If I only knew what was chasing him I'd wack the dudes!

I just put william back to sleep on the couch(1:30 am) (he's 3 and half) poor guy woke up in the middle of the night being chased by something. I'm glad I don't have those kind of dreams! Of course now I can't sleep. Maybe I need to chase something. It's ok... I forgot my night time before bed antibiotic anyway. (just took it) that kid knew something. LOL! Probably being chased by my doctor to go get me to take my pill.

I have a weird relationship with my wife and somehow I get away with it

For our Honeymoon we went to Northern Wisconsin to a Cabin with no electricity or running water the first week of January in -16 degree weather. I'm one of the few men who can say I used a chainsaw on my honeymoon and my wife lived to tell about it.

Then today I bought my wife a new lawnmower. just because I love her. LOL ! It was mostly her fault. I walked in the door from my breakfast meeting today and Pam said. I gave the lawn mower to the neighbors you need to go buy me a new one.

So off galavanting around town today. what a saturday

1. mens breakfast
2. bagels at the house
3. return auto pet litter thing to petsmart
4. set appts at kidsnips and lenscrafters
5. go home cuz I forgot to take my meds
6. go to sears buy mower
7. go to mcdonalds
8. hurry back to kidsnips (10 miles away)
9. go to eye appointment (they where 1 hour behind)
10. wait for glasses to get made
11. go get sundaes and dessert at red robin while we wait for glasses
12. get glasses
13. walk out and see that family abandoned me so I go to other stores
14. realize I wasn't abandoned my wife went shopping
15. shop more
16. go home assemble mower
17. watch wife mow lawn as I tinker in the garage while watching baseball on my newly installed dishnetwork connection in my GARAGE!

The Rubber Must Meet The Road Eventually

It's time to look in the mirror and ask ourselves if today is the day that I will put the rubber on the road and be what God wants me to be. It's difficult to say that. In our inherent nature as human beings the phrase is said " what I want me to be". Lately at both Church and my Saturday morning Men's Group. The discussion has been about Surrendering to God and what does that really mean. Letting your issues and desires be God's issues and desires. You can't get to that point until you look at yourself in the mirror and instead of seeing yourself standing there alone you see yourself standing with God standing beside you. Not just watching your back but being the Quarterback in your life. Calling the plays. So how am I supposed to know what is God's will for me? I feel that all I can do is Pray and connect with God more and as that continues I feel that I'm closer to him. I definitely don't have all the answers. Shoot, I don't feel like I have many answers. I just know that you don't have to go through a life altering event like I did to connect with God. He is there for everyone everyday waiting for you to reach out to him to connect with him not just for Help but just to have a relationship


re·la·tion·ship (rĭ-lā'shən-shĭp') n.
The condition or fact of being related; connection or association.
Connection by blood or marriage; kinship.

I think that sums it up. That is what God is looking for from us a kinship. In many ways I'm glad this event happened to me so that I can have this Ginormous 2x4 wack me upside my stubborn Greek Head and start to live my life a little more in connection with God and my Family.

Last week at Church the message was about Families and Couples dealing with the struggles and that its not about what you deal with (fight about) but h0w you deal with (fight about ) the issues that come up in a Marriage/Relationship.

Well I did label the blog Greek Rantings and I do feel like I'm ranting right now.

Looking for a way to give back to the community?

Habitat Update

The CCC-Habit home build is still on schedule. It is located at 1338 Grand Blvd, Aurora. We are continuing to build every Thursday and Saturday through mid July.
Build Schedule: Last week we installed the tub, completed the insulation work, and built the front and back porches. We are now working on putting Tyvek on the house while we put in all new windows. Next we will be doing the drywalling and then the painting.
Furnishing the home: Also, we would like to gather as much gently used furniture as we can for this home. We especially need 3 full size beds, bedroom furniture, lawnmower, and family room furniture. Are you someone that would like to head up that part of this life changing time for this family? We are looking for someone that is interested in leading this part.
If you would like to work at the house on Thursdays or Saturdays please contact Ron Kelso by email at RonKelso@sbcglobal.net. You need to sign up in advance to volunteer.


Sponsor a Brady Student with School Supplies!

We are trying a new approach to providing school supplies to Brady students this fall. Instead of getting a long list of supplies that you need to go out and buy and try to cram into a paper bag, all you have to do is tell us you would like to sponsor a child (or two or three) and we pre-order supply kits. We will still sell them for a fraction of the cost to Brady parents, so the school will earn money as they have in the past.
It is our goal to get at least 300 Brady students sponsored this year (half of the school). We have 60 sponsored already! For $25 you can sponsor a child who will then get all the supplies they need to be prepared at school. For those of you who have purchased supplies in the past, you know that is a great bargain compared to the $40 - $50 some of the grade level kits cost if you buy all the items individually.
If you'd like to sponsor any children, just email Ron Kelso at ronkelso@sbcglobal.net and he will tell you exactly what to do. In the fall, you will receive the name(s) of the children you have sponsored so you can write them a back to school greeting.

I don't know how I got suckered into this!

Blizzard has joined our home from

www.tailshumanesociety.org

God Bless Our Troops!

May the Lords hand be on your head and protect you while you serve your nation in such a couraegous way.

Thank you for those serving today and thank you for those who have served in the past.

There are no words that can properly define the sacrifice our soldiers make to create a better place to live for us and the nations they serve in!

what I got better for

HOW I got better!

back home and for good (I pray)

I have been home now for two weeks this upcoming Tuesday and I feel great. Went to chuch today. It was great to worship and see some of the people that helped us. If by any chance any of you read this. Thank you so much for all your prayers, meals, and babysitting help. Pam would of never made it through the ordeal without you. Thank you from the deepest most awesome part of our heart.

It really has been a blessing being part of www.communitychristian.org

Being home with the kids and getting back to work and just over all finally feeling like I'm normal. We really take way too many things for granted. simple things that I've now realized are so much more important part of my life.

This event as tragic as it could of been has really opened me up to so many new things. New relationship with God, my wife, my kids, family and friends.

The phrase used a million times " God works in mysterious ways!" has truly taken its place in my life. not that I would wish this on anybody. I'm almost glad that I have been given an opportunity to be given a wake up call. It's too bad that I had to get to this traumatic of an event to experience it.

Then I went back for more fun

After being in the hospital for 11 days (8 in the ICU with brain surgery on the fifth day) I went home for ten days. I was taking three antibiotics two by IV (picc line in my arm)catheter to the heart (yes it gives me the willies but its better than getting poked all the time) as well as steroids
that where being weened rather quickly. too quickly apparently by the time I got to taking just 1mg of decadron (steroid) a day I was having symptoms similiar to a stroke left side weakness and droopy face etc...

called doc. went in to get a cat scan and it showed that my brain had swelled up so I was readmitted for 8 more days 7 in the ICU. I got out for the second time on 5-7-08. They really wherent doing anything but watching my progress as they pumped me with high doses of steroids. the swelling went down quickly and I regained all my motor functions without any issues. matter of fact I felt twice as good compared to the first time that I got out.

I started working the next day. too much time has passed. I can't just sit around its bad enough I can't do any physical activity because of the picc line. But I've been home for two weeks I feel great if feels good to be alive and glad to be home with Pam and the kids.

well I need to get to work. I'll post some more maybe tonight or tomorrow. there is so much to tell even though nobody is actually reading it. LOL !

So I get home from the hospital after 11 days in and my wife surprises me with a newly carpeted stairway and bedroom and a new temperpedic bed. I would of never been able to sleep on the old bed with my injury.

also a blessing in disguis is my new cpap machine ( no more snoring)

Yes Pam and I can sleep in the same bed again ( its a long story 12 yr long story)

I'm tired and going to bed. I wanted to post some pictures so you can see my zipper head. I've since evened out my hair and its grown back a bunch i'll post some newer pictures soon.

Good Night folks!

Long time no post I guess I had a good reason

I haven't posted in Ages. Well first we went on our presidents club trip to St Marteen and that was a blast as always. Then we went on our family vacation to Disneyworld and for the most part that was a blast and I will explain.

we drove down in 19 hours straight splitting the driving and with the adrenaline pumping we just cruised hit very little traffic except in stupid Atlanta unfortunately right at 4pm rush hour.
Parks where packed we had lots of fun. hotel where almost all sold out everywhere. On the Thursday I had a toothache and took tylenol (didn't work. no effect) on Friday I had a full fledged headache/migraine coming off the tooth I switched to advil three pills every four hours and it had no effect. I was still walking the parks and having well , Fun with the kids for the most part I was also resting in the hotel room alot watching william while the girls went to the pool or did something else. nothing was working my head hurt so bad. When Saturday came around and it was time to go home I started to drive out and took the wrong turn onto the highway heading to tampa instead of the turnpike to get out of Orlando. Pam ( my wife ) looked at me and told me to pull over that she was going to drive. we switched and she drove the rest of the way. It took a little longer with one driver. she drove straight through with only a few meal stops and two short rest stops in TN. 26 hours straight she drove us home while I was helpless in pain for the most part either sleeping or keeping my eyes closed cuz it hurt so bad.

Finally we got home on Sunday morning and pam found a dentist here in naperville who would see us in one hour http://www.napervilledentist.com/ Dr Hazelhorst saw me and extracted the tooth. initially it seemed like the pain went away but it didn't . He gave me some penecillin and pain killers. I went home and slept. I was wiped.

Monday morning I woke up and pam gave me my pills they rolled out of my hand. I was plain loopy I couldn't talk move or make any sense at all. I crashed. It looked like I had a stroke.
she called 911. The paramedics had me do a basic sobriety type test and I failed everything miserably. so they threw me in the truck and got me to the ER on my way there I had a seizure by my eye. I heard the guy next to me yell to the driver to floor it that I looked bad and might be stroking out. It did scare me cuz the look on his face was that It didn't look good. sirens and all I made it to the ER.

Where I started to seize by my mouth. I was totally able to understand everything everyone was saying but out my mouth came totally different things I was gone. couldnt say my name, where I was what day it was. My wife told the paramedics about the tooth pull so at the hospital was pretty much assuming I had an infection that spread. There assumption was correct. I was sent to a catscan that I was unable to stay still for. I was unresponsive and tired and well wiped out. they stabilized me and put me in the ICU. There I sat from Monday til Friday the day of the surgery. I was pretty responsive the whole week and had a what seemed like a million visitors. I truly felt loved by my family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, church family,etc....MY boss, Mike Theriault gave everyone 2 hours with pay to come visit me. it meant so much. Then the baskets flowers cards, gifts, and eve money that came in from so many different people I even got phone calls from online fellow board members. Thank you Vincent Wright you Rock! one of the most encouraging people I know.

The surgery day was awesome. Pam was there of course Our resident Church family babysitter Rachel Caroll watched our kids. God Bless you honey you and your husband Bill just rock our world! Sean Bublitz came and prayed for me and stayed with Pam through the surgery

Dr Rabin (you are the best Brain Surgeon I know) Ok your the only brain surgeon I know but you do an awesome job nonetheless. I love you brother for putting my head back together and for waking me up through the surgery to tell me I'm ok. it worked I felt the encouragement. I truly was at calm and felt the peace that Jesus gives on my heart and in my mind. I knew that everything was going to be ok. I could hear the words of prayer from hundreds if not thousands of people going through Jesus right down to me. His healing love and power was truly eminent and present in my life at that time.

Then I woke up. ( i'm tired now and I'll continue the story tomorrow or soon.)