…..but she is AWFULLY cute.

Breanna wanted a picture of herself with “the cuteness”

So, it is the holiday season and many people are in an uproar about how people are being greeted at the doors to local shopping establishments. Should they say Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays? I think the person offering the greeting should be given the option to say whatever they want based on what that person celebrates. I know that even though I celebrate Christmas I would not be offended if someone wished me Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa or whatever they are celebrating – heck I would be happy if they just simply said Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening, or Good Night so long as they were polite. I know that I have on many occasions wished people “Happy Holidays” and not meant to imply that I do not celebrate Christmas. When I have used the phrase “Happy Holidays” it is usually to encompass all of the holidays from Thanksgiving through New Years in the event that I do not see the person(s) after that moment when I am wishing them good tidings. I think that the only times I actually use the phrase “Merry Christmas” is on the day or eve of Christmas, “Happy Thanksgiving” only leaves my mouth on the day or eve of that holiday also (there are exceptions) but I usually just encompass everything with Happy Holidays if it is to someone I barely know and wont see on the day that holiday will be celebrated. It has never had anything to do with being “PC” or not believing in Jesus.

So, just so everyone is clear. I am a Christ following, Jesus loving, Christmas celebrating woman! I put up a tree every year. I sign my kids gifts from Santa (although I have been known to sign the teenager’s gifts from people like Jack Skellington, Voo Doo(a cat), Oogie Boogie, Stewey, and Emily the Strange). I think that this year, just to mix things up a bit I will sign at least half of them from Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit.

Here are a few fun Christmas links – one is serious and the other funny

Teach your children who Santa really is (Print this off for your kids)

Foamy the squirrel is sick of the Christmas vs Holiday arguments too (cover your kids ears on this one!)

I have never been to a foreign country but I think I may know what it will feel like when I do. As a new Christ follower and even fresher church employee I find myself uncomfortable in my own skin when asked to “share” in things common to those who have lived here longer than I have.

The “country” of Christ should not be a scary place to be, and as a matter of fact I really enjoy living here, however – I find myself finding it difficult to learn the language. Well, only one certain dialect is hard for me, Public Prayer. I have no problem with personal prayer, and as a matter of fact, more often than not the things that are going through my head these days are conversations with God. In my head, He and I converse quite well and he understands my fragmented thoughts. Unfortunately, my problem is with being able to form words on behalf of someone else. I can pray silently for someone without any problem but, just like the “impromptu day” in public speaking class, when it comes time to stand up and speak out loud (with no prep time) my brain shuts down and the only thing I can do is ramble in a disorganized manner or be stunned into complete silence. I like to take time to organize my thoughts before speaking.

Today I found myself in a meeting in which my team was asked to partner up and pray for each other. Instantly I could feel myself become flush and filled with anxiety. I love my team. I pray for them on a daily basis…just not out loud or in their presence. I partnered up with Ed Villalba, a man I have come to have great respect for. We had a short conversation in which he asked what he could pray for on my behalf and even offered some time – outside of our meeting – to help me overcome a personal struggle that I am dealing with. He is a kind and generous man. So, he prayed for me. When it came my turn, I started and because I was SO nervous and unprepared I believe that I asked God to help me find the words but so much noise was in my head that I could not hear his response, I could not quiet my fear. In the end, as I felt tears begin to roll down my face, I asked Ed to help me and with so much grace he finished our prayer time together. He directed me to scripture to comfort me and as always, it does.

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” (Romans 8:26)

So, I like to admit when I am wrong. On Wednesday I joked that I was treated like Frankenstein’s monster while I was at work. So, on Thursday I went to visit the fine Dr. Eric Tripp who asked that I correct my co-workers. The proper comparison is that of typhoid Mary . After assessing my fluid ridden lungs, listening to my pleas of “don’t tell me it’s pneumonia again” and calling it bronchitis, he kindly handed me three prescriptions; covered his nose and mouth with the lapel of his lab coat and politely asked me to leave his presence.

Great news for those of you who, like me, hate to take medication. There is a new antibiotic called Zmax which is “a one-dose-only treatment for mild-to-moderate acute bacterial sinusitis (ABS) and community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in adults. ” So, considering what the medication is specifically used to treat, I wonder – was the good doctor humoring me?

Dave and I had the great honor of being the ones to escort my father home from the hospital on Friday. We also were able to witness the removal of his “retention sutures”. This was a treat for me because as most of you know, I enjoy blogging these kind of pictures. My dad seemed a bit amused or maybe annoyed that I told him it would go well with the picture of Scarlet’s leg after surgery. ( I am giddy with excitement – on Wednesday they are supposed to remove the staples from his chest…I hope they will let me take pictures!)

To bring some of you up to speed – the bypass is done by using veins harvested from otherparts of the body – in this particular case they used mainly the right leg. Isn’t it sexy?

So, he is home and doing well. He has follow up appointments with half a dozen different doctors through March of 2006 and physical therapists and home care nurses visiting 3 times a week and more prescriptions to add to his list (which he hates to take) but best of all he is still here with us and seems to have a more positive attitude than I have seen from him in a very long time. ( I LOVE YA POPS! Welcome home!)

I hate it when I have a favorite blog and it does not get updated for weeks, or months. I do not want to be that kind of blogger. So, here is an update on things in my world.

Pops is coming home from the hospital tomorrow! Whoo Hoo! He has been on the physical therapy floor since last Friday and they tell him he has improved so much that they are releasing him a day early. I have not been up to see him since Friday afternoon because I have come down with a horrible case of “ick” which I have to see my doctor about today. I don’t want to spread it to my Dad so I have to keep up to date over the phone. I spoke to him Tuesday evening for over two hours. It was really nice. I dont recall a time that Dad and I just talked on the phone like that. I learned some things about him that I did not know before. He seemed to be in a really good mood. I hope that being given a second chance, wait this is a fifth chance, on life that he will have a positive outlook and look at his life as the gift that it truly is. So many people love him very much. I hope he realizes that now – especially with the steady flow of visitors he has had.

Let’s see, what else is new? Really not much is going on in my world right now. Being sick does tend to keep one down and not provide much to blog about. OH, a word about being sick. I became ill on Friday evening. Felt HORRIBLE by Sunday, went to work on Monday and probably should not have but I have to get my kids to school every day so since I was up I went, could not sleep Monday evening because I was having difficulty breathing so I did not go to work on Tuesday (which I kicked myself for) so I went in on Wednesday only to be treated like a pariah. I think that I know what Frankenstein’s monster must have felt like when the villagers were after him…the only thing missing were the torches. I understand them not wanting me to spread my illness, but I was hired to do a job and I can do some of it from home but not all of it. I did start feeling worn out around 12:30 and I left early and went to try to get in to see my doctor – had to wait until today. Hopefully he will tell me that I am not contagious and that I can go in to work.

Wow, this is a REALLY boring post. Sorry.

Well kids, here is a list my husband sent me in an email…no he did not create it, he just shared it with me because when he read it he could actually see me doing list item #13.

Things to do at Wal-Mart while your spouse/partner/friend is taking their sweet time:

1. Get 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in peoples’ carts when they aren’t looking.
2. Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.
3. Make a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the rest rooms.
4. Walk up to an employee and tell him/her in an official tone, ‘Code 3’ in housewares and see what happens.
5. Go to the Service Desk and ask to put a bag of M&M’s on lay away.
6. Move a ‘CAUTION – WET FLOOR’ sign to a carpeted area.
7. Set up a tent in the camping department and tell other shoppers you’ll invite them in if they’ll bring in pillows from the bedding department.
8. When a clerk asks if they can help you, begin to cry and ask ‘Why can’t you people just leave me alone?’
9. Look right into the security camera; use it as a mirror, and pick your nose.
10. While handling guns in the hunting department, ask the clerk if he knows where the anti- depressants are.
11. Dart around the store suspiciously loudly humming the Mission Impossible theme.
12. In the auto department, practice your Madonna look using different size funnels.
13. Hide in a clothing rack; when people browse through, say PICK ME!
14. When an announcement comes over the loudspeaker, assume the fetal position and scream “NO! NO! It’s those voices again!!!!
15. Go into a fitting room and shut the door and wait a while; and then yell, very loudly, “There is no toilet paper in here!”

Well, Pops had his surgery yesterday morning. We were all pretty scared when he went in and at the same time trying to be positive. I must say, it is nice having a nurse come out every hour to tell you all is going as scheduled and he is doing fine.

Surgery was over sometime between 11 a.m. and noon. We were able to see him by 12:30. It was hard to see him like that. My 17yr old niece barely walked into the room and started crying. She could not look at him. I must say it was diffiucult to see “Superman” hooked up to so much equipment. I did not want my kids or my younger niece to have the same issue that the other one had so I took a picture and shot some video to help prepare them and make an informed decision about going in to see grampa. Kimmie chose not to go. I do not know if the video link will work so here is a picture to give you an idea:

So, his nurses Open Heart Recovery are of the Nazi type….I kid, I kid…. they are just very dedicated to doing their job and sticking to the rules. There are only 4 times a day when you can visit him and that is 8 a.m., 11:30 a.m. , 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and only for 30 minutes each time, only 2 visitors at a time and no children under the age of 12. So, today I had to video tape Paige in the waiting room blowing kisses and waving and he was up and feeling better and sent her a video wave back. So, if you have not guessed by now he is off the ventilator, all tubes are out of his throat and the chest tube has been removed. He will probably be back to the Heart and Vascular center tomorrow evening. I can not say enough about the nurses up there…lovely people who treat their patients like family. And treats the patients family just as well. So, that is the good news of the day.

Our day began at 6:30 a.m. where I strolled into Breanna’s room and lay down next to her sleeping self. In a Gilmore-esq way I began reciting the story which was a historical retelling of the day she was born that started something like: “At this time, 15 years ago I was on my way to the hospital to be induced….”
She whined about being awakened and at one point during the whining I recall referring to the stretch marks that she gave me as a gift 15 years ago… which she counted. Anyway, she received jammies and a kick-butt bath/spa set and the best of all a bag filled with tic-tacs, gum, altoids, and deodorant. Attached to the deodorant was a ribbon with different denominations of money tied to it – total of which will not be disclosed. Also, reminding her that she is going to be sent to Chicago on an overnight shopping trip next weekend with the kids from the the GCC high school ministry LIFELINE http://www.gccwired.com/listTemplate.asp?pageid=26 (someday I will figure out how to make the link and the word all one entry)

So, now we are off to visit her grandfather in the hospital and do a mini celebration with him.

I just had to share this with everyone. David and I both have Fridays off of work and we like to go to breakfast on those days if possible. Well, today we tried a place recommended to us by his parents. A little place called Carol’s Cafe over on 4th Street in Mishawaka. This place is tiny – REAL tiny. We are talking 4 booths and the counter and all cooking is done behind the counter. The staff knew everyone who walked in and called them by their first name. It appears to be run by a family. What made me want to blog about this place is the fact that, not only was the food we ordered good, the servings were HUGE. I can not stress this enough. HUGE. I ordered the “German Special” which is potatoes, eggs, sausage, peppers, onions, cheese and a zesty sauce all fried together and served with toast. This could have served Dave and I both and still have enough to bring home for leftovers tomorrow. However, Dave had the “Bridget omelet” which could have easily fed two grown men or 3 grown women. I felt rather full and barely cleaned off a quarter of my plate and the “to-go” box was FULL. Dave made it through half the omelet and there is plenty for him to warm up for a meal tomorrow morning. I highly recommend this place if you are into the little diner/greasy spoon atmosphere and only if you are NOT on a healthy diet. I also want to send a shout out to Paula, our waitress who was very nice and provided excellent service and kept my coffee mug full. A bonus feature: on the tables is assorted flavored creamers for your coffee – I enjoyed the butter pecan.