Christmas in Heaven

Missing Dad a lot ...
Merry Christmas to all.
May God Bless you all abundantly.

Heavy Hearts

God Bless to all - Dad passed away on Sunday, November 22, 2009. Melissa and I were with him and he was so peaceful. We had a beautiful Wake and Funeral Mass to celebrate Dad's live on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. Thank you all again for your thoughts and prayers. His obituary is available for viewing at: Chermok Cuneral Home ( David City). www.chermokfuneralhome.com

Prayers

(Pictures ... Christmas 2006 - our two oldest ...)

"Please continue to hold my dad in prayer. Don't know if he's just having a few 'bad' days or if the disease process has taken another turn, but he has been very lethargic the last 48 hours and has experiences some labor in breathing and such. Again, God's will be done ... but short of His will including a miraculous healing HERE on earth, I just pray for peace and wisdom in continuing to love and care for him through this transition to eternity. I have felt the strength that comes from all your support and prayers, thank you."

This was sent as an email from Melissa. We share with you from our hearts and appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

Dad was blessed to have a couple of stronger days earlier this week. His friends the Curtis' flew in for a visit and he enjoyed having the extra company. We appreciate too the many Birthday wishes that were sent and phone calls made to brighten his day.

MJ and Crew

Birthday Post ONE!

More pictures to follow!

Halloween FUN!

A picture is worth a THOUSAND WORDS and this had me giggling! "Jason" is M's 2nd oldest and the actor Howie will be claiming his award soon!

Caleb's First!

Proud of Caleb - the Warrior. He shot his first deer this year! Way to go! Birthday pictures from last week will be coming soon, but this was too cool not to add to the blog! (Click on the image to enlarge!)

Shhh....

SOMEONE has a birthday on Saturday ... do YOU know who? You are right - Bapo, HT, Howie, Howard, Grandpa ... choose your poison - same guy. If you have a moment I am sure that he would enjoy hearing from you and being showered by friends/family happy thoughts.

The building is nearly done ~ I need to get the camera out, but I have been busy planning Camryn's celebration too.

Have a great week!

The address is on the right hand side of the blog!

Excuse Note

Dear Blog Readers,

Mrs. Higer here - it has been a week full of Parent Teacher Conferences, so ... the blog has been neglected. Dad on the other hand has not! After many ironic turn of events Dad wound up staying at the hospital through Tuesday late morning. He is currently in Lincoln, but on Friday ... HE IS GOING TO BE MOVING TO DAVID CITY! We are so thankful that he is going to be close to home, family, and of course his buddy Jet! I will update again soon. I have pictures from the 27th when we celebrated Mom's Birthday!

God Bless to All! Have a Happy and Safe Halloween!

Pictures of Spooks will follow as well! From near and far!

Amazing Day

Dad is up and eating!

He has had a good day - Melissa was with him the majority of the afternoon and evening. We were able to talk with him on the phone and he even told Shayna that he will have to take her fishing. ;o)

He will be busy resting and recuperating, but welcomes the continued thoughts and prayers.

Days

One at a time.

Dad is seemingly resting comfortably.

Dad has been stable, but hasn't really "woke up" since surgery.

He isn't in any obvious pain - praise the Lord.

He seems to be at peace - praise the Lord.

The nurses say he "loves Mountain Dew" - when we asked him ... in a groggy state he reported when asked if he liked Mountain Dew these days, "not so much".

We smile through tears and welcome your love, concern, prayers and support.

We appreciate your friendship - as does Dad.

The next 24/48 hours will be critical ~

Updates as we have the time and energy to check in.

God Bless

Prayers Answered!

Dad made it through surgery! He is resting and has been very sleepy the past few days. They inserted a rod through the left humorous bone and this should bring him pain relief. He is at St. Elizabeth's hospital in Lincoln. I am sure he would love to hear from you. The mailing address is:

Saint Elizabeth Regional Medical Center
555 South 70th Street
Lincoln, NE 68510

Make sure to put: Howard Taylor - Room 504

I will be updating the blog more regularly while we are working through this hospitalization.

Thank you again

Change of Dates

Surgery will be first thing Friday morning. Thank you for your thoughts/prayers.

Needed: Prayers

This post is long over due - and not sure if anyone still checks this, but in the event that you do ...

Dad fell last week and broke is left arm. He has been in increased pain and we just found out today that his bone punctured through the skin. This has left us with a difficult situation - there isn't an easy answer, but we are going to proceeding with surgery tomorrow (Thursday).

Prayers would be appreciated.

As promised ...

Better late than never! Some pictures of the building as it progresses. C & C get excited when we get back from a day at "work". It is all coming together ~ I am FINALLY beginning to see what the building will look like. Dimensions mean little to me, but I get beams!

Click on pictures to enlarge!

Here's to Evan!

Last week we visited Bapo at M's house. The boys enjoyed "Dad's friend" together. To all of you out there who share this "special friend" - cheers!

Pics of the building coming soon!

Slacker

Me, not Dad ;o).

So sorry for the delay in posts and this isn't going to be a very lengthy one either. Life has been busy and energies have be spent getting through the day to day. Dad needs our thoughts and prayers as his pain increases. Jet is his constant companion and for that he is grateful.

Our family went up to NE to visit this weekend and took our puppy, Charlie with us. Charlie was thankful to see his playing buddy Jet AND get cuddles from Dad. He jumped right up onto Dad's bed and snuggled in for a love or two. Miss and my youngest boys made a "Grandpa Sandwich". We have some pictures to load of our trip as well as the building. C and C are excited to see "Grandpa's home" grow and grow. The weather might hold us up for a day or two - rain, rain go away!

Thank you for checking on us. My goal is to update the blog WITH pictures this week. As my moto has been this summer and fall: One Day at a Time!

Thinking of you too!
GJSCC & BMCWJMG

He's now a Northerner

As of Thursday ... Bapo is back in his "home state" ~ Nebraska. He moved up with M & B and crew. I have spoke with him a couple of times, but not as much as I would like. My new teaching job is going well - S had school pictures this week and C & C are enjoying Pre-school. I have pictures to post. I will work on it this weekend sometime, so check back. I will update the mailing address as well!

Really ... we ARE here!

(Click on image to enlarge!)

So sorry for the lag in post dates. We ALL just finished up our first FULL weeks of school...Nebraska and Missouri. Personally, I am enjoying my teaching job and Shayna is adjusting and enjoying 5th grade. Our little ones are adjusting to full-time daycare. Camryn lives for her "days off" (don't we all). I will need to get a report from the Y clan to know how their first week went. I spoke with Melissa quite a few times this past week and there were never any POOR reports, so I am trusting all is well at St. Mary's and Aquinas.

The building continues to go up - the forms are in for the "curb" and the holes have been dug and have captured some frogs for good measure. I will try to get some pictures today and get them posted in the near future. The little ones and I are heading up to see Bapo today, and I will TRY to remember my camera to take some pictures of Dad and his best buddy, Jet. His visits are always a highlight to Dad's day (he enjoys us too!).

The picture collage is from last weekend when M, B and crew were down. M and I had a nice visit with Dad while G and B took the kiddos to Trails West to watch a magician show of some sort. Cale is missing from the group picture because he has had a cough and running nose and we didn't need to pass that on to Bapo. He went home for a nap with Gary. The beautiful flowers are from the Haselhorst family ... thank you so much. We have appreciated visits from Dad's friends and our family too. If you are wanting to visit - give M or I a call ... or drop a note here and we will get in touch with you.

He is going to be moving, but you are going to have to wait to find out to where!

Finally

Amazingly enough our Internet is working in the evening! Whew - this has been an interesting go with technology. Nonetheless ... here we are with an update.

Jet was able to spend the majority of the day with Dad yesterday. He did take some time to visit some of the other residents, but his main intent of giving Bapo good cuddles was well carried out. When he came back to our home he ran around outside like a mad man - good times for both of the friends and it WILL be repeated...maybe this weekend Jet will go for a visit.

School has started both in Nebraska and Missouri. With the beginning of school this year comes the beginning of my teaching career (again, for the 3rd time). I am teaching sped k-5 in two schools in the Savannah School District. Although this has seemingly been the longest week yet - things are going well. Shayna got off to 5th grade without incident this morning and I groggily delivered the little ones to our friend's house (thanks Jessicca!).

I was able to spend time with Dad both yesterday and today. The girls and I went up for a visit this evening and Camryn stood in the "hug line" (she always makes one) 3 times - too cute. Even when she squeezed Bapo a bit hard and caused some pain his sweet self said, "she is just a kid - aren't you?"

More updates soon, hopefully. The building is in a holding pattern as we are getting a lot of rain as of late. Our neighbors were wondering if we were going to have a mud pie party! At this point I think it would be a sloppy success!

God Bless you. Thank you for your continued thoughts, prayers and well wishes. Please keep us all in your prayers as we keep our friends in family in our prayers too!

Settling Dust

Coming together ... corner piecesJet - supervising for his "Dad" - he seemed pleased.

Literal and figurative! The dust has settled around the building front - with the help of a few rain drops, and as of today they are moving forward. I am surprised that not more was done today, but we will take what we can get. There is a technical term, I know, but for now - I will just report that "corners" have been marked. It was getting dark when I finally got pictures taken, but hopefully you can see the progress and the big hill that has been created for Dad's building. We are hoping that he can come out and see the progress sometime soon.

One day at a time! Sure wish I had more time to be with Dad, but I am starting a new teaching career this year. I will have a "split personality" and be at 2 schools, so that means to classrooms and such to prepare and prep. Whew! At times like this I sure wish there could be more of me! I cherish the time I do have with Dad and I KNOW he enjoys our visits as well. He walked down to the birds with us Monday and today he enjoyed a visit from Jet!

The Curtis family from Wichita came and visited him today - thanks ... it was nice to have you visit. If you are wanting to visit, please let us know and sincerely we have room for you to crash!

Thanks for checking in - I hope you are all well. One day at a time!

Moving Forward!

Dad is doing well and settled in his room with as much as the comforts of home as we can supply. Jet is able to visit and Melissa and family were able to take him up for many visits this weekend as they were on vacation in Kansas City this past week/weekend. I will have to try to get some pictures of their adventures to share with all of you.

We spent the weekend at a Higer Reunion in Nebraska and had a nice time relaxing and catching up with the crew from Colorado, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska. Saturday was HOT and we went over to Mahoney State Park to play at the water park - we only misplaced Cale for a short time (whew ... I stayed rather calm, but scarely no doubt), and we all had a great time in the wave pool. I LOVE kiddo giggles - nothing much better than those belly laughs!

More pictures to come soon, but wanted to update those of you who check. Thanks for your thoughts and well wishes - Dad enjoys hearing from you - as do we!

Thanks and check back soon for some more pictures and updates as Dad continues to gain strength and build his way back home!

TODAY is the Day!

He is moving .... today, Thursday, August 5th.

I am sure Dad is ready for some new scenery - he has been in the hospital this go around too long! He will be receiving Physical Therapy at the Living Community (address on right side bar) to help regain strength before coming back home. Jet has been able to visit dad up at the hospital a few times and will be able to lick on him, oops, I mean love on him up there as well. If YOU are wanting to visit let us know - we would gladly open our home to Dad's friends as well ... I don't THINK he has any hoodlums that we couldn't handle!

The building is moving forward - I hear the machinery working as I type. I will add more pictures soon (our internet has been having issues, so bear with me) - there are a lot of BIG trucks and such out there, so I think we will be making progress even though they keep "bankers hours".

He's on the move ... again!

Good day and thanks for checking in on Bapo!

He is on the move - over to Gary's place of work, actually. Dad is moving over to the Living Community of St. Joseph, today, Tuesday. He will be receiving physical therapy and is able to continue the use of morphine to manage his pain.

Melissa and family were down last weekend and due to our internet service being goofy I didn't get to post much or pictures, so I apologize.

The building is moving forward ... there is a lot of dirt to the north of our house - pictures to be posted soon. I hope Dad is able to come home soon to see the progress and watch over the construction to make sure it is just right!

Pictures of the Yindrick crew:

Just another day in paradise?

5 days and counting ...

Dad is staying (mostly) comfortable with the help of his morphine and has enjoyed visits from ALL of his grandkiddos ... 8 in all! Miss and Bill and their crew came down Wednesday night late and on Thursday the older boys and Bapo enjoyed watching Mall Cop - Will "snuggled" next to Dad in bed. My kiddos have had quick visits (thank goodness ... Cale has been a handful at the hospital) before heading over to VBS this week. All three were able to participate this year and will be singing at Mass tomorrow.

Appreciate your prayers and well wishes. Not sure how long of a stay we are looking at. Need to control the pain and get everything in order to come back to our digs.

In the building/housing news ... there are two pieces of large machinery (no clue WHAT they are ... Dad told me the name of one of them - they are BIG and yellow) just waiting to be used! I know Dad is excited about getting that going. I will post pictures as we move forward - proof too for Dad that dirt is getting moved.

God Bless -

Another day ...

Thanks for checking in! The kiddos and I went up to see Bapo yesterday AND today. Yesterday's visit was much more pleasant, but none-the-less Dad enjoyed having the kiddos around. Each of the grandkids made a "Get Well" sign for grandpa. Shayna added the VBS saying, "God is always with you!" and Mara explained then we were all supposed to yell! I was asked often, "Are they ALL yours?" We looked a little odd as 4 of the 5 kiddos had on their VBS shirts and I had one on too. Bapo treated us to lunch after our visit to Cici's. Luckily Gary was able to come with us, so it was easier on me!

Dad is received a lot of pain meds. Yesterday he was mostly pain-free, but today he has had more pain and therefore more meds. He continues to have an upbeat spirit and is anxious for us to take Jet up for a quick visit. I am SHOCKED that they allow dogs to visit, but you don't need to tell dad twice about that! We took a picture of Jet up to his room, but if you know Jet ... he is pretty difficult to photograph with black hair and eyes. He is plastered up on one of the doors of Dad's room so he can see him from the comfort of his bed.

Shayna had a riding lesson today and her teacher was gracious enough to take each of the little ones on a quick ride as well. Bapo told Shayna he was hoping that he could come and watch her ride sometime. Shayna had a grin on her face a mile wide! She has really become more confident in her riding abilities.

After our visit to the hospital today we went to Krug Park and had a quick picnic and fed the geese/ducks. We almost didn't make it as our trip to the hospital was a bit crazy, but they all pulled it together and fun was had by all.

Baby Bear

Cousin Fun - the Sleeping Tent - BEFORE one of the stools feel over and gave Mara a scratch and "blackish" eye! Lots of love from the kiddos to Bapo!
Where Dad's new "house" will be!
Dad's current living location. We LOVE having him here with us! Always SOMETHING going on with 3 kiddos and the neighborhood dogs - not quite Arizona or Colorado!

_______________________________________________________________
Yep, that would be me. You know our family and if not is made up of: Mama Bear (watching from above), Papa Bear, Big Sister Bear and Baby Bear. Well, Papa Bear is comfortably resting back in a hospital bed with some thanks to some great pain meds. And ... it is good that they got the pain (at least mostly) under control for now, because they were about to learn that just like a Mama Bear protects her cubs - so a Baby Bear will do about anything it takes to bring comfort to Papa Bear. Augh - seeing Dad in pain isn't any fun and he is so tough that he graciously "grins and bears" it. He is back visiting the hospital for some pain relief, diabetic control and to hopefully get some questions answered.

I am going to be keeping the blog more up-to-date. It is easiest to keep you all in the loop and share pictures and such - especially Dad's friends whose emails I don't have ... and I KNOW you are out there!

In addition to health updates and such I will document Dad's new "house" that is going to be started soon, hopefully. He is putting up a building on our property that he will be able to drive his rig in and have all the comforts of home with an additional room in the back for lounging and company.

I am sure Papa Bear would love to hear from you, so either leave a note here or drop him an email. If you want a snail mail address - comment here too and I will send you our home address.

Thanks for all your thoughts, prayers and well wishes.

Update

Good Day to All! Or ... no one since I was so neglectful at updating previously. I am going to try to be better about posting since "real life" is going to happen just around the corner. I begin my full time teaching job in just a few short weeks. I am anxious and a bit nervous about starting this new chapter in my life. I know that we will adjust and God will help us muddle through.

Speaking of muddling ... Dad has been have GREAT pain that past couple of days and yesterday we learned why. He has a compression fracture on one of his vertebrae. Please keep him in your prayers. He has a great back brace that helps, and we are going to the pain clinic today.

Thanks for your prayers and thank you for checking up on us. May YOUR day be blessed.

Craziness!

That would be me! Crazy that I haven't written since May. So sorry, because we HAVE had a lot going on. Vacation with Bapo out to Colorado, a new squatter on our property (Bapo), a hospital stay, family reunion over the 4th of July, 10 year old birthday, Jonas Brother's concert, birthday party - not to mention everyday life too! Whew! Tired? We were and have recovered (well, mostly). I will try to keep this up-to-date. If you are wanting to find Bapo - email/comment and I can share his new (and as perminent as we can get him) snail mail address!

Have a Blessed Day - Juli

Laughter Lives Tuesday

Well, I am going to TRY to participate in a "Link" to a blog I have been following for a LONG time. Please, go visit the Riggs and say a prayer for Abby!

Our youngest, Cale, was still dressed in his "Sunday go to meeting" clothes and wanted to go outside with daddy. I told my sweet husband that those were Cale's GOOD clothes and he couldn't go out in them to which Cale relpied, "I need to go get my naughty clothes!" (mind you he is only 3, but full of "it" often!)

Moral of the story - wear your naughty clothes if you are going to be playing outside .... you can decide if you wear them other times!

I am going to work on getting pics and post up from the traveling Bapo as well. He is in Colorado and has gone fishing and I am sure has stories to tell us all!

This post is part of "Laughter Lives! Tuesday" on the Riggs Family Blog. Check our their blog to read everyone else's "Laughter Lives!" posts.

New Post, Finally

For anyone who MIGHT still look at this - I apologize for not writing more or sooner. Dad (aka - Bapo, Howard, trouble, etc. - haha) is in Arizona and enjoying his Razor as well as his buddy Jet. They have taken some longer rides and Dad has also taken to flying an airplane. Deep breath - not a real one! I will check in with him to see what he would like me to post. I will also post some pictures when I get them from him. Until later - God Bless and prayers to you as well as welcomed for Dad!