Please Pray

If you read this, please pray for Ellie Skees (see link at right). She's 8 years old and has been fighting cancer, and since Wednesday she's been fighting for her very life due to complications with infections, chemo, and radiation. Please pray for her parents, John and Sarah, and her little brother, Ethan. They could use every prayer!

Leapin' Lizard

Yesterday, I went out to plant a lavendar bush. When I went to water it, there was a cute lizard peeking out of the spout of my watering can. I shook him out, filled the can (lizards all over the hose) and continued my chore.

Back inside the house, I kept feeling something strange at my waist. Have ever worn something with a thicker band of elastic and tried to roll the elastic down, but it keeps rolling back up? That's what it felt like.

I finally lifted up my shirt and pulled down the waistband of my sweats, and there was this little lizard face peering back at me. I'd like to say I calmly grasped the lizard and gently released it back outside, but that's not what happened.

"EEEK!!!!"

I tried to flick the thing away from me but didn't see it. I stripped off the pants, shoes, and asked Kelly to "Help ME!" laughing the entire time.

There's now a note on our dry/erase board that reads, "Tyler, there's a lizard in the house somewhere. Feel free to escort him OUT."

When will I sleep again?

Having to miss my son's performance during Battle of the Bands last night --

Disappointing.

Staying up until 1:30 am while he went over all the details with me --

Priceless.

Sleep's overrated. I'll sleep when I'm an empty-nester. ;-D

Everyone who was at Battle of the Bands says Evangelin did an amazing job! I could have told them that, I hear them practice every Wednesday in my living room. I'll get to hear/see their full show next week when they play a concert at Trinity Baptist. Josh invited me to bring the whole AWANA JV, so here we come!

I'm thinking I could possibly catch a nap Saturday or Sunday. If not, I'll just have to sleep during my next English class . . . .

Glenna Meets Paramedics

Glenna had quite a thrill Wednesday when she finally got to meet the paramedics who helped her! Will (Left) and Chris (Right) invited her to the firehouse and gave her the grand tour of the three year old facility. Note the other firemen in the background, sitting in the truck!





Here she's touring the trucks. When you call 911, they instantly read everything being said on their truck's computers. All the dialogue prints out on the screen, so they knew that Glenna's arm was
"grotesquely angled." Since the 911 call was placed on a cell phone, they were able to pinpoint her exact location on the GPS system.




Here she's relaxing with them in their lounge area. Will sat in the chair and it instantly fell over, so he's trying to keep it balanced here for the photo! They have a TV in here with X-box; we brought them a thank you basket with crossword puzzles, sudoku, treats, etc, since we know firemen usually have quite a bit of down time. They work a 24 hour shift followed by two days off. This particular station has three shifts; A shift, B shift, and C shift (these guys are B shift). Each shift has a separate pantry in the kitchen. They go to training and classes, and chores are scheduled on certain days, so if their shift lands on floor scrubbing day, they scrub the floors, etc.



It was all so very interesting! They even showed the computer room where they wrote up the report on Glenna's arm, the speakers where the alarm went off when 911 was called, on and on. They usually wait to go to bed until after 11:00 pm, because almost nightly they receive a phone call from RDV sportsplex!



We're watching the Liebert's dog for them while they're on vacation. He's such a cute little guy! He's very much like a toddler, though, and we're constantly chasing him down, taking things away from him, getting plastic out of his mouth. Our schnauzer plays with him for a while, but then he goes into his kennel to get a break from him.

Hobbs is the fuzzier one. :-) I love schnauzers and hope to get another some day, but it has to be when I have time to devote to training! Jack is such a great dog, but Hobbs has brought back to memory all the things destroyed when he was a puppy (including one of each of Glenna's shoes).

The Funniest Thing

I have declared myself to be on Spring Break. I should have had a US History class today, but 3/4 of the students went to Tennessee to compete in a Bible Bowl competition. Go Team!

So, I took a shower this morning, and THAT'S ALL. I put on some comfy clean sweat pants and a clean t-shirt. (Don't ask me why I'm emphasising the fact they're clean. I don't put on dirty clothes . . . anymore.) I brushed out my hair and let it hang, figured the cyclical red bumps on the end of my nose could use an airing away from make-up, and put on my glasses. Presto!

Then Glenna asked if we could go to Blockbuster. I also needed to stop at Publix, so we hopped in the car.

On the way out of Blockbuster, I noticed a well dressed man getting out of the car next to mine. He looked at me and looked like he wanted to say something, but I looked down. When I looked back up he was still looking, so I said hello.

"Hello! How are you?" he smiled.
"I'm well, thank you!" (It bugs me when people say "I'm GOOD." I always use "well.")
"You LOOK well, you know it?" he replied, still smiling.
"Excuse me?"
"I mean, look at you. You're outside, not a lick of make-up on, and a naturally beautiful woman. God bless you!" he said, his smile widening.
Laughing by now, I gave back a "God bless YOU!" and chuckled all the way to Publix.

Probably won't go to the store without at least covering the blotches on my nose again, though.

Too Sweet!

The paramedics who helped Glenna when she broke her arm stopped by today! She's going to be SO disappointed that she missed them. They were shopping for their supper at Publix and decided to come by to check on her!

They gave me directions to their station. I'm going to take Glenna by on Wednesday, since they had offered at the hospital to sign her cast once she got one. John and I just thought they were being nice, but they were serious!

Nice to know nice people are still around!

Dementia

I just found out my father has been diagnosed with dementia. He's in denial about it, and in fact refused to tell me. His wife's daughter-in-law sent me an email and requested I call.

My grandmother, his mother, had dementia, and he hated that about her. Now it's ironic that he has it, too, though Grandma's was brought on by a brain hemmorage. I hate that it's a 21 hour drive to get to him in Arkansas! He says he's happy in AR, but here's not anywhere near where I could help out. I called him on the phone and he never said anything about it. :-(