Ive been busy, OK?

Work has been very busy, but now my busy time is over. I spent a few days at the hotel during selections, and had some other duties assisting with some stuff for the officials and a website that I helped create for officials to see if they got chosen for the tournament. So, tonight was the final check for the officials for the women on the website, so it is back to my normal workload, now. Yeah. I think I am going to take a vacation next week, then go to the Final Four in Detroit the week after that. Yeah, I think that is what I am going to do....

Libby Update:
Libby is doing 5 day, approx 6 hour a day, chemo, which started Monday. 2 hr hydration, 2 hr chemo, 2 hr hydration. Last I heard she is doing OK with it so far. Just keep her and the family in your prayers.

Love All

Peri's Birthday Weekend

Happy Birthday to my newest teenage daughter, Peri. She had some friends spend the night Friday night and then we had a party at West for approximately 25 of her friends. We played a blind man musical chairs, which was pretty fun. We also played dizzy ball. Everyone seemed to have a nice time and no one got injured... At least to my knowledge. A success. It has been a very busy week at work. I spent the night at the Westin Thursday for selection stuff for the tournament. I have been on call all weekend and I am at work on Sunday night, also. It is all good. I am looking forward to going to the final four in Detroit. Well, need to do some work for a little while and head home and then probably do a similar thing for women's basketball tomorrow. Have fun all and be good.

{Libby Update}
Emma says Libby is eating, and sleeping well and Erica is being a little mother hen. Keep praying that everything keeps going up hill for them.

Swimming Banquet

Tonight was the swimming banquet. It was a pitch-in and the food was excellent. Ella received the mental attitude award and the girl's team won the Superintendent's Award, an award given to the sports season(winter) team with the highest GPA. The four seniors spoke and there was a nice slide show.

We talked to Tia, Libby's aunt and she said that Libby was doing much better today.
The blood infection is gone and the Dr. says that the blood test shows that the white cell count should start coming up soon!!! She said that she has been playing with the nurses and has been much more active today and has also eaten some. Her fever has dropped and also heard that the tumor in her check is going down. It is back to where it was when this all came about!! GOD IS SOOOOO GOOD!!! PRAISE THE LORD.
Lets continue to pray!!

PEACE, LOVE, AND ROCK N ROLL !!!

Cat Burglar Part II - Sherlock Paul on the case

OK. You thought it was over, but it wasn't. If you haven't read Cat Burglar below, definitely read that one before you read this one, so you will understand. We were sitting around the table talking at dinner with the delicious meal my beautiful wife had prepared and Peri was being quite adament about not leaving the door ajar. I said that there was only one other thing that might have happened and explained it just like a Sherlock Holmes mystery. I stated that the only other possible explanation would have been that Sarah, while performing her numerous tasks that she feels she needs to perform each night for this household to remain intact, might have put the cats out and then came inside with every intention of returning to the garage for whatever reason, and then once inside got busy doing something else and forgot. We all looked at Sarah who had a look of mmmmmmmm uhhhhhh oh yeah.... I fed the cats and then came inside and was going to get some water for them and then... I just can't stress the awe and admiration that was exhibited in my lovely daughters faces at my brilliant deduction.... I said.. Elementary my dear Watsons.... and the case is closed.... Thank you for your participation in this wild ride we call life.. and have a good one.. Love yall :)

Cat Burglar

Did I ever mention how much I loved our cats? Well, last night adds to the love. At approximately 2am last night, our house alarm went off. It was the warning beep first that occurs when you enter 1 of 2 doors and allows you time to shut the alarm off if you don't have an alarm remote or whatever. It showed the door as being the garage entry door that leads from the garage into the house. Well, by the time I sat up from my deep slumber and figured out what was going on and had gotten to the alarm control at the entrance to our bedroom and attempted to enter the code, my 30 seconds were up and the intruder alarm went off. Now, if you have never heard this alarm, it shakes your whole body. Also, when this alarm goes off, our alarm company calls to check if everything is all right. Well, they called and I verified myself and they wanted to know if they should contact the police. Well, I asked them to hold on the line, not knowing anything to this point but that our alarm went off and there was a door open. I handed Sarah the phone and proceeded cautiously into the kitchen to check the outside door of the garage to see if it was open. It was not so we saw that the entry door previously mentioned was open and the light was on in the garage. And there in the hallway are our lovely cats. Sarah asks me if I had gone out in the garage after I had been on the computer before I went to bed and I said I had not. She said that she had put the cats out and thought that she had secured the door and she never leaves a light on. OK, my heartbeat has slowed down to a slight jog at this point, but I went out to the garage and looked around. (Don't worry all, I had a large flashlight in my hand.) Well there was nothing there and all exterior door and windows were secure. Hmmmmm... Well, so now I need to check the house. I went downstairs and all around, but nothing. During all this activity, Ella didn't even wake up and Peri, well she was right beside Sarah and me for the duration of the evening. I think I was able to finally fall asleep around 3:30. We figured that perhaps Sarah somehow didn't get the door shut all the way, which, if open enough, wouldn't have allowed me to set the alarm when I went to bed, but it is possible that as long as the sensors on the door are touched, the door doesn't have to be completely shut to register as being closed on the alarm. I tested that out this morning. Anyway, Eliza, the fat yellow cat that had the mouse adventure in a previous blog, tends to put her paws up on a door if it is slightly ajar and open them, so I am sure it was her. Now as to the mystery of how that door may have been left ajar, which Sarah may have figured out this morning on her way to school, was that Peri had left her IPOD in the car earlier in the evening and went out to get it before she went to bed, Sarah thinks after she had put the cats in the garage(Peri admits that she did this, but she said it was before the cats were out there. I'm sorry Peri, but I am going to have to vote against you on this one). So, being the preteen that she is and with the habits that she has, this definitely fits the prospective actions that she is capable of. So, there you go, another night of fun and adventure in our house. Well, all take care and get your rest because when you don't, you are tired the next day. Love you all!!

Our brush with fame

Sarah asked me to share the "burden" of taking the girls shopping this weekend. How can it be a "burden" if it is something you enjoy doing?... Anyway, I got off track there.. Did I ever mention that I hate shopping... Sorry, another off track.. Anyway, we(we in this case meant me sitting in the shoe department at Dick's watching the big screen of Purdue and Michigan State, and Sarah and the girls shopping for clothes) were looking for something for Peri for her upcoming birthday, and I figured shopping wasn't all that bad at this point, until Sarah tells me I need to go with them because they were done at Dicks, and the reason at this point doesn't matter, because she is just reminding me of my second off track mentioning above. But, as we were checking out, the cashier at Dick's mentioned that Miss America was in the mall for a few more minutes. I've never met a Miss America, although I did know the 500 queen one year, a girl who graduate with me. So, we decided that we needed to have our brush with celebrity on this lovely Sunday afternoon in the Bloomington mall, outside of Target.
I think it was all just a ploy just to get me down to Target. Ha ha.. We met Miss America and she gave us all a signed photograph, and she seemed genuinely nice. There were only a few people waiting in line, so we waited like 2 minutes. We thought about having the girls pose for a xmas card photo with her, but they weren't allowing any posed pictures. So, that was our brush with fame, and I was able to snap off just some regular photos of the girls talking with her. I will add them later. So, shopping wasn't as unbearable as I thought, well, as long as you have some beautiful young lady to speak with of some fame or notoriety, besides my beautiful daughters and wife, of course. Or, you have a big screen television to watch some sporting event.

(Libby Update) This weekend, Libby got the flu and an infection in her central line. She has lost another 8 oz, and is down to 15 lbs. She was put in isolation at Riley.
Today, Libby's white blood count is at 0. They are giving her medication to get it up. The meds are making her sore, so she is not wanting to be held or touched. The white blood count needs to be up to 1000 before she can have her next chemo. treatment in a couple weeks. Emma said that they could be up there for 2-10 days.
Keep her in your prayers.

Great to see you all this weekend

It was nice to see you all this weekend. Josh, I hope you are feeling better. We made it home after stopping in Indy for a "quick" Target stop and then to Cracker Barrel for dinner. I am so glad to be off crutches. I am still doing exercises to strengthen my Achilles, but it feels fine to walk on. So many people are telling me I should quit playing ball that I will consider it.. OK..... I considered it. I will continue to play ball. I know that someday I will have no choice but to quit, but I just don't think that day is here yet. I do enjoy playing basketball and I hope I can play for a few more years anyway. Thanks for all your concerns.

{Libby Update}
Libby has gone through her chemo treatments Fri. Sat. and Sun. with another today. She seems to be doing OK and will have a chance to go home tomorrow for a couple of days if everything works out. Emma said that she got a little sick after treatments yesterday, but did eat last night. Just keep Libby and their family in your prayers.

Live and play hard and try not to get an Achilles injury :)
Love Y'all !!