Saturday- we celebrated Easter

I stayed the night with the kids on Thursday night and Friday night.  Saturday- Bud came to Normal and we did our Easter things.   Kenley loved the new sandal  but really did not want them on her feet.  She looked super cute in her Easter dress mommy had gotten her.

Kim and Clay had gotten her a bubble machine and we had two bottles of bubbles. So in the early p.m. we went outside to blow bubbles.

Kenley---you were so cute chasing those bubbles around the yard.

Bud and I had gotten a motel room where they had a pool therefore that P.M. we checked in and the kids came over to swim.

Here are some photos of the fun in the pool.

Kenley really enjoyed her swimming. And even tho she was so cold her lips were blue she did not want to get out of the pool.
I enjoyed the hot tub, but the water was actually very, very hot compared to normal.  Couldn't stay in it very long at all.  I did go back down late in the evening for an additional 15 minutes before I retired for the night.
Easter Morning we met them for breakfast. Then I went back to the house and after a nap this is what Kenley and I did while mommy and daddy cleaned the house.

She loves her wagon rides!

Will post the  video and photo at breakfast in a post by itself.   Wish we were ready with the camera when the Easter bunny came to our table.

Friday before Easter- Fun with Granddaughter-Kenley.

It was a very gloomy day outside

But Grandma let me play in the window.  Normally I didn't hold still for photos. I would much rather get ahold of grandma's camera or phone.

And we played with our toys.

My sitter was not available for the day....Grandma and I had lots and lots of fun today.

Together again!

This is my mother and father-in-law...... Known in our family as grandma Jean/grandpa Jerry. Last December Jean went home to be with Jesus. Yesterday Jerry joined her there. I know that they are so happy to be together again. I can almost hear Jean ask him "Why did it take you so long?"

Friday evening I stopped by the nursing home to see Jerry. He had fell earlier in the week and they had him confined to his bed. He had been sitting up the day before or so and couldn't keep his balance therefore the confine him to his bed. He was very unhappy that he was not allowed to sit on the edge of the bed. When ask how he felt---he declared HORRIBLE! No per say pain anywhere, but just plain felt awful. They were giving him breathing treatments, but he would take the mask off.....So that evening when he declared the mask had to come off I did the breathing treatment like Kim did on Kenley.....waved it in front of his nose so that he was getting the meds when he was breathing.

Saturday morning I went to soccer games then stopped at the nursing home to see him. Bud had left on Friday morning EARLY for Virginia to pick up a car therefore he was not at home at this time. When I stopped on Saturday morning I saw that his breathing was really choppy and he was not opening his eyes to visit with me. Muttering about wanting to sit up and he needed to sit up. Reaching his hand up as tho he was reaching for someone. (I honestly believe he saw angels and possibly saw Grandma and was reaching for her). Friday night he kept saying I gotta have help...HELP. Yet there was nothing I could actually do for him.

I left on other errands that I needed to run and told him I would check back with him later that night.

Mid afternoon while I was helping a friend of mine with her new computer, getting it all set up. Bud called me on the phone stating they called and said they thought he was going to leave us and I should definitely make sure I stopped by the nursing home that evening again since he was still in Indiana and was stopping for the night... He was exhausted after driving 850+ miles on Friday.

I arrived at the nursing home around 5 p.m. Bud's sister and boyfriend were there, but they didn't stay long..... Once again they had me do the breathing treatment, I sat on the back edge of his bed. He was restless and kept wanting to get up. So I would hold his hand just to keep him calm. At one point I even sang some songs to him, including Silent Night which seemed to calm him some too.

When I left around 7:30 I leaned way up close to him and told him, "Grandpa - I love you". After having sat there and he not saying a word, just trying to get out of bed and reaching upward, he said, "I love you too"

The sound of his voice was not his normal voice. It hit me like a bang between my eyes, It was the same sounding voice that I remembered my sister had the day before she passed from this earth when she spoke on the phone with her granddaughter who was in Florida at that time. As tho he was in a big tunnel. I had sat there praying, "God, please just take him home, he would not want to live like this".

I went home with a heavy heart, Wishing I could stay with him all night and at least have family close that he would know that he was loved. But also knew that if I sat with him all night I would only be asking for trouble with my own health. Therefore I went home.

Sunday morning I got up and ate breakfast and dressed for church. Bud was supposed to be back in town by 11 or so and I was to meet him at the nursing home then.

Sitting in church my phone buzzed. I took it out and the text was from Bud, all it said was "Call me" I got up ask Vicki who sat between me and the isle to let me out I had to go. As I went out the door away from the congregation I called Bud and he told me that "Grandpa is now with Grandma in Heaven, they are together again." His sister would need to go sign papers, but he didn't think it was necessary I go over, but for my own peace of mind, I needed to go see him once more to see that he was resting peacefully.

My friend, Janet who was late to church service was just coming in the door. Her father had just been transferred to the same nursing home. I told her to let Pastor Bob know so that he wouldn't go over that afternoon since I had spoke to him before service. One of the ushers was right there too. Later I find out that Max took a note up front and gave it to pastor Jerry so they could announce it in church and pray for us. I went to the nursing home, his room mate was in his half of the room visiting with his wife. They did not know that the reason the curtain was pulled like it was was because Mr. Sheppard had gone on to be with the Lord.

Later in the day the nurse told Bud that she saw that he was leaving this world and she stood and held his hand for 15 minutes so that he was not alone when the transition was made.

I was going to go back to Sunday School when I see Pastor Bob coming in. So we went back to the room, He quoted the 23rd Psalm and prayed with me.

While with me he got an additional page as he was on call for DMH.

When Pastor Bob came into the room with me, grandpa's roommates wife said "Oh, I know you, you did my mother's funeral" Bob knew who she was. When I told her that Pastor Bob had been at my church a long time, she looked at me and stated "Then you probably know my brother."

Who is your brother? and she told me it was Sam D....yep I know Sam and Becky, Sam had just had surgery this past week, but I had seen him in church before I left.... So it is a very small world. How come I didn't know that when this guy came in as grandpas room mate after his hip surgery?

So I guess I really am kinda rambling--- But I did not want to forget this week end and the precious moments that I shared with Grandpa before he left us. Think I will add a few fun photos of the past here of him and grandma too.

The first time Kim's Grandma got to meet Kenley. (A four generation photo)

The above two photos are of when Kim was small. Grandpa was the Elks Easter Bunny...note One photo she was not happy. He had to remove his Bunny head so that she quit screaming.

This one was taken at Grandma's birthday party. He was so happy to see his granddaughter and great granddaughter-Kenley. Even Grandma looked happy, but from that day on she had gone down hill.

A very special Kiss.

Our last 4 generation photo.

THEY ARE TOGETHER AGAIN. and when I see these last photos I am sure they are once more smiling!!!!!

Gone---but not forgotten.

April 10, 1980 to April 10, 2011

April 10, 1980 I started working for Tica, Inc. (a heating/air conditioner) firm. Kim was 5 weeks old when I started working for this Company as their bookkeeper. In 1993 we moved from the Railroad Avenue location to this current location:

My office space is the 4 & 5th window from the front door. When the sun shines, it is very, very warm at my desk.

Across the past months the photo below will show what my desk looked like. But, lately I have not been as busy. We are so ready for the warm weather to get here to make the phones ring more.

So, I have just had my 31st anniversary working for this company. I posted on facebook about it being my anniversary yesterday and my co-worker stated that I should go for 31 more years. My response to her was that "I do not want or intend to work into my 90+ years."

Most times I do enjoy my job, but as I look back across the past 31 years lots has changed since I first walked thru their doors for employment.

Everything was done by hand---there were no computers. Now there are computers on the desk of three ladies and all the salesmen. I even note from the photo above that we now have flat screen monitors on our desks also. Which gives us more room for papers.

So who is right and who is wrong?

Have you ever been so totally ticked at the medical profession? Why can they not agree? Why do they put you on such an emotional roller coaster? With the emotional distress they have put us thru telling us that Bud has another aneurysm. And it is almost a 5 cm already. They said it was Thoracic aneurysm and the one that was repaired in July of 2002 was classified as a Fusiform infrarenal aortic aneurysm in abdominal aortic. So what is the difference between Thoracic and abdominal? All kinds of questions arise...No answers given. Dr. Derrick declared to him that it was not the place that it was repaired. Therefore, Bud went to see the Dr. at the hospital that would be able to fix it thru the vein and not open him wide open like they did in 2002. That doctor also said it was not the same place, but that he worked side by side with Dr. Weber to put in the stints. When he went to see Dr. Weber----- A total different story. He said it was the same place where he and Dr. Zacheis had repaired in 2002. Bud said he even pulled up the cat scan and looked at it. Is this a relief? Well truthfully, I don't know what to think. Which doctor is correct? Two say it is a new one and the third one said it was the same. We finally discussed that perhaps we should get the cat scans (reports) and seek a totally different doctor and see what they had to say, explaining the situation to them. Letting them know the family history---the prior repair and having them look at it with a total new set of eyes. Well, the Lord works in mysterious ways. Sometimes when we don't really know what we should do he answers our prayers and guides us in a different path. Today, Bud had to go to Sherman to pick up the corvette that was delivered over there. A gentleman had purchased a new corvette for his 17 year old daughters birthday. It had a scratch and he had to go get it to bring it back to have it repaired and then will need to deliver it back again to Sherman. This gentleman who is so generous in giving his 17 year old daughter such a expensive birthday gift. Well, he is the right hand man of the most well know Thoracic surgeon. Works in Springfield and in St. Louis. He will give Bud phone numbers and will get the okay for them to pull up the reports and cat scans from the local hospital and review it. He also explained things to Bud that at times a graft that has been put on before has to be repaired again. And he was willing to do this and research it and give us explanations. WOW...we didn't know where we should go and how to pursue another opinion and how ironic that he was in contact with this particular man today.