Oh, the memories......

I had a fun day at work yesterday.  Well, every day is fun -- but this one was extra special.  We had a client come in our office that I  had not met before.  Dan was busy finishing a few things up before he met with him, so I started chatting with him and his wife (imagine that!).

I noted right away that he was wearing a War Veterans ball cap and made a mental note to ask him what was he fought in.  We were discussing if they would like coffee while they waited when they explained to me they had just taken their "break" at home before they came.  (They stop what they are doing and come together to have coffee or some other liquid refreshment together!)

He started talking about how it saddens him that he is getting old enough that he needs to take these breaks. He mentioned that when he was in the Korean War, he would be out and about for hours and hours and hours and never once stop.  (Mental note checked off.)

He went on to say that when he worked for Sidney Electric and Area Energy that he would work 9-10-11 hour days without batting an eye -- he would be tired when he got home, but he could handle it.

Whoa!  I exclaimed -- you worked for Sidney Electric AND you were in the Korean War?  You have to have known my daddy, Harold Goettemoeller.  Did you?

Immediately, a smile crossed his face.  "Oh, yes, I knew your dad.  Very well.  The old cuss!"

We proceeded to spend the next 5 or 10 minutes talking about Dad and his ornry ways at work.  I mentioned to him that I have been having strong urges lately to "fix" signs (Dad was well known for "improving" signs to add things that were funny) -- and he chuckled all over again.  He spoke of how he and dad used to spar over tractors (Dad was a to-the-bone John Deere guy -- nothing else; this man was an International Harvester guy.)  He mentioned that he told Dad one time that he had a John Deere lawn mower and Dad said that he had come over to the John Deere side.  The guy responded that he hadn't but.....John Deere was good at making lawn mowers but nothing bigger!  LOL

I've been smiling since that conversation.  I hope that gentleman has, too.

I've noticed that many times when people speak of my parents, a smile crosses their face.

I'm trying to live my life so that when I'm gone, the same thing happens.  I hope I'm on the right path!

A totally Mommy post!

As you are aware, our oldest daughter is away at college at the University of Dayton.  Sarah's a sophomore there, so we are getting used to her being away from home.  However, every mother will tell you that when your child is sick, you want to take care of them.  And, I'm pretty sure they want to be taken care of.

So, imagine my conundrum earlier this week when Sarah texted me and said she didn't feel well.  Then felt like she had a fever.  Couldn't sleep.  Slept a lot!  Had a sore throat.  Nothing tasted good.  Ugh!  It's only the second week of classes, so she needed to be there and couldn't come home to rest.

I tried to advise from afar as long as I could.  Until last night.  I got a text from her stating her neck hurt.  Uh oh, I thought.  My thoughts immediately went to meningitis, but I backed off.  Thankfully.  I backed off to -- "how is your throat today?  Have you looked at it?"  My response from her was that it hurt and -- a picture of her throat!!!

I won't gross you out and post the picture, but let it suffice to say that every hint my pediatrician ever gave me for how to diagnose strep throat was in that particular photo!  I blew it up to look at it really good and said, "call the doctor.  You have strep throat!"

So she made an appointment for this morning.  I told her to tell the nurse that story -- it would make her chuckle.  She did and the nurse laughed and told her to tell me to get my tonsils out if I have seen strep that often!  LOL  They did a rapid strep test and wah-la -- she has strep.

If only I could prescribe meds.........

Please don't send me your photos to diagnose your illnesses!  I'm very faint at heart when it comes to that stuff -- kind of like I really could only change my own kids' poopy diapers -- no other.  I'll stick with diagnosing my own!

Get better soon, Sarah!

A note from Rachel's mother......

Message from Teresa ~ Rachels's MOM~Update on Rachel: Praise God, she has a new heart! It came last night on Jan. 19th, 10 1/2 years after her first transplant on June 19, 2002. At 7 a.m. she is doing well and resting comfortably. Heart seems to be working great, some bleeding issues that they think are resolved. She is in very critical shape, but still fighting for life. Pray continually now for her body to accept the new heart and for all the doctors and nurses here at Cleveland. We are so overwhelmed by the greatness of God and his love and mercy for Rachel and for our family. Keep praying!

I couldn't have said it better myself!  Let's keep praying that Rachel's body accepts this new heart and she recovers quickly!

Thank God for Answered Prayers!

Thank God for answered prayers this evening!  Yesterday, Rachel was blessed with a new heart!  Surgery went well, and she is doing ok.  She now faces a long road to recovery.  We already know she's tough and can handle anything, so I hope that this road is not as hard as anticipated.

Tonight, we send out our prayers to the family of Rachel's heart donor.  Prayers for strength, and also prayers of thankfulness for their generosity.

Prayers coming from where?

I thought it would be fun to show Rachel (see yesterday's blog post) who is all praying for her -- and where you are.  We never really realize the power and impact of the internet until there is an event that pulls people together.  I can seeyou are from -- so let's tell Rachel where you are from.  Consider this her online get well card!

Please leave a comment below, or on my Facebook page -- I will be sure she gets them!

Thanks!

Continued prayers for her!

Prayers for Rachel

People come into our lives in a variety of ways -- we meet them in elementary school, move in next door to them, work with them, go to church with them, our kids go to school with their kids.....the list goes on and on......

And sometimes you don't ever meet people....you just "know" them.  The young woman I am about to write about is someone just like that.  I am not sure if I have ever met her before or not.  She just turned 21 and went to high school with some of my nieces. 

When I was little, we sat behind her grandparents (and dad) in church.  (I don't know if you do this, but we sat in the same pew every Sunday -- and so did they!).

My sister graduated with her dad.

My niece graduated with her.

I once watched her in a pageant.  She is such a neat young lady.

When she was 10 years old, she received a heart transplant.  Her heart wasn't doing the job any more.  That is about the time she came into my world, and I knew who she was.  We prayed for her.  We prayed the very difficult prayer that she would receive a new chance at life.  It's a difficult prayer because in order for her to receive a new chance at life, someone else has to end theirs.  That's tough.

Today, I ask you to "meet" Rachel Doseck.  She turned 21 on Sunday and is looking for a third chance at life.  She recently contracted the flu, and it attacked her heart.  Since then, her body has started rejecting her heart.  Today, she sits in the Cleveland Clinic in the ICU awaiting a new heart.  A new chance at life. 

I ask you to come with me in prayer for her and her family.  I also ask, if it is God's will, for her to receive a new heart -- but for prayers for the family who is generous with their gift to her.  Please, even if you have never met her face to face, meet with her in prayer.

Her words:  "I will be put on the list tomorrow for another heart transplant! So After tomorrow any day i could get another heart transplant! SO PLEASE PRAY FOR GOD'S HEALING! Everyone pray because I need it! But at least i lived a good life at the end of day thanks for memories and hopefully many more to come!!!!!!!!!!! ♥"

Wow!  What a powerful message!

This has really caused me to think this week about organ donation, and the need for it.  Please prayfully consider giving life to another should your life, or your children's, be cut short.

Here is a really nice article about her and her journey, along with another's perspective of organ donation:  Wapak Daily News Heart Transplant article.

Lots of prayers heading to Cleveland this night!

New recipe -- Tortilla Soup!

I made this last week for the first time -- and man, was it good!  The kids loved it!  I loved that it was easy (I actually made it in the crockpot, which made it even easier)!!!!

I skipped the lemon juice (only because we didn't have any) but other than that, I followed the recipe (times two).

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingredients 

Original recipe makes 4 servings

Makes servings USMetricAdjust Recipe (Help)

• 2skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
• 1/2 teaspoonolive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 teaspoonground cumin
• 2 (14.5 ounce) canschicken broth
• 1 cupfrozen corn kernels

• 1 cupchopped onion
• 1/2 teaspoonchili powder
• 1 tablespoonlemon juice
• 1 cup chunky salsa
• 8 ouncescorn tortilla chips
• 1/2 cupshredded Monterey Jack cheese (optional)

Directions

1. In a large pot over medium heat, cook and stir chicken in the oil for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cumin and mix well. Then add the broth, corn, onion, chili powder, lemon juice, and salsa. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes.
2. Break up some tortilla chips into individual bowls and pour soup over chips. Top with the Monterey Jack cheese and a little sour cream.

Enjoy!

Mystery Trip 2013

I hope your Advent and Christmas was awesome!  I'm sorry I've been off the grid for a bit - I took a lot of time over Christmas to spend time with our kids and family!  I'm back at it and one of my new year's promises is to be more regular at posting.  For the past year, I've had time on my days off to put a few posts together and time them out to post, but we've been so busy at work lately that I haven't had days off to do that!  So sorry!  A few of you have asked where I've been --- I'm right here!  :)

Our Christmas was fantastic -- like I said, we spent lots of time with the kids and each other just being.  I LOVED IT!!!! 

This past weekend was our annual Mystery Trip.  Friday after school, I told the kids they had 30 minutes to pack their suitcases and we were leaving for lands unknown!!!  All they knew was they needed a swimming suit (truthfully we couldn't do a mystery trip without a hotel with a pool -- it might just be the most important part of the weekend!)  They also needed a couple changes of clothes, jammies, and some warm clothes. 

So off we went!  We left the house by about 4:30 (pretty good considering!) -- to only a few moans of plans that had to be changed.  I had arranged to get the girls off of work (with only one minor snafu when Becca unknowingly offered to work for someone Friday night since she was off! -- Crisis was averted -- thank goodness for small town stores who are very understanding!)

Technically, this mystery trip was a repeat -- of last year's.  But they really loved it, so we wanted to do it again.  We added one more night away -- hoping to squeeze in a movie on Friday night and switch it up a bit.....but we got distracted when my adorable, handsome little great nephew (he's 1 1/2) wanted to come swim in the pool with us).  So we ate dinner and checked into the hotel.  Made a quick switch into swimming suits (and a quick run to Meijer for the swimming suit that didn't quite make it into the luggage) for a fun night in the pool with my nephew, Greg, and his son.  (Sorry, I forgot to take pictures!).

The next morning, we got up, raided the hotel's breakfast bar (free breakfast is a necessity for this family!) and got ready for the day's adventures.  Got our winter coats and hats and boots on and headed out.  Will chose the lunch place, which was Culver's ..... fun time.  We drove about 45 minutes north of Fort Wayne to Pokagon State Park -- and saw this:

If you look through the trees -- at the very end, you see the "top" of the hill -- that's where you start.  I'm standing on a bridge almost at the end.

If you want the experience, here are a couple of videos I shot:

We spent several hours there riding on the toboggans.  The track is a quarter mile or so long and is refrigerated, so you can toboggan on sunny days!  :)  Here's information in case you would be interested in trying it out yourself:  http://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/4699.htm  It's a pretty reasonable trip, as you only rent the toboggan in two hour blocks -- and four people can fit on one toboggan!

We spent the balance of the weekend eating, playing, swimming, and we did eventually get to see a movie:  Parental Guidance.  Loved it!  It was truly a movie the entire family could see.  I still haven't seen Les Miserables, but hope to sneak it in this weekend. 

As we sat at breakfast Sunday morning, watching the kids sit around the table and laugh and enjoy each other -- Jim and were discussing the ever-changing dynamics of our family.  Here we are with another child ready to graduate from high school in May -- heading to parts unknown at this moment in time.....each time we do a mystery trip I wonder if it will be our last with the "entire" family.....I'm so tickled for our kids to grow up and cannot wait to see who and what they become.....but the mom side of me still likes all of us to be together in our own little world......(*insert Krybaby Kaiser tears here*)........

I guess I never thought of vacations or trips like this as team building, but truly it is -- we take our kids out of their normal environment of work and school and friends and parties and whatnot -- and put them in a bubble for a weekend or a week or whatever.....forced family fun.....but it brings us all closer together (especially when I'm cheap and don't get a big enough hotel room -- it sounded good on the phone though!)......I will never forget the laughter I heard this weekend.....and the good times shared by all.

Hug your kids -- and plan some family fun time for this weekend!