More Updates on the Sick

Gary is starting to recover, but he is threatening to never eat lasagna again. AS IF THE SMELL OF SOMETHING GOOD COULD MAKE YOU SICK!! He did stay home from work today, and didn't even join his meeting via teleconference. His fever is down, so I think he's getting better, but he's hardly eaten anything for a day and a half, so he doesn't have much strength.

If his progress continues, he will carry on with his plans to fly to Detroit tomorrow. I'm sure the cold weather will be good for him. He returns just about kickoff time on Sunday.

Update on the Sick

Looks like this is NOT the flu, unless it is the stomach flu, which we know isn't really flu at all. The vomiting has started, the first time in 12 years. Yes, he keeps track of such things. The worst part is he claims it was the smell of my homemade lasagna that made him vomit. *eye roll*

But he still has a fever, so I won't be too hard on him.

Sick Again

This is the second time in two months that Gary has been sick. He's currently got a fever over 101, so he decided that was sick enough to cancel his meetings and go to bed. He did managed to work this morning--we both had our annual performance reviews this morning. We'll have to see if this fever turns into the flu or something else. But for now, it is an excuse to stay in a warm bed and listen to his books on tape.

I still haven't managed to do anything about the water heater. It continues to drip.

Water Heater Blues

On Friday the furnace man came for the annual checkup and, after installing a new filter, he pronounced the furnace in good condition. He did, however, notice that the hot water heater was leaking. It isn't pouring out water, but it is definitely seeping out water. I guess that will be tomorrow's project :-(

Photos of Our Trip to Pine Cove

pinecove

Click on the photo above to see the rest of the photos.

Note to family members who do not have high-speed internet: Please leave me a comment, or send an email, to let me know if you can view this album. If not, what error message did you get?

We're Back

I will have a photo or two to post, but I haven't had time to upload them from my camera yet. We got home this afternoon and had to get ready for hosting our small group from church, so we're still getting unpacked. We did have a decent time, but the nice sunny weather didn't come until the day we left.

I finally had a 10 minute conversation with David. He's finding no time to do anything except eat, sleep, and go to work. He said he has been able to suture a couple people back together after gall bladder surgery.

Rachel was quite sick while we were gone, even had a 102 fever on Tuesday, but whatever it was it seemed to be rather short lived and she is already feeling better. So she is going to work tomorrow, Lord willing, but she hasn't worked all week.

My mom's plans to move to Michigan seem to be progressing rather more quickly than we all thought they would.

I hate to think how many emails piled up in my and Gary's inboxes while we were gone...

Update

I expect almost anyone reading this blog has already heard from Rachel and seen the link to her online photo album of pictures of the wedding she was in a week ago. But if not, here is the link. (Now, I'm not exactly sure how this works. If you don't have a Goggle account, I'm not certain you can view this album, even though it has been marked as "public." Does anyone know if that is true?)

Here it is Friday already. This was a strange week because we had a holiday on Monday and a snow day on Wednesday. They say we might get a bit more bad weather, but more likely it will be off to the north west of us.

I'm kind of worried about David--haven't actually talked to him since Jan 1st. I know he's busy, but I hope he gets in contact soon so we can hear how he is doing. His friend Jesse was in Houston staying with him last week, so according to Jesse, David is still alive.

Andrew and Laura were supposed to have been in Tegucigalpa this past week; haven't heard if they got back yet.

Rachel worked yesterday and today and is babysitting tonight. The cat she has been catsitting may be returned to its owner early next week. Then she's going to adopt the skinny black cat that we took in a couple weeks ago. The new black cat and the old white cat are mortal enemies and Gary is getting tired of them hissing at each other.

Icicles

Rachel got a call from the sub teacher system today at 6am and she decided she didn't feel well enough to go, and she had two babysitting jobs later in the day anyway, so she went back to bed. When she finally got up, she discovered that school had been cancelled anyway. Then her two babysitting jobs got canceled too. I scraped the snow and ice off her car again this afternoon, so she can drive to work tomorrow without having to deal with it in the morning.

I did a lot of bird watching today, and actually saw three different species of doves in the back yard: the common mourning dove, a small flock of Inca doves, and a single white-winged dove.

My mom called last night to say she has already found a buyer for her home, so her move to Michigan looks like it might happen sooner rather than later.

Gary's Been Busy!

A miracle has happened. Gary decided to clean out his clothes closet the other day. Yay! Next thing you know, he'll be waking up and saying, "You know, I think I'm going to clean up my office today."

And he also proved an old dog and learn a new trick--talking on the "telephone" over the internet with Skype. After resisting this technology, today he talked on a conference call with colleagues from Britan, Michigan, Washington state and Washington DC. Then this evening he talked to his friend in Melbourne, Australia. The nice headset was stolen from Rachel, part of a web camera kit that she got for Christmas one year.

Back to Work

Today was a holiday from the office, though Gary spent most of the day working. We did watch Hotel Rwanda this evening. Not a very cheery movie, but a good movie.

Tomorrow we all go back to work. Rachel has a job for tomorrow morning, so it is a good thing I inspected her car late this afternoon and discovered it was coated in a quarter inch of ice. She wouldn't have been able to deal with that at 7am when she was supposed to be leaving for her job. So she and I took measures to melt and scrape the ice, then covered it with an old towel, so hopefully she will be able to manage tomorrow morning. That reminds me, why haven't we bought an ice scraper for her? She will take the one to the van and the van will just sit until the weather warms up, I guess.

In case you haven't gotten an email with the link from her, Rachel's collection of photos from Jessie's wedding is here.

We have heard very little from David since New Year's Day, but I did hear that the neighbor boy, Jesse, spent a day or two with him this past weekend. News from Andrew is that he and Laura are investing in some property in the DR that looks like it will be pretty sweet. I think this is an investment only, not that they plan to live in it anytime soon.

The Debut of Gary's New Suit and Hammered Dulcimer

I wasn't able to take any really good photos of the bride and groom. I have one very nice photo of Rachel and the bride, but maybe she'll want to use that photo on her own blog.

I will say that by the time Gary and I left for the church, we were having a rainstorm of Biblical proportions. The church had a covered driveway, so at least Gary's dulcimer didn't have to get wet (and we had wrapped it up in a blanket too).We got there in plenty of time to take a photo with Rachel before the bridesmaids were sequestered.

So now you can see Gary's new black suit, purchased from Men's Wearhouse with a gift card from his parents. The tie matches Rachel's bridesmaid outfit because we took a scrap of the fabric with us when she picked it out for his Christmas gift. David bought him the new shoes--but they don't show in the photo.


The wedding did not start on time, partially due to the miserable weather, but once it started it went without a hitch. Gary's playing was not the best, but fortunately, most people were just concentrating on the beautiful bride coming down the aisle at that point.

The reception was a bit of a challenge, again due to getting there in the bad weather (and it was a bit too crowded as well), but the Italian meal was nice. The reception included a tea ceremony of some sort, but from our vantage point we couldn't really tell what was going on.

All in all, a nice wedding and we wish John and Jessica the very best for their life together.

Getting Ready

Rachel was first in line to get her hair, nails and makeup done in preparation for Jessie's wedding tonight. The weather is rainy, but not too cold yet, so I hope the expected cold front waits until after midnight to arrive.

Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring

Gary's playing at the wedding rehearsal tonight wasn't all that great, so pray that he will be able to do a better job during the actual wedding tomorrow evening. This is his first time to play his hammered dulcimer in public. It will be miked, but the lighting in the room may be an issue. At least he will look good in his new suit, shoes, and tie. :-)

I completely remodeled Rachel's bridesmaid outfit, and I'm satisfied with how it turned out. Now let's hope she can manage walking down the aisle in high heels.

Today is Andrew's 28th birthday--wow, I'm getting old!

No Football

Gary announced last night he was sad. Why? Football is over. I guess the pros don't count.

Gary's weekend at LSA went well. The sessions there that we were worried about turned out OK, thank the Lord.

I haven't heard anything more from David, so we need to keep praying for his stamina.

Rachel has gone back to work, but she's mostly getting half-day jobs, which isn't really enough income to pay her bills. She will be taking Thursday and Friday off to do stuff as a bridesmaid in her friend Jessica's wedding. Lots of activities are planned like a girls' night out, luncheon, manicure, hair appointment, etc.

We're more or less adopted another stray cat, a skinny, all black male. He will become Rachel's new cat when she is done babysitting Zippy, probably another two weeks. We've named him Panther, like the DHS mascot. He and White Kitty don't get along that well, but mostly they just ignore each other.

Pray for David and for Gary

David has started his surgery rotation and is finding it rough. He has to get up at 4am--that in itself would make it rough! He gets one day off per week. He feels like he doesn't have a clue what he is doing, so pray he will catch on quickly and be able to get the explanations he needs from the doctors and older med students.

Gary is in California for Linguistic Society of America meetings. There is a session tomorrow at 2-5pm about "Linguists and Missionaries" that could be, shall we say, interesting. Pray he and others will have God's grace and wisdom as they participate in discussions.

Christmas Cards

Tonight I finished reading (out loud to Gary) all the Christmas letters and Christmas and anniversary cards. And it is only January 3! Amazing! Which reminds me, I did not get enough calendars this year. I need to go buy a couple of various sizes.

Gary goes to Anaheim tomorrow, comes back Sunday night.

Cotton Bowl Game

Andrew got Gary two Cotton Bowl tickets for Christmas. The game was not a sellout, so he got the tickets for less than the $90 each face value.


Freddy, an Auburn fan, provided the transportation and paid for parking.


The teams take the field.


Dallas skyline.


We all know football is really all about marching bands.


Nebraska cornhead.


Gary had a great time. He told Andrew all about it later in the day.


Final: Nebraska 14, Auburn 17