A Stupid Pickle

Mom has been coming along so well since all of her hospital/rehab trips. She is getting stronger and more independent. She tries to walk without her walker from time to time and scares me half to death every time she does this. She has been doing fairly well with her renal diet (kidney dialysis diet) considering she can't have much of anything. This has got to be the hardest diet I have ever seen. She is only allowed to take in 32 ounces of fluid per day. This includes ice, soup, and fruits and vegetables. 32 ounces? Is that insane or what?! Another thing she has to watch is her salt intake. Ok, now to the reason for this blog posting.....
Before my husband and I went out for an hour or two Thursday evening we got mom all set up to watch a movie with my 5 yr old son Josh. She had dinner already and was ready to kick back and watch a movie for a couple of hours. No problem right? Well, before we left we made sure that our son knew how to call us if there was a problem. We had him practice calling our cells and he had no problem. Our 17 yr. old had just left to go practice playing some songs for church with his friends. Josh, our 5 yr old is so smart, we knew that there would not be a problem. Mom has been left home alone many times with no problems. She is honestly capable of being home alone now. Richard and I had to drive all the way across town (45 minutes or more) and this was going to be our only night to do this. We left thinking that all was well.
We get a call about 45 minutes into our drive. It's Josh letting us know that Mammam (this is what he calls my mom) fell on her bottom and can't get up. We ask to speak with her. She tells us she can't get up but that she's ok. No blood, or bones sticking out, just a sore rump. She was sore from the fall and couldn't get herself up without it hurting too much. We call our oldest son James and he just so happened to be by the house. James and his friend go in and get her up on the couch. I ask him over the phone to tell his friend to look away so that he can examine her bottom. Poor kid, he did it anyway. There seemed to be no problems except some bruising from the fall. Here's the kicker...
We ask my mom how she fell. She said "I was laying on the couch and started thinking about that jar of pickles we have in the fridge, I thought I better get one before I get too into the movie (Evan Almighty)." She usually gets into things like that when I am not home because she knows that I won't let her have any. I did let her have one before we left though, I guess I was the blame for her craving. Then she says "I got up, and I didn't even use my walker! I just walked right over to the fridge, got me a pickle and then started back to the couch." She said "I bent over the cushion of the couch to straighten out my blanket and then I lost my balance and fell backwards!" I asked her if she ever ate the pickle and she said "Oh yeah, I figured I might as well after all that!" LOL!! After we got home she says to me "I am so stupid, I could kick myself!! All this trouble over a STUPID PICKLE!!"
We called an ambulance for mom and now she is in the hospital recovering. The first set of x-rays didn't show any fractures but since she is so sore and in so much pain they are going to do some more x-rays tomorrow. She is in so much pain that she can't even walk.
Please pray for her. We really want her home for Thanksgiving!

Caramel Apples

Has it really been this long since my last post? Wow!!

Here is my little guy making caramel apples at his friends house. They all had such a great time. They were so creative too.

The Giveaway That Keeps on Giving Part 2

If you didn't win over at Melinda's blog, don't despair! Pat Layton has decided to keep this thing going and is offering an EXTENDED GIVEAWAY of 5 more DVD kits at the Surrendering the Secret Leader Blog!!! You can go right on over there and enter again...and leave an encouraging comment while you're there, as the leaders of STS groups would be so blessed by them!


This giveaway will be for 5 leader kits. The leader kits include the DVDs, 1 leader guide, and 1 learner guide. This extension of last week's contest will be very similar:

1. Leave a comment of encouragement to women who have had an abortion and/or women who are currently leading Surrendering the Secret groups.


2. Link the giveaway in a post on your own blog, then leave a SECOND comment, including the link to your post. This is NOT about blog promotion, but about spreading the word of healing!

Remember some of the ways to get involved that Melinda shared on her blog:

• Tell your church about the study and work toward getting a copy purchased for their use, if you don't win.


• Encourage your pastor to discuss abortion from the pulpit and include it in the sins mentioned from the pulpit that are forgiven through Christ. There are MANY women who walk away from a sermon feeling like their sin is unforgivable, simply because it's never mentioned.


• Invite Pat to come and speak to your women's group and/or leadership about ministering to women in crisis, or to train your leaders to present this study.


• Consider donating financially.

Autumn Vegas Style

Last night Richard and I went to the Bellagio Atrium located in the Bellagio Casino in Las Vegas. They change it through out the year. I love Fall so I just had to see their display. It was so beautiful. It was the closest I could get to Fall so far this year.
I would love to go on a New England tour some day and just take it all in. This is by far my favorite season.

Most all of the pumpkins were real. There were mums and peppers and all sorts of flowers and they were real.



Joshua and the Great Pumpkin

Richard & Josh

The leaves were suspended from the ceiling.


There were two trees with moving eyes, mouth and eyebrows.

Don't you just love Josh's expressions

Some of the peppers

Me & Josh

"Fall Delano"

There were two trees that were raining. It was so cool.

The Venus fly trap

More flowers and pumpkins


I will go back in December and take pics of the Winter Wonderland.

Baptisms

Oh how I love baptisms. They remind me of weddings. They both symbolize the beginning of a new life.

Here are a few pictures of baptisms we had this month. Praise God for these precious men. God and the angels are rejoicing in heaven with us.

Preparing for the baptisms.
I have to tell you what happened a few moments after this picture was taken. Our dear friend Liz who was so gracious to allow us to use her pool for baptisms decided that she wanted to get a bug out of the pool while my husband Richard was speaking on the meaning of baptism. While she was skimming the pool she accidentally smacked Richard in the head with the handle of the skimmer. It happened so fast that I wasn't even sure if it hit him or not. He moved his head so fast and just kept right on with his teaching. It did hit him, but not hard enough to make him lose his focus. Way to go honey!! We did capture it on video. America's Funniest Videos would love to see it I'm sure. We all laughed about it later.


Meet Stephen. This young man is such a blessing to us. He was very excited to be baptized. It was so emotional for him and for all of us.




Meet Sergio. He was so excited, he made me want to get baptized again. Oh I pray that we would all be able to keep the excitement and joy that comes with our new life in Christ.




Praise Him!!!

A Giveaway That Keeps on Giving

Melinda is giving away this study:



Did you know that one in every three women has had an abortion? In fact, 43% of women of child-bearing age have this secret. And I don't use the term "secret" lightly. While there is certainly a multitude of unbelieving women out there that tote this secret sadness in their hearts, there are as many BELIEVING women - FORGIVEN, SAVED WOMEN in YOUR CHURCH - who are walking around unhealed. Why? Because they are paralyzed by shame and fear at the thought of surrendering their secret.
Don't miss out on this giveaway!

Other ways to get involved:

• Tell your church about the study and work toward getting a copy purchased for their use, if you don't win.
• Encourage your pastor to discuss abortion from the pulpit and include it in the sins mentioned from the pulpit that are forgiven through Christ. There are MANY women who walk away from a sermon feeling like their sin is unforgivable, simply because it's never mentioned.
• Invite Pat to come and speak to your women's group and/or leadership about ministering to women in crisis, or to train your leaders to present this study.
• Consider donating financially.
  

Thank you Melinda for offering this to us.

The Wedding

What a wonderful day this was. I couldn't be happier for the two of them.
My sister-in-law who wasn't sure if she would ever re-marry, married her high school crush. I will never forget the night she called me after an old friend from high school gave her Craig's phone number. It went something like this:
Tari: Hey, guess what? I talked to one of Craig's friends tonight and he told me Craig was single. Me: Great, so did he ever marry?
Tari: No, he was engaged a few times, but he never married.
Me: Well, what's wrong with him? lol!!
Tari: I don't know but his friend gave me his number. Should I call him?
Me: Sure, why not?
Tari: I don't know, what if he doesn't want to talk to me? Forget it, I'm not calling him.
Me: Just call, tell him you were thinking about him and just wanted to say hi. You'll know from what he says if he's into talking with you or not.
Tari: I don't know.
Me: Just do it! What do you have to lose?
Tari: Alright I'll do it, but I'm calling you back as soon as I'm off the phone with him.
2 hours later.....
Tari: OMGosh, he was totally cool. We talked forever.
The rest is history.

Mr. & Mrs. Craig Louma

The beautiful bride ~ Tari

My handsome hubby

My beautiful Mom

My handsome son James and beautiful niece Leighanna

Love the cake topper. The bride has the key to the ball and chain on the groom's ankle.

Isn't this cake beautiful?

Getting ready to cut the cake. The view from their suite was amazing.