Cancelled again!

My phone rang once again this morning saying they didn't need me up north! Wondering what kind of strange assignment I will have today!!!

Another day, another dollar at CRH...

Our jobs have gone to the toilet!!!

(Not really, we had a super-fun day!)

Camping out...

The bunk beds were a bit small...

Posing with hand puppets...

Seeing how strong we are after eating "junk" for lunch...

Washing pots for an art project for Friday...

Today, Friday, is Bad Hair day in Columbus and they are going to paint faces on the pots and plant grass seed in the pots to grow bad hair...

Yesterday was a much better day for our group, who once again got cancelled from St Francis. We spent the day at kidscommons here in Columbus cutting pictures out of old Encyclopedia's. Shirley thought her dad might have a heart attack if he saw he cutting up those precious book. The needed pictures for art projects and the books were obviously outdated. We had a great time, sitting around the table and chatting about everything we knew and then some... We'll be the first to volunteer to go back there any day!!!

Reporting for Duty...

Our phones rang shortly after 5am on Monday morning. It was St Francis calling us all to cancel us for the day! This meant that we had to go to CRH at 7am and "report for duty!" We met at 7am and were reluctant to find out our assignment for the day! We told the supervisor, we didn't care what we did as long as we got to stay together for the day! (That was our first mistake of the day!!!) She replied, "Do you want to go fix meals at the community center?" Our reply..."Sure, how hard can it be to cook???" (Second mistake of the day!)

We arrived at our destination, and awaited to hear our "cooking assignment" for the day. The volunteer lady was nice and was grateful for our help. She quickly told us our menu for the day. We were immediately overwhelmed to hear the number of meals that we would be preparing by 3pm. We were to fix food for approximately 400 flood victims. The menu was Salisbury Steak with homemade beef gravy, sauteed with onions and squash, mashed potatoes and green beans. The real kicker was that they had one stove to cook with, 2 skillets and 4 roasting pans! Okay, it didn't sound completely impossible..until we learned that we were to make the Salisbury Steaks out of hamburger and had to make approx. 400 patties by hand. So...at 8am, Susie and I began our work! (I quickly acquired the name "Patty" for the day!)

Let's just say that none of us care to see another hamburger for a loooooong time! :)
Blair and Jane chopping onions and mincing garlic for the Salisbury Steaks...

Shirley, our "top chef" of the day...placing the hamburgers into the roasters to simmer.

Taking a much deserved "5" minute break... Blair on the other hand is high on garlic cloves!
Amy saying "I just lost count of how many hamburgers we have cooked!!!"
There's a hilarious story behind this picture!!! (Don't tell anyone I smelled burnt plastic...)
The CRH labor and delivery chefs! Food for 400 people in 7 1/2 hrs??? No problem!!! Diced squash...we put this in "everything" as we were told to do so! Do you have any idea how many potato flakes it takes to make servings for almost 400 people? I think I grew muscles stirring them up!!! On the last leg of the meal...the volunteers were about to arrive to set up the assembly line to box up the food! (Another story in itself!)

It just dawned on all of us that we now have to wash all the pans when they were finished boxing them up! Groan...........

We totally should have volunteered to clean out the shed instead of going into the kitchen first thing that morning. The people outside were done much sooner and did odds and end jobs for the rest of their shift!

We however, had a hilarious day together and got to know each other much better than we ever intended!

We smelled so bad like fried hamburgers when we left that the dogs chased us home! Not quite, but they could have! The smell must have been up my nostrils as I kept smelling it all night even after a shower!

I didn't complain one bit today as I reported back for duty at St Francis to deliver babies!!! ;)

Everyone is invited!!!

Click on the picture above to be able to read everything!!! We are really wanting to show our appreciation to Brother and Sister Thompson so please come if you can!!!

He survived day #1!!!

What a cute sight to see our little guy rounding the bus and running up the driveway! He even gave me a big hug as he walked in the door. His smile was worth a thousand dollars to me! He was sooooo excited that he got to ride the bus home from school! Peyton was standing there crying and saying "I wanna ride the school bus!" (Oh how I wish they could too! ;)
Today at school, Parker was told to draw a picture of whatever he wanted. He says he drew a picture of a school bus and a pizza!!! (Must've been his "favorite things" for the day!)
Parker can't wait until tomorrow morning. He said they are "going to read, have music, have gym and then ride the bus!"
I think we will be able to survive after all!!! Now, I am off to fix a hungry boy some pizza for lunch!

Parker's first day of Kindergarten!

Parker had his favorite breakfast today before his first day of Kindergarten...

Fried eggs with cheese!

All "cheesy" for his first day of school...

A new chapter of life...
This is where I left my little 5 year old boy at 8am today! :(

Parker is attending Parkside Elementary School this year for Kindergarten. It is one of our local, public school branches. His cousin, Kerrigan will attend there also but they will probably never cross paths as there are SO many kids there!
We had planned all along to send him to our Christian Day School, Bethel Holiness, but there are no other Kindergarten kids enrolled in the class and they are still looking for a teacher! So, we had to use our back up plan and enroll him in Parkside.
He is so excited about attending Parkside because he will get to ride the bus home!!! We only live about a mile from the school but he wanted to ride the bus instead of me picking him up every day! Mom took him to his open house last night as I was working and Jonathan was out of town. I'll let her post that experience on her blog!!! :) (Culture shock...)
I didn't cry as I dropped him off, he was happy to go, and I am looking forward to some quiet mornings with the twins at home. (I was hoping to enroll him in full-day classes but the slots were all taken.) So, the bus will arrive on our street around 11am, dropping off our little man! I can't wait to hear his thoughts about his first day of school...

A much needed project...

Thanks so much to Randy Dunn and his two boys for all of their hard work on Friday! We now have a yard that is presentable!!! Our neighbors were probably really hating us as our bushes were almost to the tops of the windows! Now to just keep it looking this good! Our next project is to get the weeds out of our yard! ugh....

A glimpse of hope...

Jonathan called Dana on Tuesday for an update on Lukas. Last Friday, they did not give her much hope. He had not responded and it had been about 1 1/2 weeks. On Sunday, Lukas opened his eyes!!! By Tuesday, he was able to move the right side of his body, he recognized his name and recognized his family. He was unable to move the left side of his body but did have feeling on the left side. The doctor's said that was a good sign. He was able to reach up and touch his wife's neck on Tuesday also. He's still on a ventilator and they say that it will be months before he recovers. They don't know how fully he will recover either. Dana says it is a complete miracle as 2 days prior, she was given no hope! Jonathan told her we had put it on the blog and requested people to pray for Lukas. She says "Thank you very much!" Please continue to pray for them if you think of it in the days ahead!

A glimpse of our photo session...

Hospital update...

Brother Hight commented on my previous post asking what the latest was on CRH. So, I thought I would share what "little" I know about it!
Our Emergency Department is now officially open for business! Yea! It officially opened today and they gave Medic-1 a big send off as they rolled out of town. The ER is open but it is still basically like the Medic-1 unit, only inside the hospital. There are no inpatient services so they will still have to send people to other hospitals for admittances.
Most of the outpatient services are now open at different locations through the city. They are in "hopes" to have the entire inpatient services back up and running by the end of October! YEA!!! We are keeping our fingers crossed!
So, for now I will keep driving up I-65 to deliver babies at St. Francis!!! :o)
Here is a press release that I found on the www.crh.org website this evening! You should check out the website sometime. There are a couple of cool videos of the flood on there!
Here you go Brother Hight!!!

August 4th - Interim Emergency Department Opens For Release on August 4, 2008
Interim Emergency Department Opens at Columbus Regional HospitalServices mark return within hospital building less than two months following the flood. Columbus Regional Hospital has opened an interim emergency department within its main hospital building. The department is staffed 24/7 by Columbus emergency medicine physicians and hospital nurses and staff. The physicians and nurses have been working in a mobile emergency unit on the hospital campus until the building was ready. The move back within the building will provide more space and privacy for emergency patients."This is a great milestone for our hospital and community as we are able to return to a portion of our building less than two months after flood and storm damage closed the building," says Jim Bickel, Chief Executive Officer at Columbus Regional Hospital. "The support and cooperation by our medical staff and employees throughout this recovery process demonstrates their commitment to always doing the very best for patients."The emergency department is an interim service because patients needing overnight care or surgical care will still need to be transported to other hospitals. Columbus Regional Hospital will continue reconstruction efforts in order to reopen inpatient and surgical services back within the building in late October. Following the return of these services, the emergency department will be able to resume its full service capabilities."Our emergency physicians and staff are pleased that we can once again offer care within the building, and our next milestone will be in October when our full range of services is available," says Dr. Jason May, medical director of Emergency Medicine at Columbus Regional Hospital. Reopening a portion of the hospital building required a rigorous process to ensure that the building is safe and meets all regulatory requirements to provide patient care. Columbus Regional Hospital has had a mobile emergency department unit on the hospital campus since June 23 provided by Carolinas Medical Center's MED-1. The mobile emergency unit has seen more than 2,300 patients while in Columbus including the first baby delivered in the unit .The Hospital Foundation's flood recovery campaign to restore the emergency department has met its goal of $2 million. "We thank the leadership of the Foundation Board and the support and generosity by individuals, businesses, hospitals, and others which allowed us to prioritize reopening emergency services within the building," says Bickel.

Our week in review...

Earlier this week we spent an entire evening trimming bushes and pulling weeds. Our yard had completely gotten out of control and I am sure our neighbor's despise us! The twins made a comment that they could "see outside" from their window after we finished! You know it was bad if they didn't even realize they had a window!!! ;) Next week, Randy Dunn is coming over to help spread some mulch around! We are running behind on doing this but at least it is better late than never!!!

Friday night I got to do something unusual for me! My friend, Amy Shearer and I had a "girl's night out!" We had never actually done this before and had a great time! Our husband's were umpiring for the evening and we got my mom and her mother-in-law to babysit our kiddos and off we went to Greenwood for the evening! We had a delicious Mexican supper at "On the Border" and hit the mall as quickly as possible! (I took my camera and forgot to ask our waiter to take our picture!)

We both talked non-stop and hardly came up for air! We ended up shopping for our kids and didn't buy a thing for ourselves! We continued shopping until the mall closed on us and decided we better head home to rescue the Grandma's from our kids! We will definitely have to do that again sometime! Thanks Amy for a fun evening!

Today, our family of 5, along with Darin and Amy Shearer,their girls, as well as Micheal and Rachel Edwards and their 2 children went calling on Jr Church kids! Our attendance has been down so we decided to go "rattle the bushes!" We took a cooler of Popsicles to pass out as it has been really hot here! We hope to have a boost in our attendance tomorrow!!!

Tonight we enjoyed supper at home! This is unusual for us as we normally eat out on Saturday evenings. Jonathan grilled us some yummy steaks and we also enjoyed some fresh corn on the cob from Jonathan's parents garden! It was the best I have had all summer! Delicious... Thanks Mom and Dad Walden for stopping by this morning and bringing us some fresh corn! We really enjoyed it!
After supper, I wanted to try wiggling Parker's loose tooth. I could tell as soon as I wiggled it, that it would probably come out with a little assistance! Jonathan is completely grossed out at the idea of pulling someone's teeth and has told me that it will be my job! Thankfully, Parker lost his first tooth at my parents house! Tonight, after much coaxing, I gave the tooth a yank and out it came! It immediately started bleeding and Parker looked in the mirror and went "Arrrrrrrrrggghhh!" (He is terrified of the sight of blood!) He looked at me and said, "Mom, you are not allowed to pull any more of my teeth... you did a terrible job... you made it bleed!!!" He had to call Papaw and Grandma Sheila and tell them he lost his tooth and what a lousy job his Mommy had done! I hope the tooth fairy remembers to come tonight to our house!!! :)

On a more serious note...I want to mention a prayer request! Jonathan has a friend that I have mentioned on here before. She is from Czech Republic and he used to work with her a couple of years ago. They are still in contact and he received word one day last week that her husband had been in a terrible car accident. He was hit head on and remains unconscious. He has been this way for over a week now with no response whatsoever. They have a one month old son and would appreciate everyone's prayers. His name is Lukas. His wife is Dana (pronounced Donna) and as you can imagine, is completely devastated. So...if you think of it after reading this post, please say a prayer for Lukas, Dana and little David!

Thanks so much!