Gorgeous tempestuous sky
We have this one little marigold plant that showed up by the front porch, and then I planted some in pot by the back door. Marigolds are just too pretty.
Now that it's fall, we light candles in the morning and enjoy them throughout school time.
On the way back to Florida, Jon spent the night with the Grady's in Georgia and they took him kayaking.
Most of the students at Advance are just online now, so Jonathan is alone in class. He is enjoying classes and getting preaching opportunities when he can. He'll be supply preaching in Port St. Lucie tomorrow.
Lanaya Elizabeth and Amos stayed at KOA cabins on their way to Boise. They enjoyed the trip it seemed like.
Always knitting!
She is working in a coffee shop in Boise, and Amos is doing his residency with a church there.
John and Kristy came down for a visit around Labor Day.
Paul's sister Elsie came to visit also. She and Paul are the only siblings left of their family. She got married right near where she is standing in our home. There was a wall right about where they're standing in the picture, and there was a set of double doors (if I'm getting that right), and she and her husband were married in front of the doors.
Rochester is the fluffy one and he is so hilarious. He looks like a bum half the time with grasses sticking out of his fur.
Some of these oak trees at the hospital have a bit of a gall problem.
They were harvesting east of us when Phillip called me last Saturday because he was in so much pain he couldn't make it home from town. He was about to pass out. As soon as he called me, he called 911.
When I parked on the gravel road, he was laying in his truck in the worst pain I've ever seen him in, and he had to get out to vomit again. The ambulance got there in good time, buckled him down on the gurney and had him hooked up to pain meds pretty quick. I went home, grabbed some of his clothes in case he needed them, and found my way to Hannibal hospital. The ER figured out that he had gallstones which had caused pancreatitis.
He was in ICU for 5 nights. The rooms are roomy with a nice couch which I claimed as my own. I slept there one night, but otherwise I went home at night to be with the kids. They told us he would need his gallbladder out, but they had to wait for inflammation to go down ~ wait for all his guts to calm down and not be so angry. So, five IV spots (some of them bled out, so they had to switch them), two NG tubes (that did not work out!), a bed replacement (the common hospital bed was more comfortable to him than the ICU one), and lots of other stuff later, he had the surgery.
I brought three things with me to the hospital to do while I was hanging out with him: a knitting project, a book to read, and some revisions I'm working on for one of the books I've written. I also took a couple of quick walks outside and enjoyed the hospital Cafe. I don't know if I was really hungry or what, but I thought their food was some of the best I've ever had.
We were so pleased with the ICU nurses and just the overall service and experience. They knew what they were doing; they really made sure we had everything we needed and were comfortable.
Phillip progressed just like he was supposed to. I mean, the whole thing isn't fun, but he at least followed the normal path of pancreatitis with no surprises or problems. He did have a gallstone the size of a golfball, so that's cool.
His parents came to see him the day after the attack. The preacher and his son came to stay through the surgery. That was something Phillip really appreciated - when the hospital chaplain, and Jamie, and one of our elders all prayed with him at different times.
I did some school with the kids a few of the mornings, but they did most of their school on their own. Phoebe had work four of the days, and friends kept Harrison for several afternoon/evenings so he wouldn't have to be home alone bored all of those hours. Several friends brought meals. Lots of people asked to come visit Phillip in the hospital, but that was one thing he wasn't up to. Phillip was supposed to preach last Sunday, so that church had to scramble to find a replacement with half a day to go. 😅 They were very understanding though and figured it out.
Well, we're home now. Lots of rest is what's happening now. He's only on Tylenol because the pain is so diminished. He's mostly just agitated, uncomfortable, discombobulated and the like. You can't go around it though ~ the only way is through it! A friend from San Antonio used to say it was like slogging through a slough of weeds ~ you just have to keep making your way through the weeds.
God has answered prayers; we have found so many things to be thankful for.
Harrison got his new bike put together throughout all this.
Phoebe didn't know what to do the day she found out Dad was in the hospital (she had been at work), so she came home and baked a cake. And it was nice to have a little piece of cake each night when I got home.
Maybe food is how I deal with stress!?
