Ryan's Grandpa . . .

Ryan's grandpa, Jack, is an AMAZING man.  I love him dearly.  From the very beginning, he's never made feel like anything less than part of the family.  He's one person who always made me feel welcome in the family.  He's almost 86.  And unfortunately he's not doing very well.  And that breaks my heart beyond belief.  He lost his best friend about 4 or 5 months ago, and I think that really did him in.  He's been different ever since.  He's lost a lot in the last few years, his wife, 2 children, and now his best friend.  I think that's more than anyone can take in a lifetime. 

July 5th he fell down his basement stairs and dislocated his shoulder and cut his eye.  Ever since then he's just not doing well.  It seems like every time we see him he looks worse.  I think he has some major depression settling in.  And I think he's just tired.  Tired of being by himself.  Tired of losing the people he loves.  Tired of not being able to take care of himself.  I think he's just plain tired.   And I don't know how we help him.  We were going up to see him every weekend, he lives about 2 hours away, but honestly, I think all of us being there, there are FIVE of us after all, just wore him out more.  So last weekend Ryan went by himself.  And this weekend we're not going at all.  His daughter and granddaughter are both going to be there this weekend.  But I still feel guilty.  I feel like we should go up there to see him more often, but with 3 kids, Ryan's work schedule, and my work schedule, it's just not easy.  

But I hope he knows how much we love him and how much he means to us, even if we're not there all of the time.  I THINK he does.  But you never know. 

I never knew either one of my Grandfather's, so he's the only Grandfather I've ever had.  And he is an AMAZING man.  I honestly don't think I could love him anymore if he WAS my real grandfather.  I ADORE him.  I love talking to him.  I love spending time with him.  I love hearing his stories of the past.  I just love him.  EVERYTHING about him.  And the thought that we might be losing him soon breaks my heart more than I can even explain.

 Grandpa, Ryan, Jason, Andrew and Sarah Beth the weekend before we moved to China.

PYHO: Chick Fil-A . . .

This whole Chick Fil-A thing has really been bothering me.  I've been thinking about posting something about it, but I know both sides of the argument are REALLY hyped up and I didn't want to start any wars.  But the more I think about it, the more it bothers me. 

I'm married with 3 children and I can honestly say I've never been attracted to another woman.  I'm just NOT.  But I don't necessarily think it's WRONG, it just doesn't apply to me.  The same way some people go to church every day.  I don't do that.  Others exercise every day.  I OBVIOUSLY don't do that, although I definitely SHOULD.  Some people choose to homeschool their children, again, not for me.  Do I think it's "wrong"?  No.  Can I give you reasons why *I* wouldn't do it?  Absolutely.  And yet, there are hundreds of thousands of people homeschooling their children.  I was raised Catholic.  I have friends that are Lutheran, Baptist, even some that are agnostic.  But that doesn't make me love them any less.  Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, but it's just that, THEIR BELIEFS!  As long as you don't try to MAKE me agree with you, then I'm fine with it.  I know a lot of people are quoting the Bible and saying it's Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve.  (BTW, that cracks me up every time I hear it).  But ask yourself this question:  How long ago was it that people were quoting the same Bible to justify slavery?  And unequal rights for women? Unfortunately, it wasn't that long ago.  Can you imagine where we'd be today if that was still going on? 

When you are in a position of power or in the public eye, don't be surprised about people getting pissed off at you when you make a statement about something that people are so passionate about.  No matter what your position is, you're not going to have 100% agreement from the rest of the world.  So you need to be prepared for that if you want to make a stand.  And don't play "victim" when people start going off on you.  If that's how you feel, fine.  Stand up for yourself.  But then don't expect a pity party from the backlash.  At least not one from me.

Another thing:  The people that are using religion as justification for it to be "wrong", really irritate me, and here's why.  Don't go around preaching about how good and how great God is, and then say that He doesn't love someone because of their beliefs.  Do you NOT see a problem with this?  Because *I* do.  A MAJOR PROBLEM.  If you want to talk about God and Jesus, consider Jesus for a moment.  He never turned ANYONE down.  He was a friend to sinners, (and let's face it, we're ALL sinners), lepers, even those that betrayed Him, i.e. Judas and Peter - He never stopped loving them, and He even forgave them.  So why wouldn't God/Jesus do the same for Gays?  Do you really think He'd accept someone that BETRAYED Him, but NOT accept someone just because they're gay?  Seriously.  I don't see that happening.  And I have a hard time with "Christians" condemning anyone just because they are gay, or black, or a different religion.  Doesn't sound very CHRISTIAN to me.  

Last thing:  I have 3 children.  Do I think any of them are gay or will "become" gay?  Now, no.  Maybe?  Who knows?  But do you think if they did/were that I would love them any less?  They're my CHILDREN!  I will love them NO MATTER WHAT.  And aren't WE GOD'S children?  God loves UNCONDITIONALLY.  He loves more than we do.  He accepts more than we do.  He forgives more than we do.  Aren't we supposed to "model" ourselves after Him?  If YOUR God preaches hate, unforgiveness, and judgement, then I'm sorry, but we must not believe in the same God.  Because MY God doesn't.  MY God preaches love, forgiveness, and acceptance.  And personally, I like MY God better.

Ryan's New Job . . .

Things have been crazy busy around here.  First, the kids are on summer break, so there's that.  Then, on top of all that, Ryan decided to switch companies.  He's been with the same company for NINETEEN YEARS!  NINETEEN YEARS!  Technically he's been there a little longer because he interned with them during college, and then when he graduated they offered him a full-time job.  He started out at the very bottom, and worked his way up to Vice President of the company and General Manager of the Louisville Office. 

But about 4 years ago, the small company was bought out by a larger publicly traded company, and things have been a little hectic since then.  So when his former boss decided to open a new company doing the same thing, and asked him to be involved on the ground floor, he couldn't pass up the opportunity.  While he'd been with the same company for so long, and probably would have retired there, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and if he didn't take it, he'd always wonder WHAT IF?  So, after months of discussion between the 2 of us, never really knowing what the right thing to do was until the very last minute, he finally decided to take the plunge.  

You can read about the new company, and his information HERE.

While it'll mean a lot more travel and probably more time away from us, at least in the first couple of years, the potential for success is great.  I'm very proud of him for taking the plunge.  It wasn't an easy decision, but I do think it was the right one.  

So please keep him and his new company in your thoughts and prayers.  We can all use them!  :)

Mom . . .

This last week has been CRA-ZEEE!  My mom went into the hospital on Wednesday night.  She thought she was having another heart attack. (Her last one was 13 years ago, 2 weeks after Jason was born).  My dad took her to the ER and they said it didn't look like she had a heart attack, but she did have a lot of other issues, so they decided to admit her.  She had multi-focal pneumonia in 3 places, gall stones, kidney stones, gastritis, something with her esophagus, and something with her bladder.  So needless to say, there were A LOT of issues.  They started treating everything and on Thursday they told us that there was still a chance it could be the heart, so until they ruled it out completely, they were treating it as if it was heart related, since that was the most severe.  In other words, they were giving her the same medicines they would give her if it WAS her heart.  They scheduled a heart catheter for the next day to rule it out.  If the heart cath came back clean, then they would proceed with the GI issues, and she would most likely have to have her gallbladder taken out.  (Evidently gallbladder attacks and heart attacks both present the same way.  Who knew)?  

Thursday night she started having more chest pains so they moved her to the Coronary Care Unit because they thought she WAS having a heart attack.  We spent ALL DAY Friday at the hospital with her waiting for the tests to be done.  The heart cath came back clean, YEA, so there was no damage to the heart.  But the EKG showed that she DID have a heart attack, it just didn't do any damage to her heart.  So now the next step is to let the pneumonia clear up and the incision from the heart cath heal, and then they'll probably have to remove her gallbladder, which I'm told is a pretty easy surgery, as far as surgeries go.  But they won't schedule that for at least a couple of weeks because they're waiting on everything else to heal.  In the meantime, she got to go home on Saturday, which she was THRILLED about, so now she'll get to play Bridge this week!  :)

But of course, because this is ME we're talking about, that's NOT the end of the story!  After we got the okay on the heart cath Dad and I decided to leave the hospital to go grab some lunch because here it was 2pm, and we'd been there all day waiting for the test results, without eating anything.  On our way out of the hospital, still on her floor mind you, we were walking with her nurse from her PREVIOUS floor, when all of a sudden I was face down on the floor.  My Dad said he heard me hit the floor.  I busted my knee and twisted my leg.  They called security to write everything down, and they asked me if I wanted to go to the ER.  I told them no that I would probably feel better if I could just walk it off.  Only that didn't work.  I was actually feeling worse, so I decided to head down to the ER and have everything checked out.  Luckily there were no broken bones, just a broken ego, but I pulled muscles I didn't even know I had!  :)  The doctor gave me some pain pills and some ibuprofen for the inflammation, and told me to call my family doc if I wasn't feeling better within 5 days.  I'm happy to report I AM feeling better, although my leg does still hurt a little. But of course, I'm the only person I know that can be visiting some one at the hospital, and wind up in the ER.  :(

Blast From The Past . . .

The kids and I, mostly *I*, did some MAJOR cleaning a couple of months ago.  We purged so much stuff, I think they were worried they were next!  :)

It's amazing how easy it is to find stuff when there's a lot LESS stuff to go through!

I found an old journal I kept filled with poems I used to write.  Most of them are pretty cheesy.  Okay, ALL of them are pretty cheesy.  But it's still something fun to read.

I wrote this one in college.  The date on it is 9/21/89 so I would have just turned 19. 

Sitting alone in solitude

I ponder the events of the day;

As it slowly comes to an end

I realize all that I've lost.

Seeing the clouds forming overhead

I am reminded of how bad things have been;

Waiting for the cloud to burst

And for all the pain and suffering to be set free.

DAMN!  Talk about depressing!  Not sure what was going on at the time, but I OBVIOUSLY was upset about something!