Prayer for a Sick Pet

Heavenly Father,

Please help us in our time of need.
You have made us stewards of Noodle.
If it is Your will, please restore him to health and strength.
I pray too for other animals in need.
May they be treated with the care and respect
deserving of all your creation.
Blessed are You Lord God
and holy is Your name for ever and ever.
Amen

On Thursday evening Noodle suffered something called a Fibrocartilaginous Embolism which is characterized by sudden onset of paralysis without pain. We rushed him to MedVet and he underwent 4 hours of surgery. He is resting at the animal hospital this weekend and the vet is optimistic that he will recover well over the next few weeks. We were scared that we were going to lose our wonderful friend and he's still not out of the woods, but we are so grateful for the wonderful doctors who are caring for him and our friends who have shown so much support.
I'll keep you updated.

Let the Holiday Crafting Begin

I was browsing Split Coast Stampers and ran across the instructions for these neat pocket hand sanitizer holders.
How fun are these?

The Apple of My Eye

Last summer we visited Apple Hill to pick peaches.
This year we made it our apple picking spot because they have both Honeycrisp and Macintosh.
I was in Yummy Apple Heaven.
The boys were more interested in shaking the tree branches to see how many apples they could make fall and marveling over deer poop, but it was a beautiful day and Rick is pretty jazzed about canning apple sauce.
Again, yum.

My kind of town...

A couple of weeks ago I went to Chicago to deliver a talk at the Dental Anesthesia Board Review Course.

It was a pretty quick jaunt, and though I spent most of the trip with a whopper of a case of butterflies-in-the-stomach because of my impending talk, I did manage to carve out a little time for sightseeing and fun with the residents.I talked the residents into doing the O H I O thing in front of the Bean in Millennium Park.

They were rewarded by a group of cute little old ladies (apparently from Ohio) shouting, "O-H" and fawning over them.
Honestly, you can find Ohio State fans anywhere!

We also gawked for a while at Crown Fountain.
Neat, right?

The butterflies proved to be non-fatal. I survived my talk and got some really nice feedback. Chicago is so close- I'd like to go back with Rick and the boys and see the sights I missed on this trip. Put it on the list...

First Day of Kindergarten

This is Will on the morning of his first day of Kindergarten with his Schultute. In Germany kids get a Schultute on the first day of school filled with school supplies and goodies. Next year, he'll get a Schultute from school; St. Mary's practices the tradition of the German Village immigrants who founded the congregation. This year Mommy was happy to supply the Schultute.

This is Will in the cafeteria with his class, listening to the lovely welcome and prayer assembly led by our new pastor, Father Franks, and getting psyched up for Kindergarten adventures.

This is Soren after we left Will at school. He cried as many tears as Mommy. Daddy was the only brave one- I think he was a little excited, actually.

These are my Smiley boys, reunited after a long day and being nice to each other... at least for a moment or two.

First Checkup

Because I am neurotic, I had a nightmare that Soren had to have his front teeth extracted.
So I asked my friend Dr. Bobby to take a look at Soren for his first dental checkup. Bobby and Soren did a great job.

If anyone is looking for a top notch pediatric dentist, Dr. Bobby Thikkurissy sees patients at OSU Faculty Practice.

Late Summer Picnic

My mentor, Joel Weaver, and his wife hosted a wonderful picnic for all the dental anesthesia residents and the program graduates who still practice in the area. An evening at the Weaver's always means: good food, good fellowship, and rides in the antique cars and on the antique tractors that Dr. Weaver collects. At this gathering it also meant swinging in the hammock, picking ears of corn, and home-made ice cream made with a (what else) tractor driven old fashioned ice cream maker.
Yummy!Look at what a good lookin' group of residents we have!