all three of the kids from Saturday morning until Sunday afternoon. Normally when we have time to ourselves, we are going out of town, so it was really unusual to just have a normal weekend at home by ourselves! We spent the time running errands on Saturday afternoon. We went to my two favorite local nurseries to look around. It wasn't quite as fun as I would have hoped because it was freezing but I had to get it out of my system!

We also went to Sam's to look at playsets. We left our old one at our old house and we have really missed it! While we were there, I went ahead and bought a bunch of meat for the next few weeks. I felt like a character on the movie Fargo since all we bought was 5lbs. of meat, 5lbs. of sausage, 10 lbs. of chicken, and 2 big roasts! ME LOVE MEAT!!!

We had a great time on Saturday night going to Pei Wei and then to see two great artists later on that evening. Annika Fehling, who is from Sweeden, and Dana Cooper, who was from Nashville, came to play at a friend's house. We stayed out until midnight.

All night, in the quiet of our house, I kept hearing someone say, "Mommy!" I attibute it to phantom pains that amputees feel. It just doesn't seem right being home without the kids!

Of course, we had a great time, and I was happy just hanging out with Bryon even for a short time. It was almost better being home alone than going away alone! We went yesterday to pick up the kids and met my inlaws at Martha's Bloomers in Navasota. I have passed it many times and it was written up in Southern Living a few months ago so I had to check it out. What a neat place! I have a feeling we will be stopping there more in the near future!

Looks to be a slightly calmer week this week. Thank goodness! Unfortunately, we will NOT be going to Alabama as we had originally thought. Bryon has some job changes going on this month which made the trip impossible. It is our hope to postpone it only a few months. I was hoping to get to meet some of my blog friends!

Off to join the kids outside. Have a great week!

What a week!

Monday-
Matthew had a school holiday and it was one of the nicest days in recent memory. Lauren and I took the kids to the park and for a long "exploration" around our neighborhood. All was right in the world on Monday!

Tuesday-
Matthew's basketball awards banquet. I should put Bryon and Thomas's awards banquet too since they were the coach and assistant coach, respectively! I got to sing at the banquet and we all had a great time. I will miss his little team.

Wednesday-
This was the big follow up renal ultrasound and VCUG in the metroplex. The good news was that ME was perfect for the scans and wasn't traumatized like she was last year. The radiology tech said she was the best 2 year old she had ever had! She even got to watch "Snow Wipe" during the procedure! The bad news was that her reflux hadn't significantly improved and her left kidney had stopped growing. The urologist said, "It's time to cut bait and do something to correct this." We are still waiting to hear when the surgery is scheduled. It is a relief that the end is so near, but I know we have a big hurdle ahead of us.

Thursday-
Matthew started Little League. No more practice leagues where scores aren't kept. This is the real thing. I am looking forward to a fun couple of months of baseball.

Friday-
Matthew had dress like a story book character today. On his own this morning, he decided he would be Abraham Lincoln and wore a flannel shirt, cords, and hiking boots (I guess "Abe, the early years"?) and a tall hat. He kept his homework in his tall hat "just like Abraham Lincoln kept all of his court documents in his tall hat when he was a lawyer!" What a funny kid! We are eating dinner tonight with some people from church.

Saturday-
Tomorrow, we have a fun night planned and my inlaws volunteered to keep the kids for us. Bryon is going to drive the kids halfway while I see a patient, and then we will have 24 hours together by ourselves! We will eat an early dinner with Lauren and Josh at Pei Wei. The best thing is, is that this is the weekend before the grand opening, and we are eating for free so the staff can learn how the restaurant works! Yippee!

Later that evening, We are going to our friends' house to listen to a home concert. The guests are all pitching in to hear a professional pianist play. A little different than our dinner and movie dates. It should be fun! This starts at 8:00 which is about the time I turn into a pumpkin. Looks like I will be drinking a lot of coffee beforehand!

Monday

I am in the blogging doldrums right now. We are keeping busy everyday, but mostly just boring stuff that isn't blogworthy.

Matthew ended his basketball season this weekend. We didn't have enough players on the team, so Bryon had Thomas play! It was so much fun seeing how excited he was! A smile didn't leave his face the entire game! He even got two jump balls for the team. Matthew also had a great game and scored 10 points. I was very proud of him and even prouder that he got the ball several times and gave it to Thomas so he could have a chance at scoring. Love those brothers!

Last night was bookclub and I enjoyed a great meal and fellowship. I did NOT like the book, however. Eat, Pray, and Love is getting rave reviews from bookclubs nationwide, but it just made me feel bad. The author was my age and decided that she just wasn't happy in her marriage so it was time to leave and travel the world. Yippee for her! It doesn't matter what destruction she left behind as long as she is happy, right? Sorry, I just don't sympathize with her.

We have an unusually busy week this week with the awards banquet for Matthew's team, and a trip to the metroplex for more testing on ME's kidney. I am praying that we get the anwers we want and can get on the road to recovery.

Have a great week!

My son, the budding gastroenterologist

Lately, Matthew talks about being a doctor on a daily basis. The books he writes are now being signed by "Dr.________". He also wants to know the longest name of doctor that he could be.

I watched Matthew's class while his teacher was out today and started browsing Matthew's daily journal. This is what he wrote last week:

When I grow up, I want to be a docter. If you ever wondered what docter I wanted to be....I want to be a gastrointroligest. I will help people's small intestentses. I will go to coledge and work hard and studie hard. I will be a Masters Sicence (MS). I deserve to be a gastrointeroligest and if that doesn't work out, I will be a pedeatrishen & if that doesn't work then I will cure canser and if that doesn't work, then I will be a lung docter.

Does this mean he has given up his dream to play professional football?

Valentine's Wrap up

Another Valentine's Day has come and gone! We have had a great week full of love. Tuesday was the younger two's Valentines parties. When I went to pick up ME, all of the little girls were sitting quietly watching Dora and ME was sitting next to the only little boy in her class trying to kiss him! Early signs of boy craziness? Let's hope not!

Tuesday night, I made a big Valentine's dinner for my family. Bryon and I have made New Year's Eve and Valentine's Day family holidays. We hardly ever go out and when we do, we don't want it to be evenings when we can't find a babysitter and have to wait in line for an hour! We had our traditional spaghetti along with pink cupcakes.

Bryon knows that I prefer roses with roots still attached, so for Valentine's Day, he got me this bareroot beauty pictured at the left. It came in the mail today. I was much more impressed than ME!

It was colder here than it was in Newport, RI yesterday. Crazy, freezing cold weather!

Hope you had a fun, warm Valentine's!

Need a laugh?

I can honestly say that I have only one hot button issue with Mary Beth. If she sees shampoo, lotion, tootpaste, soap, gel, etc. that is out, she WILL put it in her hands and either wipe it on her shirt, pour it on our carpet, or , most often, wipe it in her hair. We try to make these items extremely unavailable! Even as I write, I have a bottle of pink hand soap sitting on our mantle. I figure her vision of heaven is the American Airlines checkin trash cans!

I had her in my lap curling her hair for church on Sunday and while my eyes were focused on not burning her neck, she got a handful of gel and stuck in on the front of her hair. Think Something About Mary. Not my favorite moment after washing, drying, and curling her hair. Last week, I caught Thomas playing barbershop with her by putting green toothpaste in her hair.

Tonight, after a long day of driving to the metroplex for ME's appointment, I raced back home to get the boys and get Matthew ready for basketball. That's when I heard, "Oh no. I messed up my hair!" Yes, little darling somehow got oatmeal all in her hair! This is two minutes before heading to basketball. I stuck a hat on her and off we went. BTW-The scowl on her face is because she is sad that her hair is messed up!

And no, she isn't president of the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer fan club. She skinned her nose during a fall at church last night!

The appointment was interesting. It turns out that the pediatric urologist thinks her reflux is worse than I was originally told. We go back in two weeks for a VCEG--a rather unpleasant test that involves catheterizing her, pumping her full of liquid, holding the liquid in her bladder, and then peeing it out. As an 18 month old, she refused to do this last part and made me put her on the potty! Then, we will discuss options which the specialist thinks will more than likely be surgery. I feel confident in the doctor and know that he will point us in the right direction. I am just thankful that her problem is fixable. We are so blessed.

Bangs!

To bang or not to bang. This was the question I have been asking myself for a while. Yesterday, I put her hair in pig tails and long strands from the front kept getting in her eyes. I decided to cut a few whispies. We can grow them back if needed, but at least her hair will be out of her face!

weekend highlights

What a beautiful weekend we had! I am so grateful that the cold and rain have abated giving way to warmth and sunny skies! Here are a few highlights:

*We had fun watching Matthew play basketball on Saturday! Watching my kids play sports is one of my favorite parts of motherhood. My heart just beams watching Matthew score goals, be a team player, and work off his boundless energy! I have met such wonderful people whose kids play as well. I look forward to many years ahead of sports watching!

*Saturday, our church sponsored a huge dodgeball tournament. Bryon played on an adult team on Satuday night. What a hoot! I haven't had that much fun in a while! My parents watched Mary Beth because she isn't the most cooperative bleacher-sitter, and I was expecting a packed gym. I have never seen the boys so still in my life! After the tournament, Matthew said, "I can't wait for three more years until I can get beat up, too!" We have also had game after game of dodgeball at our house since then. It has become our second favorite sport after......

*FOOTBALL! We had a family night making salsa and watching the game and the commercials. I am always a little sad at the end of football. Eight more months to go! I really liked the Oprah/Letterman spot and the Coke commercial. I made the boys go to sleep after the third quarter, mean mommy that I am. Matthew was teary having to stop watching the game. I explained to him that he needed a good night sleep for school tomorrow. Then he wailed, "Why did you EVER sign me up for school in the first place?!" The meanness doesn't stop in our house!

*I was so happy walking outside yesterday with the unexpected warmth in the air. A day in the 60s is downright toasty after the month long temperatures in the 30s and 40s! I was able to use part of yesterday afternoon to prune rosebushes in anticipation of the coming growing season. I can't wait!

*We are gearing up for Mary Beth's big pediatric urology appointment in the metroplex this week. This month marks the one year anniversary that we have been dealing with kidney issues. Since her diagnosis of kidney reflux, she has been on antibiotics every day for a solid year. I am hoping that we get some good news this week and can find a solution to the problem.

In Harm's Way

I just read a fabulous book that I highly recommend! I have always been a WWII history buff. Some of that has to do with the fact that both my grandfathers were in the war. My father's father was at the Bikini Islands when they were testing the atom bomb. During test runs, they just had the sailor's put their hands over their eyes. Not exactly a great radiation deterrent. My mother's father was a officer in the navy in both the European and Pacific theatres. His ship ran supplies to the troops.

I think I also admire how these men fought the war and lived their lives. They witnessed horrible things but were able to be thankful they survived and helped rebuild America after the war. They were, and still are, extremely patriotic. They were the last great cowboys who weren't subjected to the Oprahfication of America. I just admire them so much. I know that the veterans of this war are dying at an an amazing rate now. It is sad to me that this bit of American history is only really known to the 80 and 90 years olds.

I highly recommend the book, In Harm's Way. It is about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. Of the nearly 1,200 sailors, only 317 made it through the 4 day ordeal after the ship was torpedoed and sunk. The navy didn't know that the ship was missing and subsequently as many as 50 sailors a day were eaten by sharks. Many more died from the elements. Can you imagine what CNN and MSNBC would do with this story today?

I have been thinking a lot about this part of history particularly because my Uncle Harold died two weeks ago. Uncle Harold and my great aunt had their first date the day Pearl Harbor was bombed. He then joined the service and was at the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. I just watched some home movies of him in 1994 after he attended the 50th anniversary of this event which he helped to organize. It is interesting to read his obituary and see the amazing things that he was apart of and to realize that he could have been just another person that you see in the grocery store. This is why I love working with the elderly! Again, I highly recommend this book as well as the book, Flyboys about the pilots in the Pacific who helped take Iwo Jima.

My Pottery Barn wall

So here it is. If you are coming into my house from the
garage, a long hall dead ends into our bedroom.
From this angle, there is an entrance immediately to
the right into our laundry room. A few steps later,
there is a hallway that leads to our guest room/office
(that is the doorway you see). This hallway was a 6 foot
space with nothing on it. I finally got up the courage to
frame my favorite pictures of the kids from when they
were 1 to 2 years old. I have many more, so I am looking
for more hall space! ;)