A qick mention

I wanted to make qiuck mention for anyone interested that the Kelly/Miller circus will be at St. Mary Church in Griffith on Sept. 3RD. Or you can just come to the house.I am sure my kids could intertain you. I thought the circus was more toward the end of the Sept.

The ballad of paper towel guy!

First of all I want to say that I am doing really well. Avery wants me to work another week of 8 hr shift(instead of the normal 12hrs) straight days working in production. Then next week I will be on the 12hr. shifts rotating in production on Dan Blankenship's shift.

I want thank everyone for the prayers that were said for little Brandon, and also to Joe Kern for bringing him to our attention.He was truly a special little boy.My prayers will still be with his family and all the care givers he had.God Bless you all!

This morning Michael and I went to the picnic for the seniors as volunteers to help out. This is something The Sisters of Charity do every year for the celebration of Mother Teresa's Birthday. First we went to Jim's Corner Cafe for breakfast( in down town Griffith). I had an Omelet with all the fixings.(potatoes and toast) Michael had eggs or something. My Omelet was huge. It was very fluffy but yet firm. I could hardly finish it,but I did conquer it. It was very cheap breakfast for us. I will try and go there again someday.

When we got to the sisters to get ready for the picnic, we were giving all the seniors donuts and coffee.Then we had to get ready to leave , so Sister Marie had all the seniors go on the bus and we would give them the donuts and coffee on the bus. Micheal told me later when we were driving to the park that he was groped. He said he was giving out the donuts and then felt a grab on his rear area. Then he said that he looked back at the perpetrator and smiled.I said I guess you have a new friend,Shut up he said

We had a mass service before the picnic started at the park we were at. The only problem we had was that one of the buses that brought the Chicago people to the picnic got stuck in some mud. During most of the Mass we are hearing the bus reving up and the bus drivers yelling directions at each other. It was very distracting to say the least. The bus did finally get free but just before Mass was ended. If you can visualize this it was kinda funny thinking of the scene. Like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting, or maybe not.

After Mass was lunch for all the seniors.The volunteers were dishing up the food for everyone and bringing it to them I decided to look at the lake that was there. Hey,it was a nice lake all covered with Duckweed.Turtles love duckweed and I love turtles.I was there looking around for turtles. I did see a few stick there heads up. So after about a half hour of this cat and mouse game , I started to feel bad.So I started my track back to try and look busy.Oh and by the way Michael was with me. I think he was afraid he might stumble across his new friend.So I am back at the picnic area, thinking what to do. Seeing all the other volunteers running around serving the food, I had to do something as not to look lazy. So I grabbed a roll of paper towels and became paper towel guy. I went to the tables looking for anyone that may need extra paper like material(they were already given napkins, so I was basically wasting my time).But wait sloppy Joe's were served, I was saved . After a few minutes of looking totally stupid,I started to hear paper towel guy come here please. I took pride in being called Paper Towel guy. Any job I have ever had I did to the best of my ability and paper towel guy would be no different. I started to hear the chants paper towel guy please come here.Everywhere I turned there was a senior with Sloppy Joe's lathered all over their face. I was so happy cause now I am busier then everybody else. I knew I was the fastest Paper Towel Guy in the world.If there was a way to actually see who was the fastest I am sure I would be that Paper towel Guy, I was that confident.I was flying from table to table. Nothing could stop me, unless somebody threw some type of sugary substance near my face. That would definitely stop me in my tracks.That wasn't what stopped me.What stopped me was that somebody asked me if I had some shrink wrap to wrap up what they couldn't finish. Do I look like shrink wrap guy. I am paper towel guy. Although I am sure I could have been the fastest shrink wrap and paper towel guy all in one,if I put my mind to it.I went to get the shrink wrap to take over this new important job. It seemed like everyone now wanted to get there food wrapped up. My job has changed and I did it with pride. Oh yeah,and I was the fastest. (remember I was speedy Bill when I was little)

Later Michael and I went back to the lake. We were basically done. All the seniors were now playing bingo, so we had time to look around.We are looking at the lake and we noticed a frog staring at us. So we did what any mature adults would do. We started poking at it with a stick. This frog would not budge . He or at least I thought he was a he would be staring at us. He was probably thinking silly humans I am a frog you cannot make me move from the comfort of my watery home. Micheal grabbed a weed that had this soft tip on it. Michael had this brilliant idea, lets tickle it. "You want to tickle a frog". He preceded to try and tickle this frog. This frog still didn't move but, it looked like it had a smile on its froggy face.I think Michael may have a new calling in life, amphibian tickler.

The whole senior picnic was a experience that I will remember for a long time. I will surely try and do it again next year, if I am able to. Next year is also the 100Th Birthday of Mother Teresa. So I am sure it will be a special day.The Sisters are always looking for volunteers to help. This is something I would recommend and not only for all the Frogs and Turtles you may see.

The Carson/Barnes Circus will be at Wicker Park in Highland on the 5th of Sept. for a 2-and 7pm shows and again on the 6th and 7th for 1:30 and 4:30 shows. These Circuses are really worth it to see if you get a chance to go. There is another Circus coming to St. Mary Church in Griffith later in Sept. I will give more info at a later time.

Thank you for visiting and God Bless.

Needed to share. Please take the time to read.

The Miracle of Brandon

Posted on August 27, 2009 by jkern313

I have never met Brandon. In fact I really didn’t know him. But Brandon has shown me a miracle in my life, and he has done the same for others.

Brandon

So who is Brandon, and what is his miracle? I first encountered Brandon on August 3rd of this year I met him in an email. My sister-in-law Tina from Colorado began sending out emails to all her friends to ask for prayers for this young boy by the name of Brandon Blakely. My wife got the email, and being the loving, caring an prayerful person that she is, she began to forward it on to all of her friends. Of course, I got the email, and here is what I learned:

Brandon was born with a bad heart and had a heart transplant when he was born five years ago. He is now having troubles with the heart as his body is trying to reject it. He is now in Denver at Children’s Hospital and the family has moved into the Ronald McDonald house. He has two siblings, Ella who is a toddler and Taylor who is Sophia’s (my neice) age.

This touched my heart, so I send it out to those in my youth ministry and asked for prayers. This is just the beginning of the story. Each day we would receive updates about Brandon’s trials. Somedays from My sister-in-law’s point of view, others seem to come directly from his mother.

Believe me I have counted my blessings almost hourly today. Brandon in now in ICU, his heart has gone from yesterday at 27% function to 17% function today.

Emails were passed around, prayers were said, and we all waited to hear next about Brandon. We all became a part of Brandon’s life. Just like Brandon’s medical coordinator

When Brandon received his heart he was given a coordinator. She has been through every heart situation, every sickness, she has known us since the day Brandon was put on the UNOS list to wait for his heart. … She is the first person we call if he is sick or needs any medicine. She is also the person any hospital or doctors office calls when they think something is going on. … To top it off over the years we consider her part of the family, someone we trust and someone that cares about us. Brandon even received his heart on her birthday and she came and sat through his surgery anyway.
What I’m getting at is she knows us, she knows brandons baseline she just knows him better than anyone. Today was the first time she saw him. When she walked in the room she took one look at him and went pale . She left to follow up on his reports and came back with tears in her eyes I knew right then my day was drastically going to change… So when she said it’s bad, his heart may stop I knew this was not easy for her to say but she wanted me to have the honest truth.

Prayers continued and we all were drawn into the life of this little boy. I know the list of people that were praying for him was growing each day. One day I even received an email from a friend of mine asking for prayers for this little boy. The boy was Brandon, and he was asking me to pray for someone that I was getting the first round updates on. The chain was coming full circle. A few days later we received this update.

Brandon slept through the night! No screaming nightmares, moaning, or crying! That is huge for me right now.. Just waiting on rounds for more of an update on where we are at, but his oxygen is back up and his heart function seems improved! Brandon is up and asking for presents, i think thats a good sign that he is getting back to normal!

My young niece actually said to her mom PRAY ROCKS!!!! We all breathed a sigh of relief. I think we all echoed the awesome words of Sophia. Brandon was getting better. What a miracle this young boy was. Praise God for loving us so much that he listened to all of our prayers. I sensed that everyone that was touched by Brandon was cautiously breathing a sigh of collective relief. The updates continued to get better.

As you can tell from this email everything is looking better! OMG the power of prayer! Thanks so much all of you for being the caring christians that you are! Please continue the prayers, Brandon is hopefully going back to step one real soon. This is where they will continue to shock his system to help stop the rejection.

My wife Deb sent out an email update with the following message to all of her friends, “quite an update here…WOW! and all i can say is thank YOU..all of YOU who have added this family to your prayers simply because you were asked to do it..how blessed i am to have you!”

Here we all were, praying hoping and sitting on the edge of our seats waiting to hear the continued good news of Brandon. All were cautious, but hopeful. A community of people that did not know each other were being brought together and connected by a young many that literally stole all of our hearts. Someone that we never met.

I really want to say PHEW! Things were fantastic yesterday. Brandon had pink cheeks instead of pale white with purple lips, he seemed comfortable, happy, was back to playing video games and cracking jokes with his doctors. He was awake most of the day, which is huge because he slept most of the last few days when things were horrible. He was alert and talking. Seemed almost back to normal.

Amazing how prayer works. Amazing how a young boy can renew our faith in God an prayer. Amazing how our God works.

Last night, August 27, 2009 on the way out the door to an open house at the High School, my wife received a call from her brother in Colorado informing us that Brandon had just passed away. I watched as my wife nearly collapsed in the door from shock. The ride to the High School was somber. At one point I heard Deb say under her breath, “Why does this have to happen to someone so young?” I had just thought the same thing. Why did we all just go through these weeks of faith in God and in prayer only to have all of our hopes dashed by the death of this young boy. As I pulled into the parking lot of the High School, I believe the Spirit answered my question. This is why I feel compelled to tell the story to everyone.

As you may have noticed, I titled this post “The Miracle of Brandon”. Brandon truly was a miracle. Not a miracle through healing, but a miracle of faith. Brandon’s story brought many people together. People that didn’t know each other, people that did not know Brandon. We all joined together in prayer. We all spread the story of Brandon, and spread to others our faith in a God that is always around to hear our every request. My guess is that there were some people that heard Brandon’s story and stopped and prayed. Maybe their faith was not where they wanted it to be, maybe they hardly ever spoke with a loving God. But they connect with God. Brandon brought us all together in prayer. United with God. Maybe that was God’s plan to begin with. What a gift this young boy was able to give us all.

Even though Brandon did not receive the miracle of healing through all of our prayers, we received the real miracle through him. Thank you Brandon.

tis and dat

Not sure how this is going to work yet. I don't want to spend an entire evening working on the blog nor do I want to stop it either. So I am going to try to write something everyday. Not sure if I am going to send it all at once or maybe if I have enough I can send a blog during mid week. Next week I should be back on 12 hour shifts. The blogs might be more frequent then the once a week. Please bare with me until I figure this out.

Monday

Last night was the first time in over 6 months I worked midnights. I was all alone in the cubical working at the computer. It was quiet, a bit to quiet for me. At least I got to hear the people from Coater 9 . I am right outside their door. This morning while Zachary was getting ready for school I was putting my medication in a daily pill box for the week. I just started this because I am having trouble remembering to take my medication. Sally is on my case but she has not much room to talk. Zachary was eating his breakfast and asked about my "vitamins". Sally said this was my medication. He said what is it for. Sally replied she didn't know. He told her that she is my wife and she should know. Sally had no reply to that.Then he asked about the big pink pill I was just adding and what it was for. I told him it was my "happy" pill. He asked if he could have one. I told him no they were not for kids. He replied "I am a man". I told him that I know that he snores like a man but, he still couldn't have one.
I couldn't sleep very well today. It's hard to get adjusted to a new shift. Once I am adjusted I switch to a new one. It will be easier when I go back to 12 hours and the shifts change every 2 weeks. Instead of just lying in bed I got up and went outside with the kids. Zachary was laying on the grass. I snuck up on him and jumped on him. Then all of the sudden all of the neighborhood kids were on top of me.

Tuesday

Michael started his first day of junior college. Sally wanted to take a picture of him standing in front of school but Michael threatened the life of her camera. Sally and the kids went to pick up Michael from school. Zachary asked how many years will Michael be going there. Sally told him 2 years at that school. Michael told him he will be graduating from 3 colleges by the time he is all done. Zachary asked how many colleges will he have to go to. Sally said it depends on what he wants to do when he grows up. Zachary said he wants to be a bounty hunter. Not sure where he got that from. We use to watch "Dog the Bounty Hunter" when we had cable, but we haven't had cable in over 3 years. He also said he wants to create airplanes. So he was told he needs to go to school to be an engineer. I hope and pray Michael will be able to find a job soon so he can get a car and drive himself back and forth to school. If anyone knows of any place that is hiring let him know.

I mentioned in Sunday's blog about Griffith having their first annual Rock n Rail day. It runs from 11-11 on Saturday the 29Th. We will probably go in the late afternoon/ early evening. That morning I am going to help out the sisters. They are having a picnic for the elderly. It sounds like it will be nice for them. They have it ever year. Transportation to and from is provided so it will be easy for them to attend.

To also let everyone know that may be interested. Lowell is having a Labor day fest, that will last for 5 days. It begins at 9am on the 3rd of Sept. ( I am not sure about the rest of the days , although I believe on the 5Th it is from 2pm til midnight)There is lots to do for all the family. Look in Tuesdays times for more info on all the happenings. I am not sure if we will be going but, would like to.

Today for dinner my sweetheart of a wife made Panini sandwiches. I would like to tell you about them in the next blog. Just to let you know how good they were, I took one bite out of them and without any control of my body started to do the moon walk. HE HE HE !

Thanks for visiting and God Bless all of you.

Ooops I forgot

Last night while I was laying in bed I kept thinking about things I forgot to mention in my blog. I think Sally was getting a little annoyed. Since I kept mentioning things while she was trying to sleep. I was so tired all day yesterday. Slept in late and had to take a nap. But then I finally woke up. I think it was a combination of tasty food and writing the blog. Usually Saturday night's is junkie food for dinner. Sally made fried beer battered yellow squash, fried green tomatoes, and cheese fondue. I never had fried green tomatoes before. They weren't to bad. The fondue was Ok. What I really enjoyed was the squash. She makes it once a year since it's not good for us. I really enjoy writing the blog and writing it perked me up. I appreciate everyone who takes the time to read it and care enough for me to bother.

What I forgot to mention the another thing that happened at the farmer's market. Remember how I said I couldn't wait to get my hands on a gigantic cookie? Well after I had my tamales and a foot long hot dog I went to the booth where Sally told me had the cookies. When I got there there were no sweets left. I felt so silly being a grown man with his eyes swollen up with tears because all my dreams about a cookie was crushed. I was left to feast on the crumbs Kaity had left from her cookie. Also at Main Square they had a Civil War reenactment. I really admire those who are dedicate to preserve history and to remind us what it was like in those days. It really helps one to appreciate their country even more. Those people travel all over the states to share this experience with others. A couple of ladies were saying that at one place they "settled" at had a huge storm. A "river" was going through their tents during the night. They were blessed for a nice day like yesterday. Not sure how they felt with the rain last night though. A lady was making yarn. Zachary and Kaity just stood there and stared at her. Sally's allergies were bothering her and the smoke from all the fires they had were making her cough and she wanted to leave. They were a little disappointed they had to go. I think when they grow up they will both become yarn makers.

I would also like to mention that down town Griffith will be having their first annual Rockin Rail Festival this Saturday. There will be food booths, side walk sales, a beer garden, music, activities for the kids and much more. It sounds interesting so I am planning on being there. This coming weekend ,so look for it.

Last night while I was writing my blog Kaity woke up. At least it wasn't from a night terror. She sat snuggled up to me on the couch watching TV. Michael wanted to go for a candy bar run at midnight so Sally took her with hopes she would fall asleep in the car. Instead Kaity walked through the door covered in chocolate. It was 2 am and we were trying to get her to go to sleep. We were watching channel 9 and to our amazement "Homeward Bound" came on. Kaity really perked up. She wanted to watch the "doggies". I looked at Sally as we both said "You got to be kidding". She cried for a couple of seconds when we put her back to bed but she was OK. Now we are going to have to let her watch the movie someday. I think we have one from when Michael was little.

Today, I went with Sally to the Missionaries of Charities. Her cousin, James, had a bunch of yellow squash and zucchini he got from this father's garden. They wanted to donate it to them. James wasn't sure where they were located so we met him at Aldi's and he followed us there. While we were there the sisters were busy flying from room to room and up and down the hallways. There is always a lot of action there. The 4 sisters do so much. Today, they had a problem with one of their residents. From what I gathered she has been giving them trouble for a few days. After several warnings she was told today she needed to leave. Of course she wasn't happy about it. She went outside and busted a car rear window which belonged to another lady staying there. It was sad to see. This car was packed probably everything she owned. Glass was shattered everywhere. She is pregnant as well and will most likely have to use plastic for the window. I do not think she will be able to afford to replace the window. One of the door windows had plastic on it as well. It is sad to think she will be driving around with a brand new baby in that car. Some of the ladies that are there are very thankful to have a bed and meals while others are so angry. With economy as bad as it is anyone can end up homeless. That is a very frightening thought.

Off to work I go. Have a good week and God Bless.

What did you do to my daughter?

I take a little nap,I wake up and now I have a daughter that is 5 pounds lighter and a son that is still goofy. I was threatening to take his Cubs blanket. Than he threatened to shoot me with his new gun.

This week went by slowly for me. Monday I had chemo before I went to work. I worked the 3-11 shift this week. It seemed chemo hit me faster and harder then usual. I was functional and I know the side effects I am going through is nothing compared to what most go through. The sensitivity to cold almost happened immediately. It really sucks.The numbness that I have felt in my hands and feet was a little worse. On a nice warm day I crave for an ice cold drink and I can't tolerate it. Now I am beginning to tolerate foods less,some smells make me sick and I have cravings that make me think that I may be with child. It reminds me of Sally when she was pregnant. Some things I use to like make me gag just to think of it. I am gagging now just thinking about it. Taste, what taste? Somethings sound really good but when I eat it ,I can't taste anything. I need to loose weight but I don't want to do it this way. Right now cottage cheese with fruit seems what I can tolerate the best but that can always change. Another problem I am having is that I am tired. After I come home from work I want to go right to bed. I wake up in the morning to take my little guy to school. I go home and sometimes I will play with the little girl for a bit and then I go back to sleep until I have to wake up for work. I know it's going to take some time for me to adjust to everything. It's just frustrating for me. I had the 6 months off and I really enjoyed being with the kids now I am just to tired. I know with time it will get easier but I have never been a patient person. I contribute a lot of the tiredness to chemo this week. I have a hard time sleeping during the 2 nights when I have the chemo pump attached to me. Plus my muscles jerk a lot while I am sleeping during that time. Sally usually ends up on the couch because I keep waking her with the jerking. Sally suggested tonight that I should start eating frequent high protein snacks instead of eating larger meals. She said that might give me more energy. I am going to try it and see if it helps. I also am the type of person who likes to keep busy especially at work. Right now I am on desk duty and that takes some time getting use to. I think that may be why I feel tired more then usual.

I went to see the oncologist on Wednesday for my monthly visit. He said I am doing very well. He said that me loosing my taste is a common side effect. It usually gets worst as chemo progresses. So now I have that to look forward too. He said that is one of the reasons they limit the chemo treatments. On a good note I have 8 more sessions of chemo left. Then I will go for another 6 sessions of partial treatments. The partial treatments I will not have to wear a chemo pump( I am going to miss that little big thing NOT!).Wearing the pump makes me very self conscience. The treatments will not take as long plus I should have less side effects. Next month I will go in for another scan. Just to make sure everything is OK and I pray there will be no surprises.

Since I mentioned praying. I do believe that prayers have helped me through this entire ordeal. I realized today that I haven't been praying as much this week. I have been just to tired. I went today to the chapel and prayed. I also went to confession. Not saying that's why I am feeling lousy this week because I haven't been praying just saying I know prayers really help.

I spend a great deal of time thinking what to write in my blogs. I usually forget what I want to write. Usually Sally has to refresh my memory. I decided to start caring around a little note book and jotting down the things I would like to talk about. It makes it easier for me to write my blogs. It also helps because Sally can look at my notes and help me type part of the blog since it takes me a long time to type. I bought Sally an iced tea maker for her birthday. The other night when I came home from work she made me a pitcher of iced tea minus the ice plus she was cooking eggs for me. Instead of filling the ice line with ice she substituted cold water instead (so I would be able to drink it). I asked her if she added to much water to it and she said no it was fine. She didn't even finish that comment and tea started to overflow all over the table, So instead of trying to help her I grabbed my notebook and starting writing this down so I wouldn't forget. She was trying to keep the tea from going on the floor and trying to make sure my fried eggs wouldn't be over cooked(oh, I hate over cooked eggs). She glared at me and asked what I was doing. I told her I needed to make sure I didn't forget this incident. Especially when she is the one who usually come out smelling like a rose or in this case black pekoe tea and I look like the fool. Then again I probably look like the fool in this scenario to some. My poor wife slaving for me and needed my help but I was to dedicated to this blog.

Yesterday, Sally mentioned she was going with Michael to get his books for college. She also mentioned about doing some errands and threw in about getting Kaity's hair cut. I didn't take her seriously. She did need to get her bangs trimmed. She was always looking up to see. When she leaves the house she lets Sally fix her hair. Usually, Sally is chasing her around the house to fix her hair while Kaity giggles at her. As soon as we get home she pulls everything out of her hair. When they got home I just woke up and was getting my act together for work. Everything was a little blurry because I just woke up but when I saw Kaity I had to look again. I yelled out at Sally "What did you do to her hair?" When she left the house my little girl's hair was half way down her back when she got back her hair is up to her chin. Kaity was proud of her new hairdo. Sally admitted she thought she made a huge mistake. You know what though she does look cute with her hair cut. It just took a little while to get use to. I think we can save some money to now. Sally was always buying her bows, barrettes and things for her hair. Now she can stop.

It would not be a typical week in my family without drama. I think my family thrives on it. Yesterday while I was at work Sally called me. She told me Michael had left 2 hours ago to get a game at the video store( Yes, Dan it was family video). The video store isn't that far away from the house. She said right after he left it started storming but it didn't last for long. She made him leave his cell phone at home because she had grounded him earlier that week for it. That's another thing it's not a normal thing for someone in the house not to be grounded. For awhile the joke was tell me when Michael isn't grounded. So anyways, I told Sally if she doesn't here from him soon to give me a call. In the mean time she called the video store. They said that he didn't rent anything out that night. She went on face book hoping one of his friends would know where he was at. She called her mom and her mom went out looking for him. Sally then tried calling a couple of his friends. One friend said that he told her he was going to the football game. Sally's mom came over and watched the kids while Sally went looking for him. I was getting concerned myself. Michael has never pulled a stunt like this before. In fact he is usually calling Sally every 20 minutes letting her know where he is at. I didn't take any breaks or my lunch yet so I left to go to the game to see if I could find him. In the mean time Sally went back home hoping he would turn up. I went to the game and walked around. By the way Griffith was getting their butts kicked,It was 13-0 but they still had the fourth quarter. I went up the bleachers looking for him. I heard "what are you doing here" and turned around and it was Michael. I told him he need to get home and has some explaining to do to his mother. He seemed confused and asked why. I told him Sally was upset and worried because he was supposed to get a video game and come back home. Michael said he told her he was going to the game. I asked him what she was doing when he left and he said she was on the phone. I told him there was the problem.You never talk to a woman when they are on the phone,don't you know anything. The four horseman of the Apocalypse could come knocking on the door and she wouldn't even flich to see who it was. He was worried Sally was going to yell at him and ground him some more. So I took his side because he has never done this before and I could see "I am going to the game" could be mistaken for " I am going to get a game". So I saved him from hours of being screamed at and months of house confinement. By the way Michael you owe me. Sally felt bad and made me my craving for that moment. Mashed potatoes mixed with sweet corn.hhmmm hhhmmmm good!

This morning Michael had to go back to school. He put an extra I in his name which delayed his student loan and financial aid. Silly kid, going to college and doesn't even know how to spell his name yet. On the way home Sally called and asked if Zachary and I wanted to go to the farmers market with them. I wanted to sleep then rather look at vegetables and Zachary wanted to watch Saturday morning cartoons instead. When they got home, Kaity walked in to my room holding this gigantic cookie. It was the biggest cookie I have ever saw. I am like what the heck. Sally told me about the cheese and Jalapeno tamales she had and the biscuits and gravy Michael had. She also mentioned how there was a photographer there taking pictures of Kaity but at that point I was more like, tell me more about the cookie. All of a sudden my taste buds woke me up and I found myself jumping out of bed and running out the door with Zachary to the farmers market. Who would have thought there would be much more then vegetables and fruit there. I flew all the way there. I was worried by the time we got there the food would be gone. Zachary and I darted to the food leaving Sally and Kaitlyn in the dust. Zachary spotted the biscuits and gravy right away and I found the tamales Sally was raving about. All of the sudden I had my appetite back. Zachary was done but I was still hungry. So Sally took the kids walking around while I admired all the food and decided I wanted to foot long hot dog. While I was eating, my 2 little angels came running to me with wooden guns shooting at me. First of all, Sally never allowed the kids to have toy guns. Now I see my daughter who used to have long hair, with her short hair running around shooting a wooden gun.I hope this isn't part of that mid life crisis I hear people talking about. I am like what the heck. Is she trying to turn Kaity into a tom boy or a Annie Oakely. Zachary had money he had saved and used it to buy his shot gun. He has been using sticks as guns while the neighborhood kids play with their toy guns so Sally caved. Claiming it's safer then tree branches.Tree branches or a gun that can be also used as a club,hhhmmm. Little Kaity wanted one and Sally said "it's just a little one". Kaity was shooting everything and everyone with her gun. Sally mentioned how they should be cowboy and cowgirl for Halloween. I mentioned Kaity would looked better in long hair if she was going to be a cow girl. Zachary said that Kaity should be a princess for Halloween and he wants to be her knight in shining armor.

I start the midnight shift tomorrow night. I usually sleep better on that sift so I am hoping next week will be a little easier. At least I will be able to see Zachary more and eat dinner with the family.

Until next time take care and God bless.

OOOHHH kAITY!

Today started out as most days with Zach saying "Mom ,Dad time to wake ups!" Ok we will be right there. "Come on Mom Dad wake ups"! After this was going on for about an hour , we did finally get up. We got our act together and got ready to go to church. When we were ready to go,I told Zach and Kaity to get in the car. I was getting my shoes on and then I went outside. As I approached the car I heard "DADDY DADDY, KAITY GOT A TOY STUCK IN THE CAR"! I looked at him and said "what do you mean stuck in the car and were is it stuck in the car" "It's in the key part"!I went and looked thinking it was a big bulky toy just sticking out of the key hole. I made my way to the car and I said KAAAAAAIIIIIITLLLLLLLLNNNNN, NOOOOOOOOOO, WHAT DID YOU DO! She had the plastic piece that was from Michael's graduation cupcakes in the keyhole. I thought maybe it is still intact. I pulled it out and half the stem part was missing. Again I say "KAAAIIIITTTLLLLLYYYNNN NOOOOOOOOOO, WHAT DID YOU DO!" She gets in my face and says something like na na da poo poo! So here we are all dressed up and no car to get into to go anywhere. Our neighbor and myself spent a good part of the day playing with the key hole to get this piece out. Sally called the lock smith and he said that he would come over in about 2 hours. We did finally get the lock open after we changed the battery for one of our remotes. We had to solder the metal part that holds the battery in also. We always had to play with it to get it to work because of this. After we did this it now works like a champ. when we got this done the hot son really done me in.Sally told me to go and lay down for awhile and she will wake me when the lock smith came. I woke up about 5 after laying down since about 2:30. I woke and Sally told me the guy never called or came. I guess I will call someone else. If he doesn't have the nerve to call and give us a reason why he couldn't come then he doesn't need our business.

Sally and I took Kaity and Zach to see Ice Age. It was Kaitys first time to a movie theater. We first went to the Kerosotes theater by the Target near West Field Mall.I went in and ask the good man for4 Ice Age tickets. He looked at me for a moment and said 'Sorry that's not playing here". I looked at Sally and said "What did you do" Before she can respond he said that it was playing across the street. The movie was going to start in about 5 minutes , so we scurried across the street as quickly as we could like there was a sale on Hostess cupcakes at Sam's Club. We got to the other theater and told the good lady 4 for Ice Age.I put up our 5 buck club cards on the counter. Expecting to pay 20 dollars for the 4 of us to see the movie with the use of the cards, the good lady chimes in and says that will be 12 dollars. I didn't say anything. I thought I better get the family in the theater fast before she realizes that she made a mistake possibly. I felt like that lady from the Ikea commercial. But only I was saying as we were going to the theater START THE MOVIE START THE MOVIE!I looked at the ticket stub and saw that we each also had a coupon for a free 46oz popcorn. Now I was waiting for the confetti and balloons come shooting down from the ceiling and someone announcing that I was the 1 millionth patron at the theater. That was not going to be. Sally and I said now we will go to that theater instead since it was so much cheaper that the other theaters. There are allot of restaurants in the area ,so it is perfect when we have date night.

Now for the movie. Before we actually got to the theater we went to Walgreens and got some theater sized candy. With the bounty we had I was all set. The movie was really cute and funny. One of the stars of the movie was Sid the Four Toed Sloth.I mentioned in an earlier blog that if I could be any animal I would want to be a Three Toed Sloth. So now I was looking forward to the movie. The one problem I had was that this sloth was pretty quick moving. They can only swim fairly fast but, very slow on land. I think the Motion Picture Association of America is sending the wrong message about sloths. The average Sloth could only move as fast as about .15 miles an hour.I feel there should have a disclaimer at the end of the movie stating there are some false information about the Sloth for special movie effects. I think Sloths everywhere should get together and write. They should write Hey, we are sloths we are very slow so slow in fact that algae will grow on us.That's all I am going to say about that.

Kaity enjoyed the movie and for the most part she was good.She was always talking during the movie. At one point I actually thought I heard her say, HEY, that's a Sloth they don't move that fast! She is so smart for her age. Zach was very quiet and totally into the movie and his gummys.I think he was waiting for a Dolphin to appear in the movie. So he can do his Dolphin noise.No, Dolphin I don't think he was to upset about that. At least not as upset as I was about the Sloth situation.

I am going to bed now. I have Chemo tomorrow and then working at 3pm. Thanks and God Bless.

I wanted to ask for prayers for a family in Highland. They lost there Dad this day (Saturday) and later in the day the there Garage blew up. Nobody died from this explosion. They had allot of pets that the Fireman saved. At this time they do not exactly know the cause except that it originated in the garage. The house will have to be razed and of course there isn't any more garage. Houses around this house have allot of damage too. So prayers are desperately needed for this family. Thank you!

Woo pah!!

As everyone who is a regular reader of my blog, I went back to work on Wednesday the 5th of August.Work has been going great, and everyday so far someone has come up to me and wished me well. I really appreciate all that.

I am still doing paper work, coming up with questions for new operators on the Metallizer and Dusenbery slitter.Then I have to type this all out.If anybody knows how fast I type, that in itself is a chore.I am a two finger pecker.It takes about 10 minutes for me to type na na da poo poo.

One of the days that I worked, the computer system was down. So I was asked if I wanted to I could go back to the Metallizer and work with them until the system came back up.So I took the chance and went to the machine to work with Dan B.and his shift. When we were getting ready to do the changeover,I went in my work bin to pull out my apron. It was the same apron I wore the last day I worked some 6 months ago.I just wanted to hug and hold it for awhile, but with Dan and Hector watching me I decided not to. I'll just wait until I am alone.It is the dirtiest and wrinkly looking apron, but it's is mine. I believe it was Hector who said we should have a memorial for it.At first I thought it was a good idea,but than I thought a memorial for it. I was thinking that is something you do if something dies. So I wasn't to keen on that. So instead we danced around the Metallizer singing woo pah and holding hands. Actually that didn't happen,but it would have been darn funny if it did. Maybe some other time.

Sally and I took Kaity and Zack to the splash pad at Wicker. It was a very fun time for the kids until Kaity fell down. Zach stayed in the splash pad and continued to run around like a kid who was being chased by his father because, he took the last piece of cake. Kaity wanted to come out and wanted to be comforted by her mom. The splash pad is open for two hours and closes for a half hour and open for two hours again. This starts at about 9:30 am and the last one is at 4 and ends at 6pm.When our time was up we went to Micky D's and got Hot Fudge Sundaes for everyone.(there only a dollar a real bargain) Before I left the drive up window I made sure that they were actually sundaes. I was thinking maybe they could slip in tartar sauce instead of ice cream or maybe old coffee grounds for the hot fudge. All I know is I won't order coffee from them anytime soon.

Sally and I and Kaity and Zach went to see Elvis impersonator on Thursday. It was really nice and I enjoyed it. Sally took the kids to the play ground. I stayed and watched the show.The only problem I had with it was that Elvis has allot of great songs and many of which were hits. Well anyway, I was wondering why he was playing other songs by other artist. It seemed like at the beginning of the show he was singing songs from Chuck Berry and Roy Orbison to name only a few. It was still a pretty good time.

I am doing really well with work and all. I think going back to work really helps with everything that's going on with me. It makes me feel allot better to be back. I am going to sign off and I will have another blog tomorrow. We took the kids to see Ice Age today and I will talk about that. Sally and I just got done watching a movie and it is late.So we are going to bed . We have Church in the morning and later going to my brother Mike's to go swim. So I am sure there will be things to talk about.

Thanks for visiting and God Bless.

A quick post for prayers

This a quick post asking for the safe return of a 14 year old little girl. I was at Central Park in Griffith with my Friend Hector and his Daughter Martha and my kids. We noticed a cop car come in the park looking around. Then a lady a few minutes later came up to us asking if we seen a little girl named reba. At that point she was missing for only about an half hour. Hopefully she was just trying to scare her parents because maybe she was mad at them for something. Obviously, by this ladys actions this is something that this little girl doesn't do. To give you a visual of the girl she has dark black hair and a light tan complexion. The picture wasn't a close up so this is all I can explain to you. Thank you , and God Bless.

I quick blog against my wife's wishes

This picture is from yesterday. My niece Stephanie went with us to the picnic yesterday. She was a huge help with the kids. I got to relax a little more while she chased around Kaity at the picnic.

I wanted to do a quick post of a few things that I forgot to mention yesterday. At the picnic they had a few guessing games .One was for the adults and one was for kids. The one for the kids was guess how much candy was in the jar. The adult game was guess how much money is in the jar. Well, I don't want to brag but, I was the one who won that game. I guessed $24.02 and there was $25 something in it. I was glad that I won that money. As soon as I got home the family and I went to Western Days at St Mary Church in Griffith. They had some games you can play for 35 cents a ticket or a bargain deal of 3 for a dollar. I spent all my efforts on trying to win a Gold Fish for Zach. Between Zach and I we went through all the money and all the money I found in the couch and car cushions. We still didn't win a freak n Gold Fish Zach wanted so desperately. It was only about $32.50 we lost.It was fun trying and it went to a good cause, the church.

At the picnic I was approached by An Avery Employee named Anne. I was never formally introduced to her. I just knew who she was because at the monthly meetings she had her own presentations to give. So I knew who she was but, with all the people at these meetings how would she know who I was unless we were introduced. To make a long story short, she came up to me and said,"Hi , Bill I'm Anne." She just started talking to me about my illness and wishing me well. It really made me feel good that a person that I really never meant and knew who I was, that was really special to me. She hasn't been in the Avery family long but, she made an impact on me, and God Bless her for that. She is a smart lady and I know she will be a good part of Avery. Thank you Anne for taking the time to wish me well.

I want to tell you of a little mishap that happened to me. I went to Strack and Van Tils (the official grocery store of Bill's Life with Cancer Blog) to get Sally a bag of ice for her Iced Tea Maker that Zach got her for her Birthday. I was turning the corner by the quick check out making a right turn. There I was greeted by a young chap making a very quick turn around with his cart. He clocked me with the corner of the cart in the belly , that I so much cherish. I said ohh h$&&*$*$*&^ nooo! Or something to that nature. To everybody that saw the cart assaulting my belly ,I probably sounded more like Charlie Brown's Teacher.

I really had a very good day. I love the heat and enjoy being outside. I felt good all day and had no issues. The only minor problem I had was I fell a sleep saying my prayers at O.L.G. Yes , I was tired due to the heat. I still really like it, I just need to be careful not to over do it and rest when my body tells me to and that goes double for my belly.

Thanks and God Bless you all.

The Ice Cream Bandit

This is Zach trying to climb up the wall during my companies picnic. I was there to give him a boost up. As much as I tried to help him ,up this is as far as he got. I felt bad that he was having such a hard time. I thought maybe have him on my shoulder and I would climb it myself. This thought didn't last long in my head. I told Zach lets go eat some ice cream.

I most of you are wondering how things are going since my return to work. Everything is going quite good. Now I am doing paper work. Everything I am doing is dealing with our work instructions and finding test questions for new operators for the Metallizer. To be honest it is hard to stay awake sometimes. Going back to work and waking up at 6am to be at work at 7am. I have to get used to do this. I am use to being up more around 9-10am. I have one more week of 7-3's than a week of 3-11's and one week of 11-7's. Hopefully after that I will be back in production. I do feel tired when I get home but I just need to rest more. It will take a little time but I know I will be like a fined tuned car in no time.

Like I mentioned today, was my companies picnic. I really love to go because, my kids really enjoy themselves. I like seeing the smiles on there faces. There was lots of food and games for all to enjoy.It was a really fun time and we all enjoyed it. We got permission to bring our niece Stephanie with us. We were watching her for the day and thought she would have fun there. She was real helpful in helping one of the workers with the kid games. I think she had a fun time and I know this because , she told me. Kaity was getting ice cream and I don't know all the time were she was getting it from. I know we have given her some ice cream our self but, a few time I don't know were she got it from. I asked Sally were is she getting the ice cream from. I know she can't get it her self because, the box the ice cream is in is on the middle of a table that she cannot reach herself and there isn't anything else she can hop on to reach her frozen treat. One time I watched her walk to were the ice cream was. I told Sally lets see what she does.She was just standing by the table with the ice cream on it not saying a word. She would just stand there and stare at people. Finally after a few minutes we saw one of the people that helped entertain the kids at the picnic reach into the box and pull out a drum stick and handed it to Kaity, mystery solved. I hope she at least said thank you.

I am glad Sally brought some extra change of cloths for Kaity. Before we were leaving for the picnic ,I saw Sally packing some cloths for her. It was ,what I thought a little excessive. I asked her if she was planning on having kaity spend the week at Stoney Run County Park. She said be quiet and get in the car, I know what I am doing. To be honest I am thankful she did bring all the cloths. After Kaity got done with all the ice cream she ate she needed to change her cloths a few times. So was this Divine intervention. NOOOOOOOOO,! It was Sally being a good mom and knowing what her daughter is capable of doing.

I will not be posting the blog daily anymore.With work and being with the family I will not have as much time anymore. I will at least for now be able to do some on the weekends during this month. When I go back to the machine , I will work some weekends and have more postings during the week. They definitely won't be daily anymore but may be a little longer and possibly posted earlier.

Thank You and God bless

Today was my first day back at work. It felt really good to see everyone and the warm reception that I got. It was hard to do my work cause of all the people coming to see me. It is so good to be back to work. I will be working days for two weeks(7-3) and then one week 3-11 and than a week of 11-7. Everyone on my machine are on 12 hour shifts but, I will be doing 8 hours for a month. After that I will talk with the plant nurse and two of the management people from my department. They will talk to me to see how everything went during that time. If everything goes the way I believe it will than I will go back into production.The work I did today was going over the test papers that new operators will be tested on to see how much they know about the machine and the process. I am also going over work instructions and ISO audits and compare them with the test. I am basically going over all this looking for flaws or updating this stuff. Its allot to go over but somebody has got to do it.

I want to thank Debbie K. and her daughter for getting my box spaghetti for me that I have been wanting for a while. After eating them I now realized why It has been so long since the last time I had them.

I am going to get off now. I have to get use to be back in the work force. I am getting really tired and need to be in bed soon. Now that I am back working I my not post daily. I will try and do my best but I know that it will be hard with work and still doing things with the family. I really love doing the blog and hope to continue doing it for a long time. I will try and have more pictures posted to add to the postings.

Thanks and God Bless.

This is my 184th post. This the last post before I return to work tomorrow at 7am.I am looking forward to it. I know that it will be hard ,cause I will miss the kids. I feel that I am more then ready to return to Avery Dennison. They have been in my opinion nothing but, A GREAT company to work for in my 5 years and 5 months that I been there. It bothers me when I hear some of the older employees complain about the company. All I know is they apparently haven't worked for other companies like I did. Yes, there is allot of pressure working there. Why wouldn't there be, when we our world wide and have allot of competition to beat. So we have to be at our best at all times never slacking.We do get some frills to show us that they appreciate our hard work. I worked at places that you would be lucky to get a thank you. Hopefully we will over come this economy crisis and the company will flourish again.I know the management is doing the best they can for the company. I know all the choices won't be popular but, right for the time. I went through the company starting out as a warehouse worker, than a floater operator yellow band in the metalure dept, Than a floater op. blue band and then asked to be a lead operator on the metalizer.I truly love my job and hope to be there for many more years.

Today I did allot of driving around getting a few things for Sally for her Birthday. I haven't been able to go out sooner cause of the past two weeks,with the graduation and yard sale. I first took all the kids to the Mall. We were there for a few hours and then I took the kids home and then I went out by myself. I had to go to my moms and went to say my daily prayers and went to a few more places. A few places that I went into I felt that I was being watched.I don't know for sure but, sensed that I may have been. I think that it is because of the pump that is under my shirt. It sticks out a little under my shirt so I am sure that it looks like there is something under my shirt.

I am going to tell you the best and the worst of myself personally dealing with cancer (now in remission). The worst is obviously having the Big C. Having chemo isn't to bad but, I hate going home with the pump. I have to have it for two days before it is taken out. I am very self conscience of it and afraid I will get the tubes caught on something. Which I have a few times but, have been lucky not to get them pulled out. I will stick the tubes in my pants so it really doesn't happen much. Being thirsty and not being able to have anything cold to drink. My mouth will it's kinda hard to explain will sorta throb and feel like I have a mouth of mints without the mint taste if that makes sense. I don't have a taste if what I put in my mouth is to cold. That includes Ice Cream or anything else that is refrigerated and not heated up. This feeling will start to taper off in a few days after the pump is removed. The feeling will be gone about 4 or 5 days before the next chemo session. My finger tips and feet are always numb. Not very severely but enough were it is bothersome sometimes. My feet If I am on them for long periods of time will feel like they are on fire. I have learned to deal with that. I don't have any other issues with the chemo. so this is really it for now but, that could change.

The best part in a weird sort of way is having the Big C. It has changed my life in so many ways. I have spent 6 months home with my family. I have had allot of fun spending time with them which I wasn't doing before the illness struck me down. I felt a closeness with them I hope will continue when I go back. I have met allot of great people who supported me and my family. I truly felt loved during this time. I have felt more closer to my family too. We talk allot more than we did before I got sick.I have more of a appreciation of life. I don't take anything for granted. I am closer to God. I know that God is the reason that I am in remission. All the prayers that I have received from everyone. I truly felt blessed and that is a great feeling to feel. Thank you all! I can go on and on.There truly have been more positives than negatives.

I am going to get ready for bed to get ready for my first day back at work. I will tell you all about it tomorrow. Thank you and God Bless!!!!!!!

One more quick thing. If you go to www.cubs.com/fanfoto and click on the game which was july 28th with Houston.and then gallery 54. You will see the family and I at the game. We our at the bottom of the page. All of us in our Cubs shirts.

Bad Day for Coffee!

Today I had chemo and it went fairly well except for my attempt to have a cup of coffee while minding my own business while doing so. As I was saying the chemo went well except I did have a brief moment of nausea. It started when I looked at the bag of granola, that was across from me.After I stopped looking at them the sickness went away. Now for the coffee issues I had today. Sally dropped me off and she had to take Micheal to St. John Hammond Clinic to have him looked at for his stomach problems. He will have to see Dr. Auerbach(same Doctor that did my colonoscopy) to have a tube inserted in his throat to see what his going on. After that Sally took Michael and the kids home. I asked her to bring me a cup of coffee from wherever she wanted to get it from, it really didn't matter. She chose the McDonalds on Ridge Road. She brought me the beverage that I have been waiting for so patiently for, or at least I thought. I opened the lid to put in the creamer and sugar. I looked in the cup thinking my wife was pulling a prank on me. I was able to see the bottom of the cup.I was thinking boy this is going to be some weak coffee. I said ," Sally they gave me very hot water, what gives." She was as surprised as I was , and felt really bad. She said she will go down stairs and get me a cup of coffee from the coffee shop. She went down and got me the coffee and I started to drink it. It was terrible. I had some bad coffee in my day but, this was bad. I will usually drink coffee allot of different ways, strong,a little weak, with or without sugar whatever.This tasted very bad. So Again she felt bad and told me she wanted to go to Staples and get school supplies anyway. She would than go to the Star Bucks in Target and attempt to get another cup for me. I said she really didn't have to but, she insisted. She came back with the coffee and I quickly grabbed the cup to smell the aroma that I have been waiting for all day. I go to take a drink and the coffee dribbled all down my white almost brand spanking new Cubs shirt.The worst part it didn't happen once but twice. I finished it with a straw. When chemo was over Sally and I went to the McDonalds that cheated me. We went to the counter and told them our plight and they were just as baffled as we were. They asked Sally if she remembered what the person looked liked and she didn't. All she told them was it was about noon and at the drive through. Of course I got a new cup of coffee and they threw in two apple Pies.( They must of remembered me from other encounters). We didn't make a ruckus. We just wanted to know how that would be possible to do. Was the person possibly blind or near blind.You would have to see what you are pouring and also when you put the lid on. Before we left I put in the sugar and cream. I than took a drink and the coffee was at best room temp . Clearly stated on the cup was caution very hot. I told Sally that I give up and we walked out. The picture above is the shirt I wore when the coffee spilled on me. It is a blurry picture, but if you look at the area where the buttons are you will see the brownish area on the shirt.

As mentioned in Saturdays blog my brother Mike treated me and Zach along with his son Eli to a tour of the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field. It was a totally awesome experience that all Cubs Fans should try and partake of. Even the non-Cub fans, just for the historical purposes. It Started out with a film , then we went to the left field bleaches and heard allot of the history of Wrigley Field, that was very interesting. We saw the visitors club house, that was very small.We then tiredly walked up about 4 or 5 ramps to see the press area, the radio , TV and organ booths. We than sat in one of the suites that the cub brass sit in during the games. We had another history lesson that was very interesting.Then we went to the Holy Grail of all of Baseball, the Cubs club house and then on to the field. I took allot of pictures or so I thought. The reason I thought I got more but didn't is because, as I was taking my pictures I noticed in some instances that I was actually turning the camera on and off. Who would think they would put the on and off button so close to the actual picture taking button.I was like what the heck. I did take allot of pictures in the same area so I still got a good amount of pictures, and I did catch it a few times. I felt like such a Jack Ass that I didn't say anything until this posting. Sally is going to do a slide show with pictures that were actually taken. That will be in a day or so.

As always thanks for visiting and God Bless.

Wanted to let everyone know everything is fine. There will be no blog tonight. Bill and Zachary went on the Wrigley Field tour. They got home a little after 9. We spent the evening with our neighbors having a bonfire. We just got in the house and trying to get Zachary in bed. He has chemo in the morning.

Sally

Hopefully back to Normalcy

I felt good today and made sure to keep my shoulder away from anything hard. I did managed to do this and the pain is very slight now.This was the last day of the Yard Sale. We didn't do nearly as good as Friday. It started to rain around 1pm. Sally and I had to put all the tables in the garage. After that the rain stopped. Now I was waiting for the birds to start chirping and the sun to come out. It was really slow so we were thinking about closing shop anyway. After we counted the loot, Zach made 45$ from both days and he wanted to spend his money like yesterday.

My brother Mike is taking Zach and I along with his son to Wrigley Field for a tour.I know that will be unforgettable. Also Tomorrow we are planning on having a bond fire with the neighbors. That will be my last hurrah before I go back to work. I have chemo on Monday. So I want to be sure that I will be OK.

We took Zach to Toys R Us so he can get his Star Wars legos. We were there looking at all the Star War Legos that any little boy can handle before his head explodes from excitement. We must have been there what seemed like an hour. I looked at my cell phone for the time and it was only 15 mins. "Oh man", I said to myself. Come on Zach we have to get ready to go. He asked me about all the expensive ones. Now I knew that he wanted to spend every cent and possibly more, if I let him. After about another 15 mins he finally made a decision of one that was a little more. I got him what he wanted,because he helped us by watching Kaity when we were doing the sale.

While we were in Toys R Us Zach and I caught up with Sally and Kaity in the doll aisle. Sally later took Kaity to the bikes area to look at them to see how some of them measure to her. Zach and I were straggling behind. I decided to see what would happen if I set off as many of the dolls I can. I go in one aisle and told Zach that I had something to show him.As soon as he was not paying attention to me , I set all the little dolls that I could and left the aisle.Daaaaaaads ,why you do that?," Do what?", I said."Make all the babies cry"."Your going to get me troubles. I just wanted to make sure they all worked.

We went to the mall afterwards to get Kaity a Build a Bear with some of the money she made. As aways when we were in the parking lot getting ready to park the car, Kaity started to get all excited. I thought she was going to break the harness to her car seat. When we got into Penny's and started the track to Build a Bear , Kaity started shouting and pointing to the northeast top corner of the store " Buil Bear, Buil Bear! Sure enough as we exited Penny's the store was just above us.I couldn't get her up there fast enough. I get her to the store let her out of her seat and she runs to the noise makers. I said, "What about the Bears,"Noooooooooooooo. I knew it was going to be a long time in Build a Bear. Sally's birthday is Monday and I didn't get a chance to get her anything yet. She told me to go ahead and go look around,Yesssss. I knew she would have her hands full with Kaity. So being the obeying husband that I am I booked. I came back a little later than an hour and they were still in the store. She did finally make her choice and it was an Owl.

Wednesday I go back to work and I hope for good and with no extended time off. I am excited to be back but,on the other hand it will be tough. I really enjoyed my time with the kids and Sally too.

Thanks for visiting and God Bless.