The Tail of the Dragon

Unusual title! I'm sure some of you out there have heard of the Tail of the Dragon, it is nothing but 11 miles of curvy mountainous blacktop in beautiful TN. This is the trip that my husband along with my brother, Nathan and 6 others left for on Friday morning.

This trip has been talked about, researched out, planned and dreamed about for months. I've watched a portion of the video clips of the ride and had to turn away because my stomach started getting queasy, I've seen the statistics that are posted on the website of all the deaths that take place there and my insides turned to jelly. I've been a nervous Nellie about this ride, finally I had to tell everyone not to talk about it in front of me and I didn't want to discuss the ride. Great coping skills????

The journey to TN turned out to be about 12 hours (should have been 6) due to my brother having difficulties with his bike. Those guys babied and worked on Nathan's bike but they stood by him refusing to leave him behind. The motto was if Nathan had to stay behind they all were. Pretty admirable I thought. When they arrived to TN, they checked into their campsite and what a chilly night it was but they survived.

Saturday morning they met up with 7 other guys the leader being my friend LaDonna's husband, Joe. Joe has proved to be a great resource for the Tail of the Dragon and the local area, he had already ridden the Dragon a few times. The group of 15 guys met for breakfast and they hit the Tail of the Dragon and ALL survived without incident. I had to say a prayer of thanksgiving because I was worried about the trip. The guys have all had a great time of fellowship and fun. LaDonna has taken alot of pictures I'm told so stay posted for photos. LaDonna and her friend hosted a cookout for all the guys on Saturday after the ride. Thanks LaDonna and your friend for all your kindness.

Father's Day Present

I know we just got over Mother's Day but I had to blog about my newest project that I'm working on. Wayne's dad is retiring at the end of this month from his full time job, and he retired from the fire department last month. The fire department had a big dinner and party in his honor. Only one of his children were able to be there that evening so I decided to put together a scrapbook celebrating his years on the fire department. I have lots of photos from the evening and my mother-in-law has a bookshelf full of fire department mementos. I'm taking those photos and memorabilia and then photos of Larry (my father-in-law) with his children and grandchildren and compiling the album. I'm so excited about the project. I went to Hobby Lobby and found the Fire Fighter scrapbook album (black leather with the red and gold fire emblem), used a 40% coupon that they had in the newspaper and saved some money. I contacted Wayne's sisters that live in Colorado and Georgia to mail me some of their photos so the project is now over 50% complete. The plan is to present it to my father-in-law on Father's Day, he doesn't know that I'm working on it. I stayed up until about 2am this morning working on pages and I'm ready to do some more.

Happy Mother's Day

I just wanted to wish my mom a Happy Mother's Day. I've had the wonderful privilege of spending part of the day with her but on the actual day I will not be with her, so I thought I'd surprise her and leave her a note. I love you mom and you are one of my dearest friends.

Today we were able to celebrate Savannah's 3rd birthday. We went to the park and celebrated with some yummy picnic food that my sister-in-law Telesa had prepared. This picture was Savannah playing with Wayne's binoculars, she just looked so cute.

My brother Nathan acting silly, but then what is new?????

The rest of the above pictures were all taken today at the park where we celebrated Savannah's birthday party. Just thought you might enjoy seeing them.

Update on my dad

Some of you have asked about my dad so here is an update. Dad is home from the hospital, he actually came home Friday afternoon. Thanks so much for your prayers.

The doctors did not find anything cardiac with this admission, other than the fact that he may have bruised his chest wall, thus causing his cardiac enzymes to be elevated. They also stated that it could be GERD (gastroesophygeal reflux disease), otherwise known as heart burn. As a cardiac nurse I know the cardiologists ran every test they could run on my dad, but I was hoping for a more definitive diagnosis. It was very reassuring that there was no cardiac disease but I also know there were so many people praying for my dad.

Dad has started his new stomach med and went back to work yesterday. He says he feels tired but otherwise good.

Motorcycle Riding Time

Three of these fellows are Seeds of Abraham members, of course 1 of the 3 is Wayne.

This past weekend Wayne had a Seed of Abraham meeting and we were so encouraged to see Papaw. Several of you who've been reading my blog for awhile will remember that Papaw was involved in a very serious motorcycle accident last fall. He is doing so much better, his memory has improved dramatically. He was able to remember Caleb's code name for the club, and he also remembered about a motorcycle ride that the Seeds had ran a few years ago that others were having trouble remembering some details about.

A few of the guys were over at our house a couple of weekends ago and they all left on a motorcycle run together so of course I had to post some photos. I haven't been on the bike yet this year, still waiting for it to get a little bit warmer.

Look at the smoke roll, Michael T. is such a jokester, he even left a black mark on the driveway.

Blogging Tales

Gracious! I'm not even sure where to start there has been so much going on.




Caleb and his DI team at state competition in Noblesville, IN.

Last weekend Caleb participated in his state competition of Destination Imagination that was held in Noblesville, IN. Since his team placed 2nd in the regional competition we had high hopes for the team going into the state competition but it was not to be. The boys did well but not as smooth as the regional competition. I was still very proud of Caleb and the team for a job well done and for the accomplishment of making it to the state competition. I was somewhat relieved when I heard that it was going to cost each family $1,000.00 if they had placed at the state level and would move onto the global finals. There would have been some serious fund raising going on with the school for the families involved. We were also excited that mom and dad, Nathan, Telesa and the children were able to share with us in the competition. We get to see family all to infrequent.
Spencer showing off his new teeth.

Nathan & Telesa patiently waiting for Caleb to get finished so we could all go out for dinner.


Along with being in Noblesville for the state competition, we also scheduled a fun day at Conner Prairie. I had not been to Conner Prarie in years, so much has changed there. We had such a beautiful day and the kids had a great time, we arrived at opening and stayed until closing time. We then traveled on to get a bite to eat and checked in at our hotel so the boys could go swimming. The boys were worn out come bedtime.
Caleb and Jon sitting at the old school house, getting ready for class.

Caleb holding a baby duck at the farm.





Another friend, Tim pumping water out of the old well, just so Caleb can pour into a bucket .

Caleb and Jon getting ready to cross over the bridge, don't you just love the old house in the background.

Caleb was holding a baby lamb that was only 2 weeks old.

Caleb using the outhouse at Conner Prairie. His Aunt Tammara has an original outhouse on her property so she will love this photo.
The boys putting their muscles to good use in the garden.

Monday morning brought me a sick little boy, who had not been feeling well for the past week with a cold. He ended up being out of school for 3 days this week but it was just all viral. I sure do hate it when my child is sick.

A Hospital Visit
Last evening brought a surprise to us. I realized I had a couple of voice mail messages when I got off work last night that were from my mother who stated that my dad had been rushed to the ER. Dad has been having chest pain for the past few weeks and I found out about this past weekend. Needless to say, I urged daddy to get it checked out but to no avail he waited until he got scared then went to the ER. They stabilized him last night at a local hospital in Fort Wayne, started a heparin drip, integrillin drip, nitro patch and Plavix bolus and then transferred him to the Heart Institute in Fort Wayne. I made a mad dash to get home, made arrangements for Caleb, packed my bags and took off. The Lord definately gave me strength to make the drive after working 12 plus hours and then having to drive 4 1/2 hours. I called my brother Nathan to see if he would ride up with me, so I picked him up about half way and he was able to drive the rest of the journey. Thank goodness for energy drinks because they kept Nathan awake last night while I was able to cat nap. Upon his initial visit to the ER, my mom was told dad's cardiac enzymes were grossly elevated and he had probably had a heart attack. Dad has 4 of 5 major risk factors, so chances of blockage were pretty significant. This morning they did a heart cath, numerous EKG's, Chest x-ray's, CT scan, and VQ scan but everything has been negative for blockages and pulmonary embolism so far. The doctor's cannot explain why his enzymes were so elevated or why he is continuing to have chest pain but for now he has been cleared from coronary artery disease. We would appreciate your prayers as he is still in the hospital.

This picture was taken last weekend with my dad and Spencer walking down the halls at Noblesville High School. I thought it was absolutely precious.

Flat Tires, Yard Sales & Baseball

Sounds like a great combination, huh?

It all started on last Thursday night, difficult day at work and was looking forward to a weekend at home with my family. I'm talking away on my cell phone (with the earpiece of course, can't seem to drive any other way) coming across the bridge from Kentucky into Indiana and traffic seems so heavy. My cruise is set, radio on and earpiece in my ear and I realize there is something in the road, traffic is on both sides of me and I can't avoid hitting it without hitting another vehicle. Brakes go on, conversation is stilled and I pray for the best. As soon as I hit it and a split second before that I realize the object must be a bag of nails or some very sharp objects. My tire immediately started going down and I work on trying to get over on a 3 lane highway with merging traffic coming on to the interstate. My sole concentration at this point is to safely get over to the side of the road and hope to make it to the next exit which is about 2 miles away. My husband is telling me to stop or I'm going to ruin the rim. God always works everything out in His own time and way because for the past couple of weeks, Wayne has been out of town on Thursday night but that night Wayne was at home. My husband was on his way to be the knight in shining armor to rescue his princess. I called the cops to let them know that there was something in the road, they came and looked but never found it. The object/objects tore a quarter size piece out of my left rear tire sidewall and punctured the left front tire . We never did find out what actually was in the road, I thought it was nails but who knows. Bottom line is that I now have 4 new tires on my car and God kept His hand of protection on me and my checking account is $500.00 poorer.

Yard Sale season is upon us and I have to confess that I went to my first yard sale on Friday. Found a few things but on Saturday a local church hosted a 40 family yard sale in their gym which was a nice treat. I walked around the entire gym and never bought a thing until the last table and they had a couple of nice dress shirts for Caleb, 50 cents a piece, down blanket for $1.00, and jeans for Caleb 50 cents each. I was so excited the shirts looked brand new, the jeans were appropriate enough for nice casual and the blanket is perfect for a nice throw. I love to find bargains, I'm already excited about the next yard sale because who knows what treasure I might find there.

Baseball season is upon us and Caleb had his first game on Saturday, he was the starting pitcher and did such an awesome job for his team but they ended up losing the game 7-6. Tonight was another game with Caleb's team winning, the score was 11-3 and Caleb hit 2 home runs in the game. I wish that I would have had my camera tonight but I went to the ball field straight from work so no pictures from the game. I'll have plenty to post as the season progresses.

This was a snapshot of last year's baseball season.