Praise And Prayer Request

After class was finished today, I called my mom to tell her what I made on my test since I wasn't going to be stopping by their house tonight but going straight home since I'm flying to DC early in the morning. But before I could tell her I made a 93 on the test (yeah!), she said my dad spoke to his doctor this afternoon about his circulation and that he needed to go to the emergency room. They were getting ready to leave so she handed me over to my dad. My dad told me that he has been really cold, his fingers were numb and he could barely lift his arm. So he called his doctor but they were gone for the day. He left a message with the answering service and his doctor called him right back. He asked my dad if he had a few specific symptoms and my dad had exactly what he asked and told him he could see him tomorrow but preferred he go to the emergency room. I was a little torn if I should go to the emergency room or go home to Austin. My dad told me to do what I had planned to do that he'd be fine. But he always says that. And every time I go to DC or am in DC, something happens with his health. So I didn't know what I should do. My sister wanted me to go to the emergency room but I didn't think it would help. My mom has a cell phone now and could call us if needed. I called my brother who lives in Bryan and he said he would call my mom and find out what was up as soon as he got off work. I called Roger and talked to him about it. I just needed to express all the different options and think about it out loud.

As I was pulling out of the parking lot on campus, I thought about my mom trying to get everything done at the house before she left so I called her back to see if they wanted me to go do that so they could just go to the ER. They were already on their way to the ER. My mom was driving so she handed me over to my dad and I asked him if he wanted me to bring in the chickens or pick up eggs or something. He said it was too early to bring them in but I could pick up eggs for them. So I drove to their house (it's on my way home to Austin) and went inside to get a bucket for the eggs. I knew there would be more than my jacket pockets could hold. As I was walking toward the chicken coop with that white bucket, the chickens started coming toward me in droves. There's over one hundred I think. I know my parents feed them to bring them in, but my dad said it was too early. I thought, these girls are hungry. So I went inside both chicken houses and I could barely move because I was surrounded by chickens looking for a hand out. I collected a bucket full and another half bucket of eggs and called my mom back to ask her if I should feed the chickens since they were swarming me. She said yes and told me the mix. My dad has a concoction of three feeds. I know there's a method to the madness.

So I fed the chickens and the goats. They were singing too that they were hungry. The hogs have an automatic feeder. It was kind of funny. I haven't done that kind of farm work in a while, animal husbandry. It reminded me of when I lived at home. I called her back to tell her I was done and she told me they forgot all my dad's medicine so I had to go inside and read all those bottles off to her so she could write them down for the doctors. Then I left to drive to Austin. I was starving so I stopped at the McDonald's in Caldwell. I know, disgusting, but I wasn't going to make it to Austin. Of course, the french fries were delicious and the first few bites of the burger weren't bad, but then I began to start tasting grease and I had to make myself finish it. I don't normally eat McDonald's unless it's absolutely necessary and now I remember why. Yuck!

Once I got home I called my mom to tell her I was home and asked her what was going on with my dad. He's anemic, his hemoglobin and hematocrit were low. They gave him a pint of blood and were going to give him vitamin K. I asked her to inquire about that because on Warfarin he's not supposed to have a lot of dark green vegetables because they are high in Vitamin K and mess up the drug in his system. So she asked about that and they said his blood was not clotting enough. Okay, I'll take their word for it. I don't know about this stuff. And they were going to do a CT scan to see where he might be losing blood. I asked her if they checked his digestive system since he's been having so much gastrointestinal issues lately and Dr. Bond had asked my dad specifically about the condition of his stool, I figured that had something to do with what's going on. Again, I'm not a doctor. So she asked and the nurse said the CT would show them everything and whatever they found they would address. I talked to her again around 10pm and she was going home to put up the chickens (she should have let me do it when I was there earlier) and feed anything else that needed to be fed. I forgot about the horses when I was there. And she was going to stay home and go back up early in the morning. They admitted him and were taking him to do the CT when she left. They couldn't do anything until they saw the CT results. But if he had a tear or something serious, they wanted him to be in the hospital already.

My mom is going to call me in the morning since I'll be up early to be at the airport around 6am. Yes, that's early for me. I'll let you know the latest tomorrow. Please pray for my dad to get the care he needs. This is going to sound cruel, but we're country folk so we're more realistic than most, my sister and I had a long conversation tonight about my mom being stuck with the farm all by herself if something happened to my dad and all the unfinished projects that would be too much for her. He does not have life insurance and it would be really expensive for him now. I guess we're going to have to have another sit down with my dad about making sure things are taken care of for my mom once he's gone. He knows as well as we do that he's not going to live much longer. He reminds us every once and a while. So please pray for provision for my parents and for all of us to be able to help my parents in any way we can. I still feel strange going to DC knowing my dad is in the hospital, but I need to be with my husband. I know my dad understands. I can't help him or anyone else, if I don't take care of myself.

Updates On Everyone

I'm just giving some quick updates on everyone. First, my brother, Harvey Jr (aka Bubba), his wife Brandy and my nephew Cole found out Thursday they are going to have a little girl. Cole was very excited and he got a picture of his baby sister Chloe Grace to take home with him. Brandy is due in early June. This will be my second niece. Yeah for girls! As for my dad's health, he had his defibrillator checked on Tuesday and found out it engaged three times since it was inserted in him last summer on August 26th, September 8th and September 26th. He told the doctor that he has not felt anything. His doctor said when his heart got out of sync the defibrillator got it back in sync before anything happened. So now he can stop griping about it because it's saved his life three times already. Do you think he will? Ha! Probably not. I finished pressing the wrap dress I made on Super Bowl Sunday and before I went out to eat with girlfriends tonight took some pictures in it and posted them in the Flickr set Sewing Projects. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. If I can't wear my little black dress for graduation, I could wear this. I'll blog about my little black dress situation in a few days.

Graduation talk reminds me that my first test this semester is Tuesday. I started studying today and plan to spend at least an hour every day studying until the test. I want to make an A in this class to bring my GPA up a tad in the event I decide to go to graduate school. So far we've covered the introduction to Biblical Archaeology and the excavations found in the Holy Land during the Neolithic period (8,500-4,300 BC). I'll try to post the significant finds this week sometime. Our friends Amanda & Buddy are about to have their baby any day now. Roger is staying with them this weekend and he said he thinks she's not going to make it to the due date of February 16th. I think he just wants the baby to be born on his birthday, February 13th. We talked about what if she went into labor while he was there this weekend and his response was, "I've got my camera ready."

Speaking of Roger's birthday, it's this coming Wednesday. Which is also the same day as his disability appeal hearing. He has spoke with and met with his lawyers already a couple times. They are working on gathering all the evidence and preparing for testimony from Roger and his old boss who they are calling as a witness. After the lawyers present their evidence and ask Roger and his boss questions, the board will convene privately to make the final decision before presenting it to Roger. I know Roger is a little nervous about "taking the stand" and I can hear it in his voice that he's getting anxious and nervous wondering if all this work is going to pay off. He could appeal the board's decision on Wednesday, but it probably wouldn't be worth the time and effort. It would have to go to a higher level.

Although I thought this Wednesday could possibly be the start of a count down for his return home, I spoke with Roger Friday night and he has heard that it can take up to 30 days for the board's decision to get to everyone it needs to get to including the people that cut orders which would start the process of out processing which could take 30 days. This means that although I thought Roger could be home by mid-March, it looks like he probably won't be home until mid-April. This sucks, but like I've said before, I decided a long time ago I wasn't going to consider him home until he drives into our drive way. He did mention that he has heard of some people going home during that first 30 days, but as usual, this is hearsay and so far most of the hearsay at WRAMC is just that, hot air.

I won't be able to be there for Roger's hearing or birthday, but I may be there the weekend after. We are taking advantage of a service that gives free airfare to families of soldiers at military hospitals. And as usual, anything involved with the military can't be simple. They told Roger if he doesn't hear from them, then it was most likely approved. Don't you just love that. Oh, it gets better. I won't find out the actual flights and times until Thursday, February 14th even though I'll be flying the next day, February 15th. You gotta love the military. So I'm going to pack on Wednesday afternoon since I'm on campus all day on Thursday and don't get home until 9:30 p.m. usually.

Well, that's all I can think of. I'm sure there's more I've forgotten. I won't forget this though. Please pray for Roger this week, especially on Wednesday. Please ask the Lord to give him peace and rest, for the hearing to go smoothly and for the board's hearts to be softened to Roger's needs. Oh, can you throw a little prayer in there for me also? It's not easy being married without a husband. I went through a little situational depression recently and I could sure use the prayers. Thanks so much for caring about our lives and praying for us. You don't know how much we appreciate it and feel your love.

Holiday Cards to Wounded and Recovering Soldiers

An email has been circulating asking people to send an extra Christmas card to 'Any Wounded Soldier' or 'A Recovering American Soldier' at Walter Reed Army Hospital. I asked Roger about it at the time but he was unaware of any issues or problems with addressing a card in that manner to the hospital. But today he heard something about it and sent me the link so I could let the people who sent it to me know that Walter Reed Army Hospital and the United States Postal Service can not accept mail addressed as such. The notice does give information on how you can support our troops and their families. So check it out by clicking on the link above if you are interested, but don't send an anonymous card to Walter Reed.

I finished my third anthropology test about an hour ago. I don't feel awful about it so I have no idea if I did good or bad. The grades might be out tomorrow. I'm in the library at A&M waiting to register for next semester. If I left and went home as usual after class, I would be half way through my drive when my time came up to register. I didn't want to take any chances getting the class I wanted. So I decided to hang out until it was my turn. A classmate in my anthropology class is an honor student so she gets first dibs and tried to register for a philosophy class on the first day of registration and it was already full. And it completely messed up her entire schedule for next semester. Since this is the only class I have to take for next semester and I really want to take this particular class, I'm not taking any chances of it being full. It would really be nice to take a class I would really enjoy my last semester of college. I also turned in my book review early Monday morning, so I'm done until I return from Thanksgiving holidays. I will be taking the reading assignment for my anthropology class to read on the flight home so I don't get behind. I'll also be dragging the lovely first draft of my research paper with me to review on the flight up. But I'll be bringing my travel Bible and a magazine with me too, just in case my research paper gets too boring and I need other distractions.

Well, we have one more day and a wake up before Roger & I are together again. We can't wait. We're both really excited. We have one adventure planned and not much else except church on Sunday and maybe a dinner with friends. Roger meets with his neurosurgeon tomorrow afternoon regarding his paper work. So please keep that & him in your prayers. Thanks.

First Draft Returned

Well, I got my first draft back today. Although I'm happy with the grade, 84, a B, I still have a lot of work to do. I got some really good feedback from the professor which will help me improve it in order to get a better grade on the final draft. I'm just a little overwhelmed by the work I have left. But I'm not going to start working on it until I get on the plane to DC next Thursday. Yes, I'm flying on Thanksgiving day. It's all I could get. I need to go through it page by page which I can do on the flight. Might as well make good use of my time. I always have my thumb drive with all my documents on it in case I need to work on my paper. And I can use Roger's laptop if I get time to work on it. But I doubt I will. That would actually be a pretty pathetic visit if I had time to work on my paper. I'd rather spend time with Roger and work by butt off when I get back. I can sleep when I die. So until then, I'll be spending this weekend catching up on my anthropology reading and outlining it all in preparation for the test Tuesday and writing my book review that's due on Wednesday. The semester's almost over, the semester's almost over, the semester's almost over...

Whew! Test 2 is over.

It's been one crazy week. Once Roger left I had to hussle this weekend to get caught up with all the reading for both of my classes plus write a paper for my history class and study for my anthropology test. I didn't go into the test on Thursday feeling good. I felt like I needed another day to prepare but I didn't have a another day. And after I finished it I felt the same. There was a lot of material on this exam and it wasn't easy material to remember. Just to list a few things: we had to know all the traits of, physical and behavioral differences between and the history of the appearance for each species in the genus of Australopithecines and Homo; the characteristics of each era, period and epoch of time from the Pre-Cambrian to the present; plus all the traits and differences of each taxonomic order (phylum, subphylum, superclass, class, order, suborder, infraclass, superfamily, subfamily, genus, species) of primates and what they aren't; plus a bunch of other stuff. It was just a lot to remember. I was quite worried about my grade.

But today we received the email from the teaching assistant that the grades were up. He explained they dropped the two most missed questions and applied a curve. There are two possible curves for each exam: (1) Subtract the highest grade from 100 and add the difference, or (2) subtract the raw average from 75 and add the difference. The highest raw score was 86 (+14). The raw average was 56 (+19). Therefore, 19 points were added to every grade. So I rushed to see what I made. My final grade after the curve was a 92. I was shocked. I couldn't believe it then I had to know what my real grade was, 73. That's how I felt about my grade after I took the test. I know this is going to sound mean, but thank goodness so many people did so bad on the test because it made the curve larger and my grade higher. This is going to sound really bad, but it seems like me doing good in this class depends on others doing not so good. I know, that's so sad. But I'm ready to get back to my normal schedule and stay up with my reading. And Roger's not here to distract me. Oh, also, I made a 93 and a 92 on my last two history papers. So I'm doing good in that class. Not a surprise that history is my major. Two more tests in anthropology and three more papers in history. I'm off to read some anthropology homework. That's my Friday night.

One Exam Down, Three To Go

Wow, my anthropology test yesterday wasn't as hard as I imagined. There was a lot of material to cover plus no one knew what he wanted from each reading. The test review/study session was really helpful. After the test was done, I felt like I probably made a B. We received an email today from the teaching assistant that our grades were up online. So of course I had to see what I made. He did explain that they dropped the two most missed questions and applied a curve. There are two possible curves for each exam: (1) Subtract the highest grade from 100 and add the difference, or (2) subtract the raw average from 75 and add the difference. The highest raw score was 94 (+6). The raw average was 66 (+9). So they added 9 points to everyone's raw score. My score posted online was an 89 which means I really made an 80. But I'll take the 89. One point from an A. So my intial feelings after the test were correct. And now that I know how he tests and what and how to study I should do better on the next test. Yeah! I'm so excited about my test grade!

I turned in my research proposal for my history class at midnight last night. It wasn't due until 5pm today but I decided to turn it in and get it over with. I'm telling you, I love technology. It's so cool I don't have to wait until next class on Tuesday to see my grade and I can turn in my assignments online from any where. I love that professors are using technology to their full potential!

Now more reading for both classes plus extra reading and research for my history paper. Thanks for the prayers! Have a great weekend!

Calling All Prayer Warriors

Yikes! I have my first college exam in over four years tomorrow. Anthropology at that! And my research proposal for my history class is due Friday. I'm almost done with that. I need more prayer for the test tomorrow. Please pray for me, especially to study and retain the right material for the test!! I'm off to a test review/study session. Thanks!