There's no place like home . . .

Praise the Lord, my dad is getting to leave the hospital!

He spent the night at the hospital being monitored for atrial fibrilation and waiting for the doctor to come see him.

We believe it is no coincidence at all that the on-call doctor was one of the experts in cardiac electrophysiology, and are praising God for His provision.

Starting tomorrow the doctor will begin exploring the causes behind my dad's atrial fibrilation and working to find the best treatment plan for it.  Dad does not have to go to the hospital for every episode any more, but can expect to have continual bouts of atrial fibrilation for some time.  The doctor spent a ton of time talking with my parents, making sure they were educated on atrial fibrilation, explaining it in "engineering" terms (which was awesome for my dad, the mechanical engineer), and assuring them that, while there may not be one permanent fix, that they were in the best hands possible.

One of the best parts about hearing this news today was hearing the relief in my mom's voice.  She has been so strong for my dad through the past 6 weeks, but last night was a struggle for her.

So while my dad's physical heart issues are far from being resolved, we trust that his journey is now in the right hands.

And friends, I would be remiss if I didn't say how it fills me with hope to know that, as a believer in the Almighty God, I know that no matter what happens to my physical body-even my physical heart, my soul and my spiritual heart have been saved and healed for eternity by Him!

Prayers for my dad . . .

As many of you know my dad had a pacemaker "installed" about 6 weeks ago to take care of an extremely low (30 bpm) heart rate.  The pacemaker appeared to be successful in alleviating my dad's heart issues; however, about a week and a half ago he started experiencing SVTs (supra ventricular tachycardia).  His cardiologist was able to prescribe medication that corrected the problem, but this past Monday he began experiencing atrial fibrillation and was admitted to the hospital.  He was given a different medication along with heparin (there was concern about blood clots) and monitored to see if the medication would correct the issue, or if he would need cardioversion (electric shock to the heart).  Thankfully, the medicine regulated his heart and he was able to come home last Thursday, feeling much, much better.

Well, the healing was short lived as I just received a call from my mom saying that they were headed to Willowbrook Methodist's ER to be admitted and be seen by a new cardiologist-part of a group of specialists at the medical center that dad was supposed to see for a 2nd opinion this coming Wednesday.

My family would really appreciate your prayers for the following:

• That the new cardiologist would quickly detect the real issue and know the proper treatment
• That dad would stay positive and be encouraged as this experience has been very hard on him and made him feel discouraged and old
• That we would all be free of anxiety and would trust in the Lord's perfect plan
• That the Lord would be glorified whatever the outcome

Thank you all!

In case you didn't know, my mom is awesome.

My mom is a champion scrapbooker and card maker.  And this month, she (along with her BFF Miss Nancy) is featured on the Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps Blog!  My mom loves making cards, and uses a lot of her supplies to make cards that get sent to our troops so that they can write home to family and friends.

Check out her story and some of her amazing cards here.  I'm so proud of her!

Catalog Living

Ever wonder what kind of people might live in the pictures in your catalogs? 

Then this hilarious website is for you.

http://catalogliving.tumblr.com/

Here's one of my favorites:

We’re so happy you could visit!  The room’s all made up for you, and I ripped out some pages of my favorite book and taped them to your wall in case you’re like me and enjoy reading before bed.

 

And this one too (with apologies to those of you who haven't  yet been exposed to the darker side of my sense of humor):

 

 

Oh that?  That’s my Wish Plant.  It’s where I clip pictures of people who I want dead.

Shout out to my mom for sharing this website with me.  This definitely changes the way I will look at catalogs from now on.

Tastes like Summertime!

I would like to introduce you to my new favorite summer beverage-Raspberry Lemonade Green Tea!  And it is super easy to make.

You need:

One jug of Arizona Diet Green Tea

Do not be afraid of the "diet"ness or "green tea"ness of this beverage.  If you know me, you know I don't do diet beverages and I don't care for green tea.  But I promise you won't taste either!

One can of frozen raspberry lemonade, thawed.

Pour out a little bit of the green tea from the jug-about to the top of the label-enough to make room for the thawed raspberry lemonade mixture.

Pour thawed raspberry lemonade into jug, replace lid and shake well.

Super easy and super tasty.  It tastes like summer!

I was afraid this would happen . . .

Yes, yes.  I see that it has been over a year since I blogged.  This was one of my fears when beginning the blog-that I would be unable to keep it going.

Since the arrival of my new toy-a netbook and wireless internet-I thought I might get back to blogging.  After all, now I can do it in front of the television!

And then I began to discover that friends were no longer linking my blog.  Because, I assume, once someone fails to blog after a year, they are dead to the blog world.

So, I am trying to start this thing up again.  I've gotten as a far as changing the background (snaps blogger for having some super fun backgrounds!) And now I will happily take suggestions for blog posts :)

Sinatra Swims!

Yesterday my parents took me to my grandparents house to go swimming. Of course, initially I was unaware of their intent to have me get in the giant bathtub in my grandparents' back yard. I thought we were just going over there so I could run around in their super-awesome backyard, mark my territory, and chase birds and squirrels. And maybe bury a few things in their flower beds.

It isn't that I am scared of the giant bathtub. I often get really close to it so that I can look at my reflection or quench my thirst. But since we all know that getting in a bathtub means you're about to get a bath, I had no reason to venture past the side, because baths disturb my manly dog scent, which I work so hard to maintain.

But then my parents got in the giant bathtub, and, I can't lie. I was curious. So I got on the top step for a little while-just to see what it was all about. As you can see from the following video, I soon discovered they wanted me to go all the way in the bathtub-or pool as they called it. I was not so sure about that.



Well after that my parents got smart and started offering me treats. And I just couldn't resist.



Later on, my grandparents got home and I showed them how good I could swim. Mom didn't get any video of that, but trust me, I swam from the steps all the way around the shallow end and back again several times.

I don't want to brag, but today I discovered that I am practically the Michael Phelps of the dog world.