Gradual return to normal

We always look forward to holidays and all the fun of family and friends, but it sure is nice to return to normal routines.

We're still not quite there yet, but I'm ready to be there. I think Garry's mom and one of his sisters is coming around the 1st, so I haven't put away the Christmas stuff just yet. I'm not sure if I'll wait until after their visit or not. I did get a new "toy" yesterday. I bought a carpet steam cleaner. I was planning to rent one and remembered how hard I always work trying to get every square inch of carpet cleaned in a single day. I got to thinking that I might be better off buying one and spreading out the work. Also with the puppy in potty training mode I figure there may be some places that need touch up cleaning from time to time. Anyway, I brought it home and tried it out on a stain that had been pretty stubborn for quite some time now. It got it clean, so I am a happy camper. I did 3 small rooms last night with excellent results.

Merry Christmas

Our kids came for our Christmas celebration on Saturday. We had a wonderful day of food, games, gifts, and were entertained by our dog and our son's dog. They really had fun in the gift wrap!!

The boys were determined that Sam would open his gift!

All worn out!!

Christmas Eve

During our church's Christmas Eve service our pastor usually paints a picture to music. Here is last year's painting.

Favorite M Things

I'm doing this for Miz Brenda. The basic idea: leave a comment on this post requesting a letter and I’ll assign you one. Then you write about 10 things you love that begin with your assigned letter. Post it on your blog and when people comment on your list, you give them a letter, and the chain continues on.

Brenda assigned me the letter M.

1. Music--I love music. I find that it soothes my soul and that God speaks to me through Christian song lyrics.

2. Math--I know lots of folks think I'm weird because I love math. But aren't you glad there are some of us out here who love math? Math is logical and the rules make sense and well it just works for me!!

3. McKinney--Although I officially live in Princeton, McKinney is the city where we work, do business, and go to church. I really enjoy McKinney. It is a good place to be.

4. Mexican Food--I LOVE Mexican food. I can eat it almost every day. Some of my favorite places are Taco Bueno, El Chico, and Chipotle.

5. Mazda--My current car is a Mazda 5 and I love it! It is a car that looks like a mini-van. It drives like a car but has fold down seats that provide a quick storage area.

6. Men in my life--I love my husband and my 3 grown sons with all my heart. I'm surrounded by men!

7. Mothers--I love my mother who went to live in heaven almost 7 years ago. Wow it seems like yesterday. My mother-in-law is like a mother to me, too. She is a precious, Godly woman. At work we affectionately refer to our office manager as MOM and define it as Magnificent Office Manager. We have been fortunate to have some really great office managers who "take care of us." We are currently transitioning from one MOM to a new MOM. The last MOM was the youngest employee and it was so much fun to call her MOM.

8. Memories--Aren't memories great! I think it is neat that much of the bad memories fade away over time and the good memories stick with us and give us so much comfort.

9. Macaroni Grill--If you've never been to a Macaroni Grill, then get there fast! Their bread is wonderful!!

10. Messiah! I saved the best for last. Jesus is my messiah! I'm so thankful that He came from heaven to earth to provide a way for us to have forgiveness from sin. He has saved us from our sins and now He reigns on high! Can't wait to see Him return to set up His kingdom on earth.

Christmas Decorations

I know I'm really late getting my pictures of Christmas decorations posted, but it isn't Christmas yet. This first picture is the promised picture of the adorable ornament I won from Donna at Cottage Days and Journey's bloggy give-away in November. My kids put up the Christmas tree while I was at the hospital with Garry. But they didn't know about this special ornament, so I got to put it on the tree after we got home. Thank you Donna!!

Little Bit spends a lot of time behind this little tree that one of my co-workers made a few years ago.

I have a sofa table that sits on a wall instead of behind the sofa because our new sofa has recliners on each end. That doesn't work with the sofa table that belonged to my mother.
Here are some of the decorations on it.

Here are the Christmas do-dads on my grandmother's sewing machine.

There isn't a fireplace in our living room, so our stockings hang from this little inside window. Our house is a bit unusual. It was a mobile home at one point, but the previous owner built onto it several times and has completely enclosed the mobile home portion. So this little window was the kitchen window of the mobile home that now looks into our living room. I love it, because I can see into the living room and I can set things on the window ledge on both sides.

Here is a little wall shelf with pegs with some Christmas do-dads.

Here is my nativity set!

Here is a wreath on a door inside the house.

And finally a picture of our Christmas tree!

Hoping to be back soon!

I miss everyone, but still have not had time to get caught up on everyone. Hoping we can get into a routine that will include some blog time for me soon.

Status report

Hi Blog Friends--

We are glad to be home, but I need you to know that Garry has a long road to full recovery. He has mild brain injury from his time of being "out." Doctors are optimistic that he will recovery over the next several months. We are still figuring out what he can and cannot remember and do.

Going HOME!!

Yeah!!!!!!

Update on husband

The saga continues......

My husband is doing much better from a physical standpoint. He is beginning to regain some strength and has most of the tubes and so forth removed. He moved to a lesser degree of care in a Progressive Care Unit. However, he is experiencing some short term memory loss and is disoriented as a result of the time he was not breathing and his heart was stopped. The heart doctors have requested that a neurologist evaluate this area in the next couple of days. They have also requested that a family member stay with him all the time in the interest of safety and in hopes that being around family will help reinforce some memories. They say this may return to normal in a few weeks or so. They add that only time will tell whether there is any permanent damage or not.

God brought him back to life for a purpose, so we pray that He will restore his mental awareness soon.

Keep Praying

So today my husband had a set back. He stopped breathing and then his heart stopped for about 20 minutes this morning. So they put the ventilator back in and put him back into ICU. He is doing much better tonight and they will be taking him off the ventilator in the morning. It was a very scary morning. But God is good and I can see His hands in all the events of the week. Although he couldn't talk because of all the tubes, on our last 2 visits for the day, you could see the sparkles in his eyes and knew it was him behind the eyes. He was giving hand signals, etc.

So I came home for a few hours of solid sleep.

Update

Thank you all for your prayers and words of encouragement.

Hubby ended up with a Triple Bypass and is recovering very well. He is still in ICU and expects to go to a regular room soon. Maybe home by Monday.

Prayers Please

My husband has not felt well for quite a while and even had a hospital stay a couple months ago where they checked him for heart and a few other things. He had continued to have shortness of breath and chest pain with minimal exertion. So he went to a cardiologist yesterday. He had an Angiogram today to look for blockages. They found major blockages including 95% blockage in the main artery to the back of the heart. So he is having Bypass surgery tomorrow. They expect 4 to 5 bypasses.

I have lots of support from family, friends, church, co-workers, etc. But you can't have too many prayers for this major of a deal.

Thanks a bunch for the prayers and support I know I will get from my blog friends.

Karen

Another paper done!!!

Got that darn term paper done! I really should have started working on it sooner. Yesterday morning I had a pretty good rough draft finished with a first line of revision. I asked a couple of people that I knew would be very thorough proofreaders to proof it. So then last night, I started incorporating many of their suggestions into my paper. I almost feel like I should be citing the 2 of them. They were of great assistance to me. Finally, went to bed at 3:00 AM for a few hours. Another review this morning revealed a few more corrections and now it is printing!!

Sam's latest pictures

The puppy that wandered into our yard and hearts a little less than two weeks ago has certainly been the center of attention over Thanksgiving with the boys. They all thought he was adorable and took turns playing with him. Yesterday morning, he agreed to do some doggie modeling for me. I was able to capture a few really cute pictures of him.