Update

We had a really busy week last week. Our wonderful friend and neighbor, Lee had a mild stroke last Tuesday. She was taken to the hospital by ambulance at 5:00 in the morning the previous week and they sent her home two hours later saying she had a urinary tract infection. She just never felt better, though. Gary came home Tuesday night and said he passed Lee and her husband, Woody heading down the hill with their flashers going. Instant sick feeling in the stomach! I stewed and stewed about it and then Woody called and wanted us to check on something at their house so I was able to talk to him a bit. Said she couldn't move her hand so they thought they better go in. (Lee had a pretty bad stroke about 5 years ago so it's nothing they wanted to mess with.) When they got to the hospital, they kept her overnight for observation, but the cat scan showed no second stroke. Well, she had one that night in the hospital. Kathy and I went to see her on Wednesday and she was in good spirits, but quite bored. Her mind is still very sharp, but she has a bit of trouble getting the thoughts in her mind out of her mouth. She gets confused on words and sometimes can't remember quite what she's trying to say. With therapy, this should all be corrected. They kept her a few more days, much to Treven's dismay, but they let her come home Saturday. The kids were so excited to see her home. They have been so worried about her. Even Treven prayed that night she went in. He has asked every day since when she is coming home and is she ok. He was relieved to finally see her. Ellie had to sit on her lap and lay her head down on her chest. I think even she knew something was wrong.

The rest of the week, we spent preparing for Gary's family reunion. We were awfully packed into my poor Yukon. We took two coolers (one for food and one for drinks), 4 sleeping bags, 2 air mattresses, 2 extra comforters, 5 pillows, a tent, an extra box with dry food and snacks, 1 bag per person with clothes and swimsuits, etc, 1 big diaper bag, my camera, my purse, 2 adults, and 4 kids all in one car...not an easy task! Oh yeah, we also strapped 5 lawn chairs to the top of the car. It was nice to tent the whole thing because I didn't have to worry about cleaning anything, but it would have been to have a place when it dumped rain on us. Luckily, I was in Gary's parents trailer cutting up fruit for fruit-ka-bobs when it hit. We crowded 10 people or so in it, but we were crowded. Gary's poor dad was outside cooking dutch oven and he didn't want to leave it so he grabbed a jacket and an umbrella and went right back outside. Keven stayed outside with an umbrella, too. Gary and Treven sat in the car until it was over and all the girls were inside the trailer with me helping cut fruit so we stayed dry. The canopy over the top of our tent blew up, so we had some water-soaked blankets. Later that day, Gary's uncle's stepdaughter was in the pool and had a seizure. That was really scary. His cousin's wife saw it so they had her out of the pool quickly, but it could have been a different story very easily. Later that night while we were in the pool with the kids, one of his cousins came in and said that another cousin's son (about Treven's age) had been bitten by a dog from another camp. There was an RN there and she looked at it and said it needed stitches, but because it was a bite, they wouldn't stitch it anyway. She fixed him up as best as she could. He was off and playing frisbee with the other boys that night. All in all, we had a good time. It was really nice to get away and not worry about work or laundry or anything else. I took my camera, but didn't get a single picture. Life works that way sometimes- too busy living and enjoying instead of documenting everything! Have a great week and I will have some pictures for you tomorrow!