Have All the Okla. State Coaches Gone Mad?

First there was the Mike Gundy "I am a Man!" tirade. Sunday night I'm watching the news and Sean Sutton, the OSU basketball coach, is crying about his team's loss and how he made bad decisions in the last few minutes, blah, blah, blah. Seriously? Crying? At least Mike Gundy is a man.

Todd and I went to the OU/OSU game last night. It was awesome and frustrating. The game went a half-hour longer than normal because the officials cried foul everytime a finger touched someone. It got to be pretty ugly, but in the words of Jeff Capel, "I'd rather win ugly than lose pretty."

Ahh, Oklahoma basketball! If you haven't been to a game yet, you need to go! (I'm just a little enthusiastic about OU basketball, can you tell?)

Social Justice

My fellow Alameda buddies will know what I am talking about by the headline of my post... Preacher-Man Rusty has been doing a series at church called, "And Justice For All: The Church and Social Justice." This series, in my humble opinion is Rusty's best yet. So many of us go to church and hear about the same things we've heard about so many times- principles of how to live a Christian life. This series has been a call to LIVE the Christian life- to use your gifts and talents in ways that maybe are not "traditional" avenues of ministry.

I have definitley been inspired to do more. There are so many needs in our community, our country, and our world. I'm working on what I want to focus on and do (not that I'm going to be the next Pam Cope). I already have some ideas, which I'll share more on later. In the meantime, if you don't go to Alameda and haven't heard this series, I really encourage you to go to the Alameda website and listen to the sermons online. This morning's sermon was the best so far, I think, but as of right now it is not online. Check back tomorrow...

Update

Thank you to all of you who wrote such nice things after my post about my grandma (my mom's mom). I thought I would give you an update: The doctors have sent her home even though her breathing is not what they would like it to be because she is on a very heavy dose of steroids for her brain tumors, which suppresses her immune system. They were afraid she'd pick up a staph infection in the hospital, so she's gone home. One of my aunts is staying with them, so I'm sure everything will be fine. She is still very weak and could use your continued prayers.

On another note, we also got a call this past week about my other grandma (my dad's mom). She has been living with lymphocitic (sp?) leukemia for years now. She went to the doctor this week and the doc said her tumors have grown significantly. They have decided to start her on an aggressive chemo treatment every week just to keep her comfortable (the tumors cause her a lot of pain). She has to drive an hour and a half just to get to the treatment place because Medicare won't pay for her to do it at a closer place. So, needless to say, she needs your prayers, too.

Thanks for letting me unload all my requests here. Your prayers mean a lot to me.

Payt's First Trip to the Emergency Room

Well, as if this week wasn't bad enough... my sweet baby Payt got 4 staples in his head today! Poor child tripped over his blankie on the way to his bed for a nap and fell backwards, slamming the back of his head on the wood trim framing the doorway to the playroom. At first I thought he just had a bump and I picked him up and blindly put my hand on his head to see how big the bump was when I realized my hand was very warm... covered in blood! I calmy took him to the bathroom and got a washrag out to wipe off and stop the bleeding. Luke was a super big help and ran to get the phone for me so I could call Todd and have him meet me at Urgent Care. I also needed to put something over the huge gash for the car ride, so Luke ran out to the van and got the First Aid kit for me. What a superstar helper!

Anyway... Payt ended up getting 4 staples to pull his head together, but he was a trooper and didn't cry too much when they did it. Should be a fun night waking him every two hours, though...

Life Is Fragile

I just got back from a trip to Arkansas. I am completely exhausted- emotionally and physically! My grandma (Granny T.) had a subclavean heart bypass surgery on Monday in Little Rock. The procedure itself went very well. Afterwards when they finally let family go to the recovery room (one at a time), I got my turn to see Granny. She had been so nervous before the surgery- I thought because she was afraid of dying, but she told me after the surgery that prayer really does work because God answered her prayer to be here to take care of my grandfather (Papa). She wasn't afraid for herself, but afraid of leaving Papa. I was glad she made it on both counts!

After we all let our guards down that night (afterall, she came through the surgery with flying colors!), we returned to the hospital the next morning to a completely different situation. Granny had been very sick during the night with vomiting. Her neck had also swollen to be bigger than her head! My Aunt Beverly went into the room and a few minutes later I joined her. She was awake and had her eyes open, but when I said hi to her, she couldn't respond. Her body was heaving violently trying to breathe. I looked at my Aunt and said right away, "she can't breathe!" Granny was in a shared room and her nurse was tending to the other patient in the room, so my Aunt leaned past the partition and told the nurse she needed to get a pulse-ox on Granny right away (my aunt is a nurse). She said she was a little busy (fluffing pillows!), so she got another nurse to do it. They took the reading and it was 52%!!! For those of you who don't know- it should be 100%. If it gets down to 92% you are put on oxygen (and Granny WAS on oxygen already). Then her regular nurse immediately called for the Rapid Response Team. They were there quickly, along with a pulmonologist, and within minutes, they had to intubate her (put a breathing tube down her throat). They said she had an airway obstruction. Turns out they think it was caused from the severe swelling of her neck constricting her windpipe. Anway, she was rushed to the ICU, where she remains now.

The good news is they were able to extubate her today and she is breathing on her own with some assistance from a C-Pack. God answered a lot of prayers this week for my family. I keep sending them up that she'll make a complete recovery. God is good.

Hello, My Name is Pam...

and I am addicted to Guitar Hero. Todd and the boys got Guitar Hero for the Wii for Christmas. The first time I played, I swore I would never play again. My brain does not like for my hands to do two separate things at the same time, i.e. change notes AND strum. This is the reason I cannot play piano. But my stubborn side kicked in and I picked up that guitar again. Now I can't put it down.

Can I just say that my children have been going around singing, "My Name is Jonas," and "Welcome to the Jungle." Is it bad that my 2-year-old and 4-year-old go around singing Weezer? Today when I asked them what they wanted to do Luke said, "Sing Guitar Hero songs." They like to play their own little guitars while I play the game (or Todd). Payt especially likes "Rock & Roll All Nite." He even gets down on his knees while playing the guitar and singing.

I must say, with all of my practice, I am getting pretty good. I'm playing on Medium level and have come so close to perfection. I am obsessed. I MUST get a perfect score on something!!!

I think that's enough sharing for now. Well,maybe one more thing: did I mention that Luke and Payt are having a "Rock Star" birthday party??? Obsessed? I think so.

Is there a 12-step program for this?

Because If Everybody Else Jumped Off a Bridge...

So we have welcomed another new year! A lot of my friends and fellow bloggers have been talking about their New Year's Resolutions. Well, I don't do resolutions. But there are a few things I want to work on for the new year.

#1 I want to train for and complete the 3-Day 60-mile breast cancer walk in November.
#2 I want to travel (hey, I'm already going to Mexico for Spring Break, taking a summer vacation with the kiddos, a Life Group ski trip in December [don't be a hater because we have the coolest LG] and I'm sure there will be a 10th anniversary trip in there somewhere, too).
#3 I want to be a better friend.
#4 I want to spend more time with my nieces and nephews.

There. Are you happy? I wouldn't call them resolutions, just goals that happen to start around the landmark date of January.

Oh yeah, I also want to get some home projects done. Do we have any painters out there??? I have a few rooms for some lucky DIYers to paint.... anybody... anybody? That's okay, I really don't mind doing that stuff- it's just a matter of getting the paint and I'll be set.

Well, Happy New Year. And for all of you who make resolutions, I hope you are very successful and may you all have a blessed year!!!